SDN Photo-a-Day (Rules updates - read the OP)

[folti78]

@Folti - IMG_0213 - Gah! My foot still resembles a tomatoe from a bee sting from yesterday (I ran into a swarm).

Don't worry, people usually get more tolerant after a few dozen stings ...

Also, your focus is on your hand, not the ladybug in the third shot, but needs must when using a compact (would be my guess, right?)

Yep, it was a hasty shot with a PowerShot 590IS and I'm quite green to photography. Not to mention that the subject was more than a bit agitated

[charlemagne]

@Charlemagne - Great stuff! (Even if it is 4 pictures ).

Thanks, and argh I'm sorry about posting 4 pictures - I've been following the thread but it's been ages since I've read the OP, I simply forgot about it while posting

[Bounty]

Shot a roll through the Zenit. It reminded me why I don't like SLR's. I also think it may be in more dire need of a clean that I had hoped.

[Instant Sunrise]

You probably don't need reminding of this but you have blown out skies in the first picture and to a lesser extent in the second.

I would like to see the camera a little closer and more up angle at the statue. Since they are built on a statue to be looked up at, I would like to be looking up at it more.

Other than that on the first, I'd say burn in the sky, and dodge the statue. Right now, that blown sky is drawing the eye away from the statue. Which I don't think is your intent.

With the second one, the crop on the left side of the basket is too tight and makes the image feel too compressed. I like the composition, but it would work better of the left edge of the basket wasn't cut off.

[Bounty]

You probably don't need reminding of this but you have blown out skies in the first picture and to a lesser extent in the second.

I noticed. Is that just caused by bad light metering or is it me not considering the angle of the light coming in?

Many of the other shots came back out-of-focus. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but is there a trick to focussing an SLR? With a rangefinder it's easy, you just line up the images in the window, but an SLR only has "best guess" it seems.

[Simplicius]

I noticed. Is that just caused by bad light metering or is it me not considering the angle of the light coming in?

Since the whole photo isn't overexposed, it's probably the angle of light. Backlit subjects require more careful framing and metering or even some kind of fill lighting, because it's just about impossible not to blow a sky when exposing for a backlit subject. But that's what darkroom techniques are for, as Sunrise said.

Many of the other shots came back out-of-focus. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but is there a trick to focussing an SLR? With a rangefinder it's easy, you just line up the images in the window, but an SLR only has "best guess" it seems.

SLRs should have a focusing screen below the prism that gives you a focusing zone in the middle of the viewfinder, either by split-screen or microprism or a combination thereof.



Mine have the microprism, which breaks up the image into wavy bits until it is in focus. It's hard to use when stopped-down, though, because the prism edges become darker and obscure what is being focused on - so auto lenses are a boon because I can always focus wide-open.

[Bounty]

SLRs should have a focusing screen below the prism that gives you a focusing zone in the middle of the viewfinder, either by split-screen or microprism or a combination thereof.

Mine hasn't. I don't see one and it's not in the manual; you're just told to turn the lens until the viewfinder image becomes sharp.

It does have an extra ring that allows you to quickly switch between stepped-down and wide-open for compositing. Which is awesome until you once again forget to turn it back before you take the shot...

[Bounty]

This is not a photo, it's a cautionary tale.

I keep a camera with me wherever I go. I have one in my bag every day of the week to shoot anything that I think might be interesting. Usually there's nothing interesting to shoot.

Last night I go out for dinner when out of nowhere a group of Indians show up and start an impromptu cricket match. I saunter over, think what a great photo op it is, reach for my camera, and realise that I didn't bother to take one along



So this is all I have. A blurry shot from a 2MP cellphone camera taken on the one day there's actually something interesting to shoot.

[Bounty]

[aerius]

Kids, don't do this at home.

[Bounty]

Nice. Is the bike up that high or were you lying down?

[aerius]

Nice. Is the bike up that high or were you lying down?

A bit of both. You can get some serious airtime off the drop but the photographer still has to get down low to make it look big. This is the same drop from another angle. We usually land on the dirt around the bottom edge of the picture so it's a good 4-5' vertical drop minimum. Carry more speed and you'll fall around 8' before touchdown.

[The Grim Squeaker]

@Aerius - Cool shots, even though we've seen them many a time before .
Pity the focus in your first shot is on the ground rather than the cyclist. Ever heard of AI Focus or AI Servo? (Tracking autofocus).

[Simplicius]

Since I am still waiting for some developed film to arrive by mail, you will instead see my collection and the literally massive amount of camera just added to it.



Konica Rapid Omega 100: 6x7 (medium) format rangefinder; 90mm f/3.5 Super Omegon with 1/500s leaf shutter. Film advance and shutter cocking is done with the big pull-push lever at the bottom; focusing knob is just above it. Neither requires nor wants electricity. Has 4 tripod sockets - 2 each in American and European thread sizes. Friggin' huge - about 5 pounds of camera. Thank god it doesn't need a neck strap.



Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic: 4x5 (inches - this is large format) folding press camera; Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 150mm f/5.6 with 1/500s Copal shutter added after the fact by my grandfather. Viewfinder, wire-frame finder, coupled rangefinder, and ground glass; leaf and focal plane shutters; some tilt and shift ability at lens board. Manufactured between 1947 and 1955, and evidently used by the Maine Broadcasting System sometime before 1977, judging by the "WCSH TV" scratched into the rail crossbar. Weighs 5 and three-quarters pounds.



'Family portrait,' before I sell off some of the redundancy. I've personally used half of these; my goal is to put at least one roll through each and write up a little review. Left to right and back to front:

-Speed Graphic, Kodak 2-C Autographic folder, Rolleicord Va TLR, Kodak Jiffy folder, Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2 folder, Rapid Omega
-Pentax ES SLR, Vivitar 250/SLD SLR, Yashica Electro 35 G rangefinder, Pentax Spotmatic II SLR
-Kodak Bullet, Kodak Hawkeye Flash, Kodak Baby Brownie

[Bounty]

Shit, a Speed Graphic I'd love to get my hands on one of those. Talk about iconic... How is it to hold? Do you happen to know what shutter it came with out of the factory?

Is the Rapid Omega a press camera too, or is it specialized? How did they get it up to five pounds?

And does the autographic still have the little pen? Sorry about the torrent of questions, but that's really a nice collection of history you have there.

Here's a picture of the gang at casa Bounty:



Bottom row: Olympus 35 RC, Zorki 1e, Kiev 4

Middle row: Zenit E, Kodak Brownie 127, Argus C3

Top row: Zeiss-Ikon Box Tengor 56/2, Lubitel 2

All except the Brownie have been tested and work, though the two box cameras have issues.

[Simplicius]

I don't know what the Graphic had out of the factory, as it was a second-hand purchase and could have been changed before my grandfather ever bought it. The Schneider isn't exactly typical of what was used on the Graphics, since I read that pressmen liked to use wider lenses, but a 150mm is a normal lens for this format. It doesn't hold especially well, though. The weight isn't the problem so much as it's supporting the weight with an off-center, flexible handle. The strap wants to let the camera sag to the right and I constantly have to fight it, which puts strain on my wrist. To be a handheld, the Graphic really wants a rigid handle in place of the strap, and probably another one on the flash mount over the rangefinder housing. That isn't a terribly complex task, though. And in the unlikely event you find yourself in Maine, you should certainly call on me to go shooting.

The Konica is heavy because it's a big camera with a lot of mechanical bits. The back is the size of two 35mm SLR bodies but half again as thick, and then there's the focusing block/lens mount and the lens. The film advance is big - the rack arm runs the width of the camera, and then the connection with the shutter has to run all the way out into the focusing block/lens mount. There are interlocks between the dark slide and the lens, back, and shutter to prevent inadvertent exposure of the film. The rangefinder is full-width, and the assembly is 1/3 of the body's size. It's just a beast of a camera, as far as handhelds go.

The Autographic lacks the stylus, sadly, and the cable release as well. Plus, with the bellows in the shape they are, it's not usable even if I wanted to shell out to get some 116 film custom-cut. Repair or conversion aren't worthwhile because the overall quality of almost all Kodaks is 'good' at best (they were mass-market cameras, after all), and since I only want usable cameras I'll try to unload this to a collector at a modest price. I did see a Number 2a in pristine condition - new bellows and all the doodads - in an antique store once, but the totally obsolete format is still a deal-breaker. I bought the Zeiss and the Jiffy instead.

I looked up your Zenit and it turns out that the E types didn't have any kind of focusing screen - you'd use sharpness or scale focusing, and that's it. I don't know if there'd be a place to fit a replacement focusing screen if you took off the top plate and prism. It's too bad that it's difficult to use, though - if it's newer than 1968, it's got the M42 screwmount and you could avail yourself of the really awesome Super-Taks and a lot of other good-but-old lenses.

[Bounty]

It's too bad that it's difficult to use, though - if it's newer than 1968, it's got the M42 screwmount and you could avail yourself of the really awesome Super-Taks and a lot of other good-but-old lenses.

It's a '74. I didn't even consider new lenses to be honest. Should I some day try to dabble in SLR photography I'm more inclined to go the Pentax K-mount route, as I've read in various places its up-to-modern-day backwards compatibility is second to none.

For the moment I'm staying a rangefinder fanboy They're compact, they look stylish, and you don't get that mirror clap. Purely subjective preference, of course.

To be a handheld, the Graphic really wants a rigid handle in place of the strap, and probably another one on the flash mount over the rangefinder housing.

So I take it yours is set up for tripod use? Studio photography perhaps? Or is there some sort of other advantage to the slack strap?

[Simplicius]

So I take it yours is set up for tripod use? Studio photography perhaps? Or is there some sort of other advantage to the slack strap?

A bit of looking turns up that the strap is a wrist strap rather than a grip & carrying handle. Finding this out improved the handling of the camera considerably, though I'd still feel more comfortable with something to hold. It also doesn't solve the problem of having to move my right hand to operate either shutter release, since that hand is supposed to sit at the edge of the door as a stabilizer and to work the focusing knob. Neither shutter release is in easy reach of that position.

David Burnett uses his Speed Graphic on assignment sometimes: http://www.asmp.org/culture/bestof2006/ ... /index.php

[The Grim Squeaker]

2 photos of a German "stop" by the sea of Galilee (North of Israel):

Converted Meditation building.

Just a tree trunk. I liked it, it's wide, the light is nice, and yes, I know it's not exceptional. I still like it a bit.

I was planning to upload a photo of the belltower with the setting sun lighting it and the stone nicely, but it's rather small, so I'll just upload a photo from inside an abandoned house in Rosh Pina (one of the first settlements of the First "Aliyah" wave in Israel) instead:

[Bounty]

[J]

I went to the misty rainforest...

2 photos of a German "stop" by the sea of Galilee (North of Israel):
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3317/341 ... d351_o.jpg
Converted Meditation building.

Mmmm...is the building supposed to be yellowish-green or are you having issues with your colour settings again? Generally, one does not see that colour of sunlight and it looks unnatural to me.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I went to the misty rainforest...

Hothouses are always a headache light wise, even light, but weak and nothing "pops out". Might I recomend using the flash next time? I tsometimes helps.

2 photos of a German "stop" by the sea of Galilee (North of Israel):
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3317/341 ... d351_o.jpg
Converted Meditation building.

Mmmm...is the building supposed to be yellowish-green or are you having issues with your colour settings again? Generally, one does not see that colour of sunlight and it looks unnatural to me.

It's meant to be golden-brownish, this was during the sunset and the stone building was practically honey coloured from the sunlight. It's meant to be this way, thanks for paying attention though! .

@Bounty - nice shot. Since when do you have a macro lense though?

[The Grim Squeaker]

3 More shots from Agam Hachulah (Bird/nature reserve. When it has any migrating birds in it, which it doesn't as of 2 week before we visited):

I like cloudscapes, so sue me! (The AF is a bit off, I had to focus without looking through the viewfinder due to the sun). I'm not very happy with how this or the other versions came out (wide, etc'), so my Bird photo doesn't need to fear any competition anytime soon .

Birds flying:

Bird spottery under the sun. |(I don't have a polarizer filter or the budget for one, before anyone comments on it).

[Bounty]

@Bounty - nice shot. Since when do you have a macro lense though?

I don't. You can fudge the same thing with manual controls, a tripod and patience. Gear isn't everything.

[The Grim Squeaker]

@Bounty - nice shot. Since when do you have a macro lense though?

I don't. You can fudge the same thing with manual controls, a tripod and patience. Gear isn't everything.

Why a tripod? And who needs manual controls