Photos
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Snapshots pt2
Here are a few more random snapshots from Italy this time.
Wish I had more than 2 clips for drying negatives at the moment. It’ll take ages to get through my developing backlog..
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Snapshots pt1
I’m in the process of finally creating a proper photo gallery for my website with separate albums/galleries etc. That’s where I’ll start to put proper sets up, and put some more effort into projects I’ve started but never finished. I’m playing around with a couple different types of gallery software, but I’m not 100% keen on any yet. If anyone has some suggestion feel free to email me or post up here, it’d be very much appreciated.
Ok, this set of shots are just randoms from my most recent trip. I’m posting them up pretty roughly for the time being and will save the proper finished products for my new gallery when it comes to life.
Here are a few from Germany and Switzerland…
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Oh no, not a lens test
Well yes and no.
Yes I’m checking out a “new” lens I have, but no I’m not taking photos of brick walls and newspapers to pixel peep corner sharpness and other crap like that.
A few guys i know have started using a lot of older manual focus lenses on their DSLR’s with terrific results. I’ve always been interested in doing this myself, but have never got around to it. That has now changed. Why shoot with old manual focus lenses on a DSLR? Well….- Its a way of using some of the greatest lenses ever made (ie. there a massive variety of lenses to try),
- They’re generally smaller, lighter, and cheaper than modern lenses,
- Many have unique characteristics and draw nicer than modern lenses,
- Build quality that still shits over most modern lenses,
- Trying something different for the hell of it.
As you can see, there are several good reasons to consider using older lenses.
From using film cameras recently, I’d already built up quite a selection of Zuiko lenses for my Olympus OM bodies. Luckily, Zuiko have made some of the best lenses in history ( you cant dispute that its a fact), so i got a cheap adapter off ebay to start using them on my DSLR.I’m not going to keep rambling on, so I’ll cut to the chase.
This afternoon i attached my newest Zuiko, a humble and underrated 100mm f/2.8 that cost me $55 including postage from the U.S. The light was going down, and the wind was pretty strong, but f/2.8 is still pretty respectable even if it’s not exactly “fast”.
Here is what i came up with shooting wide open at f/2.8 at 200ISO. There is no processing whatsoever, its straight from the RAW. No sharpening, no level/colour adjustments. I’ve also included a 100% crop of the image
100% crop
Shooting with a manual focus lens on the 400D isn’t the best combination you can think of. The viewfinder is pretty small, and it doesn’t have a focus screen designed for manual focus lenses. You can buy them and they’re relatively cheap, but i probably wont bother unless i upgrade to full frame. I’ll definitely be using my other manual focus lenses form now on though and I’m looking forward to using the 100mm for some portrait work.
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The golfer
Well now that my film scanner is dead I’ve been shooting some more digital lately.
Tonight my dad was working on his latest sculpture. It’s a commissioned work for one of Australia’s leading golf clubs. It’s quite an adventurous project actually. Golf is generally a conservative sport, especially when played on private courses which adhere to strict rules and tradition. Having a naked golfer at the entrance to you club isn’t something that a lot of people would be comfortable with. The club and members are making quite a bold statement and representatives from the R&A (golf’s governing body) loved the idea so much they’re footing most of the bill and are coming back over from Scotland for the unveiling which should be next year.
Anyway, I just got a couple shots of him tonight to check out the lighting conditions etc. I’ll be taking some black and white film shots at a later date.Click the images for a larger view, especially the second. I just stitched two shots together for some fun. No real post processing done at all.
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Film Scanners
I developed my first roll of 120 film yesterday and I already think I’m addicted.
Actually, that’s a pretty silly thing to say. My negatives are still hanging up by themselves looking pretty because i have no way to scan them. They might not turn out brilliant, but I’m now addicted to medium format viewfinders, and really like the whole process (I’ve been borrowing a friends RB67). But that’s a whole other story.
Anyway… Scanners… Yet another thing to spend money on =/
The film scanner I’ve been using up to now was something I bought a while ago before i was into photography, it’s well over 5 years old now. So it was just a fluke that it had film scanning capabilities that came in handy.
With film scanners you have two main varieties (for those who don’t know). Dedicated scanners that you feed slides and negative strips into that don’t do anything else besides scan film. Then you have the more conventional flatbed scanners that have film scanning capabilities.
Dedicated film scanners generally offer the best quality, but can be quite expensive and only take 35mm film.
The flatbed scanners are generally cheaper, offer decent quality (especially for web viewing and smaller prints), plus can take medium format film as well.
So at this stage I’m leaning towards a flatbed scanner as I don’t want to spend over $300, plus I need something that can take 120 film. I’m currently looking at the Epson 4490, Epson V500, Canon CanoScan 8800F, plus a couple others. I’m just trying to find some trustworthy reviews and personal opinions, as the manufacturer specifications are quite often misleading.
It’s actually bit of a pain in the ass finding the right scanner in my price range. The reality is none will really bring out the best of film, the full dynamic range that actually makes it superior to digital. So it’ll always be bit of a compromise. As long as it’s better than what i already have I’ll be happy!
Anyone want to buy me a drum scanner?
