Bakelite Rules!

I have a thing for Bakelite cameras, and always wanted to add the classic Kodak Brownie Hawkeye to my collection. It’s just a matter of time until one passes my way. But when I came across the unfamiliar Brownie Bulls-Eye in a flea market in Montsweag, Maine, it seemed a good consolation prize.

Kodak Brownie Bull’s-Eye Bakelite 620 Box Camera

I quickly learned that the Brownie Bull’s-Eye is an eye-level viewfinder camera similar to the Hawkeye, but with zone focusing, a better lens, and a larger rectangular format. Like the Hawkeye, it uses 620 film and can be easily adapted to 120 film. And it too has a fixed aperture of f/11, with two shutter speeds of 1/50 sec. and bulb. Both the Bull’s-Eye and the Hawkeye were designed by the influential industrial designer Arthur Crapsey who is also responsible for the Signet 35.

Like the Holga, these bakelite box cameras are wonderfully simple, but they are substantially better built. Bakelite is strong, lightweight, and dimensionally stable, not unlike cast aluminum, but much cheaper to manufacture. Compared with the Holga, these cameras have very good quality lenses. In fact, the Bull’s-Eye has a two element lens, as opposed to the simple meniscus lens in the Haweye.

This example was in good shape except for one thing; the dreaded mold. The lens was covered by a film of white mold, both inside and out, and also between the two element lens. But I’m pleased to report that it was an easy matter to remove the faceplate holding the lens assembly to clean both outer surfaces of the two-element coated glass lens. And in so doing, I discovered the Bull’s-Eye’s little secret; the rear element can be easily separated from the front by twisting off the bayonet retaining ring. The lens is now as clear as the day it was made.

Likewise, it was easy to restore the viewfinder lenses to their original condition. The rear viewfinder lens can be popped out along with its retaining clip by gently pushing from inside the back with a Q-tip.

Now that everything’s clean, I can look forward to taking some nice 6x9 frames by respooling 120 film onto my 620 rolls. Since I now have two 620 cameras, I have both a take-up spool, and one to respool the film onto.

This turned out to be quite a windfall. The Bull’s-Eye is much more usable than the Hawkeye, even though it does not possess quite the same cube-like charm.

Epson vs. Noritsu

Well, I retrieved the CD from my client, and the Noritsu scans of 120 film look great. That is, until you zoom in.

True, they have nice contrast and saturation. But the resolution is way, way less than the Epson. The Epsons also have much more shadow detail. True it’s at the expense of contrast, but this is easily added in post-processing.

I can resample and enlarge the Noritsu scans, and they look pretty good as long as there’s no diagonal lines to cause aliasing. But the CD is just not a good value. Twelve 1024x1024 px scans versus 36 3000x2000 px scans for the same ten bucks. You get 203,417,088 more pixels with 135 film versus 120.

The Verdict
120 Color Negative or Transparency Film send it out for processing, and scan it yourself.

135 Color Negative and Transparency Film send it out for both processing and scanning.

120 or 135 Black and White Negative Film. process and scan it yourself.

Prints
At fifty cents apiece, the 4"x4" prints were nothing to write home about. It would be more cost effective to gang the 120 scans together with other image files and order prints online or from a pharmacy. They often have specials that can save you money.

Also, 4"x4" prints are kind of small for 120 format. A 4x6 print has an image area of twenty-four square inches, but a 4x4 print is only sixteen. It makes sense to pull 5"x5" prints on 5x7 paper, and trim off the sides. That way, you have twenty-five square inches to enjoy.

Holga Scans: Commercial vs. DIY

I just returned from the lab with a set of prints from the Holga 120FN. It was nice to put it to some real use, rather than just experimental. And at this point I feel like putting the digitals away for a while and concentrating on film with the Holga.

I’ve been working with Imaging Coliseum on 39th Street in NYC, and they’ve really been coming through for me. They know film, and offer a full range of services for creative photographers, such as cross-processing. They’ll process your film exactly as you ask them to. I went all out on this roll, ordering both prints and a CD. Sadly, on my way home I stopped off at a client and accidentally left the CD behind, so when I got back to the studio, all I had was the prints and the film. They say things happen for a reason, and this forced me to scan in every frame of film on the Epson V500. Had this not happened, I might easily have defaulted to the standard, lo-res machine scans.

If anything can be said for the Epson V500, it’s that its forté is 120 film. It’s easily able to resolve fine detail when working in medium format. In thumbnail mode, it will detect and automatically crop 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7 and 6x9 formats, and you can scan up to 6x12cm in non-thumbnail mode for the Holga 120WPC. In a pinch, you can even scan each half of a 4x5, and stitch it together manually or with Adobe Photomerge. With the transparency mask removed, you can scan an area of 2.7" x 9.3" (6.9cm x 23.6cm). So you can overlap multiple exposures to create one long continuous negative and scan it intact.

When scanning reflective art, I usually set the levels manually. But with color negative film, you’ve no choice but to use the automatic exposure mode, which fortunately works quite well. I use the Digital Ice feature to remove dust and scratches, and it definitely makes clean-up go a lot faster.

With a square composition, it’s easy to specify the target width (or height) as 4,000 pixels, and let the other dimension fly, as long as it’s over 4,000px. Then, if you like, you can crop it down to exactly 4000 x 4000 for a 16MP image. Of course, you could also go 6000 x 6000 for a 36MP image. The choice is yours. The scans are far superior to the standard 1024x1024 scans from the Noritsu. Higher resolution scans are available, but they’e quite expensive. So, this was a test to be able to make a valid comparison between the machine scans, the prints, and my scans. In the future, I’ll just have the film processed and do the scanning myself.

ISO 400 is definitely the film to use on an unmodified Holga 120S, 120FN, or 120CFN. It has great latitude, and creates nice, dense negatives which scan easily. In low light, the flash of the 120FN works quite well in group shots with the default aperture. With ISO 100 film, the images would be two stops darker, and underexposure is never a good thing with film. So, this may prompt me to modify the “sunny” aperture to f/10 (right now that’s the “cloudy/flash” aperture) and make the cloudy/flash aperture f/8, which is exactly as the camera is meant to be. This way, I could use slower film with cloudy aperture if need be. This seems to be a much more sensible approach.

Day Fourteen: Griffith Head

The storm broke, and we awoke to cloudless blue skies once more. It’s a perfect beach day, so we’re heading out to Reid State Park for the second time this trip.

Day Thirteen: Rained In

An early morning thunderstorm and ensuing rain put a damper on things. We finally decide to venture out into the pouring rain to avoid a day’s worth of cabin fever. We meander up Route 1, finally making our way to Camden, where we stop off at Cappy’s for Chowder.

Although it’s rainy, it’s a lot less foggy that it was last Friday. I manage to get off a Holga shot, and a PhotoSynth of the waterfront.

Day Twelve: Sunrise, Ocean Point

This is one of my favorite Downeast haunts. Just east of Boothbay harbor, down Route 96, lies a stretch of road that follows the coast. There’s plenty of public parking along the road, so you can park, walk, and shoot. Again, my partner and I attempt to catch the rising sun. Only this time I bring the D50 and the B+W 092M IR Dark Red Filter along with the D90. And of course, my iPhone 4S is always with me.

Sunrise, Ocean Point, Maine.
Nikon D90, AF-S NIKKOR 16-85mm G.

A daylight white balance setting objectively captures the amber glow of the rising sun. Moments later, I take a wide angle shot with the iPhone. With a little in-phone post processing using Camera Plus Pro, I arrive at this…

Sunrise, Ocean Point, Maine.
Apple iPhone 4S, Camera Plus Pro App.

The iPhone is not so objective. The only white balance option is AWB (Auto White Balance), so its interpretation is not so objective. But still beautiful nontheless. On the other hand, the D50’s Infrared interpretation is vastly different…

Infrared Interpretation of Ocean Point Sunrise.
Nikon D50, B+W 092M IR Dark Red Filter.

Without the Voigtländer finder, I fix my gaze on the focal point of the scene and bring the viewfinder square up to my eye. I can just see the outline of the center focus indicator, so I align it with focal point of my gaze. In a pinch, this seems to work well.

Most of my shooting is off in the distance, so I just set the infinity mark to the infrared index. Zone focusing seems to be a good approach in this case. The NIKKOR 28mm and 50mm Series E would be ideal for this, except that auto exposure is not an option with manual focus lenses on the D50. However, with professional-class cameras like the D800 this is not a problem since the lens’ focal length and maximum aperture can be entered into its database for full metering capability. But I’m not counting on the D800 for infrared.

The metering capability is important, as I’m finding that Program mode works quite well. In fact, if I second-guess it, I usually wind up with overexposed images where the highlights turn to an unflattering cyan as they have above (note the very distracting banding). The images look very dark on the D50’s LCD; the histogram shows that the highlights start at the quarter-tone mark. But if I swap the SD card out and view them on my D90, they don’t look too bad. Sometimes, you just can’t trust the LCD.

I quite like the natural, sepia/blue duotone effect that comes naturally with the D50. It works well under certain circumstances. Usually though, I like to invert the a and b channels, which turns the sky back to blue, which tends to look more natural. Here’s the same image after post-processing…

Post-processed version of the above image, using a/b channel inversion.

I find that turning on the D50’s auto ISO feature helps a lot. I set the camera to ISO 200 and set the minimum shutter speed to 1/30 second. There are only four ISO settings on the D50; 200, 400, 800 and 1600. But interestingly enough, if program mode needs to set a shutter speed less than 1/30, it changes the ISO in incremental steps, sometimes quite small. This is huge, as it goes a long way to preserving image quality.

Looking west, we have a much lower contrast scene, and the cyan blooming is not as much of a problem…

Looking west at Ocean Point.
Nikon D50, AF NIKKOR 20mm f/2.8D, B+W 092M IR Dark Red Filter.

For this image, I remapped the start point to the quarter-tone point, and added just a touch of saturation and vibrance, but otherwise left it as it came from the camera. This can all be done in Adobe Camera RAW. Often, desaturating the image to create a split-toned monochrome interpretation produces beautiful results. This image is much sharper than the eastern-facing image above.

With the D50, there’s no way to convert the image to monochrome in the camera, so you’re always shooting in color. And no, you cannot swap the SD card and process it in the D90. The D90 will only allow you to modify its own images. But in post-processing on the desktop workstation, you can create monochromatic (Black and White) images from any of these color interpretations. And to be honest, this seems like a more natural domain for Infrared images.

Montsweag Camera Find: The Sequel Yes it’s Wednesday, Montsweag Flea Market Day. So, after breakfast we head down Route 1, and just before the rain sets in, and the vendors start packing things up, my partner comes across an epic camera find:

Kodak Retina IIIc Rangefinder

Kodak Brownie Bull’s-Eye Bakelite 620 Box Camera

Kodak Signet 35 Rangefinder

These are all in excellent condition. Ever since I first saw the Signet 35, I’ve wanted one; it’s really tiny, and built like a tank. The Retina IIIc features a Schneider Lens and a Synchro-Compur shutter, and is a serious, German-made rangefinder. Unfortunately, it’s in need of repair. The Brownie Bull’s-Eye is a focusing bakelite box camera. Bakelite rules!

Then, we head back towards Boothbay, stopping off at Sarah’s in Wiscasset for lunch. Afterwards, we browse some gallerys and antique shops, and I come across this:

Konica IIIA 135 Rangefinder

This is the most significant find of all; a superb, fast rangefinder that was years ahead of its time, in full working order. Definitely planning on shooting with this.

Sarah’s is right on the waterfront of the Sheepscot River, former home of the Hesper and the Luther Little, two of the last four-masted ships built in New England. They have since been reclaimed by the sea, but their moorings stil remain, captured by the D50, which I kept with me all day.

Sheepscot River, Wiscassett; former resting place of the Hesper and Luther Little.
Nikon D50, AF NIKKOR 20mm f/2.8D, B+W 092M IR Dark Red Filter.

Day Eleven: Sunrise, Hendricks Head Light

An early rise gave way to some photography by both my partner and me. Nothing fancy, just our Nikons and our standard zooms, in my case the 16-85mm, and in hers the 18-55mm. Having 400 speed film loaded, I also brought along my Holga 120FN.

Hendrick's Head Light, Southport, Maine.
Holga 120FN, Kodak Portra 400

The trick with taking sunrise, sunset and night photographs is interpreting the exposure correctly for the effect you want. If your goal is to capture the scene as it actually appears, then you need to underexpose by up to two or more stops. The exact amount varies widely, so keep your exposure compensation finger at the ready, whether your control is a single dial, or a combination of buttons and command dials.

Of course, you needn’t worry about any of this with the Holga; you just compose and shoot, and fix it in post. I was betting that, at ISO 400, with the subdued morning light, the exposure would be just right to satisfy the rule above. I was right.

Cameras typically do a night for day act, making everything look as if it were shot in broad daylight. That’s fine for taking pictures of aquarium tanks where you want to see lots of color and detail, but not so much for times when you want to preserve the original mood.

Contrast is also important. Underexposure naturally saturates colors, but also decimates dark detail, so be sure to reduce contrast when shooting in Vivid mode. Vivid means both colorful, and contrasty. When you set your camera to Vivid, you’ll be enhancing both saturation and contrast. So, if your camera allows it, dial the contrast down in Vivid mode.

Hendrick's Head Light, Southport, Maine.
Nikon D90, AF-S NIKKOR 16-85mm G.

As you can see the digital and analogue (film) versions are very different. The beautiful color in the sky prompted me to use a more expressive use of color. It’s much easier to tone down the color in post-processing than it is to add it where it never existed. So, when color is the key element, I prefer to shoot slightly on the colorful side. You don’t want to overdo it though, as saturation robs the image of shape.

Moon and Stars, looking east.
Nikon D90, AF-S NIKKOR 16-85mm G.

Moments later, the sky bursts with color.
Nikon D90, AF-S NIKKOR 16-85mm G.

Day Seven: Hendricks Head Beach

Good weather has returned once more, so we’re heading back over to Hendricks Head Beach to try out my daughter’s new boogie board. With the lighthouse looming in the inaccessible distance, there should be plenty of photo ops.

Low tide is at 2:30pm, so we’ll arrive just before noon. First order of business is breakfast at Mama D’s the breakfast and lunch hotspot.

Situated at the Head of the Harbor on Union Street, Mama D’s offers gourmet, al fresco dining for breakfast and lunch, and they’re pet-friendly!

Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G All I had to work with on my last visit was the DX 16-85mm G. Today, I’m using the 70-300mm G both alone and with the Kenko Teleplus MC7. If I can’t get physically close to the lighthouse, at least I can get optically close.

Lensbaby Pinhole Optic As I previously mentioned, the Lensbaby presents a strong case for upgrading to a full-frame camera, and the Lensbaby Pinhole Optic only strengthens that case. It’s about 75mm on an APS-C camera, but about 52mm on full-frame.

But today I’m going in the opposite direction, being that one of my subjects, Hendricks Head Light, is far away; the Kenko Teleplus MC7 and the Lensbaby Pinhole optic. Together they create a 150mm telephoto pinhole. The optics in the teleconverter actually make no difference. The Kenko extension tubes would also work equally well.

Focusing the pinhole optic has no effect other than to move it closer to or further away from the film/sensor plane, creating a subtle zoom effect. This also changes the exposure; the longer the focal length, the longer the exposure time or else the darker the image. And naturally the Kenko MC7 adds two stops just as it does with a lens attached.

CHIMPing is futile under such bright lighting conditions. Even properly exposed images look wrong, and you can really mess yourself up by judging the quality and exposure of images based on the preview. At most, trust the histogram. These pinhole images look awful when previewed in sunlight, but are much more compelling when viewed under dimmer conditions.

The real issue with pinhole photography is the surface area capturing the image. Diffraction limits the size of the point of light formed by the pinhole just as it does with a lens. So the bigger the better, and full-frame just means you have that much more of an edge.

Holga 120WPC Now this is a pinhole camera I can really be excited about. I’ve been collecting tins of various sizes over the years to construct the ideal film-based pinhole camera, but I think Holga has already done it for me. What could be more convenient than 120 roll film, and have more than eight times the surface area of 35mm film! And, the 120WPC shoots in two formats, 6x12 cm or 6x9 cm.

Tripod Photography In the early days of photography, tripods were a given, due to slow film, and lenses. Today, using a tripod is often more of a conscious choice. Even if it’s not essential for exposure, it frees your hands to swap out lenses or make adjustments.

You should avoid using VR when using a tripod. Tiny vibrations can actuate the VR system, causing it to overcompensate, creating more motion blur. In fact, if you use the self-timer instead of a remote cable release, VR times out and automatically switches off, preventing this problem.

Keeping Your Camera Dry

You know those little packets of silica gel that come with practically everything we buy? NEVER THROW THEM OUT!

Itstead of throwing them away, keep them in a safe dry place, and you can reuse them to keep humidity from damaging your equipment!

Film Cameras Drop one inside the film compartment when storing the camera for long periods.

bold If you have a packet small enough not to foul the mirror, hot glue it to the inside of a body cap. Or, you can place it in the battery compartment.

Lenses There’s plenty of room inside the rear cap for a packet. A dab of hot glue will prevent it from moving around or touching the rear lens, or you can just make sure you store and transport them facing upward.

Bags For all-around protection, place one in every pocket.

During very dry spells, swap out the packets so they can dry up, and store them in an airtight container ready for use when the going gets damp.

They also work great for protecting negatives and prints!

Day Nine: Boothbay Harbor

Apple iPhone 4S
There’s a lot of things the iPhone is good at as a camera. Most of all the fact that it’s with you at all times. But its flat form factor and wide angle enables it to do things like sit flat against a window and shoot through it with a minimal amount of reflection. In fact, with the standard Apple “bumper” behaving like a grip-inducing light gasket, the phone behaves like a kind of “light baffle”.

In the center of the town of Boothbay lies Romar Bowling Lanes, a candlepin bowling alley that’s been in service for longer than I can remember. For 66 years Charlie Rowe maintained the pin setting machines, until last year, when he passed away. The landscape of Boothbay as we know it will certainly change from this event, and this may the last chance to photograph this landmark.

So as my partner and I are walking back from picking up the Sunday New York Times, I pass by the west side of the Lanes and see the morning light passing through the windows on the east, perfectly illuminating the interior. With the iPhone, I was able to shoot right through the windows, as I If was inside.

The Snack Bar

The Head of the Lanes

The Back End

   The Pin Setting Machines

Nikon D90/AF-S 35mm f/1.8G
Our first real activity of the day is the Maine State Aquarium at the Maine Department of Marine Resources. For this I swap out the Lensbaby for my AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G “normal for APS-C” lens. Its incredible speed and sharpness make it perfect for the low illumination of the tanks in the dimly lit interior. It’s such a great lens I can forgive it not having a focus scale or aperture ring.

I switch to AF-C Area Mode to shoot through the glass and into the tanks to focus on the moving fish; not exactly high art, I know. But after all, I am on vacation.

This lens never ceases to amaze me. It makes everything look good with almost no effort, letting you concentrate on content and composition. It’s super light and has only one control...the auto/manual focus switch. It’s not entirely ideal for infrared work, as there’s no focusing scale or IR index dot. You’d have to auto-focus, switch to manual, and rotate the geared focus ring to the left by...some amount. But you’d get better at it with time and practice.

Day Eight: Lensbaby at Boothbay Harbor

One very strong case for full-frame cameras is the Lensbaby. On an APS-C camera, the Lensbaby is about 75mm—which is ideal for portraits. But you often need something a little wider, and on a full frame camera, the Lensbaby’s 50mm length is quite versatile. Sure, there are two wide angle adapters, but it’s nice to use the Lensbaby naked and be able to swap out those aperture disks at will. This is why I recommend the Lensbaby Composer Pro with the Sweet 35 optic for first time Lensbaby buyers who use the APS-C format.

The Sweet 35 Optic, as its name implies, has a 35mm focal length, and a built-in 12-bladed diaphragm with adjustable apertures from f/2.5 to f/22. It’s ideal for both APS-C and full-frame cameras.

Then, when you’re ready to move up to a full-frame camera (or need an excellent portrait solution) you can swap out the Sweet 35 for any of the other four classic optics.

If, like me you went for the standard composer, then the wide angle (45mm equivalent), and super wide angle (30.5mm equivalent) converters are for you. (Be forewarned: the super wide-angle has a bit of a fisheye-esque curvature to its wonderfully versatile width!)

As with the Samyang 8mm Fisheye, the Gossen DigiSix meter comes in handy for getting you in the exposure ballpark. So, I assemble everything and head out.

Tip: Dockside is no place to swap out aperture discs! I didn’t even attempt it! It’s far too easy to drop one overboard!

I ordered the soft focus accessory aperture kit, which gives me the three aperture discs you get with the soft focus optic, plus a duplicate set of the standard discs. Good to have as spares. Lensbaby is not cheap, but their quality is impeccable, and they’re not sneaky by making you have to buy the double-glass optic all over again just to get the soft-focus aperture discs.

Unfortunately, the weather has turned, and it’s overcast and foggy today. So perhaps I’ll revisit the Lensbaby on another day. For now however, I’ll scour the harbor to see if anything interesting comes my way.

Tips & Tricks: Leveling a Tripod

Many tripods these days come with built in levels. But if yours doesn’t, or the level is not accurate, here are some ways to accomplish this sometimes important task.

Flash Shoe Spirit Level There are many hot shoe-mountable spirit levels available. Simply slip one into your flash shoe (quickly becoming known also as an “accessory” shoe) and level your ’pod. But, if your camera doesn’t have a shoe, simply attach it to your tripod using a cold-shoe to 1/4-20 adapter.

Torpedo Level Even more accurate and a handy non-photographic tool to have in your kit is a torpedo level, which can be found at just about any hardware store. It can be placed against the vertical riser of your tripod to check its “plumb-ness” (the vertical equivalent of being level).

The Boothbay Time Warp

Some Things Never Change.

In 1977, I was sixteen years old and spending my summer vacations in Boothbay Harbor. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors had been released in February, and was a huge hit. I recall standing at the foot of Wharf Street outside the pizzeria, listening to songs from that album. And today as I walk up that same hill towards Sherman’s Books & Stationery, what should I hear but Don’t Stop from that same album.

Like our sense of smell, music can be a powerful force in recalling a memory. And today, it’s as if I was warped back to 1977. It was a very strange feeling.

In general, that’s one of the things I love about Boothbay. It is, in its own way, timeless and unspoiled. The pizzeria is still there, although I’m sure it has changed hands since then. But so much is still the same, like Downeast Ice Cream which is just across the street from Pier One Pizza. Each night after supper we journey across the footbridge in search our favorite of the 30 or so flavors.

Day Seven: Camden

It’s a little cooler today, a perfect day for a long drive up the coast to Camden. Don’t know what I’ll need, So I’ll just take the big bag.

So now that I have yet another lens standard in my possession the “Pentax M42 Universal Screw Mount” the burning questions are, what can I do with it? Can I adapt it to the Nikon? Can I Adapt the 1000DTL to other lenses? What can one really achieve with only a normal lens to work with?

Well the first answer is yes, there are Nikon F mount to M42 lens adapters. But a quick free-lensing test reveals that regardless of the adapter, you could never mount the lens close enough to achieve infinity focus. But it’s really close. So close, that at f/16, I might just be OK. So that’s certainly a thought.

The second answer looks like a no. Can’t seem to find any M42 Screw-mount to Nikon Lens Adapters. But my quest isn’t over yet.

The third answer applies to all cameras with normal lenses. I can convert it for close-up work with closeup lenses or macro extension tubes. For higher magnification, I can use the longer tubes, or flip the lens around with a macro ring. I can add a 1.4X or 2X teleconverter, and have a portrait or mild telephoto lens. Even if the lens was only moderately fast (like the 50mm f/2.0 that came with the 1000DTL) I’d have a 70mm f/2.8 or a 100mm f/4. Either option would be faster than my Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm G lens.

Wide angle seems to be the real challenge. I’m not a big fan of converter lenses on SLR-class cameras, but If I come across a really good one with a 52mm screw mount, it could add a lot of versatility to not only this, but my other “normal” lenses as well. A new quest, perhaps.

But in the meantime, I could use Photoshop’s Photomerge feature with a series of frames stitching them together to create a wide-angle shot.

The day turns out to be very overcast and foggy, so not many photo ops present themselves. But, I do get a nice panorama of the harbor with Photosynth.

Day Six: Hendricks Head Beach

Since I’m heading up to Hendricks Head Beach today, I decide to take along my trusty Sima 5-section monopod. I actually rescued this from the trash, because the QRP (quick release plate) was missing. I put a call into Sima, and they sent one out to me free of charge.

It might interest you to know that the primary reason for using a monopod is to support the weight of the camera on long shoots. True, it helps to steady the camera vertically, but it’s not meant to take the place of a traditional three-legged tripod. Sports photogs typically use these to take the burden of their heavy but fast high-power telephoto lenses. But for non-sports lensmen, they also have many other uses that make them an essential piece of equipment.

The Walking Stick A monopod can double as a walking stick on long photo hikes. It can help you steady yourself when climbing rocks, preventing a fall that could cause substantial injury to you or damage to your expensive equipment.

High Angle View Used with a self-timer or IR remote shutter release, the camera can be raised high in the air to create an overhead view. This can be very handy for event photography.

Flash Bracket/Extender You can attach a cold shoe adapter to the quick-release and use the monopod to hold an off-camera flash. You can extend the monopod as far as needed to reach the necessary height, holding it with one hand as you work the camera with the other. Or, you can have your assistant follow you around and position the flash at your command.

Backdrop Support Suspended between two objects, an extended monopod can serve as a support for a fabric backdrop.

Angling the camera down slightly when mounting it allows you to control the vertical tilt by the angle you hold the monopod. The topmost section of the monopod is grip-actuated, so I extend that fully and adjust the final height with one of the lower leg sections. I can now quickly shorten the entire assembly if needed using the grip.

Hendricks Head Light, Southport, Maine.

Off to the west is Hendricks Head Light, now privately owned and inaccessible to the public. Dead center in the cove is a large outcrop of rock that offers a better view, so I put the Sima to the test. With the D90 mounted, I use the monopod to steady my ascent and support the weight of the camera. Without worrying about the camera bouncing around my neck, I have one hand free, and the other, with the extended reach of the monopod, able to brace myself against a fall.

The remainder of the day is spent exploring more of Maine’s rocky coastline.

Day Five: Reid State Park, Georgetown

Today we’re heading out to the beach at Reid State, but beforehead we’re going to stop off at the Montsweag Flea Market. And before breakfast, I head into town for a little fisheye fun.

Samyang 8mm Fisheye, Gossen DigiSix Meter It’s likely that anyone who has ever taken a high school photography course has been exposed to the fisheye lens. And I’m sure many feel the urge to go right out and buy one. And shortly thereafter, the fascination wears off, and it never again sees the light of day.

Truth be told, the fisheye look is not everyone’s cup of tea. But the fisheye lens can be an amazing tool when used in a way that takes advantage of its unique qualities.

Ultra Wide Angle You can think of a fisheye lens as a non-rectilinear ultra wide-angle lens. And you can use it that way by simply making sure that the horizon line coincides with the vertical dead-center of the frame. If there are any converging lines in the field of view, put them dead center in the frame, to tame the fisheye effect and minimize distortion. If you can, alter your position to avoid horizontal lines in the foreground by foot zooming.

Global View When used from a high angle pointed downwards, the scene takes on a globe-like quality as if everything existed in an enormous scale on a tiny planet.

Hemispherical Panorama When pointed upwards, the effect is that of a 360° panorama, where the horizon runs around the periphery of the image and all comes together at the center, creating a hemispherical view. This is especially true of circular fisheye lenses with a 180° or greater field of view. However, woodlands and cityscapes also lend themselves well to full-frame fisheyes such as the Samyang 8mm.

Bender of Lines Fisheyes are wonderful for bending straight lines, such as those of bridges, transmission towers and other overhead superstructures.

All told, the Samyang is a wonderful addition to your kit, as it represents a modest investment which yields much in terms of quality and versatility. First off, it’s manual focus, which is perfectly fine for a lens with nearly infinite deep depth of field. Secondly, it’s quite sharp and has excellent saturation and contrast. But, last but not least, this fisheye has what is known as a stereoscopic projection. Simply speaking, it has a much more pleasing interpretation of the fisheye aesthetic.

Being a non-chipped, manual focus lens, I get to work the aperture ring, which is smooth and offers atypical half-stop increments. Like the Voigtländer external finder, the Gossen DigiSix slides into the flash shoe to become part of the camera. It assists me in setting exposure, which is tricky with a lens that can pull together so much information a single frame.

Tip: The DigiSix has no power switch, so be sure to remove the battery if you’re planning on storing it for an extended period of time. It will give out in you when you least expect it. Also, a tiny drop of locktight on the threads of the hot shoe adapter will prevent it from loosening and falling off your camera.

I head out along East Boothbay where the Samyang 8mm can capture the vast scope of the Harbor. The footbridge adjoining east and west sides offers an ideal collection of converging lines to work with.

Part of the fun of working with fisheye lenses is hunting for subjects that lend themselves well to the aesthetic, and learning more about your visible world in the process. The Harbor has much to offer in this respect.

Montsweag Camera Find
Every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday there’s an outdoor flea market in the town of Montsweag, a short distance down Route 1 from Boothbay Harbor. And this week’s browse netted a unique camera find; a Mamiya-Sekor 1000DTL.

The 1000DTL was a very popular camera in the ’70s, and a ground-breaking one at that. It’a a great addition to my SLR collection, as it’s an M42 screw-mount, popularized by Pentax. In the world of Mamiya, leading manufacturer of medium format SLRs, this is also known as the “Praktica-Mamiya/Sekor 42mm universal threaded mount.”

This was the first 135 SLR with a dual-pattern TTL meter, switchable between a 6% spot and an averaging meter. It employs stop-down metering, which is more cumbersome, but also more accurate than full-aperture metering. Its user interface is elegant and simple; pull out the rewind lever to its first stop to turn the meter on, and push it back in to stop the lens down for metering and depth of field preview. When you’re finished shooting, press the center hub of the rewind lever to turn off the meter and fully retract the lever. The meter runs on a single, easy to find S76 battery.

Part of the fun of collecting these old cameras is cleaning them up. An old toothbrush, a few Q-tips, some multipurpose cleaner, and they look practically new. For stubborn stains, a dab of Soft Scrub goes a long way, and some mineral spirits removes sticky, greasy residue. A drop of bleach helps to whiten engraved and painted markings.

So, I drop in a silver oxide 357/303 battery (equivalent to the S76) flip the rewind lever, and sure enough, the meter works just fine. I just might have to pick up some 135 film to shoot before I return home.

At Last, Griffith’s Head Beach, Reid State Park Here I turn to the Nikkor AF-S 16-85mm G with the Cokin P173 Varicolor Polarizer.

Cokin P173 Varicolor Polarizer This wonderful filter uses two colored polarizers mounted at a 90°angle to one another. When light reflects from an object, it’s polarized into many individual planes. A standard polarizing filter allows you to screen out one of these planes of reflection. But the Cokin Varicolor filters allows you to color them, and the P173’s blue/yellow color scheme is particularly pleasing and useful.

The surf and sand at Reid State Park are perfect for showcasing the P173’s unique effect. You simply rotate the filter to find the right degree of separation between the two “channels” of polarized light. You can make the sky or water a deep blue, while retaining warmer tones in the landscape or foreground. Or, you can literally change the entire mood of a scene from icy cool to warm and inviting. It’s your choice.

Day Three: Linekin Bay, Whale Watch

My first expedition is to nearby Barrett park overlooking Lewis Cove. I didn’t get much of a chance to try out my new B+W 092 Dark Red filter, so I reach for my Nikon D50.

As it turns out, the AF NIKKOR 20mm f/2.8D is a good choice for D50 Infrared. Its smooth manual focus, real focus scale and infrared index give it an advantage, and its 30mm APS-C angle of view almost perfectly matches the Voigtländer 35mm external viewfinder.

Combined with the D50’s greater IR sensitivity, the 20mm f/2.8 is more practical than it would be with say, the D90. At ISO 1600, handheld shooting is possible, and the D50’s noise is surprisingly low at that speed.

The D50 does not have Live View, so the Voigtländer finder assists with composition, while AF assists with focus. I say assists, because once the D50 sets the focus point, it needs to be adjusted to the IR index, just the same as it does with manual focus. The difference is, with infrared, you can’t see to focus without first removing the filter, so this is a big help. Program mode yields a workable image right away, but exposure in IR is very tricky, so tweaking with exposure compensation dial is almost a given. Certainly it gives you a baseline to work from if you choose to switch to manual exposure. To get the highest resolution image possible, I use a tripod with an ISO of 400 and an aperture of f/5.6 in A mode.

This was a great opportunity to try out the new B+W 092 Dark Red Infrared filter. This filter has a lower cutoff point, allowing a little more visible light to find its way to the sensor. This creates a more “colorful” false-color image. It’s also a little easier to work with. This 67mm filter and the required 62-67mm step-up ring can be used with the HB-4 bayonet hood, but the 67mm Hoya screw-in hood is more effective.

Nikkor AF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6G
After Breakfast, we head over to the center of town for a whale watch cruise to which I bring the D90. Equipped with the AF-S NIKKOR 16-85mm and Nikon Circular Polarizer II, I’m ready for some full-spectrum photography.

The Nikon Circular Polarizer II is about a third-stop faster than most other polarizers. It’s is one of the most important filters to have in your kit, as it modifies light in a way no post-processing can.

Another good polarizer is the Hoya HRT Circular Polarizer/UV. It’s a mild polarizer with good UV blocking characteristics, which gives you about a 1/3-stop advantage over a standard polarizer. You can safely keep it on your lens at all times as a protector, and simply take it off if you really need the extra speed. But when lighting is good and the situation warrants, the Nikon Circular Polarizer II can’t be beat.

Day One: Arrival at Boothbay Harbor

After a once-again lengthy car ride, we arrive at Boothbay Harbor. After unpacking and freshening up, we enjoy twin Lobsters at Brown’s Wharf, within waking distance of our house.

As I unpack my gear, I realize I had enough room for two more compact prime lenses, though I think I can make do with six. (Seven if you count the Loreo Lens-in-a-cap.) I can’t imagine why it’s taken me until now to put this bag back into service. The amount of gear it can hold and organize is nothing short of amazing.

The plan this year is to start out each day with a particular lens, traveling light and not worrying too much about whether or not the subject matter is appropriate for a specific optic. I’ll be reporting on my experiences as they unfold, and adding example images once I return. Unfortunately, the iPad camera connection kit does not work with my iPhone 4S, but I will be able to publish images captured on the iPhone.

Tamrac to the Rescue

This year’s extended trip to the Boothbay Harbor region of Maine requires bringing along a little more photo gear. So, I’ve decided to break out the big guns. The Mighty Tamrac Pro 6 series bag.

Back in my glory days as a dedicated Canonite, I would haul this bag around with two bodies, lenses mounted, and just about every other piece of camera gear you could imagine. It’s enormous.

This exact model is no longer sold, but the current equivalent bag is the model 614. These bags have the “Lens Bridge” feature which allows you to carry two bodies face to face with lenses attached, and feature six, two-level compartments between them. There’s also an ample assortment of padded and unpadded outer pockets. It’s not a bag that you’d want to carry around with you often, but a great “one-stop-shopping” approach to packing your gear. This bag transitions quite well to digital, unlike my Tamrac 757 backpack, which has narrow inner compartments. Some new dividers may solve that problem however.

So off I go with six cameras in all; the Nikon D90 and D50, Holga 120FN and 120WPC, and the Canon SD780. The iPhone 4S qualifies as the sixth, but stays on my person at all times; it slso serves as my photo assistant. Lenses? NIKKOR 16-85 and 70-300 zooms, 35mm f/1.8, 20mm f/2.8, Samyang 8mm f/3.5 fisheye, Lensbaby Composer with double glass and pinhole/zoneplate optic, and the Kenko Teleplus MC7 2X teleconverter. Not to mention filters, external viewfinders, filter rings, and other paraphernalia. All in one bag. Whew! Will I use it all? We’ll see.

Storage: Preparing for the Long Haul

So the time has come to expand and rethink my storage capacity. What was once my backup drive has now become a 1TB drive dedicated specifically to image storage. The drive previously used for photos and graphics will now become dedicated solely to music and video. A new, larger capacity drive will carry the responsibility of backing up all three of the other drives, including the one in the CPU itself. I now have backup capacity well in excess of my storage requirements, which is a wonderful thing.

This extra-large backup drive can also be used for temporary storage, such as a scratch disk and Adobe Bridge cache.

Next step: Blue-Ray disc burner for Data Archiving.