This morning I picked up my film from CVS. For less than a Grande Pike’s Place blend at Starbucks, I have color processing, in as little as an hour if I needed it. $2.34 to be exact. No crappy 4x6 prints, no lo-res scans on CD-R.
I also opted not to have the negatives cut. With all this high-volume, automated processing, they often come back miscut. Plus, they put them in cheapo sleeves that I have to throw out anyway. Instead, they deliver the negatives rolled-up in a recycled film container. That’s fine with me.
So, does the Konica IIIA work? Well, every frame came out. Negative densities look good. I’m on my way out to a gig, so, I sleeved them to relax the curl and tomorrow I’ll loupe and scan them. I did an initial scan of one frame shot indoors, wide open, and aside from a little motion blur, it looks pretty good.
The Epson V500 can scan up to 12 frames in a batch, if your negs are cut in strips of six frames each. Four is the norm, so it takes three scanning sessions to complete a full roll. You prescan them, check off the boxes of the frames you want scanned, select each thumbnail to set the exposure and resolution preferences, click scan, and go get a cup of coffee. If you have the Digital Ice feature turned on to filter out dust and scratches (and it’s well worth it in the long run) it takes a while, but at least you can go do something else while it’s doing all the work.
Scanning a “contact sheet” is much quicker. You can turn off Digital Ice and use a lower resolution. Later, you can rescan the “gems” at a higher res, and any adjustments you applied in Camera Raw can be transferred to the higher-resolution file.
Before I judge too harshly the sharpness of the IIIA’s lens or the accuracy of its focus, I’ll need to keep the film as flat as possible. This may mean modifying or replacing the V500’s negative carrier, which allows the film to curl. Every little problem is amplified with 135 film, which is much smaller than 120.
So far 1/250, 1/100, 1/50 and 1/25 seem to work fine. The next step is to check the really slow shutter speeds, and make sure the flash syncs up. If everything checks out, this will be that real rangefinder experience I’ve been looking for. At least until that bargain Leica M4 come along.
News, Muse and Reviews for Aspiring Lensmen.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Analog Anticipation
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| 1950’s Konica IIIA Rangefinder with 2000’s Gossen Digisix meter installed. |
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Lucky 13: Adobe’s Photoshop Makeover
Photoshop 13 (part of the Adobe CS6 creative suite) is now shipping, and its drastically new interface is sure to ruffle a few feathers.
Following in the footsteps of photographer’s tools such as Apple’s Aperture, Capture One and Adobe’s own Lightroom, Photoshop 13 has adopted the serious and foreboding “dark grey” interface.
There are actually four grey color schemes, one darker and two lighter than the default. The lightest restores Photoshop to its more traditional look. Bridge shares these same color schemes, so you can easily keep them in sync. And Illustrator has adopted them too.
Also, the floating “panels” have been combined into one unified window with a solid backdrop which Adobe calls an “Application Frame”. This was actually first implemented in Photoshop 12 (CS4), but is now turned on by default. It can however be disabled, fully restoring Photoshop CS6 to its CS5 look and feel.
In CS4, Adobe changed the tab fonts to uppercase. It was a “change for the sake of change” which took up more space and made the tabs harder to read. However in this version it has been “fixed” by reverting back to upper and lower case.
Those of you who live and die by Camera Raw are in for a bit of a shock. Recovery and Fill Light are gone, replaced by “Highlights” and “Shadows”. Brightness has also been removed and replaced by “Whites”. All of these are now bi-directional sliders meaning that negative values are possible. The good news is that settings previously made in Camera Raw 6.x show up with the previous interface’s sliders. In fact, you can set the RAW 6.x sliders to their default values and save them as a preset so you can still use the Recovery, Fill Light, and Brightness sliders in ACR 7 if you want to. However you cannot have both the sliders from ACR 6 and ACR 7 at the same time.
This new approach seems more logical. Exposure and Brightness may seem redundant to many, despite their use of different algorithms. And it’s not unreasonable to want to lighten the highlights or darken the shadows, the opposite of recovery and fill light. To compensate for the loss of the Brightness slider, Adobe has given the Exposure slider a five-stop range instead of four.
Photoshop’s interface has been much improved by separating the adjustments and properties into two separate windows. Now, when you double-click an adjustment layer, the properties panels pops up like a dialog box, and goes away when you click on something else if you have “hide iconic panels” checked in interface preferences. This is great for saving valuable screen real estate.
At first glance, Bridge remains relatively unchanged. They did change the interface slightly by eliminating the alternate light/dark rows in the Metadata panel. This reduces the readability somewhat, but it comes at the welcome expense of fixing an annoying problem. Previously when you clicked on a single field, all the fields became active which was very distracting. Now, only the field you click on is highlighted. Happily, the alternating light/dark rows remain in the Keywords and Filter panel.
There are lots of other features to explore, which we’ll roll out as time progresses. And only time will tell if the many bugs in CS5 have been resolved. But so far, this looks like one of the more noteworthy releases of Photoshop.
Following in the footsteps of photographer’s tools such as Apple’s Aperture, Capture One and Adobe’s own Lightroom, Photoshop 13 has adopted the serious and foreboding “dark grey” interface.
There are actually four grey color schemes, one darker and two lighter than the default. The lightest restores Photoshop to its more traditional look. Bridge shares these same color schemes, so you can easily keep them in sync. And Illustrator has adopted them too.
Also, the floating “panels” have been combined into one unified window with a solid backdrop which Adobe calls an “Application Frame”. This was actually first implemented in Photoshop 12 (CS4), but is now turned on by default. It can however be disabled, fully restoring Photoshop CS6 to its CS5 look and feel.
In CS4, Adobe changed the tab fonts to uppercase. It was a “change for the sake of change” which took up more space and made the tabs harder to read. However in this version it has been “fixed” by reverting back to upper and lower case.
Those of you who live and die by Camera Raw are in for a bit of a shock. Recovery and Fill Light are gone, replaced by “Highlights” and “Shadows”. Brightness has also been removed and replaced by “Whites”. All of these are now bi-directional sliders meaning that negative values are possible. The good news is that settings previously made in Camera Raw 6.x show up with the previous interface’s sliders. In fact, you can set the RAW 6.x sliders to their default values and save them as a preset so you can still use the Recovery, Fill Light, and Brightness sliders in ACR 7 if you want to. However you cannot have both the sliders from ACR 6 and ACR 7 at the same time.
This new approach seems more logical. Exposure and Brightness may seem redundant to many, despite their use of different algorithms. And it’s not unreasonable to want to lighten the highlights or darken the shadows, the opposite of recovery and fill light. To compensate for the loss of the Brightness slider, Adobe has given the Exposure slider a five-stop range instead of four.
Photoshop’s interface has been much improved by separating the adjustments and properties into two separate windows. Now, when you double-click an adjustment layer, the properties panels pops up like a dialog box, and goes away when you click on something else if you have “hide iconic panels” checked in interface preferences. This is great for saving valuable screen real estate.
At first glance, Bridge remains relatively unchanged. They did change the interface slightly by eliminating the alternate light/dark rows in the Metadata panel. This reduces the readability somewhat, but it comes at the welcome expense of fixing an annoying problem. Previously when you clicked on a single field, all the fields became active which was very distracting. Now, only the field you click on is highlighted. Happily, the alternating light/dark rows remain in the Keywords and Filter panel.
There are lots of other features to explore, which we’ll roll out as time progresses. And only time will tell if the many bugs in CS5 have been resolved. But so far, this looks like one of the more noteworthy releases of Photoshop.
Monday, September 10, 2012
The Collection
It was never a cognitive decision to become a collector of cameras. It just sort of happened. After acquiring about five collectible pieces, of which I have no idea as to how I came about them, it seemed to be a logical outlet to my fascination with these precision little devices.
I then came to realize that if I’m going to have a collection, it should have certain pieces in it; that is, it should contain a reasonable variety of cameras from different periods, of different designs, with different purposes. This summer’s acquisitions, which were intentional, helped to fill the rangefinder void, and even provide some new shooters. I’m quite excited about the prospect of shooting some 6x9s with the Kodak Brownie Bull’s-Eye.
The ongoing process of building a virtual collection comprised of downloaded and painstakingly groomed images has kept me aware of what to look for. Still, I had no idea that the Bull’s-Eye even existed. Now, I feel as if I should get a second example to modify, Holga-style.
Until now, these cameras have been tucked away in cardboard boxes, taken out from time to time to float around, only to return to their corrugated cells. But now that it’s official, I’ve decided to give them a real home.
IKEA sells an inexpensive ($65.00!) mostly-glass display case which is perfect for collectors. Its IKEA name is Detolf, and it measures approximately 16" x 14" x 64". It has four fixed shelves which can easily accommodate four cameras each, and up to nine if you get creative. I decided to place my cameras on graduated risers, three across by three deep.
The design of the case seems to have evolved over the years, and it now features frosted plastic channels along the back corners to join the glass and keep out dust. The narrow gap at the front could easily be sealed with foam weatherstrip if need be.
Although many of these gems still work, it’s nice to be able to appreciate them as the mechanical marvels they still are in the digital world of today.
I then came to realize that if I’m going to have a collection, it should have certain pieces in it; that is, it should contain a reasonable variety of cameras from different periods, of different designs, with different purposes. This summer’s acquisitions, which were intentional, helped to fill the rangefinder void, and even provide some new shooters. I’m quite excited about the prospect of shooting some 6x9s with the Kodak Brownie Bull’s-Eye.
The ongoing process of building a virtual collection comprised of downloaded and painstakingly groomed images has kept me aware of what to look for. Still, I had no idea that the Bull’s-Eye even existed. Now, I feel as if I should get a second example to modify, Holga-style.
Until now, these cameras have been tucked away in cardboard boxes, taken out from time to time to float around, only to return to their corrugated cells. But now that it’s official, I’ve decided to give them a real home.
IKEA sells an inexpensive ($65.00!) mostly-glass display case which is perfect for collectors. Its IKEA name is Detolf, and it measures approximately 16" x 14" x 64". It has four fixed shelves which can easily accommodate four cameras each, and up to nine if you get creative. I decided to place my cameras on graduated risers, three across by three deep.
The design of the case seems to have evolved over the years, and it now features frosted plastic channels along the back corners to join the glass and keep out dust. The narrow gap at the front could easily be sealed with foam weatherstrip if need be.
Although many of these gems still work, it’s nice to be able to appreciate them as the mechanical marvels they still are in the digital world of today.
Friday, September 7, 2012
The No-Less-Mighty Brownie Bull’s-Eye
Shot the same way as the on-location Brownie Hawkeye. Just for comparison.
Well, almost. The lighting was not as good, so I slid the subject further back and rested the camera on the edge of the table for more stability. It came out tack-sharp. The warmer surroundings made for a warmer picture. If you turn the camera upside down, you can get within 1/2" of the surface. Just be sure not to press the sleep button. You can use a coin if necessary.
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| Hawkeye’s Bigger Brother: The Brownie Bull’s-Eye |
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
The Mighty Brownie Hawkeye
Here it is, my Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. Only this one wasn’t for sale. It was a prop at The Container Store.
I did get a chance to play with it though. It’s quite tiny in real life. It always seems much bigger to me in pictures. To drive that point home I temporarily relocated it and shot it from a low angle with my iPhone 4S.
One of the first rules of good photography is to get down low, at the same level as your subject. When shooting small children for example, you should position yourself at their level.
As for the Brownie, the perspective of the wide-angle lens combined with the low angle makes it look enormous, and in a way, majestic. This technique is also frequently used for beauty shots of automobiles. The size of the subject doesn’t matter; whether it’s a real car or a matchbox car, the perspective is the same. Only the necessary camera-to-subject distance changes.
With the iPhone used in its “correct” landscape position (with the volume/shutter release button at the top of the camera) you can get within about 1/2" of the surface the subject is on. This would be about fender height to a matchbox car. The vertical height is important, as it determines the scale.
Imagine that you were the height of a 4" action figure, crouching down and taking a picture of a 4" high Brownie Hawkeye camera. Now imagine that you are normal height, and the camera is 6 feet high. You’d also be crouching down, about three feet off the ground. The two photos would look pretty much the same.
Equipped with this knowledge, you can be a master of scale and perspective. The inverse is also true when using a perspective control (tilt-shift) lens, or the Lensbaby. To get the “scale model” effect, you shoot from a higher angle, and the selective focus simulates the narrow depth of field of a macro or close up lens.
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| The Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, a tiny cube-shaped Bakelite box camera. |
I did get a chance to play with it though. It’s quite tiny in real life. It always seems much bigger to me in pictures. To drive that point home I temporarily relocated it and shot it from a low angle with my iPhone 4S.
One of the first rules of good photography is to get down low, at the same level as your subject. When shooting small children for example, you should position yourself at their level.
As for the Brownie, the perspective of the wide-angle lens combined with the low angle makes it look enormous, and in a way, majestic. This technique is also frequently used for beauty shots of automobiles. The size of the subject doesn’t matter; whether it’s a real car or a matchbox car, the perspective is the same. Only the necessary camera-to-subject distance changes.
With the iPhone used in its “correct” landscape position (with the volume/shutter release button at the top of the camera) you can get within about 1/2" of the surface the subject is on. This would be about fender height to a matchbox car. The vertical height is important, as it determines the scale.
Imagine that you were the height of a 4" action figure, crouching down and taking a picture of a 4" high Brownie Hawkeye camera. Now imagine that you are normal height, and the camera is 6 feet high. You’d also be crouching down, about three feet off the ground. The two photos would look pretty much the same.
Equipped with this knowledge, you can be a master of scale and perspective. The inverse is also true when using a perspective control (tilt-shift) lens, or the Lensbaby. To get the “scale model” effect, you shoot from a higher angle, and the selective focus simulates the narrow depth of field of a macro or close up lens.
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