Archive for March, 2007
March 17, 2007 at 2:11 am · Filed under Photography
A couple of posts back I wrote about whether a lot of people who buy DSLRs actually need DSLRs. Only now have I realised that the mass of text I wrote back then could probably be summarised perfectly by paraphrasing the words of Jeff Goldblum’s character in Jurassic Park…
“… They were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.“
Simple.
And if you have absolutely no idea what I’m harping on about, go check out the original “Do You Need a DSLR?” article…
March 9, 2007 at 8:51 pm · Filed under Photography
Fancy a Chinese?
A few days ago I wandered across a photo of an old film camera with it’s accompanying flash unit sporting some sort of modified take-away container which was being used as a diffuser when the flash was on camera. There was no accompanying text with the image as far as I can recall but I remember thinking that I should try that as another homemade thing to experiment with (can you tell I’m slightly broke at the moment?!). As it turned out we had some brand spanking new Chinese takeaway tubs and lids in the cupboard, and I spent long and arduous minutes cutting and sticking to create my own version to share with you all. Aren’t I nice!?
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March 8, 2007 at 9:41 pm · Filed under Photography
I’ve always, always wanted a Yashica Electro. Ever since I first got into photography with my clunky old Zenit EM (which one day I must put up on the blog as the reason this is all here) and I had skipped from website to website picking up little titbits, one of the few that had stuck in my mind was how good Yashica Electros actually were. Not only were they rangefinders (another word for small, quiet, cool cameras of which Leica were the holy grail) but they were cheap, plentiful and had a lens that was not only a low light masterpiece (at f 1.7 ) but also so sharp you could cut yourself on the negatives. That they were Japanese and looked beautiful was just the icing on the cake for me…
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March 8, 2007 at 5:18 pm · Filed under Photography
Not exactly a huge change to the ringflash build at the moment, but more a test that has for now turned permanent. On the first test shots I noticed that the flash wasn’t reflecting perfectly around to the bottom of the bowl, and although this didn’t really pose a problem with light at the bottom of a shot, it did make the ringflash reflections a little ugly.
The simple solution? Try a bit of diffusion…
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March 4, 2007 at 1:27 pm · Filed under Photography
A few days ago on my local webhaunt (a forum run by my good friend Chris and frequented mostly by people who know each other off the net as well as on) we all got talking about the release of Lightroom and eventually got around to talking about cameras. Chris asked me whether I would still buy a 20D (or equivalent) if I was looking for a new body today, or would I pay more or less – my answer was a little longer and a little more rambling than I expected but importantly drew into question why there is a common perception that DSLRs are the only “option” if you want to be or want to be seen to be a pro…
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March 2, 2007 at 10:22 pm · Filed under Photography
Building your own ringflash for a few measly pounds (or dollars!) is nothing new; aside from the DIY Ringflash post on Strobist, you only have to wander onto discussion forums like the Strobist Flickr group, POTN’s forum or even do a general Google search to see that loads of people are building their own ringflashes. I guess in part it’s because a “proper” setup costs at least a few hundred pounds, but also I think people fettle one together because they do just take great portraits.
Anyway, seen as I’d got my flash handy, didn’t have much to do and had re-read the Strobist DIY Ringflash post for the 73rd time I decided I might as well try and make one and maybe make some useful discoveries on the way…
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