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Photography technical advice, questions, tips and techniques.

Started by Tank, July 30, 2018, 10:37:09 AM

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Bluenose

Quote from: Tank on August 10, 2018, 12:08:37 PM
Quote from: Bluenose on August 10, 2018, 11:50:10 AM
Back in the day, I used to have a Minolta XD-5 SLR (actually, I still have it here somewhere).  When I went on a Squadron run ashore, I used to fit a wide angle lens (28 mm from memory), adjusted the focus to about 2 ft to infinity with an aperture to f22 and tape the focus ring so it would not move and fitted a diffusion filter to my Sunpack flash, which was quite capable of giving me decent exposure at up to 20 ft away.  I could then enjoy my night out with my fellow officers, get as pissed as I liked and still got quite acceptable photographs of the proceedings.  My mates often commented that my photos were better than what they tried under the same circumstances - prior planning.

On a related note, I was photographic officer on my squadron.  We had Nikon SLRs with 80-210 mm zoom lenses (big, heavy old fashioned ones) for use by the front-seaters in the aircraft.  We were using Ilford FP4 100 ASA black and white film for reconnaissance photography.  The cameras had a "needle and ring" type of manual exposure control.  We were getting only about 15-20% usable photographs, mostly out of focus, but also badly exposed.  I decided to have a trial of using fixed settings to take the variation out when used by non-photographer aircrew (who really couldn't care less about f stop, exposure and focus etc).  I spoke to the phot section guys and they suggested a particular f stop and exposure (time prevents me from recalling exactly what) and I adjusted the lens to about 100 mm and set the focus to give a depth of field from about 100 ft to infinity.  Because FP4 is a very flexible film the phot guys could compensate for around 2 stops over or under exposure during processing with not too much loss of quality, or even more if needs be.  Effectively I had turned these very expensive cameras into point and shoot devices for nubes.  The results were about 80-85% usable photos, which I considered to be win!

What a waste of good kit  :'( :'( :'( :'(

Well, I see your point, but in the case of my camera for the "happy snaps" it was just preparing for the event, knowing I was not going to be in a state to do a proper job. (What, me getting three sheets to the wind?  Whatever are you suggesting?  LOL)

With the recce photography the real issue was that the guys taking the photos were simply not that much interested in cameras and all the technical details.  I tried hard to get the Navy to buy us fixed focal length 100 mm lenses, which would have been much lighter and at the distance we did the photography was about the right size to give a fairly full frame image of the target ship.  Additionally the zoom lenses in those days were not really all that good optically so add the inherent vibration from shooting from the aircraft, the length and weight of the zoom lenses and the lack of skill of the guys actually taking the shots, I think my solution was for the best given the parameters we were operating under.  The end results were a vast improvement under the circumstances.  But yes, I always did see the irony of effectively turning good quality pofessional gear into "Kodak Instamatics".  :D
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


Tank

Quote from: Bluenose on August 11, 2018, 01:44:10 AM
Quote from: Tank on August 10, 2018, 12:08:37 PM
Quote from: Bluenose on August 10, 2018, 11:50:10 AM
Back in the day, I used to have a Minolta XD-5 SLR (actually, I still have it here somewhere).  When I went on a Squadron run ashore, I used to fit a wide angle lens (28 mm from memory), adjusted the focus to about 2 ft to infinity with an aperture to f22 and tape the focus ring so it would not move and fitted a diffusion filter to my Sunpack flash, which was quite capable of giving me decent exposure at up to 20 ft away.  I could then enjoy my night out with my fellow officers, get as pissed as I liked and still got quite acceptable photographs of the proceedings.  My mates often commented that my photos were better than what they tried under the same circumstances - prior planning.

On a related note, I was photographic officer on my squadron.  We had Nikon SLRs with 80-210 mm zoom lenses (big, heavy old fashioned ones) for use by the front-seaters in the aircraft.  We were using Ilford FP4 100 ASA black and white film for reconnaissance photography.  The cameras had a "needle and ring" type of manual exposure control.  We were getting only about 15-20% usable photographs, mostly out of focus, but also badly exposed.  I decided to have a trial of using fixed settings to take the variation out when used by non-photographer aircrew (who really couldn't care less about f stop, exposure and focus etc).  I spoke to the phot section guys and they suggested a particular f stop and exposure (time prevents me from recalling exactly what) and I adjusted the lens to about 100 mm and set the focus to give a depth of field from about 100 ft to infinity.  Because FP4 is a very flexible film the phot guys could compensate for around 2 stops over or under exposure during processing with not too much loss of quality, or even more if needs be.  Effectively I had turned these very expensive cameras into point and shoot devices for nubes.  The results were about 80-85% usable photos, which I considered to be win!

What a waste of good kit  :'( :'( :'( :'(

Well, I see your point, but in the case of my camera for the "happy snaps" it was just preparing for the event, knowing I was not going to be in a state to do a proper job. (What, me getting three sheets to the wind?  Whatever are you suggesting?  LOL)

With the recce photography the real issue was that the guys taking the photos were simply not that much interested in cameras and all the technical details.  I tried hard to get the Navy to buy us fixed focal length 100 mm lenses, which would have been much lighter and at the distance we did the photography was about the right size to give a fairly full frame image of the target ship.  Additionally the zoom lenses in those days were not really all that good optically so add the inherent vibration from shooting from the aircraft, the length and weight of the zoom lenses and the lack of skill of the guys actually taking the shots, I think my solution was for the best given the parameters we were operating under.  The end results were a vast improvement under the circumstances.  But yes, I always did see the irony of effectively turning good quality pofessional gear into "Kodak Instamatics".  :D

You solved the problem with what you had available to you, pragmatism of the first order.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

hermes2015

"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

Quote from: hermes2015 on August 11, 2018, 11:27:27 AM
I want this toy.



Yeah!

But looking at their other prices it ain't gonna be a cheap toy. I can find loads of glowing reviews and, "...it went on sale earlier this year..." but not a single price!
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

Quote from: Dave on August 11, 2018, 11:50:47 AM
Yeah!

But looking at their other prices it ain't gonna be a cheap toy. I can find loads of glowing reviews and, "...it went on sale earlier this year..." but not a single price!

You only live once and you're a well-heeled man about town.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

Quote from: hermes2015 on August 11, 2018, 12:14:38 PM
Quote from: Dave on August 11, 2018, 11:50:47 AM
Yeah!

But looking at their other prices it ain't gonna be a cheap toy. I can find loads of glowing reviews and, "...it went on sale earlier this year..." but not a single price!

You only live once and you're a well-heeled man about town.

Yes, I could add it to my pile of expensive and rarely used toys.

Or I could do without and help a bunch of kids get better education, or even a meal.  Or maybe compromise with a tithe on toys.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Bluenose

On their Kickstart page they say it will be released in October this year with a retail price of $1,500USD.  I think I'll pass...
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


Dave

Quote from: Bluenose on August 12, 2018, 04:39:52 AM
On their Kickstart page they say it will be released in October this year with a retail price of $1,500USD.  I think I'll pass...

As they price such things that will traslate to £1499-99 over here, no matter what the exchance rate.

Yeah, out of range of my toy budget as well.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Bluenose

Quote from: Dave on August 12, 2018, 06:38:40 AM
Quote from: Bluenose on August 12, 2018, 04:39:52 AM
On their Kickstart page they say it will be released in October this year with a retail price of $1,500USD.  I think I'll pass...

As they orice such things that will traslate to £1499-99 over here, no matter what the exchance rate.

Yeah, out of range of my toy budget as well.

Yes, but it would be cool toy, eh?  :)
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


Dave

Macro photography.

Playing with extension rings.

18-55mm kit lens:



With 12mm ring:



With 20mm ring:



With 36mm ring:



With all three rings:



The kit and set-up. Of note are the bubble level and remote control. Latter especially needed! Extra especially with precarious and wobbly table!



There is also an 'L' bracket in there that gets the camera outside the tripod legs but increases the wobbliness. Lighting was with an LED torch. A tripod with a rack and handle to adjust the column would be nice.

Camera was on manual focus, that lens takes a lot of winding to get the full range, but that neans it is a "fine" control. Camera was left on P setting. The Nikon D5nnn range (probably the others as well) has the ability to magnify the image in the back screen whilst focussing but . . . You get "noise" over a certain amount of enlargement that makes it difficult to see the point where the image is sharpest. Wondering if the amount of light affects this.

Projects:
● Some sort of screw driven X-Y table with levelling screws (6mm studding screw pitch is 1mm, "star knobs" already on order for another job.)
● Ring of 12 LEDs, on their sides, pointing at the centre as a sandwich between two pieces of plastic (with lots of hot-melt adhesive!). Maybe with selection of ALL, HALF, EVERY OTHER ONE - and possibly brightness.

I have an LED "ring light" but that is not much good with the lens about a cm from the object, also, being mounted in front of the lens it restricts how close the lens can get.

(Note: must tidy up the bigger and steadier table.)
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

jumbojak

I learned something valuable this morning. Always, always, ALWAYS format the memory card immediately after putting it back in your camera. I'm going to have a hell of a time separating yesterday's photos from today's.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

Dave

Quote from: jumbojak on August 13, 2018, 02:38:25 PM
I learned something valuable this morning. Always, always, ALWAYS format the memory card immediately after putting it back in your camera. I'm going to have a hell of a time separating yesterday's photos from today's.

If you put them up in file msnager/explorer and hover the pointer over them it should return the date taken (or last modified), the image info panel in most proprietary viewers does the same thing.

One day they will do an app for all cameras and phones where you can view and annotate the image info file via WIFI, NFC or Bluetooth. Well, can but hope. I have resorted to using the recorder in my smartphone before now.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

Quote from: jumbojak on August 13, 2018, 02:38:25 PM
I learned something valuable this morning. Always, always, ALWAYS format the memory card immediately after putting it back in your camera. I'm going to have a hell of a time separating yesterday's photos from today's.

I use the free Multi Commander that has a left and right panel a as file manager.

http://multicommander.com/

It allows one to sort by date very easily.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

hermes2015

Quote from: Dave on August 13, 2018, 02:04:14 PM
Macro photography.

Playing with extension rings.

18-55mm kit lens:

Those are nice tests. Did you have the lens on 18 or 55mm, or somewhere in between?
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

Quote from: hermes2015 on August 13, 2018, 03:21:09 PM
Quote from: Dave on August 13, 2018, 02:04:14 PM
Macro photography.

Playing with extension rings.

18-55mm kit lens:

Those are nice tests. Did you have the lens on 18 or 55mm, or somewhere in between?

Oops, on 18mm.

There is no gain using a longer focal length from a greater distance, the opposite in fact.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74