The Last Days of Summer

It’s been eight months since I started this blog, and I must say I’ve enjoyed sharing my experiences with the rest of the photographic world. Being a teacher as well as a photographer, I find it’s been a useful venue for helping those who want to become better photographers, which includes myself. One of my mantras has always been, “I teach in order to learn, and learn in order to teach; the two go hand in hand”.

So, I’ve decided to take the leap, and spruce up the design of “Against the Grain” with Blogger’s pretty cool design templates, and add content pages that are not timeline specific. As one who has spent a fair amount of time designing for web media, I find using Blogger quite liberating; I can concentrate on the content, without getting all caught up in the design. I just have to learn to work with Blogger’s rather primitive HTML editor.

Looking ahead, the fall colors should provide many photographic opportunities, especially for my new Didymium filter, which seems destined for such use by design. I’m looking forward to experimenting with it so I can give it the write-up it deserves.

Time is running out for Infrared work, which seems less spectacular once the foliage leaves us. It should be interesting to see if fall foliage, with all its reds, oranges and yellows, registers any differently. After all, it’s not about the color green, but how the leaves reflect infrared light, and perhaps autumn leaves do it a little differently.

I’ve come pretty far, and yet there’s so much further to go. When compact discs first came out, I was motivated to acquire all those albums I had held off buying until they were available in a more permanent format. So it is with photography. Each new purchase seems like it has more value, now that photography is in the digital domain. So, I’m working hard to catch up on all those accessories I’ve always wanted.

Photography is as alive as ever, even more so now that it’s digital. Working in the Times Square area of New York, you see a lot of people with all types of cameras, taking all types of pictures. Everyone has a different MO, and there’s a camera for just about every one. With so many people taking and sharing photos, and an infinite amount of subject matter, it seems I have my work cut out for me.

Move Over, Holga; a New Hobby is Born

Lavec LT-002 35mm Plastic “Toy” Camera

During Sunday’s outing in Cold Spring Harbor, I purchased this little gem for five dollars. There it was, sitting on a shelf with more sophisticated but forgotten cameras, digital and film alike. None of them appealed to me, not even the historically significant Kodak Disc camera, the “Edsel” of Instamatics. None of them except this one.

It features four aperture settings, a frame counter, a hot shoe and came in a zippered vinyl case. The back opens just like the typical 35mm camera, by pulling up on the rewind crank. Internally it sports a curved film plane and pressure plate. The construction is quite robust, and yet retains that wonderful, creaky plasticky feel of a holga.

What hooked me were the four color-coded aperture settings denoted by both icons and f designations, and the positive feel of the click stops of the rotating lens barrel used to set them.
The variable aperture is achieved using by “waterhouse stops”, in this case a tapered opening which slides from side to side when the lens barrel is rotated. This should make for a very interesting bokeh, which will be in the shape of a lopsided trapezoid.

So, with the acquisition of this camera, I realize that “camera collecting” is now an official hobby for me. It gives me something to look for when my wife and I go antiquing. Over the years, I’ve acquired some interesting cameras, mostly by accident. But for the first time, I actually see myself seeking out specific, collectible camera models, like this one:

The Timeless Rolleiflex 3.5 M-X Synch TLR

This is actually a camera that I sought out for many years, but not as a collectible camera, as a working camera. I was fortunate to find an example in very good, working condition. I have shot with this camera, and it takes wonderful pictures. But even if it didn’t, it would be valuable as a collectible.

Auto White Balance -NO! …well, Maybe

Having lunch today at Whistling Willy’s (formerly Henry’s on the Hudson) in Cold Spring Harbor, I have come to realize that auto white balance is not necessarily the scary monster I had previously thought.

As a rule, I advise against AWB, (no reference to the ’70s R&B group that originated from Scotland) but I have to admit there are certain unidentifiable lighting conditions under which it solves a multitude of problems. Like, in dark, strangely lit pub sitting near an open window.

Normally when I’m indoors, I automatically think “incandescent” (the little lightbulb looking icon on digital cameras). And then I think, “wait…grab your Vivicap, and do a custom white balance”. But sometimes that just takes too long and I miss the shot. So, my new approach is to not discount the use of auto white balance when shooting under circumstances where there are multiple light sources.

An added benefit of this technique is that, in the event that I move onto a new light source, the results may not be optimal, but at least they won’t be as horrendous as they are when I forget to switch from custom to daylight, as is often the case when moving from say, the interior of a museum to the courtyard outdoors.

This might also be the perfect opportunity to talk about the little gadget I mentioned above, the Seculine Vivicap. It’s a center-pinch lens cap that doubles as a light diffuser for use with the custom white balance function.

Seculine Vivicap

I can use it to take both reflected light readings (light entering the camera which is reflected by the subject) or incident light readings (light before it falls on the subject). So, if I’m using say, a wide angle prime lens indoors and find it difficult to take a reading off an 18% gray card, I just point the camera at the light source and take a reading through the cap.

Let’s face it; I don’t really need this. I could just as easily carry a piece of folded-up paper in my bag, or, in a pinch, grab a white napkin off the table. But honestly, how much more convenient could this be than by having it attached to my camera lens as I take it out of the bag? I could have spend half as much, or three to four times as much. But at five dollars more than the price of a Nikon replacement lens cap, the price was right. And, like the more expensive models, the Vivicap also uses tiny prisms to gather the light from different angles.

I also considered the ExpoImaging ExpoDisk. It’s manufactured to much higher tolerances, and has the advantage of having an 18% light transmission, so it can also be used to take exposure readings. However, I question whether 18% is enough to take an accurate white balance reading. And at four times the price, I’m not going to find the answer any time soon.

Perhaps the Vivicap is also 18%, because I’ve used it to take exposure readings, and it seems to do a pretty good job. Using the exposure lock, I can take an incident light reading by pointing the camera at the light source, or I can point the camera right at the subject to take a reflected reading. In a darkened room with bright light coming through the window, the Vivicap’s reading averaged the light so interior details were clearly vivisible, while retaining enough darkness to capture the mood. I see a 52mm Vivicap in my future, which would be a nice addition to my Coolpix P5100 outfit.

Another handy gadget is the Lastolite EZ Balance Collapsible Light Balancing Disk. This device, similar to an automobile sunshade, has a white side and an 18% gray side, and because it can also double as a bounce card to add fill light to a subject, it’s also on my wish list. But, if I happen to find a nice, neutral, cheapo auto sun shade in the meantime, it’s mine.

Canon FD-Nikon Extension Tube

It was easier than I thought it would be. With the help of some scrap metal, tin snips and a Radio Shack notching tool, I fashioned a tool to remove the corrective optic from the Fotodiox FD-Nikon Lens Mount Adapter, effectively creating a 13mm extension tube that will mount Canon lenses to Nikon bodies. The added benefit of which is that it also serves as a Canon Macro Hood/Diaphram adapter.

They Make Teleconverters, Don’t They?

What’s wrong with this picture?

Look closely. Isn’t that a Canon FD Lens on a Nikon body? Isn’t that impossible?

No, it’s not. It’s just not marketable.

Why Is a Fast Lens a High Resolution Lens?

Because high-ISO noise robs your images of resolution, that’s why. It’s also the reason that a high-resolution sensor does not necessarily yield a better image than one with less resolution but more sensitivity.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Cheapest of Them All?

Samyang 500mm f/8 Reflex “Mirror” Lens, marketed under the Phoenix brand name.

I just can’t seem to pass up a good bargain...