Lumière d’Argent

If I remember well, it started when the EOS 300D arrived. I don’t know if Canon expected it, but it at that time I started to see amateurs and even beginners buying extremely expensive lenses en masse. In the Canon range, the L line had become mainstream. Same happened to Nikon. Lenses that were considered perfectly good until then became well known as complete lemons. Why? I am not sure, but I think the only reason is the 100% view that allows everyone to instantly get 24 or 30 times enlargements. Never mind almost no one prints at that kind of size. Pixel peeping was born. Canon and Nikon must have made a fortune of it.

Stephane :: Feb.07.2007 :: Gear, Lens :: No Comments »

After 3 months it is time to clean the 5D sensor. The moment I dreaded. I knew most people use Sensor Swabs but I found the price a bit steep and decided to try something else first. I got a LensPen SensorKlear. In a word, $10 down the drain. One end of the SensorKlear is equipped with a soft brush to eliminate most of the dust. It does not. It rather adds considerable amounts of its own dust. The other end is supposed to be used to remove the remaining dust. It does not either. It merely pushes it around the sensor, preferably along the edges and in the corners.

So I swallowed my pride and coughed up my cash for the Sensor Swab with its Eclipse liquid. At first it did not work that well, but I had read others had the same disappointing initial results. So I tried again. And again. At the fifth attempt I apparently got the right movement and my sensor is now mostly clean. When shooting a white surface at f/22 I can see some faint spots but that’s ok, film rarely gets as good, especially in large format.

I must say Olympus was right to design the anti-dust system to put in all their DSLRs. I never had a spot in my E-300. Of course the sealed Sony DSC-R1 is also immune.

All in all, though, it seems four or five cleanings per year will do. I wouldn’t even mind to do it once a month. Case closed for me.

Stephane :: Jan.17.2007 :: Gear :: No Comments »

I took, edited, adjusted and printed those four photos the same day. That never happened to me before to generate four acceptable prints from nothing in one day. And 90% of it was being outside touring, looking, having fun! Up to now, digital is working a treat!

Stephane :: Dec.11.2006 :: Gear :: No Comments »

The 5D, as well as the Sony DSC-R1 I also have, have quite an amazing dynamic range. Not as large as traditional B&W film, but certainly more than slide film and as much as colour negative. The trick is that it is shallow in the highlights and deep in the shadows. The built-in meters do an OK job for casual picture taking, but not nearly good enough for B&W landscape. The Way I proceed now is that I use my Pentax Digital Spot Meter (the plainest sport meter one can find, actually) and measure only the brightest spot in my picture, apply +2 1/3 stop and I have my exposure value. Right every time. For pictures like the one above, a first check on the camera screen is not encouraging, even the histogram can be somewhat worrying, but one the RAW is properly developed, it does work very well. That one was taken with the Sony R1, by the way.

For extreme cases, it works to go up to +3 stops in the highlight and use the highlight recovery capabilities of the RAW developer. However, the camera histogram should be checked to see that only one channel is burned.

Regarding the larger dynamic range of B&W films, it is true it can be helpful. It can also lead to negatives that are a nightmare to print or lead to files that look unnatural. Still, one or two more stops in digital would be great, especially in the highlights.

Stephane :: Dec.03.2006 :: Gear :: No Comments »

I am more productive in digital. I think. Probably a bit early to tell, but in the few weeks I have had the 5D, I have done more than in the few month before. I do spend more time outside and that was the major hope. The time I spend inside working on the shooting results is more productive too, mostly because there is no developing/scanning/dust spotting, but also because the files are smaller than scans, so everything is quicker.

All this is of course paleolithic news to most digital converts, but it is all new to me. It really, actually works, including for black and white photography. Quality is a non-issue, it is great, nothing to regret, nothing to boast of compared to the view camera.

Versatility is a great asset.

Stephane :: Nov.28.2006 :: Gear :: No Comments »