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Gary Fong settings for Fuji S3?


hamp

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Hi Everyone!

I?ve been a medium format guy up to this point and just purchased a Fuji S3. I

read somewhere that Gary Fong experimented with the S3 and came up with his

favorite settings for use at weddings. Does anyone know where I can find

these? Any other advise would be appreciated as well. BTW ? I also purchased

an SB800 and a Nikkor 24-120 VR-G.

Thanks in advance!

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Mate, if I were to give you the settings to use for a wedding for your 'blad would you listen to me?

 

Personally I find GF's work hopelessly over warm and often significantly underexposed (from the sample pics he uses in his manuals). Read the manual, experiment and experiment again, then make your own decisions, you owe it to yourself as a pro.

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In my book, there are no magic ISO, no magic aperture, no magic shutter speed.

 

Learn exposure. Learn flash and how to make it beautiful. Throw in some people skills, a lot of equipment knowhow and some abilities at formal portraiture. you have the making of a fine wedding photography.

 

get going.

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I use the S3. I think I read Gary's settings once too, but I don't know where. I have experimented some, and the settings I use are Standard, Standard, Standard. Sounds boring, hugh? But, that is what I liked the best. I don't like the wide dynamic Range, it makes the images too flat looking. I will only use it if I see a special need. I shoot RAW, and process in PSCS2. I bought the camera because it was suposed to be a great jpeg camera (which it is) but since I fell in love with RAW, that is all I shoot now.
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Paul,

 

Gary had recommend using F1 Film Simulation Mode and 3.5 mp resolution for prints up

to 16x20. I've tried several different settings/combinations and keep coming back to F1

and 6 mp, with Wide D-Range set in the Menu. I've shot weddings for a large studio, and

they require Std Film Simulation, Std Color, Std Tone, Hard Sharpening, and Wide 2

Dynamic Range at 12 mp resolution. However, it seems these last settings just doesn't

have the same "punch" (to use a technical term) as F1 Film Simulation. I've tried raw, but

find it totally unnecessary with this camera.

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Thank You One & All! Maybe I should clarify myself here a bit. I've been a wedding photographer for over 35 years. I've been using Rollei SLR's for the last 12 years or so. NPH and a Metz CT-4 on location. NPS here in the studio with studio strobes. I've been taking baby steps toward digital for the last couple of years by having my lab scan the negs and using the digital images. It's just gotten to the point where the film & processing costs are killing me and thus the S3 purchase. As everyone knows you can get away with murder concerning exposure on negative film but as I understand you have to really nail the exposures with digital. This is what prompted me to ask the "Gary Fong" question in the first place. Ultimately my lab is going to color balance these for printing anyway so maybe I'm overdoing this?

Thanks!

Paul

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If your worried about the exposure of film vs digital, shoot raw. You will have more room for correcting the exposure if you shoot RAW. If you are constantly nailing your exposure all the time, then you can switch back to jpeg. Another helpful place for the S3 is the dpreview forums for Fuji SLR's. I have gotten a lot of advice about my S3 there.

 

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1020

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Haven't been exposed to GF's settings. I just play with the settings and quite frankly don't remember what I'm set at but I usually like a wide DR,Film Sim. and more contrast. (I used Portra UC film).

 

You might check with Will Crockett @ SmartShooter.com. He loves the S3 and has lots of info on using it and on camera flash. BTW he highly rates the Q-Flash TTL & the Metz 76 & Metz 54 flashes.

 

But for best results, go play with the new "toy" until you get what you want for your personal style.

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