FD Equipment Documents Earthquake Effects

[craig_depolo]

I am an earthquake geologist and have been trying to document a magnitude 6

earthquake that recently occurred (Wells, Nevada). I thought you might be

interested in what I took to take pictures with. I had about 20 minutes pack

camera gear and no time to go to the store for film or anything.

 

My primary camera was a T90. I was a little nervious because for these types

of one time shots that have to come out, period, I have always used an A-1. I

would have liked to have taken a second T90, but I was suppose to board a

small plane and take off in a storm, so weight was a concern. I also took my

XTi digital camera because pictures needed to be distributed quickly (I was

stumbly with this but it was good; pictures at nbmg@unr,edu). My initial

primary lens was an original FD mount 35-70mm lens, but I evolved to my

Aspherical 55mm because I wasn't entirely satisfied with the focusing at 70mm

and I was beginning to take more and more close up pictures. I had an FD 20-

35mm for my wide angle shots and a new mount 85mm 1.2L medium telephoto (by

now your thinking - and he is travelin' light?). I also took a original mount

reflex 500mm with a 2X teleconver (that was a weight savings) for details I

could not get close to. I also had a Speedlite 300TL with a piece of white

notecard permanently taped on as a reflector (I usually use it pointed

straight up in full program mode - I don't have much time to take any one

shot, usually - about 30-40 seconds; a minute an a half setup is a luxury).

We are inspecting, popping our heads into and photographing damaged buildings

and effects - so it has to be fast. I took about 8 rolls of Kodachrome 64, a

couple of Kodachrome 200, 4 Provia 100F, and there were a couple Velvia 100F.

How did I do? Who knows; I haven't had a chance to turn in the film and I

usually include a little note for the processor. The equipment functioned

well, I think. In these kind of situations, you just try to do you best.

When I says a 4th of a second and your 2 miles from your flash, you hold it as

steady as you possibly can and take the shot. There is so much going on that

there are screw-ups, like being in aperture priority and taking pictures

inside and outside of buildings and not noticing the damn 4000th a second has

been blinking like crazy; this happens where I am more busy trying to describe

or understand the situation and am treating the T90 more as a point and

shoot. Everything was duplicated with the XTi (I gave it 10 or 20 secs. for a

shot). I'll try to post some shots. I was most frustrated with everything

being bright white or very poorly illuminated (inside buildings and deep dark

overcast skys at times - and then intense bright sunshine). How well I kept

up with all the compensations, we'll see. I mostly kept the T90 in partial

spot mode and sought out an 18% grayish part of the picture. Well I could

completely flop or something global could have happened to the T90, but I

suspect there will be some shots worthy of posting on this forum (I'm a little

nervious about this because the quality of pictures posted in this forum are

outstanding). I am still working the earthquake and won't be reading this for

a week or so, and I look forward to reading the questions I posted a little

over a week ago. I just thought you would like to know that I consider the FD

system a solid performer in professional, perishable data situations; this is

my FD equipment's sixth earthquake (1983, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2008)

and every other time I've had great success with it. I just glanced in my bag

and will note the last time I went out I took an Macrolite ML-2 and replaced

the 35-70mm with a 35-105mm f3.5, and that all my lens have lens hoods.

Because my camera is being tossed around a bunch, I am using a screw in lens

cap for my Aspherical 55mm - even though it takes a second longer to unscrew

it, I love that lens and need to protect it. I use a large canvas tool bag

with a towel on the bottom for a camera bag.

 

Cheers,

Craig

[andy_szeto]

Hi Craig, where are the photos? I am more interested in the photos than the tools. I used FD system for quite a long time (over 20 years) before switching to the EOS system. I still use the FTb and AT-1 once in a while. Cheers.