Handholding the GS-1

[j. rivera]

First off, thanks to all who have provided insight to my questions

over the past few years. I appreciate all the feedback.

 

My family is going to experience a major change in the next nine

months (and if my mom, or mom in law is reading, I'm not confiming

anything yet!). I envision hikes in the woods, my favorite time to

shoot, will include carrying several new bulky objects and one wiggly

one. Paring down my photo kit will be a priority. What can I do to

make my GS-1 more hand holdable while still getting sharp results?

Surely faster film will help (400-800) but what other things can I do?

 

A second question has to do metering. Should I look into an AE prism

or is spot metering still the way to go? I'll need to be as efficiant

as possible.

 

What have all you other moms and dads done to keep shooting.

 

Thanks in advance.

[david_henderson]

I think the Speedgrip or equivalent would help in combination with a prism. That said I'm not sure that handholding this camera would ever be what I'd call easy. Even with films of higher speed I think you'll be faced with a lot of choices between risky shutter speeds and inadequate DOF. MLU will be a possible problem though I don't know what speed range requires this on your camera. From a metering perspective, the average metering in my SQAi prism is okay, and accurately calibrated, but I'm nevertheless surprised at how frequently I set different speeds with the aid of a spotmeter. I'm sure that my exposure quality would deteriorate if I relied totally on the camera's meter. If you do go down this route I found it helpful, in the days before my Sekonic, to make sure I took a reading from an area of mid-tone and then worked everything from there rather than only metering the whole of the scene in the viewfinder.

 

I guess in summary, if I wanted to handhold a 6x7 I'd prefer to start from somewhere else. I think the lighter rangefinders would be a lot easier to carry and to handhold and image quality would be as good. That said, they're expensive too.

[jhbeckman]

From the parent perspective -- MF cameras are a hard way to capture your kids. I know; I've tried. Don't misunderstand me, I have some nice MF stuff. But at some point after he or she starts moving -- your child will start crawling at 6 or 8 months (mine's only two y.o., and I forgot already) and walking around age 1 -- forget it, they're just too squirmy. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE EARLY MONTHS -- they don't mind "posing" before they become totally mobile. But there is what increasingly appears to me to be a frustrating period between the time development prevents them from being mobile and the time when they understand the words "sit still, please, please, PLEASE."

 

The heavier the camera is and the slower it is to focus, the harder it is once the squirmy phase hits. Good luck.

 

Fatherhood is unbelievable. It's spectacular. I offer a prayer on your behalf to the photo gods that your shots turn out well and your wife is patient about your picture taking.

[richard baznik]

I've been using a GS-1 for about a year, including some hand-held work capturing our 4-year-old grandson and recording views of an urban park close to our home. I've had great success with the latter, but I find it more difficult to stay with an active child -- despite his willingness to slow down periodically for picture-taking.

 

My GS-1 has the AE prism (not the rotary version) and I find it immensely helpful -- and accurate. I tried it with only the WL viewer (which does not allow you to use the GS-1's metering capabilities except for TTL-OTF) for a month or so and then willingly paid for the prism. I just bought the G-1 flash as well and have been pleased with its performance. The speed grip is essential for the flash, but it's also a great convenience for normal hand-held work.

 

All that said, I prefer using 35mm (Leica M) for child-chasing, but the GS-1's hand-held performance in the park I mentioned is superb.

 

---Dick Baznik