looking for compact camera which vignettes

[kei n.]

I recently saw a photo-documentary project called "Easy Rider" by

Alex Webb. Many of the photos (in color) had light fall-off at the

edges but were otherwise very sharp. I was wondering if anyone knew

of a good compact camera which vignettes quite a bit. I understand

that light fall-off generally occurs at wide aperture settings on,

especially, older P&S cameras. Any info on this would be greatly

appreciated.

[art_haykin]

You can vignette an image at any stage after shooting, or while shooting. THINK about it!!!

[arild1]

My Russian Lomo LC-A is quite compact and vignettes pretty badly at f/2,8, the center sharpness is not bad. Fun cameras to use for snapshots, but maybe not exactly what you are after. You should be able to pick up a Lomo pretty cheap, especially if you don't buy it through the Lomographic Society.

 

HTH

[marbing]

The Yashica T4 zoom will vignette at wide angle, shooting a bright background but if you take any camera and roll a tube of black paper around the lens like a lens hood I am sure you will get vignetting eventually...and paper is pretty cheap.

[klix]

Vignetting and light fall off are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS...

 

Light fall off is an optical effect that follows the inverse square law, as a function of light, distance and aperture. Many threads in PN about the exact science of this.

 

Vignetting is essentially caused by putting something in front of your lens while shooting (such as an overly thick filter or filter holder), or as an effect in post-processing.

[lex_jenkins]

Most P&S cameras, even the good ones, can be "encouraged" to produce photos with darker corners.

 

1. Use a slower film. This forces the camera to use larger apertures, where light falloff is most likely to occur.

 

2. Use the wider end of a zoom. Again, you're more likely to see light falloff at the wide end of a zoom, especially at larger apertures. The more extreme the zoom range, the more severe the falloff at the wide end.

 

The otherwise very good lens in my old Olympus XA3 is prone to light falloff in the corners. By using faster film the AE system is forced to stop down, reducing this problem.

 

Vignetting - which is different from falloff tho' the end result can look pretty much the same - can be applied by various means. If the camera accepts filters or lens hoods, stack a couple of UV or skylight filters and an inappropriate lens hood (like a narrow hood for a wide angle lens).

 

If the camera won't accept filters or hoods, take a permanent marker and draw a ring around the periphery of the front element. Or glue on a ring or other doodad to produce vignetting. Or produce the effect digitally later on. All kinds of ways to skin this cat.

[david_nebenzahl]

For the purposes of this discussion we can safely ignore the technical differences between vignetting and light fall-off. What he's looking for is, as he stated, a camera which vignettes, where the image doesn't reach the edges of the frame.

 

And keep in mind that he asked for cameras that were "otherwise very sharp", so please, no more suggestions for Dianas or Lomos; these cameras won't give sharp images at all.

 

I suspect you're going to have a difficult time finding such a camera; even cheap compacts are well-enough designed to not vignette noticeably. I wonder if it would be possible to "hack" one of these cameras, by modifying the lens somehow, so that it vignettes? How about putting in a mask which would block part of the image?

[ole_tjugen]

Any camera with a paper tube fitted over the lens? A couple of centimeters of toilet-tissue-roll-core extension (depending focal length) makes a great vignetter...

[lex_jenkins]

David, some off-brand cameras, like the Diana, Holga and Lubitel, *can* deliver good resolution at the center. I've seen some surprisingly sharp enlargements made from those cameras. It may be a bit hit-or-miss, tho', as quality control varies.

[david_nebenzahl]

Thanks, Lex; I should have thought a moment longer before posting that comment.

 

Actually, I'm really looking forward to filming up my camera of this type, which is a "Lina-1". "Quality control"? Ha--it's as cheap-ass as you can get. Can't wait to see what kind of pix I get with it!

[bengineer]

If you have a nikon MF body you can use an E-series 28mm lens (very cheap and compact) and then stack the filters on. This is similar to the paper tube extension mentioned above but also lets you add a polarizer to increase colour saturation (If the Lomo-look is what you are after)