danny_liao

Take a chill pill, Jeff. Man, you are tripping. Can any one express their opinions without someone flipping out??? Like I posted, I only mentioned myself not everyone else. I agree with CPeter 100% cause it applies to me. If you feel I ragged on you, Jeff or everyone who spends hours in PS post processing, than I appologize. But like you said jnorman doesn't know everyone...I agree. Just like everyone wouldn't consider your stuff professional. In a matter of fact, I wouldn't brag about it.

If you don't mind slightly wider, I go with an old 28mm AIS. It will come out to be about 42mm with digital but it's killer sharp. Well, atleast on my D1x. But I could imagine it being sharper on the D70. Sharpness was awesome and color contrast was great. Unfortunately, you'll lose your metering if you use it on the D70. Anyway, just a thought.

You could shoot portraits with any lens. It all depends on your style. Look at Platon (http://www.platonphoto.com/) and his wide angle portraits with what I believe are shot with Hassy's 40mm. Or Julie Dennis Brothers (http://www.juliedennisbrothers.com/) work with Mamiya 75mm. She is also showcased in Mamiya's Masters section. If you go there, you could check out some of her work shot with the 75mm.

I agree with you 100%, CPeter. I often shoot digital for editorial publications. Sometimes these shoots last a long time. After awhile of shooting digital, I find myself doubting my skills returning to film for personal work. Digital is simply too easy and doesn't take much technical skills. It actually made me lazy. I fear years from now young people who started with photography in this digital era, will never pass down the knowledge of traditional analog photography. Which is, in my opinion, critical in being a successful photographer that produces high quality products.

I would hold off until the images are published. Many magazines prefer or even hold the rights for a few months. It's called an embargo. Within that time period, you should not use the images shot for the magazine for personal marketing or sales. Basically, they want them to show of the images first. Check with the magazine and see what they say. If no contracts were signed or embargo was discussed, most publishers would still like for you to hold off in using the image. Eventhough you want to make some extra $$, you should grant them that right just to build relationship with them.

1) You're suppose to put your eye right up to the magnifier. Just like how you would use a loupe. If you are doing that already, your glasses might be pushing down on the magnifier distructing the distance between the focusing screen and where the height of the magnifier should be. I used to do that all the time when shooting with glasses until I realize that my glasses were causing the blurriness on the screen.

 

2) Once you get use to the focus system, you should be able to focus faster. You could also try a speed focus ring. They are slightly pricey.

 

3) The diopter will replace the magnifing lens on the hood. By removing the original one, you could purchase a + or - diopter to match your eye vision there for you would not need glasses. However, these diopters often only goes up to + or - 2 only. You could also purchase a PM45 or PM90. They are great to use and they come with adjustable diopters.

Lets wait until next year when images from the D2x will be exhibited. I bet it will blow this years 1DS II images away. I'm not trying to start a Nikon Canon war here, but MAN that D2X produces some amazing clean images.

SLEAZY, SLEAZY, SLEAZY!!!!

 

I went to Brooks competitor south of Santa Barbara. I will not name names but they preached the same. It's not until you're financially committed that you'll learn that it is a lot harder than they make it sound. I am struggling to make ends me. They never mentioned how hard it is to start off. It's a huge struggle and many students are not aware of that. I left early, dropped out, cause I realized that if it didn't work out that my I would have a huge financial burden to deal with. Many of my classmates stayed and finished. Now they have 150,000+ tuition to repay. I left when mine reached 90,000. I was fortunate that I had a scholarship otherwise it would be a whole lot higher. It's been almost a year after I left and I'm shooting what I want to shoot but it is a huge stuggle. Damn freaking hard! For those students that are thinking about school, I suggest you think carefully and you MUST realize the financial burden afterwards. Unless you are the next Annie Leibovitz, Penn, or Avedon, I highly suggest you have a back up plan if you are going the route of photography school.

I could give you one word that describe the photography program when I attended for 6 terms last year...Cr@p. For the amount of money they were charging, it's a huge scam. The program had no directions and the instructors had no motivation. Also the department lacked a Department Chair. After 6 terms of throwing away my money, I finally had enough and left. Soon after I left, the photo dept went through restructuring. Supposedly now, it's much better.

 

Anyway, regarding Illustration. When I was there, which wasn't too long ago, the Illustration kids were producing some very nice stuff. Stuff that really blew me away. Stuff that puts the photography program to shame. If you ever had the chance to see the work, you would know what I'm talking about. Art Center is known for their Illustration, Graphic, and Auto design. Yes, they are also known for Photography but the work produced by other departments are outstanding while photography is just average and below.

 

A few advice I could give you. 1) Visit the campus and talk to the Illustration Dept. Make an appointment with the department chair and see what he or she has to offer. See what kind of vision he or she expects out of the students. This way, you'll get a feel of how the dept is being run and if it lacks direction or not. 2) Talk to the students...upper and lower term. They will be the best to get info from regarding the course. Trust me, if you talk to enough students, you will REALLY get the info you need about the department. 12,000 per term is not cheap for tuition so do your research. I didn't and I paid dearly for it. Anyway, those are just my suggestions.

I also think it's a Preference issue. I never had this happen with Nikon Scan 4, but has had this happen with other programs. There is a conflict somewhere and the best thing to do is delete all Nikon Scan 4 files. Do a search in your hard drive. Type in Nikon Scan. Delete all files that comes up for it. To double check if you gotten every file, go to your home folder>library>preference. Check if there are any Nikon Scan files in there. If there is, delete it. Now reinstall. Hopefully that will help.

A ringlight is nothing more than absolute direct light. Go invest in a portable pack

with two heads. Yes, it's expensive but you'll always need it for other things too. To

create a ringflash type of look without a actual ringflash, simply place one head above

the camera and one below the camera. BAMB, ringflash look without having to buy a

expensive ringflash. It's simple. Besides Speedo and White Lightning, try Dyna Lites

too.

Almost forgot, try Hollywood and Highland aka the Kodak Theatre.

LA is huge and all you guys could give is Venice?=) Try Downtown LA! Gourmet

District, Jewelry District, Chinatown, Alvera Street, Skid Row, Melrose, Sunset...the list

is endless for me. Of-course some parts of these areas are a bit shady. If you even

like, drop me a personal email and I'll head out with you. If you want to avoid trouble

and be safe, try Santa Monica Pier, Venice (mentioned before), and City Walk in Studio

City.

Good place to learn.

 

http://www.editorialphoto.com/

No technical explanation, but try picking up a skateboarding magazine. There are

plenty in those. Here's one: http://www.skateboarding.com/skate/

I love wide angles. I have the 18-35 and was quite happy with it until I tested out the

Tokina 12-24. I shoot Nikon so I compared it to the Nikon AFS version. Just by the

look of it, the Tokina is much better built. Feels WAY better too. Makes the Nikon

version feel like crap. The focus is not bad either, pretty fast. Many have praised the

Tokina so after playing and feeling it in my hands and seeing some sample images, I

think I might have a new lens soon. I think you'll be happy with it. But always try it

out before you buy.

if you are just starting first term, you would definitely need one right away. try the recycler (www.recycler.com). they usually have a lot listed. since they are mostly in LA, it shouldn't be too hard for you to get one right away without having to wait for shipping. i don't know if 1st term started yet, but if not there is always ebay. Check out Sinar F2's. They are dirt cheap now. I barely got 400 for mine. Email me directly if you ever need any help at that school. I just left there last year.

Shun,

 

Thanks for the response. But image sharpness/quality wise, which is better? I have a 28mm AIS and 105 AIS lens, it blows my mind how sharp these older lenses are. I could honestly say they are way sharper than any of the newer lenses I own. I wouldn't mind carrying a handheld meter if the AI/S will yeild sharper images.

does it matter if the 50mm is a manual AI/AIS or the AF-D? which one is better?

mitchell,

what's with the negative vibe? those are fighting words!!!=) i love sam's pictures but i do have to admit that the whole old-camera-vignetting thing is getting a little bit old for me.

HAHAHAHA. I could just picture you running away!

If you like experimenting, the $.99 stores carries film for .99 24exp. I recently bought some to try out. Not bad at all just slightly more grain for ASA100 speed film.

Who gave you the impression that "medium format and large format cameras are considered to be geared toward "art photograph?" Medium and large format has been in the commercial industry for ages. What are you looking to shoot?

 

I am also a freelancer that just left school a year ago. I see where you are coming from. I personally love medium and large format for portrait work. When I have time to set up or when I have hours with the subject, those are the two formats I will usually use. But if I only have 15-30mins with the subject, I always go digital. I would highly suggest considering adding a digital camera to your asenal. It will definitely help out. BUT do keep a medium format around. Many have gone digital and than back to film. You don't want to sell the Pentax and end up buying it back again. A Nikon D70 w/lens kit is just over a 1000. I would recommend you pick one up, learn it, shoot jobs with it, and than decide to sell the Pentax if you really love digital.

save your paper and film. simply take the dark slide out. point the slot into a light and look up into it. if you see little dots of light coming through, than the holder is bad.

I've search the data place but came up empty. I'm in need of a 50mm

lens for my RZ. I am just wondering if the ULD is worth the extra

cash. Many say the ULD is much sharper compared to the non ULD. I

currently have a 65mm (non L/A version) and in my opinion, it's damn

sharp. Is the non ULD 50mm just as sharp or should I go with the ULD?