gav

personally i don't think the frames help these photos, but it depends whether i'm your 'target audience'. If you like them,

chances are that at least some other people will too. so go for what you like.

If you want a reason that i don't like your borders here goes (but worth remembering that i do like the photos - its only

your frames that i'm not so keen on)

the matching colour might be ok - but i think the frames are a bit busy with the shading and the white line

i think your choice of font detracts from the photos - its a bit 'look at me i'm soooo crazy' so it makes me concentrate on

the words more than the photos - which i guess is not what you want - i'd try a simple square sans serif font like

helvetica.

hijack the thread really -

does the full version of silky pics show 'live' curves changes - ie the preview changes

on screen as you change the curve - not just as you take your finger off the button?

I think PPL is a bit clunky, but it's all i use at the moment - if silkypix was much more

intuitive - and also 'live' i'd think about upgrading

from this

http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/6394683-md.jpg

to this

http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/7102531-lg.jpg

in 7 months - a bit of a rough ride i can tell you

Hi all,

I can't seem to find information on the wireless compatability for the af360

fgz and the k10d and k100d.

I have a fairly comprehensive 35mm system that includes this flash, and i

really like the wireless function with the 35mm *ist camera.

do the k10d and k100d give the same functionality? The k100d probably has

enough resolution for me, and i'd rather not spend the extra on the 10, but if

the 10 has wireless and the 100 doesn't, that could swing the decision.

Anyone got any experience or photos using the wireless af360 fgz?

thanks

you sound a bit like arnie in terminator when he goes into the gun shop and starts asking for things the guy has never heard of!

All good though.

something i'd like is a "tripod mode". it seems a simple thing for a camera to sense that you are using a tripod (by noticing that something is screwed into the thread) and then adjust exposure accordingly, not just popping up the flash and flashing warning lights on every available lcd! obviously this isnt a problem in manual, but it would be nice to have a programme for this when many other less common circumstances have their own programme.

Arriving a little late to the discussion, but it seems interesting nevertheless.

OK: war photos do not and have not stopped wars, but i would argue that they have raised awareness of some of the hidden issues around wars, for example civilian casualties.

Until photography and freelance photographers, people 'at home' assumed that the only casualties of a war were military, and that their 'boys at the front' were simply killing other soldiers. We now know this to be a complete lie, mainly through photojournalism. We can see the boredom of the soldiers, the impact of the war on civilians, the destruction of cities and other infrastructure. The photos might not stop the war, but they make us understand (even in a small way) what it is like to live in a war zone.

We take this for granted, but prior to WWII, with a few exceptions, no one was aware of the war if they were not actually there.

In addition, war photographers give us some insight into the soldiers themselves, Capa, Burrows, McCullin shows young people becoming soldiers. The vacant faces of soldiers do not give away their feelings, heroic, scared, betrayed etc. Leee millars images of WWII are fascinating, not just for the shock factor, but for the mundaneness of the situation, war is not some other place, war happens in any place, and could happen to you.

For these reasons, war photography is important. The fact that certain media will be biased towards certain images is kind of irrelevant to the photographer. Perhaps at a later date they will be able to publish the photos they really want. With the Web as it is, any photographer with any political agenda should be able to get their photos published by a sympathetic organisation, though they may not be paid for it.

Don't panic!!!

this will seem so obvous when you do it, but dont woory, it seems everyone who moves to MF from 35mm has this issue.

with MF film, the spool winds itself onto the take up spool as you take pictures. Ensure that the film is fully wound on, Open the back of the camera in subdued light, there will be sticky tape on the end of the film, stick this round the film and away you go. A used MF film looks exactly like an unused film ,there will be some kind of marking saying unexposed/exposed at either end.

transfer the empty spool from the film side of the camera to the empty side and you are ready to load another film.

Good luck

Gavin

Perhaps the issue for hobbyists is that digital technology (at the design end) is only accessible to major corporations.

With film, even though the huge majority of users are family snappers, the hobbyists are served by not only corporations, but also by very committed and knowlegeable small companies, like some of the large format manufacturers and niche market 35mm. Even if these small companies are owned by large corps, they can often still produce fantastic kit, at least for a little while. (I worry about this type of business, my imagination has them filled with grey haired men. If this is true, then the large corp that tolerates the small company at the moment is unlikely to be training new tech guys in what they see as redundant technology)

However, digital sensors etc. are out of reach of hobbyists and small companies.

Perhaps the positive is that photography development is driven by 2 markets: the happy snappers, but also the pros. Folk like myself, as a hobbyist, are just in the lucky position of being able to benefit from cheap but basically second hand technology from the pros.

So, if development of affordable hobbyist technology depends on the needs of professionals and the transferability of this technology to snapper type cameras, we should look at what pros need.

It seems to me that pros basically fall into two categories, those that require a clear image of the subject as a priority (sports, paparazzi, surveilance) and those who use out of focus to some extent (fashion, advertising, fine art). Of course many sports photos feature differential focus, but this is more by necessity than design, and could be faked in PS anyway.

since small sensors make long lenses appear even longer, benefitting sports and paparazzi, those pros are probabaly not that bothered about what size their device is, in fact for paparazzi a camera phone would be ideal, they could send the image instantly.

The group we should watch if we want to keep SLRs and other 'larger image' cameras is the 'creative' field, if out of focus backgrounds ever go out of fashion, then this group will not care about sensor size and maximum aperture either.

Sorry for long post, hope it prompts some discussion (feel free to disagree)

Good luck,

I'd be keen to see the results, with information on film choice, exposure details and processing, anything i've tried like this results in complete failure. It's obviously possible though, as the pros show us.

Gav

GIMP? www.gimp.org

If that doesn't already support the files, post a request and someone will sort it for you at some point.

Oh to have these problems!!

How about you take my digi point and shoot and i take your 4 lenses;-)

If you need the cash for something else, why not look through the photos you like the best, and decide which to keep on that basis?

If you dont need the cash, keep 'em all

This is why pro portraits look great with medium format cameras, you can really throw the background out of focus as the depth of field is less than with 35mm.

Another failure of small sensors, i'd go digital tomorrow if they could produce a cheap large sensor. It seems to me that small sensors are not that useful for amateur photographers, very expensive to get wide angle lenses for landscapes, and lack of differential focus options for portraits. For the pro this isn't an issue and the speed of producing work is a huge bonus.

Guy, i love your photos.

In fact i was surprised not to see any photos of the MPH march on here already, given that the number of photographers nearly outnumbered the marchers! With my cynical head on, it's because they were waiting for trouble that never occured, so no decent photos. There have been widespread reports of photojournalists egging on protesters at Gleneagles last week, I hope it was no one on here.

To be honest, I'm not that happy with the pics. As it says in the presentation, media hype had convinced people there would be trouble at this march and so i took my old praktica for its first outing in a couple of years. The point to my post here is that i was part of the march, these are not photos from a neutral perspective, i buy into the agenda of the MPH consortium. However, as in the 3rd photo here, there were other issues to be dealt with on the day, who was going to tidy up all the mess for one.

Were you a participant or an observer at the demo in your pics guy?

thanks

Gav

A couple of Pictures taken at the Make Poverty History March in

Edinburgh 2nd July 2005.

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/3532028-md.jpg">

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/3529140-md.jpg">

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/3529165-md.jpg">

full presentation <a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/edit-

presentation?presentation_id=292880"> here</a>

thanks a lot guys

I'll try pyramid and trumps in edinburgh first

post some more images soon

Hi there,

I'm looking for recommendations for a photo lab in Edinburgh, or

mail order UK.

I've been using an independent high street lab for a couple of

years, but recently the quality of the prints has really suffered,

and they seem to be moving to all digital printing; i recently took

a B+W film in and the prints came back with ridiculous red shadows,

this was how i found out they were printing from scans. Looking back

over some dissapointing colour prints, when i scan the negs myself

(at around 2400 dpi) they are noticably sharper. Unfortunatly,

although my scanner is sharp, the colours are awful and i find dust

a huge problem as it's a flat bed scanner with a film attachment.

I mainly shoot colour, normally get one set of prints at 6x4 or 7x5

and then enlarge selected frames.

recommendations for a new lab? I'd be happy to pay more for

consistent quality.

hi there,

The organisation that i work for run a lot of conferences and

training courses and we're looking to record these for use on the

web and annual reports.

My (limited) experience of digital compacts is that they are fine

for outdoors, but the on camera flash makes taking pictures of

groups of people quite difficult.

Most of the konica minolta mid range digital compacts seem to be

able to take an external flash.

does anyone have any experience with this or recommendations for

other brands.

we would like to do this for under ?500 (i guess $1000)

thanks

Hi everyone, Thanks for your help with this, I bought a rolleicord va from a guy on this site, its great, couple of photos in my 'single photos' folder.

cheers

i'm really pleased with my *ist, but the 28-80 "j" lens really sucks!

you can use 'm' series lenses using a custom function, but you lose metering and stuff like that.

I've found the metering and focussing to be fine, and the mirror lock up (kind of, it works as a custom function on the self timer) is a real bonus.

wireless flash with the af360fgz is great, really improved my flash photos without having to pay for studio stuff.

unfortunatley i have no experience with canon or nikon autofocus to campare with, this was my first AF slr.

good luck

thanks for all your opinions,

given me some good options. When i source one i'll post some pics.

Gavin

Hello all,

i've been using 35mm (mainly pentax) for a few years now, and

although i'm happy with my photography, i fancy a change of pace and

style.

I've always liked quality square format pictures (portraits,

figurative landscapes etc) but i cant stretch to a modern system

camera at the moment.

Looking on ebay, there are lots of vintage 6x6 cameras for sale, and

of course hundreds of Holgas.

Question is, is it worth buying an old 6x6 and getting it serviced?

I'd certainly like better quality than a holga, but i'm fully aware

that i cant expect hasselblad quality for 100 quid.

Can anyone recommend a camera that's likely to suit my needs, and

also is likely to still work?

I'm not worried about a system camera, a fixed lens bellows one

would be fine it it was good quality.

Or should i just start saving for a new one?

(based in Edinburgh UK if anyone wants to sell me one by the way)

cheers

Gavin

thanks guys,

I'll send it back

Hello all,

I've jsut bought a lens from ebay, a pentax f series 80-200mm.

Having tried it on my *ist (35mm) and an old chinon manual camera,

it appears not to be able to focus to infinity at focal lengths

longer than 100mm. Can anyone tell me whether this lens is not

compatible with my *ist, if there is something obvious that i am not

doing, or how much it might cost to repair.

lens is in good cosmetic condition, focusses fine at 80mm, the

infinity symbol appears to be 'on the mark' in the plastic window,

but the lens is actually focussed at about 15metres or so. The

seller has offered to take the lens back, which i will proably do,

unless someone can suggest a solution.

thanks

Gavin crosby