matan_levinson1

I use it to take the flash to the side of the camera, with one hand supporting the flash and the other holding the camera. this way I can get rid of that "flash looking pictuers". I once took the flash to a demonstration at night. I used a 1600 ISO colour film to get as much details from the backround as I could, and took the flash off camera using the OCSC. also, I've placed a yellow gel over the flash so it would colour the scene with the same light ammited from the street lights.

the results look like there was no flash in use!

try a lot and have fun!

matan

Peter, making photographs is a matter of personal style and preferences. whether you decide to use f2.8, f8 or anything else should derive from your style and from what you want to achive. some times a small aperture is good for darkening the background and creating an image that totaly isolates the subject, using a flash. you can go the other way by opening the aperture up for lighting up the background and acheaving a shallow DOF. you want the best of both worlds? a lot of DOF and a bright background? use a slave unit to light the backgrond. there is no good and bad, right or wrong- only what you decide. but YOUR DECESION MUST BE BASED on what you want to get, rather than on a thumb rule regarding optical performance.

just to satisfy you with a straight answer- I use film, not digital. I do formals with 85/F1.8 set to f4 or f5.6 (one person, or a couple) with a slave to light the background. the background is a HUPA (this is where the ceremony takes place in jewish weddings) most of the times.

if I haven't got time or space to use a prime lens, I use a 28-105 lens set to f5.6. this is far from ideale, so I try to avoid those situations.

for the reception I use 28-105 set to f5.6 and 200 or 400 ISO film for the huggy kissy shots and a second camera with 3200 ISO film and 85/f1.8 set to an aperture not smaller than f5.6 for spontanious shots.the relativily large aperture is ment to isolate the reactions of a single person from the crowd.

if the light is too low for anything rather than f1.8 than I'll try to create images that benefit from a shallow DOF. a picture of the bride showing off with her new ring to friends is a favorite one. the small DOF helps concentrate attention to the ring and the hand gestures.

don't be afraid of shallw DOF- learn to use it for your own good!

a new 16-600/f1.4L USM IS life size macro lens.

a flash unit that can hover away from the camera to produce side and back lighting, while changing it's colour temparture.

a 22MP full frame body, capable of 15 fps for 80 frames, with brain waves AF (but that's old news...I can't take credit for that).

the sports model can drive itself to the stadium or field and take the pictuers by itself.

and, oh yeah- it's expected to be upgraded by spring to a camera that can make great coffee and play chess.

paitience,

matan

after reading your posts and doing some research here, at kievaholic and other web sites I've decided to give up on the kiev. at the price of a kiev set that won't work I can buy plenty of velvia that works just fine.

I'm not so sure about the idea of a TLR or a rangefinder camera for landscape, because these types of cameras would prevent me from using graduated ND filters and maybe even polarizers.

I'll keep on looking for someone stuck for a long time with a mamiya/bronica that he or she can't sell. maybe I can get someone to drop their price down to something that can be affordable for a photography student...

matan

I'm a photography student and thinking of buying a medium format

system.

right now I own a big 35mm system (including canon EOS3 and canon

prime lenses ranging from 24mm up to 200mm) and I love it. but I

think that a medium format camera (preferebly 6x6)would fit more

nicely to my landscape needs. I can't afford anything fancy like a

hassy or even a bronica. so I'm thinking kiev60.

do you think that a kiev60 with mirror lock up+ 80mm and 45mm lenses

would stand to the standards of my canon gear? I'm talking about

picture quality, mostly, since I understand that these are very

different types of cameras.

do these things come with depth of field preview?

what sort of realese cable do they use?

what's the deal with internal flare? how can someone overcome this

issue?

anything else "special" I should know about?

thanks,

matan

To be accurate, I use the wein SSL-E digi slaves with a canon EOS3 camera and 550EX speedlite. When indoors the slaves perform very well, triggering the flashes off from large distances, even if the 550EX isn't pointed at the slave. in small spaces the slave will work even behind corners!

outdoors,at some (very few)cases the slaves won't work, but most of the time they'll do just fine.

other flashes (from the cameras used by guests at the wedding, for example) might get in the way and trigger the slave, but the slave won't react to all of them, only those that use a preflash.

...about two years ago. My most used body was a T90 and the move to an EOS3 was very smooth. the reason for the smooth transition is probably the fact that the design of many EOS cameras (1,1N,1V,1D,1Ds and 3) was spawned from the design of the T90. controls on the left and the right shoulder, the quick control dial, the viewfinder information disply, the palm door- all of the great ergonomic features of the T90 are found on many EOS bodies.

the EOS5 doesn't share all of those features so I'm not sure if you'll feel "at home" with it. also it isn't as well built as the rest. and finally- it has an 11 years old design and technology!

I once had a sigma 21-35/3.5-4.5 lens. I've nearly never used it at 21mm- too wide . when I moved up to EOS I first got the 28-105 but was'nt pleased with the optics. also it was vignetting with stacked filters. so I got the 24/2.8 and never looked back. small (a big bonus for street photography), light weight, sharp, fast AF (good for weddings), good contrast and has a useful DOF scale. I use use it for landscape, street, pj, weddings and I love it! and there's a big fat bonus for landscape photography- the cokin P holder won't cause vignetting with this lens, even with a UV filter in place.

matan

...the f1.4 version if you need 77mm diamater, so my last post didn't help you much...

sorry

matan

I recentley bought the cokin P holder with adaptor rings and hi-tech grad ND filters (0.6 and 0.9 soft). I'm happy with the results and to my surprise the holder won't cause vignetting. even when mounted on a tiffen UV filter. I use it on EF 24/2.8, EF 50/1.4 AND EF 70-200/4 and there is no vignetting.

matan

HI!

I bought a couple of wein SSLE slaves for digital cameras. I don't

use a digital camera, but my EOS3 dose use a SINGLE PREFLASH. my

question is should I set the little switch on the slave to 1 or 2

setting? also, say I need to set it to 1- should the switch be close

the the digit or away from it? one last question- how do I set the

slave to a no preflash mode?

thanks,

matan

Jose, let me start by saying that I have been working as a wedding photographer for the past two years. there are many things to consider when shooting a wedding and experience is at the top of the list. I agree with Jim about the first sentence. photographing a friend's wedding is an important task and the person behind the camera should be EXPERIENCED at wedding photography. does your girlfriend really wants to take the chance of not being up to the job? does she really want her first wedding shoot to be that of her friend's? sounds like a recipe for trouble to me. if she can't get herself out of this mess, she should at least get the hang of photographing a wedding. she should try and get in to someone elses wedding and photograph there, she should also look at the photographer (if there is one) to see what she/ he is doing. I know it sounds rude, but a polite request and a warm smile cant get the family and photographer's premission.

about the flash:

I don't know the vivitar flash. my suggestion is to try it out at various modes at conditions similar to those that are expected to be at the wedding. if it turns out that the flash works well in auto mode- than she should use it. using the flash in manual mode takes to long for making spontanious snapshots, many beautiful moments can be missed! however, if she insists on using it in manual mode, here's the formula for flash exposre:

GN

------------- = F stop (aperture)

DISTANCE (in feet)

so if the flash GN AT FULL POWER is 115 and the distance to the subject is 9 feet the correct aperture is 12.7 (about F13).but since the idea is to use it as a fill flash she should cut it down a little and use it let's say at F19. now here's the problem: F19 is a very bad choice for portraits. so if there it is possible to manually control the flash's out put- she should cut it down to a 1/4 of it's full power. of course she'll have to adjust the shutter speed so the ambient exposure will be correct. also- the shutter speed mustn't be to fast or the flash won't sync. sounds complicated? it is. use it in auto mode if possble. better yet- get a canon flash, even a small one.

one last thing: Jim is right about the films.

best of luck,

matan

1. it's not USM silent, but it's more than OK. nikon's non af-s lenses make much more noise than this little one. also it's so small that it catches no attention what so ever. you'll find me smiling my way into situations with my little 24/2.8, while other photographers are restricted by the obvious presence of their big 2.8 zooms...

2.it's no more than a little annoying. no FTM on one of my lenses? I can live with that.

3. don't know.

4. AF wise, the 2.8 aperture allows the camera to utilize it's more sensetive cross type sensors, so AF is fine.

matan

I have a canon 24/2.8 and know that manually focusing is not an easy task, especially since most AF cameras don't have a split image focusing screen to aid you. so you might want to give up the idea of using it in MF mode only.

also, the back focusing and the build quality of the EF 24/2.8 should make this lens somewhat resistant to dust going into it. perhaps the lens you bought suffered a blow that damaged the AF motor as well as it's sealing?

in short-take it back.

matan

shortly after I've noticed some play with the focus ring on my 70-200/f4, it started making trouble: sometimes the MF worked, somtimes it didn't! I took it to an AUTHORIZED CANON REPAIR LAB, where I was charged 200$ to have it fixed. now, six monthes later, the malfunction is back and I'm pissed.

my advice, if you don't want to find your self pissed, send it back!

matan

look through the viewfinder: there should be a vertical scale at the right side. when using a flash you'll see two dots next to that scale. one is for ambient exposure and the other is for flash exposure (can't remember which is which). if the dot representing the flash exposure is in a logical position (middle for a mid tone subject, for example) and the dot representing the ambient exposure looks like an arrow pointing downwards- then you're background will be underexposed and the subject lit by the flash will be correctly exposed.

have fun,

matan

I'm trying to decide on a set of filters and holder for landscape

photography. my eyes are set on a cokin P holder with hitech 85mm X

107mm 0.6 and 0.9 soft edge garaduated ND filters.

I'll use the set on canon EF lenses-

24/2.8

50/1.4 usm

70-200/4L USM

any thoughts about the quality of these products? is there a chance

of vignetting with any of the lenses? is it possible to cut down two

of the holder's slots to avoid vignetting? will I be able to mount

the holder on a screw type filter?

thanks,

matan

I'm trying to decide on a set of filters and holder for landscape

photography. my eyes are set on a cokin P holder with hitech 85mm X

107mm 0.6 and 0.9 soft edge garaduated ND filters.

I'll use the set on canon EF lenses-

24/2.8

50/1.4 usm

70-200/4L USM

any thoughts about the quality of these products? is there a chance

of vignetting with any of the lenses? is it possible to cut down two

of the holder's slots to avoid vignetting? will I be able to mount

the holder on a screw type filter?

thanks,

matan

all I can say is that I've looked at the canon camera museum site, and found that there are only two EF versions of the 600/f4. the new version has IS and the older doesn't.

matan

lee, although the lense's angle of view is "getting narrower" on a digital body, the DOF is still the same. so if you put a 35mm lens on a 10D, you get the angle of view of a 56mm lens, but with the DOF of a 35mm...and a 35mm lens has a large DOF.

matan

many good answers indeed. just to make things clear:

so far I've concentrated on landscape photography, using the best products money can buy- velvia film, canon prime lenses, a sturdy tripod, mirror lock up, and of course- the best lab around.

about a year ago I've started doing photojournalism and decided I want BW for that.

so far I've used agfa apx 100 and 400 iso, kodak tmax 400 and 3200 iso. I develop the films in a BX developer (1:14, 20c) and print on agfa mc premium paper. I hate to admit that I don't know what enlarger and lens I'm using, since it's not my own darkroom. I don't even know if it is well alligned.

obviously I have alot more to learn about B&W photography and darkroom workflow! I never knew BW could be THIS complex.

now I have ANOTHER question:

I understand that picture sharpness is compiled of several factors like acuteness, grain, tonality, and maybe more stuff. what are those? how do these factors affect on the image and on each other?

again, thanks foryour answers,

matan

what film/developer/paper combanation would you reccommand for

achieving the sharpest b&w image?

I know that the true path for sharpness is a larger format, but I use

35mm and can't afford anything else.

I do my own developing and printing, but due to a restricted budget I

can't afford trying out everything and decide for myself. so I'll let

you decide. regarding the film, it should be a 100-400 ISO film.

thanks, matan.

I recently bought a studio kit of two flashes with an umbrella and a

softbox. I did some experiments to try and find all sorts of lighting

techniques, but I'm stil stuck with very few of them.

can someone recommand a web site that deals with studio lighting

techniques?

thanks,

matan

if you're asking about an ambiant light meter, than my answer would be no, there is no need for it. I use 2 EOS3 bodies, always in spot meter mode, and I'm very pleased with the reasults. of course, you have to do the right compensating, since the meter will try to make the image 18% grey, but the camera meter is a good starting point to figuering out the right exposure.

matan