steve george

<p>Thanks for kick-starting it each week Barry, always a pleasure to check-in and see the great stuff being posted.</p>

<p><img src="http://www.stevegeorgephotography.co.uk/parliament.jpg" alt="" /></p>

Here in the UK we still have some chain

stores that sell film, but the selection is

limited and very expensive compared to

online. Where the difference didn't used to be

much I would say it is now approaching 50%

more expensive.

 

I'm lucky that I have a couple of independent

camera shops within 8 miles that are staffed

by knowledgeable, friendly people. I've

started bulk loading film as the only way to

afford to keep shooting it, but they are where

I head when I need something different to

what I have.

<p>That sounds great Steve, looking forward to having a look at that.</p>

<p><img src="http://www.stevegeorgephotography.co.uk/rainy-bunting.jpg" alt="" /><br>

One from Jubilee weekend in the summer. Rainy day bunting for a street party that moved quickly to the pub.</p>

<p>Lots of great photos from everyone last week. Looking forward to seeing what everyone has this week. This was from Remembrance Sunday, as the cadets led the veterans from the memorial</p>

 

<center>

<p><img src="http://www.stevegeorgephotography.co.uk/remembrance.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" /></p>

 

M6 90mm Elmar-C, Tri-x in D76 1:1</center>

<p>I've shot with old Leica optics and new optics and would say that I've never bought anything from any era that has lost value.<br>

I've shot a very poor condition Summaron that held it's value, and a nearly new Summicron that despite me using it and it showing signs of that after several years bouncing around my backpack is now worth more than I paid for it (not that I would consider selling it). If you pay a fair price in the first place I'd say you have nothing to worry about. Buy a lens to use it though rather than to think about future resale value and that way you will get the most out of it.</p>

 

<p>Thanks for the kind words chaps, really is very much appreciated. Lots of lovely shots this week!</p>

<p><img src="http://www.stevegeorgephotography.co.uk/bluebell.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" /></p>

<center>

<p> M6, 50mm Summicron, Tri-x, D76 1:1</p>

</center>

<p>Lovely shot Craig.<br>

<img src="http://www.stevegeorgephotography.co.uk/southover800.jpg" alt="" /><br>

M6 with 90mm F4 Elmar. Tri-x @ 1600, D76 1:1</p>

<p><img src="http://www.stevegeorgephotography.co.uk/mountain.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="614" /><br>

Found a box full of old films I'd never developed so am rectifying that. This was taken 7 years ago. Bessa R2A with 50mm Summicron. Delta 100 / HC110.</p>

<p><img src="http://thebeached.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/keerestreet2.jpg" alt="" /><br>

Ilford FP4, developed in coffee.</p>

 

<center><img src="http://www.stevegeorgephotography.co.uk/dancer.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /><br /><br />Dancer</center>

<p>Hi all<br>

<br />I've not posted here for a long time but check in for a read most weeks. 2012 is going to be a year of a lot more film for me now though and I'm really looking forward to posting up some shots and w/nw :-)<br>

A recent shot:<br>

<img src="http://thebeached.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/stevegeorge-5-of-7.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="603" /><br>

More are on my newish blog here, all M6, 28mm f2 VC, 50mm f2 Summicron or 90mm f4 Elmar. Vignetting added in post. <a href="http://thebeached.com/wp/?p=28">http://thebeached.com/wp/?p=28</a></p>

Thanks Zach. I've used pluraleyes before but you need two sound sources (eg in-camera and external) and for this

I've just got the one.

Thanks Michael, appreciate your answer - and the frame rate matches audio? I've read that 30fps is actually 29.97 so

goes wrong but is 25 going to work ok?

Playing with video on my 5Dmk2 I recently recorded a speech, no sound though. It turns out no-one else filmed it and I've been asked

if I can provide footage. The sound desk has the audio so I should be able to sync the silent footage with the audio without too much

difficulty right? As long as I get the start of the first word it should match or is there anything on frame speed that'll throw it? Anything

I need to watch out for?

 

Data: 5Dmk2 recording at 25fps approximately 3 mins long

Sound: 44.1khz stereo wav

 

My footage and the sound start at different points so no nice obvious start beyond visual cues.

 

Thanks

<p>Wow! Go away for a couple of days and come back to loads of answers. Thanks all for thoughts and comments. I really appreciate it. I'll try and answer some of the questions:</p>

<p>All those suggesting avoiding a crop body, I'm now in agreement having had a play around, so I'm sticking full frame whatever I decide to do.</p>

<p>To those asking why I'm asking...well...it's a big decision and I'm putting out feelers to see what people have done and think. Exactly the kind of feedback <strong>John Sherton</strong> gave in fact - ie. it's a learning curve but he's personally found it worth doing. I know there'll be others who regret it but it's good to get a first hand report with specific examples (and ones I can relate to).</p>

<p><strong>Steven Seelig</strong>: as per my reasons for switching number 5 is a key part of it, number 1 wouldn't go amiss either.</p>

<p>What's interesting too is the people suggesting using both systems - that's not something I'd given much thought to but might work (equally menu differences might drive me mad). I can see that having potential though as a means of slowly switching system.<br>

<br />Much to think about and thanks again all for taking the time to comment.</p>

<p>Thanks Jose. I am fussy, but as 95% of my work is with 2 focal lengths I could live more than happily with covering those. I'd have more lenses as back-up (probably a 50mm and 135mm) but that'd do me for most of what I do. Now knowing that the 2 bodies would allow me to double up on effective focal length it's quite an attractive prospect. I can cover my usual while having a bit of flexibility when I want it (which isn't often).<br>

I'm really not a zoom user either - my Canon 24-70 and 70-200 rarely see daylight. It's fast primes for me and 35mm and 85mm cover my "vision" of a wedding.</p>

<p>I should add - the flash issue is well known if you search the internet for it, likewise the issue my friend is having with his 5Dmk2 is common, my 5D mirror fall out is common...these aren't isolated and again, that's a reason for concern.</p>

<p><strong>Shun</strong>: I'm a professional photographer making a living from my equipment. I started with manual focus Nikons, went to Canon for the fast primes and AF and stuck with them for digital for full frame with the lenses I had. I've always wanted to use what I consider the best tools for the job.</p>

<p><strong>Dave / Francisco</strong>: it's different strokes for different folks. The 5dmk2 is great (I use one) but I'm not liking Canon's QC and that's why I'm considering switching. This is the issues I've personally had in the past 12 months:</p>

<p>35mm f1.4L a total dog as a performer<br />24-70mm f2.8L loose internal element<br />5D mirror fall out<br />5Dmk2 totally random battery charge indicator and other random unpredictable behaviour<br />Two 580ex II flashes inconsistent in firing</p>

<p>Given the price of that kind of gear that's not what I'd expect.</p>

<p>Of all the Canon equipment I've ever owned in the digital age the only pieces never to let me down ever are the 70-200mm f2.8L, the 85mm f1.2L and 135mm f2L.</p>

<p>Friends - professional and amateur photographers alike - have been having significant issues with the 5Dmk2 and 1dmk4, and of course there were the well known issues with the 1dmk3.</p>

<p>I'm replacing 2 cameras next year as part of a natural upgrade cycle. I'm wondering whether now is the time to jump ship (I see a lot less issues reported with Nikon) or to continue investing in a brand I'm not sure if I can trust. When you go to a job nervous about your equipment it's not a good feeling and despite having all the backups I need it makes me question why I'm sticking with Canon - a bride and groom only walk out of the church once and you <em>need</em> to know your flash is going to fire, not have in the back of your mind the times it didn't and hoping that's not going to happen again (one unit - maybe faulty...two units though...that gives no faith in design).</p>

<p>The wedding I shot on Saturday was typical in being shot entirely at either 35mm or 85mm with a handful of shots at the 24mm end of the 24-70mm, hence my question. It's not a decision I'm taking lightly but one I need to think about rather than blindly follow a brand loyalty.<br>

<strong> </strong><br>

<strong>William</strong>: thanks for your thoughts.</p>

For various reasons I'm thinking of switching to Nikon. I've built quite a collection of Canon L glass but even so know I'll make a loss if

I switch systems and try and get like-for-like Nikon glass. I think I can live without some zooms though as I so rarely use them so I'm

potentially willing to not do a full same-as swap.

 

My possibly dumb question is: I've only ever used fullframe digital, and I almost entirely use 35mm on one body and 85mm on the

other. Would getting one crop body and putting a 24mm FX lens on it and one full frame body and an 85mm lens on it give me a

similar setup but with added 24mm and 135mm (or close) by swapping the lenses over?

 

I know that might seem dumb to some people I'm just wondering whether to stick with fullframe or mix it up a bit. If I can lighten my

camera bag at the same time I may as well.

 

Also anyone know of anywhere in the UK that'll part-exchange Canon gear for Nikon?

<p><img src="http://www.thebeached.com/stool.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>I've said this before: I've occasionally had clients request I use film. A couple of photographers, an arty marketing type and a graphic artist. It's a premium product for some and why I keep my hand in shooting film and why I keep my film equipment.<br /><br />That said, I use digital for 99.95% of my work these days.</p>

<p>I haven't posted here for a loooooooooooooong time but thought I'd share this. I've had two incidents with two different cards occur in the past month, both of which made me glad I'm not the kind to panic, and both of which took on the appearance of card failure of some kind but neither actually was.<br>

1) Importing a wedding into Lightroom from a 4gb card, all photos taken on a Canon 5Dmk2. It finishes importing, says there are no more to be found but I can see there are 100 or so missing. Put the card back in the camera, and I can see all the missing photos. Odd. Put the card back in the PC and again...no photos to import.<br>

What had happened is my numbering had rolled over from 9999 back to 0001 and the camera had created a new folder for all the photos from 0001. Lightroom wasn't finding these so I manually "Imported all photos from selected folder" and all was ok.</p>

<p>2) Importing a portrait session into Lightroom when there is a powercut, PC crashes. Reboot PC and Lightroom can find no photos on the card. Browse through to the card and there are no folders on it. Nothing. Everything seems to have been wiped.<br>

Put the card in the camera and it says it is full. So the camera is finding something on it, but I can't see any of the photos.<br>

In this case I used a photo recovery tool to get all the photos off the card. My techie friends tell me the folder name would have been corrupted so while all the data was still there nothing could view the folder. That's my understanding of what they said anyway!<br>

The long and short of both stories is that everything was fine with the photos and the cards, just odd anomalies that happens occasionally with technology!</p>

 

<p>I had a power outage in my town kill a drive - I was copying data onto it at the point the power went out and from that point on it never worked again...at least never again in Windows.<br /><br />I got a Linux installation that ran from CD or DVD (you can Google one easy enough - download, burn to CD and it'll run off the CD so you don't need to install anything on your PC).<br>

Linux found the drive fine and I was able to copy all the data off it. It never worked again on Windows - I'm not techie enough to understand why but no PC can find it when it's plugged in to the USB port - but nothing was lost at least! :-)</p>

<p>The problem is that the exposure is too short to allow in much ambient light. I would go manual for this. If I haven't got time to meter properly I start with a ballpark of 1/60th, f5.6 and ISO 400 and then adjust from there. Slower shutter = more ambient light gets let in.</p>