david_thrower

<p>Hi Guys<br>

I've had my T90 for many years and only use it now and again but for me it's such a beautiful camera to hold and to look at. I don't use all the metering features - I mainly shoot it in metered manual mode so I'm not bothered about the advanced multi spot metering etc. It's just a great camera to use.<br>

I've recently picked up a clean F1n and that is beautiful too!.<br>

When I first started out as a sports photographer 20 years ago I used a Nikon FE2 - that is a great camera too.<br>

Sorry it's not a ground breaking post but for me cameras are about feel in the hand - all the technical features mean nothing as exposure is a pretty simple thing to work out most of the time even with a very basic camera meter.<br>

Best regards<br>

Dave Thrower</p>

Thanks everyone for your responses about my digital sub-question.

I have since tried the G1 with my 35mm concave chrome nose lens and although the rsults looked fine I must admit I'd rather shoot the lens on my FD bodies!.

I'll stick to the lens that came with the G1 for family snaps and I'll use my FD kit for film.

I'm so pleased with the F1n that I just bought that I'nm going to make more of an effort to use it.

Best regards

Dave

<p>Hi John<br>

Does your adaptor lead to a cropping of the image ie 1.3x etc due to the glass element.<br>

I'm tempted to buy one so I can try the 55mm aspherical on my 5dMK2.<br>

Cheers<br>

Dave</p>

<p>Thats a nice picture of a Robin - well done mate!.<br>

I've just bought a Panasonic G1 and I ordered an adaptor from Roxen to allow me to use my FD lenses on it. I've still got some nice FD kit left (I sold a lot of it) and I tried the concave element 35mm f2 on the G1 and the results were very nice. I've also got a chrome nose 50mm 1.4 and a 55mm apsherical 1.2 but to be honest these lenses are heavy and the G1 feels too light weight to really trust - I wouldn't want to rip the lens mount off.<br>

Having bought the adaptor and having been excited about using it I'm going to stick to shooting film with the FD stuff. I picked up a very clean F1n in London last week for £185 (after some haggling) and I'm still excited about using the FD kit with film.<br>

I guess I'm saying in a very long winded way that I'd recommend FD kit for film and EOS kit for digital. Sounds obvious I guess but every time I use the G1 I want to be using my T90 or F1.<br>

Best regards<br>

Dave</p>

<p>Oops there's an echo in here!</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hi<br>

I live near Milton Keynes and my studio is in Bletchley and it was still there in the skip this morning!.</p>

<p>Hi<br>

I live near Milton Keynes and my studio is in Bletchley and it was still there in the skip this morning!.</p>

<p>Hi<br>

I live near Milton Keynes and my studio is in Bletchley and it was still there in the skip this morning!.</p>

<p>OK so I know I'm a bit bad tempered at times and do resemble Basil Fawlty but I bought a 6ft x 5ft hilite for my small studio last year and it worked fine - so far so good....<br>

I've just moved to a bigger studio and I have spent the last hour fighting with the damn thing trying to fold it up. The instructions on their site are very poor - in fact I would say totally inept and I've just thrown the entire thing in the skip outside. I've just trashed over £200 of kit I know but I just didn't have any time left to battle with the thing.<br>

If you buy one please please understand that they are a nightmare to fold away so do not buy one if you're going to use it for events or weddings etc.<br>

I feel pretty stupid having lost my temper like this but at least I haven't started thrashing my car with a branch yet!.<br>

Best regards<br>

David Thrower</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Don't buy one - I did last year and used it my small studio where it worked fine BUT I've just moved to a larger studio and the thing is IMPOSSIBLE to fold away. I spent over an hour trying and I became so pissed off with it I threw it in the skip outside as I just didn't have time to mess with it any more.<br>

The instructions on the lastolite site are just laughable - I followed them carefully but to absolutley no avail.<br>

I've just lost £200 or so of kit and will never buy from Lastolite again which is even more irritating as I ordered their posing tubs yesterday and they were delivered to my new studio today.<br>

David Thrower</p>

<p>Hi Nick<br>

I do mainly commercial interiors and architectural photography along with some portraits and products and over the past few years I've been very busy and in the past two years so busy that I almost couldn't cope with the work. I thought I had ridden out the recession but about 8 weeks ago my phone stopped ringing and it hasn't really picked up much yet. I'm lucky in that I have some big clients that are very loyal but I'm now about to lease a larger studio in the hope that I can get some additional studio work to fill in the gaps where my architectural work has fallen away.<br>

The large building companies I worked for have now gone totally dead and have put their PR on hold. I have just taken on a new architectural client but I do fear that things have really gone cold hence I'm looking to expand my skill base a bit.<br>

I am still very lucky in that I have at least 2 days commissioned work a week minimum but at the start of the year I was out 4-5 days every week.<br>

I think there is still money to be earned here in the UK and my feeling is that there have been too many photographers due to the rise of digital photography and I have seen some appallling work by so called proffessionals. My hope is that these guys will be weeded out by the recession and I think that if you can provide good quality work at a reasonable price you will be OK.<br>

I can see some green shoots and I'm sure that in the next 18 months or so things will pick up again.<br>

I hope you pick up over in Dubai and if you do return home I wish you all the best and that you do well.<br>

Don't let the doom mongers put you off about living here in the UK - I love travelling abroad but I'm always glad to get home and Britain is still a great place to live in my opinion.<br>

Best regards<br>

Dave Thrower<br>

Redshift Photography<br>

<a href="http://www.redshift-photography.co.uk">www.redshift-photography.co.uk</a></p>

<p>Hi Harry Ronald and Tristan<br>

All your comments are very helpful and informative so thank you for taking the time to post.<br>

I bought the M4 today - it's very well used and some of the leather covering has come off. Also there's a spot of fungus in the viewfinder which the shop are going to clean of or me but it's so silky smooth to use. It's much smoother to wind on than my M6.<br>

I paid £370 Pounds for the M4 so even though it's tatty I think that I will get a great deal of pleasure from it - much more than I would from a Canon G10 etc etc that would have cost the same amount of cash.<br>

I just love these M series cameras and can't wait to shoot some film this weekend.<br>

Best regards<br>

Dave</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hi Everyone<br>

The serial number is 1692602 - forgot the mention that!.<br>

Thanks<br>

Dave</p>

<p>Hi Everyone<br>

I've had my M6 for three years or so and I just love using it whenever I get the time. I've just found a very tatty M4 in a shop in London that I buy from a lot and even though I can't justify the money I'm going to buy it because I can't resist it!.<br>

I looked up the serial number out of interest and found it was made in 1967 then I looked up my M6 out of interest and according to the list of serial numbers my M6 should be an M4-P made in wetzlar in 1986!.<br>

I just thought this as a bit odd and would like any feedback from you guys.<br>

My wife will probably kill me when she finds out about the new M4 so please make any replies to this post pretty quickly as I would love to read them before she gets to me!!!.<br>

Best regards<br>

Dave Thrower<br>

Hi Everyone

After some good advice from this forum I finally went for it and bought a second

hand Toyo Robos with 3 lenses and other bits and pieces for ﾣ650 and I am totally

in love with the whole 5x4 concept.

I also bought a Toyo branded 6x7 roll film holder which I have used and it proved to

be light tight but I had wound the film on far too far and lost many of the frames

because of this.

My problem is that the counter doesn't re-set when I open the back - is this

correct. If so please can anyone let me know how to correctly wind on the counter

to the right start position before I load the film.

I'm sure I am being totally daft here but please can someone put me right.

Best regards

Dave Thrower

Sorry forgot to attach image!.

Cheers

David Thrower<div></div>

Hi All,

Here's my go at it.

When I straighten up verticals I use distort on each edge of the image separately then use scale to strech the building upwards to try to retain the shape.

Best regards

David Thrower

Hi Guys

Yet more great posts and info - thankyou!.

The issue for me is not print size or speed. I have been shooting architecture full time for 5 years and I use a 17-40mm lens or 24mm t/s lens at present for wide angle work. The problem is that I still need to angle the camera up at times for tight interiors and large building and I spend hours in Photoshop correcting verticals. I use DXO which does have a "keystone correction" feature but it is very difficult to get things spot on so I have to fine tune in Photoshop.

As I have 3-4 shoots per week I spend all weekend working to catch up in Photoshop. I really want to be able to use a view camera to get my composition and vertical corrections done at the time of the shoot. A slower shooting process would in fact help as the temptation with digital slr's is to work too quickly and take too many pictures resulting in yet more post processing work.

Print size with the 5D is great to be honest. I did an exhibition in London a few weeks ago whereby I had 30 inch by 20 inch prints made (using some interpolation with Genuine Fractals) and they looked very sharp.

After reading a previous post about the 6x9 Arca Swiss I do agree that a 5x4 camera would give me more options as I could fit a 5x4 back to it as well as a 120 back.

I nearly bought a Linhoff Techikardan yesterday but I'm still not sure which way to go.

Anyway thanks again for the suggestions.

Best regards

David Thrower

Hi Everyone

Thankyou all so much for such informative answers - I really do appreciate every one of your posts.

Thanks to this post I have now totally ruled out the Fuji GX680 - I nearly had in my own mind anyway but now I know to move on.

I really love the idea of shooting 5x4 but to be honest with myself I am so busy with work (luckily!) that I want a fairly quick learning curve so a 6x9 back solution followed in future by a digital back is very tempting.

I think I'm going to go for the Arca Swiss 6x9FC but I will check out the Sinars first!.

I am looking forward to joining in the LF forum from now on. I've been on photo.net for ages and contribute to the Canon FD and Leica forums now and again but the high standard of information here in this forum is fantastic.

Thanks once again one and all.

David

Hi everyone

I've been reading the posts here for a quite a while as I am about to but a

large format camera and I am trying to learn as much as I possibly can. I've

also bought a book by Roger Hicks on LF photography which is very good indeed.

My question is this : I shoot architecture and interiors for a living but

currently use an EOS 5D with a variety of L lenses including a tilt and shift

24mm lens and also an RB67 for when I get the chance to use film.

I now want to move up to a large format view camera with full movements for

architectural photography. I won't be using the camera for product photography

so the movements I need are to correct converging verticals etc.

I aim to use the camera with film for a few months until I'm somewhere near

competant with it then I aim to buy a digital back for it.

I am trying to decide upon either a Linhof Technikardan 45S or an Arca Swiss

6x9 FC Metric. I have also been offered a used Toyo 45G with lenses.

The other camera I have considered is the Fuji GX680 - but I realise this only

has front movements of 15mm.

Any help or advice would be most welcome.

Best regards

Dave Thrower

Hi Geoff

I've got the converter and use it with my 50mm 2.5 macro for 1:1 macro work. I have used it on my 100mm f2 lens and it worked fine but I can't honestly remember why I did it!.

I bought mine used from a dealer for ?130 Pounds a couple of years ago.

I really only bought it because I bought the 50mm macro a few years ago new to act as a standard 50mm with the added bonus of macro but for insects and such the 50mm alone isn't macro enough (if you know what I mean).

The 50mm macro is though a very fine standard lens and I use it quite a bit for general work.

Hope this rambling answer helps.

Hi Everyone

I've owned both over the years and I have to say that for me I found the 28mm lens a bit un inspiring but I used the 24mm a lot. I know this sounds daft but that was the case for me. I owned the 28mm a lot longer ago so maby my photography tastes changed over the years but when I finally bought a 24mm years after giving the 28mm away to a friend I found I really liked the 24mm and used it a lot.

Best regards

David Thrower

Hi Joe

I like the uncropped shot that you posted first. I'm not a wildlife photographer but I think seeing the environment around the subject is important so not every wildlife shot has to be a super close up like the ones often shown on the front page of photo.net.

I like the fact that your shot shows a relashionship between the birds and shows that they live in a group.

A well known wildlife photographer here in the UK called Andy Rouse was interviewed recently about his work. He said he spent many years getting as close as possible to his subjects but now he feels a wider shot showing the animals surroundings is just as important.

Best regards

David Thrower

Hi Everyone

I was bored in a restaurant and took this shot along with a few others to pass the time while my wife chatted on and on with her friend!.

Best regards

David Thrower<div></div>

Hi Everyone

Firstly Happy new year to you all.

I am lucky to have a 55mm 1.2 Asph SSC and I use it pretty much all the time on my T90. I just love the lens from the feel of it through to the really pleasing results. I also own a 50mm 1.4 chrome nose and a 35mm chrome nose with the yellowed concave glass. Both of these lenses are a joy to use as well. Many years ago I used a cheap 70-200 Super Travenar zoom and a 35-70 zoom. I then picked up the 50mm 1.4 chrome nose and it was so much sharper - noticeable even on 6 x 4 prints. I still love this lens and would never part with it.

I have recently sold off some of my old FD gear but these three lenses will stay with me for good. I just want to find a nice 85mm 1.2 asph and a clean F1N and I've got everything I want in FD terms.

Best regards

David Thrower