arsenal74

February 27, 2005

Thanks for responses.

If it is a camera problem I can take it back but I suppose I need to know for sure. I will shoot some more this week and use a different lab.

What made me think it was not an inprint was that the Bronica winds the film vertically and these lines are horizontal. Also the lines are random as to where they appear in the frame and how many there are. It could very well be a shutter problem. Excuse my ignorance but am I right in thinking that the shutters are in the lens and not the camera body?

I suppose I need a definative test to be sure. These shots were taken with the 40mm wide. As well as using a different lab I may try the standard lens which I have not used yet. <p?

Thanks again

February 26, 2005

I have sent them over.

Many Thanks

February 26, 2005

I have been unable to upload the image to photo.net

I'll try and describe the problem.....

Basically I have a series of 7-10 faint horizontal lines going across my image. It also appears random i.e. on one slide they are right across the middle and on another towards the top third of the slide.

February 26, 2005

Hello

I have attached an example of a problem I have been getting with my

Bronica SQA. These lines are present on 70-80% of slides recently

recieved back from a lab here in the UK. The problem was spread

across 2 different rolls of film.

The camera was purchased 2ns hand from a dealer but is new to me and

this is first time I have used it. My first thoughts were the film

being scratched in the camera but as the film is wound vertically

this cannot be the case.

Could it be light leaking of some description? or maybe even an

error by the lab? As the equipment can we returned under warranty

if necessary I need to know. I will soon go and shoot some more

test shots and use a different lab but was wondering if anybody had

come across this before?

Many Thanks

February 24, 2005

Hello

Has anybody had any experience with "Doug's" film holders? I have

recently purchased an Epson 4990 and am seriously considering buying

one.

If so what are yout thoughts? also would be interested to hear

comments on the anti newton glass. It looks like a great option to

keep the film flat but will it affect sharpness at all?

Thanks

February 24, 2005

Again thanks for all the responses.

Both my drives are internal and came with the machine and both are 7200 speed.

I have already run adaware but not the others, will try them later. I have today ordered 3x 512MB of RAM which will take me to 2GB. This coupled with some serious cleaning up will I'm sure help a great deal.

Have to admit I am starting to regret going pentium over Athlon, Too late now!

February 24, 2005

Thanks for all the responses,

The files I am now working on are 200-300MB scans and probably take close on a minute to open even around 30 seconds to crop or rotate. Infact even having one open makes photoshop crawl with just swapping from the crop to zoom tool an effort. I am running CS. Both my drives are 7200

I was concerned to read the poster who had to change their motherboard as this is a brand new P.C (Compaq) and I doubt running photoshop slow would constitute a fault covered under warranty. I think I'll up the RAM to 2 GB but have heard that PS CS cannot use more than 1 GB (is this true?). I may also try shutting down all un-necssary processes but not being a P.C expert do not really know what they all are! I have broadband so would be very reluctant to close down norton firewall.

Have I bought a donkey?

February 23, 2005

Hello

I have just swapped my powerbook 12" g4 1ghz 768mb ram (at

considerable expense) to a P.C (P4 3ghz, 512MB ram 260GB HDD etc)

and have so far been very disappointed with the performance of

photoshop, in short it is as slow if not slower than the powerbook.

I know I need more ram and will be adding at least another 512MB

soon but can't help but think that there is something else affecting

this. I have PS installed on my C drive which is 200GB and am using

the second 60GB drive as the scratch disk, I have also increased the

ram used by PS in preferences to no avail.

For such a brand new machine there a lot of processes running when I

go into task manager but don't want to start closing these down

before I know what they all do! I have norton AV (which I disbable

and norton firewall installed)

Any idea?,P>

Thanks

February 18, 2005

Hello

I have recently returned to film for my stock landscape work (still

shoot digital for weddings) and am wondering on people's experience

blending images of different exposures as opposed to using ND Grads.

I have always used grads on my 35mm and digital gear however I have

recently purchased a Bronica SQA (which is great BTW) along with the

40mm wide angle. My Cokin P series are not big enough for the 95mm

filter and the grad set (either Lee or Cokin) and holder is not

cheap! This is what has got me very interested in digital blending.

I have purchased the FM DRI pro plug-in. I have only tried it

briefly on some 35mm scans but have not been impressed so far as the

skys on my shots have had a strange colour shift. (I am guessing I

need to experiment with different settings) and that it will work

fine.

Would appreciate your thoughts, is anybody getting good results with

digital blending? Are there any pros out there using this method (or

the FM DRI plug-in) or should I just start saving for the Cokin Z/Lee

filter system?

Thanks

February 2, 2005

Thanks for all the responses, if I may say so some seem a bit harsh, but hey

it's all about opinion.

So far they only have 10 of my images. I am due to upload more but have not

decided for sure yet as to whether I will.

I have no intention of posting with another stock library. I would however like

to send a sample portfolio to some of photography magazines as the money/

prizes are reasonable and the exposure excellent (we all read them after all

don't we?) I am also working on a personal project and these images will go

knowehere until it is finished.

I'll admit to some naivity but it's not I have signed my life away here. I have

seen the paragraph from photega mentioned above but this was par for the

course for the ones I saw, unless that was I was prepared to pay for the

privilidge of uploading my shots or used one of the big boys (Alamy,getty etc) .

I shoot 35mm and digital (Olympus E1) and after some technical rejections

from alamy I was pleased to make what seemed like a positive first step for

me, my main photography income comes from weddings so I cannot invest in

MF gear to compete at Alamy or Corbis (I know a lot of people shoot

weddings with MF gear but for me digital pays and the E1 is excellent) nor

am I anywhere near the funds needed for a 1DS mk2. I have dipped my feet

in the water so to speak with these 10 images but am not totally decided on

what the best route is to progress my non wedding work. I am naive but I

suppose most are when they start out

Thanks again and please keep the views coming they are appreciated.

February 2, 2005

I have just had my first batch of images accepted by a stock library

here in the UK (photega) and will shortly be sending in the rest of

my portfolio. This is my first experience with stock and I know it

will be a long haul to make any money (if any at all).

My question relates to the exclusivity of my images. I have also

been considering sending in a portfolio of images to the big

magazines here but am wondering whether I am able to send in any of

the images I already have at the stock library. I see lots of the

established pros having their shots published in these mags and I'm

sure these images must surely have gone to other sources too whether

it be a stock library, publisher etc?

Excuse my ignorance but I am new to this side of the business. Would

I be breaking the contract I have with the stock library by sending

my images elsewhere? I'm not talking about another stock library but

just magazines or publishers. Whilst not lucrative photography

magazines would be a great medium for getting my work seen by a large

audience, of course it is highly liklely they would turn them down

anyway but you have to think positive!

Would appreciate feedback from any shooting pros out there as I'm

sure there is probabaly a very simple answer.

Thanks

January 26, 2005

Hello all,

I am relatively new to the wedding business and 2005 is only my

second year. I shoot digital with an Olympus E1 14-54 (which I find

is good for pretty much the whole event and a great lens by the way),

55-200 (sigma) and an FL50 on a stroboframe. I take a Canon EOS film

body with 2 lens as a backup and for 2005 will be adding a backup

flash. After my next confirmed booking I intent to add another E1

body and either the FL20 or FL36.

So far I have only shot 5 weddings, a christening and a couple of

dinner dance events. The results have been good and all of my

bookings (3 so far) in 2005 have come from referrals (I want a larger

portfolio before I get a web site and advertise properly.

So far I have bracketed religiously at all of these events for every

shot (my style is reportage) and whilst the exposures on my E1 seem

quite good I am still very reluctant to trust the meter totally.

Continuing to bracket does have 2 disadvantages that I can see -

Memory space (I always shoot RAW) and the recycling of the flash

(even for fill) My bracketing has ranged from -+1 stop down to +- 0.5

stops and usually all 3 shots are usable as my E1 tends to

underexpose I have only ever had a handful of blown highlights and

the normal correct exposure shot is usually a tad underexposed.

At my next wedding I am toying with the idea of only bracketing for

the formals and trusting the meter for the majority of the other

candid shots whilst checking the screen/histogram as I go.

Would be very interested to see how others approach this area.

Thanks

January 25, 2005

Thanks for all the advice. I was leaning towards more CF cards as if nothing

else makes for a more seamless process on the day. Hard drives are known

to be fragile when moved as thousands of IPOD owners will tell you (I treat

mine with kid gloves)

Maybe I was wrong about the 4GB card @?150 but I have seen plenty of 1GB

cards on ebay for around ?35 GBP. Has anybody had much experience with

cards purchased from ebay (most come from Hong Kong I believe) I have a

Sandisk 256 that was purchased this way which has been fine although I

could have been lucky plus it has had very light use.

I like the shoot film comment, I still take a Canon EOS film body as backup but

when you add up all the pros and cons for weddings at least, I believe digital

wins out overall.

Thanks again.

P.S Before somebody suggests the belkin card reader for my IPOD the write

time for a 1GB card is I believe 30 minutes!!

January 25, 2005

Hello

I am currently looking at portable storage solutions for shooting

weddings, I currently have 2 x 1GB Sandisk Ultra II cards but my

portable hard drive (Image tank) has died on me so I am looking for a

replacement. Compared to when I purchased the image tank the market

is now very crowded and theere has also been the advent of portable

CD and DVD units. I have as I see it 3 options and would welcome any

feedback.

- Another portable hard drive. The image tank was

solid enough while it lasted although I did find the lack of any

visible confirmation that the data had written a little worrying.

Also at a wedding you cannot predict how the day

will go and uploading from the card does take time. These have the

added bonus of being very useful for my landscape hobby in the field,

although I do have my powerbook for that.

- A portable CD or DVD unit. I am unsure as to the

reliability or speed of these currently, on paper they look very

useful. There is however the problem of either a 1GB card not

fitting on a CDR or wasting 3+GB of a DVDR.

- Buy an additional 4GB CF card (now available in the

UK for ?150ish). This will give me enough capacity to shoot 600 RAW

files, a number I have only ever come close too once or twice. Again

though having that many eggs in one basket so to speak (400

photos on one card) is a little worrying.

Ideally I would buy both but my financial advisor (wife) is not keen

on that at this time. Would appreciate seeing how others tackle this

area.

January 24, 2005

I am going to be purchasing a new tripod shortly and have spotted a

couple of interesting models at bargain prices. The Velbon CF-530 C/W

head and a manfrotto 055A (without a head)

I shoot landscapes on a DSLR and 35mm and currently use a cheap

Jessops model with quick release head (I also have a Velbon mini), it

has served me well and is light but as I am now looking to try and

experiment with some stitched images am looking for something a

little better.

Does anybody have any experience with either of these models? The

Velbon has the advantage of being carbon fibre which I'm guessing

will make it easier to carry on longer hikes but the Manfrotto looks

a solid piece of kit and not too bulky and is ?70 GBP cheaper (If I

was to purchase the same head for it as comes with the Velbon).

Money is not the issue with this decision but of course a saving

would always be nice.

Thanks

Neil

January 22, 2005

So if I purchase the grip alone which costs ?180 (ish) here in the UK will the

grip work Ok? Or do I have to buy the battery and charger too? (another ?250-

?300) I am more interested in the balance of the camera initially.

Quicker autofocus would also be nice but is not essential right now and I

would most probably add the battery and charger at a later date.

Thanks

January 21, 2005

Sorry it's been a busy few days for me on the forum.

I have decided to stay with the E1 for now, I love the camera (mostly) and am probably being over critical about the noise. I bought my portfolio into my day job yesterday and got some positive comments about my shots (which is always nice) but also a lot of people commented on the sharpness and quality of the prints. Anyway am going to stay as I am for 2005 and see what Olympus does. If there is no replacement pro body by the end of the year I will have to re-visit my decision.

It has been really good to hear from others using the E1 for weddings and I am a great fan of comparing notes. My main bugbear at the moment is use of the flash. I have the FL50 which is currently camera mounted with a lumiquest softbox. The camera though becomes very un-balanced and more difficult to use in portrait format and of course there is the added issue of shadows off to the side. I have been looking at the stroboframe flip bracket but have heard this is also very awkward to use. The battery grip would also help the overall balance of the camera but boy is it expensive. If there were more pixels I would shoot landscape and crop.

Secondly my style is informal which is now becoming increasingly popular in the UK and I am wondering about discarding the FL50 for fill flash when shooting candids outdoors and only mounting it for the formals I do after the ceremony. It is a case of speed and ergonomics Vs optimal quality. Oh I do love overcast days and shady areas at weddings!!

Would be very interested in getting the viewpoint of others on this, Am I alone in finding the FL50/E1/portrait comination un-balanced? and is the stroboframe (or equivalent) a good option?

Thanks

January 21, 2005

Sorry I have only used the FL50. I have heard good things about some 3rd party stuff

January 20, 2005

Does anybody have the external battery grip on their E1?

I have been looking at it but cannot decide whether all I need to

purchase is the grip itself (?150-?200 here in the UK) or whether to

get it working I also have to purchase the battery/charger kit too.

If you have to buy the whole kit then it becomes one very expensive

battery grip! I want it more for the additional shutter for portrait

mode and general ergonomics. Nobody seems to be able to give me a

stright answer and the Olympus website is clear as mud on this one.

Would appreciate any help.

January 20, 2005

Thanks for the answer, it is good to hear from someone using the E1 for weddings.

Do you have a flash bracket for your flash? How are you finding it, I currently have the FL50 camera mounted but it is very uncomfortable shoting in portrait as the camera feels very unbalanced, plus of course the concern over shadows with the flash off from the side even with fill-in. I have been looking at the battery grip but it seems extremely expensive when compared to other manufactuers (Up to ?400 here in the UK, when the one for my EOS 50 was <?100) I have also been considering a flash bracket that flips,although I have heard that these are equally awkward to use.

It is a great camera. Put a 10MP foeveon chip in there with better high ISO noise and I'd be set for life!

January 20, 2005

I am a startup wedding photographer who is entering his first full

year in the market, I shot a number of weddings last year and my aim

this year is to progress further so that maybe in 2006/07 I could

consider maybe giving up the day job.

I am also a keen landscape/travel photographer and this is the area

where my passion lies, I have a fledgling collection of photos with a

stock library which I am keen to grow. My equipment is all geared

towards the weddings as this is short-medium term where I see the

potential income and is as follows. Olympus E1, 14-54, 55-200,

FL50/lumiquest softbox (which I love, I know opinion is divided on

these), Canon EOS 50E (brand new believe it or not) 28-80 and a 50

1.8 prime. By the time I do my first wedding of 2005 I will have

added to this a backup flash and maybe another lens for each camera.

My question relates to my stock side as I am setting myself projects

this year in the UK as to areas I am going to capture but am

wondering if my equipment is up to stock photography especially

landscapes? I am fully aware that currently only the 1DSmk2 can

realistically approach medium format quality and that all of the top

landscapers at least here in the UK all still shoot film and in

particular medium format. I know it is a VERY competitive area but I

am confident that with the right dedication I can make some progress

and at least make it a worthwhile way to supplement my hobby. I do

however have this nagging doubt that ultimately my equipment will let

me down. Now I know that it is the photographer that takes good

pictures and not the camera but with regards to stock the technical

aspects of the image play a huge part and I'm sure many fantastic

shots are probably not taken because editors or whoever is buying is

looking for a larger (non interpolated) file/print size.

Is anybody out there shooting digital (excluding IDS mk1 or 2) for

stock and if so how successful have you been? Better still is

anybody shooting with an E1 for stock?

January 20, 2005