jon_marks1

<p>Hi guys.<br>

As you can probably guess from the question, Photoshop isn't my forte...<br>

My girlfriend did a photography degree years ago, and ended up with some slides, each of which is made up of a couple of transparencies with a piece of coloured plastic behind them in a single slide holder to form a composite image. I had thought I could scan each of these transparencies individually and then place a coloured layer over them in Photoshop to get the same result (out of curiosity to see how it would work, and on the assumption the final result might be sharper and more detailed), but I can't seem to get a 100% likeness.<br>

While I can get close-ish with a 50% opacity top transparency blended with hard light to a 100% opacity background with a 50-ish% opaque coloured layer over the top and twiddling of curves and a little colour balancing, it ain't the same thing. Is there any way to produce a compsite of the two individually scanned transparencies with a coloured layer in Photoshop which would be indentical to scanning the two transparencies and piece of coloured plastic together in a single slide holder?<br>

I'm using a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual IV scanner and Photoshop CS on an XP PC.<br>

Cheers, Jon.</p>

Ah, new as I am to Olympus cameras, I didn't realise you had to press any buttons to check the aperture blades. I did it just now, and everything seems to be working perfectly. S'pose I'd better put some film in it then :)

Thanks for the advice, guys.

Evening, all.

I just picked up a Zuiko Auto-S MC 50mm 1.8 lens for a tatty old OM10 a friend

gave me. When I turn the aperture ring with the lens off the camera, I can't see

the aperture increasing or decreasing in size, though the ring moves smoothly.

Is this simply the way this lens works, or are the blades jammed?

Cheers, Jon.

Afternoon, everyone.

I've had a browse through this forum to see what others' experiences

with the Rollei 35 and non-original batteries have been, and opinions

seem to differ slightly - some seem to get on OK with colour neg film

and the built-in lightmeter running unrecalibrated on a 1.5V alkaline

625A, others seem to have problems (I'll be using colour neg most of

the time, but may use some colour slide film too).

Will a zinc-air Weincell get enough air to work properly inside the

battery compartment of a Rollei 35T? I have a 625A that I'll try

anyway in the meantime, and I realise the Rollei's own meter isn't

fantastically precise anyway, but any advice would be much

appreciated. I suppose I could shell out on an adaptor, but I'm a bit

confused by the various options, and I'd like to avoid hassles like

the sloping discharge characteristic of the alkaline if I can.

Cheers, Jon.

Seeking advice on used manual digicam for low-grain pics, up to ï¾£200.

Evening, all.

I'm hoping I might be able to get some pointers as to which models I

should investigate, as ploughing across the web and visiting my local

Jessops has just left me utterly confused. Apologies in advance for a

very wordy post too.

I'm a hi-fi anorak, and my main photographic aim (at the moment) is

taking pics of hi-fi indoors (mmm, fascinating...) I'm fairly skint,

and don't have any real lights. The only way I've been able to take

usable pics so far is with a cube slightly less than a metre on a

side and open-fronted. The two sides and top have cardboard alcoves on

them, each lined with reflective foil and each fitted with four 150w

standard lightbulbs. The rear panel is either white or dark-ish blue,

depending on what I'm trying to get a picture of. This bodge sort or

works, although I know it could be a lot better.

I have two auto digicams, a Canon PowerShot A300 3.2MP, and a Lumix

DMC-LC80 5MP. I bought the Lumix because I wanted a camera with less

barrel distortion and greater sharpness than the Canon, and in this it

succeeded admirably. However, there was always something about its

pics that grated very slightly, although it took a long time for me to

realise what it was - grain/noise, even on the lowest ISO 80 setting.

It's only recently that I've learned about things like sensor and lens

size, and how they can affect noise levels in a picture, and found

that the Canon produces less grainy pics than the Lumix for the same

settings and light levels. I do occasionally wonder how much the

lighting I have available affects the amount of grain in my pics,

though having used both cameras outside on sunny days, I can't say

there seems to be much real difference in grain between those outside

pics taken with better light and the pics I take indoors.

So... I'm thinking of spending up to ï¾£200 on a used manual digicam, as

I think I could do with the extra flexibility of manual over auto

anyway. Is this a practical amount, or am I realistically looking at

having to spend more cash? I don't need to blow prints up particularly

large, but obviously, like every man and his dog, I like sharp pics,

albeit not at the expense of grain. Can anyone give me some ideas as

to which models I should consider given my, ahem, basic set-up and the

fact that I'm not fussed about size, weight, burst speed, start-up

time, shutter lag, flash power or the like? I don't do any zoom stuff

either, although macro capability would be handy. (However, I might be

able to get away with using the Canon for this if it meant better

picture quality in my new camera).

Now that I realise it's not inherently a question of more pixels are

better no matter what, I'm wondering if I should opt for, say, a good

3-4MP camera with a biggish lens and sensor. I seem to remember

Panasonic did this in one of their cameras from a year or two back,

and I quite liked what I saw when someone sent me over a couple of

pics, some taken with the Lumix, a few others taken with one of the

Leicas.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Cheers, Jon.

Hello, all.

I've been trawling the web and magazines here in the UK, and am now

more confused than ever about which camera to buy. My main criteria

are image quality and some degree of manual control, certainly as

regards metering modes (my current Canon A300 Powershot is quite

flexible in this regard, and has spot as well as centre-weighted and

averaged, AFAIR).

One thing that drives me potty is barrel distortion. Other annoyances

are zoom lenses the length of toilet rolls, and a million-and-one

useless bells and whistles. All I'm after is a camera geared more

towards image quality than features. Although a good basic zoom might

be handy, I could almost certainly get by without one, as long as a

fixed lens allows me to get in to about 30cms from the subject (is

this asking too much?), in this case hi-fi gear. I'm not fussed about

frames-per-second or the like.

Having popped into the local Jessops, they mentioned a Canon, a Nikon

and something else I forget. Panasonic's Lumix 5MP camera also seems

to be getting good reviews, although it seems to be limited in

metering modes. I'll be using the camera on a tripod most of the time,

predominantly taking pictures indoors in what are probably quite low

light conditions (I really don't have the space or the cash for any

sensible lighting). I suppose low noise would be good, although my

Canon seems quite happy with slowish shutter speeds at lowish ISOs.

Any advice would be greatly welcomed. I suppose I could consider

buying used too, although I'm not that sure what sort of problems I'd

need to keep an eye out for.

Cheers, Jon.