cm1

<p>This is not a question, I just think it's a very useful link for everyone in the 'creative business'... how to avoid doing the work and not get paid. <br /><br />Warning, the title and language are not 'safe for work' - "F*** you, pay me" :-)<br>

http://vimeo.com/22053820</p>

 

Here in Europe the business of photography is a touch business. Rates for portraits, typical 'family & dog portraits', weddings etc. are quite low. Just out of curiosity, how much do commercial photographers in the US charge for such work?

 

<p>John, any idea how to to do this without glass? Putting such large images behind invisible 'Museum Glass' is extremely costly.</p>

<p>They don't outsource anything, I was there when they did my last superlarge prints.<br>

<br />I think they use Neschen lamination foil. What would be a better protection for large prints than laminating?</p>

<p>Thanks to all. I browsed through some price lists and found that very large sizes like 6' x 3' are really hard to find. And I also found that photographic and inkjet prints are a lot more expensive on your side of the Atlantic. I am not always sure whether I compare Mountain Dew with german beer because many descriptions are unknown to me.<br>

Just to give you an idea what I pay to my favourite lab in Germany: 6' x 3', mounted on foam board with a metal edge, laminated for protection and lamination back to back to avoid warping/distortion of the board = $254. The only problem is that shipping costs are a deal killer.</p>

<p>I am located in Germany, and some people in the US and Canada want large prints of my photos. It does not make much sense to produce them here and ship them over the pond. Iwould like to get them printed in the US or Canada.<br>

Sizes:</p>

<ul>

<li>About 6' x 3'</li>

<li>17" x 22"</li>

<li>Letter size</li>

</ul>

<p>It might also be necessary to mount some of the large prints on a kind of foamcore or Kapa board.<br>

Can you recommend any labs that aceept orders and uploads online and that I can rely on?<br>

<br /><br /></p>

<p>If you always needed a reason to visit Germany here is one: the annual exhibition of the "Digital Camera Deniers Association" (Vereinigung für Digitalkameraverweigerer) in Germany.<br /><br />I am the organizer of the 2011 exhibition. Every year we exhibit in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, and this time it's in Mainz, near Frankfurt. <br /><br />This is the official poster:<br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2446/5746791154_a207d0a215_b.jpg" alt="" width="725" height="1024" /><br /><br />There is a lot of music, cheap drinks, and no entrance fee. <br /><br /><strong>Vernissage Saturday, 4th of June, 18:00</strong><br /><br />There will be three bands, starting at 19: 'Ghost of a Chance', 'Plinio Designori' and 'Friends and Liars'. <br /><br /><strong>Open daily from 17:00</strong><br /><br />More music:<br /><br />9th of June, 20:00: Australian singer Mijo Biscan <br />11th of June, 20:00. Singer Fritz Streuner <br /><br /><strong>Finissage on Sunday., 12th of June, 18:00 </strong><br /><br />And, of course, there is a band from 19:00, named „kauzgarnitur“.<br /><br /><strong>The photographers:</strong><br />Jörg Bergs, Thomas Bethke, Franz S. Borgerding, Federica Degay, Mischa Klein, Michael Kopp, Walo Kuwa, Thomas Langmaier, Thomas Loos, Thomas Mika, Clemens Molinari, Maik Morgenstern, Gerrit Musekamp, Nadja Petranovskaja, Andreina Schoeberlein, Gerd Schreiter, André Schumann, Robert Skarka, Frank Somogyi, Robert Tyss, Stefan Voigt<br /><br />Show up or throw up :-)</p>

<p>jf zhang, you don't need an SSD with a large capacity, just for the purposes I mentioned. Many people who use an SSD this way are very happy with the result.</p>

<p>Think about an SSD drive, just big enough for the operating system, the applications and <em>as a Photoshop scratch disk. </em>Especially with big files the speed gain is tremendous. Even the fastest hard disk is a bottleneck if you have big files. A nice bonus: the PC starts within seconds.</p>

<p>May I add a question for a mobile workstation?</p>

<p>Yesterday my Macbook Pro died, it was only 3 years old. A new mainboard would cost more than 1,000 Euros (ca. 1,500 USD). My Apple dealer is probably laughing up his sleeve, but he does not know that my next notebook will run Windows 7.</p>

<p>I am looking around for a good alternative and found the costly but very powerful and rugged Lenovo Thinkpad W520 which has a good display and even an integrated calibration device. Plus USB3, eSATA, a compartment for a second hard drive to make a RAID and much more. It pretty much looks like it's made for photographers. Apart from the price...</p>

<p>Do you know any similar notebooks?</p>

<p>Is this advertising?</p>

<p>Sorry if you get the wrong impression - I am not paid for this. My personal interest was to find my photos, and it paid out, that's all.</p>

<p>Most photographers just learn by coincidence that their images are used illegally. It’s a shame because professional photographers and semi-pros need all the money they can get these days.<br>

There is a new service that automatically scans the internet and reports all findings weekly:<br>

https://www.imagerights.com/<br>

Detective Happenstance can retire now… bad luck for people that use our photos without permission :-)<br>

In contrast to Tineye it works automatically and sends a report once a week. With Tineye you have to sit in front of the computer and work. I tried it. Results are pretty nice, they found several of my images in the first week. I think they concentrate a lot on media websites, corporate websites and blogs and scan more and more.</p>

<p>Stephan, you are not alone. I schlepped a ton of photo gear in a shoulder bag two weeks ago, and that caused a lot of pain. I tried a backpack, too, but I definitely hate to take it off my back, put it on the ground (nice when out in the nature and it rains) open it, get the lens I need, take my shots, put everything back in and back on the back. Five minutes later, same procedure. My back gives me less pain, but it still hurts. I also tried gadgets like the 'sling' type bags. For me, they are just as bad for the shoulder as the shoulder bags, but they are a little easier to use. I considered the Lowepro Street & Field bags and pouches and similar stuff from other vendors, but I definitely don't want to look like a member of a S.W.A.T team or a suicide bomber. I looked at belt bags from Lowepro, Kata and others, but none of them meets my other criteria.<br>

My verdict is that the manufacturers give a sh** on their customers' wishes and make bags that are simply overloaded with nonsense.</p>

<p>Here is my wishlist for a "perfect bag": <br /> <br /> - Single-colored (all black for me), no logo<br /> - Completely unobtrusive and really, really simple and boring<br /> - No front pockets, no side pockets, everything should be inside<br /> - No fancy shapes, no decorative stitching <br /> - No fancy yellow or red fluorescent color inside<br /> - <strong>No Velcro, no zippers or other noise sources</strong>, and I only accept clicks from cameras, not from clips, carabiners or anything else (what about magnetic stripes?)<br /> - Easy to open WIDE, easy to close with ONE hand (one buckle or carabiner would be enough, why do many bags have two? Not that the clips and carabiners used today could be opened with one hand easily, they are all faulty designs...)<br /> - Carries all equipment without stacking (every time I need a special lens it is in the below-deck, e.g. below a divider, which is below the flash or other lens)<br /> - Flexible dividers that can be easily adjusted in a way that the lenses etc. do not move in their compartment with every step when I walk<br /> - Rainproof (not necessarily 'monsoon proof'), could be canvas, leather, neoprene, nylon<br /> - Not a stiff box with corners and edges, but cuddly (that does not mean it does not have to protect the content or collapse when it's empty)<br>

- For shoulder bags: Wide, soft, non-slipping belt with some shock-absorbing neoprene, big, padded, flip-turn shoulder pad (one side slips, the other never ever slips)<br>

- Bottom protection like those on some Domke bags<br /> - Bag, belt and shoulder pad should be washable<br /> - Flat like a 'satchel' style bag, but a little curved (I do not know many people that are as flat as a wall).<br /> <br /> No.1 "perfect bag, small size", that would be my favourite:<br /> <br /> - Can be used as a belt bag or shoulder bag<br /> - Max. 500 gramm<br /> - Carries 1 Leica M with attached standard lens and hood, 3 lenses (incl. something like a 1.1/50, 2/100, 2.8/135 with googles), lightmeter, 1-2 accessory finders, spare battery and 5-10 films - and all that should easily fit in, not by stacking, squeezing etc.<br /> - Maximum 100 US Dollars (remember the old Domke prices?)</p>

<p>No.2 medium size:<br>

- Can be used as a belt bag or shoulder bag<br /> - Max. 800 gramm<br /> - Carries 1 DSLR with attached standard lens and hood, 2 zooms or 3 primes, spare battery, average strobe - and all that should easily fit in, not by stacking, squeezing etc.<br /> - Maximum 150 US Dollars (remember the old Domke prices?)</p>

<p>The 5D2 is a nice camera, I have it, too, and I often use manual lenses - a 560mm Leitz Telyt, an Olympus 80mm bellows head, and a Nikkor 3.5/18mm, which is a great lens on that camera.<br /> In the past I bought some chinese adapters, the stuff you get on ebay at low prices, with and without pirated AF chips. They are also offered in shops, and brand names for these adapters are ten a penny. I absolutely hate these adapters. They never fit properly, they often gave me a headache with focusing to infinity, the lens wobbles when you turn the focus or aperture ring, and <strong>after a while of normal use some of them have too much play </strong> which makes the AF chips completely useless. One day I found grit from an adapter inside my camera and decided to finish using this scrap of no sale value. I could make better adapters using Scotch tape. Welcome to the wonderful world of chinese quality.<br /> The best adapters I saw are available from cameraquest.com (probably made by Kindai in Japan) and Novoflex. I purchased used Novoflex adapters and paid about 60 USD for each in average. They are absolutely precise, there is no play, they just snap in and do their job - they just do what an adapter should do and nothing else.</p>

<p><em>Delhi maybe the wrong place to relax and adjust....</em> that is so true.<br>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3340/3570673541_6c60aa774a.jpg" alt="" /><br>

Delhi is an extremely exhausting place...<br>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3580/3571499022_529e7b1af1.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="354" /><br>

If you need a rest go to the Tibetan colony, it's very silent there. Head north along Ring Road just past Majnu ka Tilla Gurudwara, or take the Metro to Vidhan Sabha station, and a cycle-rickshaw. They have some good guesthouses and tibetan restaurants there, prices are low.<br>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/3578893632_0d69c973f7.jpg" alt="" width="332" height="500" /></p>

 

<p>Epson inks are really expensive here in Europe, it seems impossible to find offers for less than $62/cartridge.<br>

I saw that some cartridge clones are available now. There are some vendors that sell different types; the most advanced I have seen has an aluminium bag inside like the cartridges for the real big printers, and they are said to do the right trick to be recognized by the printer's electronic. One vendor offers these cartridges with Lyson Photochrome ink.<br>

Did any of you ever try these cartridges and ink with the Epson Stylus Pro 3800?</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/9656034-lg.jpg" alt="" width="850" height="850" /></p>

<p>Possible answers:<br>

1: It's the money that you get for street photography.<br>

2: I like to run into trouble with strangers.<br>

3: That camera must be good for something.<br>

4: It's the shot.... good reply, eh?<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/9656072-lg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="800" /><br>

For me and many others it's the good feeling that you get after the click when you know you have captured something that goes beyond your photographic style and habits.</p>

<p>In the past the FD 500 reflex had a good reputation. Unlike the other FD lenses this one has neither a diaphragm nor other connections between the lens and the camera body. So one might think it could be possible to skip thoughts about bad adapters, get a monkey wrench, unscrew the original bayonet mount and replace it with something more useful, like EF, Nikon, M42, whatever.<br>

Was this ever done by a crafted mechanic?</p>

<p>Kari is right. And let's face what you compared:<br>

- a zoom against a prime, and the zoom shows no fringe.<br>

- a 5D2 with the zoom weighs probably less than half of the 4.5 kilo Fuji camera.<br>

- you used a non-static light situation, no tripod...</p>

<p>So, I suggest you repeat that test with a setup that allows to compare results.</p>

<p>As I have PS CS2 and simply refuse to pay a fortune for upgrades just in order to open the files from my 5D2, I use DPP which comes free with the camera. Another good option is UFRaw, which is freeware and surprisingly good. If you want a more professional product, CaptureOne will do the job. Fotostation which I use as my archive can also handle the new files. In all these cases, the result is a file in a standard format. Even Adobe can not ask for money if you want to open a TIFF of JPEG file in good old CS2.</p>

<p>I saw reports from some people that a R72 filter was not strong enough. People recommended to use a stronger filter that allows less visible light to pass as the 5D2 is better "protected" again IR than previous cameras. What do you think about that?</p>

<p>Apart from this specific problem, wold someone like to share his experience with the 5D2 and IR photography? What filter do you recommend and what exposure times did you get?</p>

<p>Barry, in a nutshell: Puts has always blown a lot of hot air given the time. I am a Leica user since many years, and I have no idea what Puts' sermons are good for. I can't even imagine that someone pays him for these tracts.<br /> </p>

<p>Børre, thanks a lot, that is quite impressive. I think I will talk to my camera dealer and ask him for a live test with my negatives and see how much I can tweak the results. Most of my negatives are Tri-X and Tmax 100, two very different tasks.</p>