andrew n.bra hrefhttp

Er Wayne. I wasn't diss'ing the book. Just the notion that this sort of thing can only be

done with digitals, or that it's "too hard" to do with (film) Leicas :?)

On topic. All the full-sphere panoramics (except the Sydney skyline scene) on my VR page

were taken with a 16mm Leica-Elmarit-R and either R6.2 (older) or M4-P / M6TTL (more

recent). :?)<p>

<a href="http://vr.4020.net">http://vr.4020.net</a><p>

I've been doing this sort of thing for years and have always used film. DSLRs just don't cut

it IMO as the brightness range of full 360-degree scenes is far too broad, especially if you

live and work in countries where the sun is visible in the sky :?) Many DSLR

users work around the brightness range limitation by taking lots of shots and merging

them together. This works well for empty rooms or streets, although you can end up

processing a <i>lot</i> of shots, but you can't really use this hack if you're shooting in-

close dynamic crowd scenes, as many of us typically do.

Don't forget that outside the M7, the higher shutter speeds on any M may be off by a 1/3

of a stop anyway. Can't be helped.

So as others have noted, intermediate speeds above X sync are anyone's guess. Above 1/

250th and this includes the set speeds as well :?)

I've used the 100m APO-Macro-R a few times for street candids, eg.<p>

<a href="http://4020.net/unposed/street.shtml#anzac_flagbearer">

http://4020.net/unposed/street.shtml#anzac_flagbearer</a><p>

<a href="http://4020.net/unposed/work.shtml#anzac_dogcop">

http://4020.net/unposed/work.shtml#anzac_dogcop</a><p>

... but I found it too conspicuous and constricting for my taste. If I need to isolate or

single out someone then I move in closer with a 50mm. Much simpler IMO.

Here's the topic from the Leica FAQ I maintain:<p>

<a href="http://www.nemeng.com/leica/020b.shtml">

http://www.nemeng.com/leica/020b.shtml</a><p>

AFAIK M5 users don't really complain about flare so much, it's the M4-P, M6 & M6TTL

crowd.

<i><<a href="http://4020.net/">4020.net</a>></i><p>

You have a "nice handheld meter already", so why not save yourself $100s of dollars and

buy a non-metered Kiev NC-2 45-degree prism finder?<p>

<a href="http://www.kievcamera.com/product.php?ID=36">

http://www.kievcamera.com/product.php?ID=36</a><p>

I bought mine new from Kiev USA via eBay a few months ago. $US 70 including shipping

to Australia.<p>

Granted its quality isn't in the Hasselblad league, but it works and it's more than good

enough :?)

My "everday" link above is out of date. The summary of the legalities of street

photography in Australia can now be found at:

http://critics.4020.net/

(Scroll down the page to the "Privacy" heading.)

Film ? Kodak Portra 160VC. v.Smooth tones. A bit slow though, so for the next batch will

use the slightly faster Kodak Portra 400VC.

As for the mirror "KER-CHUNK"... A tip, pre-release the camera long before taking the

shot. But how do you then frame and compose? Ah, that's the trick here (and I'm not

telling) :?)

As for Australia in December. Well, our summers start early in October and run through to

'til about April. It's great if you like to walk around in T-shirts and shorts for six months

of the year, a pain if you occassionally want to dress sans-yob.

Just a quick "heads up" as the Americans like to say.<p>

I've just put up a page of Hasselblad colour people candids, taken as part of my "Sydney

Unposed" project, at

<<a href="http://4020.net/unposed/blad.shtml">

4020.net/unposed/blad.shtml</a>>.<p>

Only eight images so far, but it's still early days :?)<p>

So for all you 'blad shooters wondering if you can do also Street Photography with the

Klackerty Beast - the answer is, yes you can. Who said you can only do this sort of thing

with a Rolleiflex or Mamiya 6/7?... :?)

<i><<a href="http://4020.net/">4020.net</a>></i><p>

With good quality flat-top scanners available cheaply now (eg Epson 4870), it's very easy

to get into MF if you want to scan your own images.<p>

You'll have your work cut out for you though if you want to buy the Rolleiflex you say you

do. Think $US 1400 plus $hundreds more for a proper CLA. Also, from personal

experience I will never by a Rollei online/mail-order again. Got dudded twice, from

supposedly reputable dealers too.<p>

So if you do go down the Rollei route, make sure you have a chance to personally inspect

the camera. And bring your money with you... :?)<p>

In November of last year I instead bought a Hasselblad 501c/m from KEH. A bit on the

expensive side, but I don't regret it. With a bit of modification I can use it for outdoor

candid stills work and of course the 6x6 neg blows away anything I ever did with the

Leicas.<p>

I now mainly use the Leicas for indoor work (or my commercial VR work). The outdoor

stuff is now all Hasselblad and Kodak Portra 160VC. Lovin' every minute of it :?)

<i><<a href="http://4020.net/">4020.net</a>></i><p>

Don't forget he also used a Rolleiflex TLR for many of his shots. It isn't just Leica wall-to-

wall :?)

Yep - Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney. Here's a link to my Sydney candid people

photography project:<p>

<a href="http://unposed.4020.net">Sydney Unposed</a><p>

Warning - contains colour photographs :?)

A lot of the in-close candid images in my

<a href="http://unposed.4020.net">Sydney Unposed</a>

project were taken with bright, shiny chrome cameras. So the idea that you need a black

camera to be somehow invisible is a myth.<p>

Hell, since Nov of last year I've been using a Hasselblad 501cm - the silver chrome model

- for the same kind of (outdoors) work. It's hard to get more conspicuous than that

:?)<p>

As for "shooting blind" when the camera is away from your face. Well, if you buy yourself

an AUFSU or cheaper Zeiss alternative, then the blindness goes away and you can frame

your shots as precisely as you wish. I've been doing it for years now. FWIW I'm even using

the AUFSU on the 'blad - it lets me shoot with the mirror up and thus avoid 80% of the

"KER-LOMP" shutter noise.

See the four options I discuss in the M3 topic in the Leica FAQ I maintain:<p>

<a href="http://www.nemeng.com/leica/002be.shtml">

http://www.nemeng.com/leica/002be.shtml</a><p>

When I had my M3, I used the Liquid Electrical Tape option, carefully painted around the

eye ring. When it dried it created a soft black cushion which worked well and could be

easily removed at a later date.

A slight correction to Edmond's tip.

Because the M7II uses a rangefinder viewfinder, you really should do the adjustment he

suggests with the camera back open so you can see what the lens actually sees.

Practically though (and I'm speaking from experience of stitching hundreds of QTVR

images since 1995!), you don't have to be super-exact with the lens nodal point. A quick

and dirty hack is to assume it's where the light cross-over point is between the lens front

element and film plane. For most lenses this is in the middle of the lens.

The parallax correction won't be exact, but it will be good enough, especially for the

limited angle-of-view lenses you'll be using. You'll be stitching by hand anyway, so you'll

be able to fix any slight mismatches by painting around them using PShop layer masks.

I've stitched hand-held fisheye images this way, with lots of parallax, so believe me it

works :?)

( For examples of my QTVRs - see <vr.4020.net> )

<i><<a href="http://4020.net/">4020.net</a>></i><p>

As a child I had amblyopia in my right eye. It was detected late, and by then I had a

permanent 50% vision loss in my right eye.<p>

http://www.strabismus.org/amblyopia_lazy_eye.html<p>

Meaning it's left eye for me or not at all. Don't notice if this makes me hold the (Leica M)

any steadier though. Strongly doubt it. Steady hands must play a more important

part.<p>

[OT] I'm certain the amblyopia has made me a better photographer though. Most children

go through their childhood oblivious to their surroundings. Me, I spent a whole year with

a patch over a left or right eye (changed every month). Every time the patch was swapped,

I thrown into a new world of "what in the hell am I looking at?" for days at a time. So I was

forced to really, really look at things. Something most 6yr olds definitely don't do :?)<p>

Interestingly, Canadian photojournalist and LUG'ger Ted Grant also

had this condition as a child. Unlike me he unforutnately received no treatment, resulting

in almost complete vision loss in his right eye by the time he was a teenager (apparently

he can only see coloured blobs with it). Why wasn't it treated? Because his school (in the

1930s) felt he would be picked on by the other kids if he wore an eye-patch and looked

different.<p>

Kind of like this list, no? :?)

<i><<a href="http://4020.net/">4020.net</a>></i><p>

I've been using both Fuji Press 800 and NPZ for years now. Basically I use the Press film

for mucking around and NPZ for important shots (the film has better colours and slightly

lower contrast).<p>

There's a good reason (at least in Australia) why 800 Press is $AUD 4 cheaper a roll :?)

David from Tokyo - exactly.

I find 2400dpi scans from my 4870 good enough (5000 x 5000 pixels). You end up with

huge, finely detailed images no one-shot rectilinear panoramic camera for any $s can

match.

Of course you could use a specialised Noblex 150 or 170 scanning panoramic camera, but

then you run into the -ve issues these cameras face (moving people & cars smear, v.long

low light exposure times etc.)

http://www.rtsphoto.com/html/noblex.html

<i><<a href="http://4020.net/">4020.net</a>></i><p>

Alternatively, why not shoot with any MF you like, and then "stitch" the images together in

software? Three shots onto 6x6 with a standard 80mm lens will give you a horizontal

angle of coverage of 100 degrees.<p>

I use "Panorama Tools" (search google for "PTMac") to merge my 360-degree VR images.

It's much simpler joining together plain stills.

I posted this on the Street Photo forum a couple of weeks ago. Seems appropriate to post

it again...<p>

Here's a couple of people candids I took in Sydney a while ago, at night under normal

street light.<p>

<ul type="circle">

<li><a href="http://4020.net/unposed/rnr.shtml#nye_snack">NYE snack</a></li>

<li><a href="http://4020.net/unposed/work.shtml#bigissue">Big Issue seller</a></li>

</ul>

Both were taken using colour Fuji Press 800 film, with a M6TTL and (1989) Summilux-M,

at f1.4 and 1/8th.

<i><<a href="http://4020.net/">4020.net</a>></i><p>

I think that with the rush to DSLRs, prices of 2nd hand MF equipment have actually

fallen.<P>

A few years ago there would have been no way I could have justified spending $AUD 5000

on a second hand (like-new) Hasselblad kit. A few months back I bought what I wanted

for $AUD 2800. That's a huge price drop in anyone's currency :?)

FWIW, repainting is discussed in the Leica FAQ I maintain at:<p>

<<a href="http://www.nemeng.com/leica/004b.shtml">

http://www.nemeng.com/leica/004b.shtml</a>>

<i><<a href="http://4020.net/">4020.net</a>></i><p>

<i>how much time was spent post-processing 200,000 images. But time is cheaper than

film, I suppose.</i><p>

Precisely! If you shoot digital RAW then the amount of Photoshop colour-balance fiddling

can be every bit as long as that required by a film scan. Yes you can get the image onto

the computer in under a minute, but what about the time required to get to the

final end-product image?...<p>

FWIW there's also a general discussion about RF patch flare and various fixes in the Leica

FAQ I maintain at:<p>

<<a href="http://www.nemeng.com/leica/020b.shtml">

http://www.nemeng.com/leica/020b.shtml</a>>