tom_hogner

<p>I'm someone that owns a few Leica cameras (film only), but who has slowly been adopting Nikon on the digital side, though I've been tempted to buy one of those Sony mirrorless cameras so I can make use of some Leica lenses that otherwise sit idle. Frankly I was really wondering how I managed to get on their list for what in my mind is a medium format camera probably geared to fashion photographers of which I am not... Considering a S-series Leica costs $20,000... its about 3 times the limit of what I would consider spending on a digital body.</p>

<p>Today I was surprised to find an invitation to Photokina in my inbox to visit the Leica S-lounge.... Does this mean that they are going to drop their prices on that line to the point where I might actually be considering buying it, or is their marketing department so desperate to sell it that they are targeting the like of myself that is unlikely to spend the price of a new car on a camera system that is likely beyond my need.</p>

<p>Ask yourself why you are keeping it at all.<br>

I have been a camera pack rat for many years, and can honestly say that all I have accomplished is to fill a closet with pointless cameras that have only decreased in value over the years... My favorites are some old Kodak DCS cameras that cost as much as a used car when they were new...<br>

I knew when Nikon got into DSLRs and pushed them aside that they would have only gotten a fraction of what I paid back on them... So I kept them... now I'm pretty sure they are probably worth a fraction of the used price I could have gotten for them when I decided not to sell them an store them...<br>

I've tried to pull one out for the hell of it a year ago and was pleased to find that the battery would not hold a charge for more than a couple of frames and the latest version of Photoshop no longer supports the old format of the pictures... So what is the point of them now?<br>

If I had sold it when I retired it I could have easily gotten a lens with the money from selling it... Now if I sell it I would be lucky if I got enough to buy a memory card.<br>

Value of digital cameras doesn't go up over time it only drops and it drop rather quickly... don't make my mistake, sell it.</p>

<p>I had the same problem with a card in a Sony camera, would work perfectly in the camera but in the card reader the computer would show up some folders but no files in any of them.<br>

In my instance I did the following:<br>

put the card in the card reader on a windows XP computer.<br>

Went to my computer and did a right click on the memory chip (probably going to be E: or something like that)<br>

Then scroll down to properties<br>

This will bring up a menu with several tabs, click on Tools<br>

The top option is "error-checking"<br>

click on the check now and let the computer fix any problems on the card.</p>

<p>That was all I had to do and my card was then readable on the camera and computer as well.</p>

<p>I suspect that when you are paying this price for the camera that has this many pixels, they probably just assume you aren't planning on doing output that is intended for youtube videos... I'm sure if you wanted to you could use some software like Vegas to downsize your video...<br>

Honestly if you only need 640 x 424 video, I wouldn't spend 3 grand for this camera... it would be a bit like buying a F1 car so your grandma could drive to church each Sunday.</p>

<p>In addition to trying out the two different type lenses that the first poster suggested. I would also ad the following to your list. Take a photo of a light surface so that you can then look for any dirt or dead spots more easily on the picture. If you see dirt I would pass because dirt on a sensor of a camera that new would imply they didn't take very good care of it. Also don't forget to try the video and pop on your own flash to make sure everything is working. And by all means look at the photos on your computer. I had the misfortune of getting a point and shoot used for my daughter once and foolishly believed that because the images looked good on the cameras screen that it was working well only to find out that when I down loaded photo from the camera they had some real issues with the sensor having lines down it that just didn't show on the camera.</p>

<p>I might have an answer as to why your Canon is still working... its a film camera. A film camera is a lot less delicate than a digital camera. I've had Nikons that I've dropped to the ground with no issues other than a crack on a piece of plastic... but I've also had a Nikon point and shoot digital that stopped working when I bumped the lens while it was zoomed out... Digital cameras just don't take abuse like film cameras... It's also the reason that anytime I'm going near the ocean I take my camera or camcorder in a water proof case.<br>

Not trying to defend Sony, I've had a DVD recorder from them that created more coasters than usable DVDs.... but I wouldn't take a digital camera or camcorder to Hawaii unless I had a water proof case... oceans and electronics don't mix.</p>

<p>But with an adapter you can use just about any lens you want... I was thinking of getting the Nex 7 when it comes out because I will be able to stick an old Nikon f1.2 on a camera that should have a good enough viewfinder that I can focus it easily.</p>

<p>You've just learned the meaning of Eurotrash... In my old job I used to travel quite a bit and the places that were the worst for having things stolen wasn't the third world countries it was always Europe. You should also keep a very careful eye on your credit card statements when you get back, people in the hotels and cafes over there are also prone to stealing your credit card info and going on spending sprees. </p>

<p>I'm just curious.. are there any types of digital cameras where one could get an adapter to use an older Leica Thread Mount lens and still get infinity and full use of the lens?<br>

I've pulled an old Leica kit from the closet and am trying to decide if there is any way to make use of the lenses beyond closet clutter... I'm guessing there is nothing I could use to adapt them to a DSLR of any type, but would one of the other mirror-less camera like a Sony Nex work? or would the distance to the sensor still be too far.</p>

<p>If you have tried different film then it must be a problem with the camera. The next thing to ask is whether you are doing manual metering or using the camera's meter... also whether you are doing shots outside or in a studio with off camera lights... All you know for certain now is it isn't the film, but it could still be something to do with your lighting.<br>

First step now is to get a role of film and set the camera to manual control now go take 36 shots of the same thing using no external lights... if they are still exhibit the underexposed in the first shots then there is something in the camera that is causing it (I doubt that is the case).<br>

Now go shoot the same thing in auto mode... again with no flash strobes on or off the camera. See if you see the problem now.<br>

You will need to do that until you can slowly bring more things into the mix until you find out what is causing the phenomenon...<br>

I might suspect some issue could happen if you were using batteries that were losing their charge but I would expect you to get over exposures as the batteries lost their charge and the shutter became more sluggish... what you suggest is that the shutter is either operating too fast earlier on which shouldn't happen.. or that the metering is worse early on when the batteries should be in better shape.<br>

It seems an interesting puzzle, but I have a hard time imagining something in the camera that would cause it.</p>

<p>I would suggest the purchase of a flash first. A decent flash will make the camera much more useful especially the shooting of your kids. Next I would be looking at a fast prime, even a 50 f/1.8 would be an improvement over what you are using and you can find them very cheap... a 1.4 would be nice but you would pay quite a bit more.. but either one would focus at distances as close as 18 inches which might be good enough for what you want to do inside.</p>

<p>You need to find out what size wedding this is going to be. That will tell you a lot about what the expectations are.... if its some friends that are having a wedding in their parents back yard and is very low end budget wise... well that is something you might pull off... IF on the other hand they are spending big on the wedding then you will likely fall short of what they expect. That's the first step.<br>

The second thing to remember is even if you don't charge them anything to do this, the results are going to influence what people say about you... if you have no desire to be a photographer or maintain a friendship with her or her spouse, then go for it... otherwise be prepared for 1. Bad mouthing of your work regardless of how lower her expectations are, because even if she says nothing you can guarantee that her mom and friends looking at the pictures have not been put on notice that your not a pro and their expectations shouldn't be high... they will compare it to what they last saw in an issue of Brides Magazine... your name will be mud if you don't deliver no matter how low the expectations were.<br>

Frankly I would not recommend you do this at all... </p>

<p>IF on the other hand you do decide to do it... get an understanding of the shots she wants. go to the rehearsal if they are having it in the same church, and take some test shots... but understand the colors she is wearing will be different, but you might find some issues that you need to deal with such as reflective surfaces, very bright lights from windows or lack of light... Also make sure you take a spare fully charged battery... and 1 final thing to consider, you only have 1 camera and no lens that will give you all the shots you are likely to want, that means you will change lenses at least once... you are at risk of dust every time you change lenses and you might not know it until it is too late, I once had a D50 I used on a vacation once.. sometime during the trip I changed lenses and got a dust speck not noticeable on the rear screen but a real pain on all the shots when I downloaded them later... so try to limit your lens changing.</p>

<p>Also having use a D50 in the past, don't expect very good results at higher ISOs... when you are shooting in lower light in a building the noise at even 400 will be noticeable. </p>

<p>I don't think it is even a cost consideration I think it is a weight problem. If you wanted to create a 500mm 1.4 lens we know you would have to use a front lens that was 14 inches in diameter. extrapolating the fact thats a 2.8 500mm lense weighs 35 pounds... a 1.4 lens would have about 2.5 times as much glass in it... so it would likely weigh at the very least 138 pounds... likely even more because the increased lens weight would require thicker metal to also hold it on... </p>

<p>In the end would you or anyone else be capable of using a 138 pound lens in the field? Because a zoom lens in a studio would be pointless, yet a studio is the only place you could easily (well not easily) move around a 138 pound lens.<br>

And if you use the same extrapolation for a smaller 1.4 lens on say a 300mm... you would have a 50 pound lens. Again I would say that is just to heavy to be of any use to a photographer.</p>

<p>I'm not sure if I would recommend you do that. As I recall the older Vivitars like th 283 used very high trigger voltage... I think it was above 300 volts. Which is higher than the maximum voltage Nikon recommended for that camera which was I think 250 volts.<br>

So if you do use that you will be playing a game of chance with your camera.</p>

 

<p>You've gotten decent suggestions on what might work better... as you seem determined to stick with the straight on flash, I might suggest that at the very least you scope out the churches prior to the service, have your wife hold up a white sheet near the front and take some test shots to see what you can do in the environment you are in. <br>

The amount of light that gets reflected back by the physical setup of any church will vary widely from each other... but you can pretty much assume that you'll be dealing with a white or light dress in all of them and light dresses in the center of a shot aren't always metered perfectly by the camera.<br>

In that shot I think I would have tried to get back further or used a wider lens so I wouldn't cut the candles in half... its one of those things where if you were to scope out the church before the wedding you could have been better prepared.</p>

<p>Normally I would say get the desktop because doing color work on a notebook with an LCD screen is too much like doing half blind... but if your idea of a desktop is an imac which uses a LCD screen then I'm not sure if it really matters. Frankly I would go with a mac pro so I could hook up any monitor I wanted to. For me I still use an old school CRT for color work because I know what it will look like when its printed, I've tried doing it with a LCD screen and haven't gotten prints that looked like what I was expecting.</p>

<p>I think he either photoshopped it or used a tilt-shift lens. If you look at where her head and scarf are in focus and then look at the body which should also be in focus, it isn't. I also don't think it was a 1.2 lens unless it was stopped down. I've used the 1.2 wide open and it doesn't have as much DOF as this photo. Frankly I, suspect photoshop was used.</p>

Okay... I'm trying to sort through this issue of focus distance being limited with the adapter described. I think I can understand how your doing the adapter... my only question before considering trying it is what the focal distance would be if I put a 50mm nikon onto the 4mm adapter and connect to the sony... and yes I know Sony has 50mm lenses but they don't have 1:1.2 lenses and that's what I'm thinking of trying. Thanks for any info in advance.

I have a military kit from the late 1950's or early 60's... that include a IIIf,

three lenses, shades, film canisters, flash unit and other accessories.... What

is the best way to sell this, would it be better to sell the whole kit together

or to sell it by the piece.

 

Any suggestions?