abraham_heinsheimer

i am ordering a portable lighting kit, probably a setup of alien bees

800s and accessories, to use for editorial work in the field:

environemtnal portraits and formal portraits on location. i was

wondering if people had preferences for umbrellas vs softboxes for

this kind of work, in terms of light diffusion AND

portability/setup-ability.

also, what about softbox/umbrella sizes? what size works well for

diverse situations, say from single person portraits in an office to

2-3 people in an open field? is there a good one-size-fits-all

dimension? octobox vs normal softbox? thanks!

thanks trevor. will check it out.

i shoot editorial and travel for magazine publication. looking into

options for weatherproofing/waterproofing a digital camera so that i

can go out in the south asian monsoon/rain, take creative pictures on

boats etc. i'm not really interested in underwater photography, just

in having a dependable setup so that my gear doesn't get wet in

torrential rains or on board a boat. i shoot with canon dslrs, and

looked at casings for these, and they are rather expensive. would be

intersted to hear if anyone has experience with toting around a high-

end digital point and shoot sheathed in an underwater casing for very

rainy day street photography. any recomendations?

now that flash cards are getting high in gigs and lower in price, perhaps an alternative to one of these photo vault devices is to pick up a couple of 1-4 gigabyte flash cards, depending on how long you're in the field. of course, not suitable for some applications, but if you're NOT shooting RAW, this would be a portable and practical solution, no? cf cards are comparitively expensive comapred to a photo viewer/storage device, however you NEED cf cards, and if you get big ones, then you dont NEED a photo vault. again, this totally depends on your specific needs.

what i mean is: is the lens barrelled-out at its longest length at

the wide-angle end, or the telephoto end? i am most interesteed in

using this camera at 28mm, so i want to know if the lens barrell will

be at its most unobtrusive, or at its longest length at 28mm. some

zooms are longest when at their widest, and some vice versa. thanks!

trying to find out if the olympus m:robe 500i can be used as a

portable photo storage device. if you haven't seen it, check it out

at http://www.olympusgroove.com/flash.html?//www.olympusgroove.com/

 

it's got a 20gb hard-drive, intended for its use as mp3 player and to

store photos taken with the device itself. however, i have not been

able to find out if it can be used as a storage device for images

taken with another camera, and uploaded via usb, or flash card etc.

any ideas?

ricoh's caplio R1V claims to have the fastest shutter lag in the biz at 0.01 sec. also has macro of 1cm. given ricoh's track record on film point and shoots, this could be a v good camera.

hmmm, this is a little late, and it seems this thread has gone off topic, BUT.... did anyone who saw the movie notice that the natalie portman portrait is shot with a leica, and then appears as a square (uncropped with edges), very large blowup (hasselblad?) print in the gallery scene? funny how little details go unnoticed in multimillion dollar productions. . . .

i've read about the russian firmware hack available for the digi

rebel (300d), that makes it operate more like a 10D. however, i've

also heard there's a firmware hack out there for the 10D itself,

mostly to speed up delay time for startup, maybe increase buffer. but

i've searched the net and not seen anything. anyone know, true or

false?

i'm interested in how to emulate a certain national geographic 'look'

with images shot from digital slrs. NG images, particularly the low-

light, hand-held ones, have that consistent look of sharpness and

high-grain with ruddy saturation. i believe this was the product of

mostly pushing kodak 200 chrome 1 or 2 stops, and a specialized

darkroom process used only at NG. are there any plug-ins out there

available to emulate this look, ie: adding grain density without

adding noise, as well as adding a bit of 'pop'?

thanks everyone. always appreciated!

i need to find some isopropyl alcohol to clean mildewy provia slides.

problem is i live in vietnam and camera shops dont stock the stuff.

does anyone know alternative places where the liquid is commonly

found, like drug stores/pharmacies, or hardware stores/paint shops?

and are there sometimes different names given to this product in case

it has a few different labels? thanks.

anyone familiar with david's work can be justifiably dissappointed with his recent natgeo contribution on hanoi. fyi, you can check out http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0405/feature5/index.html for the online version, which gives some insight into his experience shooting in hanoi, and some facts and stats behind some of the shots. his 1989 essay on hanoi is a natgeo classic, and like his spain essay, one of the works that stands out in his excellent career. for that precise reason, this "return to hanoi" piece is doubly dissapointing. sure, it must have been 'easier' to snap great shots in hanoi in 1989, as it was still shut off from the world and considerably more dour and "communist" than it is today. but this year's shots are unarguably uninspired, poorly researched or crafted and definitely give the impression of having been shot on the fly in near proximity to his hotel. hanoi is a wonderfully unique city. david captured it in 1989. he missed the mark by a mile in 2004. i think everyone involved, the photographer and the editors, should shoulder the blame for this one (the cropped pic used for the cover does not work at all. that's an editing gaff, not the photographers). and as for the comment above that if a shooter isn't getting the story in three weeks they are then replaced: if these are the best pics from three weeks of shooting, then he should no longer be hired by the mag. natgeo readers expect the best, and this was totally unacceptable. (for the record, i mean no disrespect to an otherwise great photographer. i guess high expectations create large dissapointment).

carolyn cole of the la taimes has been names newspaper shooter of the

year check out her award-winning shots here:

http://www.poyi.org/61/npoy/index.php

 

two things

1- its a shame cole doesn't get more recognition for her work, which

is up there with the top magazine photogs (ok, obviously she gets

recognition from her peers, hence her award. but search photo.net for

her name and then look for nachtwey, and you'll see what i mean in

that she's not 'popular'). is it because she's a newspaper staffer

with a limited viewrship and not a high-profile agency shooter?

thoughts?

2- her above portfolio is balanced between color and b&w. as a

newspaper shooter, i'd assume she shoots 100% digital when on

assignment, for the quick transmission from the field back to LA. so,

do we think her b&w images are originally color digital files

converted to b&w in photoshop? and if so, what is the current view on

doing this w/r/t manipulating images and journalism ethics.

personally, i can't see a problem, in fact it seems perfectly

reasonable to me, but am interested in other viewpoints.

anyone have info on copyright law in singapore?

i live in vietnam. i recently was in bangkok and went to visit one of

my favorite camera shops: Camera & Collection, 2nd Floor, Taniya

Plaza Silom rd. much to my horror, it was not there anymore! i can't

imagine its gone out of business, probably just relocated. anyone

know where to?

i use a two 550ex setup with a canon 10d for location editorial

portraits. works great. until i noticed the batteries (energizer AAs)

in one of the speedlights had leaked, making the flash malfunction

and short out, and sometimes not work at all. i cleaned the gunk out

as thorouly as possible, which helped a bit, but it still shorts out,

and it appears the coils on the interior(where the batteries "female"

side would rest) rusted as a result of the battery leak. i did not

leave the batteries in there for an obscene amount of time, however i

do live in a very humid climate, which may have accelerated their

demise. also maybe there's a chance i bought dud batteries off the

shelf....? anyway, regardless of whether i'm too blame or not, i want

to know if there is a way to salvage this flash, ie: any home

remedies, solutions for cleaning the interior battery compartment, or

is it possibe for a camera repair shop to clean/replace the damaged

coils? thanks.

hey,

i've got an editorial assignment to shoot portraits of teenage girls

who are rehabilitating after being saved from human

trafficking/sexual slavery. the one condition (which have been made

by the girls themselves) is that the photos must protect their

identities, ie: no faces.

both the topic and the restrictions make this a very interesting

assignment, and i've been thinking over various approaches with

creative lighting and props, though i want to keep things very

simple. if anyone has had experience with similar circumstances, or

just has experience with shooting portraits WITHOUT faces, i'd be

interested to hear ideas about techniques and approaches. cheers.

i have been using a 10D for a few months now. i work for a european

wire service, and the move to digital was absolutely necessary. when

the images appear in newspapers, i really can't tell the difference.

i have approached several magazines about freelance assignments, and

most are still wary of digital, though most admit they are not

familiar with the image capabilities of the 10D.

anyone out there have experience selling 10D images to glossy mags

(ie: travel mags that like full page spreads and saturated colors)?

what's the common feeling out there for using digital in top-grade

publications these days?

i really enjoy the look that i get when pushing provia 400f to 1600.

is it possible to "push film" with the new generation of canon

digitals (1D and D60)? i mean: can you set the iso at 400 and tell

the camera to shoot 1600, IN THE CAMERA? or would i have to go into

photoshop and putz around to add grain et cetera? i am very

interested in going digital and canon would be my choice (as i have

several EOS bodies and lenses already), but i am intersted in

limitations. thanks.

i have the 20mm 2.8. love it. great lens. however, i find i have

trouble getting accurate exposures when using my elan II's 9% meter

setting (targeted at the centre focusing point). this is most obvious

for midrange photojournalism shots with moderate-high contrast, where

i consistently am waaay underexposed. i'm confident using the elan's

metering system, as i have no problems with it when using other

lenses (50mm, 70-200). i have a feeling the fault lies not in the

lens, but that when using such a wide angle lens, it just is

difficult to use a spot meter since the scene is so large....? would

the general multipurpose meter be more appropriate for ultra wides?

a friend just gave me a voigtlander vc 21b flash to use with my

mamiya c330. i want to use it as a fill flash (my main unit is

a norman 200b, off camera). the voigtlander seems to work fine

on its own (shoots off when red test button is pushed,

recharges in aobut 5-7 seconds), but only when its not attached

to the camera. when i slide it onto the hotshoe, it will not

fire.

other flashes work fine on this camera, so its not the mamiya.

the only thing i can think is that the metal connectors aren't

connecting....? or is it only compatible with rangefinders? any

suggestions? this flash is ideal because of its size (ie: real

small), so i'd really like to make this wor

mark - try fotofile in mahboomkrong (sp?) mall off silom road.

it's a top foto shop in bangkok, and if they don't do pro

scans, they'll know who doe

so. . . . a mamiya c330. a norman 200b. the strobe will usually be

mounted on a stand with an umbrella, mostly for location work. how do

i connect the two? slave unit, right? what are my options? i want a

very basic setup. all i need is reliable and cheap, nothing fancy.

something to trigger the flash when i trip the camera shutter. i can't

fathom spending $200 on a slave setup, so please don't suggest

anything in that range. if i want cheap do i have to go sync cord?

i've already looked for similar info in past threads, but haven't come

up with much. if it's already been covered, can you please direct

me....?

the norman 200b:

1) is the system interchangeable with the 200c (ie: mix and matching

bateries, heads, chargers etc)

2) can you use a lumedyne battery/charger setup with a norman 200b

pack and head?