Exposure: Understanding Aperture, Shutter and ISO The very first photograph and the most recently taken, a few picoseconds ago – in fact every photograph taken and every photograph that will be taken in every possible future – was, is and will be made by opening a hole of variable size and allowing light to fall …
Testing and cataloguing enlarger lenses spawned a new web site – Delta Lenses. Initially the appeal was ease of adaptation, given that most have M39 mounts – a whisker of a step-ring away from the universal M42. Enlarger lenses are intriguing and offer real-world benefits for many shooters. But projector lenses offer parallel worlds of …
Here are a few soundbites in response to FAQs unasked: • What’s the best enlarger lens for general taking at sub-1m distance?Of the growing number of lenses thus far tested outstanding results have (unsurprisingly) been recorded by the most expensive lenses. However, several lenses with market values of around £100 have achieved an elite 90%+ …
Some oddballs get a buzz deploying stuff intended for Job A on ‘Mission X’. To them, the common man’s planetary gear is a can-opener, coat-hook or toast-slice-holder. In their homes lamps are recycled teapots, whisky jars and welded-together-cutlery. Their toilet-roll holders are made of copper plumbing. The concept of shooting with a Sony-mount lens on …
There’s a ghastly moment when you first, tentatively, speak aloud a difficult – perhaps foreign – word; one you’ve rarely and inconsistently heard others pronounce. Perhaps, previously, reading it, you sounded it confidently in your mind, but now the moment has come to vocalise this trip hazard; to get your shibboleth together; to say ‘bokeh’. …
The 2020 Coronavirus outbreak prompted much pondering on the nature of things. However Micro Four-Thirds (henceforth M43) has always attracted peculiarly fecund speculation about its nature and niche in the photographic ecosystem. What is it? Why is it here? And what does its future hold? As a religion, the primary doctrine of M43 is portability. …
There are several web pages and YouTube videos extolling the advantages of using Photoshop’s LAB mode for colour correction, but the following are a couple of tweaks that could be incorporated in every photographer’s workflow, and are suitable for almost every image. LAB level and curve adjustments are the best way to make colour alterations, …
[nextpage title=”Introduction”] Sony Ericsson K800i mobile phone v Canon 350D v Canon 5D Mark II [published july 2006] Everyone needs a day off. What better to refresh a palette jaded by the testing of $2000 optical exotica than to put a free camera phone through its paces. Seriously, though, the 3.2MP Sony Ericsson K800i is …
Many professional and amateur photographers have abandoned Canon lenses in favour of Olympus, Leica, Zeiss (and even Nikon!) lenses for their Canon digital cameras. Given the fact that a (frequently expensive) adaptor is required, and that the user is robbed of autofocus and required to deploy stop-down metering, some have rightly wondered: is it worth …
Photography is part art, part science; choosing and using lenses similarly blends subjective and objective views. The ultimate merit of a lens is arguably best measured by its ability to become invisible, to deliver unadulterated reality to the film plane. However, lenses by definition offer the camera an interpretation of reality. They are designed according to constraints …
