Aha! At last, a photo post

Well, let's see how it works.

A reflection shot from Leamington...

No posts for a few days..

And no photos either. Not good, must do something about it!

Time for a photo post...

So I'll have to get round to it!

In search of beauty

It struck me (whilst out with the camera) that my photography is spent searching out natural beauty, for the most part. Some photographers may make the ugly worth seeing, but it's not for me.

Film and digital...

This was first posted to the Rollei List:

I think the biggest problem of digital is the amount
of prejudice flying around from both proponents and
critics...

I have owned a number of digital cameras. My most-used
camera at the moment is an EOS 10D digital SLR. I
still use my Rolleiflexes, Leicas (and C/Vs),
Contaxes, Pentacon 6 and Canon film cameras. All have
advantages and disadvantages, and if I didn't (a)
enjoy using any of them and (b) find that the quality
was sufficient for what I wanted to do with them, I
wouldn't use them.

Digital SLRs have MORE  control over exposure than the
equivalent film camera, because in addition to having
the same shutter speed and aperture range, you can
also vary the "ISO" for each shot. That's probably the
biggest single advantage of digital, IMHO, apart from
vastly reduced running costs. My current digital
compact, the Canon S70, offers an aperture range of
f2.8 to f8, with shutter speeds running from 15
seconds to 1/2000, and it has a zoom lens equivalent
to 28-100mm on 35mm. Covers most eventualities.
Shutter lag isn't really an issue with the SLRs,
although it remains so with digital compacts, but that
can generally be largely overcome with prefocusing,
use of the infinity mode or manual prefocusing,
depending on the model.

I like digital, and I like film. I intend to carry on
using both for ever and a day, and I believe that both
will continue to be around for as long as I could
possibly care. Whatever helps me take pictures is
welcome, and if it happens to be supremely engineered,
have excellent lenses and the F&H label on it that is
an added bonus!

Brighter weather...

...but sick, so not much done today. Grrrr!

Grey weather

Nothing much worse than deadly grey, dull weather for an outdoor photographer. Rats!

RAW Convertors!

I think I've lost count of the number I've tried. Most seem to offer something, but I'm not sure which I like best. I think I feel a comparative test coming on....

The pursuit of sharpness

I don't know how much I've spent over the years on getting better quality - and so now my favourite lens is the Lensbaby. Ironic!

New Year's Resolutions

My first - get my classic camera review site up and running.
Next, complete a Picture A Week.
Then try to take 10,000 photos this year.
And make some money doing it!

Finally, I want my most important resolution to be 12.8 megapixels....


Oh, and somewhere along the way, I hope this blog is of some use!

The 67 is here....

Looks like fun. Should also be a worthwhile tool!

Life and the Lensbaby

Not a lot gives me more photographic enjoyment at the moment than the Lensbaby. Yet it never ceases to amaze me how many people just don't get it. But then I never cease to be amazed at the number of people who don't get any photograph that's not a straight representation of a scene. Fair enough, I suppose - the Lensbaby certainly isn't true to life. But it can help get to the essence of a thing in a way that a straight shot can't - and that's what I like.

Leica to be bought by Canon?

So the rumours say - not entirely sure what it would mean for the future of Leica.