Woohoo!!! Major Upgrade Arrived Today - Camera Lens

[sablebrush52]

mmmmm, Leica...

Leicas are great picture takers. Those German lenses were sharper wide open than their Japanese counterparts. When I was at Disney, the matte department camera was a sweet Leica R3MOT with an assortment of prime lenses. I used that camera to shoot all of my reference plates, and we had the matte department compositing camera fitted with a Leica mount so that I could use the same lenses for shooting our paintings. That compositing camera was interesting in its own right, an early Bell & Howell motion picture camera with the serial number of 3. Probably made in the 1920's, retrofitted with a motor, the registration of each frame was rock steady, even better than a Fries Mitchell conversion, and lightyears beyond a Panaflex Platinum.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

Pentaxian just about all the way here. Early on, a couple of rangefinders and a Fujica ST-701. Now I have a collection of glass from screw-on mounts all the way up to the KAF2 mount. Loved my old K-1000 but after the internal meter died and they stopped selling film, had to put it away. Now using an R-x.

 

[pappymac]

I've shot with Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Leica, Contax, Pentax, Rollies, Hasselblad, Sinar, Speed Grapic, etc, etc. All take a great picture if the operator is any good. All take a lousy picture if the operator sucks. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I like my Canon set up, works just fine for me.

I was taught how to shoot aerials using a Speed Graphic. The military photographer teaching me believed it was the best way to teach photographers how to think about each photo before pushing the button. I also loved shooting with a twin lens Rolleiflex. I even did a lot of shooting with the Mamiya RB67 and 645. Funny coincidence, I've shot with all the same still photo cameras and now I only have a Canon 35mm.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Much as people love their L lenses, one of the best aspects of Canon's lens lineup is the fantastic image quality from some of their least expensive lenses (EF-S 10-18STM, EF-S 55-250STM, EF 40f2.8STM).
That EF-S 55-250 IS STM is practically a miracle of modern engineering with how sharp it is for the money. No other manufacturer puts as much effort into their starter lenses.

 

[donjgiles]

I started when I was 12 with an Olympus OM-10. I worked my way through the Olympus catalog with OM-1, OM 2n, and finally OM-4ti, one of the first cameras to use titanium for the shell of the body That camera had a great meter with a spot meter as an option. I was big into Ansel Adams and the Zone System and I knew that being a photographer was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Zuiko glass was pretty good with my favorite lens being the 100 F2.

I was fortunate to be able to work for photographers from an early age. I got my first job with an old school portrait photographer at 16, who taught me how to process film and learn darkroom techniques. I worked in an attic for 8 hours a day during the summers, the building was old and the roof was leaky but I learned so much during that period of my life.

I graduated college and moved out of my small town, landing in Omaha, NE working for a commercial photographer. We shot catalogs and advertisements, my favorite day was women's underwear day. Moved to Pennsylvania and worked for an ex-newspaper guy, lugging cases, setting up lights, wrapping cables, darkroom work etc. I traded all my Olympus gear in and moved on to Nikon where I have been for the past 25 years. I have worked for corporations and now work for the State Historical and Museum Commission. I have shot everything from tiny little dental tools to aerial images out of helicopters, hundreds of weddings and portraits. I have had a blessed life and career, so far.

Digital became a thing around 2000 for me and I have been through a D1x, D2x, D3, Df, D7200, D750 and many Nikkor lenses. When I have the time to slow down and shoot, which up until now was not very often, my favorite combo is either the D7200 or the D750 and a selection of Carl Zeiss manual focus ZF lenses, the 100 F2 makro-planar being a favorite.

 

[pappymac]

I started when I was 12 with an Olympus OM-10. I worked my way through the Olympus catalog with OM-1, OM 2n, and finally OM-4ti, one of the first cameras to use titanium for the shell of the body That camera had a great meter with a spot meter as an option. I was big into Ansel Adams and the Zone System and I knew that being a photographer was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Zuiko glass was pretty good with my favorite lens being the 100 F2.

I was fortunate to be able to work for photographers from an early age. I got my first job with an old school portrait photographer at 16, who taught me how to process film and learn darkroom techniques. I worked in an attic for 8 hours a day during the summers, the building was old and the roof was leaky but I learned so much during that period of my life.

I graduated college and moved out of my small town, landing in Omaha, NE working for a commercial photographer. We shot catalogs and advertisements, my favorite day was women's underwear day. Moved to Pennsylvania and worked for an ex-newspaper guy, lugging cases, setting up lights, wrapping cables, darkroom work etc. I traded all my Olympus gear in and moved on to Nikon where I have been for the past 25 years. I have worked for corporations and now work for the State Historical and Museum Commission. I have shot everything from tiny little dental tools to aerial images out of helicopters, hundreds of weddings and portraits. I have had a blessed life and career, so far.

Digital became a thing around 2000 for me and I have been through a D1x, D2x, D3, Df, D7200, D750 and many Nikkor lenses. When I have the time to slow down and shoot, which up until now was not very often, my favorite combo is either the D7200 or the D750 and a selection of Carl Zeiss manual focus ZF lenses, the 100 F2 makro-planar being a favorite.

I miss black and white darkroom work. I loved walking into the darkroom and not coming out for five or six hours. I still own one of the old ones I picked up after I retired but it's just sitting in my garage. My intention was to build another darkroom but life kept getting in the way.

 

[donjgiles]

I miss black and white darkroom work. I loved walking into the darkroom and not coming out for five or six hours. I still own one of the old ones I picked up after I retired but it's just sitting in my garage. My intention was to build another darkroom but life kept getting in the way.
View attachment 25584

I loved it too! What I did not like were the chemicals and the stained shirts!
I worked with a big old 4x5 enlarger with a cold light head, those beautiful fiber based papers could show tonality that is rarely seen these days. Good memories!

 

[pappymac]

I loved it too! What I did not like were the chemicals and the stained shirts!
I worked with a big old 4x5 enlarger with a cold light head, those beautiful fiber based papers could show tonality that is rarely seen these days. Good memories!

I still get into occasional arguments about film being better than digital. I was able to get more emotion and depth in a still black & white than most people can in a color digital photo and 8 hours of photoshop.

 

[donjgiles]

I still get into occasional arguments about film being better than digital. I was able to get more emotion and depth in a still black & white than most people can in a color digital photo and 8 hours of photoshop.

When I teach or give a talk to a Camera Club I tell them to shoot film, the discipline to make a good photo when you only have a 12 exposure roll of film makes everyone rethink how they use a camera.

 

[Bengel]

I miss black and white darkroom work. I loved walking into the darkroom and not coming out for five or six hours. I still own one of the old ones I picked up after I retired but it's just sitting in my garage. My intention was to build another darkroom but life kept getting in the way.
View attachment 25584

We moved to a farm which makes dust free problematic and then I missed placed the 2 glass pieces for my enlarger lens

 

[Bengel]

When I teach or give a talk to a Camera Club I tell them to shoot film, the discipline to make a good photo when you only have a 12 exposure roll of film makes everyone rethink how they use a camera.

I could never get what I saw with digital, even after the lag from shoot to print the decisive moment was there with film, not so in digital. Old fart here I guess

 

[aquadoc]

I started when I was 12 with an Olympus OM-10. I worked my way through the Olympus catalog with OM-1, OM 2n, and finally OM-4ti, one of the first cameras to use titanium for the shell of the body That camera had a great meter with a spot meter as an option. I was big into Ansel Adams and the Zone System and I knew that being a photographer was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Zuiko glass was pretty good with my favorite lens being the 100 F2.

I was fortunate to be able to work for photographers from an early age. I got my first job with an old school portrait photographer at 16, who taught me how to process film and learn darkroom techniques. I worked in an attic for 8 hours a day during the summers, the building was old and the roof was leaky but I learned so much during that period of my life.

I graduated college and moved out of my small town, landing in Omaha, NE working for a commercial photographer. We shot catalogs and advertisements, my favorite day was women's underwear day. Moved to Pennsylvania and worked for an ex-newspaper guy, lugging cases, setting up lights, wrapping cables, darkroom work etc. I traded all my Olympus gear in and moved on to Nikon where I have been for the past 25 years. I have worked for corporations and now work for the State Historical and Museum Commission. I have shot everything from tiny little dental tools to aerial images out of helicopters, hundreds of weddings and portraits. I have had a blessed life and career, so far.

Digital became a thing around 2000 for me and I have been through a D1x, D2x, D3, Df, D7200, D750 and many Nikkor lenses. When I have the time to slow down and shoot, which up until now was not very often, my favorite combo is either the D7200 or the D750 and a selection of Carl Zeiss manual focus ZF lenses, the 100 F2 makro-planar being a favorite.

In 76, I started with an OM-1 and added an OM-2 a bit later. After a few years of Nikon and Canon's in the digital arena, I went back to Olympus. I do not regret the move. I work in the field and cover 20 miles sometimes in a day. Well, at least I use to do this...now 4-8 is more like it. Olympus gear is so much lighter than APS-C or FF. Olympus consistently delivers the glass for what I need and many if not most of the lenses and bodies I use are water-resistant or -proof. Also, I can use Leica glass for a few primes. Some very low resolution examples below. Facebook compresses photos to the point of almost making it not worth sharing them.

 

[donjgiles]

In 76, I started with an OM-1 and added an OM-2 a bit later. After a few years of Nikon and Canon's in the digital arena, I went back to Olympus. I do not regret the move. I work in the field and cover 20 miles sometimes in a day. Well, at least I use to do this...now 4-8 is more like it. Olympus gear is so much lighter than APS-C or FF. Olympus consistently delivers the glass for what I need and many if not most of the lenses and bodies I use are water-resistant or -proof. Also, I can use Leica glass for a few primes. Some very low resolution examples below. Facebook compresses photos to the point of almost making it not worth sharing them.

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Awesome stuff, Doc!

 

[sablebrush52]

A darkroom was truly a magician's cabinet. Watching an image appear on a sheet of paper always caused a thrill of excitement. I still have all that old gear in storage, the military surplus 4x5 enlarger, steel developing tanks and sinks, trays, all of it. Lord knows why. I crossed over to the dark side of the force 5 years ago when I went digital. I don't see any need to return.

The plasticity of a digital environment, including greater retention of details in the shadows, offers me a much wider range for play than analog/chemical ever did.

As for the film VS digital arguement, it's fun, but it's also pure bollocks. They're both perfectly fine. It's not the technology, it's the user, that determines the benefits, drawbacks, or limits of either. Most users go nowhere near the barriers of what image making tech, old or new, can do.

 

[jpmcwjr]

The best ones have a GOLD Ring and a Block letter "N" on them.

View attachment 25550

I don't see "Canon" anywhere on that lens. Clearly an error.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Agree on the magic of the darkroom, but you couldn't pay me to set one up and work it now.

Also, yes, with film, you're much more aware of the need to properly frame and light each shot. I've become a bit sloppier with the latitude that digital allows, what with chimping and possibilities for "fixing" in post shooting RAW. But I am grateful for the mistakes I made with film decades ago. Learning by doing.

 

[aquadoc]

Awesome stuff, Doc!

Thank you. These days, photography is about the only stress release I have for when I want to be alone. Which is often. LOL.

 

[didimauw]

Camera lens?

So like it attaches to your phone or something? Hahaha

My pipes aren't worth of a good camera like that. No one wants to see the destruction up close in macro!

 

[shanez]

I'm still trying to find software that's a good fit for me. I have a friend who can to can work wonders with his software but it's complex and he's also a programmer by trade and has a level of knowledge in that regard that I'll never have.

I used to have some astrophotography software that was excellent. You could click a button and a histogram would pop-up where you could slide tabs from either side to cut-off top and bottom end noise from the CCD. After that you could click another button to apply a maximum entropy algorithm (filter) that would clean-up the in-between. Super simple to use and graphical so you didn't really need to know anything. Everything else I did to create a better picture was done with the camera and picture setup. Sometimes setup was a simple waiting for a could to pass, or get in the way, to create a good condition.

I have a full Adobe suite that came on a laptop I received but man is there a lot to learn.

 

[aquadoc]

I'm still trying to find software that's a good fit for me. I have a friend who can to can work wonders with his software but it's complex and he's also a programmer by trade and has a level of knowledge in that regard that I'll never have.

I used to have some astrophotography software that was excellent. You could click a button and a histogram would pop-up where you could slide tabs from either side to cut-off top and bottom end noise from the CCD. After that you could click another button to apply a maximum entropy algorithm (filter) that would clean-up the in-between. Super simple to use and graphical so you didn't really need to know anything. Everything else I did to create a better picture was done with the camera and picture setup. Sometimes setup was a simple waiting for a could to pass, or get in the way, to create a good condition.

I have a full Adobe suite that came on a laptop I received but man is there a lot to learn.

I have really grown to love Affinity Photo. I also use Topaz software for some tasks. Their upsizing software is amazing in quality and output.