12 September 2024 (Bring in your Kit)

Posted on 13/09/2024 by stevenmbeard

This week members brought in their cameras, plus other pieces of interesting and thought-provoking kit. Most members were divided into Nikon and Canon camps, but I also noticed some Sony and Panasonic cameras. George Todd pointed out that the club has a Sony DLSR camera which members are welcome to borrow if they don’t have a DSLR camera of their own. The evening was an opportunity for members to discuss kit and help newcomers and beginners with any questions they might have. There is an opportunity for beginners to pair up with more experienced members who have the same kit.

Some members showed some unusual or particularly useful equipment that you might not know about.

Steven showed the oldest camera he owned, a Russian Zenit TTL film camera, only to discover this model is apparently the “new fangled” version which has a light meter built into it. The beauty of this camera is that the shutter works by clockwork, so the camera can be operated without a battery. You could lock the shutter open for hours without worrying about the battery running out.
Steven also showed his “Wimberley Plamp“: A useful device which can be attached to a tripod to prevent a specimen from moving in the wind.
Steven also showed his smallest and most unusual Nikon lens, a pinhole! Pinhole lenses are made by making a small hole in a sheet of thin metal attached to a plate which fits to the camera. You can buy one for your camera or you can make one yourself by drilling a hole in a blanking plate, covering the hole with aluminium foil and making a pinhole in it. Pinhole lenses give your photos a blurry but arty appearance with a huge depth of field.
By contrast, Mike showed us his largest Nikon lens and, in particular, the gimbal tripod head which he used during the air show. A gimbal head takes the weight of a large lens and, when balanced correctly, can hold it steady and make it easier to follow moving objects. It is very helpful for wildlife, aviation and sport photography where your subject is moving.
Mike also showed us the sling strap he uses to carry his large lens, which takes the weight of the lens but give some freedom of movement.
John showed us the clever thumb rest which attaches to the hot shoe on the top of his compact camera and prevents his thumb from accidentally touching any controls while shooting. Here is one example: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1032640-REG/fotodiox_thumb_grip_b_pro_thumb_grip_for.html
There was a discussion about using the rear screen of a camera as a viewfinder. It is easy enough to see the screen in a darkened room, but the screen can be difficult to see in bright daylight. You can buy sun hoods which fit over the screen and make it easier to see. Some of these hoods also include magnifiers which make the display easier to read. Here are some examples: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/LCD-Hoods-Shades/ci/4968/N/3777857691

George showed us the 6 images that will be given to members for the editing challenge on 3rd October. Please contact George if you would like a copy of the images. Select 2 of the images and show us how you have changed them.

George is also accepting entries to our Digital Projected Images competition. Please email your 3 JPEG images to George at georgetodd1957@me.com. Images should be scaled to a maximum size of 1600 pixels wide and 1200 pixels tall. George can help if you don’t know how to do this. We had a discussion about the DPI (dots per inch) setting associated with an image, but you don’t need to worry about this as it is only important when printing.

There was going to be a “Strike a Pose” photoshoot this weekend, but this is being postponed because the organiser is ill. Get well soon. We’ll let you know when it is rescheduled.

Next week we have our first speaker of the year. Fiona Brims will tell us about her journey into creative portraiture. You can check out Fiona’s web site here:

https://www.fionabrimsphotography.co.uk/

Perhaps she will give us some inspiration for the rescheduled “Strike a Pose” session? See you there.

25 January 2024 (Sets of Six and Macro Presentation)

Posted on 26/01/2024 by stevenmbeard

This week we had a “Sets of Six” evening, where members bring along images or give interesting demonstrations. I started the evening by giving a macro photography demonstration. I brought along a small (25cm x 25cm) lightbox into which I placed a “Musselburgh mussel” on a stand.

Macro photography is extreme close-up photography where the original idea is was to make the image on the camera’s sensor at least the same size as the subject itself. To achieve this you need a lens which can focus very close. A macro lens is one designed to have a close focus distance for macro photography, but if you don’t have a macro lens (or want to try macro photography at a different focal length than your macro lens) the following gadgets can also help:

Extension tubes will reduce the focal distance when fitted between your camera and lens. These are the best option because they contain no glass and won’t affect the performance of your lens. But make sure you buy ones compatible with your camera.
Close-up lenses can be screwed to the front of your lens, just like a filter. These have the advantage of being cheap and easy to fit, but because they contain glass they affect the performance of your lens.

One of the most difficult things in macro photography is getting the focus right. Macro photos tend to have a very narrow depth of field, especially if you choose a longer focal length to keep clear of your subject. One way to correct the narrow focal length is to use a narrow aperture (such as f/16 or f/22) but that leads to a longer exposure time and motion blur. Good lighting is very important in macro photography. For still subjects you can use a light box. Click here to see a review of the one I demonstrated, but there are other makes and sizes available. For moving subjects you can use a ring flash which fits on the front of the lens, which won’t cast shadows like a flash attached to the camera body. If you are lucky enough to have bright natural light available, a small reflector or diffuser can be used to soften the lighting and brighten the shadows. A gadget, such as a Wimberley Plamp, can be attached to your tripod to hold subjects like flowers that might be blown by the wind.

Another way to achieve a better depth of field in macro photography is using a focus stacking. Here is a YouTube video which explains how to do it.

You can change the focus by using the focus ring on your lens, but some photographers find a focus rail (which moves the camera back and forth on a rail) is easier to control. This site shows you how use a focus rail: https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/tutorials/how-to-use-a-macro-focusing-rail-for-a-focus-stacked-close-up.

Finally, I demonstrated a USB microscope, which can produce extreme macro close-ups. The depth of field for these devices is extremely narrow and they work best with two-dimensional subjects. But they can detect tiny objects invisible to the naked eye, such as dirt on the front of your lens you didn’t know was there. Here is a review: https://gadgets-reviews.com/uk/review/1388-best-usb-microscopes.html. These range from cheap to very expensive. I demonstrated a mid-range Jiusion microscope which saves HD images.

Several members then showed a selection of interesting images: Kevin Johnson showed how classic album cover art can inspire photography; Mike Clark showed some “before and after” results in underwater photography; John West showed how you can use ICM to transform an image of the interior of a cathedral; Malcolm Roberts described his visit to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition; There were also some unique views of The Kelpies. George Smith showed his first attempts at astrophotography; Elaine Gilroy showed her photographs of birds; George Todd showed a selection of holiday images; and Derek Muller showed a rig he had set up to capture water splashes. Derek also showed some of his favourite images of acorn people created by David M Bird. More of these images can be found on David’s YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@davidmbird

Finally, Joe Fowler showed us how images can be improved by removing the distractions and using the clone tool to add more interest. Thank you to everyone who showed their images. It was a long but very entertaining evening.

Next week we have a digital knock-out competition. Please bring up to 3 images on the subject a “water” and then vote for your favourites.

Camera and lens for sale

Posted on 11/12/2019 by musselburghcameraclub

The club has received the following message:

I am a past member of midlothian camera club and I have a canon 70d with a canon 18×200 is lens for sale both of which are in excellent condition. There are also a number of extras to go with it. The reason I am selling the camera is because I upgraded to a canon 5d mk iv. The price I am asking is £575.00 but I would be open to offers.

Thank you.

Douglas Currie

Email: douglascurrie11@gmail.com

Canon Speedlights 600EXRT

Posted on 15/09/2013 by scottylad2

The above named speedlights are the latest and greatest in the Canon speedlight range and a little advice to the other Canon users that might save you some cash.

Only purchase if you have a 2012 or later camera.

I bought one of these to add a second light for portrait work and tried using it grouped with my older speedlight, a Canon 430EXII fired by Pixl King radio transmitters. I also have a very old optical slave speedlight which i add into my mix

Canon cameras allow you to control groups of speedlights from the LCD screen when attached via compatible radio transmitters, and I’d been using mine with 2 speedlights for quite a while but with the new 600’s only one speedlight was showing on screen. I could fire off two, but the settings were being mirrored on each flash instead of how i had used my older ones previously, setting the power to each independently.

I had my new flash checked and it was returned with a note saying it worked perfectly. I blamed my old flash, so stupidly went out and bought another 600, but still the same issue.

I had my 5DMKii checked, it too was in good nic and wasn’t the cause.

A check on good old Youtube brought the answer. These new flashes are only fully compatible with newer cameras in radio mode and don’t function properly with 2nd party radio transmitters, only the Canon built STE3 and only on newer bodies.

My dilema was get shot of the new flashes at a loss or upgrade my camera, which i did but it was an expensive lesson.

The flashes have their own inbuilt radio transmission/recievers and with one attached to the cameras hot shoe you can fully operate the 2nd but to get the full benefit you want to add the ST-E3 radio trigger unit which sits in the hot shoe and lets you set each flash output

You can pair ettl with manual etc but you can’t control the zoom remotely, that needs set on each unit manually.

Another negative the trigger doesn’t have any infrared AF assist, which I find quite bizarre. You can have that by making a switch and having one of the flash in the hot shoe but it kind of defeats the point in paying for the trigger, the only way to keep two flashes off camera in low light is to use a torch for helping with AF, set your focus in manual or get a hot shoe cable attachment and connect to the flashes that way.

An expensive lesson, but the flashes are great and grouping is now easy peasy.