Phototalk random thread

[Gattopardo]

How would you go about testing a sony nex-c3 and nex 3n that you are buying second hand.

[Polar Bear]

Re: Weston Master light meters:

There's a guy who can be found on the internet who refurbs some models of Weston light meters.  He also buys old ones and refurbs them before selling them on.

When I bought my Bronica ETRSi I also bought one of his refurb jobs.  It is truly exquisite.

I do not have his details immediately to hand but I will try to remember to search them out.

Edit:

ian-partridge.com

I am too tired to do a linky using my mobile.  Sorry.

We are here to do these thing for you  Mods 

[Graeme]

My daughter bought me a Pentax MX for my birthday and I'm having all sorts of photography fun. I'm making every mistake - but I'm not worried. Sometimes I'm getting interesting results as a result of my mistakes. For example, I misloaded some film and the perforated bits at the top and bottom got mangled, so it didn't wind on. I ended up taking about 20 nighttime photos on the same piece of film. I'm quite happy with the serendipitous results - 20 images of Slaithwaite overlaid.

https://fatherhilarious.blog/2023/12/serendipity-slaithwaite/

[T42]

That is rather splendid - worth blowing up and exhibiting.

[sam]

https://fatherhilarious.blog

That's some nice blogging, vicar.

Reading about Carol reminded me that I have a friend who was involved in a new translation of the bible. He wasn't a translator himself, more on the IT side. He works for NASA now, so still gazing at the heavens.

[Graeme]

Taking my daughter to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Saturday, and I'm going to use the opportunity for a photo-walk with her and taking the Pentax with some Ilford XP2, also a cheap Boots AF point-and-shoot with Kentmere 400. Really looking forward to some creative opportunities.

[Graeme]

Taking my daughter to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Saturday, and I'm going to use the opportunity for a photo-walk with her and taking the Pentax with some Ilford XP2, also a cheap Boots AF point-and-shoot with Kentmere 400. Really looking forward to some creative opportunities.

YSP was thought provoking, and gave my daughter and I a lot to ruminate on while taking photos. The Boots point n shoot has a 29mm lens, but she's so used to phone cameras she had no idea it couldn't focus on macro images. She'd taken a couple of extreme close-ups of moss before I noticed. If I'd given her the SLR she'd have been able to see that the images won't focus. We're both looking forward to the results. She was using Kentmere 400 and I had XP2 Super. A very bright day.

[Wowbagger]

A week or so ago I watched an entertaining and informative Youtube video about photography. It was introduced by a Scots woman and in the hour-long show I watched, three guys were give a project to take a photo in every one of the UK's National Parks and were set a time limit - it may have been 48 hours, I can't recall now. They were using a swish-looking motor home for their travels. In another part of the programme, one of the three was given an assignment to take photos in Namibia.

But I can't remember what it was called and I want to watch the next issue! It was a bit "Top Gear"ish in some ways, with a contrived rivalry between the blokes in the programme, but still rather good in spite of that.

Can anyone come to my rescue please?

[Wowbagger]

Found it!

https://www.youtube.com/c/PhotographyOnline

[lissotriton]

Surely the photography equivalent of Top Gear is Digital Rev?
Some of the classic videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6MBjDFJX_s

[Wowbagger]

I went to the Southend Photographic Society's meeting again last night. This time it was a talk by one of the members on HDR photography. I don't think I knew what this was before we started.

It was pretty clear that the member concerned was not much good when it came to delivering a lecture. He did a lot of faffing about on a screen that I could barely read (it was projected onto a big screen) and he didn't really explain what was going on with regard to there being more than one almost identical image taken by "bracketing" (I had come across this expression on my course). After he finished his talk, we had a break and a cup of tea and he and his wife then showed us some of their prints of HDR photos. This was better, but it became apparent (to me, at any rate) that his wife was at least as skilful a photographer as he was, and also rather better at explaining stuff.

The society is very male dominated and I reckon that at almost 70, I'm of below average age. At one point one of the prints on display was of Blackpool Tower, and one of the old guys standing near me muttered "I'm surprised they still let us call it Blackpool." FFS.

I don't think I'm going to go again. The first time, when there was a (young) visiting speaker giving a talk about his really good wildlife photographs, it was right up my street. But on the two occasions since then, it's been pretty dull and shambolic. I reckon I'll benefit more by looking around the photography pages on this forum and the Talk Photography forum I've recently joined.

[Tim Hall]

The YouTube algorithm sent me a video by a bloke who identified, purchased and used the camera and lens combination* used by James Stewart in Rear Window.

My level of geekery.
 
https://youtu.be/86xRvftRGc4?si=JEP35OcR5Y37UuEU

*Ihagee Exakta VX 35mm SLR with a Kilfitt Fern-Kilar 1:5.6/400 lens

[Wowbagger]

I had booked a place on a Field Studies Council course at Flatford Mill - course title "Developing the Photographer's Eye". I've just found an email dated 21st March saying that the course has been cancelled due to too few bookings. That is quite a disappointment. That does leave 11th April free. Maybe I should just dedicate the day to doing something photographic that's beyond what I would normally do. As it happens, I haven't taken a photo of anything for quite a long time.

[BrianI]

Did I happen to mention I came joint 3rd place in my local photography club, Dunfermline Photographic Association's Annual Competition, with my image of a sketch artist taken at the Edinburgh Festival?

The Artist-copyright by Brian Innes, on Flickr

[BrianI]

I went to the Southend Photographic Society's meeting again last night. This time it was a talk by one of the members on HDR photography. I don't think I knew what this was before we started.

It was pretty clear that the member concerned was not much good when it came to delivering a lecture. He did a lot of faffing about on a screen that I could barely read (it was projected onto a big screen) and he didn't really explain what was going on with regard to there being more than one almost identical image taken by "bracketing" (I had come across this expression on my course). After he finished his talk, we had a break and a cup of tea and he and his wife then showed us some of their prints of HDR photos. This was better, but it became apparent (to me, at any rate) that his wife was at least as skilful a photographer as he was, and also rather better at explaining stuff.

The society is very male dominated and I reckon that at almost 70, I'm of below average age. At one point one of the prints on display was of Blackpool Tower, and one of the old guys standing near me muttered "I'm surprised they still let us call it Blackpool." FFS.

I don't think I'm going to go again. The first time, when there was a (young) visiting speaker giving a talk about his really good wildlife photographs, it was right up my street. But on the two occasions since then, it's been pretty dull and shambolic. I reckon I'll benefit more by looking around the photography pages on this forum and the Talk Photography forum I've recently joined.

I find my Photography Association mostly the same. Retirees who can afford the latest high end camera, with the latest high end lenses, and the latest in high end overseas holidays, which they edit their images with the latest in high end photo editing software (Lightroom, and the latest Photoshop on Monthly Subscription).  Not so many mid 40 year olds who can't afford top rate cameras, top end lenses, or expensive overseas holidays, or use free photography software, (darktable and Gimp).

While the monthly competitions are fun to enter, and get feedback from the judges, it seems it's the same people who win every time (perhaps due to the judges recognising the photographer's style of work?)

Membership numbers have sadly been dwindling over the years, but it'll be a shame if the club doesn't reach it's 100 year anniversary in a few years time...

[mzjo]

I went to the Southend Photographic Society's meeting again last night. This time it was a talk by one of the members on HDR photography. I don't think I knew what this was before we started.

It was pretty clear that the member concerned was not much good when it came to delivering a lecture. He did a lot of faffing about on a screen that I could barely read (it was projected onto a big screen) and he didn't really explain what was going on with regard to there being more than one almost identical image taken by "bracketing" (I had come across this expression on my course). After he finished his talk, we had a break and a cup of tea and he and his wife then showed us some of their prints of HDR photos. This was better, but it became apparent (to me, at any rate) that his wife was at least as skilful a photographer as he was, and also rather better at explaining stuff.

The society is very male dominated and I reckon that at almost 70, I'm of below average age. At one point one of the prints on display was of Blackpool Tower, and one of the old guys standing near me muttered "I'm surprised they still let us call it Blackpool." FFS.

I don't think I'm going to go again. The first time, when there was a (young) visiting speaker giving a talk about his really good wildlife photographs, it was right up my street. But on the two occasions since then, it's been pretty dull and shambolic. I reckon I'll benefit more by looking around the photography pages on this forum and the Talk Photography forum I've recently joined.

I find my Photography Association mostly the same. Retirees who can afford the latest high end camera, with the latest high end lenses, and the latest in high end overseas holidays, which they edit their images with the latest in high end photo editing software (Lightroom, and the latest Photoshop on Monthly Subscription).  Not so many mid 40 year olds who can't afford top rate cameras, top end lenses, or expensive overseas holidays, or use free photography software, (darktable and Gimp).

While the monthly competitions are fun to enter, and get feedback from the judges, it seems it's the same people who win every time (perhaps due to the judges recognising the photographer's style of work?)

Membership numbers have sadly been dwindling over the years, but it'll be a shame if the club doesn't reach it's 100 year anniversary in a few years time...

Well it's not always like that. In my club there are some retired members with relatively high-end kit but there are equally a few working members who have nice gear as well (and know how to use it). The star man with the kit wins the photo of the month very rarely, the others very regularly - but we all vote for the photo. I never get anywhere basically because I don't (can't ) create images and I still do analog photography (in spite of the constant advice to forget it and just do digital). The photos that get placed are all infinitely better (read better finished, sharper and more "glossy") than mine so I can't complain! And I did shock a few this month by entering a series taken with a Brownie 620 (and scanned!). The big surprise is the number (usually well over 70 yrs old ) who haven't read the manuals for their sophisticated cameras and foul up workshops finding out how they work!

[T42]

Been going through older SLRs stashed away and recovering dead batteries (Nikon EN-EL3e, 50€ new).  One of them shows the full 4 bars of charge but declines to 3 in ~48 hours in a Nikon D300s, as the LCD is always active.  Another that was in a D200 stops charging after ~20 minutes, gets hottish and only shows 2 bars in the camera.

Does the panel think it would pay to persist in charging this one, maybe running it down and recharging a couple of times, to see if it improves, or is it kaput?

[Wowbagger]

Trial and error. As long as it doesn't explode or burst into flames, then trying can't do any harm (says he, helpfully...).

[T42]

Right you are. I've put it in the D300s and banged off a few hundred shots on continuous with the mirror going brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp! and it still shows 2 bars. A few hundred is better than nowt so I'll not chuck it yet.

Lovely camera, my D300s was. Lovely handling - it had the semi-pro Nikon interface.  Heavy, though: after a morning of shooting cyclists you'd know you'd done something.