What in the flash is going on??

Today I pulled out the D90 and fitted up the SB-800 flash as I wanted to take some shots of some gear I have.  Annoyingly, each shot I took was coming out way too dark.  I pride my self on being able to find quick solutions to photographic problems, but this wasn't the case this time.  

 Firstly I checked the CLS setting as I had been playing around with it a while back.  Nope, all OK.  Did some additional reading on CLS to see if I'd forgotten anything, but alas it was just fine.  Checked all the SB-800 menus - all correct.   Replaced the flash batteries - Still the same problem.  Checked the flash compensation on the flash - No, set at +1/3 EV, which weirded me out as it was 2-3 stops too dark.  

Frustrated, I put the camera down for 10 minutes, and after I came back I noticed the +/- flash exposure compensation on the camera.  I gave it a push and '-3' came up.  So I changed it back to '0' and viola!  Correct exposure!  Hallelujah!!   

Even for a serious amateur, sometimes there are so many menus in a modern DSLR, finding the correct answer to the problem takes time. 

Leica 90mm f4 collapsible Elmar M on Sony NEX 5n

This is the Leica 90mm f4 collapsible Elmar M mounted on the NEX 5n with an adapter, and interestingly, the lens can almost completely collapse into the camera, save about 5mm.

Elmar love

A few days ago I pulled out my Leica 90mm f4 Elmar with the NEX 5n and decided to shoot a few flowers in the garden.  My Elmar is a collapsible one, dating from around 1957-1958, and though clean outside, it has a couple spots of haze inside.  However, this doesn't stop it from producing outstanding photographs. Here's a couple shots of dahlias, both being straight out of the camera and lightly cropped.

Rangefinders vs SLRs vs EVILs

Though I have used SLRs for a long time, rangefinders are still somewhat new to me.  The first one I bought was a Fujifilm GS645S Medium Format, which was a great camera, but I soon found that the way in which you use them is quite different.

When you look through an SLR prism, nothing is in focus until you adjust the lens so that the point you want is in focus.  You can pick any point in the picture you want to be in focus when you manual focus.  If you auto focus, you would select the focus point where you want to be in focus; OR point the middle focus point to the desired object, hold the trigger half way, recompose if necessary, then shoot.  What you see is not completely what you get, unless you have the aperture wide open.  An SLR always opens the lens up to maximum aperture for maximum viewfinder brightness, and then you use the Depth of Field button to check out what it looks like if you’re stopping down; or guess, if you don’t have that function.  Interestingly though, when using DOF preview it makes the whole viewing experience darker and can be  very dark (depending on the aperture), making it hard to see what the shot will look like.

Cornwall Boats - Nikon D90 with Nikon 18-200mm

With a rangefinder, when you look through the viewfinder, everything is in focus.   You pick the point you want to be in focus, manually focus until the rangefinder patches align, recompose,  then shoot.  There is no way to check what sort of depth of field there is.  You have to imagine it what it will be like.  For narrow depth of field photography, this takes quite a bit to get your head around.

Street Art - Leica IIc with Leica 50mm f2 Summitar

 

With the new Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens (EVIL) cameras, like the Sony NEX or Panasonic GH1, what you see is ALWAYS what you get.  Stopping down the aperture automatically increases depth of field on the screen AND the screen / sensor automatically adjusts brightness to the proper level – very cool!  When you change metering types (ie from matrix to spot) the camera shows you the results straight away; while with the other cameras you would have to rely on the meter read out to see the job is being done.  When you focus too, changes on the screen are seen as you do it. 

This is all very cool, but a couple of problems exist – 1) Big screen = big power draw, the batteries drain fast.  2) There’s nothing like seeing an actual ‘live’ scene than one being rendered by a screen, which feels ‘digitized’.   The new NEX-7 view finder is meant to be amazing, and will fix both these issues.

Fall Leaves - Sony NEX-3 with Leica 90mm f4 Elmar

Fall – Couples in Love

Ah, young love.  We were there once too.  Here’s two couples enjoying each other’s company.   Actually both shots benefited from auspicious timing.  In the first one, the girl just managed to flick her hair at the right moment; while in the second one, I managed to just sneak in the shot between lots of people crossing the bridge, and you can actually just see the next lot beginning to come through.

 

Both were shot with the NEX and Leica 90mm Elmar, and are cropped a little from the original.

EVIL Exposure

One thing I really like about EVIL camera’s is that what you see is what you get (WYSWYG).  You can judge exactly what you are shooting BEFORE taking the photo.  You might have a good idea on a DSLR about what adjustments to make after the first shot, but not always before.

With this shot I could see that the metering was way over exposing the leaves, so I turned it on to manual and adjusted the shutter speed up until the leaves were correctly exposed.  I purposely underexposed the leaves a bit as I wanted the colours to ‘pop’ as much as possible, and not washed out.  As I was doing the adjustments I could see the effect they were having on the screen, then shot the picture when I was happy with the result.

In other news, it turns out that the rumoured delay on the NEX-7 caused by the floods in Thailand is true.  Looks like I will get my camera in late November.

Petunia Patch

Here’s another quick snap with the NEX and the Leica 90mm f4 Elmar.  The colours are nice and at f4 I really like the bokeh too as it fades out to a beautifully smooth background.

So, I just heard some sucky news.  Turns out the floods in Thailand have significantly impacted supplies of the new NEX-7.  Looks like I’ll be waiting longer than I first thought.

Little Dog

During a recent walk through Sunnybrook Park we saw this little dog enjoying the day.  Turned out he was quite the character and it was quite fun shooting him.  This series shows a range of different expressions and the shots go together well as a set.

These shots were all taken on the NEX with the Leica M Mount 90mm f4 Elmar and are significantly cropped from the original.  It is hard to quickly get perfect focus when using a manual focus telephoto lens on the NEX, especially when your subject is moving around a lot, as this little fella was.  Even with a quite moderate maximum aperture as this lens has, it still isn’t easy.  I also used ISO 800, and already at this setting, significant noise can be seen in these (cropped) pictures.

That’s one thing I am hoping the NEX-7 is better with.  I pre-ordered one earlier today through a contact at Future Shop, so I am looking forward to getting hold of it!