Thursday, June 23, 2011

Processing Infrared Shots from a Converted Camera


This tutorial is for converting a "full spectrum" photograph into the classic blue sky/white vegetation result via channel swapping. If you are trying to convert a strictly infrared image (predominantly red) you will have to download Adobe's DNG Profile Editor and play with your image until it looks similar to our beginning point (light blue vegetation/ivory yellow skies).

Monday, May 30, 2011

Old Digital Camera Vs. Cell Phone: Sony Mavica Edition

Pause for a minute and try to remember 1997. It is very possible that you will not be able to remember everything about 1997 because it was a long time ago, but these things happened, among others: Bill Clinton started his second term as President of the United States, Dharma & Greg premiered on ABC, and everybody's computer came with a floppy disk drive.

Also in 1997, people started wondering if maybe this newfangled digital camera thing had legs. Turns out it did, but there are times in retrospect that you have to wonder how it managed to survive those early years. This is one of those times.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Black and white: optical filters in a digital world


Searching through the internet for a definitive answer on whether or not coloured optical filters still play a role in digital black and white provided an answer as clear as mud: yes, no, and everything inbetween. So let's see if we can find some clarity ourselves...

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Old Digital Camera Vs. Cell Phone: Leica Digilux Zoom Edition

Your sassy new Leica DLUX5 is the latest in a long line of Leica-branded, Made-Somewhere-Else compact digital cameras. The most recent are sourced from Panasonic, but many moons ago, in the before times, Fuji was the OEM of choice. This Leica Digilux Zoom was Leica's second digital camera, an upscale clone of the Fujifilm MX-1700 from the halcyon days of 1999.

With a 1/2" 1.5 megapixel sensor, this is no DLUX5. But can it hold its own against a humble cell phone camera? Let's see!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Old Digital Camera Vs. Cell Phone: A Periodic Inquiry

The Nikon Coolpix 4500 was my very first digital camera, way back in 2002. It had a cool swivelling design, a 4 megapixel sensor, and a huge range of available accessories. It was one of the most capable non-SLR digital system cameras available.

It's been a while since the 4500 was state-of-the-art, and digital cameras have come a long way. But can this grandpa still compete? Let's see if it can beat the best-selling digital camera out there today: the one on your cell phone.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Tilt/Shift Lenses

Canon 24mm t/s - f3.5 - 1/1250 - 400 ISO
      A long time ago, before digital…even before roll film, all cameras tilted and shifted and correcting perspective was as important as focussing or selecting aperture and shutter speed.


     Then along came the newfangled "box" cameras (as opposed to bellows cameras) and with the rise of their popularity, the accessibilty to tilt and shift declined.


Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Lomographic Spinner 360 gets a quick test


This is a Lomographic Spinner 360. It's a strange-looking thing covered in grippy studded rubber, with a huge protruding handle, gaping metal hood, exposed rubber-band gearing and a peculiar dangling pullstring.


It looks like what would happen if a computer tried to understand bdsm, gave up, and designed a bird instead.


But I can assure you that the Spinner 360 a camera, and a pretty interesting one at that: it takes full 360-degree panoramas on standard 35mm film.


A view from Mount Tolmie