Mmmm Camera Pr0n...







That last one's nearly 2 years old...I've added several cameras since then.

Oh, Hai.

What is this place? Another bookmark perhaps. Don't mind me, I'll just be over here in the corner hiding behind the lampshade. At least until the drinks kick in, then you might want to hide anything mechanical or elctrical.

Most of my camera pr0n is "how I did XYZ" shots. So here's this:

Curious: when i first got started in photography in the early 70s i was encouraged by semi pros and pros and it made a big difference for me. then for 30 years or so i lost that influence then got it back with farktography. the quality in those intervening years show that too. not to say it's great now :)

OK, now I am sure I have found the right group! I started in high school. I told my journalism teacher that I was interested learning photography, so he tossed me an old medium format TLR, a roll of Tri-X, and said, 'Here ya go. Sports department needs headshots. Deadline's on Friday." That was the extent of my "training." I found a couple of kids who knew a scrap more than I did (Like how to load the FILM in that monster...) and the rest was trial and error, plus the instruction manual that I found squashed down in the bottom of a cabinet. I found one other kid who knew how to use a light meter. Her single piece of advice actually served me the best of all. "If the meter says there isn't enough light, just open it up all the way and hope."

Curious: hat's a pretty impressive collection. i actually have 6 or 7 of those myself. you still have a minolta SRT101 don't you? i had a SRT102 as my first 35mm camera.

AAAAAKKKK! The mention of the Minolta SRT102 is enough to make me scream. That too, was my first (actually only) 35mm, and it was stolen in the early '90s from the computer lab that I ran at a junior high school. (It was engraved with my SS number, and I would happily buy it if it ever turned up) It's loss was what sent me into photographic remission, from which I have only recently emerged. The Nikon D300 is a soothing presence, and it guides me through the transition.

Now you've got me wanting to go take photos of all my old funky cameras...at least the ones that thieves have allowed me to KEEP, that is.

My photographic training came in High School as well. I could NOT pass chemistry to save my soul, and I had to get enough credits to graduate. So I spent an extra year in High School. I took 3 AP classes and a second year of vocational photography.

I got pretty good at it, and then went nowhere withit for a long time. Until digital it was too expensive. Until my recent birthday in April it wasn't as much fun, because I didn't have an SLR, and adjusting anything on an Olympus Cammedia camera is possible, but complicated.

Here's hoping the old rusty skills are on the increase. Still fighting the difference between what the camera says and what my computer shows (in terms of brightness).

I started with a 110 point-click in the early 80's and was ocasionally allowed to use my dad's Pentax MG. By the age of 8, I had graduated to a Kodak S-10 35mm point-click, and was taking such wonderful compositions as "the cat's arse" or "the dog digging in my sandbox." I also learned key principles like "Backlighting and auto exposure don't mix"

When I was 15, my dad gave me his Pentax, a 35mm prime, and a 200mm tele-macro prime. I put it in aperture priority and left it there, while I used the aperture to control exposure. Eventually I started to notice the relationship between aperture and DoF. By 19, I was graduated HS, failed out of college, and looking for work until I shipped off to the military, so I started substitute teaching at my high school. I had never taken photography in HS, but the teacher knew that I had rocked chemistry, and needed someone that she could call on frequently and for several days at a time while she took her son to an out-of-state medical clinic, and still keep the lab running. This is when/where I learned to develop film, and analog tricks like dodging, burning, contrast adjustments, etc. Then I joined the navy and the shutter in the Pentax broke.

So I got a 2.3 MP digital Point-shoot and forgot everything I had learned. Days before my second deployment, I knew there was more to photography that I was missing, so on a bit of an impulse, I picked up a Nikon D50, a couple lenses, and some SD cards and started re-learning the basics. Most of that deployment was spent in "landscape" mode, because it was the only pre-programmed function that wouldn't pop up the flash all the time. Since then, there has been the occasional "Ah ha!" moment, a D90, and a huge re-delving into film photography.

Yugoboy: Still fighting the difference between what the camera says and what my computer shows (in terms of brightness).

monitor calibration (new window) IIRC there are other monitor threads but i can't find them right now.

Couple days late, but here's some images to go with the stories earlier in the thread:

Dragonfly:

Didn't require a ton of patience, but wasn't one of the more colorful ones either.

Red-Tailed Hawk:

Made my morning, like, awesome...

Bonus from Toronto (about 45 minutes before the Fark Party):

Hai Guyz!

A very curious, cute little guy... obviously expecting me to provide peanuts or something.

Larger available at Flikr

Yugoboy: Dragonfly:

Nice one! We rarely have them here--I'm envious. They are SO photogenic, aren't they?

Birds o' prey, we have plenty. And their presence makes me look longingly at long lenses. I have some red-tails, a kestrel and a Harrier, but darn if they wouldn't have looked better through a 400mm...

thespindrifter: orionid: Most of my camera pr0n is "how I did XYZ" shots. So here's this:

I know of a guy that got in deep shiat in Niagara Falls back in the '70's for using a 'rife stock' camera mount... he was questioned by the authorities for hours before being shipped back over here with the advice "Don't come back".

Sounds like more of a problem with NY. The NY bashing thread is here (pops)

Seriously, though. I've actually considered doing that mod for stability with long lenses. I have an extra rifle stock, and some electric triggers from paintball markers. I'd also take it nowhere near where any of the states where I currently or have recently lived (CT, NY, HI).

thespindrifter: Elsinore: That last one's nearly 2 years old...I've added several cameras since then.

Yeah yeah, rub it in why dontcha? ;p
My Canon A1000 SD card slot died, and my A80 CCD went wonky years ago; I'm currently camera-less :'(

Oh...oh god, I'm so sorry :( My "purse cam", the Canon A620 pretty much died a few months back...I could put batteries in it, but it has a short somewhere and eats through them, so it's useless at this point. I feel so naked when I'm out now with only the cell phone camera with me....

orionid: for stability with long lenses.

i had a vivitar 70-220 many years ago. it was a whale. heavy like you wouldn't believe. great lens but damn, impossible to use for any length of time. got a pistol grip for it (it had a tripod mount mid lens) and all my problems went away. when i was using that rig regularly i could hand hold below a 1/15 usually. the grip also had a tripod mount which was a nice feature.

i still have both the lens and the grip but had to replace the lens. it got moldy in katrina. i'll try and get a photo of it tomorrow or this weekend.

thespindrifter: Elsinore: I feel so naked when I'm out now with only the cell phone camera with me....

Oh don't get me started on the evil that is teh cell "camera". So far in the past week since the last Canon died I have missed:
One of the worst thunderstorms here in a decade, complete with the loss of half my garden, and the neighbors' trees felled,
Hail
Some of the most spectacular daytime lightening in a decade
The great "Smoke Out" of 2011, worse than 1998, with a sizable chunk of the Okefenoke and Flagler County on fire, and our sun doeth not give its light, and the nearly full moon has turned to blood...

and my remaining sunflowers are really pretty.

I hate this. It's like missing some fingers or toes or something, or walking because the car is in the shop, et cetera. Fark me, I have no cash, and now I know a guy who has a used Canon Powershot SX10 that he wants to sell :(

Knowwhatchamean. I was 1/2 way into my 2nd day in the beautiful Colorado Rockies when my Canon xTi died. My professional photographer aunt let me use her Nikon p/s, and it felt like I was missing my left knad. After an hour or so, I gave up; had a beer, and waited for her to finish her shooting in beautiful Silverton, Co. Haven't gotten so far as to see what the p/s did while I was there.

Came home and bought a 2nd hand xTi right away. Has less than 1K shutter triggers to it; hope it lasts a lot longer than that (I do so hate trusting craiglisters, but given what I'd found on e-bay (not much better odds, nor price) and Amazon (they want WHAT?!? for an xTi?!?), I took the gamble.

Thanks, Else, for the congrats!!

Curious: plamadude30k: Reminds me of a high school friend who collected old cameras.

that's a pretty impressive collection. i actually have 6 or 7 of those myself. you still have a minolta SRT101 don't you? i had a SRT102 as my first 35mm camera.

Yep, I'm actually quite fond of my 101. I've got a 55m f/1.8 prime lens and a 28-50mm f/3.5 zoom, and they're all in absolutely pristine condition. I got the whole set from my Grandpa who bought it new way back when and basically used it twice. I keep trying to force myself to use it more, but I'm instinctively cautious about film. There's more pressure to to get every shot right the first time. I think it's actually a good thing-not to mention the better color response and dynamic range.

/And yes, his collection was ridiculously impressive. It took up his entire closet.

ravnostic: Came home and bought a 2nd hand xTi right away. Has less than 1K shutter triggers to it; hope it lasts a lot longer than that (I do so hate trusting craiglisters, but given what I'd found on e-bay (not much better odds, nor price) and Amazon (they want WHAT?!? for an xTi?!?), I took the gamble.

I turned the counter over on my XTi. My son is using it now and I've moved on to a 50D. The XTi was where I realized that the kit lens (that came with my original Digital Rebel) wasn't very good and replaced it with a Tamron 17-50 which is a very good lens fully up to the extra pixels of the 50D and then some.

My introduction to photography was a high end Kodak 126 Instamatic with a zoom lens given as a wedding present in 1968 (yeah, I'm old). That lit a fire and the Kodak was soon joined by a Canon FTb and it went on from there.

My present pocket camera is an Olympus 770SW -- a waterproof camera. It's not really as much better than a cell phone camera as it should be, but the waterproof part plus the shockproof part (the SW in the model) means no worries. And I got it when I learned it existed because waterproof meant beer proof so I could take true beer goggles pictures:



I used that picture because it's 2 TFers. And the bartenders where I hang out know what's going to happen when I ask for a glass of tap water with no ice -- gotta rinse the camera before (don't want to get my beer dirty) and after (lens cover can stick shut if not clean) beer goggles pictures. Walking up to someone in a bar and sticking your camera in a glass of beer completely disarms people.

Oh, and every bit of equipment mentioned in this post came from the same outstanding, long-lived local camera shop. And I can still take pictures of the same wife.

Morchella: beer goggles pictures

Your beer goggles pictures always amuse me :D

Morchella

LOL, I was born in 1968. You must be around my parents' age--very cool to see some peeps of 'a certain age' have embraced the modern fandangled technology. My mom tries. My dad doesn't even want to bother--unless it's about car parts. Then all of a 'sudden', he knows how to use a mouse.

ravnostic: Morchella

LOL, I was born in 1968. You must be around my parents' age--very cool to see some peeps of 'a certain age' have embraced the modern fandangled technology. My mom tries. My dad doesn't even want to bother--unless it's about car parts. Then all of a 'sudden', he knows how to use a mouse.

There are plenty of people of all ages embracing digital. My Dad did, before he passed; he loved tech stuff, and once digital got "good enough" he jumped in with both feet.

QueenBee: Ya know...one week I'm going to have to hire some people to kidnap U-Man from Wed. night to Mon. morning so the rest of us have a chance :P

Just saw this. I approve. But only if we start taking turns with his equipment, too.

Elsinore please delete this one. (new window) thanks. decided smaller was better for it.

Curious: Elsinore please delete this one. (new window) thanks. decided smaller was better for it.

Done!

thanks

ravnostic: very cool to see some peeps of 'a certain age' have embraced the modern fandangled technology.

check my profile :)

orionid: QueenBee: Ya know...one week I'm going to have to hire some people to kidnap U-Man from Wed. night to Mon. morning so the rest of us have a chance :P

Just saw this. I approve. But only if we start taking turns with his equipment, too.

I could get behind that.

/Just kidding, U-man

plamadude30k: orionid: QueenBee: Ya know...one week I'm going to have to hire some people to kidnap U-Man from Wed. night to Mon. morning so the rest of us have a chance :P

Just saw this. I approve. But only if we start taking turns with his equipment, too.

I could get behind that.

/Just kidding, U-man

Hey now. Wait a minute. The kidnapping could be exciting, but I really don't want to share my gear. Plus, you never know, I might have set up a fancy automatic picher-submitter like BecauseISaidSo did.

Elsinore: Your beer goggles pictures always amuse me :D

If you remember back 3½ or so years, that picture was taken at the place that made Elsinore beer.

ravnostic, it's about results and what you can do with the equipment/media so unless/until I get too senile, I'll be working with whatever is out there.

Morchella: Elsinore: Your beer goggles pictures always amuse me :D

If you remember back 3½ or so years, that picture was taken at the place that made Elsinore beer.


Ooo that's right! I still have my other Elsinore Beer shirt, but it's starting to get holy (sic), so I'ma need to order a new one at some point.

Ranger Joe: I'm hoping that I havent used any of the images I submitted in a previous contest...the FSM appears to be down, and I havent installed my secondary internal hard drive in the new computer yet (you know, the one that has most of my images loaded on it.) I'm relying on previously uploaded photobucket images...not my favorite thing to do, but its better than nothing.

Just took a look and I think you're ok. There's a workaround posted over at the .net.

Just FYI: There's been a report of Flickr hiccups. Not seeing any issues in tonight's thread, but if anyone finds their entries inexplicably gone, let us know so we can attempt to restore them.

Congrats to BecauseISaidSo for this week's "In Deep Shadow" win!

I had to crawl on my belly very slowly to get close to this bunny couple.


My neighbor sneaked up behind me and grabbed my foot. Scared the bejebus out of me.
So the rabbit took off.

Wabbits iz hawd to get. Cute shots. :-)

ravnostic: Wabbits iz hawd to get. Cute shots. :-)

They are cute!

/and hard to get close to...

Well, the disadvantages of being the boss now mean I'm off on an unexpected overnight drive to DC/Bethesda. Any Farktographers round those parts wanna lend a guy a couch? I'm hitting the road now, so anyone with a Farkolga model 317 shooting at f/9.46 can get me at 9535th of a second on the iphone.

Lets see that get parsed :) Give me a call, guys, it's gonna be a loooong drive tonight.

Beautiful thread this week!

Ranger Joe: Hey Ravnostic...great shot of the power plant near Telluride. How did you like the switchback road that leads up to it? We're looking to do that road this fall, coming over the mountain and down into Telluride.

If the road to which you refer is the one in this picture--we didn't take it. They had oodles of snow this season, which made for the wonderful waterfall shot--but also meant the road up wasn't yet open (even at this resolution, I think you can tell it's loaded with the stuff). Do you happen to know the name of the falls on the left in this image? My Aunt did not.