Film Photography Podcast - New episode

The new episode of the Film Photography Podcast has been released this week.

The show is packed with plenty of features including:

Leicas, old film and fixer problems
An introduction to medium format photography
A quick, cheap fix for broken bellows
The Argus A
Cambo 4" x 5" - The students large format camera
Book of a show

Once you start listening to these you'll be hooked and want to listen to the back issues.

Getting off manual

My first SLR camera was a Zenith 11.  It was a big solid Russian brick and for me it was the perfect introduction to SLR photography.  The camera was manual focus, with needle and ring metering  You had to set the aperture and shutter speed for appropriate for what he needle and ring meter was telling you.  In other words it was completely manual.

I now have a Pentax K1000.  That too is a fully manual camera.  The difference between the two is that the K1000’s light meter is in the viewfinder.  I don’t need to take the camera away from my eye.

My Micropress 4”x5” pinhole camera is totally manual.  It doesn’t focus.  It doesn’t have a shutter and it has a fixed aperture of f512.  It doesn’t even have a light meter.  I have to work that out in my head using ‘sunny 16’ rule or use an app on my mobile phone.  Generally, I opt for ‘sunny 16’.

I also own an Olympus Trip 35.  It’s a fantastic little camera.  It’s mainly automatic.  You use a zone focus system to focus the lens and the aperture and shutter speed are chosen by the selenium light meter.  It’s such a clever piece of engineering it doesn’t even need batteries.  I love using this camera.  It’s so much fun.  Even my kids like using this camera!

My DSLR is a Pentax KX.  I love this camera too (as you have probably gathered from previous posts).  It has these nifty little modes on it PASM.  I use PAS a lot.  I only use M on very limited occasions.  It has autofocus.  Again, I use this more than I have it turned off.

Does this make me any less a photographer?  The answer, in my honest opinion, is a resounding no.

I do find it amazing that some photographers believe they are not a photographer unless they are shooting in manual mode.  I would love to know where this opinion has come from because I do believe it to be utter nonsense.  Why?  Well read on and I’ll tell you why.

Let’s start with autofocus.  The autofocus on my KX works.  It nails the point of focus I am after 99% of the time.  The only time it starts to fail is if there isn’t enough light or scene contrast.  I know my camera well enough to know this and will then flip to manual focus.  That being said, there is absolutely no way I can focus as quickly and as well as my KX.

Now on to determining shutter speed and aperture; whenever I have seen someone using manual I have asked them how are they are measuring the light.  All of them have told me they use the cameras light meter.  Now forgive me if I am being naïve but as I understand it, in any of the automatic modes the camera measures the light and sets the ISO, aperture and shutter appropriate to the conditions in order  to give you the best photograph possible.  If the camera is in aperture priority mode then it will measure the light, and set the ISO and shutter speed appropriate to the aperture that you have chosen.  The same can be said for shutter priority mode where the ISO and aperture are set for the chosen shutter speed.

Again, my KX has software built in to it that can make these decisions in a fraction of a second.  I know I cannot possible read my light meter and dial in the appropriate settings anywhere near that.

I suppose that the point I’m trying to make is that the major camera manufacturers has invested millions in to developing Auto PAS systems that are quick, efficient and accurate; they have invested time and money to make it easier and more practical for you to go out and shoot photographs.  You have spent hundreds if not thousands of pounds buying a camera that has these capabilities.  Why turn them off?  If you want to learn how to shoot manually, why not buy a totally manual film camera?

Shooting in Auto PAS modes does not make you any less a photographer.  It makes you a wise and happier one!

To end the week

It's time to say goodbye for another week.

This weeks photograph is one that made me chuckle for quite some time.  Some of members of Blackburn Camera Club including our Liam and Bob went off to Whalley for a spot of night time photography.  What came back is a haunting photograph now known as Zombie Bob.

Have a good weekend!!!  See you Monday!

Exciting News for Blackburn

2015 is an exciting year for Blackburn as it will see the opening of The Making Rooms, a unique facility that brings together art and technology.

The Making Rooms is a state of the art technology and manufacturing hub that will help put the town back on the map as a place for start-up businesses and manufacturing innovation.

One of the only facilities of its kind in the country it will be equipped with cutting edge equipment such as 3D printers and small scale manufacturing machinery that will allow people to test and try out new ideas.

It will also host a technology hub for new businesses to use as a work space as well as hosting courses, events and groups based around digital innovation.

In addition there will be studios, workshops and exhibition spaces for artists and craftspeople, as well as provision for artist residences for both local and international artists.

It will offer training in collaboration with school and colleges and local businesses.

Based in the Bentleys building on Museum Street, formerly a bank, it will incorporate the best ideas from similar facilities around the world and is one of only two such projects in the country.

The project is funded by Arts Council England, the Lancashire Economic Partnership and backed by Blackburn with Darwen Council.

If you’d like to get involved we’d love to hear from email Blackbur is Open on ideas@blackburnisopen.co.uk

Happy Birthday Photoshop

Just a quick post to say happy birthday to Photoshop and congratulations to Adobe for keeping such an innovative and iconic piece of software at the forefront of photography and the digital arts scene.

We're away from our desk

Afternoon, it would seem we are issuing some technical difficulties at the moment.  We'll be back tomorrow!

A couple of links for today!

Well, we're back for another week of news and features.  We hope you had a good weekend of shooting and a re looking forward to the week ahead.

First up.  We love film photography here at Pixel headquarters and it looks like the trend of it becoming popular again is continuing to grow.  Just this morning Amateur Photographer magazine are running an article on their website about making black and white prints.  Here is the Essential Guide to Darkroom Printing.  Not got a film camera?  Don't worry you can still make a black and white print from a digital file by contact printing a file printed on to overhead projector film (for those old enough to remember OHP).  A nice little article here!

An article in the New York Times based about Peter Lik is causing a storm in the photography world.  Have a read of the article here.  Why not have a look at his website and some of images?  Make up your own mind about his work.  Here.