Camera Review Page: dltphoto

Once upon a time I wrote a blog for a Camera Store. Even though the cameras I once reviewed are now discontinued, all of the features they offered are still available on their newer brothers/ sisters and likely have much better image improvements. So I figured the reviews might still be useful. Most of these camera's and their upgraded friends are available at your nearest Kerrisdale Camera's store.

You can check it on my other blog duncanturner.blogspot.com

APAC Submissions, December 2013: dltphoto

"Branching Out", Abstract, Score 7

This months showing was a "photoclub bust" for me if  I was a competition minded and cared about progressing into future levels. Paul Baker was our adjudicator. He is very good at critiquing the images, mine just weren't ones that he felt needed to be discussed!

"Alouette in Green", Landscape, Score 7

This is my attempted image that went missing somewhere along the lines for November... too bad. Shot with my Fuji F200 EXR compact camera

"FireBreather", Assigned "Ancient", Score 7.5

This was the assigned image "Ancient". I thought it quite fitting, after all it's been there a jolly long time. It's as ancient an item one will find anywhere although its probably not viewed in that way!!

I don't think I scored the rock bottom score that evening, although I could be wrong. I didnt hear any 6's that I can remember!  Oh well. I really liked my images compositionally and they projected well. That's really all that matters to me.

Next month's adjudicator is a local artist  Janet Bright. She reacts to impact images but maybe less technical than the photographer judges.....

APAC Submissions, November 2013 :dltphoto

Two months of bad timing and I haven't been able to get to photoclub to see the images submitted or who the adjudicator is and how they scored images. This month I had a tragedy also since one of my images failed to get to the final process online, somehow. I'll just resubmit it in next months.

Assigned "Light", Follow the Light, Score 9

 After a fun and challenging evening out with a friend this is the result of us mucking around. For this image I actually combined three individual images since I had three mediocre images the play with. I used the simple technique shown in a previous post "how the magic happened". The exact same principle with different subject matter.
It appears to have scored well, although I wasn't one of the top three so this means the adjudicator was scoring quite high.

In Camera, "NightFall", Score 8.5

My other image to be scored was from the same evening,  painting with light. Not a bad effort out of the camera. Quite happy with the image considering the challenges we faced shooting it.

Granny and Grumpa's, Revisit 2013: dltphoto

Its been over a year now since Wallace and I visited Granny and Grumpa's Antique collection in Abbotsford. Last time was very overwhelming and I was not well prepared for so much stuff. This time I went with an idea not to try to see it all, just to pick out certain shots and concentrate on nailing them. This time also I only frequented one of the barns. With another 3 barns available I'll have plenty more to shoot on 3 future occasions.
I shot with a few different camera's... As to be expected! I finally had chance to muck around with some wireless flash with my trusty Nikon 1 V1. This first image of the Ice Cream toting Statue of Liberty was done using one remote flash off camera. I really enjoy this shot. Possibly my favourite from the day. It shows wonderfully the clutter and craziness of this corner of the barn. It's actually where I picked up an interesting Lenticular Print which I bargained with Grumpa for. I'll attempt of shot of this in the future.

Here are a few images, still have some film out and some other gems to go though. I'll save them for a rainy day!

You don't always need the newest Camera, just learn what you have. : dltphoto

Just astonished by the performance from one of my "little" camera's. Where it is nice to have the latest and greatest, knowing how to use the camera to it's fullest should be all you need. Make sure when investing in a  camera you talk to a salesperson who listens to you and then asks questions about what photography you want to do, so that they can match the best camera for your needs. I researched this model and learned it's capabilities before I purchased. Although I know it is fairly quirky in some of it's functions overall it can do the same as it's bigger brother "DSLR's".

I love the "Circles of Confusion " in this one

. 

APAC Submissions, October 2013: dltphoto

I wasn't able to be present at this months exhibition evening due to a 'man cold'. I relied on my fellow club members to give me any feedback that the adjudicator had with my images.
All I know is that adjudicator enjoyed a lot of the images, she ( Betty Andres) tended to score on the high side according to my above average scores.

 

"Private Peeker", Architecture Score 9.5

 This was shot at Barkerville, BC. Initially for the textures it offered but I also enjoyed the fact the curtain is set in such a way as someone could be peeking out at me. She reviewed it but I haven't gotten any feedback on it.

'Life Lines', Floral, Score 8.5

This shot was from my phone last Autumn. I enjoyed the overall feel of the image and thought I had a pretty sweet shot from such a limited camera. The Leaf shot she reviewed and wished the depth of field could have been better but overall she enjoyed the colours but wished I might have come closer to pay more attention to the lines of the leaf. Of course I wasn't there to inform her it was from my phone....

'Smile for Dad', Assigned ( Humourous), Score 9.5

Last Christmas's photo shoot in my studio, I always enjoy getting the girls to do a little something odd and it worked well for scoring.

Nightfall : dltphoto

Normally every year I post some glorious fall/ autumn tree shots. All glowing red and orange etc... But this time I tried something a little different. Must trickier and something that needs to be better thought out for next year!

I went out a night with Mr Koopmans to find the perfect coloured tree at night. Scouting ahead of time would have been smart as the pretty trees aren't so easy to spot, but that wasn't the only issue. FOCUS. Since we were basically shooting under pitch black nighttime it was incredibly hard to focus. Fortunately I had my blast of light flashlight with me (Fenix) and we atttempted to set our focus, it was still very challenging though.

So initially I started off doing some wireless flash to attempt to light up a tree we found in Fishtrap Creek. Along with a long exposure we got some nice effects, but that soon morphed into Flash and Flashlight which became a little bit of light painting which I have never really fooled with. Plenty of experimenting that night!
Light painting is simply using a long exposure (tripod required) and walking around with a light type device, in our case a really bright flashlight. Then at the end it wasn't about the colourful trees anymore since we couldn't tell if they were colourful or not. So we just messed around with a gazebo type thing in the park!

Out Of Focus!!!

Anyways, we played for a while and here are some of my winners.

Back to the beginning, Olympus OM-10: dltphoto

Many, many, many years ago I had gifted to me, by my oldest brother, my very first SLR. The Olympus OM-10 with the 50mm Zuiko 1.8 lens. WOW. I remember first getting it, sure it was used but it was in mint condition and I was thrilled. A real camera. This is where it all began.

Recently I acquired a Mint Condition OM-10. As luck would have it it seems to work perfectly. The 50mm lens is a little cloudy from maybe moisture or mildew but nothing one will ever see in the images.....

I can easily recommend one of  these cameras as a teenagers first REAL camera. Simple, small. Sure it uses film but then film has been fine for  most of it's long history and out of my roll of 36 I only had one that was an instant throw away due to my error. With scanners getting more available and cheaper its not terrifically hard to get them digitized should you need to or just find a friend with a scanner (Wink Koopmans).

Mount Fujifilm: dltphoto

Once upon a time manufacturers encouraged me to sell a certain cameras with the lure of reaching a target and securing a free camera for myself. Of course there is a dilemma to this process since you could ultimately be pushing a product of which you are not entirely comfortable with but in this case the Fuji F200 EXR was something I wanted and it didn't disappoint.

Now that I am on a career change I find myself less able to carry around larger cameras on a daily basis, but this little gem can go with me almost anywhere. I see many beautiful early mornings and usually I am a passenger in a vehicle so I am able to capture snaps through the window and its a great all purpose walk around for candids. The only thing I wished it had would be the ability to shoot in RAW, but I guess then I should buy the Fuji X20!!! #youcanthaveeverything. wait, does hashtagging work here?

It's all good: dltphoto

Here are two very similarly shot images with two very different formats. One shot with the timeless Olympus OM-10 with a  Zuiko 50mm 1.8 and the other with my trusty Nikon 1 V1 with the 70-200 2.8 VR.

I remember not so long ago that a potential Bride told me to "get with the times" when I informed her I shot with both film and digital, at that time.
Both of these images have great characteristics, the Fuji Neopan film I used was old and I have found it to be kind of low contrast but amazingly smooth grain. The digital is obviously more contrasty and a little sharper, that doesn't surprise me. I can see why people still enjoy the purity of film, really as old as the technology is it is still able to compete in so many ways. People who dismiss film so quickly are misinformed about it, film camera's are everywhere and are cheap. Sure there is no instant gratification but whats wrong with waiting a little bit? Out of my roll of 36 I only had one bad image. Out of your last 36 shots from your digital camera did you keep all 36? or did you delete a lot of them?

APAC Submissions, September 2013 : dltphoto

It's that time again folks. It quickly snuck up on me since I have been so busy juggling my new career and such. In fact I was in such a rush to get images in by the 8pm deadline that I just grabbed three images without much time for consideration, we'll see how I fare up! One new thing they have added this year other than a few different categories is the adjudicator's being able to give half points, so instead of a "Deep Six" there is now a chance of 6.5!!

This months Adjudicator is Rick Shapka, here is the brief info we were given before our submissions were due.

 

"Rick Shapka began his formal photographic training about 2002

by completing diplomas in photography at Focal Point, as well as art history at UBC. In addition, Rick completed workshops with a number of master photographers including Joe McNally, Jay Maisel, Jean Miele, Dan Burkholder, Freeman Patterson, Andre Gallant, Eddie Soloway, and Tony Sweet.

Rick spends his time with photography in and around Vancouver as well as traveling extensively to make pictures. His recent photographic journeys include Arizona, the Palouse, Moab Utah, Vancouver Island, New Brunswick and Namibia.

He photographs the landscapes, the people and has a particular interest in HDR and abstract photography."

First up is the Assigned topic which is "textures". Fortunately I had this one ready to go from my instagram account, originally shot by the trusty Nikon 1 V1 and filter applied via instagram.

Asigned Texture,"Red, White and Blue", score 7.5

Then on to the exhibition section. I choose two images from my most recent shooting, since I was in a big hurry! Both from the Nikon 1 V1, and yes I do have a DSLR but the little Nikon is just so wonderful ( please don't cancel them Mr Nikon). No fancy edits done to these images, basic Raw conversion only.
Not entirely sure I put them in the best category but well...whatever!

Landscape "Lady of the Lake", score 7.5

Portrait, "Night Floating", score 7.5

So I scored the Perfect "Mr Average", 7.5 all the way through. His scoring wasn't wild as compared to some but he rarely fluctuated from the .5's, which I guess will be the new trend. We'll see next month!!!

it's been done: dltphoto

Some people have issues about doing something that's already been done!

Check out the talented version of this image.

Sunrises :dltphoto

On the other side of the fence we have Sunrises. These are often overlooked as we commonly choose to sleep through them, but interesting things are happening out there under very interesting lighting. Its good to get up early....

Chilliwack Flight Fest :dltphoto

Now, I am no expert in photographing Airplanes in the sky, but here are a few of my efforts using the Nikon 1 V1 and the awesome Nikkor 70-200 VR. A combination which I found incredibly hard to use. I think an Airshow is better suited to a DSLR or just left to the pro's!! I was really happy to see the Spitfire fly, that was kinda epic due to it's historical importance for the Battle of Britain . Even though it was dressed in Czech colours I believe this once served under the British Airforce.
Chilliwack Flight Fest 2013

Sunsets :dltphoto

Sunset shots have been well documented over the years, generally viewed as a nice wide angle shot covering a great vista/ panoramic. Some sunsets aren't always that dramatic but by picking out a smaller area of the larger picture we can create our own drama. Here are a few images from our "Sunset View" campsite which usually yields some unbelievable sun downs, but this year was fairly tame by it's normal standards.

Omer R Cordell/ Seventh frame Photography: dltphoto

A real loss for the film photography clique, as it is becoming. My good mate, Omer R Cordell, is hanging up the Canon gear and by hanging up I mean selling off. This is tragic. Omer's ability to create unbelievable images with film has been, well... Unbelievable. Understanding light and working most often with very little with film is very challenging. We are now seeing amazing images with digital cameras which  have unbelievable low light capability but the users doesn't have to be particularly gifted .
 Omer didn't have those opportunities and he didn't need them or want them. When you know the film and you understand the light, all you need is the patience and timing.  Glad to have helped him shoot many, many bands throughout his career and have watched him grow into one of the premier live shooters. Why oh why didn't some quality music magazines hire him, fortunately he made some friends in the music biz and can been seen in many posts at Metal rules, plus he has pretty much been the personal photographer for bands such as Fear Factory and the Devin Townsend Band. I am sure if you want to google images "seventhframe photography" or "Omer R Cordell Photography" you'll find much of his work scattered around.
On the other hand we can enjoy Omer's new adventure, Trailight Music.
Good Luck chap and I can loan you a film camera if you ever need one!

 Shot By Me!!

Fantastic Plastic: dltphogr.am

http://instagram.com/p/bsJcDOq3zM/

Take a seat, relax! :dltphogr.am

http://instagram.com/p/bOoKBBq392/

One Sunny Morning:dltphoto

Here are just a few randoms from a recent early morning stroll in some industrial type areas.