Percussive learning in a world of automation
A while back I found a nice, working clip-on light meter that fitted my Fed. I ve been very happy with it, and felt no need to stray. But then our eyes met across a crowded table a temptress of the light, a siren of the photons, a clip-on meter for the Pentax SV. There, in Continue reading "Clip-on tools"
Call it serendipity or synchronicity, but just when I was looking for an informal method of showing some pictures, one came along. The good folks at The Future Of Photography were enthusing about a website that automates the layout of a six-page (plus covers) zine folded from a single A4 sheet. The occasion was a Continue reading "Making the zine"
So, there are good lenses, and lenses with character . What about a lens chosen because it is bad? And not just bad, but interesting bad? OK, so a bad lens is usually just a disappointment: who needs something that doesn t work? But there is a whole genre of photography that wants swirly or bubbly bokeh, Continue reading "Bad to the bone"
I have an old Balda 6 45 folder that belonged to my ex-father-in-law, so of course I was a sucker for another. This one was a 35mm model, so more recent. It was advertised as a Baldinette, but has Baldini showing on the camera body. Comparing pictures on Camera-Wiki identifies it as a Baldini, dating from Continue reading "Going more Balda"
Different lenses render colours differently. Shocking, eh? So why should you care? You can fix it in post, right? It was a thing I d read about in the past but not really seen. Equipment reviews talked about how Pentax lenses looked different to Nikon, say. I d never paid attention as I never used a wide Continue reading "Casting colours"
I found something that I can use AI image generation for, and it works well for me. I still believe Cory Doctorow s opinion that incompetent business executives will use AI to replace people, without understanding what process knowledge is or its value. But, when used as a tool, AI does a job of work. What Continue reading "I kissed an AI and I liked it"
I d seen the interest when Reto first released their version of the VUWS camera, but it seemed too much to pay for a basic wideangle PaS. Then one appeared on the usual online bazaar at a why not price, so I did. The camera came in its original packaging, unopened, so I suspect it was Continue reading "Reto Ultra Wide Slim"
I tried to take pictures from a moving motorcycle recently, and made a total Horlicks of it. The plan was to get dramatic shots of mountain passes and hairpin bends. What I actually got was mostly my left arm. The occasion was a tour through the Swiss Alps and northern Italy with some chums. The Continue reading "The moving image"
I have grumbled previously about manufacturers charging rent rather than making a single sale, by locking you out of the thing you thought you d bought. There was a big wake-up call early in Russia s invasion of Ukraine when John Deere remotely disabled all the stolen tractors. That made it obvious that they could do it Continue reading "Simon seeks simple"
Camera lenses are probably better now than they have ever been. Cheap and powerful computing, plus clever manufacturering, are delivering lenses with performance and wide apertures that would previously have seemed magical. The Canon f0.95 dream lens really was an unattainable dream to most of us, but now you can buy a modern equivalent for Continue reading "Unsharp lenses"