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f/8 and be there

“f/8 and be there” is an expression popularly used by photographers to indicate the importance of taking the opportunity for a picture rather than being too concerned about using the best technique. Often attributed to the noir-style New York City photographer Weegee, it has come to represent a philosophy in which, on occasion, action is more important than reflection.” – Quote Wikipedia

Trees on the bank, the sun coming through trees and the church in the background.

The photos in the post are not good, just snaps while walking the dog early one morning in a nearby village.

Zone focusing is something that is a bit of hit and miss for me. So I set myself a challenge this Sunday morning. I set the camera to f/11 with the depth of field scale keeping everything in focus from about 5 meters to infinity.

Cream painted house with a red roof, two small trees loosing their leaves in the foreground.

So instead of focusing I just snapped away.

Village lane with modern houses on one side. Line of trees by the road, turning orange in the autumn light.

A circuit of the village capturing the light.

Slightly blurred image of a tree. Orange and green leaves with a blue sky showing through.

Definitely something I need to practice, a bit hit and miss, but worth having a few more attempts.

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Nikon ZF Firmware 3.0

Webpage showing the Nikon Zf camera and the alternative colours its available in.

Seems all the Nikon Z series cameras with the new Exspeed 7 get an update at least once a year, and this week it was the turn of the ZF. Not only did we get the newly released silver model but new firmware too.

Nikon Zf firmware page

Great to see Nikon continue to rollout new features.

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Ricoh GR – Black & White

Street photography is often still shot in black and white. For black and white enthusiasts the thought of a dedicated black and white sensor is genuinely exciting. For most of photographers this has to now been unaffordable. There’s been a medium format digital back from PhaseOne available and Leica have a range of cameras.

Mall coffee shop with people round a table.
Leica M8 sample – Coffee shop talk

Ricoh have now announced development of a dedicated black and white Ricoh GR compact. This will please a lot of street shooters, and I may just have to have a look at the Ricoh GR again.

Ricoh GR V – Large sensor goodness in a Compact
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Hell has frozen over: A Leica M with out the ‘M’ the EV1

Leica M. The last of the rangefinders. Able to compose and see things coming into the frame, capturing that decisive moment. M stands for Messsucher, which is German for rangefinder. This has always been what has defined the Leica M cameras until today.

There are advantages to modern EVF’s, focusing modern fast glass is hard to focus, parallax issues are gone, you can see your exposure in the viewfinder, preview focus and depth of field, plus your not limited to the supported frame lines so can use wider and longer lens.

Is it an M, well it’s not a rangefinder, but is rangefinder styled and for users of M glass maybe a good option.

Lincoln high street. Old ladies with shopping bags on a wet street.
Leica M8 50mm Summilux

Check out out the reviews:

https://www.slack.co.uk/articles/elsie-the-leica-m-ev1.html

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UK On line Safety Act – Age verification data hacked

So the UK on line safety act has only been active a few months. Meant to close the door on unsuitable material but already one of the companies doing the age verification has been hacked.

As was warned now adults have had there details stollen and are now at risk of identify theft.

We are seeing vital health knowledge now blocked to minors who need it.

Its not looking good, but its looks like UK government are looking to expand and increase censorship online for the UK.

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Mixing light in the studio

Blond model wearing red baby doll, holding a lit candle. The light is low and there is a red glow in her eyes.

The whole idea with flash, especially flash in the studio it to fully control the light in the space.

That’s why most of my shots in the studio are taken at f/8 and 1/200 of a second at ISO64. This gets rid of any ambient light, just allowing the flash to light the scene.

But just occasionally you want to introduce another light source, here we have candle light and flash carefully balanced. Wide open, lowest ISO and I kept dropping the shutter speed till the candle looked right then lit the rest of the scene with flash. Tricky but easier when you tether to the computer.

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Sensor, chipset or firmware – what creates the image

Black and white image of a young blonde woman, leaning on a wall. She is wearing a white shirt and a jacket.

People concentrate on the sensor too much. Oh that’s just a Sony sensor I might as well buy a Sony camera. Sony fabs sensors for many companies often with that companies own back end electronic designs on the sensor.

Nikon for instance have often subcontracted three separate companies to manufacture their sensors, Sony and Toshiba used to get the bulk of the work.

But is it just the sensor. If you look at the results from a Hasselblad and Fuji medium format camera using supposedly the same sensor the results are very different. Each company puts their own spin on the raw data coming off the sensor and the processing chipset and firmware can make a big difference.

So while some of the underlying technology makes a difference such as BSI sensors verses none BSI sensors, ultimately the image is made of many things, and don’t forget the impact of the lens, the light and of course the photographer.