I was lucky to get two cameras from Su's mother, Pam, a Voightlander and a Olympus Trip 35mm that belonged to her late Husband. Recently via eBay I purchased a Kodak Box Brownie Flash II.Voightlander is reputedly the oldest names in cameras. In 1956 they sold out to Carl Ziess Foundation. In 1972 Zeiss/Voigtländer stopped producing cameras, and a year later Zeiss sold Voigtländer to Rollei. On the collapse of Rollei in 1982, Plusfoto took over the name, selling it in 1997 to Ringfoto. From 1999 until the present time (2010), Voigtländer-branded products have been manufactured and marketed by Cosina. (source Wikipedia). The one I have, I have not been able to positively identify but I think it is of the Compur folding range made in the 1930's(guess). The Kodak Box Brownie Flash II camera I have is about 1960's era and can remember my father having one. The Box Brownie cameras put photography into the hands of the people and was a simple camera that even children could operate.It was made for 70 years from 1900 and about 125 variations of the first camera. I bought mine on Ebay for about $30 and intend to use it on themed photoshoots I have in mind. The last camera is a Olympus Trip 35 and was made from 1967 to 1984 and in the 70's was made famous by David Bailey in a serious of advertisments. Over ten million were sold(source Wikipedia) so I don't consider it worth a lot but handy to have anyway. Who knows might get a roll of film and get real adventurous.
I now a owner of a light meter , I feel like a real photographer now with my Hoodman Loupe and Sekonic Light Meter . Actually I probably feel a bit geeky(you look it too I can hear you say) but since doing the nude studio course in the UK I can see the benefits of using a light meter. It is another Ebay purchase and cost (can't tell you Su might find out) but I was able to get it well under new price and is in mint condition.
I am now making my way through the manual and of course I will have to practice using it. Of course with digitial cameras there is a debate as to whether you really need a light meter. The Sekonic L308s is a versatile meter in that it is able to measure the light falling on your subject as well as measuring light from a flash.
In reading up on using a light meter I came across this very useful post, in fact the whole site has some interesting and enlightening articles. I am very happy with my purchase and no matter what side of the debate you are on I know I wont regret getting a light meter!
One of the hardest things to decide when you first get into photography is what lenses you should have in your camera bag? In most cases the lens you have that comes with your Camera is very basic. Mine came with a 18-55mm f4-5.6 I very quickly acquired a 50mm 1.8 Fixed lens (prime)most likely the best lens for the money. I then got a 70-300mm Sigma, A 55-200mm Canon and then a 17-85mm EFS Canon. I was buying up lenses like they were going out of fashion. eBay loved me and it was interesting smuggling them past an all knowing and curious wife but that is a story for another blog. I also read the reviews on DPReview but seriously they won't say don't buy you don't need it.
Now I have been doing photography for a while and attended a few courses I realise I have gone totally down the wrong track.
Firstly the 50mm f1.8 is an excellent lens in your bag...anyone like myself wanting to do Portrait work the Bokeh is exceptional and capability in low light great. Now the next two lenses worth considering are the 70-200mm f2.8 IS or 70-200mm f4 IS. For me the opportunity to hire these lenses and try them out allowed me to use them and decide what one best suited me. I can throughly recommend http://www.rentalens.com.au/ Bjarne is very knowledgeable and hires both Canon and Nikon lenses at very reasonable prices. I rented the various 70-200mm lenses until finally deciding on the 70-200mm f2.8L IS. Now I wanted image stablisation if this was not an issue for you I must admit trying out the 70-200mm f2.8 Tamron lens at a Creative Photo Workshops I am convinced that for the money it represents great value against the Canon Lenses.
Once again having the opportunity to try out the lenses allows you evaluate them and see if they suit your style and type of photography. It was through using Tamron's at CPW that my next lens a 28-75mm f2.8 was purchased. I realised I needed the fast lens but at about a third of the Canon equivilent price having not long ago shelled out $1600 for a secondhand L lens, I could not see the Manager of War and Finance letting me spend $1200 on another lens. My next lens will be a 90mm Tamron 2.8 Macro lens once again the Canon 100mm Macro 2.8 L IS is an awesome lens but is a big spend for a hobbyist. When starting out I think you need to be realistic and whilst I would like to own all Canon lenses until I can get more paying jobs I will use my third party lenses...by the way I will be offloading a few lenses on Ebay in the meantime just dont let the potential buyers read my blog. Seriously though if you are considering investing in a lens do yourself a favour hire it first. I think it is well worth the money and may prevent you spending money on what, could turn out to be, a waste of money. The other thing is Rentalens has tilt shift lenses and other speciality lenses that sometimes it may be better to hire rather than buy if you only have the occasional use. I certainly know that you don't impress anyone with a bag full of lenses..quality over quanity is my lesson here. Till next time
I was lucky to get two cameras from Su's mother, Pam, a Voightlander and a Olympus Trip 35mm that belonged to her late Husband. Recently via eBay I purchased a Kodak Box Brownie Flash II.
