Canon EOS

[Paul H]

ISO 50, or 25 even? - no visible grain whatsoever.

One thing I was thinking about the other day was infra-red film and Ilford's infra-red imitation film SFX.

You can't do stuff like that with digital, not easily anyhow.

Having said that, the number of things you can do with Photoshop is incredible and I love mucking about with my photos using it.

 

[Old Nick]

Thats right practically zero grain and real pin sharpness!

I tried mucking around with infra red film some years ago and it was an absolute nightmare - everything has to be done in pitch black darkness, loading film into the camera, taking it out again etc etc, and then getting the right filter and fiddling wit the focus (IR focusses at a different wavelength to normal film - should be a seperate calibrated mark on SLR manual lenses), and all this for some pretty poor results!

I then found that you can get infra effects on Photoshop quite easily with a combination of the right filters, and this is where digital really comes into its own - manipulation. If you have photoshop (CS2) I will try and dig out the filter settings for you if your interested and maybe have something to compare the film results to, to see which you prefer?

 

[Paul H]

I'm on Photoshop 7, I got a copy as part of my old job and it does what I need it to so I've not spent the £600 odd quid on the latest version.

 

[Old Nick]

v7 should have similar functionality to CS versions for filters, I'll have a look around my old note books and dig something out for you, are you thinking B&W or colour?

 

[Paul H]

Black and white originally but colour sounds interesting too.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

Ah the nostalgia! I used to have an OM20 which I loved. Just a point on the spec that Ron gave for an enthusiast's compact. Olympus have just released a compact 4/3 format camera with changeable lenses (Olympus EP1). Review here

They are also going to do an adaptor for all thse lovely old lenses that you've thrown out!

 

[dezza]

Yes Sean, I've seen the Olympus EP1 and personally I think it is a waste of time.

No eye level viewfinder and the price is prohibitive.

If Canon could bring out a G10 with interchangable lens and no silly time lag (0.53 secs) from pressing the shutter button to the shutter going off, they would have the perfect compact and in matt black too. The problem is with camera manufacturers and compacts is that they decorate them up with "bling" to look like something more suitable as a fashion statement or to please the Joe Soaps of this world rather than a serious creative tool!

---------- Post added at 15:10 ---------- Previous post was at 15:05 ----------

As regards Photoshop, I have Elements 5 and find it totally adequate at 50 quid.

The new Elements 6 is also good value at about the same amount of money.

---------- Post added at 15:46 ---------- Previous post was at 15:10 ----------

Oh by the way Old Nick, I spent many years of my life developing and printing my own photos. I have had thousands of photos published too, mainly in fishing and outdoors mags. I used to specialise in wild life photography, mind you I lived in the right part of the world for that.

I notice that you are a Leica user. If I had the money I would have a Leica M8 like a shot, but at 3 grand without a lens.......

Whilst I never actually owned Leica cameras, I have used a M3 and an ancient IIIG which belonged to a relation of my late wife's. I can certainly confirm that they are true photographers cameras

 

[Old Nick]

Paul (and anyone else thats interested) I have managed to dig out the way of creating infra red effect in photoshop!

1. Open the photo you want to change in photoshop.
2. Select 'Palette mixer' from the 'Create new adjustment layer' on the 'layers' palette (should be little circle at the bottom of the palette half white/half black)
3. On the channel mixer, set the monochrome box (by ticking it) its on the bottom left corner of the dialogue box.
4. set the red channel to -50
5. set the green channel to +200
6. set the blue channel to -50

And there you go instant infra red without the hassle! if you dont check the monochrome box, you get a wierd colour effect thats not infra red but still pretty smart! If this works OK on v7 let me know and I will give you the extra steps to do colour infra red (which may get a bit confusing without pictures!)

Ron, sadly I chopped my Leica M6 in to buy my digital gear, still not sure if it was a good idea or not! The M8 looks fantastic but again the price is prohibitive, and no life time guarantee as its electronic so has built in obsolescence!

I too spent the last 5 1/2 years down in your old neck of the woods and can appreciate you would certainly have had some fantastic photo opportunities, unfortunately I was in Angola where there is very little wild life now (all eaten during the 30 year civil war which has only recently ended in 2002) and whenever I pulled my camera out, the local law enforcement representatives would pop up and try to arrest us! great fun - not!

---------- Post added at 12:24 ---------- Previous post was at 11:48 ----------

Forgot to mention that theres an article on infra red digital photography in Amateur Photographer this week - more complex than the above solution but good for comparisons

 

[Paul H]

Cheers, I'm not home for a couple of days but I'll try that as soon as I am.

 

[Paul H]

That works well, cheers.

 

[Old Nick]

Rock and Roll!

Looks good

I'll give you the colour version tomorrow when I'm awake!!

 

[Old Nick]

The colour version takes up where the black and white one ended!

1. Create a copy of the background layer and drag this layer above the channel mixer layer (layer stack) in the layers pallette.
2. Change this layers blend mode from Normal to Overlay (s/b a drop down menu top left of the layers box).
3. Lower the opacity to 50%
4. Select the channel mixer layer and lower the opacity of this to 90% this brings back more of the original colours.

And hey presto instant colour infra red effect

As always experiment with the settings and %ages to see how you like each effect!

Best

Nick

 

[Paul H]

Colour, thanks again Nick, there's a whole load of stuff in thos layer options I've never looked at before - I'll have fun with those.

 

[Old Nick]

Your welcome mate

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

I've shot with Nikon kit for some time, and while I'm by no means a 'Nikon snob'. I wouldn't convert to Canon now as I could never afford to replace the various bits of kit, but If I were starting out afresh I wouldn't consider anything other than Canon kit.

I think, leaving quality of optics aside, Canon has no equal in respect of modern digi cameras.

The 'magnification factor of those cameras using the reduced sized sensor, eg my Nikon D200, is a right royal pain in the ass! There is no gain as far as I can see, other than the loss of some of the abberation at the extreme edges of cheaper quality lenses. Quite a few people are mistaken in thinking that they have gained focal length. They haven't, their camera is just recording less of the picture than one with a FFS, and that consequently results in image loss in pictures rendered the same size.

 

[Old Nick]

I've shot with Nikon kit for some time, and while I'm by no means a 'Nikon snob'. I wouldn't convert to Canon now as I could never afford to replace the various bits of kit, but If I were starting out afresh I wouldn't consider anything other than Canon kit.

I think I would agree with that statement, once you get past the initial bells and whistles functionality of each marque, and I find Canon pretty much unbeatable. With my D30 I can produce 10x8 print which most people would be hard pressed to tell betweejn it and a print from film.

Another point in Canon favour is next time you are at a major sporting event check out which cameras the pro guys are using, virtually all of them will be using EOS 1's, not because they jumped on the band wagon , but because the cameras picture quality, durability, and functionality are unsurpassed and this approach is common in the EOS range.

 

[Paul H]

I think intially, even before digital, Canon ruled the press and sporting photographers armoury - mostly due the lighter weight equipment and the amazing speed at which Canon lenses focus (belt driven rather than traditional gearing).