Minolta SRT 101 Film SLR Gets Some New Toys...

I know, I know, it's not about the kit, but when I saw a 135mm prime for my new (old!) Minolta SRT 101 Film SLR come up on eBay, I just had to put a bid-nip in to see if I could get it cheap.

As usual with eBay, I had a look round and found a 55mm Cokin A Adapter, Holder and Lens Cap, so I had to have that too....

The SRT 101 uses the Rokkor MC lenses (meter coupled) - you can use others, but you won't be able to use the in-camera light meter. This is because in order to give you a correct reading the camera has to know what aperture you're using, and the MC does this with a simple mechanical connection.

As you spin the aperture ring on the lens, a lever connects to the camera and adjusts the light-meter indicator, allow you to change the shutter speed for a correct exposure.

Then lens I got is a 135mm F3.5 Prime, which means that it has a fixed focal length (135mm!), so no zoom here! I guess this gets me just under 3 times closer than my F1.4 50mm, so it should be great for trying to capture the local wildlife without getting too close. The other use for this sort of lens is portraits - by standing back and using the 135mm (on a tripod) I should be able to shoot some very nice people shots.

It has a smaller aperture than my 50mm - F3.5 vs F1.4, so I guess you'd say it was a lot "slower", but it does go all the way down to F22 - which funnily enough will be great for landscapes (even though the telephoto nature of the lens isn't) - but as long as I use a tripod and exercise some thoughtful composition, I think I can come up with some interesting shots.

The length of the lens is distorted in the above shot - it isn't that big honest! It is quite heavy though, especially when compared to my Digital Fujifilm - so I'll be shooting handheld up at least 1/150th of a second to avoid camera shake. Its going to add quite a bit of mass to my camera bag too!

How much did I pay? £6.00 plus p&p. Bargain!

I've done a little bit of research, and I now understand that my SRT 101 will accept MC and the more common MD lenses - time to search eBay for a nice wide-angle!

The beauty of the Cokin A Filter system came into play with this purchase. I've already got a Polariser, Grad, Star, Spot, and numerous coloured filters for my Fujifilm S5700 - so all I needed to do was order a 55mm thread adapter and I could use them on the Minolta.

I found the cheapest (£1.99) on eBay, and it came with a holder and lens cap too, so a must-have purchase. Just gotta find some nice landscapes now....

Pics coming soon!

Thanks, Rob.

Fill The Frame and Urban Wildlife Assignments.... My 1st Efforts!

I hadn't been out with my S5700 for a while, so I took the opportunity to grab my camera and try and find some shots for the Fill The Frame Technique Challenge (on this sites forum), and the Urban Wildlife Assignment (on the S5700 Forum).

Meet Gary Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Super Macro, Aperture Priority, F3.5, 1/8th, ISO 800, Focal Length 6mm, Hand-held

If you don't do photo assignments from forums, websites, etc, do me a favour and have a go. They'll give you an excuse just to go out and shoot, preferably some subject, style or technique you haven't tried before.

Photo assignments / challenges also give you practice with pre-visualisation. Often you'll see a challenge, then immediately have an idea for a photo pop into your head, which you can then try and create and capture, rather than randomly taking pictures on a photowalk.

This shot was a little tricky - I saw the snail on the side of our house, near some Ivy, but it was quite dark, so most of my attempts came out blurred. I ramped up my cameras ISO to 800, and braced myself against the wall to steady the cam.


The next two are from our "fill the frame" technique challenge, the idea being to practice getting closer to our subjects, as this can improve our photography, and a bad habit lots of beginners(including me) have is that they're just too far away.

Canopy Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Macro, Aperture Priority, F3.5, 1/45th, ISO 100, Focal Length 6mm, Hand-held

After the rain had stopped, I liked the look of the water glistening on the leaves on this Lilly, plus the colours looked nice and vibrant (though of course amplified in Elements!).

Just A Feather Touch Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Macro, Aperture Priority, F6.3, 1/85th, ISO 200, Focal Length 11mm, Hand-held

I took this shot all wrong. I stood close to the mine, then had to go to macro mode to get it in focus (then the ship went out of focus). What I wanted was everything sharp, so I should have moved a distance away, set up my tripod, then zoomed into the same crop. This would have allowed me to use a narrow aperture, without risk of blur, so everything would have been sharp.

In the event, I went for a Sepia look, and darkened and blurred the corners.

(I used my Cokin A Grad at an angle to stop the sky and ship blowing out).


Thanks, Rob.

Photowalk 27 - Early Morning At Fort Brockhurst

Bit late this one, these are some of the edited shots from the set I took at the same time as I use using my Minolta SRT 101 - I've gone a bit HDR / Sepia mad, but some look OK.

Reeds Mk 2 Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, Processed To HDR With 3 Images +1 ev, 0ev, -1ev, 0ev: F6.3, 1/420th, ISO 64, Focal Length 13mm, Tripod

It seems so long since I did any editing with photos from my Fujifilm S5700! I hdr'd this with Photomatix (although I didn't really need to), usual levels, then applied a b&w treatment in Photoshop.

Lillys Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 1/85th, ISO 64, Focal Length 6mm, Tripod

Went for a really small aperture (on my camera), F13.6 to maximise the depth of field across the moat. I liked the reflected Sun in the water, and the pattern of the lillies. I used Elements this time to edit and add a sepia tone.

Breakfast Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 1/85th, ISO 64, Focal Length 6mm, Handheld

The beauty of visiting wildlife areas early in the morning is that you can catch the animals eating, sleeping, and generally behaving a bit more overtly than later in the day, when dog walkers and kids have had a chance to disturb them.

Again, shot with a small aperture to maximise DOF I had to crop this one a bit to cut out the distracting trees, but I couldn't get a shot of both of the swans with their heads out of the water at the same time.

This edit (done with Elements) also sees a return of Flaming Pears Melancholytron Filter - which adds a darkening and blurring vignette. It just takes about five minutes to apply on my old PC!

Let Sleeping Ducks Lie Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, Processed To HDR With 3 Images +1 ev, 0ev, -1ev, 0ev: F6.3, 1/13th, ISO 200, Focal Length 15mm, Tripod

Another benefit for getting up early is that any waterways could be dead calm, for brilliant reflections.

This is another hdr, which again I probably could have just used the original 0ev image. I think the sepia treatment is a bit strong - this image is way too warm.

A Quick Peek Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, Processed To HDR With 3 Images +1 ev, 0ev, -1ev, 0ev: F13.6, 1/8th, ISO 64, Focal Length 15mm, Tripod

I finish off with one of my usual HDRs - sorry, I can't resist at least one...


It was great to get up early and see the nice reflections in the moat, and the wildlife so abundant, a nice little photowalk.

SCL Photography Podcast 7: Film!

You've probably guessed already, this week I'll be talking about my experience with my new Minolta Film SLR - the SRT 101.

Subscribe on Itunes. (Will open Itunes, then you need to click on the "subscribe" button.) (Free)

Subscribe with other Podcatchers. (Google Reader, etc) (For Free)

Download / listen to the mp3. (Right-click then "save target as" / "save link as".) (Did I say it was free?)

Show notes:

Featured Posts:

The Course.

My Experiences With A Film SLR...

My Minolta SRT 101.

Comparing Film With Digital.

Questions

Simone: Amod 3080 vs Qstarz BT-Q1000

Recommendations

Recommended Podcast: Pixel Perfect

Recommended Site: Your Photo Tips.

Recommended Flickr photostream: sahrizvi

Recommended Flickr Group: Minolta SRT.

Join the Flickr Group!

Technique challenges (No Time Limit)

No Sky Landscapes

Fill The Frame!

August Photo Assignment Theme:

From A Mouses Perspective!

Remember to email me your photos if you'd like to me work on them for the Photo Workbench.

To contact me, just click on the link near the top of the page under the big picture.

Thanks for listening, see you on Flickr!

Cheers, Rob.

Further Reading: Books, Magazines, Websites and Podcasts

There's loads of great resources out there to help with our photography, so I've pulled together some of my favourites from the worlds of books, magazines, websites and Podcasts.

Books
The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby. The best selling digital photography book of all time, and for good reason. Scott uses a light-hearted style to help you improve your images.

Starting with the basics - taking sharp photos - then moving on to cover topics like shooting flowers, weddings, landscapes, etc, Scott makes things simple with a "If you want a picture like this, do this" approach, rather than getting too technical with information you don't need to know, yet.

This books in a small format, almost A5, and its probably the one photography book that every now and then I'll pick up, and read through it just to refresh my knowledge on certain points. It's filled with great photo's, and recipes to achieve those Photographs.

Now with a part 2, get both and you want be sorry - Scott Kelby's "The Digital Photography Book" is a resource every beginner Photographer should have to hand.

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. To take a well exposed photograph you need to get the balance between three things right - aperture, shutter speed and ISO setting. Sounds simple, and with the Auto Exposure settings on digital cameras we can often slip into not really thinking about exposure, or the creative control we can use.

Bryan takes the reader on a wonderful photographic journey through different styles and techniques - and at the heart of this is getting the exposure right. How do you handle a sunset? Snow covered fields? Silhouettes? Back and front lighting?

Reading this book, and applying what you learn will bring you closer to your camera and how it works - recommended.

Scott Kelby's 7 Point System For Photoshop. Photoshop is a bit intimidating - what do you do first? Which controls are best to use? In this book Scott walks us through 21 lessons, showing us exactly what do and when.

Start off by downloading the full resolution images from Scott's site, then you simply sit there, book in hand, at your PC, working through the examples. Scott starts off by explaining everything, then as you work through the chapters, things start to speed up as you tackle landscapes, portraits, product shots and more.

Quite simply, this book gave me my Photoshop work-flow. I might do some things differently, but before this I was just guessing, now I think I know what I'm doing!

Your local library. Honestly, get down to your local library and have a browse through the photography and art sections. Don't worry that the photo books are mostly about film - look at the pictures, understand the techniques, and hey, it may convince you to try a film camera, but you don't have to. 90% of the techniques covered in Film Books are still applicable today - even the darkroom stuff - just apply them to Photoshop instead!

Magazines

It's easy to spend a fortune on magazines, when for the price of a couple you could get a nice book with much more information, but there is something to be said for having a monthly intake of new ideas and inspiration, here's a couple of my favourites. (Don't know if they'll be readily available outside the UK though).

Practical Photography. News, reviews, galleries, tutorials, great magazine! Leaning towards the more serious dSLR owner, nevertheless Practical Photography offers much for the compact / bridge camera user.

With more emphasis on taking photographs rather than post processing than its sister magazine Digital Photo (below), I love reading the articles from Photographers, their hints, tips and advice. Recommended.

Digital Photo. This magazine is really about Photoshop and Elements tutorials.

Every month it comes with a cd-rom packed full of video tutorials, some from the magazine, but others covering separate subjects. Don't expect detailed reviews, but there's always some nice user pics, and if you did the tutorials every month, you'd be a Photoshop expert in no time.

Websites.

Where to start? These are a few of my favourites.

The Radiant Vista. Includes The Daily Critique and The Photoshop Workbench - great for tutorials.

The Luminous Landscape. Superb site, loads of reviews, tutorials and guides.

Adobe Video Workshop. From Elements to Photoshop, excellent free video tutorials.

The Strobist. All you need to know about about flash, wireless, radio, and technique.

Martin Bailey Photography. Inspirational images and a great forum.


Yourphototips. Post after post of great advice for every level of Photographer.

Podcasts.

Listen while you shoot, for the audio Podcasts, or put the video Podcasts on while the Mrs is watching Coronation St. (Remember, you don't need an ipod to listen to / watch podcasts, download itunes for free, and watch / listen to them on your PC.)

TWIP. Great banter, reviews and tips.

Tips From The Top Floor. Chris answers listeners questions, and usually tackles a new subject every week.

The Photoshop Workbench. Learn advanced techniques in Photoshop.

The Daily Critique. Watch a master craftsman at work.

F-Stop Beyond. Interviews with interesting photographers, some you'll know, others you won't, but all fascinating.

Martin Bailey Photography. Softly spoken, superb photographer, maybe my favourite Podcast.

Photoshop Killer Tips. Short clips - starts to repeat, but I keep watching, I forget them all the time!

Photoshop User TV. Mr Kelby's TV program - a must for Photoshop fans.

Pixelperfect. Join Bert as he shares his excellent Photoshop skills.

SCL. The Subject, Composition and Light Podcast. (Ahem!)

That lot should keep you going for a while! Got any recommendations of your own? Add your comments below.

Cheers, Rob.