Category — Equipment

This is another classic film camera that I owned and tested. This is a 35mm rangefinder that come with a  Color Yashinon DX 45mm 1:1.7-16 lens. Trust me this lens is sharp. When I collected the scanned CD and developed negatives from the shop, I examined the negatives under a loupe. Boy, the images were sharp!

This is bigger than the Olympus 35 EC and weighs about 700g and is solidly built. I love the feel of it in my hands. This cameras can be obtained cheaply from Ebay at around US$25 or less. As with all old cameras, you will need to check the working condition and the condition of the light seals before you bid for one.

This camera uses the old mercury batteries that could not be found these days. Just roll of 4 LR44 button cells batteries and add some aluminium foil to make the contact.

Some sample photos off the camera.

Shopfront at Haiji Lane, Singapore

Shadow on a HDB block , Singapore

Well just as you has just bought your D300 and think it is the greatest camera, Nikon announced the D700.

Cutting through all the marketing talk, here are the major features of this D700 camera that matters to me (a D70 user).

1. FX - full frame! I could use my AF 20mm lens now was a wide angle lens!
2. ISO 200-6400 - useful in certain situation
3. Live mode
4. Image sensor cleaning - wow no more dust specks on photos

Price and date of availability is unknown yet.

Olympus 35 EC

Well I can said that this Olympus 35 EC camera, when compared to the plastic compact cameras, it is solidly built. I have the silver chrome one with cool black leatherette covering. There are a few unique features regarding this camera. Firstly, the film advance function. Instead of a lever, there is a thumbwheel which you roll it to advance the film. One hand operation is possible. The file is also loaded at the right hand side of the camera back. So you will wind the film from righ to left.

Secondly, there is a lever that resembles a self-timer, but it is a shutter lock. To shoot you will have to slide it down otherwise it will lock the shutter. It has a orange light on top to indicate exposure, which is the same light seen in the viewfinder. Orange light means battery is OK when you do a slight press of the shutter. If it remains on when you press the shutter further, it means the shutter speed is slow ..1/30 or more. Simple right?

There is another thumbwheel for adjusting the ASA (now known as ISO). It goes from 25 to 800. Well it hard to find ISO100 film not to mention 25. This camera has the Olympus E. Zuiko 42mm f2.8 lens.

This is a zone-focus camera and has no manual controls - shutter speed and aperture are set automatically. This means, of course, that the batteries must be installed and the meter must be functioning. The battery compartmen is also unique. It has 2 battery chambers designed to take 2 mercury batteries that are impossible to find these days. I just stack 2 LR44 batteries into one chamber and stuff the other one with a wad of aluminium foil. Viola ! It works!

Sample photo

ha… Nikon Singapore contributed to the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) by having some promotions. Let me focus on D300 as I am considering one for myself. One first look this seem to be of a good price as S$2999 has always been the Recommended Retail Price (RRP) and now we actually get a 50mmf1.8 lens frees! Of course there are some other freebies like the 4GB memory card.

Well, all I can say is that if you usually buy from the big departmental stores like COURTS, BEST DENKI, then this is a good buy. Else call those smaller photo shops and ask them for how much would a D300 body and a 50mmf1.8 lens cost if purchase separately.

This photo was taken using a 16mm fisheye lens. The fisheye lens can create an unique perspective not seen in other lens. However do not overuse it or your photos will look boring. Due to the wide angle, it is easy to include a lot of empty foreground or worse still , clutter foreground. In the photo above , some cropping is done after printing to reduce the bare foreground.

In the age of digital photography where special effects can be achieved through Photoshop, filters are not so much in use. However the following filters are good to have when doing landscape photography.

1. polariser - improves color saturation, cut off reflection, make sky to be more blue. Cut off the light by 2 stops so watch out for the shutter speed in case it get too low.
2. Grey Graduated - Mine are from the affordable Cokin P121 series. It helps to balance the big difference in the exposure required for the bright sky and the foreground. It will change the color of the sky due to the color cast but treat it as special effect.
3. Orange - for the black and white photographer to add contrast between the blue sky and white cloud.

Do you need a monopod ? I would use it for the following reasons

1. sports events where I need something to support my camera to minimizes camera shake
2. events where space is a problem for setting up a tripod
3. i need a walking stick! In fact there are some trekking poles which double up as a monopod too. For example the The Leki Sierra FotoSystem

tripod! we know we need it but we left it at home. We bring it out but never set it up to use it. 

Personally I would rate tripod as one of the most important equipment that I use and own, even more than the lens. I use it for macro photography, low light photography, portrait photography. So how do you select one?

Some of my thoughts here :

1. get a reasonable good one..avoid those that cost S$20-50.
2. get a metal one.. avoid plastic legs tripod
3. get one that the 3 legs can be open independently for better control.
4. get one that can go really low.
5. get a good ball head to go with it

Lastly, buy it, bring it out and use it!