Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Netherlands Photography on Nikon

Non-Places No.6 - Utrecht, Utrecht
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This is a poem in black and white. A photo from Netherlands hope you enjoy the moment.

Non-Places No. 4 - Koeln, Nordrhein-Westfalen

This is another marvalous work from the same photographer. Enjoy.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Camera Cleaning

Camera cleaning is an important job as photography. This is all about camera cleaning techniques that can be follow within your home premise.The dust/micro-organisms settle on the camera body, on the lens, and also on the bayonet mount/lens mount. So what’s the problem, you say? Well, the combination of dust and micro-organism on the lens front and especially on the lens rear mount is the cause of the dreaded fungus. Fungus (plural, fungi) is a living organism, which eventually eats the coating on the lens. Once the lens coating is damaged, you can expect lower image quality.

1. First on the road to camera cleanliness, is keeping the insides of your camera bag clean. Regularly vacuum clean it. Don’t depend on dusting the bag as it is not possible to clean the bag that way.

2. Using a blower bulb, blow off whatever dust you notice on the exterior surfaces of your camera.

3. Then use a soft brush and brush away any dust that may not have come off with the blower. Shake the brush and put it into a clean zip-lock plastic bag (to avoid atmospheric dust settling on the brush).

4. Next, take a clean, cotton ear-bud, and gently clean the viewfinder.

5. And don’t forget to clean the LCD too. A micro-fiber cloth should do the trick. Remember, the micro-fiber cloth can be machine-washed. So keep it as clean as your camera and the lens.

6. Now remove the lens and quickly place a body cap to prevent any dust getting into the camera body. Using a soft lens cleaning tissue, or clean micro-fiber cloth, carefully wipe the lens rear mount. This is probably the most important step in cleaning the camera. Let me repeat, dust and micro-organisms residing on the lens rear mount starts the growth of fungus, hence this area needs a good cleanup. Throw away the lens cleaning tissue if used. Now carefully clean the camera body mount surface with the micro-fiber cloth. Put the micro-fiber cloth into another zip-lock plastic bag for future use.

7. Now clean the lens. Be very careful, there should be no dust on the glass surface. Put a drop or two of lens cleaning fluid on a lens cleaning tissue or micro-fiber cloth (not directly on the glass surface) and gently wipe the glass surface from center outwards. Never re-use a lens cleaning tissue.

Note:

Lens cleaning tissues are specially created for the purpose. Don’t use any tissue paper not made solely for the purpose of cleaning the lens glass.

Cleaning the Sensor

We are not referring to the in-built sensor cleaning systems found on several cameras these days. There are numerous methods for cleaning digital camera sensors. It is possible that some methods or specialized equipment needed for this purpose, may not be included in this article. The methods described here are not ‘tried-and-tested’ by the author. The article is not a ‘how-to’ guide in cleaning camera sensors. It is designed to merely give you an idea of some of the available methods.

A Misconception
When you clean the sensor, you are actually cleaning a thin glass in front of the sensor (known as Low-pass Filter or Ant-aliasing Filter), and not the sensor itself. Even then, we shall use the term ‘cleaning the sensor’ as it is easier to say it that way!

Warning:
Sensor cleaning is not rocket science; neither is it a job for a careless person. If you do it right, that’s fine. If you do it wrong, that’s super-fine (which means you will have to pay a heavy fine in terms of replacing the sensor assembly). Note clearly that neither Smart Photography nor the author would be responsible if you damage the sensor while trying to clean it. If you have butter-fingers or if your eyesight is poor or if you have trembling hands, or you are just not made of the right stuff, you might be better off getting the job done professionally.

Using a Blower:
This is the easiest and the cheapest method to keep the sensor clean. The blower you use should not have a brush attached to it. Hold the camera body with the mount

acing the ground, and pump the blower from below a couple of times to blow away fine dust that may have settled on the sensor. Be very careful that the thin end of the rubber bulb does not touch the sensor. In fact, you should not place the bulb tip inside the camera body. If you do not have the camera facing downwards, the dust that you blow will resettle on the sensor.

Efficiency of cleaning:
This method will only blow away the dust that has not ‘glued’ itself to the sensor. When the air is humid, dust can attach itself rather strongly on the sensor surface and such dust particles may not come off easily with this method. It is suggested that cleaning the sensor with the blower should be done very regularly, to avoid/reduce the chances of letting the dust being glued to the sensor. Also note that it is possible for some dust to just be blown off one area to the next, especially if you do not hold the camera body as explained.

Danger?
None, as long as you don’t poke the bulb end on the sensor.

Using a Sensor Cleaning Brush:

These are anti-static brushes, which, when passed over the sensor, touching it gently, pick up the dust due to static electricity. Such brushes are made by couple of manufacturers, each claiming their product to be superior or safer. I haven’t tried all of them and the one that I use is made by a Canadian company called Visible Dust and the product name is ‘Arctic Butterfly’. Note that you cannot use an ordinary brush. Anti-static brushes too have qualities—ensure that you use the best and not second-best.

Efficiency of cleaning:

Dust that has ‘glued’ itself will not come out.Danger? Since you are using the same brush time and again, it is possible for the brush tip to be contaminated, which in turn could smear the contamination on the sensor.

Using Sensor Swab withCleaning Fluid:
Sensor swabs are made from specially created soft fiber-less material, and are available to match the size of different sensors (APS-C or Full-frame). Here too, the swabs as well as the cleaning fluids are made by different companies.

A company by the name of Photographic Solutions, Inc., makes the sensor swabs and the cleaning fluid (Eclipse), which is considered the best. Eclipse contains Methanol, which is flammable and cannot be shipped by air. Methanol is also illegal to possess in certain countries without a license. Sensors that have a Tin Oxide coating need Eclipse E2, as Eclipse (the non E2 version) can damage the tin-oxide coating. Eclipse E2 can also not be shipped by air. The advantage of Eclipse and Eclipse E2 is that they are quick drying and leave no smear on the sensor.

Efficiency of cleaning: Excellent, if done correctly.

Danger? Photographic Solution Inc., claim that Eclipse/Eclipse E2 is guaranteed not to damage the sensor if used correctly. The further claim that their product will clean the sensor 99.999 percent of the time.

Using Wet Swab and Dry Swap Sensor Cleaners:
A company called Green Clean USA, supplies a system combining vacuum cleaning and wet cleaning. You can lift off the dust particles with the vacuum system (you need a light and a magnifying glass) and then work with the wet

and dry swabs which are designed exactly as per the size of the sensor. Efficiency of cleaning: Depends on your knowing where the dust is, so you can place the nozzle in the right place.SpeckGRABBER. This is designed to remove individual specks of dust without damaging the sensor.

Efficiency of cleaning: Works well as long as you don’t touch the tip of the grabber. If you do, chances are that you’ll see smudge marks on the sensor.

Lens Pen
After cleaning the sensor with a swab, a Lens Pen is sometimes used to lightly polish the low-pass filter. The Lens Pen is very handy and inexpensive.

Efficiency of cleaning: There is no good method of cleaning a Lens Pen. After some use, its efficiency drops.

Danger? A dirty Lens Pen can cause damage.

Canned Air
This form of sensor cleaning method could cause you a lot of mental pain. Compressed air is rarely contaminant free. Secondly, a strong blast from the air-can, can damage the sensor. Stay away from this method. (You may use canned air to clean the externals though).

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Digital Camera Snags


Few Things You Should Know About Digital Camera Snags Surfing through various expert advice sites on the Internet, we often encounter queries from heartbroken first-time camera users about seemingly complicated faults, which can be eliminated by the press of a button or a change in the settings.

Here is a list of common errors that can be eliminated without taking the equipment to the service center. So next time, before you hit the panic button, try these handy solutions.

Picture this: Your little one is running around, gleefully transmitting her nascent energy and playing with an invisible friend, proudly displaying those milk teeth. The softhearted daddy in you wakes up and, without the child noticing, you reach out for your latest acquisition—a point-and-shoot camera of a reputed brand. You carefully compose the shot and click—the camera fires a pre-flash, your daughter gets alert, turns to the camera and freezes with her eyes staring at you. Then, when the expression has vanished from her face, you see the actual flash and hear the shutter release. You feel like throwing the camera out of the window and ringing up that ‘grand old man of SP with 30-plus years of experience’ who suggested this camera. You finally take the camera to a service center. The technician simply adjusts some settings, and the camera starts functioning normally. If this sounds familiar, read on to eliminate such embarrassing moments.

THE CAMERA FIRES A PRE-FLASH BEFORE THE ACTUAL FLASH

One of my friends thought this was some advanced technology in his camera. His judgment was that the camera fires one flash and if it fails to expose the scene correctly, it follows up with a second one to compensate for this. He tried various menus and settings, but nothing helped. I took the camera from him and switched off the Red-eye Reduction feature, which was causing the camera to fire the pre-flash. In most situations, if the room is well-lit, you do not need to use Red-eye Reduction. This feature fires the pre-flash to contract the iris of the subject’s eyes so that in case there is a Red-eye, it will be very small and may not be noticed. In well-lit situations, the iris is already is in a contracted state and hence there is less chances of Red-eye.

A FLARE-LIKE LIGHT PATCH AT ONE POINT OF THE FRAME

Another friend of mine once casually said he is going to dump his camera because the sensor was damaged. On a little probing, he said there is always a patch of light tone at one point of the frame. I inspected the image, turned the camera around and found some finger prints and smears of oil on the lens. Then I took out my micro fiber cloth, cleaned the lens and handed the camera back to my friend. Needless to say, the ‘sensor flaw’ was rectified in two minutes. Typically in this case, the images will look like there is a smoke screen before it.

I HEAR THE SHUTTER SOUND MUCH AFTER THE FLASH HAS FIRED

In this case, when you press the shutter release button, the flash fires. Thinking that the shot has been taken, you withdraw the camera and then you hear the shutter release. Needless to say, the image is blurry. Next time you face this, check the flash mode. Undoubtedly, you are shooting in Slow Sync mode. Switch it to normal flash setting and you are done. Slow Sync is generally used when you are photographing a person standing in front of an illuminated background at night. In this case, the flash exposes the person correctly and the following long exposure time will help to capture the background well.

SHOT-TO-SHOT TIME IS VERY LONG

There could be a few reasons for this. If you are using a compact camera, and the fl ash is ‘On’, recharging the fl ash for the next shot could take some time. This is all the more true when trying to fill-in shadows during the daytime. It is often possible not to even realize that the fl ash is firing every time you press the shutter release button. If the fl ash is not really required, switch it off. Another reason could be a buffer having a very small capacity. If you are firing a burst, the buffer could fill up and you will have to wait till at least one image is written to the card. Fortunately for us, modern cameras have comparatively larger buffers.

IN ANTI-SHAKE MODE, IMAGES COME OUT GRAINY

The anti-shake mode in your camera could be using one of those so-called anti-shake modes like Anti-Shake DSP or ISO boosting shake reduction. What these modes do is push the ISO sensitivity of the camera to a higher value. This allows the camera to shoot at a higher shutter speed so that the camera shake is not registered in the image. As you are aware, a high ISO means more noise. Hence the images turn out noisy in this type of anti-shake modes. So, if you have a camera that employs this ISO-boosting technique for shake reduction, switch off the anti-shake mode and use a tripod to eliminate blur due to camera shake.

DARK SKINNED PEOPLE APPEAR DARKER AND FAIR SKINNED ONES APPEAR BRIGHTER IN PORTRAITS

In full-length or three-quarter portraits, this could be due to the dress that the person is wearing or the background. For example, if you are shooting the portrait of a dark skinned person wearing a light-colored dress and the white area dominates the frame and/or the background is bright, then the major part of the frame is bright. In this case, the camera will underexpose the frame. Since the frame is under exposed, the dark-skinned person will appear even darker. Similar is the case with fair-skinned people. So, if you face this situation, spot meter off the subject’s face and give a negative (-) exposure compensation for dark skinned people and positive (+) exposure compensation for fair skinned people.

COLORED LIGHTS IN A ROOM APPEAR LESS COLORFUL IN PHOTOGRAPHS

This is most probably because you are shooting with Auto White Balance setting. This setting will attempt to reduce any color cast in the room. So, if you want the ambient colors in the room to appear as you see through your eyes, switch to Daylight White Balance. This will preserve the ambient colors in the room. If you need to enhance the tones in the room, try different White Balance options.

ERRORS WITH ELECTRICAL CONTACTS

If you cannot switch on your camera even with a fully-charged battery, the cause could be as simple as dirt accumulating on the battery contacts or a more complicated one like a fault in the internal circuitry. So, before you dash off to the service center, take out the battery and clean the electrical contacts with a pencil eraser. Now insert the battery and try to switch on the camera. Similarly, your D-SLR can display an error in the viewfinder and refuse to click (the error can appear differently in different cameras like F--, Error 99, etc), take out the lens and clean the contacts with an eraser. Be very careful while cleaning the contacts on the camera body. Hold the camera with the sensor facing down while cleaning so that any eraser residue will fall outside.

MY CAMERA FELL INTO WATER, WHAT TO DO?

This is a very common question on the forums. If your camera got wet, first step is to remove the batteries. Now wipe the camera clean with an absorbent cloth. Then keep the camera in a bag of rice overnight (without the batteries). Sounds like I am out of my mind? Well, in most cases, this works. Rice is a good desiccant (means it can absorb water). Take the camera out the next day, insert the (dried) batteries and switch it on. If still the camera refuses to work properly, take it to the nearest service center. These are only a few of the day-to-day questions we encounter while dealing with camera users. Use this as a general checklist if you come across any abnormality in the images you shoot. You could come across more troubles in the camera than those listed here. Please feel free to write to us with your experiences and we will be more than happy to update our database.tom@photographyforall.ie


Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Photography free lessons / Young Photographer.

If you wish to make-money-from-photography then here is the right platform. This are simple tips for beginners. A step-by-step progress from beginning to end. For a good landscape photography these are the requirements. Photography make life to still objects. The techniques used in still life photography is easy to learn. Wedding is an important affair in ones life so wedding photography is having that much importance, these are the best tutorials for wedding photography. It is caught directly from the Nature itself without wasting time, ..............................................................That is wild-life photography ,here are a few lessons. In fact, when you start clicking birds in the wild, you remain happy with whatever you capture in your frames, that is bird-photography.

Close-up Lens

A photographer's job is a georgeous one, to get the right image at the right time is the basic principle of photography. Image magnification plays an important role in that. There are various methods to achieve image magnification. Some methods make use of macro lenses, stacked lenses, extension tubes, bellows, reversed lenses, teleconverters, or close-up lenses. Close-up lenses, also known as supplementary lenses, macro filters, or close-up filters, can be considered as ‘poor man’s macro’ lenses.

A simple close-up lens is a single glass element (a ‘positive meniscus’ lens), fatter at the center, and tapering down at the edges. If you have seen a magnifying glass, you know what we are talking about. The glass element is enclosed in a metal ring which has a thread that allows it to be attached to the front end of your taking lens. By doing so, you produce a lens combination of shorter focal length, which in turn, allow you to focus closer. Obviously, with the close-up filter attached, you cannot focus to infinity!

An added advantage of using close-up filters is that there is no loss of light, as would be the case when using extension tubes, bellows, or even macro lenses at close distances.

It is a known fact that adding any glass to a taking lens degrades the image quality, so would not the addition of the close-up filter pose a problem? The answer is ‘yes’, but if you use a good quality close-up filter, and stop down the taking lens to f/8 or narrower, you are not likely to see the degradation in the image quality.

But how does stopping down to f/8 or narrower help? When we stop down the taking lens, we are using the light rays closer to the central axis of the lens, and this reduces spherical aberrations and produces a much sharper image.

So, in theory at least, if we stop down the taking lens to its narrowest aperture, will we further gain in sharpness? The answer is ‘no’. Stopping down will definitely increase the depth of field, but at very small openings, we get ‘diffraction’ of light that can degrade the image quality. We need to choose a balance between depth of field and the onset of diffraction. Depending on the film/sensor size, this limit could vary between f/8 and f/16.

Note: The shape of the lens diaphragm affects the diffraction pattern. For critical close-up work, try to use a taking lens that has a diaphragm as close to circular as possible as the lens is closed down. (Generally, the more the number of aperture blades, the more circular the opening).
Another important consideration to improve the image quality when using a close-up filter is to use what is known as ‘achromatic doublet’. This is a two-element close-up filter which reduces chromatic aberration, and thus improves the final image quality. To the best of our knowledge, currently, only Canon makes such achromatic doublets (250D and 500D). Nikon, which used to make several achromatic doublets (3T, 4T, 5T, and 6T), have stopped doing so a couple of years ago.
Note: You can attach a close-up filter manufactured by any company on to any taking lens. The manufacturer need not be the same. The only thing to consider is the filter thread diameter – which must be the same as that of the lens to which you attach the close-up filter.

But can we attach a close-up filter on to a zoom lens? Yes you can, though it is generally not advisable due to the complex nature of zoom lenses. Doing so could reduce the image quality.

Now that we have covered the general description, let’s get a bit technical. As mentioned earlier, a supplementary lens changes the focal length of any lens with which it is used. The power of a close-up lens is given in terms of ‘diopters’ and is mentioned as +1D, +2D, +3D etc. A diopter is defined as 1000/f, where ‘f’ is the focal length of the lens in millimeters. Thus a +1diopter has a focal length of 1000/1=1000mm; +2diopter is 1000/2=500mm; +4 diopter for example has a focal length of 1000/4 or 250mm. Note however that Canon does not label its close-up lenses as diopters. With Canon, 250D and 500D represent the focal lengths of the individual close-up filters. Hence 250D would be +4 while 500D would be +2. With Nikon, 3T, and 5T, are +1.5 diopters while 4T and 6T are +2.9 diopters.

Magnification (M) = Focal length of the primary lens in mm (set to infinity) divided by the focal length of the supplementary lens in mm.
Hence, if you attach a +2D on a 50mm primary lens set to infinity, you get 50/500 or a magnification of 1/10. If you attach a +4D to the 50mm lens, the magnification will be 50/250 or 1/5. If you attach a +4D to a 300mm lens, the magnification would be 300/250 or >1 (a little over life-size). From this we can see that when the same close-up filter is attached to a lens with longer focal length, the magnification is greater. This is one of the reasons why we generally do not attach a close-up lens to a wide-angle lens.

Another important point to note is that when you attach a close-up filter, the lens-to-subject distance will depend on the power of the close-up filter, irrespective of the focal length of the original lens (assuming that the primary lens is set to infinity focus).

What the above means is that if you attach say, a +4D to a 50mm lens as well as a 200mm lens (both set to infinity focus), the lens-to-subject distance will be the same (250mm or approximately 10-inches) for both the lenses. Obviously, the 200mm lens will offer greater magnification.


Can we use more than one close-up filter at the same time?
Yes, we can. But always remember to attach the more powerful filter first. So, if we wish to use a +2 as well as +1 (to make a +3), attach the +2 first, then the +1.

Would the image quality with a close-up filter be as good as from a true macro lens? The answer would depend on the quality of the primary lens, the quality of the close-up filter, and of course, your shooting technique. If you use a good primary lens, a good close-up filter, and if your shooting technique is good, and if your image enlargement is modest, we doubt if anyone could know the difference. That is why a close-up filter is known as a ‘poor man’s macro’.
tom@photographyforall.ie