My favourite carry everywhere camera was probably the Yashica T5 but it’s hard to imagine having a digital as good and simple to use as that. My latest substitute is the Sigma DP1. The previous, Lumix LX2, is now on ebay sold. The Sigma is fairly clunky in lots of ways and the colour is pretty weird but I’m enjoying the struggle. Above is a shot from the new camera.
Sigma DP1
Boys
The test rolls were fairly entertaining but I think I need to rebuild the body and this shot is just to show that it wasn’t a complete disaster. It’s a gxwide (I had to name it so that it could have a blog category) and will take some getting used to so I think constructing a viewfinder is probably a good idea. See the previous post for a picture of the camera.
Version One
I haven’t posted a “gear in pieces” picture for awhile so here’s the next best thing; the first version of an extremely wide angle medium format (6x12cm) camera I’m building. It’s mostly bits bought on ebay with a couple of pieces of plywood in the middle, all held together with lots of tape. It’s missing some niceties and hopefully the final version will have less tape. I’ve put a couple of test rolls through – results to follow assuming there’s something on the film.
Cyclops Again
Since my first Cyclops is currently in a thousand pieces awaiting motorisation I was tempted by a Mark I version of the same camera. I’m happy to report that the new one seems to be working pretty well (click on the thumbnail).
I should also mention that The Barbican coughed up a refund and offered complimentary tickets to a another showing of the Eggleston film mentioned in the previous post.
Pint
A new picture from my pinhole camera as posted to the World Pinhole Day web site.
DTP
Sensible types wouldn’t use an unfamiliar new camera for work so I was nearly caught out by a file corruption problem when writing raw+jpg. Fortunately, the job was in Cornwall so I had time to read the manual on the train and the corruption only affected the raw files. Also, I had enough coverage to work around it. This was taken a couple of days later by which time I’d decided I didn’t need both raw and jpg.
Other news: busy with DTP / InDesign work.
Photography and Death
I didn’t take that picture!! Have I got your attention? Wondering why I’ve posted that terrible flower picture in my blog? Well, I’m thinking about starting up an online photography magazine. You may think that’s the last thing the world needs but I’m fed up of looking at the dross but more than that, I’m fed up of looking at pictures of flowers* in photo blogs. Bad excuse? Well, to tell the truth, I bought a new camera and this was the easiest thing to try it out on (now you understand why there’s so much of it in the blogging world).
However, If I get enough good suggestions for the photo-mag I might actually do something about it.
*OK, I know it’s possible to make good pictures of flowers, it’s just that I never see them.
Another Pin
Here’s another picture from my pinhole camera. I’ll make a gallery of the new stuff here soon.
Water Carrier
For regular viewers, here is my current favourite pinhole pic from the recent batch. For non-regular viewers, sorry – you missed it – the pinhole page is here.
World Pinhole Day
Yesterday was World Pinhole Day which started disastrously when my camera broke at the end of the first roll of film. Fortunately I managed to find a shop that sold Superglue on a Sunday and the repair held so I shot another 4 or 5 rolls. I then ran into Tom who said he first recognised me by the camera I was holding. He was on his way to buy some 5×4 so I suggested he continue the madness by joining me on a wander with some members from the Topica Streetphoto list. I’m not currently subscribed to that and this picture wasn’t taken with the pinhole.




