Arran Salerno | Photography - Blog » Canon

Urban Study

admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:40:40 +0000

As part of one of the subjects in the Masters course I started at the beginning of semester, we had to document a urban social phenomenon. Here are a few photos from the set of 15. To sum it up briefly, the photographic essay was looking at the dichotomy of conformity and individualism in the Sydney CBD. Taken in context with my essay and annotations it was well received.
For the project I used the little S90 which performed quite well I thought and was a fun change from film. The b&w conversions aren’t as bad as I anticipated also but not particularly special.

Woohoo.. I think it worked

admin — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:06:59 +0000

Ok, i think i managed to get this blog transferred to another server.
Things got a bit “iffy” for a few hours there, im not a fan of going into databases and editing values, but i think its all working now. Just in time for Christmas too, arent you lucky?
Anyway, don’t have much to say besides being relieved that i got the blog transferred over and didnt loose any posts/pictures in the process (i dont think).

On another topic. Heres a picture i shot the other day. First time i’d picked up the DSLR in a while. There were some really interesting storm clouds i could see form the back of my house so thought i’d get a few photos. It looked pretty dramatic. I would of loved being in that plane

Snapshots pt3

Arran — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:24:25 +0000

Here are a few random shots from Roppongi Tower in Tokyo.

Snapshots pt2

Arran — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:47:58 +0000

Here are a few more random snapshots from Italy this time.
Wish i had more than 2 clips for drying negatives at the moment. It’ll take ages to get through my developing backlog..

Snapshots pt1

Arran — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:10:38 +0000

I’m in the process of finally creating a proper photo gallery for my website with separate albums/galleries etc. That’s where i’ll start to put proper sets up, and put some more effort into projects i’ve started but never finished. I’m playing around with a couple different types of gallery software, but im not 100% keen on any yet. If anyone has some suggestion feel free to email me or post up here, it’d be very much appreciated.

Ok, this set of shots are just randoms from my most recent trip. I’m posting them up pretty roughly for the time being and will save the proper finished products for my new gallery when it comes to life.
Here are a few from Germany and Switzerland…

Oh no, not a lens test

Arran — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:14:32 +0000

Well yes and no.
Yes i’m checking out a “new” lens i have, but no im not taking photos of brick walls and newspapers to pixel peep corner sharpness and other crap like that.
A few guys i know have started using alot of older manual focus lenses on their DSLR’s with terrific results. I’ve always been interested in doing this myself, but have never got around to it. That has now changed. Why shoot with old manual focus lenses on a DSLR? Well….

Its a way of using some of the greatest lenses ever made (ie. there a massive variety of lenses to try),
They’re generally smaller, lighter, and cheaper than modern lenses,
Many have unique characteristics and draw nicer than modern lenses,
Build quality that still shits over most modern lenses,
Trying something different for the hell of it.

As you can see, theres several good reasons to consider using older lenses.
From using film cameras recently, i’d already built up quite a selection of Zuiko lenses for my Olympus OM bodies. Luckily, Zuiko have made some of the best lenses in history ( you cant dispute that its a fact), so i got a cheap adapter off ebay to start using them on my DSLR.

I’m not going to keep rambling on, so i’ll cut to the chase.
This afternoon i attached my newest Zuiko, a humble and underrated 100mm f/2.8 that cost me $55 including postage from the U.S. The light was going down, and the wind was pretty strong, but f/2.8 is still pretty respectable even if it’s not exactly “fast”.
Here is what i came up with shooting wide open at f/2.8 at 200ISO. There is no processing whatsoever, its straight from the RAW. No sharpening, no level/colour adjustments. I’ve also included a 100% crop of the image. **click images for full size, the resized ones can look a little soft**

100% crop

Shooting with a manual focus lens on the 400D isnt the best combination you can think of. The viewfinder is pretty small, and it doesnt have a focus screen designed for manual focus lenses. You can buy them and they’re relatively cheap, but i probably wont bother unless i upgrade to full frame. I’ll definitely be using my other manual focus lenses form now on though and im looking forward to using the 100mm for some portrait work.

The golfer

Arran — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:02:38 +0000

Well now that my film scanner is dead i’ve been shooting some more digital lately.
Tonight my dad was working on his latest sculpture. It’s a commissioned work for one of Australia’s leading golf clubs. It’s quite an adventurous project actually. Golf is generally a conservative sport, especially when played on private courses which adhere to strict rules and tradition. Having a naked golfer at the entrance to you club isnt something that alot of people would be comfortable with. The club and members are making quite a bold statement and representatives from the R&A (golf’s governing body) loved the idea so much they’re footing most of the bill and are coming back over from Scotland for the unveiling which should be next year.
Anyway, i just got a couple shots of him tonight to check out the lighting conditions etc. I’ll be taking some black and white film shots at a later date.

Click the images for a larger view, especially the second. I just stitched two shots together for some fun. No real post processing done at all.

Canon P

Arran — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:36:30 +0000

I got this little beast a while ago now, but have only got a chance to make a post about it today.
The Canon P (“Populaire”) was made between 1958 and 1961. It’s one of Canon’s last screw mount rangefinders and regarded by many as one of the best looking rangefinders ever produced. All i know is that it works and feels great to use.
They’re were originally made as a base/basic model, but in reality were one of the last truly “bulletproof” cameras produced by Canon, so many are still working as well today as they were over 50 years ago.
Theres not too much to the camera. No light meter, so theres no electrical issues. No fancy features that cause problems. Just a simple, clean looking camera, that works as good as it looks with a smooth film advance, and a satisfying shutter sound. The viewfinder is quite big and very bright with nice clear framelines (maybe mine has been CLA’s recently?).
Why use a camera with no light meter and no features that make life easier? Well, its fun.
Below is a photo of mine with a Jupiter 8 attached i had lying around. The 50mm framelines are particularly well placed in the VF, so i think a 50mm lens will live on the Canon now.
I got this camera for a steal of a price, but they regularly sell for around $100-$150, and at that price i still think they’re great value. If you want a super reliable camera, stripped back on fancy features that will take some of the greatest lenses ever created (Leica Thread Mount), then i cant think of any camera more suitable than the Canon “Populaire”.

Canonet 19

Arran — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:50:16 +0000

Ok, i’ve been cutting back on my camera collecting, but this little gem was going very cheap so i had to buy it. I mean, for less than $20 you cant really go wrong.
Its a Canonet 19 from the mid to early 60′s. Sort of a beefed version of an Olympus trip bit with a faster 45mm f/1.9 lens and manual control. Oh and a funky bottom film advance lever too. I wasnt too confident on the condition as it was really cheap (they’re not worth a great amount anyway), but i was plesantly surprised when i received it today. Aperture and shutter are all working, and even auto mode seems to be going good which means the light meter is ok. Cosmetically its in top condition too. It also came with its original eveready case and yellow filter which look great. But what is even cooler is its original box. I think it looks great with the fancy “Canonet” typeface, and canon logo with colour design etc.
I have a little time off soon, so will put a roll through it and see the results. It looks as though someone changed the light seals not too long ago, so im quietly confident that it’ll work.
Heres a shot of it below. I didnt take it in my light box as i couldnt be bothered setting it up. I just put it infront of a window on white cardboard and put some white paper behind it. You obviously cant get the same lighting control you would with a proper light box, but this is a decent quick/temporary solution.

Pinhole Body Cap

Arran — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:32:46 +0000

Well last year i saw some pictures a guy took with a home made pinhole adapter for his DSLR. The results were quite interesting, and thought it’d be fun to try out. All you really need is a body cap for your camera and a piece of aluminium foil. I didn’t have a spare one at the time so never bothered with it, but last year i bought one for about $1 when i was in Japan and thought it’d be good for this project. Last week i finally got around to making the pinhole body cap and had some fun testing it out.
Here are some pictures i took around my house the day i made the pinhole cap. It was raining outside so i couldn’t get any external shots which is what i originally wanted.
I didn’t apply any post processing to these shots, besides one that i stitched together.

*This one was made from two photos stitched together.

It was all a bit of trial and error, and conditions weren’t ideal, but i think the feel of them are quite interesting, and i look forward to trying the pinhole adapter outside.
Oh here’s a picture of my homemade pinhole body cap clearly crafted to the highest quality and standards….
All you do is drill a hole in the plastic body cap (can be any size you want really). Then you get some aluminium foil, put a tiny hole in it with a pin, and stick the aluminium foil to the body cap so the pinhole is as close to the middle as possible. That’s it!