Fotocamera resistente all’acqua e agli urti

Abbiamo parlato del mp3 subacqueo, oggi parliamo della fotocamera subacquea. E’ prodotta dalla Rollei, si chiama Rollei Sportsline 90 ed è resistente all’acqua e agli urti. E fatta con una plastica dura e molto resistente a tenuta stagna che la protegge fino a 3 metri di immersione, è garantita anche contro la polvere e sabbia. La stessa plastica la protegge dagli urti e cadute fino ad un metro di altezza.

Il peso di 119 grammi e le dimensioni sono: 94 x 63 x 24,5 mm.
Ha un sensore di 9 megapixel e può riprendere anche i filmati. Funziona con 2 pile stilo. Le foto vengono archiviate sulla scheda SD.

Sarà venduta in Italia per Natale a 119 euro.

Someone asked me how I managed all the roles of film that I take with my Rolleiflex, and the answer for this summer was… I didn’t.

I was so busy running around taking more photos that I didn’t have time to deal with the negatives. So I had towers of envelopes, with negatives inside, building a little city in our spare bedroom. It was so intimidating that my solution was to keep the spare bedroom door shut, so I wouldn’t have to see all the work waiting for me.

Finally, this week was the week. Sunday night I got everything set up on our kitchen table, still no office, and Monday morning I got to work. And I worked and worked and worked… filing, scanning, filing, scanning. And now that everything is filed and scanned, the dust retouching begins.

Film is a lot of work.

But it is so worth it. I found so many treasures that I didn’t even know I had.

Digital photography is incredibly useful and I am grateful to have it. It is a great learning tool and essential for photo shoots with quick turn around times. But film inspires and excites me in a way that digital just can’t.

I wish I could post all of my new loves tonight, to prove my point that film is amazing once and for all, and because I am still not good at saving, anything. Not presents, not money, definitely not chocolate, I eat all the chocolate in my Advent calenders during the first week, and not photos that I love.

But I am going to try and be patient and create my own Rollei Advent Calender… one Rollei photo post a day… until?

Well, at least until all of this batch has been introduced to the world, and then we’ll see.

(Models: Arann Harris, my skateboarding muse of a husband, and Mia the wonder dog.)

A Rollei 35 camera my dad bought back in the early 1970’s. I love the compact size. It brings back good memories of photography as a family hobby.

Click on the audio logo to listen to this 10 minute discussion on my favorite films both black and white and color and which developer combo I use at Indian Hill Imageworks for the vast majority of my artworks.

FACT: I love lovvvveeeeeeee cameras!
Where shall I start? The camera-loving began with the awesome top of the range Canon Powershot s40 (i think) 5 MEGAPIXEL point and shoot camera. Then decided to downside to some little Pentax… to the Lomo film cameras….then my first pro-sumer camera Ricoh GX100 and in New Years earlier this year, I finally took the big plunge to get a DSLR!! W00TTT

Probably the ultimate camera that a camera collector aspires to is a Leica. I’m sure a lot of people can’t justify paying $8000 – $10 000 for an M8 or M9 Rangefinder camera, let alone about $30 000 for a Leica S2. But, the white edition M8 is to die for!! Leica actually updates their camera in really long intervals compared to all the other camera manufacturers: about 10 years on average between major upgrades.

Leica’s first digital rangefinder: Leica M8
in Limited Edition White

This is the newest release by Leica, the M9.

____
Recently, there has been a new market of cameras: Micro Four-Thirds. Think of it as kinda a transition between Pro-sumer and Digital SLRs. I love the retro design of these cameras and the picture quality is definitely on par with the some of the DSLRs out there. I suppose you can say these are more “affordable” than the Leicas above with the price at the moment between $900 – $1500.

Olympus PEN EP-1
New Micro Four-Thirds

Panasonic DMC GF-1

—–

There are also those classic cameras like the Rolleiflex Twin Lens Medium Format Camera. These were first made in 1929 and I’m sure if you watch really old black and white films, you’ll see one of these.
Rolleiflex 2.8F

Rollei have tried to follow the digital trend as well with the MiniDigi. Although it has only 3 megapixels and a 1.1 inch screen, I would get it simply because its a Rollei!

Currently, I’m on the look out for a film SLR. Can anyone point me to a decent one? I reeeally realllyyy want a Rolleiflex too!! Browsing on flickr for photos of cameras is not doing me any good.

昨日は相変わらずの休日出勤。オフィスで一人、PCに向かうもなんだか気が進まない。。
先日、友人から教えてもらって、とても気に入った写真家、Julia Baier のwebsiteを見て、モチベーションを上げる。本当に素敵な写真を撮る人！
私はこんな風に、見る側を楽しませてくれて、その時の情景を感じさせるような、空気感のある写真を見るのがとても好き。そして、どこか大好きなブレッソンの写真を見る時と似た感覚を覚えた。

最近は慣れないカメラでのトラブルが続き、先日の大阪、京都で撮影したフィルムはほとんど撮れていなかった。終いには、スプロケット解除レバーを壊してしまう始末。でも、当初は久々のヨーロッパでの撮影を計画していたので、それを考えると国内で良かった、と安心出来る。

そして、スプロケット解除レバーの問題は、昨日ついに解決した！

昨日、たまたま仕事で撮影に来ていた友人から連絡をもらい、久しぶりの再会を果たす。仕事帰りのスーツ姿はとても新鮮だった。相変わらず、お洒落で格好良く、だけど “クールで、大人しくはない” 所がいい。笑
ちなみに、彼の私のイメージは、音楽で例えるとTahiti80やBird and the Beeらしい。爽やか！

昨日はお酒も飲まずに、久々にたくさん、笑った。:)

そして、早速、機械系に強く、何でも器用にこなす彼に問題のRolleiを見てもらう。
oh lala!　やはり、やってくれました！なんと、すぐそこにあったナイフとフォークを器用に使いこなし、ものの見事に修正し、感動の一瞬！Quel homme!!!
昨日、初めて彼がシザーハンズのDeppに思えたのでした。笑

楽しい時間をありがとう！À bientôt！

Rollei Hua Hin_0001, originally uploaded by heronop.

Rolleiflex 3.5T Type 2
Tri-x 400
Hua Hin, Thailand

Photographed by kevindooley

I love her, and I love this picture of her.

Diana+ with Rollei Retro 100.

– License

Jaj. Szegény Rollei hova fajul, nem jött be neki annyira a digitális korszak, mint a Leicának, de azért próbálkozik.

Rollei régen (forrás: Wikipédia)

Rollei most

Been a while since I last posted. Been a while since i picked up the camera.

Met this young lady downtown. I liked her boots.

From the weekend while I was at Excel, I processed this image of Poplar DLR station from the RAW file, then in DxO Labs FilmPack v2, and liked the Selenium toning option, in keeping with the style of the image. I chose not to add grain, so as to maintain smooth sky and detail on the platform and tracks.

For more details, go to http://www.dxolabs.com where there’s a free trial download of the software. You may also be interested in checking out http://www.duggal.com for more information on the expert development partner that DxO chose to work with.

As usual, visit http://nickbland.zenfolio.com for a separate LX3 gallery dedicated to DxO Labs FilmPack v2 conversions, where you can see how well it works with LX3 high-res files – enjoy !

I always pictured I would be swimming in warm water… with a snorkle mask if I ever went on a honeymoon. But when we compared the costs of flying somewhere warm with driving to a free cabin in Tahoe… I traded the snorkle for my very own snowboarding boots… and it was heaven.

No computers, no cell phones, no one we knew… only snow, a cabin, a fireplace, rummikube and the two of us. It was all we needed to recharge our batteries before jumping back into life as a married couple… oh and don’t forget the putt-putt…

As promised here is a quick review of the new Kodak Ektar film in 120!

Click on image to see crop detail… full size image is 40″ x 40″, crop detail is a 4.5″ x 4.5″ section outlined in the above image as a white box. 

Technical Stuff… 

• Camera: Rollei TLR “F”
• Exposure: 1/60 at F11
• Film: Kodak Ektar 120, EI 64 (Same as my test for the 35mm version.)
• Scanned on an Imacon Scanner, dry.  I did my scan using a color setup I had created for the 35mm version of this film (scanner setting all balanced to a Macbeth Color Chart in direct sun) and found that it matched perfectly when opened in Photoshop.

 Color Chart Example. 

• Photoshop adjustments limited to levels.
• Full Size File: 600MB at 360 DPI which equals a 40″ x 40″ Print.
• Cropped area equals a 4.5″ x 4.5″ section of the full 40″ x 40″ Print.

Conclusion… as with the 35mm version of this new film from Kodak it is hard to find something not to like… it scans quite easily, has great contrast and color, very fine grain with good sharpness. Again, I feel that it performs better in contrasty light at and EI of 64 than the box speed of 100 but that is just my opinion. Link to First Ektar Article here on FR.

ONE QUESTION… did you see the bent nail in the detail crop?… WOW!

Viva la Revolution-
Stephen

It took me awhile… but I am back and so is the Rollei.

I have been completely swamped for the past three months… my brain has been divided in so many directions and I haven’t had time for anything other than work and planning for the wedding celebration Arann and I had with some of our closest friends and family over the weekend. The official/legal marriage is yet to come, but we wanted to at least celebrate with some of our dearest loved ones. We are going to legally get married in a state where everyone is allowed to marry, and now we are excited to add two more states to the list of options… Vermont and Iowa…. yay for the little states.

And now back to the celebrating with the people we love….

The weekend was so wonderful… and I did not take a single photo…. until Sunday. Then I dusted off the Rollei that has been neglected for months and started documenting the after party of the after party. And nothing says “party” like dental floss and tecate.

I was in love with the colors and the sunshine and my friends so I couldn’t help but take their photos…. again and again and again.

These beautiful people are my Montana friends. The baby, Margot, and the mom, Nici, were here just over a year ago and their portrait on the beach was one of the first portraits I did with my Rollei. It was love at first sight (of the Rollei negatives) then, and after picking up the scans from the lab this time, one year later, it is clear that the Rollei has stolen my heart yet again.

This instructive video provides a useful technique for making your very own, personalized rangefinder for the purposes of better focus accuracy with camera systems like a Rollei 35 and 35 S, Olympus XA 2, 3 and 4 as well as the LOMO LCA and Diana + camera systems… basically if you have to scale-focus your camera then this video is for you!

LINK:

Human Rangefinder Card Generator

I would again to thank Thomas Achtemichuk for making this very cool photographic tool available! 

Viva la Revolution- Stephen

Do you trust your light meter?… I don’t! Good exposure is the result of a healthy relationship between camera technology and your visual memory/ brains. In the video below I discuss other options to your in-camera meter or even a hand-held meter as a suggestion for creative growth and better photographic control.

LINKS:

Fred Parker Ultimate Exposure Computer

(Fred Parkers information on exposure is a  good read and something to spend a bit of time with.)

Rick Oleson Really Clever Pocket Exposure Calculator

Exposure Mat by Dave Harris

Andys Handy Exposure Calculator by Andrew Lawn

(In the video I call this Handy Andy’s Exposure Calculator and of course it is Andy’s Handy Exposure Calculator… sorry!) Just as a note this is my favorite Exposure Calculator from the list above.

The image to the left is Andy’s Handy Exposure Calculator with my attached Rollei 35 DOF Chart. What more could you want!?

and here is some good information on LV and EV…

What Are LV and EV by Ken Rockwell

One more Exposure Calculator…

Shoot Diana Exposure Calculator

The Shoot Diana Exposure Calculator is made specifically for the Diana+ camera by yours truly… it’s not free like the ones listed above but at only $5 it won’t break the bank either.

Happy shooting… Viva la Revolution- Stephen

Note: What was the first practical photographic light meter? The Weston Photronic Exposure Meter model 617 ca 1932/33.

Below find new artworks from my recent photographic trip to Italy. All of the images below were shot on an XA 4 using Kodak Ektar film. I am still scanning and editing my film and anticipate finishing this body of work in a month or two, at which time I will post a complete portfolio. No titles yet; just basic information with each image for identification purposes. The last image in the series however is a photograph of a finished printed artwork from this series and as such has additional information.

To view additional artworks made using this technique please view my A New Eden Artworks.

One last image made since my return and after figuring out how to do this technique on the Rollei 35… experimentation is key!

Sets of Trees, Bennington, Vermont. 2009
Copyright Stephen Schaub. 2009