Straight to the point

Pentax K-x, kit lens, slightly cropped, rotated and b/w-ed

The newest Windows

Pentax K-x, kit lens, cropped

Stairway to...

Shot with crappy mobile phone. Some post processing in LR.

I need to admit I quite like the way "bad cameras" are drawing pictures. Their flaws (blur, vignetting etc) can be a tool of visual expression - just like plasticky Holga lens.

Patterns No1

Taken with Pentax Ist DL and Pentax-M 50 1.7 at 1.7.

Shapes No1 - Full

This is as shot - focus is on this roundy thing in the foreground.
I'm actually not sure whether this version is better, or the cropped one from the previous post.

I was using Pentax M 50mm f1.7 lens. The small problem with M lenses is, that the aperture doesnt work automatically unless in manual mode (and You need to meter stepped down) - also not particularry recommended for action shots.

Shapes No1

From my todays walkaround.
Shot with Pentax IstDL and 50mm Pentax-M lens (wide open)

cropped to square and b/w-ed

Winter has come

I wasnt here for awhile. From today on this blog will be for my pics only - reviews will be continued in another one.

It was like -10 when i went outside and made this shot. I was using Energiser Lithium Ultimate for my Pentax - and it worked just fine.

Shoot with my "new" Pentax ist*DL with kit lens. Cropped to square and slightly sharpened:

Silent forest

Again, Konica Big Mini and Superia 200

This film actually CAN be useful - for b&w photos - like here :)

Main library in Vienna

Another Nikon AF600 shot - nice resolution for a small P&S camera:

I seriously think I will be switching my photo hosting to Picasa - with Google+ You have UNLIMITED photo space.

Nikon's smallest P&S - Nikon AF600

Another small P&S camera I've came across is the Nikon AF600. It's almost as small as Mju-II and definetely smaller than Big Mini.
It's got 28mm lens with 3.5 maximal aperture. I needed a little bit time to get used to that wide angle. The lens itself is very sharp (for a p&s) and doesn't have too much vignetting or distortion. Autofocus and metering wotks excellent! All the 36 pics I made are perfectly usable!

This shot has been made on Portra 160 film (slightly cropped and converted to bw):

And here's the little hero:

A beautiful view...

...to me for sure!

Made this shot with Nikon F60 and Nikkor 50 f1.8 lens - I believe it was made in Auto mode.
I used Kodak Elite Chrome 100 film and converted it to bw in pp.
The pic is slightly cropped from above, to remove distracting white part of the clothes from the frame.
I also added a bit contrast to the bush on the right hand side to balance the composition.

Pimp my ride - more on bw conversion

Here's a simple snapshot of a car parked by my house. Did it with Minolta XD7 and 35-70 lens.

The reason why it's converted to bw is, that the car on the right (background) was actually YELLOW - and was distracting the viewer from the main photo subject. There isn't much color in winter landscapes at all - that's why black & white winter pics looks so good.

Winter by night

Again - Olympus Pen D - half frame camera.
Hand held at about 1/8s
Converted to bw

WU vienna by night...

Minolta XD + Minolta 24-50 f4
Kodak elite chrome

This photo turned to be very boring in color - i simply added a bit contrast, turned to bw, and lightened a bit the wall on the right side using lr. Et voila!

Half frame, enyone? - Olympus Pen D impressions

Half frames are perfect replacement for modern digital p&s cameras. They do 72 pics on normal 36 film, which IS quite a lot!

This monday I picked from my lab film made with Olympus Pen D - I'm truly impressed with this little camera, and it became my favorite take-enywhere snapshot equipment. It is equipped with fantastic fast and sharp Zuiko 32mm f1.9 lens (a bit longer than 50mm on full frame) and have build-in selenium light meter (on my example still works pretty accurate!).

It has a central shutter and it is the quietest shutter I've ever heard! Actually when I made first photo with it, I thought it was broken - just a silent "click". It's even quieter than very silent Yashica GTN.


The camera is fully mechanical - works without ANY batteries. The only quirk I can think of here is lacking of ANY sharpening help - no through-the-lens view nor rangefinder here! You have to "evaluate" the distance on your own (It's actually easier than it sounds).

Build quality is superb - it feels rugged and heavy - despite its small dimensions. Everything works precise and smooth. Under "half frame" tag You'll find some photo examples from this camera.
I can only say: Highly Recommended!

How to properly convert color pics to bw?

I'm using Lightroom and its Grayscale Mix feature (Develop--->Grayscale). I used a color pic from my previous post. Left is converted without color adjustments, right with AUTOMATIC grayscale mix. The diffrence is massive!

Of course - You can also use manual settings to adjust the levels better to Your taste!

Some of the most important RULES OF PHOTOGRAPHY

In 1967 Edward Weston wrote:

"...few photographers ever master their medium. Instead they allow the medium to master them and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don't know what to do with it."


and:


"...the task can be made immeasurably easier by selecting the simplest possible equipment and procedures and staying with them. Learning to see in terms of the field of one lens, the scale of one film and one paper, will accomplish a good deal more than gathering a smattering of knowledge about several sets of tools."


This is a photo I made in 2005 with my first SLR camera - Nikon F60 (with some crappy plasticky zoom lens). Film: Kodak Gold 200. I decided later on to convert it to bw: