PhotographyAttic – Page 2 – Photography Gear Guides, Techniques and Tips

Camera Rifle Grips

rifle grip There’s a video doing the rounds at the moment titled Leon The Professional. It’s being shared by photographers who’re impressed by the featured photographer’s home made “shooting” accessory. The gent in question has adapted a wooden rifle stock to the bottom of his camera to create a comfortable hand holding gadget for long lens shooting …in this case bird photography.

Photographers who’ve been around before the digital age will remember this type of gadget is not new.

Back in the 70s they appeared in a kit from Russia called the PhotoSniper.

This was a Zenit camera with a chunky 300mm telephoto and a very realistic rifle grip below. Supplied in a metal box style case, at a very good bargain subsided price. But was seen as specialist gear as heavy and cumbersome for the majority of photographers.
Way before this in the 1950s-60s Novoflex had added a handle grip to the base of their long lenses in a gadget called the Pistol Grip Follow Focus. Available in 400mm, 600mm and 640mm with a 560mm joining the range in the 70s. This gadget focused the lens when the trigger was squeezed…later models had a push pull action to focus. Lots of imnformation about the Novoflex system here NOVOFLEX accessory system for Exakta Varex at Photo but More

In the 70s-80s thanks to the popularity of the SLR and rise of camera accessory brands several budget Japanese/German products appeared from the likes of Rowi, Hama and Kaiser that could be attached to the base of your 35mm SLR to convert into a rifle grip. The Kaiser Kamera – Schulterstativ 6005 Rifle Grip was one such example.

These were light weight and had a cable release attached to the trigger to make rifle shooting simple. Camera Retailers Jessops and Dixons also sold rifle triggers for under £20.

And throughout the history of the 35mm camera, manufacturers have produced trigger grips that attach to the base of the camera to provide alternative and more comfortable ways of holding and firing the shutter. These are just a simple hand grip shaped handle which are much lighter and far less bulky than the rifle grip.

Cokin filters revisited

There’s a really interesting article about photographer John Duder going back and experimenting with filters he never got around to using in the 80s over on ePHOTOzine: Experimenting With Filters From the Eighties I Have Never Used – Come Check Out The Results
Also interesting that we’ve got many of the filters he used here on PhotographyAttic. check out our Cokin A-Series section and the Cokin P-Series

Stepping Rings Guide

A stepping ring is an adaptor that screws into the front of your lens to change the filter thread size. The idea is you can make one filter fit a number of lenses with different filter thread sizes by attaching a stepping ring in between the filter and the lens.

Their are always two numbers on a stepping ring. The filter thread size of the lens, and the filter thread size of the filter. They always start with the lens filter thread size first. You use a step up ring to attach a larger filter on to a lens with a smaller filter thread size And you step down to use a smaller filter on a lens with a larger thread.

So a 49-58mm stepping ring is a step up ring and will let you screw a 58mm filter onto a lens with a 49mm thread (see pic above). While a 67-55mm stepping ring is a step down ring and will let you screw a 55mm filter onto a lens with a 67mm thread.

Generally its better to use step up filters on wide angle lenses to avoid vignetting where the smaller filter encroaches into the edges of the frame. A step down filter is better used on telephoto lenses.

Here at PhotographyAttic we have a wide range of stepping rings from a number of brands. And we’ve reduced the price so most unbranded ones are £2.00 and ones with brand name are £3.00. Buy here: Stepping Rings for sale

Extension Tubes

Extension tubes are tubes without any optical elements that you place between the camera and lens of an interchangeable lens camera. They extend the lens so it can focus closer, giving the lens macro capabilities. Some have full automatic couplings so the camera can continue to be used in all its auto and program exposure and focus modes. Some lower priced ones have no couplings, so the camera needs to be used in manual.
Tubes are often sold in sets of three. The set illustrated above has 13mm, 21mm and 31mm extensions, and these can be attached in any combination giving a total of seven different extensions:

13mm
21mm
31mm
34mm (13mm+21mm)
44mm (13mm+31mm)
52mm (21mm+31mm)
65mm (13mm+21mm+31mm)

Here a set of three tubes can be seen attached to a Nikon digital SLR camera.

This photograph of a British one pound coin was taken using a nikon camera with a 55mm lens set to infinity and an extension tube added. The smaller coin on the left is with the 13mm and the coin on the right is with the three tubes attached giving 65mm extension. The lens was at f/2.8 to show how shallow depth of field is. When using tubes you either need to use a very small aperture or shoot the subject parallel to the CCD or film plane. Here the coin was at an angle so only a shallow strip across the centre is sharp.

Advantages of using Extension Tubes
Low cost macro
No optical degradation
Compact

Disadvantages of using Extension Tubes
Limited magnification variations
Fiddly changing between magnifications
Taking lens off increases risk of dust intrusion

We have a selection of extension tubes in different camera fittings

Laowa Shift Converter Nikon AI to Sony FE

This seems like an interesting gadget to put on a Nikon SLR and convert the Laowa 12mm into a shift lens. ideal for architecture photographers.

The converter is designed exclusively for Sony FE lens mount and fits on cameras with a Nikon AI mount. It has a 1.4x magnification so the 12mm lens becomes an effective 17mm focal length and has a 1-stop aperture loss

With the 360g converter in place you get a +/- 10mm Shift

Combined cost of the 12mm and shift converter is about £1170.

You can find more info from the UK distributor here Laowa lenses

How to photograph snowflakes

An amazing selection of snowflake macro photos and a article showing how to photograph snowflakes can be found on Alexey Kljatov’s ChaoticMind blog

If you have an SLR you can reverse your lens on the body using a reverse adaptor, or reverse a lens on a lens using a coupling ring (which has filter threads on both sides), or use extension tubes, close up lenses, macro lens or bellows. We have all these available on PhotographyAttic. If you cant find what you want contact us with specific requests

Digital back for 35mm Film Cameras

The I’m Back digital back turns your 35mm film camera into a digital camera. It will work with the following cameras:

Nikon F, Nikon F2, Nikon FM, Nikon FE, Nikon S2, Canon F1, Canon A1, Canon AE1, Pentax ME super, Pentax spotomatic, Pentax K1000, Praktica b200, Praktica MTL, Contax II, Contax RTS , Contax G2, Olympus OM1, Olympus OM2, Minolta Dinaxx 7000, Olympus OM10, Yashica JP, Yashica FX3, Leica M, Leica R, Diana F, Diana F mini.

There will also be a universal accessory, that can be adjusted to almost all 35mm cameras.

It features a 16mp Panasonic sensor and has a 2in touch screen display. Photos and videos can be transmitted through the WiFi and saved in a smartphone. You can also use the smartphone display as a bigger screen and control the camera through it.

For full details check out the Kickstarter Im Back Pro project page

Many film cameras for sale here. Second-hand 35mm Cameras for sale

Measurements of a BPM Bellows Mount

The BPM bellows system around in the 70s was a versatile system with mounts to accommodate most camera and lens fittings. But it wasn’t the only one. The likes of Soligor, Hama, Russian, Kenlock and others made similar interchangeable systems, but with their own system of mounts. Im not sure which are interchangeable between bellows makers, but maybe the anatomy of a BPM mount may help you find out if the bellows you have can be used with a BPM mount.

David Noton and Joe Cornish discuss grad filters

There’s an interesting series of videos appeared that were produced by Lee Filters with conversation between the revered landscape photographers, Joe Cornish and David Noton. Epsiode 2 sees them discussing the changes digital photography has made in capturing the moment, and why they still use graduated filters. It’s not like the usual manufacturer produced media as there’s no mention of Lee filters, and well worth a view.

Here’s a list of current used graduated filters for sale on PhotographyAttic:

B+W 77mm 502 Grey Grad 25%
Cokin A 120 Gradual Grey 1
Cokin A 122 Gradual Blue 1
Cokin A 123 Gradual Blue 2
Cokin A 124 Gradual Tobacco T1
Cokin A 151 Fog 2
Cokin A 198 Gradual Sunset 2
Cokin P 120 Gradual Grey 1
Cokin P 121 Gradual Grey 2
Cokin P 122 Gradual Blue 1
Cokin P 123 Gradual Blue 2
Cokin P 124 Gradual Tobacco 1
Cokin P 125 Gradual Tobacco 2
Cokin P 198 Gradual Sunset 2
Cokin P 665 Gradual Fluo R2 red
Cromatek G210 Dark Green Graduated Filter
Cromatek G211 Light Yellow Graduated Filter
Cromatek G212 Dark Yellow Graduated Filter
Cromatek G215 Light Sepia Graduated Filter
Hitech Yellow 3 Grad 100 System 94mm
Hoyarex 527 Gradual Y2
Hoyarex 521 Gradual G2
Hoyarex 522 Gradual B2
Hoyarex 523 Gradual T2
Hoyarex 524 Gradual M2
Hoyarex 525 Gradual P2
Hoyarex 526 Gradual E2
Lee 100×150 Pop Red Grad Hard
Tiffen 77mm sunrise grad
Tiffen 77mm blue grad
Unbranded 84mm ND Grad 0.3
Unbranded 84mm Cool Blue Grad 0.3
Unbranded 75mm Square red grad
Unbranded 75mm Square Green Grad
Unbranded 75mm Square blue grad

The Selfie explosion!

Where ever you go these days you will see people in beautiful or historic locations with their cameras pointing at themselves rather than at the scene in front of them. The rise of social media is the cause. And our need to tell people where we are, what we are doing, what we are eating, in the form of a photograph – the selfie!

In the past photographers would set up their camera pointing back at themselves and activate a timer. This would give the photographer 10 or 12 seconds to go back in front and adjust his/her clothing and posture before the camera shutter triggered. Smile!

But as cameras were added to mobile phones, along came a new breed of photographers who didn’t know what a tripod was and hadn’t a clue about the self timer mode. And as the numbers grew, so did social media, and so the new photographers just turned the phone around and photographed themselves. And then phone manufacturers adapted, so the lens appeared on the front and back of the phone and the rest is history. We now have a deluge of people taking photos of themselves. And we have manufacturers and innovators scratching their heads to come up with products that satisfy this need to photograph ourselves. The most popular gadget has been the selfie stick…an extendable pole with a phone mount on one end and a hand grip on the other.

But this method, like hand holding, always means the camera is connected to the body and sometimes the results show with an awkwardly extended arm. That’s why I still prefer the older and more traditional self-timer option. And you can get an app for your phone that adds a self-timer. All you need then is a minipod to hold the phone…unless you rest it on a table or shelf. Check out the minipods and supports on Photographyattic: Tripods and other camera supports

One of the most adventurous selfie products I’ve seen is the Air Selfie…recently announced with a pre order offer price of 260 Euros.

The AirSelfie is a pocket-size camera with a turbo fan that propellers to thrust the camera up to 20 meters in the air. It connects with your smartphone so you can take 5 MP HD photos or video of you and your friends from the sky. Possibly a little crazy price for most, but no doubt we will be seeing more aerial selfies in the future…especially when the Chinese copy the idea and knock them out on ebay for 39 dollars or so.