A new Photoresk meetup group started yesterday in Cannes. This group is managed by Yasemin. Great work done! A very warm welcome to all new Happy Shuttercounts!
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Category: Photography
Tethered Shooting with Fujifilm X100, Sony NEX (NEX-5 and NEX-7) is not possible – or?
Apprently there is no way to control camera settings remotely but there are ways to release from the distance – and in case of the X100 very, very, stylish 😉
It’s great to change the perspective, mount the camera on a long window cleaning extender and show the view from above.
Three different cameras are used for this, the Nikon D600, the Sony NEX and Fujifilm X100.
NIKON D600
Even with a light lens very heavy on a 4 meter extender but it has the most options for remote control.
- Via USB and the free MAC Software Sofortbild (get the version from http://www.sofortbildapp.com/ not from the APP store for the D600)
- With Nikons Wireless Mobile Adapter WU-1B
- With another wireless remote control
Even over short distances the Nikons Wireless Mobile Adapter WU-1B gives you a lot of pain, especially in wifi dense areas like public events where everybody has the mobile phone / wifi switched on. On top, the app is, let’s say – not very sophisticated. E.g. after each start, you have to swich ‘download’ image off if you don’t want to have huge RAW files being send to your IOS device (and blocking everything…)
Back to the roots. A small battery povered, HDMI capable monitor and a remote release. Or just a remote release and many ‘blind’ shots, keeping what’s useful later.
For the Sony NEX (NEX-5 and NEX-7), the normal infra-red remote control will not work, because you will be out of the line-of-sight when you are below the camera on the pole. There is a simple solution. Just get one of the cheap second-source remote for NEX, carefully open it. Unsolder the infra-red LED and use an telephone cable as extension. You can fix it on the extender somewhere close to the camera’s IR sensor. Monitoring is optional via HDMI and an external monitor.
Fujifilm X100
The company Hama produces since decades pneumatic remote shutter release devices. They cost less than 50 € and come with two tubes, one roughly one the second nine meter long. It is so decent, no IR emission, silent and fits so nicely the X100 style
The ‘Landy’ is becoming the Photoresk photo-mobile.
However, sometimes it is necessary to use it as people mover (7 seats) but also put it quickly into some kind of camping car for one or two persons without removing the seats.
Here are a few pictures how this was done.
It takes less than five minutes to install the berth bed without any tools. Only two holes have to be drilled in the car
the berth bed
key element is the support frame. It is fixed at the p-post (the two UNF below the seat belt holder)
it remains always installed. The final version becomes some protective cover (for the metal and passengers)
the aluminium elements of the bed frame are fixed with slightly modified saddle quick locks
only two holes for the two rivets are drilled in the Landrover (cover removed).
This small bracket keeps the back side of the right frame from moving
this installation is 70 cm wide but this is just depending on the width of the back-bracket.
Henri Cartier Bresson Exposition in the wonderful Abbey of Stavelot, one of the oldest in Belgium (founded around 650) located in the beautiful area in the south-east of Belgium. It will be an one day excursion.
Stavelot
salad
yummy, pizza
detour on the way back
and even longer detour… 😉
to Namur
Sunday trip to the flee marked in Waterloo and the old Abbey Villers-la-Ville
The web-site says:
“the Balloon’s Day Parade will invade the streets of Brussels to the sound of its accompanying brass bands. Escorted by the Police parade and folklore groups, the route of the Balloon’s Parade will once again set off from the Comics Festival and end up at the Place De Brouckère. Come and discover the new parade balloon while it’s being inflated at the Place des Palais!”
If you are starting with macro photography, you may start looking for the right equipment. Maybe you have a point-and-shoot camera or any other camera with an build in fixed lens, then you probably have an macro mode of the camera.
For cameras with interchangeable lenses, like Nikon, Canon or Sony you can buy very nice macro lenses for $$$ or just an set of extensions tubes for $ (starting at 5-10 $ / EUR in some China shops).
Of course, you will need other things too. An good tripod is important. Maybe some remote shutter release is also nice to have. This article leaves all this out and concentrates on the extension rings.
The floral pictures below were taken form a distance of approx one meter with extension rings and an 200mm telephoto-lens.
But – one after the other.
I have purchased a set of extension tubes for Nikon bayonet in China. Delivery took about 10 days. The price was around 8 US $, it passed through customs without problems.
I have ordered the simplest rings / tubes. They are mechanical, they do not transmit focus or aperture information to the camera. You have to set this manually. This is not a problem, you don’t really need auto-focus in macro mode.
the tubes have no glass elements.
they have different length – by combining them you get different macro / magnification levels.
for this demonstration, I have used the Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8d
this is the set-up without extension tubes
and this the resulting picture
now using different tube combinations
don’t forget – aperture and focus can only be set manually now (check your lens)
you will get much closer to the object
getting more details
even closer
getting even more details.
Try different non-macro lenses and ring combinations. Below are some examples of what is possible
Instead of extension tubes, you may also use bellows which give a bit more flexibility but you may need to modify them to adopt to your camera
Prime-Lens for the mirrorless
The new mirrorless system cameras can deliver outstanding quality. However, sometimes it lacks of interesting lenses. If you don’t need autofocus and you can live perfectly with aperture priority – just adopt your good old stuff (or find something used).
Adapter are available on a variety of lens / camera combinations like M42 to Sony E-mount, to Fujifilm X1 Pro, or Micro Four Thirds. The same for Pentax K or Nikon lenses.
Those are simple mechanical adapter, no lens needed and you will be able to focus to infinite (the same does not work to some other cameras like adopting M42 lenses to Nikon requires a lens or you lose the focus to infinite)
These adapters are cheap, price range is roughly from 5 to 50 €/$)
NEX-7 with 70’th ASAHI Super Takumar 1:1.8/55
Categories
From above – von oben
Since a while I am doing aerial photography.
On the flying platform, I use mostly an modified Canon S90 to take picture up to altitudes of around 100 Meter. The Camera is stabilized and shutter release, tilt and pan can remotely controlled. The ‘camera view’ is downstreamed via an 5 GHz video link and displayed on a battery powered control monitor.
Video / HDMI control monitor.
However, sometimes it is not necessary to get as high as 100 Meter. A few meter are sometimes sufficient to overlook a crowd or a wedding audience.
But for those occasions, I prefer to use the DSLR. With an monopod to hold the camera up and to release the shutter with the remote-control wireless or per wire works quite well in many situations. Except, that it is ‘guess-work’ if you don’t want to mess around with the control monitor and the cables. And you can’t control more tan the shutter release.
There are also nice options for tethered shooting with the NIKON DSLRs. Sofortbild is a very nice – and free – application if you have an MAC. It controls the camera via the USB port. However, you need an laptop to use the software, there is no iPad or iPhone version available. Another thing to carry and to handle. Not suitable at all occasions.
Since a while, Nikon has wireless adapters for the DSLRs but they are very expensive.
Recently Nikon released the WU-1b which can provide a cheap (50€) solution for remote shooting. It connects to the USB port of the camera.
It is a small dongle.
It provides wireless-hotspot like functionality. After installing the App to you Apple or Android smart device, connect to the wifi hotspot.
You will be able to see the live view picture, set the focus point and release the shutter and – optionally download the pictures directly to your smart device (I don’t recommend this – time consuming).
You also may use a pan – tilt head to control the direction in which you camera points. Cool for concerts or sports events. You can place the camera before the event and control it remotely.
DON’T FORGET TO SECURE THE NETWORK 😉
History and Carnival: Photoresk – the Brussels Photography going Tournay
Tournay, the 2nd oldest Town of Belgium (after Tongeren). The picturesque medieval city center. The beautiful market place, the the river Escaut (“Schelde” in Dutch), some UNESCO world heritage sites and –
Carnival? Yes, Carnival!
When nearly everywhere in the rest of the world the carnival season is over, the inner part of Tournai is closed for traffic to celebrate carnival. Probably a good idea to wait ’till spring and definitely something not to miss while in Belgium. Details about the carnival in Tournai can be found here (in french) http://www.carnavaldetournai.be/
There was an parade starting at 14:30 at four different places heading towards the centre. This was be a fantastic opportunity to take great picture of Belgium habits 😉 and the city.
We took the train from Brussels central at noon and returned to Brussels at around 20:00. Trains Brussels – Tournai are ever hour.
Easy by train – Brussels, Turnay every hour, one hour ride
Gare Tournai
guarding the monument
green meets techno
Die Schlümpfe
girls dancing everywhere
this Pharaoh in the confetti rain
carnival doggie
what’s standard in Brussels can be considered as costume in Tournai
every car has powerful confetti cannons
three super nanni’s
South wallonian shoe design
colours, colours
better more
is this “serious picture taking”?
oh, sorry, my French is not perfect… 😉
a Viking
another one
and the female too
overload?
overload!
to keep warm…
the the river Escaut (“Schelde” in Dutch)
seen before?
peace!
remember those Bunnies?
thank you!
lovely music everywhere
again – thank you for the pose!
and you too!
mysterious ballony
getting colder
drink and drive!
yes, it’s a whoopy
up, up in the sky
later – they will burn
he is doing it now already
the parade continues
reaching the centre
the beer for 1,50 EUR
carnival can be a serious business
now – burn, burn, burn
wet…
artistis
now it’s burning
uuuuhhhhhh
slowly
you could feel the heat even from the distance
ok, back home to Brussels…. and plan the next Photoresk meet-up
If you want to learn more about Photoresk – Brussels Photography, check out this site:Â http://www.meetup.com/Photoresk/