Tag: Photography

  • Shooting Analog Film in 2026

    I’ve spent the better part of the summer isolated at home due to a rather nasty virus. However, recently I have been feeling well enough to go for short walks, and on one such occasion I decided to bring along my Canon AE-1 Program — an analog film camera — with a 50mm f/1.8 FD lens. A classic combination.

    In the camera I had a roll of Fujifilm Superia 200, 24 frames, that was stored in my fridge for a few years. Could be anything from 2–6 years. I don’t remember.

    I also brought along my Canon 5D — I think it sounds better than my 5D mark II — paired with a 50mm f/1.4 EF lens. On this camera I shot both RAW and JPG, where the JPG was processed with a Kodak Portra 160 picture style in camera.

    Yes, you can install different picture styles on newer Canon cameras. And by newer I mean from late 2005, like the classic Canon 5D, but not early 2005, like the Canon 350D. More on picture styles later.

    Some of the shots I took with both cameras, and I am looking forward to compare the results. But for the most part I just used the analog camera.

    Using a analog camera, in manual mode, with manual focus, forced me to slow down. Everything had to be checked and double checked. Focus. Exposure. Framing. There is no way to check the result on a screen and try again.

    And yes, I know the AE-1 Program has a program mode — it’s in the name. But I like to shoot in manual, I do so on my digital cameras as well, except for the OM System TG7. But that’s for a different kind of shoot, where time is not on your side.

    My first DSLR

    This experience made me curious, so I charged the battery on my Canon 350D — my first DSLR — and took it for a walk as well.

    The 350D, as mentioned above, does not support picture styles. You can, however, tweak some parameters, which I did after doing some simple research. Well, used an internet search engine to be more precise.

    The shutter sound on the 350 is what I would call “light and cheerful”. It has a smaller sensor, and thus also a smaller mirror and shutter curtain. But it’s noticeable slower writing files to the CF-card than the 5D.

    I also have the 5D mark II, and for some reason this camera sounds different from the original 5D. To be honest, I’m not a fan of the shutter sound at all.

    Camera equipment

    The danger of picking up and using all my cameras is of course that I now suddenly find myself searching for more camera equipment. And that is a deep, and expensive, rabbit hole.

    So far I have looked for other Canon EOS analog cameras, because I have already invested in EF lenses, only apparently not enough, because I’ve also been searching for lenses. Especially prime lenses, like this beautiful Canon 50mm f/1.2.

    Also, after a few YouTube videos, I have searched for Leica, especially the Leica M6, which seems to be the holly grail of Leica film cameras.

    I guess it would make more sense to buy a digital Leica M, like the M9 or M10, but damn it is expensive. However, it would make me one of the cool kids. Yes, I know that the Leica M11 is the newest, but if the M9 is expensive used…

    Picture Styles

    Since you asked.

    A few years ago, I discovered a site with 158 Canon dSLR Picture styles picture profiles. Here is how to install the picture styles, or, if you prefer, a YouTube video on how to install picture styles on Canon.

    Thomas Fransson, from the YouTube video linked above, also makes his own picture styles, which you can download for free — or you can give a small donation.

    A quick note: The picture styles from Thomas is in the pf3 format, which is only supported on cameras from 2007 and onwards — like the 5D mark II, but not the 5D classic. The 5D classic support only the pf2 format. However, cameras that support pf3 also support the pf2 format.

    On the Canon 5D I have installed the following picture styles at the moment:

    • Fuji Velvia
    • Kodak Portra 160
    • BW_5

    And on the Canon 5D mark II, I have these:

    • Fulji Velvia
    • Kodachrome 25
    • BW_5

    They are all from the 158 pack I mentioned.

    Just to make it clear; the picture styles installed on the Camera only affects the JPG images. It does not affect RAW images, so if you want to actually get any effect, you have to shoot JPG (you can shot both RAW + JPG) — or apply them in post using Canons software.

    The pictures

    Well, sadly, the 1-hour photo lab seems to be out of fashion, so I just have to wait to get the pictures back. I was told it could take up to 3 weeks.

    For the digital photos; I was not that happy with them. Not from the 5D or the 350D. Which can mean only one of two things: I’m a bad photographer, or it’s the equipment. So, obviously, I’m still looking at Leica M-series online.

    I might share the images once I get them back from the lab. I still have faith in them.

    Then I will probably also show the comparison with the pictures I took with the Canon 5D from the same location and with the same settings.

  • Fixing Yongnuo RF-600TX

    A few years ago I bought two Yongnuo RF-602 RX receivers and a Yongnuo RF-600 TX transmitter for my Canon flash units. Recently they started misbehaving. Sometimes the flash didn’t fire, sometimes it fired to late. When using the test button however, the transmitter worked fine. What I noticed was that the green light on the front of the transmitter was flashing more or less continuously (when connected to a camera and the camera was on).

    The green light is supposed to light up when the shutter button is half-pressed, and I assume it sends a signal to the receivers to wake up the flash. I also suspect that this behaviour, where the green light is on for no apparent reason, is “jamming” the other signal.

    If you have this problem, the easiest way to verify is to block all the pins on the hot shoe except the one in the middle, which is transmitting the trigger signal. I used a thin piece of plastic to test this. This silenced the false signal and allowed the real trigger signal to function.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/ozadr1an/5550177399/in/photostream/
    Image by OzAdr1an on Flickr

    The more permanent solution is to open up the RF-600TX and remove the wiring to the offending pin. The unit has 3 wires. One for the trigger signal, in my case the wire in the middle, one wire for the base of the hot shoe, let us call it ground, and a third wire going to one of the other pins. This will vary depending if you have the Canon or the Nikon model.

    Figure out which wire goes to the center pin, and which goes to the ground. Cut the third wire. Or take a soldering iron and gently remove it, in case you want to reattach it. That is what I did. To figure out what’s what I used a multimeter.

    By the way, this might slow down the sync speed. But in my case it never worked with anything higher then 1/160 anyways…

    Update: I just thought about this. To wake up the flash unit(s) you can half-press the test button instead of the shutter button. Or just force the flash units from going into sleep mode.

    The image in this blog post is from OzAdr1an on Flickr and has been modified.

  • Pentax AF-330FTZ and Hanimex 325AZ Trigger Voltage

    Just a short post about camera flashes and trigger voltage.

    Canon specifies a safe trigger voltage up to 6 volts using the hotshoe on their digital cameras. If it’s higher, it might damage the camera. So I have measured the trigger voltage on two older flashes I have lying around, since I didn’t get (m)any hits searching the interewebz.

    Pentax AF-330FTZ has a trigger voltage of 3.14V
    Hanimex 325AZ has a trigger voltage of 110V

    So the Pentax AF-330FTZ should be safe. Hanimex 325 however, isn’t. What’s kind of scary is that I have used the Hanimex on several occasions on my 350D. Luckily no harm done (as far as I can tell).

    Update: Found this web page explaining some more around this issue.

    I take this to mean that all Canons DSLRs newer than the 350D, as well as all the professional models, can use flash with trigger voltages up to 250 volts in their hot-shoe. However, 6 volts is the safe limit for the D30, D60, 10D, 300D, and Canon’s digital compact cameras.

  • Hodnafjell

    Hodnafjell

    This is how Norwegian nature looks like without power lines… (actually, you can still see some to the right of the picture).

    The vignetting is because of a polarization filter. Didn’t use a leens hood on this trip.

  • Me and my Canon 5D

    I was here first

    A self portrait taken with my new (second hand) Canon 5D.

    What can I say other than ‘Wow’. This is an amazing piece of equipment, and definitely a step up from my four year old Canon 350D. Although the previous owner had it for almost 2 years (1 year and 10 months), it’s in mint condition.

    One of the ‘rules’ in photography is to invest in good optics. But now that the marked is packed with people upgrading to Canon 5D MkII, it’s the perfect time to get the hand on a used MkI for a reasonable price. In fact, for the price I paid for the 5D, I couldn’t even get a new 500D. Sure, the 500D has more mega pixel and full 1080p video. But I’m not interested in video, and the camera is to small for my hands. And that is also my biggest regret on buying the 350D in the first place, but it’s also the only one. Always buy a camera that fits your hand.