A blog on gardening, life by the sea, photography and wildlife

Friday 11 January 2013

My photography from film to digital

Thinking back to the way we take photographs today with smart phones and digital cameras of all kinds I thought about the three advancements in  technology that had the most importance to me over my fifty years plus taking pictures.

Bronica S2a  my first medium format 120 roll film SLR camera, no autofocus or light meter and no batteries all metal built like a tank and very heavy, spare backs meant you could pre load film, one turn of the crank handle cocked the shutter and advanced the film one frame of twelve exposures.


I acquired at the same time a bargain used Leitz enlarger Rolls Royce quality and expensive when new.


This enabled me to set up a darkroom in the spare bedroom and develop and print black and white photographs such as the two below, I also experimented with dodging and burning when printing, very rewarding under the red safe light to watch prints slowly appear in the developer before fixing rinsing and drying.


                 My then teenage daughter and cavalier king Charles spaniel in the garden of our house



               Folkstone harbour with the Grand Burstin hotel shaped like a boat in the background







                                                     Sparrowhawk 200mm VR lens




7 comments:

  1. Was it you who took the picture of the Hawk, David?

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  2. Yes Mark several photos last year, he`s still in residence you will be pleased to know grabbed a blackbird again this week in our garden

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  3. It's so easy to take for granted how technology has moved on both in cameras and producing the pictures. I am much more experimental when it is so easy to use a computer to produce pictures. The photo of the sparrowhawk is fantastic.

    We are having problems at the moment trying to get rid of what appears to be a mark on the lens (you can see it on the top of some of my photos), do you have any tips of what we could do?

    Sarahx

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    1. Hi Sarah if you cannot see any marks on the lens itself then looking at the photos I would say if it is a digital SLR with inter-changeable lenses it`s almost certainly dust on the camera sensor a common problem, dust between the lens elements shouldn`t show on the pictures if it is a finger mark on the lens (front or rear) use a cleaner or cloth no stronger than you would on your own spectacles. David

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  4. Hello David I've been reading your posts, and enjoying the pictures, but I've not commented recently as invariably I try to and encounter problems doing so. Perhaps it was just me trying to do so in the evening when I'm tried and bleary eyed. Cheers Flighty.

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  5. That should read tired, not tried, by the way! Flighty.

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  6. Hi Mike other people have said they have problems leaving comments as well

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