Issue 8 2015 preview

50 Lux Conversations

_______________________________ Cyndi Briggs Shae Rooke Emma Rose

Features

_______________________________ Photography from WW1 Buying a printer for the classroom Buying a Used Digital Camera Mamiya C330f

Issue #8 | February 2015

Call for Content

Have you enjoyed reading this and previous issues of 50 Lux magazine?

Then read on....

We are seeking feature articles, study-guides, essays, and practical classroom / workshop materials from practicing and former professional photographers, Arts and Media teachers, and feature writers. You must have a background in professional imaging, photography, and video production.

Your writing must be of a professional standard suitable for students, teachers, and other photographic educators.

We are also seeking high quality photographs and photographic media from students, and emerging professionals. This usually takes the form of 1-3 images from secondary students and a folio of 10 plus images from tertiary students and graduates. If we are interested in your work we may arrange a feature interview.

We regularly feature current working commercial and artistic photographers, and photojournalists. We can accommodate suitable work from video and hybrid artists.

Photography covers a wide range of topics and 50 Lux has so far covered, buying film and digital SLR cameras, setting up a darkroom, processing film, and printing negatives. We also cover photography related events, gallery exhibitions, and have preservation and display features ready for publication.

With the introduction of the National Arts Curriculum from years F to 10, we are particularly interested in Lesson Plan’s and Unit’s of work aimed at younger primary and middle years photography students.

We are also interested in submissions for feature articles for tertiary students that include the setting up and running of a photographic business, selfmarketing and promotion, and developing an on-line presence.

If you have suggestions for other photography related topics please contact us with a sample or links to your writing.

Interested? The first thing to do is read our style guide and terms and conditions. Remember we are a not for profit organisation. Images must be 300DPI TIFF, PNG, or PSD (flattened) and be at least 5-10 megabytes. Very large JPEGs maybe considered, but tend to pixelate on newer high resoultion screens. Please do not watermark your images. Written submissions must be 1500, 2000, or 2500 words in length and be submitted in .DOCX, .DOC, .TXT, or Pages format. The submission deadline for issue 10 is Friday 20 February 2015.

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Contact us: editor@50lux.org 2

Issue #8 | February 2015

Welcome

Welcome to Issue 8.

This is our first issue for the 2015. We are starting off with two recent graduates from the Photography Studies College who caught our eye at the recent Fresh 14 exhibition. Cyndi Briggs has a background in making wedding dresses, but a wish for something new brought her to photography. The work she sent us for this issue reflects some of the imagination that can go into making wedding dresses. Emma Rose sees herself as crossing the boundaries between fine-art and photojournalism. We were particularly stuck by her stark view of isolated people in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct. This area was once railway goods yards and has been transformed into a major extension of the CBD. While some of the architecture impresses, the area lacks soft human elements. Emma’s images encapsulate this feeling of isolation perfectly.

We also feature visual artist Shae Rooke. Shae is a graduate of R.M.I.T. Her work encompasses many aspects of the modern art world, but we discovered Shae through her use of photography. Shae’s images are ‘found’. They are things that you walk past everyday, but fail to notice.

Issue #8 | February 2015 50 Lux Magazine PO Box 319 Croydon Victoria Australia 3136 Published by: Andrew Renaut editor@50lux.org To advertise contact: sales@50lux.org Web site and layout: Andrew Renaut Graphic Elements: Meg Armstrong Animation: Victoria Gridley Marketing: Meg Sceri

We have three more graduates lined up for next issue.

2014 marked the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. In the coming months Australia will commemorate the unsuccessful battle for the Gallipoli Peninsula. We thought it would be worth looking at the photographic resources that are available to help students study the War from an Australian perspective. There is also a dedicated Study Guide available for download.

Unfortunately the photographic equipment industry seems to be in something of a pothole at the moment. There was little to excite us in terms of equipment during 2014, and the march of ever better smart phones continues. The industry is mature and while we can no-longer expect huge leaps, there is certainly room for innovation.

So lets hope that 2015 brings us some goodies. We review selected equipment on the website under the News section.

If you have reached this far, thank you for buying the magazine. It takes a long time to put it all together, and we have decided that we need to charge a small amount for it to at least cover our costs. We hope you will stay with us into the future.

Notice To Readers and Advertisers: The publishers of 50 Lux Magazine take every care in the production of each issue of this publication but we are not liable for any editorial error, omission, mistake or typographical error. In the case of advertising material supplied, we as the publishers, make no representation and provide no warranty as to the accuracy of descriptions or offers within said advertising.

As publishers we accept no liability for any loss, which any person may incur while relying on the accuracy or description of any statement, image or photograph herein. The views expressed by all contributors are not necessarily those of the publisher.

50 Lux Magazine reserves the right to decline any advertising for any reason.

Copyright 50 Lux Magazine 2013: ALL of the content published in this magazine is subject to copyright held either by the publisher in the whole or in part by the contributing photographers, their agents, or estates.

Any infringement may incur legal action. No part of this magazine may be used in part or in full in any way without the express written permission of the publisher.

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Issue #8 | February 2015

version of 50 Lux Magazine. be purchased here. x.org

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Contents

6

Welcome

3

Cyndi Briggs

6

Shae Rooke

30

Emma Rose

50

Photography during WW1

82

Buying a printer

90

Buying used digital cameras

96

Review - Manyia C330

100

Parting Shots

104

Issue #8 | February 2015

Featuring Cyndi Briggs Cyndi won her first photographic award in Grade 3, the prize was a Polaroid camera. A SLR camera was a gift at age 16, but wasn’t until her wedding dress business became a grind, rather than artistically stimulating, that she decided to put a hobby back in her life. Cyndi’s three years at PSC have resulted in a number of prestigious awards, and an exhibition in mid 2015.

Shae Rooke Shae’s discovery of photography came midway through her ceramic’s course at R.M.I.T University. She says that she was finding the ceramics process to slow. Recording her ceramics with photography was a part of the process, and she found the immediacy of photography appealing. Currently Shae is resident at the River Studios, a studio managed by the City of Melbourne’s Creative Spaces program. Her photography has expanded to include video installations.

Emma Rose Emma has also recently completed the PSC course. Following the completion of her degree in Journalism and Film at Western Australia’s Notre Dame University, Emma moved to Melbourne to soak up the thriving arts culture. She discovered PSC, and has been exploring the human condition through a series of images centring around Melbourne’s newly developed Docklands district.

Cover

Cyndi Briggs: from the series Circus Tragique.

(The image features Cyndi’s dedicated husband.)

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In Conversation With...

Cyndi Briggs

Cyndi Briggs has a had a long association with creative endeavours. In the days when having a degree was not the minimum requirement for most jobs, Cyndi studied Art and Design at TAFE rather than doing a straight Year 12 course. An unsatisfying stint in a corporate environment led to work making wedding dresses, then her own wedding dress business.

Three years ago, after feeling burnt out making dresses, Cyndi climbed the stairs of the Photography Studies College in Melbourne. What started out as a new hobby is now leading to gallery exhibitions.

Welcome to 50 Lux Magazine. Tell us a little bit about your background.

I’ve always been creative. For Year 12, I went to Footscray TAFE and did Art and Design instead of VCE, and when I was very young I used to draw all over the bedroom walls.

My high school art teacher was a really big influence.

I would love to get in contact with her and tell her what I’ve ended up doing. I’d sometimes skip the science classes that were a bit stomach churning and go back to the art class room and hang out there, so art was always a big subject for me when I was younger. After the Footscray Art and Design course, I went off to the corporate world and did office jobs, but I wasn’t very good at them so I eventually ended up gravitating back into the creative field again.

I’ve just come from a stint making handmade wedding dresses for the past decade and a half. I had my own business, won awards and had my gowns appear on a number of magazine covers. I just stumbled into the dressmaking, it was something that I was naturally able to do. I remember somebody trying to give me a lesson on how to sew and I could already just do it, and that skill expanded into creating wedding dresses. I got a job with a bridal designer, but I was already making dresses by then and ended up with my own business.

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Image copyright: Cyndi Briggs.

Butterflies Are Free

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I remember having cameras even when I was a child. My mum reminded me that in Grade 3 I won third prize and a Polaroid camera for a photographic competition. I was also given an SLR as a gift when I was 16. I used that during my time at Footscray, but I dare say that it probably never came off the Auto setting. I’ve always loved making things and tinkering and that’s now come through in my photography to the point that rather than take a photograph, I’ll make one. So I’ve always had a creative background, it’s just continued through.

Were there any photographers in your family?

No, I don’t come from a long line of creatives, but my grandmother was a dressmaker, so I think I gained that natural talent from her. I overtook her in many respects though, she never did anything as detailed or time consuming as the wedding dresses I made.

My husband is very creative, and our daughter is turning out that way too, but no one else specifically concentrates on photography.

So what sparked the desire to go to into photography?

I was burnt out of the business. I had got to the point where I was making the wedding dresses from home and realised that I hadn’t had any sort of hobby for a few years. I used to do ballroom dancing, African drumming, things like that. I felt too boxed in, I needed to get out of the house and exercise my brain. I’d been driving past PSC for a few years and I’d known a few people in the past who had studied there. Each time I saw it I was drooling over the place thinking that one-day I might get there.

Had you ever stopped and walked up the steps at all?

No not until the day that I turned up to enrol. I’d always just driven past. I still remember the day that I went to enrol though. I stopped at the front door, put my hand on the door handle and thought “I’m finally here”. It had been a little while coming and as soon as I walked in the door I felt comfortable with the place. You could tell it was going to be a warm friendly place where it is just like a bunch of friends hanging out. Even with the teachers; the classroom was a bunch of friends and the teachers were our mates as well.

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Image copyright: Cyndi Briggs.

A Bunch of Cakes

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In Conversation With...

Shae Rooke

Shae Rooke began her creative life working with ceramics. However, she discovered an affinity with photography whilst documenting her work. By the final year of her studies at R.M.I.T. University she was working exclusively in photography.

Today Shae works in various muli-media forms from straight photography to video instalations. Her recent intallation at Testing Grounds was both projected onto an ajoining building wall and run as a contious loop within a converted shipping container. Shae’s photographic images are not always what they seem.

For this interview I visited Shae at her space in River Studios, a studio managed by the City of Melbourne’s Creative Spaces program.

Welcome to 50 Lux Magazine. Did you do any photography at school at all?

No I never really did any photography until I was at Uni. I had a couple of disposable cameras when I was a kid, but I’d usually just give them to my friends and they would be the ones taking the photos for me. I wasn’t really attracted to it as a medium back then. I didn’t really like taking photos of people.

I did my undergraduate degree in ceramics at R.M.I.T. here in Melbourne. I really loved that course. I was given a scholarship to buy some equipment. A friend of mine helped me buy a Digital SLR so that I could document my ceramics and sculptural work.

The images were to be for funding applications and documentation of my work, and posterity. Once I had the camera I took a couple of electives in photography. From there I got more and more into it. By my final year a lot of my work was actually photography.

Part of the move to photography was because as much as I love ceramics, it is painstakingly slow to

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Falling Image copyright: Shae Rooke

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work with. I terms of doing functional ware I really liked that process, but for work were you want to explore your ideas I just couldn’t do it fast enough. I really enjoyed the immediacy of the camera. There is the process that comes after, but being able to capture as you walk around interests me. A lot of my photography is walking around, an afternoon of taking photographs. The subject matter tends to be quite spontaneous.

I did my third year of university on exchange to Amsterdam. The travelling allowed me to get more into photography. We did an artist residency in China and we had to cast things out of porcelain. I decided to cast a set of cameras out of porcelain. A meeting of new and old technology. I exhibited them and then placed them around Amsterdam. I was leaving and couldn’t bring them back to Australia so I documented them and that became an early photographic project.

When I got back to Australia I realised that I had only just begun to figure out what I was doing as an artist.

I was recommended for entry to the Master of Fine Arts at R.M.I.T. I showed them my folio of ceramics, photography, and ephemeral artworks. They liked what I had been doing, and thought I would be a good fit as the course was all about experimenting.

So I did that for two years and consolidated my art work.

When you were in secondary school did you do art in senior years?

I went to a country high school and we didn’t have much of an arts program really. I didn’t do art in my senior years, I did do art in my earlier years though.

In terms of photography we had a darkroom but you had to make an appointment to go and use it. So unless you already had some skills in photography there wasn’t much point making an appointment.

There wasn’t any tuition offered, so it would have been a matter of what do I do now I’m in here!

So there weren’t any supportive teachers, or didn’t it interest you at the time? Are there people in your family that have an artistic background?

Photography just wasn’t part of the curriculum at the time, we had some good teachers but like a lot of rural schools the arts facilities and funding just weren’t there. I also wasn’t the best student, my mind wasn’t really in the classroom. My family is quite creative which was an early influence. My mum is a very skilled drawer, and does textiles. Both of my parents 14

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Clouds Image copyright: Shae Rooke.

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In Conversation With...

Emma Rose

Emma came to Melbourne following her graduation from the Journalism and Film degree at Notre Dame University in Perth. After some time soaking up the artistic atmosphere of Melbourne she discovered the Photography Studies College.

The images presented here reflect Emma’s view of the human condition through vantage points in Melbourne’s Docklands district, an area of Melbourne’s CBD that despite a growing number of permanent residents and a large population of office workers, has struggled to gain a human scale and warmth.

Emma has recently completed the Diploma course and intends to build further on this base by completing the newly accredited Bachelor course at PSC.

What led you to become interested in photography? me that I had some early signs of talent. I discovered that I had an eye for photography. That’s something I It was my first class in film photography, in Year 10 don’t think you can manufacture. I think you need to back in Perth. I had a great photography teacher and have some sort of sense of how to compose things. we were doing darkroom techniques. I was getting You can learn technique, but you need to be able to really immersed in various processes such as bas- instinctively compose things. relief and altering the negatives. It’s funny because my current work has very little post-production. In Year 8 and 9 I did some art units. We did a range I adored playing with those techniques in the of mixed media. Lots of sketching and painting, and darkroom. It was definitely that and living in Western a bit of woodwork and metalwork. I really enjoyed Australia which is such a picturesque place, especially metalwork, but I wasn’t very good at the other units. if you travel a bit. I started off with landscapes and Were there any family members that had a that has evolved into a passion for urbanscapes. connection with photography?

I got to use my first film SLR then, and I’ve always had a passion for cinema and cinematography. I can Not my immediate family, but if you look at my remember having a strong interest in cinema from extended family there is a big connection to the arts. the age of about ten. Photography itself came a bit My grandmother was a dance teacher, my grandfather was a musician, my uncle was a photographer and later. now a landscape designer, and my other uncle was a graffiti artist. There is a lot of art running through Was photography a standalone subject?

Mum’s side of the family. Even my aunty has dabbled Yes, but it wasn’t offered as a TEE subject (the in pastry making and ran a Plaster PlayTime business equivalent of Victoria’s VCE). It was a separate for a number of years. They’re all right-brainers on subject that I took until Year 11. Although I dedicated that side of the family. a lot of time to photography in Year 10 and 11, the requirements of Year 12 curtailed that. I actually took out the photography award in my Year 11 year group, so that was a good motivator and indicated to

Docklands Detached - 2013. Copyright: Emma Rose 16

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Did you do any drawing or other arts when you were young?

That’s an interesting question. I think a lot of artists are very dexterous. For me, photography is my creative outlet. It’s a way I can get my inner creativity out on to paper, I guess, in the end. I wasn’t particularly dexterous when I was young. I remember in high school taking a pottery class and my work imploding. I deconstructed everything.

And it was not intentional. So I’ve never been that great at painting or drawing or anything like that.

Photography has become my creative outlet. I considered applying for an arts-based – as opposed to engineering-based – architecture course at one stage, but at the end of the day I’d be useless at the sketches and renders.

Where did you head after Year 12?

I went to Notre Dame University to study journalism and film. The film side of it was more cinema studies, screen writing and film theory, rather than practical production work. However, the journalism was broadcast based, radio and television, with some print journalism too. I’d say there is a certain element of documentary running through my work. What sets it apart is that I often tell stories through my own eyes, rather than putting others’ shoes on.

When I finished the course, I had a burning desire to get to Melbourne. I first holidayed here about seven years before I moved here. I just loved the place from day dot and could see myself living here. So 18 months after graduating, as my first move out of home, I shifted here solo when I was 21.

Were you chasing someone?

No, to be honest, I think it’s to do with the same trait that informs my work. I’ve always been an independent nugget. There’s a huge sense of isolation – whether it’s intentional or not – in my lifestyle. All of my family is back in Perth. I’ve developed some friendships here, but some of my strongest friendships are still back there. So I guess I’ve always lived a solo lifestyle, and that extends over into my work. I wonder whether they are selfportraits. I think a lot of photographers take selfportraits whether they are aware of it or not. I’ve always been photographing my backyard in one way or another, whether it is my immediate backyard or the spaces I’m observing.

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Parklife. Copyright: Emma Rose 50 Lux | 50lux.org 19

Images of War

The role of photography in the Great War.

In many ways wars are perhaps the most problematic of all things to photograph. Most of the readers of this magazine will be from countries and a generation that have thankfully avoided direct involvement in conflicts on their own soil for many decades. The ending of conscription in Australia in the early 1970s meant that people of my generation and younger even avoided any form of National Service.

Of course 100 years ago things were very different. Having federated in 1901, Australia was no-longer a set of British colonies, yet a high percentage of our young men and women were voluntarily heading to a conflict on the other side of the world as members of the AIF. The men as solders, the women as nurses. It was a war that they probably didn’t fully understand, but joined because of the strong sense of loyalty to Australia and the British Empire. Few would have understood the horror that was to await them.

The following essay outlines some of the photographic resources available to those studying the Great War. Photography was already a mature medium, and there is a remarkable number of images that have survived.

Some of the issues photographers faced remain familiar today. Issues of access, censorship, truth, and the direct dangers photographers faced.

A studyguide on World War One photography is available at: http://www.50lux.org/StudyGuides/ for $3.00 2014 marked the centenary of the commencement of World War One. Many young Australians died in the conflict that lasted four years. Photography had already been in existence for some seventy-five years, but during the Great War it played a significant role in many aspects of the conflict.

This was a different type of war compared to any that had gone before. Not only were a significant number of countries, and groups of countries such as the British Commonwealth, involved, this was the first war that was fought with technology beyond hand to hand battle, a gun or canon. Tanks, submarines, and telephones were being used in a significant way for the first time. Although photography had been used to record events in the American Civil War of the 1860s, and the Boer War in southern Africa between 1899 and 1902, the First World War was one of the first to use photography to communicate proceedings to the public. Magazines such as The War Budget, The War Pictorial, and The War Illustrated were established to both document and 20

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supply propaganda to the general public of Britain.

Australia had the The Kangaroo Out of His Element (published on troop ships) and the long running The Bulletin that presented a somewhat right wing view of the conflict to its readers. Although crudely reproduced by todays standards, major newspapers also ran occasional photographs of the war.

Once the First World War had started on 28 July 1914 it soon became clear that it was not going to over in the weeks or months that previous European conflicts had lasted. This war was soon bogged down in trenches. It was a conflict that was fundamentally different to men rushing across fields on horses and or on foot towards each other for direct combat like the Boer War of only a few years before. This was an industrial endeavour that required the resources of complete nations to feed. To keep the populations of those nations on side, the governments used photography to not only show the people what was happening, but also how bad the “enemy” was.

Gunners of the AIF - details unknown. Image out of copyright.

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Buying a printer

Things to consider.

Buying a printer is something that many photographers and educators need to consider from time to time. If you haven’t looked at printers for a few years the quality of the printing and the cost per print have improved markedly. Although the cost of ink and pigments in Australia is still very high compared to other countries such as the United States, the cost of a print still compares favourably with silver gelatin photography.

Here we suggest some of the things to bear in mind when buying a printer. This article was written in Victoria. Students doing photography as part of a year 12 production in Media are required to print their work themselves using the equipment provided by the school. Studio Art students have the option of printing photographic works at professional facilities. So if you only have a few students in Media doing photography it can be hard to justify the purchase of a high end printer. However, if there are photography students in Studio Art as well costs can fall substantially when the equipment is shared.

In the days of film, schools teaching photography had their own darkrooms and mostly concentrated on black and white photography. Colour was expensive and had significant health and safety risks. The general public sent their rolls of film off to Agfa, Kodak, or Pacific either in the post or via the local camera shop or chemist. The prints came back weeks, days, hours, and finally about an hour later. Professionals used dedicated labs such as Bond Colour or Nulab. Larger studios and newspapers had their own darkrooms and professional people dedicated processing and printing – an almost lost art.

Today, most schools and colleges have removed the darkroom (although many are thinking of putting them back in) and have gone digital. Excellent entry level cameras can be bought for little more than a good used film camera. All schools and colleges, and most students, have reasonable computer equipment that will run recent versions of Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture. iPhoto on the Apple platform can give reasonable results too.

That leaves the display of the final images. Computer monitors are a reasonable option, and if you are lucky enough to have a large flat panel display that can be even better. However, a good print will always be superior and have a much more tactile ‘feel’ to it.

One problem when deciding whether an inkjet printer is viable is that VCE Media students must print their images themselves using the equipment provided by 22

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the school. Students in Visual Communication and Studio Art are able to print using external professional facilities. If you are a Media teacher your students must print with whatever you have available thus it is in your best interests to convince your colleagues to support you in the purchase of a good photo quality printer. On the other hand if you are a Studio Arts teacher in a school that doesn’t teach photography in Media and you only have one or two students doing photography it may be far more economical to have your students print final work at a professional lab.

Is buying a printer the right decision?

There is often great deal of opposition to buying an inkjet printer for a school, as the running costs are perceived to be very high. In reality running costs are about the same as the colour photocopier or colour laser printer that is often installed. Costs can be substantially lower if you can share the printer with another department within the faculty, manage the printer yourself, and isolate it from students.

Although Inkjet printers can be bought for as little as $19, the problem is they have very small ink tanks that cost a lot of money to replace. The printer manufacturers clearly learnt a lot from the razorblade manufacturers. Sell the printer unit at cost, and charge a premium for the ink/pigment. However, once you move up the model ladder, the cost of the ink per print falls because the tanks become substantially larger. There is also the option of buying

Printers such as the Epson Stylus Photo R3000 above, provide a range of paper handling methods including continuous rolls that substantially reduce the cost of prints. Many units have Eithernet interfaces that allow them to be connected to the school computer network. Image source: Epson.

a third party continuous ink system. Many middle to higher end units also offer the option of continuous paper roll systems that we will discuss later.

Another problem is that inkjet printers need to be run regularly. The ink dries in the tubes and heads, and priming the printer uses the most amount of ink.

In a worst case scenario the print head may clog and need replacing. This can be an expensive proposition.

This can be an issue if the printer is turned off in hot weather such as over the summer school holidays.

There are solutions to this problem though.

Choosing the printer.

Now you have made the decision that you need to purchase a printer, how do you go about choosing one and convincing the I.T. department and financial

controllers it’s a good economic choice?

Firstly see if the school has a contract for the photocopiers and laser printers the school uses.

These are probably on three year lease/service basis, and it may be that you are locked into that agreement. In some cases you may have to wait until the next cycle, in other cases you might be able to ‘add’ to the contract if it still has say two years to run.

Discuss with the I.T. people whether the lease locks you into certain brand or whether the arrangement allows for other brands.

Next work out the number of prints you expect to make. This will be the number of prints that your students are expected to make for their assessment requirements, plus say an additional 20% for test prints and failures. Add the cost of the hardware, the paper, and the ink/pigment together. Some 50 Lux | 50lux.org 23

Using your camera

Buying used digital cameras

by Frank Parker

The begining of a new school year always brings a stream of students who are looking for a camera. They may have been working over the summer break or recieved some money for Christmas. They are looking for an entry into a Single Lens Reflex system, and want something better for their money than the entry level models. Here we look at the advantages and disadvantages of buy a used digital SLR.

Affordable digital Single Lens Reflex cameras have been on the market for fifteen years now. Some of my students weren’t even born then! In that time the camera sensors, processors, and screens have come a long way. Many people argue that SLR cameras have reached their pinnacle, and that Compact System Cameras with electronic viewfinders have left the SLR behind. While it has certainly been true that SLR development has slowed in the past couple of years - Canon only released an update to the 7D in 2014, and it could be argued Nikon only released fixes for some poorly produced models - the point is that the technology and market is very mature. The basic SLR design really dates back some 60 years, before even I was born! Despite a lot of fancy designs that departed from the basic formula when digital cameras were first introduced, it has been the basic range-finder and SLR shapes that have endured. I get to play with most new cameras, and while I’m initially impressed with the electronic finders on the latest CSC’s, the view you get through a good viewfinder and fast lens of a SLR still takes some beating. Today the image quality of even the most basic entry level camera is better than high level units of six or seven years ago.

If you can buy a new entry level SLR that has image quality that matches a professional camera of a few years ago why would you consider buying a used camera body? The most compelling answer is value for money. A professional or semi-professional body from three or four years ago is likely to have depreciated in value to a very large degree, but still be able to produce more than adequate image quality for the beginner.

So what are the advantages of buying a semiprofessional body? Firstly, lets consider the actual 24

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body of the camera. Body flex is the main reason for choosing a semi-pro body if you intend to use heavier lenses. Entry level bodies are built with a light-weight stainless-steel frame that is more than adequate for the kit lenses that most people keep permanently attached. However, when a more substantial lens is attached there can be noticeable flexing of these units. I remember hearing the creaks when I attached a 70-200mm f2.8 to my Canon 350D. This shouldn’t occur with the more expensive bodies.

They are generally built with a magnesium-alloy shell that doesn’t flex or expand and contract as much with the heat and cold. This means that you can concentrate on saving for good quality lenses, that are often much heavier that kit lenses, without the worry that your camera body will cope with weight of the lens.

Shutters.

Generally speaking the more a body cost when new, the better the shutter mechanism. Many semiprofessional bodies have shutters rated at 150,000 or 200,000 cycles. Entry level cameras can be rated as low as 25,000 cycles. Although 25,000 images sounds like and lot, and it certainly was in the days of film, we tend to use digital cameras more than film. Wedding and theatre work often exceeds 1,000 images per assignment. A professional may do two or three such assignments a week, that equates to a short life for an entry level body. If you are just starting out you are also likely to “play” a lot more with the camera, experiment more, and generally take more images. As you get better, you tend to take fewer, more considered, images.

The viewfinder.

I’m often surprised when I pickup an entry level body at how small the viewfinder is. Apart from a short period using the 350D and a Canon 40D, I’ve always worked with full frame cameras, first a succession of film Nikon’s and more recently a succession of digital Canon 5 series bodies. Although they have improved, the smaller APS-C based cameras on the other hand have far smaller finders that restrict the experience somewhat.

The sensor.

Although Sony and Nikon have made a big jump in the standard number of pixels they put on their sensors in recent years, 24 and 36 million pixels, the raw number of pixels doesn’t necessarily dictate that more is better. The more pixels that are placed on sensor the smaller they need to be (pixel pitch).

A small pixel site will collect less light than a large pixel site. This means that the analogue signal from a small pixel site needs more amplification than a larger one. This needs more processing to reduce the resulting noise, and can lead to reduce imaged quality. Nikon’s professional D4s still uses a modest 16 megapixel sensor, less than half that of the Nikon D810 with its 36 megapixels. The D4 is a fast camera designed for press and magazine work, yet the image quality is still amongst the best in the business.

What really matters is that the quality of the sensor and its associated processor are able to deliver the image quality that matches your requirements. The Canon 40D may only have 10 megapixels, but the overall image quality is very good for a 2007 vintage camera, and the resulting smaller file sizes were better suited to the capabilities of the computers available to me at the time.

Screen.

Two years ago I picked up a couple of Canon 40D’s for less than $200 each for class use. Although both came from different shops, they were in surprisingly equally good condition. The one thing that stood out was the screen. Compared to todays 1 million plus dot resolutions, the 40D has only 260,000 dots.

The early SLR bodies such as the Canon 300D and 350D and Nikon D70 had very small screens of 1.5 or 1.8 inches diagonal measurement. These were good for giving a rough guide to composition and exposure, access to the menu, and not much else.

The 3” screen of the 40D, whilst of low resolution by todays standards, was probably as large as is practical on this size and type of body. Rear screens began

to improve with the introduction of video facilities.

However over the past eight years screen sizes have really only increased fractionally to 3.2”. The improvements have been made in resolution which is likely to double to around 2 million pixels in the near future with the introduction of Retina/HiDPI technology.

Higher models of SLR also usually have a top deck screen that gives exposure, focus, and other information - often duplicated in the viewfinder. This useful for when the camera is mounted on a tripod, especially when in live-view mode.

Auto-focus and exposure metering points.

This is an area were buying a higher model is almost always going to show an improvement over entrylevel bodies of the same period. The more focus points, the better the camera is able to assess to correct focus. Having said that, both Nikon and Canon have had some notable duds in this area. The type of lens you fit will also be a factor, faster lenses may activate more focus points, leading to greater accuracy especially in low light.

Storage.

Very early cameras often used proprietary storage cards. Almost all SLR cameras from the past decade use either the larger CF or smaller SD cards. The CF cards are generally very reliable, and don’t have any compatibility issues as the processing is handled by the card. SD cards on the other hand have gone through a large number of generations. The camera handles the processing, so some generations of SD card don’t work with certain cameras. CF cards are more expensive than SD cards of a given capacity, but their larger physical size means they are less likely to be lost, stolen, or destroyed. CF cards use a large set of pins to connect to the camera. Check that the pins haven’t been bent by sliding the CF card in and out a couple of times. Almost all cameras have a USB 2 interface. Early cameras such as the Canon 300D had the USB 1.0 interface and it could take hours to transfer images. Even with a USB 2 interface, a good USB 3.0 card reader such as those from SanDisk or Lexar can save a lot of time.

If you are lucky, you may come across accessory grips such as those that were available for the Canon 40D. These contained a WiFi interface and USB connection.

The USB connection allowed you to directly save files to a flashdrive or external hard-drive - although the grip didn’t supply enough power for the externalhard drive and thus needed a nearby power-point.

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Buying a Film Camera

Mamyia C330f

Over the past few issues we have had a number of photographers who work with medium format film cameras. While film is probably close to the end of it’s life as a commercial medium, it still has a strong following among some wedding and art photographers. It is a different medium that has different qualities to digital. Medium format digital cameras are prohibitavly expensive unless you are working commercially or are very well healed, but a medium format film camera is within reach. Everyone considers the Hasselblad 5xx series which lived on until only a couple of years ago, to be the pinacle of the medium format film camera mountain. However, they were not faultless, and there were some great alternatives. The Mamyia’s that were look at here were made from 1956 to 1994, and have the advantage over most other twin-lens cameras in that they have a range of interchangable lenses.

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Mamyia is a Japanese company that has a long history in medium format cameras. Today the brand lives on making the RB, RZ, and Mamiya 7 range-finder film models, as well as a digital medium format body that is also sold under the associated Leaf digital back brand.

In the 120/220 film era Mamyia covered all the bases at one point or another. There was the RB/ RZ series that produced a 60 x 70 mm negative.

This was a semi-studio camera, it was big and heavy but somewhat popular with wedding and portrait photographers because of the flexibility of being able to rotate the film backs. This meant that it was possible to do portraits in the vertical position and groups in the horizontal position whilst the camera was mounted on a tripod.

Mamyia also had it’s 60 x 45 mm format M645 series. These are far smaller and lighter, and allow 15 negatives per roll of 120 film. Both of these cameras competed with Bronica. The RB/RZ versus the GS and the M645 versus the ETR. We’ll look at these in a later issues. The M645 has evolved into the current medium format digital body. Mamiya also produced some desirable 35 mm cameras, but despite it’s reputation in the medium format sector was never able to compete with Canon and Nikon in the professional market.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Before the M645, and before the RB, and before the Hasselblad and it’s clones, there were twin-lens reflex cameras that used various types of film. The C series Mamyia’s use 120 format film, or 220 film that has largely disappeared.

The twin lens camera is a forerunner to the single lens reflex camera. The lower lens has the (leaf) shutter and aperture. When the shutter is released the film is exposed via this lens. The upper lens is the viewfinder. Light travels through the lens to a mirror at 45 degrees and onto a ground glass focusing screen. The image is right-way up, but reversed left to right. There is usually a folding hood, and often an eye-piece that magnifies the image.

The top of the twin-lens pile was the German Rollicord. After the Second World War the Japanese were quick to take up camera manufacturing. There were any number of Rollicord clones right down to the Chinese Seagulls and the Russian plastic Lomo Lubitel 166. Perhaps the best and most well known of these clones is the Yashica. Almost all of these, with the exception of the Mamiya, Koni-Omegaflex, and Zeiss Contaflex are fixed lens cameras. Although they all function in much the same way, the quality of the lens is the what determines the base value of

these cameras today.

The Mamyia C series began in 1956 with the ‘C’ and finished as late as 1994 with the C330S. The C330 series evolved from the C33 which was around 300 grammes heavier at 2040 grams with the standard 80mm lens than the later C330. There is also the C2, C22, and C220 series that paralleled the “3’s”. These were aimed at the amateur market. They have the same basic chassis, and have the interchangeable lens facility, but are missing some of the features of the higher series.

Construction.

As with the majority of Japanese camera’s from the 50s to the 70s, the basic Mamyia chassis is solid and capable of taking knocks. There is little chance that the main body will distort or go out of alignment.

Nonetheless, the back, hinged from the bottom, is fairly flexible and could be prone to being bent, so check that the back closes easily and that the foam seals are in good condition. The seals are easily replaced. The back has a pressure plate that turns depending on whether 120 or 220 film is selected.

This also changes the counter mechanism from 12 to 24 frames as well.

The right side of the camera body has the film wind crank. This is connected to a lever on the front plate of the body and cocks the shutter as the film is advanced. A good example will wind smoothly and quietly. You will be able to wind the crank until the frame counter reaches 1, the shutter will then cock and fire. The C2, C22, and C220 series has a simple knob that directly winds the film, and the shutter requires manual cocking.

The left side of the body has a dial that has a number of functions. These are mostly reminders for film speed, colour/black and white. There isn’t a built in meter. The central knob lowers and raises a flap that acts as a dark-slide for the changing of lenses.

The ‘lock’ position refers to the flat position lowered and the lens clamp being in the “locked” position. A small tab is moved into position that prevents the clamp being unhooked, but it is easy to override this and remove the lens exposing the film.

On the lower part of the body is a rotating scale.

This is a focus scale and the right position should be selected for the lens that is in use. This also gives an indication of the compensation required for closeups. A red indicator should move to the right as the focus scale is moved outwards.

The front of the body, has the aforementioned shutter cocking mechanism and the spring lever 50 Lux | 50lux.org 27

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Issue #8 | February 2015

version of 50 Lux Magazine. be purchased here. x.org

50 Lux | 50lux.org 29

Parting Shots As a teacher, I get quite dismayed when a student submits ‘research’ that consists of cut and paste paragraphs from an unknown source on the Web. These lumps of text are easy to track down, and my students know that I will regularly cross check their work. In many cases it is just laziness. Other times students don’t see the importance of looking at the work of people who have made successful careers as photographers. Of course not every photographer has more that a couple of hundred words written about them. I have been working on a long term project to create a bibliography of photographers and their lives, sometimes there is but a sentence or two, sometimes there are multiple books. Some photographers have nothing at all.

I was reminded of this when I recently visited Castlemaine in central Victoria. Castlemaine is one of the many towns established during the gold mining boom in the mid 1850s, easily accessible by train or car it is one of many places that rewards photographers with beautiful, ornate, historic buildings. Perhaps one of the most ornate is the Imperial Hotel at 54 Lyttleton Street. Another of those grand buildings, on the corner of Lyttleton and Barker Streets (the Midland Highway) contained the studio’s Adolphus Verey. Verey was a traveling photographer before establishing a permanent studio in Castlemaine at the age of about 20 in 1883. The studio, taken over by his son Lesley around 1933. About 13,000 glass plates from the studio survive. Most of the images are family or individual portraits. There are also a large number of images of businesses - many with their workers, homes, events, and general life, including disasters. However, despite the wealth of information that the negatives provide about the people and towns of the district, it seems little has survived concerning Adolphus and his business.

While the Web provides us with access to billions of photographs. How many of those are actually going to be of use in the future. We live our lives at great pace, we take a dozen pictures of the froth on our cup of coffee, post them to our social media pages in the hope of getting a response in the next 15 seconds then it is forgotten for ever.

The Internet is a great resource. We can discover archives such as the Verey collection, we can do detailed research on some well known photographers.

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However, we need to be both careful of the source and compare it with other sources - not just ones that have copied and pasted from another equally unreliable site. We need to consider the future life of the images we create. Will they be accessible in 100 years?

On a different note, I attended the opening of the R.M.I.T. Graduate exhibition in early December. This was a very crowded affair with well over 500 people in attendance for the 75 or so graduates. It is great to see that there are so many talented people doing exceptional work. However, we question whether 75 people from R.M.I.T., a similar number from P.S.C., plus graduates from the Academy of Design, Photographic Imaging College, R.M.I.T TAFE, N.M.I.T TAFE and a host of other smaller colleges (and that is just in Melbourne) is somehow overkill. Do we really need over 250 new photographers each year?

Of course we wish them all the best of luck, and many of them are studying for the interest and love of photography rather than to make a career.