Konica FP – 1963

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Konica FP and Fuji Neopan 100 FilmA few weeks ago, I purchased a Konica FP from a tiny hole-in-the-wall shop in Tokyo for 5000 yen (USD $62). The FP is a full manual mechanical SLR camera, originally released in 1963. I didn’t know anything about the camera at the time, and really only wanted a cool retro-looking camera to use as a prop for a shoot I had in mind.

It wasn’t long before I began to wonder what kind of pictures I could make with my new (to me) Konica FP. The kids were in the front yard sucking down frozen concoctions of food coloring and corn syrup, which seemed like as good a test as any. I had no idea what exposure settings to use, so I metered the scene with my 5D Mark II. (more…)

Fixing Focus Issues with AF Microadjustment

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Along with diet, exercise, and the other New Year’s nonsense, I decided that in 2011 I will not buy a single lens. This, of course, meant that I had to run out on the evening of Dec 31 and pick up the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM. The thought of waiting until 2012 was just too much. Or maybe the whole “no new lenses in 2011″ was a way to rationalize the immediate purchase of the 85mm… But I digress…

I got the lens home safely, and when I finished giggling uncontrollably (gear buzz), I took my 6-year old out for some test shots. Everything was going swimmingly and the “new gear high” lasted until I downloaded the shots and started pixel-peeping.

The focus was off on every single shot. Continue reading →

Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2

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I couple weeks ago I bought the Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2.  I’d just finished reading Lighting 101 over at Strobist (which if you haven’t read, you need to stop reading this and go read that instead) and was itching to get my flash off the camera and start lighting stuff remotely.

I have an old Speedlite 420ex from about 8 years ago.  So all I really needed was the transmitter.  Pocket Wizard definately offers more flexibility, but I decided to go with the ST-E2 as a cheap way to get started with my existing flash.  (the old 420ex has no manual mode, though its replacement, the 430ex does)

Also, I was shooting my sister’s wedding the following weekend and I was not comfortable learning manual flash in the time I had to prepare.  I wanted to leave it up to ETTL flash metering and tweak the power with the flash ex comp controls on the camera.  While a little hit or miss, this is a technique I am comfortable with, and a wedding is not the place to cut your teeth on a new lighting technique. Continue reading →