Polaroid photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed February 24, 2007 in Encino, CA
For behind the scenes info about the making of this photograph go see it on my Flickr page.
Showing posts with label 1966 Buick LeSabre Convertible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1966 Buick LeSabre Convertible. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
TIME TRAVELER
Polaroid photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed February 24, 2007 in Encino, CA
For behind the scenes info about the making of this photograph go see it on my Flickr page.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
EMBRACING THE NEW
Since I have to brace myself for the very real possibility that I won't be able to get any of the Polaroid integral films (the kind that shoots out of the front of the camera and develops in less than a minute) after this year when Polaroid ceases production, I've decided to embrace the sole instant camera technology that will be in production - the Fuji Instax camera and film. I still plan on using my Polaroids for "important" stuff, but at least with the Instax I can shoot with abandon and not wonder if I'm wasting a shot. Sure it still costs about a buck a shot, so that limits my abandon (like shooting any kind of film does - you have to be a little more thoughtful about shooting choices vs being able to shoot hundreds at a time with digital).
Fuji makes several kinds of Instax cameras and films (the mini format actually works in the old Polaroid Mio cameras - but alas, I don't have a Mio). I decided to make my first step with the Fuji Instax 200 camera and the Fuji Instax Wide Instant Film because the size/shape is pretty close to 600 and spectra. I actually dig the wide picture format - I think it will be pretty good for landscapes and cars. I look at a 24" widescreen iMac for hours, I watch widescreen movies, so it makes sense to shoot in a wide format too. The image rectangle is exactly 4" in width and almost 2.5" in height. The full size of the shot is a little over 4x3. The actual photos look exactly like what you'd expect to see from a Polaroid camera just in a different size/shape. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by the color rendition - it's pretty vivid - maybe even a little more than a Polaroid. The sucky thing for me is that there's no exact focusing like on my better Polaroid cameras (like my SX-70 Alpha and SLR 680 SE), nope, this is just like any of the run of the mill cheapie Polaroids where you have to pay attention to feet - or in the case of the Instax, freakin' meters! There's a button that changes the lens focus from .9-3 meters to 3 meters to infinity. I've taken a few out of focus shots at the .9-3 stage, so I guess I'm standing less than .9 meters and didn't realize - silly me - I guess I need to bring out a measuring tape to make sure! The whole meters thing throws me off, so today I actually converted the numbers and printed out a little label to put next to the numbers to recall the conversions. .9 = 2.9 feet and 3 = 9.8 feet.
The Fuji Instax cameras aren't normally sold in the U.S., but Mel Pierce camera in Hollywood has them on back order and carries the wide film. Most people get the film and cameras on ebay. There's also some Canadian online resellers that have them. I bought mine from Lomography.com - they specialize in all kinds of lo-fi cameras like Holgas and Dianas, cheap Russian plastic cameras and their own brand of Lomo cameras that have fisheye lenses, multiple lenses (actionsampler, colorspash). The Fuji Instax 200 plus 10 boxes of expired film (100 exposures) was $150 dollars plus 7 bucks shipping.
The Fuji Instax 200 looks like some insane, clunky toy camera.
No one out in public has seen me shoot with it yet, but I suspect when they do, I will get some looks and probably questions. The flash can be turned on and off, but if the camera thinks the light is too low, it will put the flash on. This kind of sucks for taking shots of neon at night, but oh well. I guess I can stick some black gaffers tape on the flash if I'm desperate. I wish that the camera had a self timer shot because there's no way I can do a self portrait and be in focus - my arms length is not .9 meters!
All Fuji Instax photos by Lydia Marcus shot May 19, 2008 - May 21, 2009 in the San Fernando Valley
Fuji makes several kinds of Instax cameras and films (the mini format actually works in the old Polaroid Mio cameras - but alas, I don't have a Mio). I decided to make my first step with the Fuji Instax 200 camera and the Fuji Instax Wide Instant Film because the size/shape is pretty close to 600 and spectra. I actually dig the wide picture format - I think it will be pretty good for landscapes and cars. I look at a 24" widescreen iMac for hours, I watch widescreen movies, so it makes sense to shoot in a wide format too. The image rectangle is exactly 4" in width and almost 2.5" in height. The full size of the shot is a little over 4x3. The actual photos look exactly like what you'd expect to see from a Polaroid camera just in a different size/shape. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by the color rendition - it's pretty vivid - maybe even a little more than a Polaroid. The sucky thing for me is that there's no exact focusing like on my better Polaroid cameras (like my SX-70 Alpha and SLR 680 SE), nope, this is just like any of the run of the mill cheapie Polaroids where you have to pay attention to feet - or in the case of the Instax, freakin' meters! There's a button that changes the lens focus from .9-3 meters to 3 meters to infinity. I've taken a few out of focus shots at the .9-3 stage, so I guess I'm standing less than .9 meters and didn't realize - silly me - I guess I need to bring out a measuring tape to make sure! The whole meters thing throws me off, so today I actually converted the numbers and printed out a little label to put next to the numbers to recall the conversions. .9 = 2.9 feet and 3 = 9.8 feet.
The Fuji Instax cameras aren't normally sold in the U.S., but Mel Pierce camera in Hollywood has them on back order and carries the wide film. Most people get the film and cameras on ebay. There's also some Canadian online resellers that have them. I bought mine from Lomography.com - they specialize in all kinds of lo-fi cameras like Holgas and Dianas, cheap Russian plastic cameras and their own brand of Lomo cameras that have fisheye lenses, multiple lenses (actionsampler, colorspash). The Fuji Instax 200 plus 10 boxes of expired film (100 exposures) was $150 dollars plus 7 bucks shipping.
The Fuji Instax 200 looks like some insane, clunky toy camera.
No one out in public has seen me shoot with it yet, but I suspect when they do, I will get some looks and probably questions. The flash can be turned on and off, but if the camera thinks the light is too low, it will put the flash on. This kind of sucks for taking shots of neon at night, but oh well. I guess I can stick some black gaffers tape on the flash if I'm desperate. I wish that the camera had a self timer shot because there's no way I can do a self portrait and be in focus - my arms length is not .9 meters! 
All Fuji Instax photos by Lydia Marcus shot May 19, 2008 - May 21, 2009 in the San Fernando Valley
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
BIG RED
Almost a month ago I bought a new point and shoot digital camera, a sexy red Sony T100. My old trusty point and shoot, a Nikon Coolpix S2, still works, but it was getting long in the tooth for me for several reasons including: no image stabilization (which makes it really hard to hand hold and get steady shots in low light); only 5 megapixel (making it impossible to upload anything to JPG Magazine which requires more resolution). What I have loved about my S2 is it's sliding cover - slide down to power the camera on and start shooting immediately, slide up to turn it off. Usually when I'm shooting, I have to be fast, especially if I'm with non-shooting friends who want me to keep moving. The sliding cover really speeds stuff up! The S2's lens also zooms inside the camera body - it doesn't need time to have the lens extend outward. So whatever new camera I was going to buy had to have a sliding lens cover, no extruding lens/zoom, and image stabilization. I wasn't as concerned with megapixels - 7, 8, 10 - all fine with me. With those requirements in mind, I didn't have a lot of camera choices out there. I narrowed down my choice to Sony, who actually had many different models with sliding covers. I had used an acquaintance's Sony T20 and really liked the camera a lot, so that helped point me in the right direction. The camera I bought, the T100, is pretty much a beefed up T20. My camera has a 3 inch screen (the largest on any of my cameras), and HD movie mode (the images are really great, but the sound is even better!), two different macro modes, 8 megapixels, 2 modes of image stabilization (called Sony Steady Shot), and a lot of manual tweaks. The T100 is actually a discontinued model so I had to do some searching to find it. I located it at the Sony Outlet Store in Camarillo. The reason I wanted the older model vs the new T200 is that the newer model has a touch screen. Maybe in a couple years they're improve the touch screens and I'll want one for shooting, but for right now, I prefer to have some dedicated buttons. The way I shoot - fast - I want to be able to quickly access main buttons I use a lot like macro or the flash. On my camera those buttons are at my fingertips, on the touch screen model, first you tap the screen, then you look for the function you want, then you tap that, then tap some more to get it to do what you want. I prefer shooting to tapping. After shooting with the T100 for a month I have found out it's strengths and weaknesses. The 2 macro modes are absolutely unbelievable on this camera - the best I've ever had on a point and shoot and they actually come so close to a real hard core dedicated macro lens I'm flabbergasted. The HD movie mode is fantastic. The mic is really sensitive and picks up audio really well. The zoom is really big (5x) for a camera this small. This camera actually has several different kinds of metering modes. I took some photos (see Bette Davis tribute pictures below) in a dark theater with a spotlight on the stage - the perfect setting for spot metering. I switched the meter to spot and the photos speak for themselves - a wonderful exposure - not too dark, not washed out, just right. Weakness, well like any point and shoot, flash photos never look very natural. But, in the camera's defense, I have to say there is the ability to tone down or turn up flash intensity (a feature I haven't fooled around with yet), so I probably can make stuff look better if I try. I love the bigger screen I have now (my old camera was 2.5 inch), but Sony seems to have coated it with some kind of Polarized tint that actually works against my sunglasses I wear that also have polarized tint. Sometimes with my sunglasses on, it's really hard to see the screen because it becomes very dark. But I just have to stick my glasses on my head for a sec and then I can see fine. A small price to pay. Anyway, here's some photos examples from the Sony T100.
Side by side - my old Nikon Coopix S2 and the Sony T100
I love how this captured both stillness and motion!
A ladybug with the macro. I can't believe a little point and shoot can actually produce bokeh like this. That's at the camera's widest f stop f3.5
I was zooming in from pretty far away, I'm impressed how easily you can read the back of this RV.
Nice color rendition.
Macros of my Dad's 1966 Buick LeSabre convertible
The details on this macro shot are amazing!
No you aren't seeing it twice, this second shot is one that the Sony retouched in camera - giving it a soft focus that blurs the periphery around a chosen point (I chose the center of the image). It's basically the lensbaby effect.
At LACMA
The Post Office unveiled the new Bette Davis stamp (available in September) before a screening of "Jezebel." I was sitting pretty far back in the theater when I shot the next few images. Totally handheld, steady shot on, 400 iso, spot metering. I'm pretty amazed with the details and excellent exposure.
The lights outside of LACMA's new BCAM
macro of my incision, now healing into a scar.
more of the soft blur retouching effect
macro butterfly
me and lucy at the beach - the colors are so natural
And even if you don't care about taking artful images, the Sony T100 also works perfectly for taking cheeky snapshots. :-)
Side by side - my old Nikon Coopix S2 and the Sony T100
I love how this captured both stillness and motion!
A ladybug with the macro. I can't believe a little point and shoot can actually produce bokeh like this. That's at the camera's widest f stop f3.5
I was zooming in from pretty far away, I'm impressed how easily you can read the back of this RV.
Nice color rendition.
Macros of my Dad's 1966 Buick LeSabre convertible
The details on this macro shot are amazing!
No you aren't seeing it twice, this second shot is one that the Sony retouched in camera - giving it a soft focus that blurs the periphery around a chosen point (I chose the center of the image). It's basically the lensbaby effect.
At LACMA
The Post Office unveiled the new Bette Davis stamp (available in September) before a screening of "Jezebel." I was sitting pretty far back in the theater when I shot the next few images. Totally handheld, steady shot on, 400 iso, spot metering. I'm pretty amazed with the details and excellent exposure.
The lights outside of LACMA's new BCAM
macro of my incision, now healing into a scar.
more of the soft blur retouching effect
macro butterfly
me and lucy at the beach - the colors are so natural
And even if you don't care about taking artful images, the Sony T100 also works perfectly for taking cheeky snapshots. :-)
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