Contax saves Christmas...

DavidH

DavidH

Overweight and over here
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Off to Christmas Island in a couple of weeks...but had some bad news today...

With a sweep of a hand (well, word processor) one of our major clients has rendered my D70 obsolete...it now fails to meet the technical spec - image-size - for the publicity stills we produce for our shows.

The more recent models of dslr hit the 10mp mark and this is now their required minimum. Upres'ing 6mp images leaves them looking a bit flaky - below par - and not something I'm comfortable submitting on a work basis.

I can't afford to upgrade to the D200 right now...so it's back to scanned film...and the G2 should fit the bill for this shoot. My other Nikon bodies don't work with the 70-200...and I'm pushed on cargo space anyway...so the G2 takes pole position. Should be fun...

Anyone know how good the TLA200 is for fill flash?

cheers
 
I don't know anything about the flash, and I don't want to hijack the thread, but it's always amazing to me that photos that were perfectly acceptable for publication yesterday are now crap just because some freakin' digi-plastic-thingy added some measly pixels. Sigh
 
Trius said:
I don't know anything about the flash, and I don't want to hijack the thread, but it's always amazing to me that photos that were perfectly acceptable for publication yesterday are now crap just because some freakin' digi-plastic-thingy added some measly pixels. Sigh
Click to expand...

🙂 Yup, people love to quantify things...and it's easy with digital - everything has a 'value'...comparing cameras no longer comes down to 'look and feel' but hard numbers...arbitrary though they may be. Spending over 1,000 UKP roughly every two years to change camera body is par for the course with digital. And everyone wants the latest model...
 
Flyfisher Tom said:
Christmas Island ... wow. If you are a flyfisher, that is bonefish heaven 😉

Have a great trip!
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Thanks Tom - I'll tell the crew...we all tried fishing for the first time back in July and did fairly well. Of course we were stranded in the middle of nowhere after the floatplane broke down and running low on food...good motivation. 😉
 
Well...the G2 held up well to some rough treatment in the rainforest...we were so strapped on cargo space that my Nikon system was out of the question anyway - the G2 and 3 lenses squeezed in alongside the TV camera gear nicely.

Only real problem was that I took along the Kodak 200UC that had been kicking around for a while - and it proved way too contrasty for the gloom of the forest - and in the bright sunshine around the coast. The publicity shots are fine after treatment in Photoshop and some careful scanning...but my ignorance of color print film was obvious. I've been shooting digital for wildlife for the last 2 years and it was strange to be using a rf rather than an slr...but got to love those contax lenses.

Have posted a few shots in my gallery...off to the USA for the next 4 weeks so will have to scan the rest when I get back.

For info: we were filming the Christmas Island crab migration - every year, at a time dependent on weather and lunar cycle, the crabs head down to the coast to mate and then spawn. In their millions... 🙂
 
wow.... love your shots of the crabbys.. can they be eaten btw?? 😀


yup, it is rather sad and ironical, with the advance of digital photography.

I have been assisting for the past 6 years with various wedding photographers in and around the bay area and in LA, some of whom have switched entirely to digital.

it never ceases to amaze me when clients come back after 2 - 3 years, asking if they could have a good old "negative" to keep within their safe deposits together with their other prized possessions, very often after discovering that the CDs that held their pictures just wouldn't run anymore. Their faces often change when we tell them that we don't archive our clients photos for more than 2 years due to cost and space.

Even better are those that come back asking why their pictures looked "funny" (pixelated, washed out) compared to now (12mp and above) when in essense, they had their weddings shot back within the times when 3 - 5 mpixels was the norm.

sigh....
 
It's funny, David-when you first uploaded Thief in the Forest, I wondered if it was film or digital. Your story just cracks me up!
 
trev2401 said:
wow.... love your shots of the crabbys.. can they be eaten btw?? 😀
Click to expand...

🙂 Good question - yes, but....we still don't know, even after asking the experts, why they aren't regularly eaten...some notes we found suggested the crabs are poisonous - but they're obviously not since some people have eaten them in the past...maybe they just taste bad...
They do eat the robber crabs - they're supposed to taste pretty good.

TLA200...fill flash
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No - I ordered the TLA200 but it didn't turn up in time for the trip - it's with me now on the way to the USA but just had to make do on Xmas Is.

Thanks for the comments 🙂
 
Wow David! I've heard of the crab migration before, but have never known anyone who actually saw it. Very nice shots! I see what you mean about the film choice, but the subject matter is excellent. The robber crab looks like a mean one! Thanks for following up with photos of your journey!
 
Excellent shots, david! 🙂

I never really thought of crabs as being such colorful creatures, but ... 🙂

Trius said:
I don't know anything about the flash, and I don't want to hijack the thread, but it's always amazing to me that photos that were perfectly acceptable for publication yesterday are now crap just because some freakin' digi-plastic-thingy added some measly pixels. Sigh
Click to expand...

Yeah, with the {d-word} technology, the Latest And Greatest is most definitely a moving target. 🙁

You can always say something like your new camera uses a sensor that's the latest in 21st Century photochemical technology, fully replaceable and upgradable, yielding an effective 18 megapixels, or whatever your scanner's max is. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Throw in or make up some other buzzword-compliant terms and they will probably not realize what you're talking about 🙂
 
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