Hi, I´m listening eagerly to what you folks say about waterproof cameras. Actually, Gabriel, I wouldnt dare taking my Leica out on the water for obvoius reasons. Dropping it once - having to decide in the wink of an eye whether to drop our baby or the camera - I paid dm 900 for repair. No question: Same alternatives given I´d do it again. But of course I wouldnt provoke any situations of this kind. So in my boats I either use my veeery old metal body Olympus XA - rather indestructable with comparably good lenses, not waterproof, of course, or a digital Kodak dc 210+. I carry them in a drybag which slows me down very much (Try taking a pic of a blue heron - impossible). A friend has a waterproof Canon which makes good pics - wide angle, though. I´d like to see a reasonable priced waterproof camera with 100 mm lens of good quality over here because most things I like to take a picture of are rather far away. Actually 200 mm would make even more sense. But there is no such camera in Germany - at least not in that price category I´d like to go for. So I wait on. Good pics, all of you. Frank Gute Entscheidungen kommen aus der Erfahrung. Dummerweise stammt Erfahrung meist aus schlechten Entscheidungen. Frank Fichtmueller, Guetebohlweg 4, D 78343 Gaienhofen (d) evkirche.hoeri_at_t-online.de (p) fichtmueller_at_gmx.de (T) (0049) + 7735 - 2074 (d) 2776 (p) (F) 1431 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Frank Fichtmüller wrote: > > Hi, > I´m listening eagerly to what you folks say about waterproof cameras. > Actually, Gabriel, I wouldnt dare taking my Leica out on the water for > obvoius reasons. Dropping it once - having to decide in the wink of an eye > whether to drop our baby or the camera - I paid dm 900 for repair. Must have been past that soft head stage. No > question: Same alternatives given I´d do it again. But of course I wouldnt > provoke any situations of this kind. Nicely put Frank. Having photographed extensively in the city, all of my cameras are equipped with a thin straps. I wrap these around my wrist when I am out so if the camera is dropped, the amount of travel is less than 20 cm. End of the line so to speak. Easy to go from two hands on the baby to the juggling act when the situation arises. If there was a > So in my boats I either use my veeery old metal body Olympus XA - rather > indestructable with comparably good lenses, not waterproof, of course, or a > digital Kodak dc 210+. I carry them in a drybag which slows me down very > much (Try taking a pic of a blue heron - impossible). Accessibility is the greatest asset to photography. You are far braver than I am since everything on the outside of the hull is guaranteed to get wet around here. > A friend has a waterproof Canon which makes good pics - wide angle, though. > I´d like to see a reasonable priced waterproof camera with 100 mm lens of > good quality over here because most things I like to take a picture of are > rather far away. Actually 200 mm would make even more sense. But there is no > such camera in Germany - at least not in that price category I´d like to go > for. So I wait on. I really haven't researched cameras with long lenses as I have always shot wide unless forced to do studio work. I would imagine fast film would be the best to deal with a lens that long with all the rocking in a kayak. keep making images and post them sometime so we can see your impressions of paddling in Germany. We have enough Blue Herons around here so you needn't be bothered about them, but I would love to see what may be different in your viewfinder. BTW Frank, you are one of those people that embarrass me not having command of a second language. best, gabriel > Good pics, all of you. > Frank > Gute Entscheidungen kommen aus der Erfahrung. Dummerweise stammt Erfahrung > meist aus schlechten Entscheidungen. > > Frank Fichtmueller, Guetebohlweg 4, D 78343 Gaienhofen > (d) evkirche.hoeri_at_t-online.de (p) fichtmueller_at_gmx.de (T) (0049) + 7735 - > 2074 (d) 2776 (p) (F) 1431 > -- Gabriel L Romeu http://studiofurniture.com İİİİİ furniture from the workshop http://studiofurniture.com/diary İİİİİ life as a tourist, daily journal http://studiofurniture.com/paint İİİİİ paintings, photographs, etchings, objects *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Ahem - my short comment about cameras & lenses - one should pay special attention towards the quality of lenses. I did skan some images from the Estonia trip I did last summer with some friends. Dear "aunt" Ally´s pics had certain darkening towards the corners. She was using the same weatherproof Olympus My2 as I, but with a zoom. It did not work well, though mine did. Lessons learnt: they (in general, the manufacturers) are still not able to produce high quality zoom lenses with reasonable prices. To me, nothing beats good old Nikonos, pre-set depth of field/ f16 & automatic exposure time. Lenses do count, and almost unbreakable camera bodies. Cheers, Ari Gloomy Finland *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
ari0236_at_Saunalahti.fi wrote: > > Dear "aunt" Ally´s pics had certain darkening towards the corners. She was using the same weatherproof Olympus My2 as I, but with a zoom. It did not work well, though mine did. I was under impression that vignetting was only a consideration with large format cameras these days. apparently there is some quality control issues even with the new cameras. > > Lessons learnt: they (in general, the manufacturers) are still not able to produce high quality zoom lenses with reasonable prices. The REAL 'sharp zealots' would never even consider a zoom. Far too many compromises in sharpness. I am having my first experience with a short zoom on my new digital, kinda cute but nothing I would consider in a fast situation. I would imagine it is a very useful accessory for a lot of people out there though. It definitely appeals to the vanity of my wife however as she doesn't seem to go for a 'Romanesque' nose when I shoot wider. > > To me, nothing beats good old Nikonos, pre-set depth of field/ f16 & automatic exposure time. Lenses do count, and almost unbreakable camera bodies. Using this argument, I would agree with you. A wider angle lens (to me, 35mm is normal) with a good depth of field have gotten me through a lot of situations with an image or two worth keeping (if I was lucky). In fact, this is the general way that I shoot. Someone on the list had posted the exposures listed on the old film boxes when manual cameras were in the majority, as well as the 'sunny over the shoulder ASA rule'. This and the maximum depth of field allowed me to work both fast and unobtrusive for many years and many frames. It is a very fine method and reduces the decisions to 5 basic exposures in daylight (which you don't have too much of these days, huh Ari?) with some compensation (from experience) to shooting in the shadows of high buildings or deep woods (I am assuming the deep woods thing as being a city boy). This paradigm makes a manual camera faster than any automatic camera. Of course, the REAL 'sharp zealots' would only use critical focus. An interesting side note- I had a Nikonos (no #, old one) that I had bought to specifically do a project of photographing fill flash in the rain . I was working a full time + job in New York City with one or two days a week off to devote to this. During a 2 year period, I had 1 day of rain on a day off. Since the muses were not on my side for this project, I traded the camera (+ rollei 35s, speed graphic, chinon SLR) for a fujica 6x9 rangefinder. Even today, I always have clear weather when I vacation. The only exception I can remember is at the AKT symposium last summer, we had an afternoon of rain. As I remember though, a lot more was expected. The problem with this is that I love the rain. I guess I love weather, cause I can't complain about the clear days either. Again Ari, I feel embarrassed in only speaking english and not accommodating you with a reply in your own language. I really appreciate all of you out there from different lands making the compromises so that someone like me can learn from your responses and thoughts. best, gabriel -- Gabriel L Romeu http://studiofurniture.com İİİİİ furniture from the workshop http://studiofurniture.com/diary İİİİİ life as a tourist, daily journal http://studiofurniture.com/paint İİİİİ paintings, photographs, etchings, objects *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I, too, use a Nikonos, but unlike Ari, I use 100 ISO slide film, so on sunny days I preset the camera to about f/9.5 at 1/250 sec. with a depth of field of about 5 meters to infinity. I also use a flip-down lens cover to keep droplets off the lens. I get a lot more photos than other people because it's always ready for action. Though I shoot mostly with the 35mm lens, I also occasionally use an 80mm lens. However, because of the latter's shallow depth of field and the need to guesstimate the distance, I use it only on sunny days. I tried an Olympus XA once, but it had too much light falloff in the corners for my taste, and I returned it. The decisive test was shooting the same scene with both the XA and the Nikonos; no falloff was noticeable with the Nikonos, whereas it was very noticeable with the XA. I suspect the falloff was due mainly to the rear element of the lens being so close to the film, and I would not be surprised if other compact cameras had the same problem. One of my more dramatic Nikonos photos, showing my wife completing a roll on Lake Calhoun with the Minneapolis downtown skyline in the distance, was selected by General Sports Shows to promote the canoe and kayak programs at last week's Minneapolis Boat Show. One camera I cannot recommend is the Minolta Weathermatic Dual. I bought two for my wife -- one used, one new -- and both developed leaks after about a year, which ruined the electronics. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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