The Ideal Pocket Camera...

Have you found your ideal pocket camera? The one that comes with you everyday, just in case you come across a great photographic opportunity?


I got a second hand LX3. It's a great little camera, but it's just that little bit too big. It is a coat pocket camera, not a pocket camera. It is the one I take when I go out motorbiking, as it fits nicely into the front jacket pocket. My pocket camera ends up being an iphone 3g. It's convenient, but a bit lacking as a camera.

Finally a real camera, not just more consumer electronics?

Fujifilm announces the X100 pre-Photokina Just looking at the specs, it seems they have listened to photographers and come up with a camera, not just another piece of consumer electronics. Hopefully a new trend has begun.

Photokina 2010

Looking forward to seeing if any interesting announcements at Photokina 2010. Always fun to see how the rumours compare with reality.

Lightroom 3 Tethered Capture

Have been using Lightroom 3's tethered capture feature the last few days. Really impressed with the experience. Used it when I was shooting some slides with a macrolens. So handy to be able to zoom and see if the image is sharp or whether some shake spoilt it.

The slides I was scanning were Fuji Velvia 50, you can see them in my flikr set (the grave yard pictures!).

Follow Up: annual dilemma what to pack for holidays

Boy am I glad I decided to travel light:

In the end brought: Leica M3 (b&w) and M6 (slide film), Summicron 50mm, Weston V meter and grey card. Fuji Neopan 100 and 400, Fuji Velvia 50 and Provia 100.
LX3 and finder (finder didn't get much use). Gorilla Pod.
Small rucksack (into which also fitted two point and shoot digital cameras belonging to my kids).

Because of the lack of size and weight, the bag came with me most of the time. This was fortunate as our holiday home got broken in to while we were out! Another advantage of travelling light (and a reason not to format your memory cards after you have transferred them to your laptop!).

Photography and Coffee

I am surmising that many photographers like coffee. More specifically stopping for an expresso at a cafe, while out photographing. Having a coffee and watching the world go by is in many ways like taking photographs: a moment of reflection, where you are more aware of your surroundings. A short moment snatched from the river of time, before you jump back in and join the flow.

Follow Up: Museum of Photography in Mougins

The museum is set in a small three story house in the delightful old village of Mougins.

It didn't meet my expectations, probably because I had imagined it would have some classic Lartigue and Doisneau prints. What it does have is lots and lots of pictures of Picasso taken by the likes of the former photographers. It's still worth a look in if you are in the area though.

Besides the permanent collection there are changing exhibitions. The current one had some work by current avant garde photographers.

There is also a cabinet of antique and vintage cameras.

My personal tip: take a break from photography and head for the Musée National Fernand Leger in Biot instead.

Weston V Meter

Very excited a receiving my latest ebay purchase in the post today. A Weston V exposure meter, complete with invercone, cases and original box. All for the princely sum of GB£13.50 (with postage €20).

Meter is reactive and seems, from using the sunny 16th rule anyway, pretty accurate.

Nice solid feel and classic simplicity to the design. Is going to partner my Leica M3, with whom I just finished my first roll of film on it (Ilford FP4+). Will be interesting to see how sunny 16th and dead reckoning compares to the meter.

Found instructions for the Weston V Meter here

Museum of Photography in Mougins

Just found out there is a Museum of Photography in Mougins, which is not far from Cannes in the South of France. Seeing as will be over on holidays in the Cote d'Azur shortly I am excited at this discovery.

Apparently it is a small museum, but it does have some Robert Doisneau and Jacques Henri Lartigue prints.

The annual dilemma - what to pack for holidays?

I always find that no matter how many t-shirts I pack, there is always one that gets worn the most, and some that never get worn at all.

Same with cameras and lenses. No matter how much stuff I bring, one outfit will end up being used and the rest will hardly get taken out.

So this year I am going to attempt to travel light. 

First tough decision: dSLR is going to stay home. I was thinking of maybe just bringing it and a 50mm prime or a 28-75mm zoom, but it means carrying so much weight and bulk. Would really love to have brought the 14-24mm wide angle, but it really is too big, especially with the inevitable tri-pod.

Compact digital camera is an easy decision: Panasonic LX3 always comes along anyway. It's the family work horse for snap shots and video clips. This year it is going to double up as the wide-angle kit of choice. Bean bag (will fill with rice when get there) and gorilla pod will mean I can keep the iso low and with the depth of field available at the minimum aperature of f8, shutter speeds will be mercifully short. I am going to see if I can get a cheap viewfinder for it and see how it performs for street photography too.

In theory, I could just leave it at that, but it wouldn't feel right.  Last few times I have brought an Nikon FM2n with slide or black and white film as it can use the dSLR lenses. This year I am going to bring a Leica M6 and 50mm summicron with b&w film. I was thinking using slide film and converting to b&w once scanned, but I feel I need the extra latitude b&w offers. 

Should be interesting to see how my photographs turn out. I have a good feeling that it will be a case of less is more. 

Zone System explained really well

The Camera Positions Podcast has two excellent episodes on the Zone System, as well as two good pdf handouts to go along with them. Jeff Curtos really does a good job making it easy to understand, and showing that it is not difficult.

Part I is here

and Part II is here

Pocket digital cameras with full frame sensors and any lens you like

Reading an article on Wired on adapters which let you use Leica M mount lenses (or Canon or Nikon) on Sony's new APS-C (half 35mm size) pocket digital cameras (Nex 3 and 5).

This has got me thinking that it can't be long before somebody produces a small and relatively cheap pocket digital camera with a decent full frame (35mm) sensor, which will be able to mount Leica M lenses with an adapter. This will be a serious piece of kit in a small package, at a fraction of the cost of an M9.

With adapters for Canon, Nikon and other manufacturer's lenses, you will have the ultimate travel camera to complement your dSLR, with no need to invest in a duplicate set of lenses, with little compromise on quality.

In many ways it's like a practical version of my own dream product: a drop in digital sensor which is the same shape as a roll of 35mm film with the film pulled out. This mythical product could be for instance dropped into a Nikon FM2 slr or a Leica M3 and you would have the ultimate digital camera for manual camera aficionados.


/Addition 26 July 2010:

Apparently there was a company called Silicon Film working on this product. They went bust and disappeared without a trace it seems.

Camera Obscura

All journeys into photography should start with a camera obscura.

Yesterday I taped up by son's bedroom window with bin bags and masking tape. After cutting a small opening (about the size of a 1 cent coin, only more square than round), the scene outside was rendered upside down and reversed on the wall. We watched trains going by, trees moving in the wind and clouds drifting past.

It wasn't quite a photograph and it wasn't quite a movie. It wasn't really magical either, because it felt too primeval. It was discovering afresh something that was always there, channeling a force of nature. That was the wonder.