Yearly Archives: 2007

Mirror slap in the 5D revisited

Canon 5D

The Custom setting on the mode dial fixes things

In my little experiment to determine the seriousness of mirror slap-induced blur, I concluded that locking up the mirror before taking long exposures on a tripod made sense. Sharpness was improved – not something that would make any diffference for regular prints or web images, but clearly an improvement with big prints.

At the same time I grumbled about the difficulty of finding the right setting on the LCD panel on the rear of the 5D when it came to actually locking up the mirror, a problem compounded by the poor visibility of the LCD screen outdoors. Well, until someone comes up with a neat software fix to reprogram the little used ‘Print’ button on the back of the camera to lock up the mirror, here’s the next best thing.

Set up your camera for your preferred mode of use, go the the LCD screen and set the mirror to lock-up on the first pressure on the shutter release, using Custom Function 12. Now set the mode dial to ‘C’ (the dial to the left of the prism atop the body), go back to the LCD screen and click on ‘Register Camera Settings’. In this way, anytime you set the mode dial to ‘C’ you will have mirror lock-up available.

In my case, the preferred settings are Aperture Priority (meaning I set the camera up with the Mode Dial at ‘Av’), ISO at 250, center area average metering and the RAW file format.

So next time the camera goes on a tripod I will simply move the mode dial to ‘C’ and off we go.


The 5D’s Mode Dial set to ‘C’

André Kertesz

Book reviews, Photographers

Book Review


Click the image to go to Amazon.

With a Hungarian expatriate about to win the French elections – not hard when you are running against an idiot who never read Economics 101, meaning an opponent whose cure for unemployment is to create half a million new government jobs – it seems appropriate to focus today’s journal entry on a Parisian expatriate photographer who also happened to be Hungarian, none other than the great André Kertesz. Kertesz at least had the good sense to leave Paris before the forces of evil took over, a similar sitiuation to that prevailing today in the world’s most gorgeous city. The difference this time is that a more insular America is not about to bail out a country cursed with the muddle headed socialism of fifty years of the Fifth Republic. Like the worthless doorman in my New York apartment of days yore, the only thing most French workers seem good at is walking around, hand outstretched, palm upwards.

The Paris of Kertész’s day was a better place.

This large format 302 page book, available from Amazon, is not cheap but as, to my amazement, I had no definitive Kertesz monograph in my library, I paid up the not inconsiderable price of entry and have to say it was worth every penny.

The book has its frustrations – the difficulty of finding the right illustrations to match the text, the sheer pig headed idiocy of reproducing miniscule prints of his early work sorrounded by acres of white – are the two worst. However, the narrative, broken into the three main periods of Kertesz’s life, is priceless, something you will rarely encounter in any art book. Special note has to be made of Sarah Greenough’s writing in her two essays which address his formative years in Hungary (1894-1925), and the key years in Paris (1925-1936). Erudite, deeply researched and incredibly informative yet never condescending, it’s art writing at its very best.

Anyone growing up with black and white photography – which means largely people my age and older – cannot have but been affected by Kertesz’s work. His unusual compositions, original points of view and tightness of framing all make for compelling imagery.

Kertész by Pindelski, South Bank, London, 1973. Leica M3, 50mm Elmar, TriX

I cannot count the number of my early images I made by looking up or down at severe angles – Kertész’s influence at work.

A key book for any photographer’s collection.

Winston Hofler: Photographer

Photographers

Starting them young

I unleashed our son Winston with his new camera on an unsuspecting world. Not before Winston had tested the shockproof design by dropping his new toy on the floor. It survived. Bravo Olympus! A few moments after arriving home the snaps were processed in Apple’s estimable iPhoto and the best is below.


Photograph by Winston Hofler. Olympus 770SW, ISO 80, 1/320, f/3.5

Well, let’s face it, the boy has what it takes. The modernist composition, the action aspect, the sparse use of color …. it’s all there.

Winnie had banged off no fewer than 270 exposures! Whoa! Winston is five and has already taken more pictures than I did in my first ten years with a camera. I started late – at 7 years of age.

It was intriguing to see how he instantly took to the LCD screen for composition – something I find pretty much unusable. There’s the video generation for you.

Anyway, our boy will be spared the insane tedium of film/processing/scratches and has gone ‘straight to digital’. Lucky man. I can’t think his first book is too far off.

About the Snap: St. James’s Park

About the Snap

St. James’s Park


Date: August, 1973
Place: St. James’s Park, near Pall Mall, London
Modus operandi: Still awestruck with the sheer felicity of my Leica M3
Weather: One of those London summer days that says ‘Perfect’
Time: 11:00 am
Gear: Leica M3, 50mm Elmar
Medium: Kodak TriX
Me: Crikey!
My age: 21

When it comes to the great parks of the world, the list is not long.

Criteria? Mystery. Charm. Style. Class. Like a Rolls Royce. A pleasure to visit time and again.

On my short list, most are pretty old, and I suspect that’s no coincidence.

The first must, of course, be Central Park in New York. No finer tribute exists to the successful integration of city and country. A very special place. No New Yorker has to go far to go to the ‘country’.

Second is Parc Monceau in Paris. Statues. Perfect design. Gorgeous finish. Paris at its very best.

And a very close third, and easily the safest of all, is magnificent St. James’s Park in London. At its North East corner the tourism and grandeur of Trafalgar Square. Yes, the one with the National Gallery with Botticelli’s ‘Portrait of a Young Man’ which I have always wanted to pinch. To the East, Horse Guards Parade and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (what?) and the Treasury. Well, if you are going to count other people’s money, you might as well do it with a nice view. And at the South West corner, Buckingham Palace. In other words, the locale is not too shabby.

As a young lad in London, just graduated from University College, London with an engineering degree (though, in truth, I spent most of my time in the British Museum and at the Courtauld Collection), and about to embark on a career in finance (have you checked English engineers’ salaries?), all seemed well with the world. Still enjoying my taxpayer subsidized Underground Pass, many a happy afternoon would find me in Mayfair and St. James’s Park. After all, I reasoned, if you want to get rich, it cannot hurt to hang out where the rich do.

And it was one of those idyllic days that caught me rambling through St. James’s Park attracted, like a bee to pollen, by the sound of the Guards’ marching band making its way down Pall Mall to Buckingham Palace.

Yet even my poor peripheral sight caught the Ladies on the Park Bench. And Old Jock, of course. Clearly I wasn’t really fast with that Leica yet, as three of the four spotted me.

Anyway, I hope you like this gentle appreciation of all that is good and great about England – its people, their eccentricity and this fabulous meeting place.