All posts by Thomas Pindelski

About Thomas Pindelski

The author

Wishful thinking

Photographs

Hopes dashed

While the young woman searches for something in her purse and her pup gazes into the distance, the old guy ponders on what might have been.


G1, 14mm, 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 100

No time to even think about this one. Just an instinctive press of the button. At 17th and Hampshire in the Potrero district of San Francisco.

The hand strap shown here is ideal for this sort of thing, though the vendor has seen fit to put a big rivet through the strap half way up – unlike what the picture shows – which limits the extent to which it can be shortened. As it is, the strap is an inch or two too long at it’s shortest setting. I need to find something a photographer designed.

Another snap:


G1, 20mm, 1/200, f/11, ISO 100

And a third:


G1, 24mm, 1/100, f/11, ISO100

John Rawlings

Photographers

Forgotten but great

Take the style of Hoyningen-Huene and the class of Horst, add a dollop of good old American humor and what do you get?

Why, John Rawlings, of course.

If you like your fashion with a touch of spice and irreverence, you need go no further.

The book is out of print, but the photography remains splendid. It’s called “John Rawlings: 30 Years in Vogue” and you can find it on the web. Depending on your point of view, it’s either dead cheap or you just don’t get it.

From light to bulk

Canon 5D, Micro Four-Thirds

Quite a contrast

I took our boy to a show of Russian and Chinese 1950-era aircraft the past weekend and, because detail was the order of the day, took along the 5D and a couple of lenses.

Quite a change from the G1 when it comes to bulk and weight!

The 5D has marginally better shutter and focus response, though unless sports action is your thing, it’s not a significant difference. On the other hand, the 5D is much noisier (the camera, not the images!) and of course weighs several times as much. The 5D’s viewfinder seems positively dim after the G1’s EVF, although it renders colors and dynamic range more realistically outdoors. Indoors, while the G1 may show some noise, it is in a different league. I simply fail to understand why so many commentators have criticized the G1’s EVF for noise in poor light. Which would you prefer? A dim image in a 5D or like camera, or a really bright and easily discerned one in the G1 with a touch of noise? No contest. Maybe these critics should try to take pictures with their charges?


Commie prop. 5D, 200mm ‘L’ at f/3.5, ISO 250

It was an interesting exercise. Simply stated, comparing digital and film eras, the 5D is to medium format what the G1 is to the Leica M. With the 5D grain is not an issue and just about anything you snap will enlarge to a print size of choice. The G1, like 35mm film equipment, needs greater care. If you are going to push the size of your prints and the ISO setting, be prepared for compromises. The difference is likely to be less as time passes and technology marches on. While film peaked in quality years ago, digital is just getting started.

The working man

Photographs

Nothing changes

When I was a kid growing up in London, I always used to wonder at public works employees. You would invariably see one man digging a hole while four or five others watched.

Much the same philosophy applies in the US, though as a nominally capitalist economy, we have reduced the worker:watcher ratio to 1:1 which, I suppose, is a bargain for the taxpayer.


G1, 1/100, f/6.3, ISO 100

I watched these chaps for a couple of minutes and can attest that the fat one did absolutely nothing during that time. Spotted in The Tenderloin the other day.