Idiots guide to reflex photography

[selamlar]

I have recently obtained/been given/inherited the following bits of kit:

Olympus E500 dSLR with the following accessories:

Olympus 50mm F2 Macro ZUIKO ED Digital Lens

ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 18-180mm 1:3.5-6.3

OLYMPUS ZUIKO DIGITAL 40-150mm (80-300mm) f3.5-4.5

OLYMPUS ZUIKO 14-45mm f3.5-5.6 EZ Digital Zoom Lens

FL-36
Digital dedicated electronic flash

Plus a Rolleiflex TLR.

I am a complete beginner when it comes to anything more than 'point-and-click' photography, so the questions are:

1) Can anyone recommend a beginners/idiots guide/tell me how to use these? The Olympus has sheeet loads of automatic setting, but I want to learn to use them properly

2) Is there anything I need to get? Im guessing a tripod would be good but over and above that, I have no idea! Are there any obvious lenses for the Olympus missing?

Cheers

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Buy a good photography book.

Experiment. The plus side of digital is that you can experiment lots without cost. To learn about depth of field stick your camera on AE (aperture priority auto mode) and take several shots of the same scene with different aperture openings.

Do the same to learn about your lenses. Zoom in and out to see where the lenses are weakest and strongest.

A small, but sturdy tripod would be a good buy. £50 would buy more than good enough.

Lens hoods are worth investing in. Also filters. Polarizer and graduated neutral density filters are always in my camera bag.

Shutter release cables is another cheap and useful accessory.


Get a book.
Read the manuals.
Go out and practice.

 

[selamlar]

Any suggestions for a decent guide?

Have got lens hoods, forgot about those!

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Any suggestions for a decent guide?

Have got lens hoods, forgot about those!

An old copy of The Manual of Photography will cover everything except digital technologies.

or, The New Manual of Photography for digital also.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Manual-Photography-John-Hedgecoe/dp/0789496372

 

[cybertect]

Plus a Rolleiflex TLR.

I'm jealous

 

[KeyboardJockey]

I'm jealous

And me lovely cameras.

 

[selamlar]

But whats the best way to use the fucker? How do I get the advantage of medium format, etc etc

 

[disco_dave_2000]

Any suggestions for a decent guide?

Have got lens hoods, forgot about those!

The key book when I was at college was Micheal Langford's Basic Photography. Not the most exciting read, but covers all the basics - which you'll need with the medium format film camera - and the later editions have some info on digital photography and post-processing.

 

[cybertect]

But whats the best way to use the fucker? How do I get the advantage of medium format, etc etc

The basics will be the same as with the Olympus - learn your way round controlling exposure, framing and depth of field.

Depending on the model you have, you may be in need of a separate light meter to go with the Rollei (though if you have the Oly with you, you might improvise with that to get a reading).

The depth of field with a larger format film that the Rollei uses will be smaller (a slimmer range of things in focus at the same aperture setting). The biggest advantage is that you will get images that can be blown up to a much larger size than you could with 35mm or a crop-body digital. They make for delicious scans from the negative

Square format will also obviously change the approaches you take to composition, as will the likelihood that you will be working with a fixed length lens.

As you're staring down onto the focusing screen with a TLR, it's perhaps slightly more 'stealth' in use than raising the camera to your eye as you would with most other types of camera.

 

[FunkyUK]

Jodies Coston's Free Online Photography Course at morguefile is excellent.

don't overlook the links here, too http://www.urban75.org/photos/photos.html

hope this is useful.

 

[alef]

Good photographs are more about the subject matter than the tools used. What kind of photography interests you? Reading books is good if you like reading books, the key is looking around you, looking at the works of different photographers and just snapping away.

 

[Firky]

I'm jealous

Ditto! I have one but its in bits

 

[cybertect]

Ditto! I have one but its in bits

My dad had a Rolleicord when I was kid, traded up to a Flex and then sold it.

These days he shoots with a modern-ish Yashica TLR and a Canon digital compact that I got him for Xmas a couple of years ago.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

...The depth of field with a larger format film that the Rollei uses will be smaller (a slimmer range of things in focus at the same aperture setting)...

Erm... a mental aberration - we all have them.


The depth of field on MF will actually be greater.


Oh, hold on; 'smaller', 'greater'???

Shallower, deeper?

Practice and learn.


Then ignore every bit of advice you're ever given

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Cybertect is right, it might seem counter-intuitive but the larger the format of the camera the less the depth of field.

Depth of field is the distance between the nearest point in the subject that is in focus and the furthest point in focus.

Depth of field is dependent upon the circle of confusion produced by the lens at any particular f/number.

As the image format increases so does the diagonal of that format which is what determines the focal length of a standard lens.

The longer the focal length of the lens the larger the circle of confusion it produces at any f/number.

In order to try to get back the loss of depth of field, larger format cameras have the ability to set smaller apertures.

There is a limit to how small the apertures can be made however because at very small apertures diffraction at the edges of the aperture causes distortion.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Cybertect is right, it might seem counter-intuitive but the larger the format of the camera the less the depth of field.

Blimey. 30 years of experience dissed in a single sentence!

Or, Two.

 

[cybertect]

It's why cameras with small films/sensors (e.g. 110) can get away without a focusing mechanism.

e2a: DP Review DoF calculator

 

[Stanley Edwards]

...

In order to try to get back the loss of depth of field, larger format cameras have the ability to set smaller apertures...

Ah!

That will be why LF lenses are designed to work best at small apertures. I always tend to think shallow/deep when talking about depth rather than greater/lesser. Stops me brains getting muddled Most times.

 

[selamlar]

Right,

Back to the stupid questions for beginners, this

Ilford Delta 100 ASA 120 Roll

is a relatively slow film, so suitable for what, portrait and landscape?, whereas this

Ilford Delta 400 ASA 120 Roll

is faster and so would tend to produce a grainier image?

Ilford Delta 3200 ASA 120 Roll

is superincrediably fast and I don't want it?
I am assuming that 120 it the right size film for the rollieflex?

SE, going back to filters, I have to get a different size filter for each lens? Or are there adjustable ones?

 

[Stanley Edwards]

SE, going back to filters, I have to get a different size filter for each lens? Or are there adjustable ones?

Two different types of filter system. Screw fitting filters are different sizes for different lenses, but you can buy adapter rings so, you wouldn't have to buy more than one filter of any single type. However, you can pick them up very cheaply on ebay and I would recommend getting separate filters for the Rollie and the 35mm SLR.

Second type is the square filter system. An attachment that fits to the lens as a filter holder. Only really suitable for studio/controlled lighting use.

I always use a large lens hood when using filters to prevent light flare.

You've got the right idea about the film. In bright conditions 100 ASA is fast enough for most subjects. My personal preference is to always use the slowest film possible with a tripod. I'm currently shooting portraits in bars at night with 100 ASA.