general photography disussion

[milesofsparks]

hey, let's talk about taking pictures!  I don't want to sully the lovely photo thread with technical talk, so here we go.

I need to clean my Canon Digital Rebel sensor.  the auto-clean just ain't cutting it.  can I do this myself?  any advice?  thanks!

[alexandra]

you can! there are actually brush (more like special weird q-tips) kits. It's been so long since I did anything digital though, so i can't recommend one.

[milesofsparks]

I have to go to b&h sometime soon anyway...  but is a brush better than some kind of good blower (I only have a little one)?  I don't want to fuck anything up.

edit:  like this?

[alexandra]

the giotto blowers rule.

here's the company i remember that had realllly good stuff: http://www.visibledust.com/

[milesofsparks]

cool--thanks!

[diesel_powered]

Drop some serious dough on a good cleaning system rather than the q-tip/fluid method. Fragile is an understatement with those sensors.

Also, better camera shops will do it for you with their big professional systems for like $20.

[alexandra]

Visible dust is what our shop used, when I worked at K&M

[Bernard]

"Find out all the facts why the Zeeion™ blower is an innovative, safe product that is highly effective against sensor dust removal."

So it ... prevents dust from being removed from your sensor? What an odd product.

In other exciting news I now have a million 35mm cameras, and have just bought five rolls of B&W film, two brands, three speeds. My dad gets back from vacation next week and I'll see if he still has his old gear so I can process the film myself. Excited! The film was not too expensive -- $24 for all 5 rolls, so if I can process it at home and scan the negatives it should be a reasonably-priced hobby. Because I need another hobby so bad.

[Bernard]

Wait how come nobody told me you can process film in coffee.

[Ignatius]

Because there are some things which you must discover for yourself, bernard.

[diesel_powered]

Because while it's a cool trick, it's pretty imprecise.

Basically, if you want to swing towards the toy camera route and you're into chaos and all that kinda thing, the coffee/vitamin C method is fun. In fact, even if you're not, it's worth trying out at least once.

But, if you're into the whole Ansel Adams choosing-the-image-is-art-printing-the-image-is-science thing, get some real developer. And either way, you'll still need fixer.

[Bernard]

It's not something I'm going to do with my best friend's wedding photos or anything, but dang, I'm totally going to try it at least once. Come on, I'm so into stuff like this. It doesn't make me think of toy cameras as much as it makes me think of liquid nitrogen ice cream (which I will be trying very soon). This is so totally science!

[diesel_powered]

Oh fuck yeah, just don't expect any precisionist masterpieces. I mean, that kind of science stuff is exactly why I got into photography.

[alexandra]

Wait how come nobody told me you can process film in coffee.

I DID!

[Bernard]

Dude, you totally did! But I thought you just meant I needed energy! I'm so sorry, I should have paid closer attention.

[milesofsparks]

hey digital photo peeps:  is anybody shooting in raw?  if so, what's your workflow?  do you edit the pix then delete the raw files?  or do you have a small server farm out back where you keep them?  I've been using raw, which is mighty handy for a beginner to see the effects and fix things after the fact (especially white balance), but I fear I have create a monster, file-storage-wise.

[alexandra]

When I was shooting digital, I would shoot raw files, and save the ones that were worth it on smaller cf cards. Then archive those with the shoot date.

[Bernard]

Have just done my first bit of processing with coffee + vitamin c. Looks like shit! So fun! Can't wait to try it again.

[alexandra]

YAY! it's pretty great!

[Bernard]

So my problem is, possibly, that I ... underdeveloped it? It's pretty black all the way to the edges. Am I thinking it backward?

[alexandra]

how long did you do it for?

also:
http://www.lomography.com/magazine/tipster/2009/03/21/diy-c-41-film-coffee-process
http://www.lomography.com/magazine/tipster/2009/06/28/tipster-of-the-week-your-kitchen-is-my-darkroom

[Bernard]

Hm, only 15 min. I did overexpose the whole roll 1 stop. My recipe is pretty close to the one listed there. You know, I think a lot of my problem is actually with my scanner. I'm just using a regular flatbed scanner, and even with a nice-looking negative developed with regular chemistry, I am getting super shitty images. I'm having quite a lot of fun so I'm not heartbroken or anything, but would like to understand the whole process better.

[alexandra]

ohhh, it's not a film scanner? just plain flatbed without the removable white thing and negative holders? if that's the case, i would check the negs out in regular light and see if they are really as dark as you think.

[Bernard]

Yeah, having scanned some other negatives that look fine and gotten similar results, I think it's a scanner issue. I'm ok with that, and might spring for a proper one. With what I spent on this stupid Mandarin class that is so useless, I could've bought a nice negative scanner.

[diesel_powered]

Worthwhile enough negative scanners are pretty cheap these days. If you have an image you need to blow up to billboard size, pay someone to drum scan it.