Brisbane Camera Club

We had a great three days with the BCC. Here are a selection of shots from our workshops with them.

Weekend With the Brisbane Camera Club

This Weekend I'm with the Brisbane Camera Club and taking them to my favourite places around the island. Friday night we walked the Cape Track and had perfect conditions for beautiful landscapes and critter photos. Here's a small sample from the walk.

These were taken with the Fujifilm XT3 and 100-400mm (wildlife shots) or the XPro2 and 10-24mm (landscapes).

Wilson’s Prom - Custom Weekend Workshop

This weekend we swagged out at Wilson’s Prom with three other great photographers anticipating a weekend photography adventure.

We started off hunting critters down near the old Yanakie airstrip. We came across a couple of 100lbs, 6-foot tall overpowered chickens doing their thing and keeping a wary eye on us at the same time. You don’t realise how big and powerful Emus are until you are too close to get away if one decided to pound your face in the dirt with its massive clod hopping feet.

Also hanging out in the tall grass were a chilled group of Grey Kangaroos. They were enjoying the very short bit of sunshine we would have on this day.

Inside a boggy gloomy area we ran across this very old, and I’m sure wise, Swamp Wallaby. I kept thinking I have seen this critter before and as we were departing his territory I’m sure I heard him whisper ‘May the Force be with you”.

We went from critter hunting to the Big Drift. I reckon the big drift is aptly named cause it’s exposed head on to howlng winds straight from Antarctica that pushes enough sand around to fill the Grand Canyon, no lie! The winds were certainly roaring and we battled hurricane-force winds to get our shots of this neverending sand vista. I even pulled out the ND filters and tried a little long exposure photography however me and the tripod had trouble staying upright. We left the Big Drift with an appreciation of the sheer power of Mother Nature and nice sandblasted facials. I’m sure we all looked younger that evening.

We retired to our cosy, some would say coffin-like, swags and spent the night drifting in and out of sleep as rain gently drizzled across the top of the swag only inches from my head. We woke before daybreak and set up to capture the sunrise over the Prom. We were delighted with the exact opposite conditions of the previous night - nice, calm and warm. Our early morning rise paid off as we witnessed a gorgeous sunrise.

After breakfast, we adventured down to the walkway through luscious forest to Whiskey Bay. Although we did not find any whiskey in Whiskey bay, we found heaps of Blue Bottles. We got up close and personal shooting macros of these tiny stinging creatures. We had a great morning exploring the Bay with our cameras. However, I’m sure I found the remnants of a Zombie Australasian Ganet in the sand.

On the hike out of Whiskey Bay we passed a Red Bellied Black snake sunning on a rock. The snake was kind enough to remain still while we all took turns getting a few macro shots but we quickly decided that it was best to leave the snake to sunbake and get out of there without the need of antivenom.

All in all it was a great weekend - no one got lost, injured, eaten or maimed and we all came away with new friendships and stunning photos.

Long Exposure Athabasca Filter Workshop - the Photos

Yesterday at the Slow Exposure Workshop I took over 800 images on digital (only 36 on 35mm film ;-) ). I edited a couple of them last night very quickly before bed. I have had a little more time today to go through and edit them properly.

Here's a better set from last night's workshop.

These were taken on a Fujifilm XT3, 10-24mm using Athabasca Camera Filters ND 6 filter to cut light into the camera and allow us to take a 1/4 to 1/2 second exposure.

Sunday Night's One to One Workshop and Wind

What is about Sunday nights on Cape Woolamai? Last night we had a One to One workshop with Amy and her Mom Janet. It was raining just before the workshop started but I was betting on it ending soon. Luckily the rain blew away but the wind stayed around all evening. Regardless of wind we did have some beautiful light and got a few stunning photos. The movement of the grass to the wind during golden hour was a spectacular sight. I hope the photos does it justice.

We reserve Sunday nights for One to One custom workshops. If you are interested in booking one, message me, Sundays are beginning to book out for November.

These were shot with a Fujifilm X Series AU XPro2 and a Samyang Optics Australia 12mm f/2.0 lens

Wild & Wooli Basic Camera Workshop

Wild and Wooli Basic Workshop
Although the conditions were wild and wooli, we had the perfect light for the Adventure Based Basic Workshop last night.

The Fujifilm X Series AU cameras I use have old 35mm film simulations built into them. You can also create new film simulations in the camera. Last night I used an Agfa Optima and Kodachrome like film simulations while shooting.

These are JPGS, not edited RAW files. Pretty cool!

If you shoot a Fujifilm X Series AU camera, you can find some amazing custom film simulations here: https://fujixweekly.com/recipes/

Session 1 of the Mega Weekend #8

Wow, Benjamin Eriksson Photography and I just finished our Megaphotography #8 weekend workshop. We kicked the weekend off Saturday afternoon with a stunning model shoot on the beach with the lovely Brooke Morgan Modelling. Here are a few shots from that Session.

BTW - Ben does have a Fujifilm XT2 around his neck. I reckon it's only time before he ditches those Canons!

These were shot on a Fujifilm X Series AU XT3 and 50-140mm or a XPro2 and a 10-24mm.

Special Thanks to all of our sponsors:
Samyang Optics Australia - LENSES LENSES and LENSES
MeFoto Australia - Lots of cool tripods
The Sheltered Glamping Co. - Best Accomm on the island hands down (did I mention our mate Randall, the owner, was featured in national Geographic - true story!)
Athabasca Filters - Awesome ND and Grad Glass!
PROtog - Te People behind Athabasca Filters!
and YourFramer - online custom framing - Where we print these awesome shots!

Click the image to scroll to the next one.

ISO Invariance

XT3, Samyang 12mm f/2.0
ISO 400, f/2, 30seconds - edited and unedited in LIghtroom.
(Yes, that's ISO 400!)

I know the Fujifilm sensors have a considerable amount of ISO invariance (as do many other cameras - Sony and Nikon for example). Invariance is an insanely complex topic involving protons, analogue amplification, digital amplification etc etc that I am way too dense to really understand. That means that after a certain point, ISO really does not matter too much and you will get a similar result just by increasing RAW file exposure in post.

However, I believe there is a sweet spot for Fujifilm invariance. Last night I did some test shots using various ISO settings. I concluded that my cleanest shots - less noise to light ratio - were shot at ISO 400 then the exposure was increased in Lightroom on the RAW file.

Here's my ISO 400 example - the complete ISO 400 edited file and the straight out of camera ISO400 RAW file.

Does anybody have any views?

Next week I will talk more about my view of focus stacking and multiple exposure shots for Astrophotography - it may be a little controversial 

Cheeky Wallabies

This afternoon I hung out with some of my best mates, Phillip Island Swamp Wallabies. They were very cheeky posers with one even sticking his tongue out at me!

These were all taken with a FUJIFILM Australia XT3 camera and a Fujifilm 100-400mm lens.

35mm Old School Pocket Rockets

A Comparison of the Ricoh 500g, Rollei XF 35 & Olympus Trip 35

The popularity and price of point and shoot 35mm film cameras from the late 80’s and 90’s have significantly increased over the past two years. Most of these more ‘modern’ point and shoot cameras are made from mainly plastic materials and the good ones have nice glass and delivers sharp photos. I can’t afford one of these trendy retro cameras and I also don’t care for their look and feel. I decided to look back to the birth of the point and shoot film camera and compare three beautiful inexpensive machines from the late 60’s and 70’s and see if they could deliver nice photos today.

Click on the image below to see other views.

The Ricoh 500g

• Date Introduced - 1972

• ISO Range - 64-800

• Lens - 40mm f/2.8 

• Exposure Modes - Shutter Priority and Manual

• Price - I paid $80AU for this one on Gumtree - an Australian buy and sell site. 

The Ricoh500g was introduced by Ricoh in 1972. It was also sold by Sears as the Sears 35RF. It can shoot in manual mode or shutter priority mode. The 500g caught my eye because of the retro-cool 1970’s chrome and black steel body in an ultra-small size. They are not rare and after some research, I found this one on Gumtree and paid $80AU for a camera that was advertised as fully functioning.

Inside the viewfinder is a bright needle that points to the correct aperture for the shutter speed. The markings are big and bold and easy to read. The aperture ring, shutter ring and focus is all packed onto the tiny lens barrel so quickly adjusting settings and focus can be a challenge especially if you have big fingers. The exposure meter works as long as you stick in common LR44 button batteries. The beauty here is that the camera can be used on manual mode without batteries (this is without the exposure meter).

It uses the standard yellow rangefinder patch in the centre of the viewfinder for focus. It’s pretty bright and easy to see making focusing easy even if you are not used to rangefinders. Most of the time I am shooting subjects that are 10+ meters away and leave the lens focused to infinity for quick shooting

The Zeiss Tessar based Rikkenon f/2.8 lens is surprisingly sharp and renders great contrast. When pointed towards the sun, there's also a nice diamond-shaped flare that is thrown across the image.

The film advance is a short throw and sounds like a wind-up children's toy. Equally the shutter has a unique kid’s toy ‘plink’ sound to it. It’s not as satisfying or definitive sounding as the clunk sound of a Pentax Spotmatic but fun nonetheless. It’s small size and quirky and quiet shutter make this camera a great stealth street shooter.

As more and more cameras become trendy icons and see their prices skyrocket, this little guy is the dark horse of the small rangefinder family.

Here are three frames from the Ricoh 500g, click on the image for the next in the gallery.

Rollei XF 35

• Date Introduced - 1974

• ISO Range - 25-400

• Lens - 40mm f/2.3 (made in Germany)

• Exposure Modes - Auto only

• Price - I paid $35 (a steal!) for this one on Gumtree - an Australian buy and sell site. 

This 1974 little compact rangefinder was manufactured by Rollei in Singapore of metal and plastic materials. Its f/2.3 Sonnar lens made by Carl Zeiss was its distinct selling point. Rollei also owned Voitlander at the time and the camera was also released as the Voitlander VF 135. The camera was only in production until 1980 so there are not that many of them still laying around today.

The Rollei XF 35 is a sexy little camera with ergonomics to suit a BMW. It’s the little brother to the fully manual Rollei 35s. The XF 35 is small and fully auto. There is no adjustment for aperture on the lens (or anywhere else) but that makes grabbing the focus ring feel quicker and easier than on the Ricoh. There’s no option to choose shutter speed or aperture in the little black box. It’s a true point and shoot camera. 

The viewfinder is big and bright and although its all automatic, the viewfinder tells you the shutter speed and aperture used for the given shot. The Rollei has the typical rangefinder patch focus that is also bright and easy to use. 

It has a satisfying metal film advance that sits flush with the camera making very nice ergonomic feel. The camera is basically the exact same size as the Ricoh 500g but has a much sleeker/refined look and feel.

Here are three photos from the Rollei XF 35, click on the image for the next in the gallery.

Olympus Trip 35

• Date Introduced - 1967

• ISO Range - 25-400

• Lens - 40mm f/2.8

• Exposure Modes - Auto only

• Price - This camera was completely cleaned, lubricated and adjusted (CLA) add all new leatherette added by Mark Hill from South Australia. Mark charges around $265 for a completely refurbished Trip 35.

I would consider this as one of the original point and shoot cameras. Olympus introduced the Trip to consumers in 1967 and manufactured roughly 10,000,000 by the time they were discontinued in 1984. The Trip was originally designed to be a point and shoot camera that was easy and convenient to use on vacation and it took good photos. 

The Trip 35 was one of the first cameras to have a quality lens and take good photos but did not require any photography knowledge. The camera chooses the aperture and then uses either 1/40th or 1/200th shutter speed depending on conditions. 

The viewfinder is brighter than either the Ricoh 500g or Rollei XF35. I’m not sure if this is because my Trip 35 has been professionally clean and adjusted restoring it to mint condition or if the viewfinder is just better than the other two. 

Focus is achieved via a zone focus system. There are 4 icons on the focus barrel equating to 4 focus zones to choose from - portrait (1m), 2 people (1.5m), a group (3m) or landscapes (infinity focus). As long as you remember to change the zone depending on the shot, focus is dead simple.

The Trip 35 does not require batteries. It has a selenium cell around the lens that powers the exposure meter. As long as the selenium cell is still active, everything works as it should.

Here are three photos from the Olympus Trip 35, click on the image for the next in the gallery.

Conclusion

I love each of these three little cameras. They are all perfect for throwing in the camera bag alongside other gear or to carry in the jacket pocket. They are perfect for taking photos of those times when you would normally not have a camera and they take these photos very well. 

The Ricoh 500g is the only one of the three that allows manual adjustment of aperture and shutter speed so if you must have a manual camera, this is the only one of the three that will float your boat. But for me I was looking for a true point and shoot camera where I could very quickly take a shot and not necessarily manually read an exposure meter and change aperture and shutter.

If I could only have one of these cameras I’d probably reach for the Olympus Trip 35. It performs the role of a compact point and shoot exceptionally well plus it does not require batteries. The Trip 35 is also a little more ergonomic with slightly rounded corners giving it that tiny edge in the ‘feels’ department.

If you are looking for a small compact film camera with a quality lens that won’t break the bank, you won’t go wrong with any one of these three.

San Remo Fishing Festival

Great day in the sun at the Fishing Festival today. Here are a few shots from the festival including of the Blessing of the fleet, the Fishing comp, scallop cooking demonstration and the very fun Deckie's Challenge.

9 Man, 9 Lives

Over the past two years, I have had the pleasure of having Amanda and Ian attend many of my workshops from Wilson's Prom, to Megaphotography Weekends to most of the topic based Saturday workshops.

I am so proud of Amanda for her determination, focus and creativity in pursuing her personal photography project 9 Men, 9 Lives. I em equally honoured to be a subject in this exhibition and one of the chosen 9 that Amanda has photographed and interviewed.

I encourage you all to join me on Sunday 13th of October in Sorrento for the launch of 9 Men, 9 Lives.

Models, Filters, Filters, Star Trails & Filters!

Hello Photographers!

The last day to preregister is 1 Sept 2019 for the Benjamin Eriksson Photography and Photo Rangers Mega Photography Weekend #8. All who pre-register get the great discounted rate of $395 as well as going into the draw to win a printed and framed pict of your favourite image from the weekend provided by YourFramer - online custom framing!

For Mega #8 we will be shooting with Athabasca Filters and have extra filters on hand for participants to try out for the weekend. Our itinerary will look something like:

12 - 2pm Creative Model Photo Shoot

2:30 -4:30pm Long Exposure Day Workshop

5:00 - 7:00pm Long Exposure Sunset Workshop

DINNER BBQ

9 - 11pm Airplane and Star Trails

6 - 8am Long Exposure Sunrise Shoot

10-12pm Lightroom/Photoshop Workshop

More details can be found under Events on this site or https://www.facebook.com/events/499902257252430/

or just jump straight to the Pre-registration page to grab your place today: https://www.trybooking.com/BCZMR

If you have any questions contact Benjamin Eriksson Photography or us today.

How are these photos all shot with the amazing Athabasca Filter system?

Lemons

The old saying goes when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Here's my lemonade for today. On a cloudy rather dreary day I looked for something interesting to shoot. The colours, textures and shapes of this flower patch caught my eye. I loved the contrast of dark and dusty colour between the grey greens of the aloe and the orangy pink of the flower. ⁠

I used a vintage Russian Helios 44m-4 lens. They were made between 1958-1992 and display unique properties when adapted to a modern digital camera. The bokeh or out of focus highlights can exhibit a 'swirl' pattern given the right background. I didn't have the background to get this swirl bokeh effect in this shot but at f/2, this little 50mm lens can give stunning results.⁠

I purchased a cheap adapter from K&F Concepts on Ebay (~$25AU) to be able to mount this lens (m42 mount) to my Fujifilm Digital cameras. for this image, I had the lens on my Fujifilm XPro-2.⁠

Being a very old lens made for a completely different camera mount, there is no auto focus or auto aperture control. There is no communication between the lens and camera meaning that I need to manually adjust the aperture and focus to get the shot. ⁠

Here's the end result. All in all, I'm very happy with how this turned out.⁠

SETTINGS⁠

Fujifilm XPro-2 | m42 adapter | Helios 44m-4 f/2.0 lens | ISO400 | 1/200sec | f/2.0⁠

⁠

The Soviet Leica

The first frame out of the 1948 Zorki. A Soviet duplicate of the Leica III, I was concerned about the quality and sharpness of this 71 yr old camera and lens but I should not have worried. I'm thrilled with the results!

Shot with Kodak Ektar 100 film. Developed and scanned by Analogue Academy.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Oh yeah and we've had a full morning of sleet and hail to give the ground a nice white coating. Bundle up today cause it's a cold and windy one!

ALSO - a reminder that the early bird pricing for the MegaPhotography Weekend #8 is only available for 6 more days and those who pre-register have a chance to win a stunning framed print of their favourite shot from the event from YourFramer - online custom framing. See under 'Events' for details.

I'm moving back close to my little electric heater. Cheers

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Benjamin Eriksson Photography and Photo Rangers are excited to partner with our new MegaPhotography Weekend sponsor YourFramer - online custom framing.

YourFramer is offering an A2 sized framed print of your favourite photo from MegaPhotography Weekend #8, a $150+ value, mailed to the home of a lucky participant of who registers for MegaPhotography Weekend #8 during the Early Registration period - Between now and 1 September.

We will randomly draw the lucky winner from all those registered during a live drawing on the evening of 1 September.

There are 10 tickets remaining for this workshop, register now to get the early bird discounted price and a chance to win a beautifully printed and framed photo from the weekend!

More info on the MegaPhotography Weekend #8
https://www.photorangers.com.au/events/2019/10/5/mega-photography-weekend-8

BOOKINGS: https://www.trybooking.com/BERGV

Haunted House

Here's something different. earlier this week I was challenged to do a photoshoot inside a very dark haunted house themed attraction at Phillip Island- Amaze'n Things . There were ghouls popping out of every corner, scary Donny Darkoish rabbits jumping out of paintings among many other scary things is those narrow dark corridors. I did manage to get a few long exposure shots and I thought they turned out pretty spooky!

I made it out alive and even managed a cheeky photoshoot with a rabbit in a hat.

Shot with a Fujifilm XT3, 10-24mm

Photo Rangers Facebook Community - Week 32

WEEK 32 Challenge

Hey Guys, I want to again thank Ross McGrath for his stellar job of hosting the challenges last month. I loved the Black and White challenges.

This month, I'll take the reins again and will be focusing on the art of 'seeing' in your photography. I will be asking you to have a greater awareness of what's in your field of view. I want to widen your scope of what's in your personal consciousness and finding shots that you would have normally bypassed.

This week, I want you to pay attention to signs - signs of any kind - street signs, billboards, advertisements, graffiti and etc. If a sign catches your attention, think about what caught your eye in the first place. Look at the sign from multiple angles and views to find your photo of the sign. If it caught your eye, there must be a worthy image in there somewhere, you just have to find it.

Here's one I found today and edited in Black and White.

Join the fun in our Facebook Community here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/photorangerscommunity/

MegaPhotography Weekend #7

Maybe it was lucky number 7 but we had perfect conditions in every single workshop we conducted over the weekend.

Here's a collection of images through the weekend.

For Intimate Landscapes we had mood brooding skies and awesome natural rocks, lichens and vegetation.

For the Sunset and Long exposure workshop we were expecting a cloud choked sunset and were surprised when colour popped and gave us a beautiful show.

The clouds parted for our Astro and Lightpainting workshops and folks got some great photos of the Milky Way.

On Sunday the winds were calm and conditions perfect to spot whales. We sotted the first pod of whales within 5 minutes of leaving Rhyll Jetty!

We even got a brief tour around Seal Rocks and got to see (and smell) these beautiful creatures close up and personal.

A big thank you to ALL of our participants, they were the single greatest factor in making the weekend such a smashing success.

We also want to thank our sponsors and supporters:
The Sheltered Glamping Co.
Samyang Optics Australia
MeFoto Australia
Athabasca Filters
Wildlife Coast Cruises

Maxxum Pty Ltd
PROtog