Shooting with a Probe Lens

Innovision Probe Lens System

So I have this Innovision Probe lens from back in my days doing Visual Effects for TV and Movies. I have an adapter to use it with the old Canon FD mount. I also have an FD to EF adapter. So I decided to sick this on my Canon T2i and see what would happen.
There are 3 lenses in this particular set that I have, but for todays shooting, I stuck with the 16mm. All three "lenses" screw to the front of the unit, but the focus ring, and iris are all closer to the camera side. Wide open, this lens system is a very slow T-16.
("t" as opposed to "f". This was a cinema lens so it uses the "t-stop". A simple explanation of the difference is: f-stops are mathematically figured by a ratio of the focal length of the lens divided by the aperture diameter. A t-stop includes in the calculation the light loss caused by the light passing through the element. A more detailed explanation is available here. )

Door Track

To be honest, I hadn't put much thought into shooting stills with this. I guess it saw it more as a gag to move the camera through impossibly small places in a movie, and not very useful in a still. Then I thought that the extra couple feet in front of the lens might make for some unique points of view. And in the end, isn't that a great part of photography? showing people things they see all the time, in a way they have never seen them?

This First photograph is from within the door track to the part of the sliding glass door in my apartment that never gets used (and is in fact behind the couch).  The shallow depth of field, and unique perspective really stood out in this photograph to me. (After shooting this, I am seriously thinking of hiring a cleaning service)

Shooting a piece of Coral

The weight of this lens is pretty intense (especially for my plastic bodied Canon T2i , it may not be a concern on a metal bodied camera like the 7D , or 5D ). I shot these photographs with the camera either on the floor, or a desk. I also carried it by the lens so that the weight of the lens wouldn't put undue stress on my lens mount. In the first photograph of the unit (in the case, at the top of the page) there is a cradle system for the lens. I need to figure out how to rig that to work with this camera body before I do a lot more shooting with this system.

To the right, is the Photograph taken in the setup above. I was amazed at how close to the lens I could get, and still achieve focus. (The out of focus area in the foreground was able to be focused on at less then 1/2 an inch from the front of the glass, but that photograph wasn't as ascetically pleasing as this one so...).

So now to think of new ways to play, and new things to photograph with this lens system. If you have any ideas, post them in the comments section.

iPhone close-up

* Check out my other blog for some real cool vintage photos

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Shooting Regina Bailey

I have been neglecting this Blog. I became to focused on trying to come up with a "lesson", that I stopped writing all together. Well, I think I'm just going to post some pretty pictures and ramble a bit instead. I recently upgraded to Adobe Creative Suite CS6, and was getting used to the new Photoshop (my previous version was CS2 I believe). I found myself looking through files of photographs looking for stuff to play around with in Photoshop, and as I often do, I ended up in my Regina Bailey Folder.
Regina is an amazing Model that I have known for quite some time now. I have never been much for commercial photography, and have actually tried to avoid it at many times in my life. For me, Photography is therapeutic. Clients usually just annoy me. I am, however, usually available to shoot for friends. As a result, I have many wonderful photographs of Regina. I figured I would share a few with you. The Photo at the top of this page is a favorite of mine. The soft, dark, blues and greens in the background offer a contrast to the bright warmth of Regina's face. Her maroon top balances her warmth and the cool of the background. Her eyes gaze off, up into the distance. This photo was shot digitally.
The photograph on the right was shot on 35mm B&W film, processed and printed by me. I love the playfulness of this photograph. She walks into the chaos of light and shadow ahead. Briefly pausing to turn back, giggle, and beckon you to follow. Her eyes turned down shyly bring a feel of youthful curiosity as to what lies ahead in the darkness.

This next shot was also on B&W film. I think this was 6x4.5, but I'm to lazy to go dig for the negative to say for sure.
This photo makes me smile. The amazed look, as if seeing something new and exciting for the first time, and the band-aid on the head that says, "Yes,  I have been hurt, but that won't stop me"
The last photo I'm going to share in this post is a 3D photograph. Shot on a Stereo Realist Camera (that you can see me holding in mirrors reflection.). I used the two separate images from the negative to make the 3D Anaglyph (for more info on how to make 3D anaglyphs see my tutorial here).
If you look back through the posts on this blog, you will see many other Photographs I shot of Regina. If you look at my website, my Flickr, or Deviant Art sites you will find more there also. I will share more with you in the future, and over the years, I will shoot even more to share.

* Check out my other blog for some real cool vintage photos
view my website daviddefino.com
buy my prints at Deviant Art
buy accessories with my photos
follow me on twitter

Canon f/1.8 50mm review

The Canon f/1.8 50mm

 I am not a big fan of the 50mm in general. Recently, I was shooting a short film, and the director wanted a shallow depth of field, and very "minimalistic" lighting. So I was shooting at f/2.8. I was using my set of FD mount Canon primes (with an adapter). In one scene, I was shooting across a dining room table. It became apparent that my 24mm was to wide, so I reluctantly grabbed the 50mm. To my horror, the iris was seized up. I ended up getting the shot with my 85mm, and backing up a bit. After we wrapped, I knew I had to buy a new 50mm. Should a buy another old FD? I decided to look at Canons current offers (as I had no EF primes). Canon makes 3 different 50mm lenses. The f/1.2 L USM Lens , the f/1.4 USM , and the f/1.8 II . As someone who is no fan of the 50mm, (and a bit lacking in the finances at the moment) I decided to just grab the econo model f/1.8. 

My First 35mm SLR

I Think I know where my distaste for the 50mm came from. In 1993 I bought my first 35mm SLR. It was a Fujica, all manual, M42 mount, and it had a 55mm lens on it. It wasn't a bad lens, it was just the only lens I had... for 2 years. I became tired of it. Tired of the look it gave. Eventually I discovered used camera shows, and was able to afford my first zoom. I never looked back. The 50 was dead to me.

Apple Keyboard & Mouse

This New lens was different. Now I am sure the L-series 50 is an incredible lens (my 14, and 24 are L-series, and the continue to amaze me.), But for the price of the 1.8, I don't think you can go wrong. At 1/10th the price of the L-series, this is an amazing lens. If you don't have any primes, the extra f-stops will come in handy (all my zooms are 3.5). If you do have primes, then the 50mm will be a great mid focal length addition.
All of the shots in the post (with the exception of the photo of my Canon camera with the 50mm lens on it) were shot using this lens. These last three photos were shot locked off on a tripod. I was set to auto shutter speed, and 200 asa for all three shots. The first was shot at f/1.8, and the last shot at f/11. The lens was able to give a good quality image through all stops, and a good range of depth of field. I would call the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens a must have for anyone who owns a Canon DSLR.

Canon f/1.8 50mm 

* Check out my other blog for some real cool vintage photos
view my website daviddefino.com
buy my prints at Deviant Art
buy accessories with my photos
follow me on twitter