Mamiya M645 1000S & Bergger Pancro 400

Posted on October 11, 2020 by obn

After cleaning the camera, renewing the light seals of the film compartment and checking basic functionality I can finally fill up a roll of 120 black&white film into this Mamiya M645 1000S, quite a step up in medium format camera compared to the Agfa Billy Record. With 6×4.5 it will be 15 pictures, and already three test shots have been done to see if the lens alignment is sharp at the distances selected.

Let’s see how the result will look like. Used the 35mm version of the Bergger Pancro 400 together with the Minolta X-700 before so it will be quite interesting to see how the grain will look on three times larger images. Hopefully soon I can show the results.

Also I’m very interested in how my digitising process will hold up compared to 35mm film. Currently I do it with the Fujifilm X-T2 and the 7artisans 60mm Macro lens which works quite well.

Lightroom Classic CC 7.3: Here are the Fujifilm Presets

Posted on April 12, 2018 by obn

After updating to the current Adobe Photoshop Lightroom version, I did not find the famous Fujifilm presets like Velvia, Classic Chrome etc. anymore. As Adobe changed and extended their own Presets, I was eager to find the Fujifilm ones – and found them.

Let’s quickly look at where they are now in three easy steps.

First, go to the Develop module. On the right pane, open the Basic tab:
Second, you will find the Profile option, default is Adobe Color. Here you click on Adobe Color and a small menu opens:Third, click on the Browse option and then you found it again. Now open the Camera Matching tab and you will find the specific Fujifilm color profiles:

Best regards and have fun with the settings.

Mixing Fujifilm X-T2 with Minolta MC and MD lenses via mount adapter

Posted on January 9, 2018 by obn

Fujifilm offers a Leica M mount adapter for the X-Mount cameras including the X-T2. As I am currently not in possession of a M mount lens this might be a bit impractical. However, the idea is quite a good one and a short web search brought me to K&F Concept who offer a vast amount of different adapters to camera systems. I opted for the Minolta MD/MC to Fujifilm X mount adapter to use my available lenses. Benefit of using the Minolta lenses: as the adapters make the lenses only manually usable the Canon lenses without manual aperture ring would not work in a practical way (change setting on Canon camera, move it to Fujifilm camera) and also the benefit of the lightweight system would be absurdly dispensed with.

The test subjects

I have three Minolta lenses, which all fit perfectly on the adapter. Now to a sample picture per lens. Please note that the first sample picture has one of the famous settings by Fujifilm applied, Classic Chrome.

Minolta MC ROKKOR-PF 58/1.4
- excellent bokeh
- focusing takes some time
- looking forward to portrait work (87mm equivalent to full frame)

Minolta MC W.ROKKOR-SG 28/3.5
- focus ring easy to use
- fast to focus
- not so fast regarding aperture, but sharp and for the sunshine
- almost a default lens (42mm equivalent to full frame)

Minolta MD TELE ROKKOR 200/2.8
- long focusing time
- steady hand required
- quite a tele (300mm equivalent to full frame)

Color Profile: Camera Calibration section in Lr

Adding a Color Profile after shooting with RAW is still possible via Lightroom in Develop mode, Camera Calibration section on the right hand side:

Alternatively you can use the Fujifilm RAW Studio which does the job with the camera processor.

Conclusion

So far I am extremely pleased with the K&F Concept adapter and the Minolta lenses on the Fujifilm X-T2. It is quite some joy to use the old Minolta lenses and the results are very good indeed. Combined with the Fujifilm Color Profiles, this is just wow. The adapter is solid, no wobbling, no nothing and just works as expected. With the Minolta lenses the camera is also not front-heavy, they fit in size quite well (maybe except the 200/2.8). Despite that the 58/1.4 is of course quite a fast one and the 200/2.8 is like a good tele but requires a bit setup time – probably tripod mandatory.

Fujifilm X-T2

Posted on January 2, 2018 by obn

Thoughts, then actions. Quite pleased with the Fujifilm X-T2 so far.

Here are my initial comparisons to the old Canon 5D Mark II:

Video

Amazingly easy to use and crisp results – such an advantage. Autofocus is extremely helpful.

Display

Really useful, sufficient for many pictures especially fast street photography.

Battery/Akku

By far less time to shoot than the Canon. Maybe because there is always a display on (auto-turn off after 2mins selected)? Also the battery has less capacity (1200mAh vs. 1800mAh in the LP-E6).

Lightroom

Initially I thought the lens was not recognized correctly, however the correction profile is already included in the RAW-File – nice:

So I don’t have to manually click on EnableProfile Corrections.

The Tether Shoot Plugin for Fujifilm cameras costs 29$.

Otherwise tethering does not work with Lightroom:

RAW Studio

Tried the new Fujifilm RAW Studio, it has a nice feature: the camera converts RAW to jpg while attached via USB, so computer does not calculate and it’s quite fast. Despite that I saw nothing of interest to me. So if you are planning to mass-convert images, go for it.

Firmware

I updated the provided firmware to current versions:

Body Version 2.11 to 3.00

Lens (18-55 Kit) Version 3.21 to 3.22

Download from Fujifilm, for the update just put the files on a formatted SD Card and hold DISP/BACK button while starting the camera.

Photography thought: is it too heavy?

Posted on December 26, 2017 by obn

After our recent trip to Berlin I started overthinking my photography equipment and habits. I came to the conclusion that the current setup might not be the optimal one.

Basically the Canon 5D Mark II is too bulky for me to snap quick food blog posts in restaurants (probably even with tripod), also the process of developing pictures via computer is usually not an option there. For that task I use my iPhone SE, modify the pictures with the Lightroom app there and post them directly to Instagram. However, especially in low light conditions I like to be more flexible without getting too much attention of other guests and staff.

My thoughts now go to the Fujifilm area where I already had some test runs at several Photokinas, latest talk and hands-on at the 2016 Photokina with the top X series models which were quite impressive. Basically it seems the system provides everything I need in that area: crisp and excellent picture quality combined with easy dial-based change of camera settings. More and more I look into easy to carry and small equipment with a low profile to the surrounding crowds. As always: the best camera is the one you have at hands.

So if more areas (street and travel photography, especially offroad) might benefit of the more compact Fujifilm equipment I might start using it for work.

Lightroom editing with Midi: Behringer X-Touch Mini

Posted on November 14, 2016 by obn

To improve my Adobe Lightroom workflow I plan to use the Behringer X-Touch Mini to edit pictures faster and focusing on the tools in photo edit view.

Some reviewers suggest to use MIDI2LR, however I’m still with Lightroom 4. Let’s see if it works, otherwise the first good reason to go after current version 6.

Click if you want to buy Behringer X-Touch Mini at Amazon.

This post will be updated once I got the X-Touch Mini.

Works with Canon EOS 5d2: SanDisk Extreme 64GB

Posted on July 30, 2016 by obn

On my recent Euro trip I tried a 64 GB CF card for the first time with my Canon 5D Mark II.
It worked very well, however I did not put more than 32GB on it yet.
Also only seeing space for 999 pictures left in the status display all the time is a new experience.

Check it out at amazon.de: Sandisk Extreme 64GB 120 MB/s UDMA7.

Jinbei Digital Pioneer III 300

Posted on March 27, 2016 by obn

Just recieved a new Jinbei Digital Pioneer III 300 to accompany the one I got a couple of years ago in Singapore. Interestingly they look quite a bit different despite the same name. Especially added 2.4GHz Receiver and faster recharge times after flashing are quite nice. Also the buttons look different, now there is a Flash Energy Output Control Knob instead of mere +/- buttons.
Now I have to check if the lights are still comparable (same light temperature, same flash power levels).

Pictures of the unboxing:

Comparison between old and new DPIII 300:

Side view of old one:

Back panel of old one:

Side view of new one:

Back panel of new one:

Oliver Nelson

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