New & Old, Betterlight & old glass

[Jim collum]

Nothing more than playing around during a time of physical disability & boredom. All images were shot at Roaring Camp in Felton. There's a train maintenance building, with an area for old junk and spare parts. This boiler is for a Climax Class B Locomotive engine. It's been sitting here for quite a while, covered by a blue tarp. Recent weather has reduced the tarp to shreds, but has made for a very colorful contrast.

A recent addition from Jay Decker.. a Cooke Series II 8" Aviar

f4.5






f11





Busch Aplanat No3 10"
f8




f16

[Jim collum]

Wollensak-Velostigmat Series II 8 1/4"

f4.5






f8

[Jim collum]

Verito 9"


f4.5




f5.6



f11

[Joe Forks]

Jim,
These are all very nice. Hard to pick a favorite but, for me the verito stands out as a great dual purpose!

Best
Joe

[jmooney]

Very nice!

Can you talk more about working with the Betterlight? Are these as captured or have they had a lot of PP done to them? I've been wondering in my head about them lately if they are difficult to use in the field and what type of output you get from them.

Jim

[Jim collum]

Very nice!

Can you talk more about working with the Betterlight? Are these as captured or have they had a lot of PP done to them? I've been wondering in my head about them lately if they are difficult to use in the field and what type of output you get from them.

Jim

Jim,

I've had my Betterlight since 2001, and most of the work with it has been in the field. I don't find it difficult at all to work with it in the field. The control box is about as thick as 2 4x5 film holders.. the insert that captures is an oversized Polaroid holder. The laptop you use is as large or small as you want. The new 11" MacBook Air is a fantastic way to go. All of the shots here were done in the morning (9am) with over cast starting to clear. Scan times were 34 seconds for all of the shots. It's not that much heavier than what you'd normally carry with maybe 10-12 film holders.

I've uploaded a jpg of the original file (the verito f4.5 shot) at

http://www.jcollum.com/fm/20110715_RoaringCamp_05.jpg
(this is about a 10Mb file.. so be warned)

since it is a jpg, it has lot a little of the original quality.. but not much.
(here's a small version of the file. This is straight from the control box.. was a dng and then processed thru Lightroom with default settings .. sharpening turned off)


The wind is probably your biggest problem.. not just with blowing the subject, but with causing vibrations in the camera itself. A lot of the multicolor motion artifacts you get from moving objects can usually be cleaned up in post processing.. but it's really best to shoot with minimal wind. This hasn't been a problem for me, since 90% of my shooting is between and an hour before dawn to about 2 hours after. Usually don't' have wind in the morning much at all.

You get about 12-13 stops of latitude (that decreases as your ISO increases). Data coming off of the back is a full 16bit, and since you're using 3 linear array's with no AA filter.. you get much more 'real' data that you would from any of the DSLR's or Medium Format backs (Foveon chipped DSLR's are the exception)

If anyone is ever in the Santa Cruz, Ca area, and would like to play around with one in the field.. let me know.. I'd be happy to go out shooting (needs to be weekends though).



Moving water isn't going to look anything like you're used to.

(this is a pano scan, but you can get a feel for what waves do with it. Feel free to down load the file
http://www.jcollum.com/fm/waves.jpg
(about 1Mb in size)

[Jim collum]

One of the things I really love about the back, is the ability to easily use and experiment with old glass.. no shutter required, no film developed... very quick feedback as to what a specific lens will do (Jim Galli has been a very valuable source for this....)

[jmooney]

Thanks Jim! This is very helpful info. I wish I was closer and I'l take you up on your offer a demo. I really like the look of the waves in the pano BTW.

Jim

[Jim collum]

Thanks Jim! This is very helpful info. I wish I was closer and I'l take you up on your offer a demo. I really like the look of the waves in the pano BTW.

Jim

Yea.. seems people are pretty polar about how they feel about them. They're really only an artifact of time.. as real a rendition as the cotton like long exposure waves with film. People are just more used to the cotton rendition