Tag Archives: music

My first “serious” camera was a Pentax K1000 with a 50mm/f2 lens.  It was a solid chunk of metal, but functionally it was about as basic as it could get — manual focus, manual exposure, even manual film advance.  No batteries, except those that powered the bare-bones light meter in the viewfinder, but if you knew your stuff you could shoot even when those batteries were long dead.  I learned so much shooting with that camera (and processing the hundreds of rolls of film I ran through it) because it forced me to slow down and think about each frame — how it should be exposed, framed, focused and, most of all, when was the precise moment to push the shutter button.  So different from today’s digital “machine guns” shooting 5 to 10 frames (or more!) per second.

Ironically, it’s my newest camera (the Canon EOS 5d MkII) that has reacquainted me with this style of shooting.  Having a sensor (the chip that captures the photo) that is the same size as a frame of 35mm film means not only increased detail and low light sensitivity, but it allows the camera to duplicate the field of view of my old 35mm film cameras.  And of course even with the 21st century electronics it still allows me to turn it all off — manual exposure, manual focus, single shot advance.  The only thing missing is the film advance lever under my thumb.

Here are some images made recently with the 5d and a 50mm/1.4 lens.  Almost all were taken in full manual mode, and they were then processed entirely in Adobe Lightroom 2.4.  The animals are from around the house, the band is my friends URB (joined by Matt Cashdollar) at the Gin Mill in Fort Wayne, and the scenics are from northern rural Indiana.  I hope you enjoy!