Film Cans

There are no digital equivalents for film cans. 

Memory card protectors are great for their intended purpose, and that's about it. In fact, we hardly get those anymore, right? I'm still repurposing my snap-plastic cases from cards I bought years ago. Everything else is either boxed, bubbled, or worse yet, shrink-wrapped.

Fortunately, I still have a stash of both Kodak and Fujifilm containers. My favorite is a brick and mustard colored metal Kodak can from before my time. I scored it at a garage sale years ago, and it stays safe and sound with my collectables.

(You can see some of my favorites right here...)

Even though I like the way the Kodak cans look, even the later black and gray versions, the most useful of the bunch are made by Fujifilm. Those translucent canisters are perfect diffusers for small lights, such as the intense Lume Cube.

They're also great for keeping track of small losable items such as washers, bushings, adapters, hot shoe covers, PC socket plugs, and all the other stuff that ends up lost in the same place where half of my sock collection resides.

When I turn in my rolls of 35mm at Jeremiah's photocorner, they always ask me if I want to keep the canisters. Yes I do.

They know what's going on. They're film people.

-Derrick

The PEN-F Back Story

I thought you might like a look behind the scenes at what happened in Austin.

If you haven't been following the story, I went there last week to test the new Olympus PEN-F Micro Four Thirds camera. There was a group of us there, representing publications such as DP Review, Imaging Resource, Steve's Digicams, Steve Huff Photo, Shutterbug, and more. Olympus covered our expenses, but no one was paid or came home with hardware.

When we first arrived, we were introduced to the camera by an Olympus technical specialist. We learned about the PEN's heritage, including the half frame years, and how even decades ago Olympus was engineering to create smaller, lighter cameras that produced excellent images.

Then we got into the technical aspects of the current PEN-F and were shown how to take advantage of its unique feature set to create images that, in all honesty, have a film look to them (if you want that). We had some time at the hotel to familiarize ourselves with the settings, then we headed out for a series of shoots to put what we learned in to practice.

The embargo on the camera was to be lifted on Wednesday at 12:01 am. That means we had all day Monday and Tuesday to shoot, learn, write our articles, and prepare our images. The expectation was that everyone would publish their impressions of the camera as soon as the embargo expired. And we did.

The wasn't any pressure to provide a positive review. And it wouldn't have made a difference if there was. This group is going to do what they do. But I think Olympus felt in its heart that it had a winner with the PEN-F, and that the odds were in their favor that the reviews would be good.

As it turned out, they were right. Aside from a few nits here and there, the journalists liked this camera. The images that came out of our shoots were wonderful. I felt like I was at a photography workshop marveling at the pictures that my comrades were creating.

We all stayed up to around 3 AM Wednesday morning, finishing our publishing and eating the cold pizza we had stashed in our hotel room refrigerators. But there was still one more day of shooting.

Wednesday was a blast. We had all met our deadlines, but still had another day with the camera in Austin Texas. We shot, ate, and had a chance to enjoy each other's company.

That night, we had to return our kits to the technical specialist. Nobody really wanted to, but that's the way it works. We had a final dinner together, then prepared for our early departure Thursday morning,

You could argue against the financial wisdom for independents like me to participate in these types of assignments. If you work for DP Review, you're getting paid. But the independents like me were there because we love photography and working with those who are also passionate about it.

Maybe someday I'll have a PEN-F of my own. But I'm glad I had the opportunity to test it, and to be one of the first to write about this exceptional camera. Wise or not, this is why I do what I do.

-Derrick

We're Not the Only Ones

Having just spent 4 days in Austin with a group of photographers from publications all over the world, I'm beginning to realize that those of us who like to travel light are losing our minority status.

As you may have read, we were there to test the new Olympus PEN-F in a variety of locations. We shot through bar windows on 6th Street, inside the marbled halls of the State Capitol, and in various corners of a very interesting city.

While I was working shoulder to shoulder with these pros, who were under deadline and had to deliver the goods, I thought I would be one of the lightest packing shooters in the group.

I was wrong.

Most of these journalists covered Austin with a prime on their camera, and an extra lens or two in their shoulder bags. Some brought flashes too, such as Chris from the Phoblographer, but that was about it.

My general kit included 4 optics:  9mm body cap fisheye, 17 mm f/1.8, 75mm f/1.8, and the nimble 14-42mm EZ zoom. And I had everything I needed over the course of the day, and well into the night.

Some of my comrades asked about the sling bag I was using. I'll be talking more about it in a few days once that embargo expires. And their interest demonstrated to me that many, if not most on-the-go photographers have embraced the nimble lifestyle. Something that you've known about for a while.

You probably never thought of yourself as a trend setter. Well, you are.

And a light-footed one at that.

-Derrick

I've Always Been This Way

I was thinking about something I said on the last podcast. When I was talking about mirrorless cameras, it dawned on me that many of us have loved this form factor for a long time.

Even when I was a kid, I wanted to travel light. At 17 years old I had the opportunity to play basketball in Europe for team U.S.A. It was a junior Olympic tour. We don't really have that sort of thing here, but other countries do. So we put together teams and go play. I was a backup forward.

We stayed at military bases, presumedly to keep costs down. This was quite an experience for a 17 year old high school senior. I mean, those guys were tough. More than once I had the law laid down to me by a resident soldier.

One of the benefits, however, was having access to the PX on each base. We could buy anything we wanted as the lowest price listed. My parents gave me money to buy a camera. Mine had just been stolen from my oxidized blue 1961 VW bug.

I spent days pondering my investment. So many beautiful cameras on display in glass cases. I settled on a black Yashica Electro 35 rangefinder. It was stunning. It had a fast f/1.7 45mm lens that I operated in aperture priority mode. I loved it. And I immediately explored the cobbled streets of Heidelberg with it.

When I returned home to show off my prize, many were surprised that I didn't purchase a Nikon or Canon DSLR. "What a missed opportunity!" they exclaimed. "You could buy any camera that you wanted, and you brought home this?"

At first these remarks bothered me. But then, I'd grab the Yashica, find an old alley, and go take pictures. Those criticisms instantly melted away.

A few years later, some awful person stole that camera from my dorm room while I was attending college. They didn't deserve it. For them, it was just a few dollars from a pawn shop.

For me, it was an awakening, the start of something wonderful that continues to this day.

-Derrick

Not Touched Once

I'm back from Las Vegas. And it dawned on me during the flight home that CES is the antithesis of nimble photography. Yet, there I was.

Everything is big in Sin City. The hotels are giant labyrinths lined with slot machines and card tables. The conventions require days, not hours, to navigate the trade show floors. And the Strip is so wide that they have to build bridges for tourists to get from one side of the street to the other.

My goal? I want to glide lightly through it all.

Each day, I would leave about 8:00 in the morning. Weave my way through the MGM Grand to the monorail station. Ride to the Convention Center. Then work until it was time to reverse my route and navigate back to my room.

I dressed in layers and carried one shoulder bag that held these contents:

• Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II
• 14-42mm zoom, 35-100mm zoom, 20mm f/1.7 pancake prime
• Contax T2 film camera
• Zoom audio recorder (used it for a remote spot on the last podcast)
• iPad mini with SD card reader and Lightning cable
• Spare battery, memory card, and microfiber cloth
• Joby Gorillapod micro, Beats earbuds, and stylus pen
• 2 energy bars, small bottle of water, and a baseball cap in case in rained (which it did)

As I review my packing, as I do after every trip, here's my rule: If there was an item that was not touched once during the entire job, I put it on the watch list for the next assignment of like kind.

From this list there was only one candidate: the 35-100mm zoom lens. I was carrying it as protection in case I found myself in a situation where I need more reach than doubling the 42mm end of my travel zoom. But I never used it.

Of course I didn't. My existence was shoulder to shoulder all week. Rookie mistake. If anything, I should have had an ultra wide with me, not a long zoom. And that's the adjustment I'm going to consider the next time.

Nimbleosity is not a static state of mine. It's dynamic. It requires refinement.

And that's also the joy of it.

-Derrick