Abbazz
6x9 and be there!
Everyone makes mistakes but, when one uses a new camera for the first time, then it's time for all kind of funny things to happen. After a few blunders, one will eventually learn from experience. This thread is for my fellow list members to share their mishaps with new gear...
Usually, the bigger the format, the bigger the probability of failure. Large format with its total lack of automation is very prone to all kind of user's errors but I have found that for me MF is more dangerous, as I am more confident when I use MF, so I am more likely to forget some important part of the process.
When I was in Vietnam, I heard once that there was a nice fish market in a small town a few hours drive from the place I lived. That seemed very nice, the only problem was that the fishermen came to sell their stuff at dawn and evrything was sold out before 8am. One day, I decided to get up at 2am to be on location for the opening of the market. The light was wonderful, with the first rays of the sun illuminating stalls full of colorful fishes and other strange sea creatures. I knew that it wouldn't last long, because the sun would soon be high in the sky. I took my Fuji 6x9 loaded with Provia film and shot a whole 220 roll. Then I looked for a quiet place to reload. At that time I realized that the cap was still on the lens :bang: Of course I managed to shoot a few more rolls, but the magic light was gone.
From that day, I never used a lens cap on any of my RF cameras.
[The original idea for this thread came from the thread "Erreurs de débutants" on the French Galerie Photo Phorum].
Cheers,
Abbazz
Usually, the bigger the format, the bigger the probability of failure. Large format with its total lack of automation is very prone to all kind of user's errors but I have found that for me MF is more dangerous, as I am more confident when I use MF, so I am more likely to forget some important part of the process.
When I was in Vietnam, I heard once that there was a nice fish market in a small town a few hours drive from the place I lived. That seemed very nice, the only problem was that the fishermen came to sell their stuff at dawn and evrything was sold out before 8am. One day, I decided to get up at 2am to be on location for the opening of the market. The light was wonderful, with the first rays of the sun illuminating stalls full of colorful fishes and other strange sea creatures. I knew that it wouldn't last long, because the sun would soon be high in the sky. I took my Fuji 6x9 loaded with Provia film and shot a whole 220 roll. Then I looked for a quiet place to reload. At that time I realized that the cap was still on the lens :bang: Of course I managed to shoot a few more rolls, but the magic light was gone.
From that day, I never used a lens cap on any of my RF cameras.
[The original idea for this thread came from the thread "Erreurs de débutants" on the French Galerie Photo Phorum].
Cheers,
Abbazz
Taqi
Established
Done the lens cap thing also...
How about this one - changing film as evening draws in, 100 asa coming out, 1600 asa going in and, you guessed it, not changing the film speed setting on the camera :bang:
How about this one - changing film as evening draws in, 100 asa coming out, 1600 asa going in and, you guessed it, not changing the film speed setting on the camera :bang:
Taqi
Established
Oh, and wide angle lenses (CV 12): fingers, thumbs, feet, hair, shadow, strap etc...
Wayne R. Scott
Half fast Leica User
On my first wedding shoot with my then new Bronica ETR I shot a test polaroid with the polaroid back. The lighting was good to go; so I slapped on a 120 film back and began shooting the family shots. Since I was not real familiar with the Bronica I shot each pose with my Nikon 35mm also. When I got to number 24 on both cameras it dawned on me that I should have run out of 120 film as it only gets 15 shots per roll on the ETR. I looked down and I still had the multiple exposure set on the camera body!! (this is the only way to get the shutter to fire with a polaroid back) I am suprised the 120 film did not catch on fire from having 24 exposures on a single frame!!
Wayne
Wayne
popstar
Well-known
While perhaps not as publicly embarrassing as leaving the lens cap on, I had issues with remembering to focus the lens when I first started using rangefinders.
I came to RFs from autofocus SLRs where focusing was rarely an issue. There were many occasions where I'd be several shots into a roll before I remembered I had to focus. It was especially bad because my first lens was the CV 25mm which isn't rangefinder coupled, so it wasn't intuitive that the focus was off. Fortunately, I've learned my lessons now for the most part.
I came to RFs from autofocus SLRs where focusing was rarely an issue. There were many occasions where I'd be several shots into a roll before I remembered I had to focus. It was especially bad because my first lens was the CV 25mm which isn't rangefinder coupled, so it wasn't intuitive that the focus was off. Fortunately, I've learned my lessons now for the most part.
TheHub
Well-known
The first camera I got was a Carena, when I was 12 or so.
At the time my mother's friend's husband worked for the national railway service in Switzerland and got me into a car-house. I had all these photos taken of me inside locomotives, etc.
It turns out the film didn't catch and advance, so none of the photos came out. This actually happened 3 or more times (and I lost quite a few potentially good photos), so I'm now extra careful (and paranoid still to this day) whenever loading 35mm film.
At the time my mother's friend's husband worked for the national railway service in Switzerland and got me into a car-house. I had all these photos taken of me inside locomotives, etc.
It turns out the film didn't catch and advance, so none of the photos came out. This actually happened 3 or more times (and I lost quite a few potentially good photos), so I'm now extra careful (and paranoid still to this day) whenever loading 35mm film.
40oz
...
my favorite is always spending a great deal of time metering and setting aperture and shutter speed, then forgetting to focus. Or vice versa I never cease to impress myself with my willingness to set the lens to a DOF range per the aperture, go outside, and change the aperture and shutter but neglect to change focus before taking a shot down the street :banghead:
I never cease to impress myself with my willingness to set the lens to a DOF range per the aperture, go outside, and change the aperture and shutter but neglect to change focus before taking a shot down the street :banghead:
K
Kin Lau
Guest
Did you know you can focus a 50mm Elmar without extending it? Makes for a nice blurred circle on film.
fraley
Beware of Claws
When I first got my Bessa R2 along with 35mm and 50mm lenses, I would perpetually forget to adjust the brightline setting on top of the camera. I would carefully compose for the 50mm brightline and then realize I had the 35mm lens on, or vice versa..
mfunnell
Shaken, so blurred
Mine, on my M3 and other manual cameras, is to set the aperture, meter the scene, decide on a shutter speed, focus, frame and fire. All fine, right? Well deciding on a shutter speed isn't the same as setting the shutter speed now is it? Too much AE in my past (and present) I guess. I'm especially prone to do this with the VCII meter mounted on the accessory shoe.
...Mike
now is it? Too much AE in my past (and present) I guess. I'm especially prone to do this with the VCII meter mounted on the accessory shoe....Mike
dazedgonebye
Mentor
How about determining the distance on the rangefinder of my 6x6 folder and shooting away...without setting the distance on the lens?
Uncoupled, just one more thing to forget.
Uncoupled, just one more thing to forget.
planetjoe
Just some guy, you know?
The lens cap thing is a real beginner's mistake, I was once told.
Riiiight.
I was still doing it, every so often...but lately I seem to have gotten stupid. My M4 has a pinhole in curtain #1, so I've had to get used to not winding on after each shot, just to keep the sun off the curtain until the next shot presents itself. That's hard enough. But couple that to the fact that I'd also been putting the lens cap back on between shots...total disaster. I might as well be shooting with a rock, for all the good a capped camera does me.
Just incentive to get the $#@! curtain patched, I guess.
Cheers,
--joe.
Riiiight.
I was still doing it, every so often...but lately I seem to have gotten stupid. My M4 has a pinhole in curtain #1, so I've had to get used to not winding on after each shot, just to keep the sun off the curtain until the next shot presents itself. That's hard enough. But couple that to the fact that I'd also been putting the lens cap back on between shots...total disaster. I might as well be shooting with a rock, for all the good a capped camera does me.
Just incentive to get the $#@! curtain patched, I guess.
Cheers,
--joe.
Abbazz
6x9 and be there!
One mistake that occurs frequently when I use my Ikonta 524/16. This camera has an uncoupled rangefinder. It means that you have to focus the rangefinder, then read the measurement on the scale and adjust the focus on the lens accordingly. When I have not used the Ikonta for some time, I will focus the rangefinder and take the picture, without focusing the lens. Nice blurry pictures!
Cheers,
Abbazz
Cheers,
Abbazz
ChrisN
Striving
Today I was out shooting hot-air balloons at dawn, switching between the dSLR and the M4 - I kept forgetting to wind on the film!
Last week I used my M645 (medium-format SLR), which has an uncoupled meter in the finder - I kept forgetting to transfer the shutter speed to the camera!
Last week I used my M645 (medium-format SLR), which has an uncoupled meter in the finder - I kept forgetting to transfer the shutter speed to the camera!
Forget there's no film in the camera? Pretty bone-headed... but doable!
jan normandale
Film is the other way
After loading a fresh roll of film and not checking to see if the film is winding onto the take up by watching the rewind crank each time you advance the file for the next exposure??
Jan, yes, I did a particularly frustrating version of that mistake... Years ago Ilford briefly offered HP5 on a very thin base in 72-exposure rolls. I loaded a roll in my M2, but the film was so thin and limber, it bulged up at just the right spot to avoid catching on the film-advance sprockets. I went out in the field taking landscape pics and had a ball until I noticed that I'd taken well over 72 shots... and the rewind knob was not turning. Back home in the darkroom I discovered the limber leader had also slipped out of the takeup, and the film had not advanced at all. Very annoying!
robin a
Well-known
Gee,you guys are me.What a soothing thread.Just yesterday I tried to get one last frame out of a 36 exp.roll and it didn't go,pulled off the spool and wouldn't rewind.Tried to salvage it,no luck.Now I have to explain to my daughter where her new kitten pictures are.Wish me luck.........Robin
Jocko
Off With The Pixies
robin a said:
Heaven, perhaps?
With me, in no particular order, it's the lens cap thing, the uncoupled rangefinder thing, the film not winding on thing and my personal speciality - an unconquerable belief that any camera purchased on e-bay functions perfectly and should be immediately used for unrepeatable pictures....
Cheers, Ian
oftheherd
Mentor
Once in a hurry, back in the 70s, I went to change film in bright sunlight on a higly reflective sidewalk ant the Seoul National Museum. Opened the back and discovered I had forgotten to rewind the film. Slapped the back shut and actually saved about half the roll. I think that was Fuji slide film. Whatever, it had one heck of a good anti-halation backing.
Forgetting to take the lens cover off a 6x7 sure leaves a lot of real estate unexposed. But my Super Press 23 forgives me after several sneering laughs.
Just about any other mistake mentioned here I have done at least once. Say, anybody ever use a dual format folder, in the 645 mode, but compose and shoot all photos in the 6x6 mode? Interesting. Where's uncle Joe and aunt Sally?
Forgetting to take the lens cover off a 6x7 sure leaves a lot of real estate unexposed. But my Super Press 23 forgives me after several sneering laughs.
Just about any other mistake mentioned here I have done at least once. Say, anybody ever use a dual format folder, in the 645 mode, but compose and shoot all photos in the 6x6 mode? Interesting. Where's uncle Joe and aunt Sally?