Saturday, April 25, 2009

QuickTide tide table

Another useful photographic gadget from Retrophotographic. The QuickTide tide tables the photographer easily determine high and low tide at any point on the coast. The photographer can well plan ahead his/her timing to photograph the coast.

QuickTide is availble from Retrophotographic

Suncard: Sunrise Sunset Direction Indicator


The Suncard is a handy device to know the position of Sun at sunrise or sunset during different months of the year. It is very cheap and credit card sized. An useful photographic gadget for any landscape photographer. Moreover, both US and UK versions are available.


This type of suncards are available from Retrophotographic or from Suncard UK or from Rothervalley Optics UK

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Yet another homemade 617 panoramic camera

The 6X17 format has long been a favorite of panoramic photographers. This 1:3 aspect ratio is popularized by the venerable Fuji 617 models and the Linhof Technorama in particular.
However, these outstanding workhorse cameras come with a proportional price tag, which only few can afford. Hence, with many large format lenses at their disposal, many photographers went ahead to construct their own alternative 6x17 panoramic cameras.
I came across this particular design by Christian Holmgaard, in an issue of Magnachrom magazine. Here are some examples of the photos taken by his hombrew 617. You can download the Magnachrom pdf issue from here. You can have a further look at Christian's photo.net portfolio too which includes some more shots taken by this camera.


NOTE: To get information on other homemade panoramic cameras, click on the "handmade panoramic camera" label below.

The Bluefire 'police' film


Bluefire is an ultra high resolution black and white film, useful for surveillance and documentation purposes. It requires a special developer for optimum effect. The negatives can be enlarged to sizes where common films fail due to unacceptable grain. Available in 135 format, a 24 exposure roll costs around $7.00. It is even cheaper when bought in bulk quantity.

Bluefire is available from Frugalphotographer

The Magnachrom journal

Magnachrom is free magazine that publishes very high quality articles on medium and large format photography. J Michael Sullivan is the publisher/editor of Magnachrome. You can download high quality pdfs of all the issues from http://www.magnachrom.com

Have a look also at Michael Sullivan's interesting blog articles

Saturday, April 18, 2009

"Hot Shots" book preview

Here goes a video preview of the book 'Hot Shots' by Kevin Meredith which I mentioned  in an earlier post. In this video, you can preview almost all the photos that appear in the book.


Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Panon in action video

The Panon company of Japan made the legendary Widelux series of swing lens panoramic cameras. Watch the rotational motion while it makes a 1/2 second exposure.

For more detailed pictures of this camera visit Novacon

The Wideboy panoramic camera

The term 'wide' is so obviously associated to so many panoramic camera brands like the legendary Widelux to multi format Widepan. The name list would be incomplete without the inclusion of Wideboy, a swing lens design by Horsley Cameras. Though less known than it's popular cousins, nevertheless it is a very interesting camera.

Horsley Camera of UK fabricates many types of panoramic cameras and not only just the Wideboy. Their inventory boasts of many novel designs of swing lens, 360 DEGREE rotational and even 'steam driven panoramics' !!!!.

Have a look at their product catalog and sample image gallery taken by these great cameras.

Don't forget to visit the page of Mike Rignall, the brain behind the Wideboy. Besides, information on even more interesting cameras, including shift lens panoramics are there.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

A book I stumbled upon


Yesterday I found the book "Hot Shots' by Kevin Meredith in my local book store. An excellent book filled with so many good pictures. Almost every picture has unique element(s) of composition plus rich vibrant colours and tells an engrossing story. Any serious photographer who would like to improve his/her creative compositional skills should get a copy. Priced at less than $20 this is a very good investment indeed.

Kevin has a flickr account and you can see some of his excellent art-works here

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Journal on panoramic photography



'Panorama' is the journal of international association of panoramic photographers. A number of these journals in pdf format are freely available from the website of IAPP.

Follow this link to select and download the articles

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Panoramic conversion of stereocamera

Quite a number of people converted different cameras to take panoramic pictures. The Nimslo 3D camera very often serves that purpose. In most such conversions a suitable large or medium format lens with built-in shutter is used which covers the two frame long film path of a 35mm stereocamera

I recently came across the website of Britt K Leckman, where he proposes the conversion of another stereocamera, Graflex Stereo Graphic with a Rodenstock Grandagon.


DIY sun position compass


If you find the aforementioned sun compass a bit expensive, you can go ahead to make one by your own.

Just download this pdf file from Bat Systems and get it printed
Here goes some more info. on it.

See also my post on SunCard, a sunrise/sunset direction indicator. 

Sun position compass


This is a very useful gadget to know in advance the position of the sun, throughout the year. A must have for those shoot landscapes and architecture.


This gadget is available under different brands from here or here or here .See also my post on SunCard, a sunrise/sunset direction indicator