Peter Brendan Albert O'Connor

[Peter O'Connor]

Me...?

Got a Kodak easy share 4 years ago to digitally photograph my jewellery for online sales...

Graduated to a Nikon P50, Manual controls iso/aperture/speed... learnt the correlation thereof...

Started to get kudos for my 'eye'

2 years ago broke into dslr Canon 30D

Upgraded to 40D ....

Upgraded to 5Dc

Couldn't afford to buy Canon glass much so found a love for old manual Japanese/Russian/German

Addicted...

Of course... I've probably spent more on equipment in 4 years than I did in 20 as a musician... pretty much stopped drinking to pay for it...

Got a few Canon + sigma lenses now for practicality at paid gigs but still prefer the look of the vintage/cheap/quality old school lenses...

Kit... 40D gripped (for sale unfortunately) great camera.. silent shutter in live view I will miss for the street...

.... 5Dc Full frame goodness... Slow af though ... low light struggles... missed a couple of shots at my last wedding cause of it... !!! learning curve... faster glass!!! money!!!!

Lenses...

Canon 70-200 f/4... + 1.4 TC Shame the 1.4 tc isn't universal, compatible only with this lens (of my collection)
Canon 50mm 1.8II
Sigma 15-30
Asahi Takumar 50mm 1.4... love it.
Asahi Takumar 28mm 3.5 not too shabby
Jupiter 9 85mm f/2.... Love Love Love...
Pentax Takumar SMC 135mm 3.5... Nice but gotta sell it cause it catches the 5D mirror unfortunately

FLASH...

Sigma 530 DG.. Off camera corded ettl... does the job for a fraction of cost..
Ebay wireless Yongnuo ... doesn't miss fire as much as people say..
Yongnuo 460.. cheap as chips... Fine for a little fill with wireless trigger.

FILTERS>>> FILTERS>>> FILTERS>>> I hate them. Love the results but what a pain in the ****

STORAGE... Lowepro slingshot 302AW YES YES YES but how are you supposed to get a tripod in those tiny slots...

And I clean my own sensors...

Hello Forum.

 

[Pete Askew]

Hello Peter and what a great intro. You sure must be addicted - given up drinking (almost)!

I'm sure you'll love RPF and I reckon there are a fair few like minded types here. I too have a interest in older glass although mainly for LF - just trying to work out how to fit a 2 kg Aero Ektar onto a Cambo lens plate!!

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Great intro, straight to the point!
Welcome to this very enjoyable forum....

 

[Hamish Gill]

Hi and Welcome (again)

Nice intro!
I guess by the link i sent you you realise i also have a penchant for older glass/cameras etc!

What does the 'c' stand for in 5Dc?

Let me know how much you might want for the 135mm ... I am broke at the mo, but id be interested in it for sure!

So since you are still mounting m42 lenses on a canon, what are you using if its not the adapter I have just bought off you? what do you know that i dont?

Also, did my comments about flange back distances and width of the adapter make sense to you?
I'm just intrigued to know if I have got my head the right way around all of that ... ?

 

[Peter O'Connor]

@ Pete,, Glad You picked up on the 'almost'!! @ £4 a drink now where I live, The pub is no longer fun... Everybody is outside smoking anyway so the community has been lost..
Potsdam.. Beautiful, Sansoucci, Stunning, I was super impressed when I visited, I guess it would have been amazing to live ther 150 yrs ago!! Good old Prussian Empirialists.

@ Dan. Thanks, it does seem to be a very imformal forum here,,, Quality not quantity eh!

@Hamish 'c' stands for classic, as opposed to that new MkII video recorder!
Jealous? Me? maybe a little, but happy with my 'c' .. definately, and at a third the price.. £500 I paid for mine.

I got fed up changing adapters for each lens so I bought 10 of them from Hong Kong... For some reason there are alot of people unwilling to trust asian dealers or wait 10 days for delivery so I sell them on for a couple of quid profit... This time next year I will not be a millionaire Rodney!

The pentax takumar has a Canon AF confirm adapter attached, (£25 for adapter, for some reason PK and contax C/Y adapters are expensive) will work on your 30D just fine. I've seen the 135 sell for anywhere between 30-60 so I'm unsure what to ask to be honest... I don't want to be a rip off but I also don't wanna be ripped!!! Guess We all understand that in the 2nd hand marketplace... I'll do a bit more digging and get back to You.

Your flange makes perfect sense, your head is the right way round!

Well in Cornwall now the weather is breaking so I'm going out, it's been pissistantly wet for 6 weeks...

Thanks All for the warm Welcome, I'll do my best to contribute beneficially.

 

[Brian Moore]

You?

It's an interesting intro you posted there.

Me? I enjoyed it.

Your kit include any old film cameras?

Shoot film do you?

Welcome to the forum, Peter Brendan Albert O'Conner!

 

[Peter O'Connor]

I have a couple of film bodies, Canon eos 1000, A Fujica (lent to a friend) That reminds me I must pick it up, some more lenses in there too!
I want to understand more, learn more technique/exposure control with the digital before wasting time and money on film..
As a youth I had a pentax + lenses but unfortunately had to pawn it all to pay the rent and 20 yrs later have only just rekindled my interest in photography.. I'm getting too old to be a rock star now, hopefully photography will pay my bills in my forthcoming old age.
Funnily enough I've been romancing the girl from the printers recently, so film photography may become cheaper if I play my cards right!!!
You're up late/early!! what time is it in Cali?

 

[Brian Moore]

Peter it 6:37 AM according to my computer. Oops,...6:38.

Shoot film and dev yourself. Its a blast and in no way a waste of time.

What instrument(s)/music do you play?

 

[Peter O'Connor]

Ah, You get Me wrong!!
By waste of time I mean I need to understand photography more before I start making novice errors with film...
I am not a financially driven guy, $5 is alot of money to me when there is no food in the fridge...
I certainly have no real estate to spare for a darkroom
I fall into the category of struggling artist in my life, I am very rewarded but not with gold...
I shot a wedding in Germany last month and after flights were paid I ended up earning no more than $10...
But I will always have a bed in Germany..

Guitar is my main instrument, a little keys too.
My electric is a 1974 Gibson Marauder, acoustically it's a Fender 12 and Takamine 6.. All beaten to hell on the streets of Europe...
I have the voice of an Angel too...
Hells Angel!!!

 

[Brian Moore]

I have the voice of an Angel too...
Hells Angel!!!

No darkroom required, by the way. I don't have one. I use a changing bag.

 

[Hamish Gill]

I bought my last one from the far east ... took weeks ... couldn't be arsed to wait a second time!
Inpatient is my middle name when it comes to photography kit!

Brian is right, film and home dev is a world of fun!
No dark room required ... just a light tight changing bag
Im going to do a bit of a video tutorial on home dev on a budget soon ... .

Have a think on the lens, no hurry at all...

Im looking to get a 5Dc (now i know) myself in the not to distant future!
500 notes eh... thats a good buy! £600 was the going rate last time I looked!

 

[Hamish Gill]

changing bag | eBay

 

[Pete Askew]

This 'changing bag' of yours Hamish. Wasn't used in the vacuum cleaner beforehand was it by any chance?!!

 

[Peter O'Connor]

Hmmm,, Outta my depth at the minute,,,
red light, chemical trays, enlargers, papers,

I think I'll learn how to take a good shot first...

I am intriqued though, Here's a couple of shots I took with film...

 

[Peter O'Connor]

Im looking to get a 5Dc (now i know) myself in the not to distant future!
500 notes eh... thats a good buy! £600 was the going rate last time I looked!

Be picky, Mine is a bit beaten up,, Also find out if the mirror has been reinforced, I believe there was a production fault in many models... HUGE amount of camera for the money though... The IQ and resulting images are a mile apart from crop... Although the 1.6x crop is useful for birds/distance...
I'd love to not have to sell my 40D but I wanna travel again soon, can't justify 2 bodies...

 

[Hamish Gill]

Very nice Peter!
I saw that last one on your face book! really interesting shot ... care to expand?
That first one in wonderful!!

no trays and enlargers to worry about, just the dev bit to negs then scan into the computer!
ill get the tutorial up next time I do a roll and you can see for your self!


Pete ... yes, i did think that last night!!! i will give it a shake!! see if any cats or dogs are living in there!

 

[Hamish Gill]

Be picky, Mine is a bit beaten up,, Also find out if the mirror has been reinforced, I believe there was a production fault in many models... HUGE amount of camera for the money though... The IQ and resulting images are a mile apart from crop... Although the 1.6x crop is useful for birds/distance...
I'd love to not have to sell my 40D but I wanna travel again soon, can't justify 2 bodies...

Im a D3 man for work, and as such rocking the full frame ... and couldnt agree more, its a big step up from cropped...
A mate of mine (member here) recently wanted a new canon ... loads of options including spending loads of 7d ... he went for the FF sensor and im not sure he has looked back since ...
ok the newer models might be better in lower light ... but ff wins out even on an old model for me!

 

[Peter O'Connor]

1st one is, if I remember, 3 mins exposure on the old fujica...
We were having a rave out in the Cornish stix (a la pic#2)
So there is the techno UV light shining on the church with the moonlight rising and the firelight glowing in the foreground.
This took a few attempts as mid exposure, friends were walking up to me asking what I was doing whilst planting themselves right infront of the lens!
no pp or anything, straight outta camera.
The clouds were just as they were, I have dragged that through lightroom though..
My lightroom skills have come on leaps and bounds since then but I've decided not to go re-editing my back catalogue or there'd be no time for the future!
Perhaps one day but not now... plenty more fish to fry!

Surely a couple of old Led Zep t-shirts would suffice as changing bags???

 

[Peter O'Connor]

What instrument(s)/music do you play?

Here's my Gibson, A little light painting...

 

[Hamish Gill]

haha, not sure on the ledzep shirts ...