Simon Perkin Photography's photostream

(C) Simon Perkin
www.simonperkin.co.uk

Since I am doing so much DIY at the moment, I have had no time for photos, so thought I would upload from my back catalogue.

As part of our honeymoon in Autumn 2008, Manda and I went to Stonehenge for a private viewing at sunset with only about 20 other people where we were allowed to walk around and within the circle (normally not allowed, at least back then). It was a pretty special visit.

This was my last shot of the visit and it was pretty dark, so this was a 1/2 second tripod shot using my Sony A100 (at that time and Sigma 10-20mm wide angle). I managed to time it perfectly so everyone in shot was hidden behind a shot, no mean feat!

Since the stones were backlit and it was almost dark, I have done quite a lot of shadow recovery here but you work with what you have at the time and it is a fairly non-repeatable photo.

Please respect my photography work and do not copy / use this photo without written permission. Any questions, just ask :)

(C) Simon Perkin
www.simonperkin.co.uk

I have been itching to buy a 50mm lens for a while, but to date I don't think I actually like 50mm, but I wanted a wide aperture lens to shoot wide open. I have the 85mm f1.8, but I am just not in love with it. It just seems blah. So Canon 50mm f1.4 or Sigma 50mm f1.4 or.... just pick up an M42 off ebay to see if I like 50mm primes, practice manual focussing and dealing with tiny dof at less than f2.8.

So I snaffled a Mamiya 50mm f2 M42 screw fit for less than £40 including postage, then realised I did not have an adapter, so +£9 for an EOS to M42 adapter with focus confirm chip.

Well, whilst the Mamiya is M42, the design of the lens means that the aperture ring actually stops the lens being fully screwed onto the adapter since the ring sits proud from the back of the lens (i.e. the lens can't butt up fully to the adapter). End of game....

No. I just have a handicapped lens.

When fitted to the camera, I can't:
- change the aperture, so I set it to f2, screw it the adapter (tight), then attach to camera. f2 or f2 sir?
- get infinity focus, since the lens is about 2mm away from intended mount. I think I have 0.5m to about 3m of usable focus.
- if I were to set aperture to more than f5.6 I think, it won't stop down since the mount cannot fully depress the aperture pin.
- the focus ring is smooth, but just stiff enough that is can unscrew the M42 thread from time to time!
- camera does not know focal length (see exif)
- chip reports f1.4, not f2 but that is no issue.

But it is great :)

I get:
- manual focus
- half hold shutter for focus confirmation
- metering is spot on in A and M modes
- lovely bokeh
- lovely colour and contrast
- when you get focus right, at f2 the results are pretty good and probably not too far aware from the £250-£350 canon/sigma at their respective f1.4
- very little chromatic aberation from what I can see so far, including no purple fringing so far. My 85mm f1.8 is chronically bad for purple fringing at f1.8.

So you have to work pretty damn hard to get a shot. No rush shots are possible, but for £40, it feels rewarding when you nail it.

Please respect my photography work and do not copy / use this photo without written permission. Any questions, just ask :)

(C) Simon Perkin
www.simonperkin.co.uk

This is a favourite of mine from a shoot on Good Friday with Michelle at Calke Abbey. We were lucky with the weather, dull grey (but somehow bright!) sky, no rain.

Strobist:
- 1 flash in shoot through white umbrella triggered wirelessly just to camera left about 2m in front of model and 2m high. Flash power set manually at from memory e.g. 1/8th perhaps.
- sun diffused through heavy cloud.
- ISO 50 to let me shoot at f2.8 1/400th with additional lighting.

With this shot, I wanted the sky even darker so I deliberately shot at 1/400th which is faster than my sync speed of 1/200th. This has the effect that a bottom portion of the frame did not "see" the flash giving a spotlight type effect that I thought worked pretty well. I could break the sync speed limit because I was shooting wirelessly with "dumb" transmitters and a manually set flash.

Please respect my photography work and do not copy / use this photo without written permission. Any questions, just ask :)

(C) Simon Perkin
www.simonperkin.co.uk

This is a favourite of mine from a shoot on Good Friday with Michelle at Calke Abbey. We were lucky with the weather, dull grey (but somehow bright!) sky, no rain. This is a B&W conversion of the colour version, using Silver Efex Pro 2.

Strobist:
- 1 flash in shoot through white umbrella triggered wirelessly just to camera left about 1m in front of model and 2m high. Flash power set manually, pretty low from memory e.g. 1/16th perhaps.
- sun diffused through heavy cloud.
- ISO 50 to let me shoot at f2.8 1/400th with additional lighting.

With this shot, I wanted the sky even darker so I deliberately shot at 1/400th which is faster than my sync speed of 1/200th. This has the effect that a bottom portion of the frame did not "see" the flash giving a spotlight type effect that I thought worked pretty well. I could break the sync speed limit because I was shooting wirelessly with "dumb" transmitters and a manually set flash.

Please respect my photography work and do not copy / use this photo without written permission. Any questions, just ask :)

(C) Simon Perkin
www.simonperkin.co.uk

This is a favourite of mine from a shoot on Good Friday with Michelle at Calke Abbey. We were lucky with the weather, dull grey (but somehow bright!) sky, no rain.

Strobist:
- 1 flash in shoot through white umbrella triggered wirelessly just to camera left about 1m in front of model and 2m high. Flash power set manually, pretty low from memory e.g. 1/16th perhaps.
- sun diffused through heavy cloud.
- ISO 50 to let me shoot at f2.8 1/200th with additional lighting.

Please respect my photography work and do not copy / use this photo without written permission. Any questions, just ask :)