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I was just looking at buying a Quantum flash setup and found the videos below from Quantum’s Qflash Academy. These are a great introduction to the Quantum system and they give a little taste of how a wedding and portrait photographer uses the system. These show lighting indoors and out with some problem lighting issues. One of these shows how the photographer handles a couple posed in front of a brightly lit window and corrects for that with the Quantum Qflash Trio System. This isn’t huge on details, but it’s still a nice set of photography videos for those who would like to see how professional lighting results can be attained. If you don’t have an interest in the Quantum system and already have some other flash setup, you will still see some useful video here.

Qflash Academy

More Quantum Flash Resources on Ebay and Amazon

Here are the contents of the two groups of videos on the page:

Quantum Qflash TRIO/PILOT – This one is the more hands on video showing interaction with models.
Intro: Trio Intro With Rick Ferro
Lesson 1: QTTL Bounce Portrait Indoors
Lesson 2: Auto-Fill Bounce Portrait Indoors
Lesson 3: Outdoor Fill-Flash In QTTL Mode
Lesson 4: Sunny Outdoor Off-Camera Portrait With HSS
Lesson 5: BareBulb Outdoor Portrait
Lesson 6: Lighting the Room With Wireless QTTL
Lesson 7: Two Light Portrait Using Manual And Auto Modes
What Is The Pilot?

Quantum Qflash 5d-R – This one shows the features of the flash. I thought this was simply just a marketing piece at first, but I ended up liking this because it goes into more detailed information.
Lesson 1: Getting Started with Qflash
Lesson 2: Getting Started with Qflash: TTL and Auto Modes
Lesson 3: Getting Started with Qflash: Manual, Program, and Strobo Modes
Lesson 4: Getting Started with Qflash: CAMERA SETUP Q&A
Lesson 5: Basic TTL On-Camera Flash Indoors
Lesson 6: More TTL On-Camera Flash Indoors
Lesson 7: Basic TTL Off-Camera Flash Indoors
Lesson 8: MoreTTL Off-Camera Flash Indoors
Lesson 9: Fill Flash made easy with AUTO more
Lesson 10: Fill Flash in Manual Exposure Mode

I don’t have any Minolta SRTs, just XD-11 and X700, so I haven’t tried this for myself. But this link is to the article on Rokkorfiles so it’s probably good.

So anyway, if you find that your metering is inaccurate on your SRT, it might be that you’re using a modern 1.5V battery in a camera designed for 1.35V. This is a simple looking electronic conversion inside the camera body.

How to convert a Minolta SRT from Mercury Cells to modern Silver Cells

Wow, Hasselblad has a new digital medium format camera. This is a pretty stunning camera. It has a 40, 50, or 60 megapixel back with fantastic Carl Zeiss glass, shutter speeds of 256 seconds to 1/800 second, bright viewfinders, waist level and eye level finders, and a CCD sensor measuring 33.1 × 44.2mm.

One of the most intriguing things about the new camera is the focus. It has True Focus and Absolute Position Lock which allows the camera to be focused then locked on that focus position so if the photographer tilts or swivels his position, the camera stays focused on its original subject.

It’s new Phocus technology provides for live video, remote capture, moire removal, GPS functionality and more.

It has software providing the new 3FR raw file format as well as Hasselblad’s Natural Color Solution (HNCS).

If you’re into view camera work as well, then the Hasselblad H4D has an adapter that allows it to be used as the back for a view camera. It also has a nice tilt/shift lens available.

First, here are the links to find Hasselblad H4D cameras for sale

Since I’m not the kind of guy to just regurgitate features, be sure to check out the data sheet at Hasselblad’s launch site

It’s always worthwhile to check out the Hasselblad H4D on Amazon

Here are 3 of Hasselblad’s promotional videos. We get a little glimpse of Steve McCurry, Kevin Then, and Michael Grecco using their H4D cameras.

Steve McCurry with his H4D-40

Kevin Then with his H4D-40

Michael Grecco with his H4D-40

Here is a launch interview showing some of the features a little better. If I find some other good ones over the next few days, I’ll post them here.

H4D40 Launch video from London

More Hasselblad cameras for sale on the web

I ran across this 3 part video talking about how to become a sports photographer and almost ignored it because I’m not really into sports photography. That would have been a mistake. This is a good video.

Before you get too excited, this does not go into great detail about becoming a sports photographer, but it has some good general information.

First, here’s a pro photographer, Harry How, who works for Getty Images. He talks about becoming a professional sports photographer. He gives a little of his background, talks a little about portfolios and the advantages of coming up in the digital photography age. Then he moves on to give lens recommendations for the professional sports photographer. He caps it off with a tour through his camera bag.

Along the way, he gives some tips for shooting basketball games and hockey goals. He shows how he uses the monopod and what to look for when buying a monopod. He also shows how he secures his photography equipment for flight and when it is unattended.

All in all, this was worth the time to watch it.

For those of you that would rather see the list than watch the video, he carries:
Think Tank bag
Velbon Monopod
Laptop Computer
UDMA Card Reader

Here is his Canon equipment list:
Canon EOS 1DS Mark III (x2)
Canon 400 f2.8
Canon 300 2.8
Canon 70-200 f2.8
Canon 24-70
Canon 16-35 f2.8
Canon 15 fisheye
Canon 580EX
Canon EF 1.4x Extender

Here are the Nikon equivalents:
Nikon D3X (x2)
Nikon 400 f2.8
Nikon 300 2.8
Nikon 70-200 f2.8
Nikon 24-70 f2.8
Nikon 17-35 f2.8
Nikon 16 fisheye
Nikon SB-900
Nikon TC-14E Teleconverter

But do yourself a favor and watch the video anyway.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Here’s an interesting documentary about Diane Arbus. This is quite good. As my readers know, I love watching these biographical pieces on great photographers.

I particularly enjoyed Lisette Model’s commentary about Arbus.

Here are some Arbus resources

Canon is going to have a huge hit on its hands. They are coming out with the EOS 550D or Digital Rebel T2i.

The Digital Rebel T2i is a pretty sweet camera. So here, for very little cost is a digital SLR that can shoot 18 megapixel still pictures at 3.7 frames per second, is very good with low light, and records 1080P HD video. This is perfect for a huge segment of consumers.

The camera has one digic 4 processor in it. That’s the same processor as in the Canon 7D.
For video use, it has a port for an external microphone. That means that you can get high quality pictures, video, and audio from this camera for about $800 for a body or $900 for a body and 18-55mm lens. Taking video with this should be fun. Remember, when you shoot video with a digital SLR you have the benefit of being able to use any lens you can afford for the exact effect you want. Most consumer grade video cameras don’t let you switch lenses. You also can use selective focus and full f-stop control. Those are usually non-existent or poorly implemented in consumer grade video cameras.

Aside from being a good camera for the average consumer, the EOS 550D / Digital Rebel T2i is going to be a great backup camera for the more sophisticated shooter. I know a few pros that will use this as their main camera but yet this camera is simple enough for the entry level photographer.

Check out the Amazon writeup on this. It’s very comprehensive. Canon EOS Rebel T2i 18 MP CMOS APS-C Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD (Body Only)

Click here for more EOS Rebel T2i bodies, lenses and accessories

For today’s viewing pleasure, here is an older video interview of photographer Duane Michals.

Duane Michals on Amazon

These videos by Bruce Cahn make a good introduction to the field camera. He shows opening the camera, focusing, movements, and film insertion.

If you haven’t used a field camera or press camera before, please note that you might not have all the movements that he has on his Ebony field camera, but his Ebony camera will provide a good introduction no matter what your model.

Using a Wooden Field Camera Part 1

Using a Wooden Field Camera Part 2

Here are some other field cameras.

Here are Ebony field cameras like his.

I found this video of a 20×24 wood Polaroid camera made in 1978. This camera is just beautiful. So are its pictures.

Elsa Dorfman Polaroid 20×24 Camera

Here is a video of Elsa Dorfman using that camera and interacting with the group that she was photographing.

Elsa Dorfman

Here is a wikipedia article on Elsa Dorfman.

Here is Elsa Dorfman’s web site.

Here are some more Polaroid resources.

As someone who is always out checking out cameras and looking for cool old stuff especially on ebay or craigslist, I keep seeing people selling some nice Pentax film camera systems. Some of these people might have 3 or 4 lenses.

Often, I see someone say. “I’m selling this to go digital” or “This would be a great student camera”

Craziness, I say.

I know, I’ve been guilty of extolling the virtues of some new Nikon or Canon gear, but I can’t imagine people just dumping a perfectly good Pentax system to go digital. But then again, I like film and digital.

I wonder why people don’t take those lenses and use them on a new Pentax digital body if they want a digital body. Pentax has made some really nice glass. Why go spend all the money to switch systems?

Maybe some of them are going to digital point and shoot cameras. I don’t know.

The Pentax K-7 is a very capable camera. Check it out before you go dumping that nice old gear. You might like it.

K-7 Video Samples

K-7 Moving Picture Sample