Category Archives: camera and lens

Process over results.

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Shooting film is a lot like shooting a flintlock: slow, inefficient and best left to those who enjoy the process more than they value the results. Even if used with modern film, these cameras provide no instant feedback and no … Continue reading →

Posted in camera and lens, interesting people | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Adobe Camera RAW 8.7 question

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Older versions of Camera Raw had a setting for changing midtone brightness (gamma) during the image import. I don’t see a way to do that now other than with curves — but curves do not work with gradations or paintbrush … Continue reading →

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | 3 Comments

A problem with dust on the camera sensor.

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Oleg Volk

My A7R developed a persistent piece of dust on the sensor that’s resisting dry (with Dust grabber) or wet cleaning (with Eclipse liquid and Pec pads). Short of sending it to Sony for service (slow, expensive, uncertain of the results), … Continue reading →

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Best place to make panoramic photo prints?

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Oleg Volk

I am looking for a lab that can make very tall (12″x36″ or larger) pillar prints. Any suggestions? Even better if local to Minneapolis, MN and can do foam-backed prints, but plain photo paper by mail would be fine also.

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | Tagged | 6 Comments

Studio space around Edina, MN?

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Earlier this week, I did photo shoots in Cannon Falls, MN. The studio was provided by a friend. Unfortunately, the drive takes almost an hour, and close to hour and a half for some of my friends. I’d like to … Continue reading →

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | 2 Comments

Casting call: Cocoa, FL for November 4-9

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Oleg Volk

I am looking for models of all ages, sexes and looks for photo shoots with Kel-Tec. Familiarity with basic gun safety is required. Proficiency with firearms is definitely welcome. Please send an email to casting@olegvolk.net with an introduction, available dates … Continue reading →

Posted in camera and lens, weapon | 2 Comments

Slow-motion video in HD?

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Now that even some cell phones offer decent quality 240fps slow motion, I’d like to see if slow-mo is available in HD resolution…for my purposes, even 720×1280 (Youtube HD) might work, though full 1920×1080 would be preferable. I tried little … Continue reading →

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | Tagged | 1 Comment

Extremely odd camera/card failure. Need advice.

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Took about 30 photos with Canon 5D2 tonight, put the 16GB Sandisk Ultra card in the reader and it didn’t auto-mount. Removed it, it mounted as empty volume. Put it in the camera, it came up empty. Put it back … Continue reading →

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Putting pistol caliber wars into perspective.

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Today, more people take photos with cell phone cameras than with any other kind. Convenience, ubiquity and the ability to post results at once all combine to make the tiny cameras with miniscule sensors more popular than all other types … Continue reading →

Posted in camera and lens, civil rights, pistol, rifle, rkba, self-defense, weapon | 4 Comments

First impression of Sony A7R and 55/1.8 lens

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Auto focus is much, much faster with a native lens compared to Canon lenses on Metabones adapter. Numeric distance readout in the viewfinder is a great help when focusing manually. I am not sure how accurate the focusing is yet, … Continue reading →

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Unedited samples from Sony A7R

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Oleg Volk

I obtained Sony A7R to supplement my Canon 5D2 bodies in studio. The Canons are far more useful for fast action, Sony AF being useless. It’s as slow or worse than the first serious AF body, Maxxum 7000 from 1985! … Continue reading →

Posted in camera and lens | 5 Comments

Please recommend a workflow for Sony A7R files (Windows 7)

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Oleg Volk

With Canon 5D2, I can open RAW straight out of Adobe Bridge (CS 5.5). Can’t do that with A7R. My options seems to be the following: Use DNG Converter (free but slow) Update to the current Creative Studio subscription (more streamlined, expensive, … Continue reading →

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

4/3 adapter for a Nikon spotting scope

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Yesterday, we got to enjoy the view of the nearly full moon through a spotting scope. At 60x, the moon filled half of the field of view! Now, I’d like to adapt that scope to my Panasonic G3. Does anyone … Continue reading →

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | Tagged | 1 Comment

Another awesome work day

Posted on July 12, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Took pictures all day. Got to record the chief of fire-fighters rappel down into a window with a suppressed Tavor in hand, and a bunch of other polite gentlemen play around an MRAP. Fun day.

Posted in author, camera and lens | Tagged | 4 Comments

Expanding the reach.

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Oleg Volk

My photo accompanies Eugene Volokh’s article in Washington Post.

Posted in camera and lens, civil rights | Tagged | Comments Off on Expanding the reach.

The price of diffuse light

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Until recently, I used a 10ft x 20ft popup tent for getting softer light on sunny days. Bought for $1200, the tent lasted five years and was well worth the expense and the effort required to set it up. A … Continue reading →

Posted in camera and lens | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Producing a 2015 photo calendar?

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Would any of my blog readers know how to produce and distribute a picture calendar? I’d like to use my RKBA images for that but don’t have the spare time to see the project to completion.

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens, rkba | 11 Comments

Behind the scenes

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Oleg Volk

The result looks a lot like this. (Photo by Heather Cernik)

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A professional illustration of how cameras and lenses aren’t perfect

Posted on March 23, 2014 by Oleg Volk

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2014/02/why-you-cant-optically-test-your-lens-with-autofocus I noticed the same about my own equipment, which is why I use live view focusing with 300/2.8 when practical.

Posted in camera and lens | 1 Comment

A call for photo props

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Oleg Volk

I’d like to do photos with a few items that aren’t normally available to me: Scooters, similar to Vespa Pre-1970s cars Harps, grad pianos, other substantial musical instruments Ideally, these would be available in Nashville. I should be able to … Continue reading →

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | 12 Comments