Mirror Lock Up

Mirror lock up reduces any shaking that might come from mirror slap (Ask a Pentax 67 user about mirror slap...). When I shoot with my 70-200mm, I try to use a tripod whenever I can. A tripod pretty much eliminates camera shake in my images that might have come from hand holding and it gives me more flexibility in post processing (bracketing exposure for stacking in post-processing, or bracketing focus). Tripod use implies I'm not in a hurry and as such, I might as well be using mirror lock up. It would be nice if my camera had a button to engage mirror lock up, or at least a button that was programmable to do this, but it does not.

I have found a pretty quick work around. It looks like this will work on Canon 5D MkII, 7D and 50D. These cameras have custom modes that you can set up on the exposure mode dial. In the case of the Canon 5D MkII and 7D, there are three selections you can set up. The 50D has two. I have C1 set up to shoot RAW, black and white, ISO 100 at f5.6. I have C2 set up to shoot RAW, black and white, ISO 2000 at f2.8. I have C3 set up to shoot RAW, color, ISO 100, F8.0, and mirror lock up engaged.

Figure 1 - Exposure dial Canon 5D MkII

It's pretty simple to set up actually. Set up your camera like you're going to shoot and choose the parameters you most like to use. Make sure to engage mirror lock up through the menu. Somewhere in the menu is something like "camera user setting". Choose that then choose "Register". Next choose "Mode dial :C1", "Mode dial :C2"or "Mode dial :C3". The condition the camera is in when you register settings is how the C selections will register. Voila! Set up is done. If your had mirror lock up engaged when you registered user settings, you can simply select your C selection on the exposure mode dial and you're ready to shoot with mirror lock up!

Alchemy

I've listened to "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho a couple of times. I really enjoy the story. Of course, the book can be taken on many levels. On a literal level, alchemy can be taken for the pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life. The process of creating the Philosopher's Stone is a process of purification. I suppose for me, photography is about the process.  It's ongoing, never static.  Things change.  I change. 

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Step Wedge

The easy way to create a step wedge (I can do this in under a minute...)

1. Create a new photoshop document. I chose to create 8" wide by 1" tall. I chose 16 bit and 300 dpi for print resolution. (If you normally work in 8 bit, select 8 bit.) I chose 300 dpi as I usually print around that resolution. Color mode is RGB and background color is left white.
   
2. Select the gradient tool from the tool box. Edit the type of gradient. From the pull down select "foreground to background." To the left of the pull down tab select "linear gradient."
3. At the very bottom of the tool box are your foreground and background colors. Make sure they are white and black. My foreground is set to black. My background is set to white. With your gradient tool selected, place your cursor at the edge of the image, hold down shift, left click and hold, draft a line to the other edge of the image, release left click then shift. You should have a nice gradient across the image. The gradient tool is set to "foreground to background" and my foreground is black, background white. As I've dragged my cursor left to right, the gradient goes black to white. Get it?
   
4. Select Image>Adjustments>Posterize from the top menu. Enter "21" in the levels box and hit enter. You should now have a 21-step wedge. (You can select any number of levels you want, but 21 steps is works well for profiling and 8" will allow you to print many iterations of step wedges on a single sheet of letter sized paper.)
   
5. I save the filed in .PSD format. Do not convert, assign or embed any profiles

You'll notice that the steps are not equal in size. I'll discuss how to make a more "pretty" step wedge in another post.

Figure 1 - 21 Step Wedge

Simplification - One Printer Down

I gave the Epson 2000P away today. I put a "free" ad up on Craigslist and a art teacher wanted it. I also gave him stacks of Inkpress warmtone paper, my refillable ink cartridges for that printer and one of the inksets I was working with. I don't feel bad giving the stuff away - it went to a good cause and it's out of my hair. I think he's going to have a interesting time trying to figure it all out. They only teach traditional darkroom (which I think is totally cool) so his skill set is really limited to film. He was bombarding me with all kinds of questions. I wasn't trying to be obtuse, but I tried to tell him there were many ways to get to where he wanted to go. Kids are quite tech savvy and I'm sure they will be able to put it all together. So in one fell swoop I simplified my workspace a bit.

I've had quite a collection of inkjet printers going for a while. I have a couple more to decide what to do with. I've got the 2200 with UT-3D working fairly well. It took me a weekend to get a decent curve with Ilford Gold Fibre Silk, but I'm fairly happy with the prints. I've decided to go the glossy paper route for a while. I've also tried the Harmon fiber AL warmtone glossy. I'm really liking this paper. One thing I don't like about the 2200 it that is leaves pizza wheel marks on the glossy prints. I'll have to sort that out. I have to say, in general, my inkjet prints are more expressive than anything I could have produced in the darkroom. The glossy fiber papers and the UT-3D inkset are working out well. I still like the idea of shooting film, but it may be time to sell off the darkroom equipment.

I'm leaning to porting the UT-3D inkset to the Epson 4000. Pizza wheel mark problem will be solved - the 4000 uses a vacuum feature to hold paper in place. I can print larger prints (although my most common size is 6x9). The printer has both matte and glossy black ink installed so no need to swap cartridges - this is a very nice feature. I'll be able to work out curves for a couple matte papers and a couple gloss papers. Also can utilize roll papers. If I port the UT-3D to the 4000, I can get rid of the 2200 as well and be one more printer down.

I still have an Epson R220. I would probably put color inks back in that printer and use it for normal desktop stuff as well as small color photos. I figure if I ever wanted to print a large color image, I would just source it out.