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An article on Drawing Parallels: Architecture Observed in EOS Magazine January-March 2010 focusing on technique and equipment selection from the Canon EOS system best suited for Architectural Photography.
Drawing Parallels
Architect and photographer Quintin Lake uses visual comparisons drawn from his extensive travels to produce a book of pairings of photographs that force us to re-examine the world around us and challenge our understanding of what constitutes architecture. Quintin currently uses an EOS 5D but he took other digital images in the book using an EOS 10D and 1Ds, and earlier analogue images using an EOS 1000,600 and EOS 1.
‘My photographs are from my travels to over 60 countries,” explains Quintin. “so technical difficulties were mos!ly climatic: humidity, heat and cold, and for the remoter locations, being a long time away from electricity. To deal with long periods away from mains power, such as Lesotho or Peru I carried half a dozen spare batteries which I found easier than using solar, which requires being in one location for an extended period.
“The wider angle and tilt-and-shift lenses offered by Canon are superior to anything offered by the competition, and these lenses are particularly important for photographing architecture. I also like the colour rendering and feel of the digital file. which just look ‘right’. The camera’s ergonomic design makes sense and using the EOS system has become second nature to me.
“I have two styles of photographing architecture: an urban safari and a more static Study. When I arrive at a new city or place I’ll walk around for hours on an urban safari to get a feel for a place and see the things of interest, which may not be in a guide-book. Therefore lightweight high quality lenses are the most important to me. The EF 24·105mm f4L is my most used lens for this kind of long urban walk. I often also carry an EF 100-400m m f4.5-5.6L as I like to pick out a graphic composition from the facade of a building, often from quite a distance. I also normally carry an EF 50mm /1.4 for very low light conditions. For a more static study of a building when I’ll spend a day or more there and won’t be walking around all day with the equipment, I’ll use a TS-E 24mm f3.5L and an EF 15·35mm f2,8L with a tripod.
Drawing Parallels, Architecture observed, Papadakis Publisher, £25 To order a copy visit papadakis.net
Most SLRs cope remarkably well with freezing temperatures. I’ve had no problem using Canon EOS SLR cameras below zero for weeks on end, often down to -20°C and in extreme down to -30°C. This article is for those trying to keep such a camera going under expedition conditions, such as an icecap crossing or mountaineering expedition in the arctic: ie no power sockets, adverse weather, sleeping in tents on the ice and for a period of weeks. However much of the advice also applies to using a camera in cold conditions generally.
The two main technical problems to overcome are :
1. Condensation
Condensation forms when moving from a cold to a warmer environment, you don’t need to worry about damage to your camera moving from a warmer to a colder environment. Even in arctic conditions the temperature inside a tent is often well above zero yet well below zero in the shade. this means there is often a temperature gradient when bringing a camera into a tent which leads to condensation forming. Condensation on the front element or view finder is an inconvenience, but condensation on the electronics can give permanent malfunction, and condensation in the inside glass elements can write off the camera off for hours or days till the lens totally dries out.
2. Reduced Battery efficiency
Batteries are many times less efficient in cold weather due to the reduced speed of the chemical reaction that powers them.
Tips for Reducing Condensation
1. Place camera in plastic bag
The camera should be placed inside a polypropylene freezer bag, loosely knotted or twisted and then placed back inside the camera bag. You don’t want to put a waterproof bag around the entire camera bag as any moisture in the camera bag would then condense on the camera body. Ziploc bags, and Ortlieb style dry bags may sound better but often don’t fit neatly inside the camera bag and are much heavier and more expensive. The freezer bag also has the major advantage that you can stuff it below your camera in the bag when not in use, but you need to take spares for when it gets damaged.
2. Use camera bag insulation
The padding on most camera bags (especially the holster style common on expeditions) offers some insulation value which can reduce the dramatic temperature change, when moving from environments of different temperatures.
3. Try and warm up slowly
If there are environments of differing temperatures try and make the warm up process for the camera as gradual as possible.
4. Avoid breathing on the lens
Obvious maybe, but If you need to clean the lens just use a camera cloth to avoid ice forming.
Tips for dealing with Reduced Battery Efficiency
1. Carry multiple batteries
As a rough guide plan to take 2/3 times the number of batteries you’d need for equivalent shooting in temperate climates. My personal strategy if to take multiple batteries for an extended trip in the wilderness rather than deal with the uncertainties of solar chargers. This makes planning easy as one can ration a battery to last a given amount of time.
2. Warm batteries by keeping close to skin
Carry your spare close to your skin so your body can warm then. An apparently dead battery can be given more life by warming in this way so on very cold days you may find yourself rotating batteries in this way.
3. Adjust shooting style to conserve power
Accept you will get less out of your batteries so adjust you shooting style to conserve power. The biggest thing you can do is turn off after shot preview and reduce to a minimum previewing your images later. Addition power saving tips to get the most out of your battery are to turn off image stabilisation, don’t use flash and minimise half-press pre-focus.
View Light & Ice: East Greenland photographs here
Text & Photography © Quintin Lake, 2009
Key features of the TS-E 17mm f/4L and TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II include:
- Tilt and shift lenses compatible with all Canon EOS cameras
- Ultra Wide 17mm / wide 24mm focal length, ideal for architecture and landscapes
- High precision lens elements for low distortion and high resolution to the edge of the image
- ± 6.5° Tilt and ±12mm Shift (TS-E 17mm f/4L) ± 8.5° Tilt and ±12mm Shift (TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II)
- Tilt and shift mechanism rotates +/-90° allowing shift in any direction
- Tilt mechanism rotates +/-90° allowing tilt in any direction relative to the shift
- Aspherical and UD lens elements minimise chromatic aberration
- Sub-wavelength structure and super-spectra coatings minimise ghosting and flare
- Circular aperture for creative, blurred highlights
- TS-E 17mm f/4L has a floating internal focus mechanism delivers high image quality throughout focus range
View the full press release on canons site here
Large format 4×5″ scanned transparency film can still be best when quality, resolution and optical distortion control are of the utmost importance. Large format transparency film is one of the last areas where film can offer more resolving power than digital at reasonable cost (as of Feb 2009). The resolving area is sixteen times that of 35mm.
A phase one P45/P65 digital back can be used with this camera if digital is a client requisite. The adjusting movements of this kind of camera allow keystone distortion and converging verticals to be corrected so the vertical sides of a building or room are vertical with the sides of the print for reproduction giving a cleaner naturalistic look particularly important when representing modern architecture.
Situations where a client may wish to consider commissioning a large format image might be a critical double page spread in a large book or magazine, a sharp print larger than 60×90cm or detailed crops that are required to be greatly enlarged. For historical buildings prior to heavy restoration or demolition a large format image provides the most accurate archival reproduction.
This article may be useful to you if like me you had trouble with the seemingly simple task of sourcing a threaded rod to fit your tripod or camera.
My search for this item was for the following purposes:
1. To attach a Gitzo monopod and tripod to a Really Right Stuff (RRS) Ball head and Manfrotto geared head ( 3/8″ thread)
2. To connect a Hama Accessory Shoe with Insulating Plate to a Lastolite umbrella swivel as I was always breaking the plastic manfrotto style accessory shoe (1/4″ thread)
3. To attach a ball head to a Manfrotto super clamp. (1/4 inch thread with 1/4 – 3/8″ adapter bushing needed on the head)
The problem I discovered is that most camera stores in the UK do not sell the compatible threaded rod. Outside of the photographic world the thread pitch is an old type known as whitworth so cannot be picked up at a regular hardware store. The pitch of whitworth is a 55 degree thread angle, and UNC (coarse) is the size which superseded whitworth is 60 degrees.
However UNC (coarse) is more easily obtainable from specialist suppliers in varied lengths and for photographic purposed they are interchangeable. Stainless steel should be used as it is the strongest which is advisable if you have a heavy camera and lens combination.
The solution and where to source in the UK
Depending on your tripod setup what you need is:
1/4″ UNC stainless steel threaded rod (grub screw) or socket setscrew
3/8″ UNC stainless steel threaded rod (grub screw) or socket setscrew
Required length will vary for your individual use, I found the 1″ length has worked well for ball head to monopod and general head to tripod mounting. This length also worked well to attach a Hama Accessory Shoe to a Lastolite umbrella swivel.
In the uk I have purchased these from http://www.a2stainless.co.uk/ to which I am not connected in any way.
Locking the connection
Once the correct thread has been obtained most people want to lock the threads using a removable threadlocker so their tripod/monopod head does not loosen during normal use.
The often recommended brand is Loctite 242 which is hard to purchase in small quantities in the uk. The difference between this and Loctite 243 is only related to oil repellence so will make no difference for photographic application
In the UK Loctite 243 Lock ‘n’ seal is easily obtainable for less than £3 for a 3ml tube from Halfords
Once this is applied to the thread and the items assembled as required the bond should be allowed to cure overnight.
This is great news for owners of Canon EOS 5D cameras as it allows the use of CF cards greater than 8GB for the first time.
Download this update here:
http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eos5d/eos5d_firmware-e.html
Further information from Canon’s website:
The following fixes and improvements have been incorporated:
- It now supports high-capacity CF cards.
Previously, when using an 8GB CF card or greater (e.g.,12GB, 16GB), even after initializing the card in the camera, the CF card capacity could not correctly be detected.
This phenomenon has been fixed so that the camera will correctly recognize high-capacity CF cards.
- It allows the latest lens names to be recorded in the Exif information of images taken.
The lens IDs of lenses released after EOS5D are not in the camera; so these lens names could not be recorded in the Exif information of images.
The lens IDs for the follwing new lenses are now included, so that the correct lens names will be recorded in the Exif information of images.-EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM *1)
-EF 50mm f/1.2L USM *1)
-EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM *2)
-EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM *1)
The correct lens names for the lenses above marked *1) will be recorded in the Exif information of images.
The lens marked *2) has been added, if the firmware is version 1.1.0 or later.
- Lenses that are compatible with the Digital Photo Professional 3.2 lens aberration correction function have been added.
More lenses will be supported by the lens aberration correction function of Digital Photo Professional 3.2, Canon’s RAW image viewer/editing software.
Specifically, the four lenses listed in item 2 above have been added.In images taken with these lenses and cameras updated to v1.1.1, the lens aberration correction function can be used.
For other supported lenses, see the user manual for DPP 3.2.
