lundi 17 octobre 2005

Cameras I've clicked with... Pentax 6x7 Why I bought and sold three outfits... Part 3b : The Fisheye 35 mm Lens This is another out of sequence article on past experiences with several Pentax 67 systems... and I'm including it here because I've noticed a few times in recent weeks from internet photo chat groups that there seems to be a lack of images made with the scarce 35mm Fisheye lens for the Pentax 67. What follows is hardly a technical review of the lens because I basically used it for what it gave me... interesting images which were different from the norm. I've never used a standard 90mm lens for the Pentax 67 because most of my photo subjects with those cameras were either landscapes taken on spec for travel publications, or commissioned interiors for home-makeover magazines. For both those general subjects the 55mm lens was the accepted "wide-standard" most of the time with the 45mm used in tight places and spaces to get me out of trouble. I didn't use the 45mm as a first-choice because the distortion and exaggeration of foreground objects, especially round bowls which took on a distinctly oval shape, was too noticeable for interiors, and the resolution in the corners too poor for full-frame use... and what was the point of using a wider lens only to crop the extra width out? However, there were times, especially for the specialist press, when really wide and wacky angles were called for, and when the Pentax "full-frame" Fisheye lens was invaluable for creating them. It's 35mm focal length does not sound much less than the 45mm lens, but in reality it is a completely different lens. Whilst the difference in focal length / viewing angle across the diagonal between the 55mm and 45mm lenses is only 10mm and only 11 degrees... the difference between the 45mm extra-wide-angle and 35 mm "fisheye" lenses is still only 10mm but a staggering extra 90 degrees of view. The doubling in viewing angle can only be achieved by abandoning controlled rectilinear perspective for a distorted image. The 180 degree angle of view is wider than the eye's peripheral vision and includes a wider horizon than we can normally see with our eyes fixed on a point. It is this feature of including more than the eye can see that some photographers find useful... it doesn't matter to them that the image will be distorted, partially or completely unrecognisable at times, ugly even... what matters is being different... being creative. But being creative with "oddball" equipment such as a fisheye lens has its dangers... as Ansel Adams once said, "There's nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept," (or words to that effect). Choose your subject with care, apply your creative idea/s (with the oddball piece of equipment) and refine the output by seeking different viewing points (however close), different focus points - or focal points to draw the viewer's eye - and different exposures to emphasise highlights or shadows... and then keep shooting more variations... with the Pentax 67 you only get 10 shots to a roll of 120 film, so don't stop after one roll... shoot at least half a dozen rolls to see how your ideas start to evolve... an interesting lens can produce more exciting ideas than you first thought about if you keep firing the shutter and feeding it film! As I said, this isn't a test, it's a selection of images... and the opener is a typical situation where the widest possible angle of view was required to show the interior of the underground wine cave. However, lighting such a dark space was not easy... and with the fisheye lens seeing so much off the subject it was doubly difficult to light the space. I used two free-standing Vivitar 5600 modular units fired from a slaved Vivitar 4000 attached to the camera. Two of the flash units were fitted with "bare bulb" heads and meter readings taken with a Minolta III flash meter - taking into account a 1-second exosure to get some warm glow from the real bare-bulb hanging from the ceiling. The flash units had to be placed well out of the view of the fisheye lens... and because the Pentax 67 had only a 90% or so accurate viewfinder an allowance had to be made for what could not be seen on the viewfinder screen. I exposed three rolls before the Vivitar flash units became too long on recycling time... and the sample glasses of wine (Saumur) affected my recycling times also. The next two images show the Pentax 67 camera with the 35mm Fisheye lens fitted (scanned from an old Pentax 67 catalogue) plus a shot of a woman spotted on the pits balcony at the Le Mans 24-hour race in France with a pair of P67s around her neck, the lower one having the 35 mm Fisheye lens attached... note that she is also shooting "casual snaps" one-handed with a Pentax 110 sub-miniature camera. Image four shows two exteriors... the left one being a typical "fisheye" shot showing all the distortion associated with such a lens. I've shown the exaggerated distortion by including in the framing a straight telegraph pole and taut wires across the diagonal... but they are bent. Note that the octagonal hazard sign remains largely undistorted because it's the centre of the frame. Next to it is a shot of the chateau at Azay-le-Rideau which looks undistorted at first glance... however, this is an illusion because the chateau is fairly small in the centre of the frame within the least distorted area... whereas the overhanging trees are irregular organic shapes which show no apparent distortion. But if you look closely at the two pointed towers at each end of the main building you will see them curving inwards. The foreground boats show little recognisable distortion because they are curvy themselves... which shows that if you choose your subjects with care you can show, or hide, the fisheye effect. The last trio of images of the Cathedral in nearby Tours (France) show the effects of three of the four built-in filters. The 35mm lens has Ultra Violet, Yellow, Orange and Red filters... one having to be in the optical path all the time. I didn't include the yellow filter because it's similar to the orange... but you will see from these shots that the coloured filters have quite a strong effect - and although designated for use with black and white films, they are striking enough to use with colour film too. For a two-part "technical" look at this interesting lens check out the relevant pages by Steve Rasmussen here and here on photo.net Part 1 of Pentax 67 System is the system compatibility. Part 2 of Pentax 67 System is a comparison with Hasselblad. Part 3a of Pentax 67 System is the 120mm Soft Focus lens. Part 4 of Pentax 67 System is being written. Part 5 of Pentax 67 System reviews the two Spotmeters and other bits. 10:10:07 PM    comment []