Single-Serving Photo

Continuing down this path we’re on, looking into the inner workings of our photographic equipment, here is yet another fabulous video from the folks at Camera Technica showing you what the Canon 18-55mm aperture looks like when it opens and closes in slow motion. Well, somewhat slow motion. The aperture actually opens and closes so quickly that even in this high-speed video it’s still a very brief movement.

Check out Camera Technica for more about photographic technology.

That’s “image stabilization” for those of you not paying attention. Or “VR” for the Nikon folks out there. I believe Canon and Nikon use very similar electronic systems. Either way, this is fascinating. This is what the inside of a Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens looks like when the image stabilization is operating.

Image Stabilization Revealed from Camera Technica on Vimeo.

I’m sitting on a bunch of material that I will eventually develop into full articles, but in the meantime, feast your eyes on this exquisitely detailed cross-section of a Leica lens. Just in case you were curious why these things are so expensive…

After careful inspection, I can confidently say that these are two photos of the same half of the lens from either side. I have no idea why someone would have one half of a lens and not the other half, perhaps it was just a demonstration piece. I count seven elements, but I’m really not an expert. It looks like the lens has a maximum focal length of 22mm.

Any Leica folks out there who can fill in some blanks? Leave a comment!

Edit: I just learned that this split lens was the result of some kind of educational final project. The engadget post this information comes from says that “Leica students” were permitted to cut a $4,500 lens in half as an art project. I’m not sure what a “Leica student” is, but the halves sold on eBay for almost $1,000.

So I guess if you cut a Leica lens in half, you cut its value in quarters. Or something. Still, a very cool view into the complexity of these instruments that we use all the time.

Sometimes I feel like a shill when I talk about these sales and deals, but it’s so hard for me to look at a fabulous bargain and not pass it on. Such is the case with the so-called Canon Loyalty Program, which is apparently Canon’s way of saying “thank you” for buying one of their point-and-shoot cameras.

I found this on the venerable deal-hunting site “FatWallet,” and if you like you can read the original post yourself. Basically, if you have a qualifying Canon digital camera (it has to be digital and it’s really limited to point-and-shoot models), even if it doesn’t work anymore, you can trade it in for a refurbished white-box replacement at a pretty reasonable discount.

If you have an out-of-warranty Canon point-and-shoot and you were thinking of upgrading it, this could be an opportunity to save a little cash, which is something everyone could probably stand to do right now.

Read the fully detailed summary of the program on the FatWallet forum.

Photography is awesome and I love it, but it’s super expensive sometimes. Photographers often commiserate with one another about the high price tags on tripods and ball heads (or sometimes they gloat, but the nice ones commiserate), and if you get into studio photography you are often getting into a whole new world of expenses from strobes and stands to backdrops and gels.

Now, it definitely pays off to have the right tools for the job, and that starts to become glaringly apparent when you’re doing work with people, but for so-called tabletop product photography you can often get by with some home improvement supplies and a little ingenuity and patience.

After the break, the resident product photographer and editor at Handmadeology shares a $12 product studio setup that yielded the image on the right. (more…)