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authorluxagraf <sng@luxagraf.net>2016-12-20 11:06:09 -0500
committerluxagraf <sng@luxagraf.net>2016-12-20 11:06:09 -0500
commit1863c91b688d0afd9fc0ab1736a1e63ef202c9c0 (patch)
tree69d3aed658ebc289c989844b72a3c0110974ed37 /stack.txt
parent96bca926e0ff11cc85451bf1dfcd0fec8319b1b4 (diff)
added new post and some essays I'm working on
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+Find out enough about used lenses to be able to buy low and sell high via ebay and local.
+
People email me all the time to ask how I make luxagraf. It's easier to talk about tools than methods, so while I can't really explain how I do this to you in any meaningful way -- beyond saying, I just write, take pictures and combine them into stories, which I recognize is not particularly helpful -- here's a look at the tools I use. Because, consumerism! Seriously, don't buy any of this stuff, you don't need it. I don't need it. I could get by with less. I should get by with less.
## Hardware
@@ -6,19 +8,41 @@ People email me all the time to ask how I make luxagraf. It's easier to talk abo
My primary "device" is my notebook. I don't have a fancy notebook. I use whatever I happened to grab on my way out of the bus. I have quite a few (from moleskins to cheapo spirals). I'm not all that picky about notebooks, if they have paper in them I'm happy enough. But I could devote thousands and thousands of words to pens. For what seems like forever I was religiously devoted to the Uniball Roller Stick Pen in micro point, which I used to swipe from my dad's desk drawer back in high school. It's a lovely pen, but the last time I went to get a box they were out so I grabbed a couple of Uniball Vision pens, which also fill my two primary requirements in a pen: 1) it writes well 2) I can buy it almost anywhere for next to nothing.
+In a moment of non-frugality I did once buy a fancy pen from Japan that takes Parker ink refills which I can never find so it ends up spending more time shoved in a drawer than in my hand.
+
### laptop
-My laptop is a Lenovo <span class="strike">x230</span>, oops, x240, from, uh, maybe 2012 or so? I bought it off eBay for $300. I upgraded the hard drives and put in an HD screen, which brought the total outlay to $550, which is really way too much to spend on a computer these days, but my excuse is that I make money using it.
+My laptop is a Lenovo <span class="strike">x230</span>, oops, x240. I bought it off eBay for $300. I upgraded the hard drives and put in an HD screen, which brought the total outlay to $550, which is really way too much to spend on a computer these days, but my excuse is that I make money using it.
-Why this particular laptop? It's small and the battery lasts quite a while (like 18 hrs when I'm writing, more 15 when editing photos). It also has a removable battery and can be upgraded by the user. I packed in almost 3TB of disk storage, which is nice. It also makes a high pitch whining noise that drives me crazy whenever I'm in a quiet room with it. But since I mostly use it outdoors, sitting around our camps, this is rarely an issue.
+Why this particular laptop? It's small and the battery lasts quite a while (like 15 hrs when I'm writing, more 12 when editing photos). It also has a removable battery and can be upgraded by the user. I packed in almost 3TB of disk storage, which is nice. It does make a high pitch whining noise that drives me crazy whenever I'm in a quiet room with it, but since I mostly use it outdoors, sitting around our camps, this is rarely an issue.
Still, like I said, I could get by with less. I should get by with less.
### Camera
-I have used many different cameras at different points in time on this site. I went around the world the first time with a Canon point and shoot of some sort. Then I got a Panasonic GF-1, which I loved. There's also quite a few pics taken with other micro four-thirds cameras I tested for Wired. But, since 2016 I've been shooting primarily with two cameras, both by Nikon.
+I have used many different cameras at different points in time on this site. I went around the world the first time with a Canon point and shoot of some sort. Then I got a Panasonic GF-1, which I loved. There's also quite a few pics taken with other micro four-thirds cameras I tested for Wired. But, since 2016 I've been shooting primarily with two cameras, one digital, one film.
+
+The digital is a Sony A7ii, a full frame mirrorless camera. I bought it specifically because it's the only full frame digital camera available that lets me use the old lens that I love. Without the old lenses I find the Sony's output to be a little digital for my tastes. The RAW files from the A7ii have wonderful dynamic range, which was the other selling point for me.
+
+All of my lenses are manual focus. After about 2016 there are no autofocus shots on this site.
+
+I grew up using all manual focus cameras. Autofocus was probably around by the time I picked up a camera, but I never had it. My father had (probably still has) a screw mount Pentax. I bought a Minolta with money from a high school job. Eventually I upgraded to a Nikon F3. While there are advantages to autofocus, none of them are significant for the type of photos I like to make.
+
+####lenses
+
+One thing about shoot manual lenses is that there are a tone of cheap manual lenses out there. I have seen amazing photos produced with $10 lenses. Learn to manual focus a lens is like opening a door into a secret world. A secret world where lenses are cheap. The net result of my foray into this world is that I have a ridiculous collection of lenses. And we live in a bus, lord knows what I'd have if we had more space.
+
+That said, about 90% of the time I have a very fast, lightweight Voigtlander 40mm 1.4 attached to the A7. I love this lens. It gets a lot of hate on the internets. People don't like the bokeh I guess. I love it.
+
+I never felt right with 50mm lenses back in my film days. I played with 35mm, but it felt too wide to be normal, not wide enough to be wide. When I bought the GF1 I picked up a 40mm on Craig Mod's advice and fell in love with this length. This is how I see. I love this lens. Love it.
+
+At the wide end of the spectrum I have the Voigtlander 20mm. Between this and the previous I realize I've developed a weird obsession with Voigtlander.
+
+For macro and portraits I use the wonderful Tokina AT-X Macro 90mm. There's a great review of this lens over at [Phillip reeve's blog][https://phillipreeve.net/blog/tokina-x-macro-90mm-12-5-review/]. It blows my mind that you can buy a lens this good (complete with doubler) for less than $400.
+
+I also have a Rokinon 12mm f/2.8 fisheye because when your home is less than 26ft long and 8ft wide you need a fisheye.
-The first is the digital, a Nikon D600 (eBay, about $600). About 90% of the time I have a very fast, lightweight Nikon 35mm f/2 lens on it. This is what I use for taking pictures of the kids playing and when we're walking around new towns. For landscapes I generally use the Nikon 20mm f/2.8, a manual focus lens that I really, really love. Other lenses include a Nikon 70-300 zoom I use for the occasional bird or moose photo, and a Rokinon 12mm Fisheye lens for shooting in tight spaces like the big blue bus.
+###Film
The other camera is 35mm film, a Nikon FE that I picked up off eBay (notice a running theme here? Buy used and you can afford to travel more) for $75. That price blows my mind since once upon a time as a teenager I worked for months to afford nearly the same camera. Anyway, I worry that all our digital photos will disappear one day so I wanted to leave behind some physical artifacts for my kids to dig through later in life. And printing digital photos is not the same. I typically process the color film at Costco when we're in the U.S. and send off of the black and white to a lab. But the b&w is really expensive so I mainly shoot color these days. A handful of the prints stay with us in the bus, the rest are shipped to relatives for relatively safe keeping.