I am afraid I tend to disagree with you. Rules of thumb do not replace expertise. You have to at least have the knowledge to understand the rule of thumb. For instance, the 1/FL you quote is only for 35mm. With a Rollei the rule would be 1/2-1/FL, and with 4x5 1/4-1/FL.
Another misunderstanding is your DOF rule. For normal viewing distances the DOF of an 8x10 and a 20x24 print should be pretty close to the same. The difference? An 8x10 is normally viewed a 10 inches or so, and a 20x24 is normally viewed from 3 or 4 feet. Any rule of thumb is just a starting point. It gives you an idea where to start experimenting. Some people can hold a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera steady enough at 1/8 sec to produce sharp prints, some need to use 1/250. Until you experiment with it yourself you have no idea what your limits are. For a hundred fifty years we managed to make superb photographs without the gee-whiz technology that is now available. Good enough is a long way from perfect. But, if you equipment is not perfect you can always blame your inability to make exciting pictures on it. If you do though you will never make those exciting pictures because you will always blame your equipment and not bother to develop the skills to make those pictures. Ciao, Graywolf ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: Frantisek Vlcek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Shel Belinkoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, February 11, 2002 6:06 PM Subject: Re: Salgado: Equipment & Technique Makes an Impact > Hi Shel, > this exhibition (Exodus) was here in Prague in the autumn last > year, I was to it several times... truly excellent! > > What can I say... until seeing his prints, I though that I am > getting pretty good results from 35mm format, and that I have good > technique. After seeing the exhibition, well, it was a little > disheartening to see such perfect prints from small format, > especially compared to mine. > > His great photographs (I like his vision) are complemented a lot by > the perfect technique. OTOH, I have seen many perfect photographs > with bad technique, that still had the same or nearly same impact, > but it really helps if the technique is perfect too. > > As you said, most things like DOF, 1/FL rule for camera shake, etc. > are almost unusable when doing big prints. DOF scales are > calibrated for 8x10" prints, even on Zeiss lenses... when you print > 50x60cm, DOF scales are completely useless. Same for 1/FL rule, > that was made up in the old days for even smaller prints than > 8x10"/18x24cm (of course, there are cameras exception to this, > which can be handholded much steadier, like Rolleiflexes and few > other TLRs, some rangefinders,...). > Lot of people have expensive lenses and use a bad enlarger which > for example has not perfect alignment or is too much sensitive to > enlarger shake (I have seen few expensive dursts and similar which > had big shake problems after even minute adjustment of a knob or > dial, while my many times cheaper Magnifax IV is very steady). > > BTW, his printer (or does he print himself?) is pretty good. A lot > of good was made to the prints in the darkroom. > > I suggest everyone with interest in reportage or documentary (and > just about every other) photography go see this exhibition if you > have a chance. You will see something about the world we live in, > and also, you will see what's possible to get from small format. > > Good light, > Frantisek > - > This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, > go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to > visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
