The Hardware

For the project I will use several different pieces of equipment which will help me to produce top quality photographs to be displayed in the summer show during Summer 2009, this blog entry describes the equipment which I will use and why I want to use it.

My own Personal Equipment

The Camera
Canon EOS 400DMy main camera which I have owned for around 2 years now; it has seen me through all of my photography projects to date and I am very proud of the results it has given me. It may be time for a change at some point in the future but for now I am happy with my current camera.

The camera has one of Canon's L lenses mounted to it which benefits me in the ways I have described below; other benefits that the EOS gives me is the ability to shoot RAW images at 10 Megapixel which is adequate for a fairly large print, although other, newer SLR cameras now far exceed this benchmark.

For this project I am confident that my camera will give me good enough images to display in the summer show of 2009.

The Lens
Canon 17-40mm L USM
This lens allows me to get wide angle photographs with confidence, due to the incredible quality of the optics inside this lens. So for my project, whenever I venture out to grab a photograph of the stars, I will take my camera with this lens pre mounted to enable the best possible image capture.

The lens is wide angle, although it may be good to try to get hold of a fish eye lens which will enable further distortion of the scene and allow me get more of a star trail into the frame while having an interesting foreground subject in the composition.

The Tripod
Manfrotto 055xPROB
To make sure my photographs are as sharp as possible, I need to use a sturdy tripod which won't move when the wind blows. I bought this particular Manfrotto tripod around a year ago which will help me get much steadier images, in conjunction with a good quality mount for the tripod, I will improve my chances of getting a sharp image.

The image on the right shows the tripod legs and the rotating central pole which allows lower compositions on the tripod, the top of my tripod has a mount screwed on which gives me full rotation of the camera while it's mounted on the tripod.


Remote Shutter release
RS60-E3
This little device is very central to the whole project as it allows me to set the camera to 'BULB' mode and then keep the shutter open indefinitely until I choose to end the photo taking process.
As the photo below shows, there is a 'Running Lock' which is essentially able to hold the shutter open for as long as I want, all you have to do is plug the remote into the camera and then push the button down to focus and then push up to lock the shutter open, as shown in the second image below.
I will also use torches to help focus the camera on the foreground subject as it will be well after sunset when I venture to the locations for my photo shoots.

Borrowed Equipment
While I work with my own equipment, I may borrow these pieces of equipment from our store at PCA which will enable me to try some different mediums on which to record my photographs.

Hasselblad Medium Format (500cm)
This camera has been a favourite of mine during my last year or so at PCA as it is relatively easy to use as much of the settings are just the same as a normal SLR camera, it is more difficult to load a film into the camera, but is still relatively easy provided you are careful with the film as it can slip off the spool easily.

The image beow shows me using the camera last year up at Brentor Church, near Tavistock:

It is a strange camera in that you can compose your picture by looking down into the square shown above instead of looking into a viewfinder facing forward; it is even more unusual when you go to focus the image with the pop up magnifier in the composition square.
Although all these elements are different, I find the camera fun to use as it is so different from any other camera but not too hard to get used to or use.
Back in the first year I produced some excellent images of a viaduct in Cornwall which has ever since inspired me to use the camera to produce high quality images which can then be scanned in to a computer and printed digitally.

Large Format?
I did have possible thoughts about using a large format camera, but it is just too difficult to get decent results with the camera, here are some of the reasons why I don't wish to use one:

• The whole kit weighs far too much to go carrying across Dartmoor as I have found out previously, I want to be able to travel light, either with a Medium Format camera or my Digital setup
• Processing films after shooting is very difficult and can be expensive as I will not be able to process any colour films at college
• Medium Format can give almost the same quality in a much smaller, less cumbersome unit