My Camera, My Speedlight, And Me*

I submitted this image in case the Layout Department at the Journal needed something to fill some space on the Community Page. The photo, however plain, does present some solutions to problems one encounters when photographing in the field and on the run. First, one doesn't have much control over the shot. In this sequence, the photos were made during a tour of "old town" Woodside, so interfering with the presentation was out of the question. In addition, one usually can't rearrange one's subjects to improve the framing of the photo. Finally, when working "live" makes using a lightstand impractical, or even dangerous, in tight quarters, so the lighting options are limited. Some compromises have to be made just to get a photograph.

1/250 second, F 16, ISO 250.

I have my gripes about some of the equipment I use, and the Godox flashes' built-in radio triggering system and the robust lithium-ion batteries make them my first choice for field work, in spite of some inherent problems. The fast recycle times provided by the robust lithium-ion batteries outweigh the difficulty of power output adjustment when used in manual exposure mode.

In this sample image you can see that the speedlight accidentally intruded into the upper left portion of the frame. Before shooting, I will usually extend my arm out towards the subject so I can see my hand, Then I will move my hand until it disappears from sight, allowing me to position my speedlight as close to my subject as possible. 

1/125 second, F 16, ISO 250.

For this second shot, I attempted to improve the composition by moving closer to my subject. Unfortunately, the Handicapped Parking sign was in the worst possible location, but considering the conditions I was working under, I had to "play the ball where it landed". I was careful to move the speedlight out of the frame, and I lightened the front of the Pioneer Hotel and the sky by doubling the shutter speed. This adjustment only affected the areas solely lit by the ambient skylight.

Diffusion Dome: I added the diffusion dome in an attempt to soften the edge of light from the flash. It is a fact that small diffusers do little to improve the quality of the light, but in this case I was willing to try anything to get a better "look" to the photo. Pointing the flash above the subject, rather than dead on, decreased the overexposure on the lower half of my subject's torso and helped to draw the viewer's attention toward the subject's face. I have had many pleasant surprises when working with domes like the Sto-Fen, so I'm willing to give it a try when I think it might help.

Strategic Cropping: While I submitted the top photo for publication, I continued to wonder what I could have done to improve my approach of the composition. My biggest concern was that Nino, the tour guide, seemed very isolated in the photo. While the tour members were few in number, the top photo, unfortunately, seemed to emphasize that. While it is too late to send, this cropped version manages to maintain the important visual elements while completely hiding the group's small size. The black and white photograph along with Nino's hand gesture advanced the narrative that we're seeing the building, Independence Hall, in its historical context and its current state.

While it's too late to help this particular photo, I'll keep this in mind when I encounter a similar situation and will remember to experiment with the composition.

I need to curb my enthusiasm for emptying my Outbox. This isn't the first time a more effective submission could be found by careful cropping, or by taking the time to more carefully examine the day's take.

* A riff on "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me", sung by Rick Nelson and Dean Martin in the John Wayne movie "Rio Bravo".

Addendum: I submitted the cropped version and they are going to run it instead. You can see it here, to our left.

Mike Annuzzi

The assignment was to make a photo of Redwood City native Mike Annuzzi as a promotion for his upcoming show at the Fox Theater. I've been very fortunate that my assignments have included so many local talents, I was delighted with the prospect of photographing another San Mateo County creative.

My editor suggested that a photograph could be published to highlight Mr. Annuzzi's first theater performance in Redwood City, his home town. While casting about for the background location, Mr. Annuzzi suggested that a local music store in RWC might be appropriate and convenient. He sent me a photo of the store's guitar showroom, and I liked what I saw. After confirming that a 1:00 pm photoshoot would present little or no hardship on the store's operations, we went for it.

When I first saw the showroom, I decided to concentrate on the following visual elements:

• I wanted to use converging lines to direct the viewer's attention to Mr. Annuzi's face,
• I wanted to feature as many guitars as possible, and
• I wanted the lighting placement to add some visual drama.

I started with a shoot-through umbrella mounted on top of a light stand at a height of almost eight feet. This test shot demonstrated that I would need to increase the output to get the desired level of brightness. Also, I would be shooting from the back of the store towards the front, and the store itself was pretty dark when compared to the showroom.

For this next shot, I added two flashes that are positioned out of frame. First, I put a snoot on Flash Number two and positioned it outside the showroom and pointed directly as Mr. Annuzzi's head. If you look closely you can see the highlight on his neck which provides some background separation. Flash Number Three was pointed at the guitar display just outside of the showroom.

For this shot I positioned the camera very close to the ground with the intent of using the black ceiling to direct the viewer towards Ms. Annuzzi's face. Looking at the intersection of the black ceiling and my subject's head, I think I overdid it. Time to move on.

For the final series of shots I added two additional flashes. First, I wasn't happy with the black ceiling visible at the front of the store. I added Flash Number Four on the counter and aimed it towards the ceiling. Fortunately it naturally pointed to the light fixture in the ceiling. This suggests, gently, that the lighting fixture itself provided that bit of brightness. Flash Number Five was clamped to a stool and pointed straight down at the floor. This bounce light provides a bit of fill light that is barely detectable because it does not add additional highlights on the subject's face. 

Looking back, it might seem that this was a lot of work for a photo as ephemeral as a newspaper publicity shot. However, I wasn't looking for a simple shot. I wanted a photo that had some visual depth, where one could sense that there were details behind the main subject, and I believe the photo succeeded. I was not without some areas that could be improved.

Light Spillage: I struggled to eliminate, or at least reduce, the glare coming off the faces of these guitars. My first impulse was to change the position of the key light in relation to my shooting position. After several tries, I gave it. But during post production, I realized the glare was not created by the light's location, It was actually light spilling over the edge of the shoot-through umbrella. I then noticed that the shadows from the "shiny" guitars were cast in a direction different from those from the guitars closer to the ceiling. What I should have done was to add some sort of light-proof barrier (called a "flag") on the flash head to prevent the light from sneaking past the umbrella. A big piece of gaffer tape would have done the trick, so I just slapped a 2" wide strip of gaffer tape onto the flash body so I won't have to look for one the next time it's needed. Be sure to fold one end over itself (sticky face to sticky face) to provide a handy tab for rapid deployment.

Kicking The Kicker: The "kicker" light is directed from behind the subject and used to provide separation from the background.
In this uncropped version of the submitted photo you can see the kicker at left edge of frame. The arrows along Mr. Annuzzi's right side shows where the light "skidded" off the edge to provide a rim of light. Since the flash hadn't yet been restricted by a grid spot or a snoot, its broad beam light edges his whole upper body. When a snoot or grid spot is added, the beam would be narrower, and lighting a specific portion of the subject would become a matter of luck.

The work-around for this would be to position your subject and then walk back to where the flash is. With the grid spot/snoot in place, photograph your subject from the rear. When you preview the image, you can see exactly how much of the subject will benefit from the kicker. Adjust the light until the beam falls exactly where you want it.

Now that I have solutions to these "in the field" problems, I can wait for another assignment that requires a similar level of attention to detail. Incidentally, the shoot took about one hour from first to last handshake, but the satisfaction I received from the final result was immeasurable.

Good Old Reliable Light Sphere

If a photographer is just getting into the indoor flash thing, I continue to recommend that the first light modifier you buy is the Gary Fong Light Sphere. In spite of all my experimentation with dozens of different modifiers and techniques, you can't beat the Light Sphere for simplicity and consistency. I remember the first time I used it to make a group photo with Senator Jackie Speier when she visited an upholstery class that was held on one of our campuses. I literally took it out of the box, attached it to a NIkon D600 speedlight mounted on a Nikon D50 body, and by simply following the instructions, took a very acceptable class photo. The Light Sphere was a relatively new product at the time, and was something my subjects had never seen before. It was introduced in late 2004, and since then one of the many versions has always been within arm's reach. 

Hail Mary: The photo at the top of this post was taken by simply mounting the Sphere onto an on-camera flash, holding the camera high overhead, and framing the shot using the tilting LCD on the back of my T-2. I mentioned that I find the T-2's simple "tipping" panel more practical that the T-4's that is fully articulating. Notice that by using a reasonably powerful flash at a relatively short distance, there is enough light to balance the street visible through the window behind my subjects. 

I will say  that there is no perfect variation. The originals were designed to fit certain families of flash heads and while easily attached to the flash, they were easily knocked free with the slightest bump. Later models incorporated a Velcro cinch strap which was more secure, but impossible to install with only one hand. When the collapsible variant became available, I settled on that one, as it was easily stuffed into a camera bag and used as a "lens cozy" for my medium zoom lens. The "dome" portion was detached and stored separately. Good thing, because I've taken to using the dome as a diffuser when taking white balance readings.

Packing Heavy: I normally carry two of everything when I'm on an assignment. Either as redundancy for backup or a chance to get multi-light creative, you will find two flashes in my bag. In being prepared, I normally use a round-headed Godox flash for its more even light pattern. But when the Light Sphere is needed, I switch to a more convention square-headed speedlight. Gary Fong claims to have made a new version that can be attached to a round-headed flash, but I haven't seen one for sale, and since I always have a suitable flash, haven't felt the need.

The Fourth Of July - Stage And Audience Combined

There are several Fourth of July events on the Peninsula. So far I've photographed in Foster City and Half Moon Bay, but never in San Mateo Proper.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Pet Parade in Foster City was a bust, so I drove up to San Mateo to photograph their dance party in Central Park. I didn't arrive in time for the Raising of the Flag, but did arrive in time to hear the band do their sound checks.

Early in the set I made a photo to determine the proper exposure for the sunlit dancers in the background. You can see plenty of color, contrast, and saturation, but the performers on the stage are terribly underexposed. Obviously I would need some flash assistance.

I had a Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2, Adorama's house brand made before Godox imported the flash under its own name. The primary advantage is its fast recycle time (it uses a proprietary lithium ion 7.2 volt rechargeable battery and has a round head design for a more even lighting distribution. It also has a built-in receiver for the R2 series of radio flash triggers, so that output can be adjusted remotely. I decided I would make a simple exposure with the flash mounted in the camera's hot shoe.

This test shot showed that a camera-mounted flash could get the job done. with some limitations. The lighting was flat, as was expected. There was also a positioning issue. In order to get a good profile of my singer, she would have to be looking towards the audience at frame right, or else very little of her face could be seen. Even holding the flash with my outstretched right arm would  have improved the shot incrementally. 

While I do keep a small clamp for mounting a small flash in my camera bag, it has a maximum "bite" of 1.5", and there was nothing that size that I could reach.

It happens that I also carry a few small ball bungee cords, and by linking two of them together, I had enough stretch to tie my flash onto almost any convenient standing support. In this photo I made for an earlier post, you can see that this mini-flash was easily attached to a street sign support pole using a single short ball bungie. This particular flash, the diminutive LightPix Lab's Q20, is mounted up-side-down so I can tilt the beam directly at my subject  if I can get some altitude in my placement. The flash also has a built-in proprietary remote trigger built into the detachable hotshoe, a very handy feature. 

If you use your imagination, you can visualize how two linked ball bungee cords could be used to secure a medium-sized speedlight to one of the supports for the roof of this portable stage (red arrow). You can also see that I added a dome diffuser in an effort to get some light falloff so that my subject's white jeans would not be overexposed. Since the Godox remote flash triggers allow me to adjust the flash output from the camera. I was able to adjust the output at will. Even at full power my subject is not 100% properly exposed. In retrospect, the easiest fix would be to increase the ISO setting on the camera to brighten up my subject at the cost of overexposing my background.  I may try that next time, but I was confident that all the necessary corrections could be made in post production.

This last shot was made with the flash attached to the support, and a diffusion dome in place. I was hoping to soften the edges of the shadows by a tiny bit. I also tilted the flash head up slightly to feather the light hitting my subject's white pants. This would help draw the viewer's attention to her upper torso. Also the placement of the light to my right, along with the subject's gaze toward the left side of the frame, helped to separate her silhouette from the much darker background. 

I am not really happy with the poses, but as an unofficial member of the audience I had no say on where my subject stood, or what gestures you might make with her hands. This is an enlargement of the photo at the top of the post. As I mentioned, the position of the flash to my right allowed her silhouette to be clearly defined against the dark background. While it may look like a nose-thumbing, my justification for submitting this particular shot was that her hand was recognized for what it was, and not some shapeless beige appendage floating in space. 

I think about the context of the image, and it easily carries a message of "concert on a summer's day". The attitude of the dancers suggest that they are having a good time, and San Mateo residents will recognize the baseball field's transition to a concert venue. Really, everybody appeared to be having a fun time, and that's what this event was all about.

The Fourth Of July - The Doggie Dilemma

Happy Fourth of July: Two peninsula cities, Foster City and San Mateo, each scheduled their own Fourth of July celebration. In Foster City, there was a Pet Parade, followed by a band performance at Leo Ryan Park. Families had already laid claim to their place on the lawns for their picnics, and in years past, a place where they would normally watch the fireworks display over the lagoon. San Mateo planned for a band to perform on a stage erected on the baseball diamond in Central Park just for the occasion. Since this two-fer gave me two venues to work from, I decided to attempt to make a photo of the Pet Parade. then drive north to San Mateo for the Dance Party.

Experimenting: I've always tried to find different ways to photograph pets from their perspectives. I carry two Fuji bodies: a  T4 with a fully articulating LCD panel, and an older T2, which has an LCD panel that only rotates up or down, while staying aligned with the lens axis. If I'm looking straight down onto the camera  when making a long-angle shot, I much prefer the T2 because the LCD is easier to stay in alignment with the subject. I mounted my 10-24 zoom lens because I knew that I'd be working very close to my canine subjects. Finally, to the best light possible, I rotated my flash head so that when I held the camera at waist level, the flash would be pointing directly at my chest. I made a quick test shot of this dog whose owner was wearing these lovely heart-shaped sunglasses. After a few tries, I resigned myself to the fact that I was winning my Pulitzer here.

This tight cropping of one of those attempts does successfully illustrate the effects of my camera and flash setup. In the reflection you can see the silhouette of my shoe-mounted flash with the light bouncing off of my light-colored shirt. You will also notice that the light will fall on the subject from above the lens axis, which changes the size and nature of the catchlight. There is a problem with the camera-to-subject distance. As you can see that the farther from the subject you and your camera are positioned, the flatter the lighting becomes. You can see that there is almost no shadow beneath my subject's nose.

Photobombed: I was determined to make that full-framed photo of a patriotic puppy using this lighting setup. As I was preparing to photograph the dog with the star-spangled neck kerchief, this brave little Corgi decided to walk directly into the frame. You can catch the expression on my original subject, and almost see both the surprise and indignation in his eyes. However, the effect of this shirt-bounced flash on the Corgi was exactly what I was looking for.

Having been so upstaged, my enthusiasm for the venue fell through the floor, and I resigned myself to winning my Pulitzer with a photo for San Mateo. 

Head 'em up, move 'em out. Keep them doggies moving.

The Viltrox 28mm F 4.5 In Use

1/200 second, F 4.5, ISO 200, 3-stop neutral density filter.

Sharp! I've been playing around with my new Viltrox 28mm F 4.5 quite a bit, and am very impressed with both its wide angle outlook on life, and the high degree of clinical sharpness. My assessment has been quite favorable so far, although adapting to the fixed F 4.5  aperture is still a work in progress.  But sharp it is, and this quality alone might justify a higher suggested retail price.

Now just for fun I included a cropped portion of the lead photograph. You can easily see the embossing on the bridge of my spectacles, which is a performance level well above its pay grade. Going back the lead image, I really liked how the out-of-focus background was so softly rendered

The Fixed Aperture: This particular lens has an aperture fixed at F 4.5. With low ISO settings, aperture priority exposure mode setting, and an outdoor subject this is definitely not a disadvantage unless you want/need greater depth of field. But as you may have guessed, I tend to think about what I would need to do if I wanted to employ a flash, and how this fixed aperture size might complicate a shooting solution. Since all of my current  interchangeable lens mirrorless bodies sync at about 1/200 of a second, the F 4.5 aperture makes it almost impossible to use it with flash outdoors. Que the ND Filter.

Bring The Darkness: Neutral Density (ND) filters can darken an image by reducing the amount of light passing through the lens. The one I purchased decreases the light throughput by 3 stops, turning my F 4.5 lens to an effective F-stop of between F11 and F 16. If you examine the lead shot's exposure data and adjust the aperture to accommodate the ND filter. the settings closely correspond to the values derived from the "Sunny Sixteen Rule". The combination of filter and fixed aperture allows my to properly expose a sunlit subject at a shutter setting low enough for effective lash application. The exposure settings gave me the cyan sky I so adore, but shadow detail has been sacrificed to achieve it. The facial illumination? I used a shoe mounted flash bounced off my neighbor's  white garage door.

Here's my Sony Alpha 7 with, from top to bottom :

• Hoya PRO ND filter,
• Vivitar 52mm filter with the glass and retaining ring removed,
• Filmatura 52mm filter adapter (triangle logo), and
• Viltrox 28 F 4.5 autofocus pancake lens.

Conclusion: This has been an exercise in extending the capabilities of an inexpensive, albeit useful, lens into the possible deployment into the "flash zone". Now all of this could be duplicated by using an 18mm APS lens on any of my Fuji bodies and mounting a neutral density filter for use with the F 4.5 shooting aperture. This flash, ND filter, and lens combination produced an interesting image with foreground detail and a softly rendered background. Again, just the sort of trick that might come in handy someday.

Custom White Balance With Flash

 

This should have been the money shot from a recent "Kitten Shower" held by the Peninsula SPCA. I sent two other photos for the Editor In Chief to select from and for some reason this one wasn't one of them, although the more I look at it, the more I wished I had sent it.

The venue featured narrow hallways with yellow walls and ceilings. I made this test shot by bouncing my flash off the ceiling, and you can see the yellow tint on my subject's faces. If the surroundings were painted in a warm color, the added tint might have gone unnoticed, or in the best case, actually improved their coloration. Yellow, unfortunately, gives my subjects a jaundiced look, and technically accurate, but not complimentary.

Now before proceeding, you should familiarize yourself with how to create a custom white balance (CWB) setting. While it may have been a novelty when digital cameras evolved, photographers soon realized that while one such preset would be very useful, the ability to create one for each venue where the lighting varied even the slightest bit. Currently, most cameras have provisions for multiple saved presets. Sure, you can correct this in post production, but by taking a few seconds to establish an "environmentally appropriate" CWB setting, you can save yourself  a lot of time during post production.

Read Ken Rockwell's review here.

White Balance Measurement. When the Expo Disc first appeared on the market in 2011, it gave photographers an easy way to obtain a CWB setting. It was designed primarily for achieving a compromise white balance formula when working with continuous artificial light sources. In use, one would:

• Select the CWB (or equivalent) setting from the camera's menu,
• Set the Exposure Control to A,
• Attach the Expo Disk to the front of the lens,
• Point the camera towards the light source, and
• Press the shutter release.

Internally, the camera would evaluate each photo sensor and adjust the red, green, and blue readings until they were all the same value, yielding a "neutral" baseline for the white balance setting.

Buy yours here.

I gave away my Expo Disk years ago, and experimented with a variety of gray card substitutes as a "target" for creating a CWP value. I finally replaced the Expo Disk with this inexpensive plastic Dot Line White Balance Lens Cap, which works just as well as the three-times more expensive Expo Disk. It could be adapted to serve as a lens cap, as it was made in a variety of diameters from 52 to 77mm. At one time they could be had in 49 and 82mm sizes, but apparently no longer. Since they were so inexpensive, I bought one in every diameter, but in the end, just carried the 82mm size and just held it in place over the lens whenever I needed to create a CWB for the current photographic venue. I keep one of these in all of my "recreational" camera bags, and there should have been one in the "working bag" I carry when on assignment.  I repeat: Should have.

I realized that the disk would have been the only way to properly achieve a  CWB for those pesky yellow walls. As it turned out, the disk was nowhere to be found. I wondered what I would do next, until I found the Dome from my Gary Fong Light Sphere. I now held a perfectly usable neutral diffuser that I could hold in front of my lens while I measured the light bouncing off of those yellow walls. I promptly did just that, and it gave me the proper white balance for all the photos when I bounced my flash off of similarly painted walls

In this historically accurate reenactment, you can see how I held the dome in front of the lens while I made the CWB reading. The forward-facing flash is directed towards the selected bounce surface when the reading is made. In the event of an over or under exposure warning, I will need to adjust the output until I get a proper reading. I rotate the flash head towards the bounce surface when I am actually shooting.

As described, this flash technique should only be used when bouncing off of a reflective surface. If the flash is to be used as a direct light source,  repeat this process while aiming your flash/camera into a convenient mirror. If you're adjusting the flash output manually, you'll need to dial the output way down, select a smaller shooting aperture, or both.

For the technically inclined, this photo was made (obviously) with two cameras: one mounted on a tripod, and the other held in my hand. The key light was provided by a radio controlled speedlight mounted on a light stand just to the left of the camera. A shoot-through umbrella was utilized for the shot. The second flash on the camera in my hand was programmed to respond to the radio trigger of the tripod camera, thus ensuring that it would fire when the tripod camera fired the key light. The fully articulating screen of the Fuji T-4 helped me position myself within the frame. Final cropping gave me the composition I wanted.

Metal Threads For Your Plastic Adapter

As wonderful as the Viltrox 28mm F 4.5 lens is, it isn't perfect. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the lens has has no means of attaching a filter. This could be a big thing because the fixed F 4.5 aperture is pretty wide, and it would be helpful if a neutral density filter could be attached to provide a means of controlling the exposure other than ISO and exposure time. 

A company called Filmatura has addressed to problem my offering an adapter ring that can hold a 52mm filter and slips onto the Viltrox 28mm F 4.2 lens barrel. It is not machined from metal, but is instead created using a 3-D printer using a plastic similar to a weed-wacker cable. And while those 52mm threads can be created with reasonable dimensional accuracy, they are still plastic, and therefore subject to wear whenever a filter is screwed in or out. Cole of Alt Cine Cam suggests that users install a metal 52mm to 55mm step up ring to prevent damage to the soft plastic threads. 

Buy yours here.

Now 55mm accessories are not as common as those in 52mm, Nikon's default filter size from many years ago. As you know, filters are threaded at both the front and rear to facilitate stacking. The lens side has male threads, while the side facing the world has female. The filter's optical glass disk is usually held in place with a narrow, threaded retaining ring can be unscrewed using a lens spanner wrench like the one pictured here*. By spreading or compressing the two spanner blades, you can adjust the width to accommodate almost any filter size. I found this spanner on Amazon, but many REAL camera stores may have these spanners available for sale, but be sure to call first. In a pinch, you can clamp two thin screwdrivers in the jaws of a bench vice, but these spanners are not that expensive, and useful for other projects.

Now for the filters. While you're at the camera store, ask to see if they have any old colored filters for black and white photography, with yellow, red, and green the most common. They can be difficult to sell because so few people use black and white film, and for most photographers, the effects can be simulated by using a monochrome preset in a digital camera. Very often these filters are just thrown in a drawer, and some dealers may just give them away. Don't worry if they are scratched since you will discard the glass anyway. Just be sure that the filters you choose do not have dented rings which can impede the removal of the retaining ring. 

I would up digging through a tub of discarded filters and lens hoods at a local camera store and found a like-new Hoya filter which I paid $5.00 (ouch!) for. Oh well, it's still cheaper than the worst new filter on eBay.

Once you've found a suitable filter, adjust your spanner to engage the two tiny slots located on the retaining ring. Look carefully, as they are very narrow. Use a piece of discarded rubber glove to hold the filter ring in the palm of your hand. Now engage the retaining ring slots with the spanner and carefully, but firmly, unscrew the inner retaining ring. After several turns you will now have an adapter with both male and female threads which you can screw  permanently into your plastic filter holder. The brass/aluminum filter ring you've just installed will certainly outlast the softer plastic threads.

Here's the actual video. If you can cut to the chase, advance to 1:28. 

*  I've also seen manufacturers use thin wire snap rings, perhaps as a cost saving gesture, or possibly to prevent warping of the glass.

Post Script: My order for the adapters was made on May 8, 2025 and delivered on May 20. Twelve days from the Czech Republic. Oh, a signature was requied upon receipt. 

A Taller Stack (of pancakes)

Order Up: My new (fourth) pancake lens, a Viltrox 28mm F 4.5, has gotten rave reviews since its introduction in 2024. As a photographer, there has to be some good reasons to justify its purchase. To wit: 

• It is cheap: The MSR, if that applies to web-exclusive purchases, is just shy of $100.00, or maybe less if you shop around. I've seen them as low as $70 on eBay, as of today. I opted to pay the full Benjamin on Amazon to ensure prompt delivery.
• It is sharp: Reports have universally praised the lens for its sharpness, and it lived up to the hype based on my limited experience.
• It has autofocus: This lens is probably the lowest priced autofocus mirrorless camera lens. It bumped the former low priced champion, the 7artisans 27mm F 2.8.
• It offers full-framed coverage: This is the big one. On a Fuji APS sensor body, its a "short normal" lens. On a full-frame Sony it is a true wide-angle lens. For me, this makes the lens better aligned with my street photography philosophy of "Wider Is Better".

Meh To Blah: You have to be realistic about your expectations on a lens made to fit this price point.

• Type C USB Port: Like my TTartisan 28mm 2.8, this lens can update its firmware using a USB port, although Viltrox chose to put the interface in the lens mount. If you do buy this lens and find yourself needing an firmware update, view this video first. It makes the process appear almost simple. 
• Fixed 4.5 aperture: I do not know if this was a concession to the price point or the lack of internal space. Nonetheless, the lens has a fixed, non-adjustable aperture of 4.5.  If we were to follow the tried and true "Sunny Sixteen Rule", setting your camera to an ISO setting of 100 would require a shutter speed of shorter than 1/800 of a second for a proper "bright sunlight" exposure. I have a partial work-around, which I'll discuss -later. Don't expect any dramatic front-to rear depth of field photos with such a large aperture.
• Long Minimum Focusing Distance: The online specifications set the minimum focusing distance to about .3 meters, or about one foot. Not an issue for a  general purpose lens, but a limitation worth remembering.
• Sliding Lens Blinder. In spite of its tiny size, the designers managed to squeeze in a sliding blinder that protects the lens. There is a knob on the front lens bezel that, when rotated clockwise, retracts the blinder allowing the lens to extend slightly and assume the "ready position". I neglected to mention this in my first post, but as you will see, this feature will become inaccessible as I start adding accessories to the lens.
• No Provisions For Filters: With a fixed aperture of 4.5, a neutral density filter could certainly help control exposure, assuming that one could be attached. While Viltrox made no such provision, some clever people at Filmatura created an adapter to mount a 52mm filter to the Viltrox lens barrel. Check out the video here.

Out Of This World. I make joke. Here is a photo, taken from the website, of the 3-D printed Filmatura adapter. It is threaded to accept 52mm filters from the front while having a friction fit on the barrel of the Viltrox lens on the other end. Currently, it is in transit from somewhere on the planet, so the cloud background is sem-appropriate. When it arrives, I will have a 52mm polarizing filter I can play with, and an assortment of 49mm accessories adapted for use from a 49mm female threaded Fuji X100 filter pack. When the adapter arrives I will experiment with my filtration options.  I do not know if any of my current accessories will induce vignetting in the frame corners, so I'll just have to see what I'll need to buy so I can make everything work together. 

Christopher Frost has an excellent review of the lens. View it by clicking here.

Doubling Up On Speedlights

I'm here at the Sonoma Valley Muzzle Loader Rendezvous just outside of Cloverdale. I try to attend every year to make photos and enjoy the company of many old friends. I spend most of my time documenting the weekend's activities, and at the end of the event after the awards ceremony.  I invite anybody in attendance to pose for a photo, which I'll post on the club's blog site for convenient downloading. It saddens me to think that several of these random photos would be included in memorial pieces for the subjects.

The Problem: When working in the late afternoon, the sun's position is low on the horizon.  To keep my subjects from squinting, I face them away from the sun, Since I am standing in a sheep-grazing pasture, there are no natural reflectors available, so I am forced to provide my own light. I purposely did not bring my fully-packed Pelican Case so my lighting was limited to the two speedlights I normally carry on assignment. In addition, there's the carrying bag containing an umbrella bracket, a Zumbrella, a bungee cord, and a compact light stand that always stays in my trunk.

The Clamp: In my camera bag keep a Slow Dolphin Photography (yes, that's the name) clamp with its little ball head. I used other mini-clamps, but this one has a bigger  "bite" of slightly more than 2", and it can grip planks and pipes equally well. The ball head, while not Manfrotto quality, is strong enough to hold a speedlight-sized flash. Unlike the industry-favorite Justin Clamp, it can fit in the side pocket of my Domke camera bag.

Addendum: I noticed the Amazon warning that this item is frequently returned, and that several reviews found one fault or another with this clamp. I believe that one should be realistic about their purchases. A $12.00 clamp, complete with ball head, cannot compare with a Matthews Mafer Clamp, which costs three times more. 

The Cold Shoe: I found an old Frio Cold Shoe in my junk drawer and screwed it in place. Eventually I'll get around to replacing it with an all-metal one, but for now, it will be just fine so long as I treat it gently.

The Setup: Normally I use a single speedlight for lighting, but when dealing with a relatively bright sky as a background, I may need some additional power options if I am to balance the blue sky background with the flash illumination on my subject/s. When used at relatively short flash-to-subject distances a single speedlight is enough, but other times, the additional light provided by that second speedlight can be used to sweeten the exposure.

You can see that the clamp allowed me to easily mount a second flash for additional light. I purposely positioned the flash as close to the lightstand shaft as I could. This minimizes the stress on the ball head because the center of gravity is very close to the clamping point.

Another control option is to redirect the flash. By elevating the flash head angle I could feather the light output to favor the upper half of the frame, should that be necessary or desirable. Had my subjects been wearing lighter colored clothing, this technique could have been used to prevent overexposure in the lower half of the frame, had it been necessary. But in this case, elevating the flash output was not necessary. 

In the end, this little clamp and cold shoe combination can provide the photographer some additional light placement options. For its compact size, it provides a lot of flexibility in a very small package.

TTArtisan Firmware Update

Get yours here.

The Firmware Update: After encountering frequent failures of the focusing system with my X-Pro1 and X-E1, my two oldest X cameras, I started searching the web to see if other users were having the same problem. As it turns out, firmware updates were made available on May 17, 2023, just two years after the lens' introduction on March 11, 2021.

Costs: Some purchases would be involved. Both of these expenditures can be considered investments, since I'm sure they'll be used again. First, I spent $20.82 for a USB Type C cable. Next, there was a $20.30 purchase of WinRAR, a program that opens RAR compressed files. There was a free trial offer, but I opted to just buy the software license.

USB Port: Image Source: Click here.

For the record, I paid about $130.00 for this lens on February 7, 2025. This link quotes a price of $103.00, which includes some free goodies more useful than the ones I recieved with my earlier purchase. I almost want to buy a second one, just to cash in. Very suspicious, the price dropping at this moment in history.

Tutorials: If you visit the TTArtisan's website, you can see that several lenses have firmware updates available. You may also notice that they have created a tutorial on how to perform the updates. I wasn't too enthusiastic about the factory's efforts, but found this one on YouTube which I believe was better presented.* While the instructions were for a Nikon Z lens, just be sure that you download the Fuji X file update and proceed.

At the time of publication, I've installed the updated firmware, and immediately saw an increase in reliability. I won't say the TTArtisan lens is as reliable as the original Fuji, but I am feeling more confident that it will perform properly if it is ever called to duty as my emergency backup.

*I reviewed this video, and while I thought it was clear, infrequent computer users might have some difficulty understand some concepts like "drag and drop" and basic file/folder hierarchy. I suggest you watch the video several times to familiarize yourself with the process.

My Third Pancake

Photo Source: Click here.

I am a firm believer in having a complete backup system. Now wedding photography has become an incredibly high-stakes game, and in this litigious society, it is not unusual for photographers to be sued simply because the groom didn't look like Cary Grant, when in reality, he could pass for Ernest Borgnine in poor light. So posing and lighting aside, one better come ready with enough backup equipment to take the entire wedding should one's primary camera body go kaput. 

Photo Source: Click here.

I normally have two bodies with me, so that isn't where my angst resides. It's from the lenses. Normally I have two zoom lenses: a wide to normal and a normal to telephoto zoom. A compact compromise emergency lens could be Fuji's 27mm F 2.8 "pancake", which has a compromise focal length, and is extremely compact. I paid almost $450.00 for the lens, and it is my constant companion whenever I'm shooting assignments that warrant carrying the full two-body, two speedlight, two-lens kit. In a pinch, I can mount this pancake on either of my two bodies. For the record, my copy was the earlier version withuot an aperture ring, something that be added to the second, weather resistant version that was introduced in 2021.

Buy yours here.

Some time later, a manual-focus version was offered by Meike, which was a predictable purchase. I was in my cheap manual focus lens phase, and it gave me a lens with a compromise focal length at the price of dinner in a reasonably nice restaurant. It proved to be something of an inspiration, as the photos produced during its first day on the street were most satisfying. Nothing magic about the lens, mind you, but compact and  handy. It now lives permanently in my "mini" camera bag where all of my most compact lenses reside, neatly stacked to minimize bulk.

Photo Source: Click here.

Shopping For a New Purse: A while back I had the itch to create a compromise camera kit based on two Fuji X-Pro1 bodies and  two or three classic lenses. I stumbled upon a (now discontinued) Domke Director's Bag at a local camera store, and in spite of its high price, bought it without hesitation. I saw this as the perfect purse for those few times when I didn't want to be seen schlepping a mountain of equipment in an oversized camera bag. As of this writing I haven't filled the bag, but I can see there is ample space for everything I might need. With this much space, I can indulge my inner Fuji Fanboy self, stuffing in a Fuji X-500 flash and its accessory battery pack. I could probably stuff a Gary Fong Lightsphere while I'm at it. Ready to go with only one half the bulk. Need a group photo made? Hold my beer.

I decided that the 27mm lens would be just the lens to pack in this smaller bag. It small size would make it easy to store it mounted on a Fuji body, ready to grab and go. Sure, it's not as wide as I like, but it could also present an opportunity to produce more tightly cropped images without getting too close and personal. It might also be fun to live in a world where the backgrounds are not so cluttered by every distraction in the universe. 

 Get yours here.

I just so happened that I found this TTArtisan 27mm F 2.8 lens on eBay for about $30.00 less than its suggested selling price. Plus, it came with a no-name filter and a fabric carrying bag, so it represented real value. Cue the eye-roll.

The lens had one initial flaw: The autofocus can occasionally stop working. I've tried the lens on a variety of bodies, and it has failed occasionally on all of them*.

The TTArtisan lens comes with the unique lens hood that was first introduced by Fujifilm along with the current weather resistant (WR) version. I was fascinated by the hood, which resembled the eye of an African chameleon. Of course, I ordered two used hoods from KEH before I realized it came with its own hood, plus a unique lens cap that can fit either the lens bezel (39mm threads), or onto the hood itself. I never missed having a cap as the hood seemed more than adequate for keeping fingers from accidentally touching the front element.

I still have a  bit of fiddling to do before the Domke bag can have all the necessary kit stowed within its roomy pockets. I will also  need some properly sized dividers installed to keep my equipment neat and tidy. I'll bring everybody up to date when everything is in place. I guess we'll  all have to just wait and see.

*Addendum: February 13, 2025: I Googled the focusing problem and found that there was a firmware update that would improve focusing on the first generation Fuji X cameras. TTArtisans thoughtfully provide a USB port in the side of the lens cap (how clever!) to facilitate the file transfer. Since it's a backup for my most current bodies, the upgrade may not be needed.