Illy's Challenge

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I was working with a model I know quite well, who is a bit of a straight talker, and said something about not using all the lenses I’d got with me that day. She immediately issued a challenge – use every lens you own by the end of the year, or sell them and let Mrs D buy shoes and handbags… Although the challenge runs for twelve months from the date of Illy issuing it, there’s a bit of a New Year’s Resolution feel to it.

At that point, around 45 minutes into our shoot, I’d used, if I remember rightly, four different lenses, and I said that it would be hard to use all my lenses, as I hadn’t brought all of them with me. My model then issued a more reasonable challenge – use four different lenses by the end of the session (I managed at least six, in fact!) 

But the essential truth underlying the challenge is that most of us have stuff we don’t use often, or at all… And that’s what this article is about. I’ve been through the back shelves of my room, and dug out a few oddities to find some use for them. I may also have a Nikon D7000 for sale.

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There are a few bits and bobs that I feel deserve a lifetime ticket, though. They’re the cameras and accessories that are either display-shelf fodder, or are a part of my photographic history – for instance, my Werra is an absolutely awful camera to use, ergonomically, but is a fascinating and clever bit of technology. Pretty, as well. And even if my original Contax RTS gives up the ghost as a device for exposing film, it’ll be in the little box of trinkets in the care home that will connect me, however tenuously, with my past.

Show ponies (defined online as appearing to perform well, but with no real ability) and keepsakes apart, you may be wondering what I found…

A recent gift from my aunt is worth a mention – and worth linking with other things still around in my cupboard. Her present is my uncle’s 8mm splicing jig – I already have my Dad’s, and cameras to match from both relatives. I hope the long-term fate of all of these will be at the Black Country Living Museum – they are, currently, assembling their Sixties exhibit, and Standard 8 ciné film fits right in!

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The contrast between editing movies then and now is immense: it was a very physical operation, requiring that you cut the film, precisely at the right frame at both ends of the section that you wanted to remove, and then cement the two ends of film together with a solvent that dissolved the film base. To ensure a good joint, it was essential to scrape off the emulsion from one piece of film, and to apply just the right amount of solvent (otherwise it dissolves adjoining frames…)

A development in, I think, the Sixties was a smaller device that created a butt joint (where the ends of two pieces of film meet and touch, but do not overlap at all) and are joined with a special strip of clear adhesive tape that has sprocket holes in it. Simpler, and harder to get badly wrong, but possibly not as good as a really well-crafted cemented joint.

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A couple of people have either used or mentioned projector lenses as an alternative to camera optics. On the downside, there is no aperture control on projector lenses – but then, the charm of many older lenses is the imperfections at full aperture: the practical issue is how to mount them on a camera, as all the ones I’ve seen are designed to screw into an external helical screw mount, which also provides the focus mechanism. My mind is suggesting that the extension bellows I’ve never used (and can’t currently locate), might be the way through this…

Another, more recent, piece of kit is the light box I acquired from my friend Stewart a few years back. He was shooting professionally back in the days of film, and it was, at that time, an essential piece of kit – I’ve found it makes a wonderful background for closeups. But it hasn’t seen action since I was writing my lockdown blog, and maybe needs a little exercise…

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And there are lenses. Quite a few, actually, including one that needs a bit of professional TLC – it’s a Primoplan 58mm f/1.9, and it shares some of the optical characteristics of the Trioplan, notably a tendency to ‘bubble’ Bokeh. However, the low price on eBay is explained, in retrospect, by the fact that it’s been taken apart and reassembled by a previous owner, who got it slightly wrong.  The upshot is that the lens settings are all on the underside of the lens – and, more importantly, it won’t achieve infinity focus… But the price was less than half the current going rate, and so a visit to the camera clinic isn’t going to make it an expensive lens, I think.

If you ever look at my profile page here, you’ll know that I love Lensbaby optics, and I’ve amassed a considerable collection of them. While my favourite remains the Muse (which I use pretty regularly), a few of the more eclectic and specialist lenses don’t get out to play so often. Having found that the Edge 50 gives rather interesting results, I found an Edge 80 on eBay – at the time, it wasn’t listed as being available new. It’s not seen much service, but Illy’s challenge has brought it out to play. Unlike all the other Lensbaby optics, the Edge series are designed to give critical sharpness across the frame; however, the mount allows them to function as tilt lenses, so that even at a wide aperture, a linear subject at an angle to the lens can be sharp from front to back. Equally, the Edge lenses can be tilted the opposite way to give the ‘model city’ look that was popular a few years ago.

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While we’re on Lensbaby optics, I have a couple of relatively perverse ones, in non-Sony mounts. That’s not a problem in itself, but it does confront me with a little-used question about my 3G, which is an earlier version of the marvellously named Control Freak. (The latter is an appealing name, because my professional life as an internal auditor revolved around risks and controls – my colleagues even called the internal audit quiz team The Control Freaks.) 

But the reality of both the Control Freak and the 3G is that the precise adjustment that they make possible undercuts the joy of Lensbaby kit for me – the whole point is that Lensbabies require me to loosen up and work with my instincts, rather than seeking to adjust things slowly and precisely. The 3G has a fixed optic, while the later Control Freak allows use of the many interchangeable modules that are, largely, the point of the modern Lensbaby line-up.

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Slow down with a tripod can be good advice – but for fluid shooting in portrait or nude work, it’s utterly counter-productive. And that brings me to tripods. I have several, from a Manfrotto that’s at its best in the studio, because while it’s rock solid, it’s also monumentally heavy, to a Benbo Trekker that’s ideal for carrying out and about, if you can live with the two-section legs and the relatively light build. But I end up using it when I want to shoot more than a couple of hundred yards from the car or a bus stop! (Note to self: use the Manfrotto soon – it works perfectly with a large format camera, which is slow to operate at the best of times!)

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I should add one caveat: it’s fine to have backup kit – it’s a foolish studio worker who only has one flash trigger set! However, with all backup equipment, it’s important to rotate it into use every so often to make sure that it’s working properly, and anything that needs updating has been sorted out. And, of course… Remove batteries if you are storing anything for an extended period. Leaking batteries really make a mess of the battery compartment, and the seepage can easily damage other, more sensitive areas.

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The challenge for you, dear reader, is to look through the backs of drawers and the bottoms of cupboards to find what you’ve got that’s been unloved recently. Find a creative use for it, and post pictures here on Ephotozine – either of the object, or taken using it. Ideally, both.

Of course, the reverse of the original challenge may also hold true – that at the end of the year, my wife should sell all the clothes, shoes and handbags she hasn’t used, and let me buy some lenses…

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