For the past 5 years, I have issued a challenge for the month of September to take and post images using only a 50mm (or FF equivalent) lens and to post the JPEG as captured in camera. Previously a large number of you joined in for all or part of the month so I have decided to issue the same challenge for the month of September this year. Now's your chance to get to grips with the nifty-fifty... and to practice getting it right in camera.
Here's how I introduced the challenge in previous years:
I got to thinking about how photography has changed in recent years: it used to be that 20, 30 or 40 years ago if you wanted an 'enthusiasts camera' you bought either a 35mm range-finder camera or a 35mm SLR, and chances are that in either case it would have come equipped with a 'standard' 50mm lens. So you loaded your choice of 35mm film, took 24 or 36 exposures and then sent your film off to a processing house for the next stage in the process... at some considerable cost. Ten days to a fortnight later, you got your 'snaps' back and, if you were anything like me, you were disappointed with the results. Some didn't 'come out' and the rest didn't seem to exactly tally with your memories of the scenes that you captured.
These days this second and vital part of the process is also handled by the photographer him or herself and this has led, I think, to some blurring of the roles of camera and processing engine. Often, and I plead guilty to this, decisions that should have been made in camera - composition, colour balance, exposure, etc. - get made in processing... such is the power of a raw image file. But I can't help thinking that this is rather sloppy technique - often we'll get away with it and get the final image we wanted... but sometimes we won't. So on balance I think it must be better to do what should be done in camera, in camera.
So I have again decided that the month of September will be for me NF-SOOC-2019. Every image I post in my main 365 album will be taken with a 50mm (or equivalent) lens and will be posted exactly as it came out of the camera. Yes I know that it will have been processed by the camera's internal processing engine but it's good to get used to this standard result exactly the same as in the film days we had to get used to a standard mass-produced 6 x 4 print. I will do no external processing and no cropping and if I want to zoom in on an image, I'll have to do it with my feet!
So who's brave or mad enough (probably a bit of both) to join me in this adventure? You can play for the whole month - I hope some of you will do that - or just post the occasional image. Remember, JPEG as produced in camera and a 50mm lens. Remember also that a Nifty Fifty is only 50mm on a full frame camera: if you have a crop sensor camera like most of use, then the lens you need will be marked 30mm or 35mm for an APS-C camera and 25mm for a micro 4/3 sensor (Olympus and Panasonic). If you don't have a standard prime lens but you would still like to join in, then set your zoom to 50, 35 or 25 as appropriate for your camera and shoot away. (For those who do have a prime lens, there is the added advantage of being able to exploit the wider maximum aperture of those lenses - normally f/1.8 or f/1.4 - and compose with reduced depth of field and/or shoot hand-held in low light.)
Tag your post nf-sooc-2019 and feel free to share your images on here to encourage us all.
Good Luck everyone - I look forward to your joining me in the this little adventure and I promise you that all who participate will become better photographers as a result.
Thanks, Richard, for the challenge. Last time I learnt a lot, including a bit of self discipline(!) so I’ll play again. The interesting fact is that my 30mm ‘macro’ lens on my A6000 has become my favourite all-purpose lens.
Love this challenge. Will try and participate as much as possible! I don't have a prime 50mm, but will set my zoom as close to 33.33 and shoot in manual.
@joysabin Should be some great contrasts in style of images. I think I'm going to use my Fuji XE-3 and 35mm f/2 for B&W and my Sony A7iii and 50mm f/1.8 for colour.
Thanks Richard. I hoped you would be running this one again. I look forward - albeit with some trepidation - to joining in with one of my Lumix cameras and the 25mm 7Artisans lens!
So very pleased to see this challenge return - my flagging phojo is starting to come back from wherever it has been hiding itself. Will have to start tomorrow so I'll be a day behind, you have cheered up my evening.
I remember those days (with fondness now, but with annoyance at the time) waiting for your prints, or Kodachrome transparencies to come back. I think you have set a great challenge. Sadly I can’t take part, as I have sort of set myself a challenge to use my iPhone for the whole year, but I look forward to seeing everybody’s results.
thanks Richard - can't believe I'm going to have a go as this is really daunting for me, but I've started!
I have a question - it is supposed to be SOOC. I notice looking at the exif info for some entries so far that many are 72 dpi, and many are a smaller width/height.
So I'm just checking exactly what SOOC means as I would take that literally to mean no changing of anything, it's the jpg SOOC? So should be the dpi and dimensions the camera gave?
Hope that's not too dumb a question!
I'm definitely challenged!
@koalagardens It's a very good question! For this challenge, you upload the jpeg you downloaded from the camera memory card unaltered. In the upload process, non-ace members have a limited file size imposed by the upload process and Ace members may choose to upload a smaller file. In either case the uploaded image will be essentially the same on screen.
@la_photographic From the lens description it sounds like your camera has an APS-C size sensor so 35mm would be the right focal length to choose... thanks for joining in.
Following on from Laura's question, forgive me for asking - but I don't properly understand these matters. My camera too has a fixed zoom lens - apparently 24 - 720mm. When I zoom, I don't think I can tell where it is on that lens, although it does seem to tell me approximately how many times I am magnifying something. Mine is a Panasonic TZ70. Is there a way I can join in with this?
@helenhall The zoom range you quote is the full frame equivalent so you're looking to set this to 50mm. If you go into the configuration menu and assign the zoom control to the control wheel around the lens, the view screen will display a focal length scale - this is detailed on page 84 of the User Manual. Good Luck!
@vignouse thank you so much for going to this length to answer my question. I took another look this morning and found that I could set my zoom to stop at pre-sets and this then displays the focal length. I use the control wheel around the lens to change my f stops at the moment but will also look into your solution further to see which suits me best. @maggiemae is right and I am very grateful for your help. Now to take some pictures!
@koalagardens Hi Katrina - I haven't been able to find much information I'm afraid. The focal length range of your camera full-frame equivalent is 21mm - 1365mm but I haven't been able to confirm whether there is a readout displaying the focal length selected. I see that there is a 'zoom bar' but it appears to indicate only the relative amount of zoom selected without qualifying it further.
You could try framing something with the Olympus and try matching it with the Powershot you can then set the camera to return always to the same focal length - page 81 of the manual details this.
@vignouse thanks Richard, being a bridge camera with a ridiculously fab focal length and only a few calibrations showing on the outside of the lens it's tricky!
but I will try out your suggestion and see what I can manage, great idea :)
Richard, I've really enjoyed doing this year's nf-sooc and again have learnt about my limitations, my camera's cleverness and realised how much I do actually edit my shots before uploading them. I'm now away from www so am calling a halt to my sooc-nf month a bit early, but it's been enlightening, fun and interesting. Thank you J
@30pics4jackiesdiamond Hi Jackie - thanks so much for participating. It's a bit daunting at first but once you get into it it's fun and educating. This is my sixth year of doing this and every year I learn something new.
Write a Reply
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
Thanks Richard!!!!
I have a question - it is supposed to be SOOC. I notice looking at the exif info for some entries so far that many are 72 dpi, and many are a smaller width/height.
So I'm just checking exactly what SOOC means as I would take that literally to mean no changing of anything, it's the jpg SOOC? So should be the dpi and dimensions the camera gave?
Hope that's not too dumb a question!
I'm definitely challenged!
You could try framing something with the Olympus and try matching it with the Powershot you can then set the camera to return always to the same focal length - page 81 of the manual details this.
Good Luck!
but I will try out your suggestion and see what I can manage, great idea :)