First of all …let me tell you this is one crazy experience I went through, that kept me without sleep for a few days. Maybe I am a bit on the eccentric side, but having visible stains on the sensor of a rather expensive SLR camera which I can not easily replace, is something that keeps me up at night. Luckily this whole endeavour has a happy ending, so here is the story. I hope this may be helpful to some of you and might save you some big money.

It all started with me noticing some specks on some images …usually taken with my macro 70-300 Tamron lens at higher f values such as f16. I thought it may be dust in the lens and left things the way they were for a while (since that is not my main lens anyway). Recently though I was playing with my DIY softbox and I noticed the specks appearing again …this time both with my 70-300 and the 50mm f:1.8. This time I took a look inside and noticed that indeed you could see specks on the sensor itself. I was a bit worried so I did some research. Some people spoke about potential grease spots on the sensor from oil squirting from various mechanisms inside the camera on certain models but nothing about the Nikon D700. I then applied the standard dust removal procedure: 1. I used the built-in dust removal function of the camera a few dozen times (did nothing); 2. I applied a handheld air pump to try and blow the dust out (did nothing); 3. then I did something that I do not recommend anyone do, I tried to move the particles using a lens pen (something every photo store will tell you not to do!) and all that caused was for the specks to smear. It was then clear to me that the specks were NOT dust but liquid.

I then called Nikon Canada, who told me they are more than willing to try and clean my sensor for $200 and if that does not work, to exchange it for $600 (because the filter in front of the sensor, removable for the sake of cleaning or replacement in case of cleaning failure, is not removable on the D700 but built into the sensor). I felt disinclined to do that …so I went to Henry’s Camera over in Cambridge, Ontario, where I bought the camera from and asked their advice. They said the same thing, except they also recommended this place to me, over in Guelph, called Pond’s Photo Source, which cleans sensors with both dry and wet methods. I made my way over there to find some very friendly and highly encouraging customer service that promised to attempt to clean it every way possible and only charge me if that succeeds.

I came back the next day to pick up my camera, rather excited, since on the phone I was told the cleaning went great! The first thing I did …to the surprise of the person who handed me my camera, was to take my lens off and take a look at the sensor. I was surprised that marks were still showing on the sensor, but the man proceeded to reassure me that in actual photos, nothing shoes, and he pulled out two 4×6 samples, a before and after, and no surprise, the way he shot them, even the before didn’t show anything. When then I proceeded to tell him about the ways of telling if there is dust on a sensor he gave me the most confused look ever. For the record, to check if there is dust or anything on the sensor, shoot at f16 or smaller, shoot a clear surface, as bright as you can with out overexposing, and set your lens to the minimal focusing distance. Okay so he didn’t know about how to properly photograph the dust, nor did the sensor look clean …but maybe the sensor dirt doesn’t actually show up …somehow …any more. I made the mistake to pay the man the $50 he asked for (claiming he did his job and the sensor, as far as he is concerned, is clean) and left. I was pretty sad, but luckily, my friend Dalia (who lives in Guelph) met up with me and showed me this awesome place to eat, called The Cornerstone, which cheered me up a bit, in spite of the terrible cold outside. Of course, at home, repeating my experiment, the traces showed up, granted not as strong as before, but nonetheless there.

I was pretty desperate and was considering paying Nikon the money they wanted, but first, I called Henry’s again, this time the other store, over in Waterloo, Ontario. Over the phone, a very helpful man whose name I do not remember, told me that I could come in and he would help me use their $20 liquid cleaning kit and that it would probably work even on oil stains. Long story short, next morning I went over to Henry’s and $20 later, the sensor was clean! I am pretty hungry right now and the story is pretty much fully told …so I will leave you with this: do not waste your money; go to Henry’s and get their $20 cleaning kit and ask one of their friendly staff members to help you.

Here’s what my sensor looked like before and after the Henry’s store cleaning:

And here’s the original story:

Posted in forPhotographers, friends, mylife |

I have never been wild about artificial light. Back in the day when I could not afford it I was forced to work exclusively with natural daylight, then, later, when the need to lean how to use artificial light became clear to me in order to master it, I had a new reason not to bother with it. But the truth is, artificial light can not only allow photography to happen in conditions where natural light is simply missing, but it can also be beautiful in ways that only crafting and tweaking can please a dork such as myself. So I ventured into looking at tutorials for do-it-yourself lighting alternatives. Something that appealed to me was the softbox; a device that takes harsh flash or strobe light and softens it, making it seems as if it is a much larger diffused light source that comes from a much broader direction (much like the thing that a cloudy overcast day does to sunlight). The reason for doing this is the lack of shadows (as opposed to a more directional light) in spite of it still being relatively bright.
I found that the key behind this concept is to place the flash (or light source in general, because a flashlight will also work) within a box that does not need to be very deep but wide, in fact the wider it is the larger the surface that the light is coming from will appear to be. The inside of the box is covered with tin foil (in order to make sure no light is wasted and all of it eventually makes its way out rather than being absorbed by the cardboard walls) and the opening covered by a somewhat transparent piece of white cloth. The way things end up working out is this …the cloth takes up the light, diffuses it and sends it out making it seem as if the entire surface covered by cloth is the size of the light bulb. “Pretty crazy” is what comes to mind when someone first hears about this, or maybe it was just me who thought that, but nonetheless I had to try it out. My explanation above may not be the best, so here is a link to the actual tutorial I followed.


The setup

Here’s the login behind what you see there: I used white board around the subject in order to have it bathed in light coming from all directions (yes it works). The soft box is broadcasting the light mostly on to the right side of the subject as well as behind it; the boards then reflect the extra light back at the subject. The verdict? It works! Note: It is worth noting however, that the flash I used is an old film flash which I think is stuck on maximum output …so you can only control the intensity of the light by moving the soft box back or closer, as well as changing the ISO and aperture of your camera. The shutter speed usually has a max of 1/200 sec on most cameras that it can work on. I used ISO200 and f:16 at a shutter speed of 1/200 and it worked well I think.



I also tried a different approach, with a black + white backdrop. Further experimenting is needed, but all in all I find that it was a success.

And here is “El Donqui” which my musician friend Juan David brought back for me from Colombia.

Posted in Uncategorized |

Today I photographed at the Touch ‘N’ Go Farms with Chris Scharlach and her talented daughter Piper who was training for a riding competition. I generally don’t get the chance to spend time among so many animals; there were some 30+ horses there, along three lovely dogs and a donkey; so this was a blast. I was even lucky enough to be allowed to ride for a bit; which turned out to be a rather positive experience, although I still need to figure out how to properly communicate to the horse which way I want it to go. Having only ridden bicycles before, I must say it is rather reassuring to know that the horse will not blindly walk into a wall if you forget to tell it to turn.





While processing the images and browsing The Hobbit movie soundtrack I came across this tune, which I find very well embodies the awe and wonder of being a bit nearer to nature.

Posted in artistic, family, friends, multimedia, music, opinions, portraits, Uncategorized |

Hello everybody; it is Christmas time and everyone is busy busy busy. I don’t expect many of you to stumble upon this post until likely in the new year, but in the case that you do, I would like you to know that I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with all that you heart desires …and perhaps I can be of help and make sure your new year is also filled with lots of photography!

Wishing you all the best, and thank you for making 2012 a wonderful year for me.

Stefan

Posted in forPhotographers, friends, mylife, opinions |