Today’s episode of Q & Erik is jam-packed with information about camera lenses, lighting tips, instructions on how to shoot a car scene and how to buy corn syrup in England! We also have a short film by Justin on why Erik needs to wear glasses and Steve hosts his first episode of English-To-English. Oh, and Erik kills a cat… Intrigued? Then click play my friends!
Duration : 0:8:58
From Wikipedia:
“I Am a Camera” is a synthpop song by The Buggles from 1981 of “Video Killed the Radio Star” fame, from their second album, Adventures in Modern Recording. Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes started writing the song before joining up with Yes. A version of the song was released as “Into the Lens” on the Yes album Drama. When Horn and Downes continued with the new The Buggles album, the song was completed as “I Am a Camera”. The two versions feature slightly different lyrics, notably “I will never let you go, and you always let the feelings show” (Yes version) compared to “I will never let you go, if you only let the feelings show” (The Buggles version).
In the music video made for the song, during the beginning, there are a pair of Horn’s trademark glasses. On one of the lenses is a video and the other is glass. Horn comes out of the video side of the glasses (as illustrated). There are scenes involving Horn singing, broken glasses and opticians’ tools. The video is seemingly set in a dollhouse. Towards the end, Horn is seen lying on the floor passed out.
The title is a quote from Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin (1939). The full sentence reads, “I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.” There was a play (1951) and subsequent film (1955) based on the novel under the name I Am a Camera.
Lyrics:
Memories, how they fade so fast
Look back, that is no escape
Tied down, now you see too late.
Lovers, they will never wait.
I am a camera
Take heart, I could never let you go
And you, always let the feeling show
Love us all, how you never broke your heart
You lose them
If you feel the feeling start.
I am a camera, camera, camera
And you, may find time will blind you
This to just remind you
All is meant to be.
Here, by the waterside
There, where the lens is wide
You and me
By the sea
Taken in tranquility.
Taken, taken so easily
To pass into glass reality
Transform, to transfer, to energy.
Taken, taken, so easily
To pass into glass reality
Transformer, transferring energy
Duration : 0:8:34
If you bought a DSLR, but have not expanded your photography into lenses besides the kit lens, check out this video and part 2 to learn about what other types of lenses are available. Be sure to watch the second part of this video.
More Info: http://actuallysimple.com/gadgets/dslr-camera-lenses/
Duration : 0:5:0
It looks like 4 black flaps that are hinged. I see them on telephoto lenses.
What are they for?
A petal style lens hood. There are also plain, round hoods. Both are designed to keep light from coming into the lens from the side. The petal hoods are generally lens specific.
You may see actual hinged flaps on a larger, studio flash units, or on theater style continuous lighting. These systems are called barn doors, and are used to keep the light inside a certain area.
For those who are still using old school broadcast video cameras with sophisticated lenses, here’s a quick tutorial on how to do a backfocus so that your shots are in focus throughout the travel of your zoom lens.
Duration : 0:1:37
I want to photograph weddings/receptions, brides, egagements, families, etc. I have a Nikon D40 with the lens it came with. 18-55mm.
How can I learn more about photography? What lenses to use, and what equipment to have. I’m starting with nothing more than the desire to learn and cannot afford a four year program at a university. The community college here doesn’t offer a program and art schools are ridiculous. Help?
Talk with photographers. In person, in forums, local camera clubs, whatever.
Shoot pictures with purpose. Learn what your camera can do.
Study other photos. See what you like, what you don’t like, what you’d like to be able to do. Learn how to do those things, learn how to avoid things you don’t like, lens flares, motion blur, etc…
You can learn a lot in a few months. check out DPChallenge.com and join. Enter all the challenges. Vote on all the pictures. You’ll quickly learn what separates the men from the boys so to speak. There are some phenomenal photographers on there with a lot of knowledge to share. It should get your creative side thinking. Don’t participate in photography as a hobby, take the next few months and live it. Keep your camera handy. Its not about capturing a lucky shot. Its about MAKING a good photo.
Good Luck.
I cleaned some old filters with it earlier and it seemed to be fine, but I’m a bit too afraid to try cleaning expensive lenses with it unless I know it’s all right to do so.
All right, thank you. Would it still be all right to use it on filters? Some of them are filthy.
its an excellent way to get moulds in your lenses, as using any fluid on lenses is
i dont get why people use fluid to clean lenses, eye glasses ok they arent sealed units, using fluids to clean camera lenses?? no i dont get it.
buy a micro fibre cloth and wash it often
EDIT: cant see any harm in using it on the filters, make sure they are dry before attaching and not on the lens 
I recently purchased this camera. It comes with three lenses. FD 50 mm 1:1.8, 2x teleconverter FD and a 200 mm Macro zoom lenses. Which other lenses would you recommend I purchase? I really know nothing about the camera or lenses. I bought them for a gift for my friend. I want to be sure I have the lenses he will need for all types of picture taking. HELP please!
Personally, I’d want a zoom lens for convenience. You can get something like the 35-70mm for under $30: http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/ProductDetail.aspx?groupsku=CA070090188650&brandcategoryname=35MM&Mode=searchproducts&item=0&ActivateTOC2=false&ID=&BC=&BCC=&CC=&CCC=&BCL=&GBC=&GCC=&KW=fd%2035-70mm
The AE1 is a good camera but it’s also fairly old. Make sure that you get Canon FD lenses – not Canon EF lenses (which only work on newer Canon models and digital SLR bodies).
Fanotec is proud to announce a new entry into the product line – the Nodal Ninja 180 (NN180).
The NN180 will support camera/lens combination’s which NN3 and NN5 do not support.
They include stops for dual shot spherical panos when using lenses such as Nikon FC-E8/E9 and the Sunex 5.6mm Fisheye. Also supports long converter-camera combination’s such as the earlier mentioned FC-E9 and also Raynox DCR-CF185 Pro when using with long prosumer or point and shoot Digital Cameras.
NN180 is also intended to simplify pano taking for certain camera/lens combination’s by allowing single row shooting instead of multi-row shooting. They include cameras with circular fisheye lenses such as the Sigma 4.5mm, sigma 8mm on full frame cameras, Sunex 5.6mm, and Nikon FC-E8/E9 for making spherical panos, also wide angle lenses for making cylindrical panos. Lenses such as shaved Nikon 10.5mm on full frame sensor and Sigma 8mm on cropped sensor can be supported by using a L-bracket and slanted adapter (to be released later) for making spherical panos.
Duration : 0:2:0
I don’t get the point on not looking at the camera 
Don’t you just wonder? peopl in the 1800s-1900’s look anywhere but the camera lenses. I find it funny
Styles and looks have trends that come and go. However, the main reason for not looking directly into the camera in those days was that the camera equipment was no where near as sophisticated and fast as today. LONG exposure times were required. The subject had to remain as motionless as possible for a few seconds. It was probably much more natural feeling for a person to be looking at another object rather than directly at the camera during a long exposure. That is also the reason you seldom see anyone smiling in older photos. Trying to hold a smile like that was very difficult and unnatural for the relatively long period of time in which the camera was taking the photo.
steve