Full Frame versus APS-C Cameras. What to shoot for.

I started shooting film 35mm in the 1970's. I knew there were other formats but those belonged in the studio with names Hasselblad or Rolleiflex and price ranges that could equal an average Joe's annual wage.
Full frame cameras expose one 35mm frame when the shutter opens and closes. We like that. If you are using a 50 mm lens you get everything the lens offers on the film. Use a 300mm lens and the result is similar. All is right with the world.
Learn the craft well and you will have little doubt that what you shoot will result in a fine print. You won't know if you captured what you saw through the lens (if using a single lens reflex) until either you or a lab somewhere runs your rolls through a chemical bath and sends you the prints.
So many things happen that are beyond your control between your pressing the trigger and seeing the finished photo...or even before. Consider the possibility of getting an old roll of film that wasn't quite up to par or that you misloaded or accidently exposed it while loading. Shooting for fun is one thing but if you were responsible for wedding, anniversary or birthday photos for clients, friends or family it could be devastating. I recall a wedding party that had to return to the church in order to recreate the shoot due to some "bad" film.

Almost a year ago I got my long awaited K1 full frame digital camera from Ricoh/Pentax and have been learning how to use it. It has so many features I haven't scratched the surface.
 I captured the seagull sextet about to become a septet. Notice their heartfelt vocal greeting! Didn't quite have the setting where I wanted it. We were on a crowded ferry leaving the dock so it wasn't optimal but the composition was too cool to pass up.

An Osprey was tending her nest and doing her best to keep the hot sun off her chick. Looks like Dad just sat this one out and hunkered down in the nest. She didn't look to be in great shape (having seen these birds of prey in action) but intent on performing her matronly task with no visible assistance from the mate. After all..it was rather hot. There is something about capturing a moment in time whether humorous, frightful or heartwarming. Love taking the camera outdoors.

Another passion is shooting live theater, which is fraught with problems for lighting and knowing where the next shot will be. Ragtime, The Musical offers delightful costuming and takes place at the turn of the 20th Century. It is loosely based on actual people and events that took place in New York around 1906. The photographic opportunities were spectacular as the director created staging that made for great picture stories.

I will post a few more pics. This is an amateur production currently being performed at Peninsula Community Theatre in southeastern Virginia.

The time depicted saw American industry booming as the rich were growing complacent in their mistreatment of immigrants who flooded into Ellis Island with hopes of escaping religious and/or political persecution and capturing a piece of the "American Dream".

The trick to shooting theatricals is knowing where you need to be in order to capture a moment...or being tremendously lucky through the lens. The lighting changes and people move and, usually, just as you trip the shutter. Not all cameras (or lenses for that matter) do well in low or uneven lighting. Out of 300 shots you might have 100 or so where you nailed it. You captured that moment, expression, action or emotion that projects from the stage and onto "film". Such are the joys of digital photography. 100 great shots and you can erase 200 that didn't quite measure up and go again. Using a full frame DSLR means that when using a 35 mm lens you are seeing what you actually are shooting. I haven't given up my APSC camera. It's still in my bag and I will use it for certain shoots but I am still learning how to use the features of my (Ricoh) Pentax K1 which has a bit longer learning curve than I anticipated...not for shooting photos but for actually using some of the very nice innovations and funtions to be found within its programming. It is somewhat disappointing being a Pentaxian here in the USA. The brand lost its standing when the digital age kicked in and they failed to embrace it thereby losing any meaningful share of the soon to be booming market. Their digital brand was a late blooming follower of fashion. They had no product to offer the world that could compare with Nikon, Canon and eventually Sony. My first digital camera was and RCA that looked a little like an SLR but sported 1 or 2 megapixels. Cost me $100 at Radio Shack. Left much to be desired. There was little software to handle the editing and/or printing of the photos...which was probably a good thing. If you have been following my blog over the past few years you have seen photos taken with a Sony A5000 mirror-less (Italy) Germany (soon to come) and a Pentax K5II APSC DSLR and the brand flagship Full Frame K1. I cherish them all. In the past I have traveled with the Sony due to it's small size and the fact it shoots in RAW format (uncompressed photographic files) which means you can really work the photos when editing. It also has interchangeable lenses. In future I will take the K5II on trips if there is room for it! So much to talk about and so little time. I will add a few more shots to this entry. Please enjoy.

I am less concerned that the Big Apple has taken up residence in the White House

I am more concerned about the worm in that apple!

Dear European Friends,
     Those of us living the dream under the clown prince of reality shows (tremendously popular, super high ratings, highest ever rating in the history of television in the entire world...and the as yet undiscovered habitable worlds in the universe) where we have been treated to the spectacle of seeing Donald perform in that antithesis to reality pro wrestling video where he slammed Vince to the floor (only we saw it with CNN's logo covering his head) showing class all the way. The same class he showed at a recent meeting over there where he elbowed a "lesser" elected person out of his way so he could get his picture taken in the best light...or maybe he was looking for Putin...but that's a different story.
     Just the same as all Russians do not love Putin and not all Americans think Brussels is  the name of little tiny cabbages or that Brexit is a new men's deodorant or that a wall will stop illegals or that global warming isn't real, there are regular folks who wanted to give the self proclaimed maverick a chance to make good on his claims...even though we didn't vote for him. BANG! Ban muslims! BANG! Courts say NO! Calls courts biased due to heritage of a judge. Calls shame on the other judges. That was just the beginning. The last five months have been a circus. I don't care for the circus. I grew out of that joy years ago. Paranoid narcissists don't fare well in the fishbowl that is the American presidency. Thin skin gets torn too easily. Donald isn't a scholar and as I recall he doesn't like to read that much (might have been in  a fake news story I saw...). He's not suited to the office. He keeps asking for loyalty of those whose loyalty is to the people of the nation and not the president.
The Russia probe is going to rip open the financial skulduggery he is doing his best to hide. There are so many more shoes to drop...we wait with abated breath. We...us...who think for ourselves.
     We normal people are still here. We aren't despondent former Hillary backers, nor new fangled Republicans carrying religion as a guide, nor Democrats willing to grow a federal government so large as to support ridiculous administration on top of administration. We have faith in the 4th Estate, but think for ourselves. We cringe when he opens his mouth and laugh when his unqualified cronies he appointed have to spin some ridiculous tale to help interpret his muddled contradictions and fabrications easily proven false with videos of his own making (never met or heard of David Duke but there is recorded evidence to the contrary).
     We will win out in the end. Braggarts and hucksters can keep juggling the balls in the air for a time but the day will come when their cleverness fails them and the truth will out.
     President Donald has not managed to make us great again. So far as I can tell he has managed to become the clown prince of world leaders and again, pretty much singlehandedly, re-earned us the moniker The Ugly American.