About this photoblog

Welcome, I am Tobias Weisserth. I started this photoblog - as opposed to my Blog - to show off some of the pictures I take from time to time. A great deal of these pictures focus on the wonderful city of Brussels in Belgium which I consider to be my hometown and the city of Hamburg in Germany, where I live right now.

All rights reserved. The use of my photographs without a proper license will not be tolerated. If you want to use any of my photographs, contact me about a license at tobias@weisserth.net.

 

A Friendly Imitation Of Work

"The very activity of taking pictures is soothing, and assuages general feelings of disorientation that are likely to be exacerbated by travel. Most tourists feel compelled to put the camera between themselves and whatever is remarkable that they encounter. Unsure of other responses, they take a picture. This gives shape to experience: stop, take a photograph, and move on. The method especially appeals to people handicapped by a ruthless work ethic - Germans, Japanese, and Americans. Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work-driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures.

Susan Sontag, On Photography, In Plato's Cave

 

Gear

Every photographer prefers specific gear to support his or her process of work. Since photography is a hobby for me, I feel free to experiment with different kinds of gear as my budget allows. While I'm still a huge fan of exposing on film, I have gone digital as well. I don't have one dominant set of gear however.

Analog

Shooting on film is still a big deal for me. I shoot mainly on Kodak films, namely Kodak Professional Elite Chrome 100, Kodak Professional Ektar 100 and Kodak Professional BW400CN.

Minolta XG1
Since my late grandfather gave me his Minolta XG1 along with a lot of equipment, Minolta manual focus gear has replaced my Canon EOS 300 as my favorite film camera. I played a lot with the Minolta and the feeling of something valuable and solid in my hands has won me over. Understanding how the old XG1 works has aroused my interest in how to master each aspect of a photograph. The XG1 is great camera to learn about photography and it's still available at very cheap prices on Ebay.

Minolta XD7
A lot has happened since I started out with the XG1. I caught the Minolta virus, found out about the rokkor files and started piling up Minolta gear. For any Minolta addict, the Minolta XD7 is the crown of Minolta's SLR product range. Especially the version in the black finish is hard to come by. I managed to get a really nice refurbished model in near mint condition. As with every addiction, one was not enough. And when I found out that there's a cheap and easy way to combine the Minolta lenses with digital SLRs, I made it a mission to build a portfolio of lenses I could use on my Minolta bodies as well as my digital SLR.

  • Minolta XD7 (black)
  • Minolta XD7 (silver)
  • cable release switch for XD7
  • Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm, f/1.4
  • Minolta MD 50mm, f/1.2
  • Minolta MC Rokkor - HF 30cm, f/4.5
  • Minolta MD Macro 50mm, f/3.5
  • Minolta MD Zoom 35-135mm, f/3.5-4.5
  • Tokina Master Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5-4.5
  • Tokina SZ-X 80-200mm, f/4.5-5.6
  • Tokina RMC 17mm, f/3.5

Minolta HI-MATIC 7SII
My black Minolta HI-MATIC 7SII is more a collector's piece than an actual piece of equipment. It's fully functional, I took some shots with it, however I have not fallen in love with it yet. I guess a rangefinder camera is not in my alley (yet).

Canon EOS 300
My Canon EOS 300 has been my first serious camera to interest me in the art of photography as opposed to point and shoot picture taking. It's easy to use, extremely lightweight for an SLR system and reasonably sturdy for traveling. I took this camera to a lot of places and would probably use it more often, if I had some more advanced lenses. I'm using a Canon Zoom Lens EF 28-80mm 1:3.5-5.6 II and a Canon Zoom Lens EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 III as well as various filters (polarisation, UV...).

Digital

For some time now, I'm using an Olympus E-520. I've been looking into different DSLR systems last year and I liked the idea of the Four Thirds standard because it's easy to get lenses within interesting focal length ranges and the equipment is less bulky most of the time. With the standard kit lens, I can put the E-520 in the pocket of my winter jacket (it's a deep pocket though). Since the sensor size is smaller than in any other DSLR, the Olympus E system cannot compete with other systems in terms of noise for higher ISO settings. I found that it's good enough for me in most situations though and started investing into the system. Right now, I'm using the following gear:

  • Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm, f/3.5-5.6
  • Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm, f/4-5.6
  • Zuiko Digital 35mm f/3.5 Macro

Another strong selling point of the Four Thirds standard is the option to adapt legacy lenses. I managed to use any Minolta MD lens on my E-520 with no problems. The investment is minimal and the results are awesome. The crop factor of 2 forbids the adaption of any wide angle lenses, but my Minolta MD 50mm, f/1.2 acts as a 100mm focal length on the E-520. Also, the Minolta MD Macro 50mm, f/3.5 is a real winner when used on an E-520.

The latest addition to my camera zoo is another Canon PowerShot. I wanted something that fits into a pocket, a camera that would be in my pocket wherever I go. Too often I regretted not having a camera with me when I came across a nice motive. So I gave in to the urge and bought a Canon PowerShot S90. It's a brilliant little camera. In the end it made the finish against the Panasonic Lumix LX3 because it's smaller, I like the Canon user interface and it's already supported by CHDK.

Canon Powershot S5 IS
In 2007 I bought a Canon Powershot S5 IS and used it for a long time. It takes pretty decent pictures for a non-SLR camera. I also enjoy using a Canon 58mm Close-up Lens 500D which also fits with the Canon EOS 300. Another add-on I use is a Canon Wide Converter WC-DC58A which has proven to be a very good investment. Anybody with a Canon Powershot S5 IS should consider getting one, it's worth the money. The last piece to complete this camera is the Canon Tele-Converter TC-DC58B. Since I upgraded to a DSLR, this camera only sees action when I want to play with CHDK, an alternative and Open Source firmware for Canon cameras.

Olympus C-900 Zoom
My first real digital camera was an Olympus C-900 Zoom which I bought in 1998. It features a resolution of 1.31 million pixels and integrates an Olympus 3x zoom lens labelled AF Zoom 5.4-16.2mm 1:2.8-4.4 which equals 35-105mm on a 35mm camera. When I still used this camera I loved it. The good optics enabled me to compete with modern cameras for a very long time despite its age and low resolution. I still keep it for sentimental value.