Rangefinder Magazine
March 2005

Click Here for printable version of this article.

Problems and Solutions by Bill Hurter

Please accompany your questions with a self-addressed stamped envelope if you wish an immediate reply. Alternatively, you can email me at: bhurter@rfpublishing.com.

From: Thomas J. “Tommie” Suits
suitsus2at@sbcglobal.net
Waco, TX
Thanks for the information on flash trigger voltages in your answer to Herbert Schieman in the December 2004 Rangefinder. And, thanks for making Rangefinder better all the time. 

You mentioned you had done some digging for facts. I am interested because I would like to use a Vivitar 285 on my Canon PowerShot G5. Where can I get in touch with Vivitar to check on the output trigger voltage of my particular unit?

Several months back I asked Canon’s sales rep about this, and he felt there would not be any danger of using the 285 with my camera. I am concerned because I have had this particular 285 some 20+ years. I am hoping Vivitar can still supply the needed information for the serial-numbered unit I have.

Thank you for the offer to respond to emails. And, incidentally, the tech information you publish amazes me. Unfortunately for me, it is too far over my head, and I am not trying to catch-up. At 89 years of age, I find it hard to understand all the changes taking place so rapidly in photography. I have been involved with photography since 1933 and taught photojournalism for 34 years at Baylor University in the Evening Division. A number of my students have done well in the profession and are still active. For me it was an avocation since my profession was commercial art.

Forgive me for boring you with too much history. When you can find time to answer my request for more info on flash triggering, I will sincerely appreciate it.

Thanks for the kind words about the magazine and no need to apologize about the history. I enjoy hearing from readers and hearing their stories.

I read on the Internet that Canon USA has indicated that the Powershot G line of cameras does not like voltages over 6V. I also discovered a link online that lists the flash-triggering voltages of almost every strobe ever made. Under the Vivitar 285 it states that the Vivitar 285 HV has a voltage of 12V and the Vivitar 285 has a voltage of 350V. Also, it seems that the flash-triggering voltage on the 285 series varies quite a bit from strobe to strobe. Only one person who measured his two 285s said that the voltage was 6V.

So in answer to your question, I would find out the flash triggering voltage of your particular 285. The web site I found gives links to photographers who have measured the voltage themselves, but any qualified camera technician with a voltmeter can make the measurement. If it exceeds 6V, then I probably wouldn’t use it. I think you are going to find that it does exceed 6V. For more information, visit www.botzilla.com/ photo/strobeVolts.html.

From: Dan Fried, H&H Photographers
www.handhphotographers.com
Do you know of an online thank you/greeting card wholesaler that allows photographers to generate custom thank you cards for their clients?

Check out PSPrint (www.psprint.com) online. They offer short runs and affordable prices.
Also check out Marathon Press (www. marathonpress.com). Marathon offers custom-designed cards, brochures, flyers, presentation folders, and multi-page publications, in addition to a full line of pre-produced portrait/wedding studio promotions and client-education materials. Marathon Press also offers mail-processing services that range from recommending mailing list resources to providing full-service, cost-effective bulk mail processing.

From: Michele Muir
Muirphotography@hvc.rr.com
Can you tell me if there is an industry standard design program for creating wedding albums? Do most photographers use Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress, the standard design programs, or is there software that allows you to plug in photos for placement purposes? What are most people using?
Thanks for the info.

There really is no standard. About the closest thing to a standard is Adobe Photoshop. Many of the digital album companies use proprietary software tailored to their albums, and it is quite good.
Albums Australia (www.albumsaustralia. com.au), for instance, uses TDA3 software, and it is available only for Albums Australia clients. It can be downloaded as a trial version and as a client of Albums Australia, you would get a free registration code upon request. Once registered, all designing, selling, and ordering functions are engaged. TDA3 uses a simple interface that shows your inventory of images along one edge of the screen and the layout pages above. Simply drag and drop the images into the layout. It’s very simple and very elegant.

There are also good template programs available for Photoshop use. Yervant (www. yervant.com) and Martin Schembri (www. youselectit.com.), both successful Australian wedding photographers, offer template systems for Photoshop that allow you to position your images into pre-existing templates.

Yervant’s program is called Page Gallery, and it offers 470 automated Photoshop templates that drastically simplify the album design process.

Martin Schembri’s program, You Select It, is also automated template software that includes hundreds of templates that can be re-sized or edited to suit any format you wish.

Both programs are straightforward and don’t require you to be a Photoshop guru to use it. You can even customize templates as needed.

From: Peter Baier
Crystal Bells Photography
crystal.bells@verizon.net
An article several months ago on digital lighting referenced a prior article in the November 2003 issue, “Lighting for Digital in the Studio.” I cannot easily see how to access this article as the prior issue selection only goes back to May 2004. I am a WPPI member and thereby a Rangefinder subscriber.
I’d appreciate your help in accessing this article. I am starting a wedding photography business and have slowly realized that lighting for digital is way more subtle and demanding than I’d anticipated!

I am sending you the link for that article on Rangefinder’s web site: www.rangefinder
mag.com/magazine/archives/Nov03/ lighting.tml. Our archives go back to 1999 but not everything was posted online back then, and as you no doubt realize, the archives are not searchable like an ordinary database. We are trying to correct that but it is an ambitious task, to say the least. In the meantime, if readers cannot find an article online, they can email me and I will email them a text version of the article. I have almost everything archived going back to the mid-1990s.

From: George Brand, FireLight Studio
frangeo@cox.net
I read John Rettie’s article about the world’s first rangefinder digital camera, the Epson R-D1. What about Leica’s Digilux-2 digital rangefinder camera? My only question, who was first?

John Rettie responded, “Although the Leica Digilux-2 camera might look like a rangefinder camera, it is not. It has a regular autofocus mechanism with a fixed lens and even uses an electronic viewfinder instead of an optical one. It appeared on the market about six months before the Epson.”