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Rangefinder Magazine
April 2004

Problems & Solutions

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

From: Roger Koss
TopFlight Professional Digital Lab Inc.
roger@topflightlab.com
We are are an all-digital pro lab that is being asked to do more and more competition prints. To better serve our customers, we would like to duplicate the lights used to view prints in competition. I was wondering if the specifications for those quartz halogen lights are available? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

At WPPI’s print competitions, we use two 250-watt quartz-halogen lights set at 45-degree angles to the print turntable. The lights are set at about eight feet from the print viewing area and about eight feet high so that they do not block the view of the audience.

From: Charles Clark
cwmg.clark@verizon.net
When I take full-face flash photos of a cat, the cat’s eyes close when I snap the shutter and the flash fires. The eyes are open before I click the shutter but the photo comes out with the cat’s eyes closed. The camera is a digital Olympus 5060 Zoom. This camera must be sending out some kind of a pulse that triggers the cat’s eye reflexes. I would like to know how to take flash photos that show the cat’s eyes open.

I think what is happening is you are using one of the 5060’s red-eye reduction modes, which fire a preflash prior to the main flash exposure. The preflash may be what causes kitty’s eyes to close. Try using the camera in one of its flash modes that does not feature red-eye reduction. For instance, try “Auto for low and backlight” mode or “First Curtain” mode. Either of these should do the trick.

From: Miguel Narbona
mnarbona@sinfo.net
I wonder if you can direct me to a place where I can get photographers vest, with long sleeves, black, lightweight—a kind of black jacket, to uniform my assistants in weddings, using a black shirt and tie.

Just finding long-sleeve photo vests is a chore in itself, but I managed to find a web site that seems to specialize in long sleeve vests for photographers. Walkabout Down Under Enterprises is the name of the company (http://walkabout.com). Tamrac also makes a line of black vests, but I didn’t see any with long sleeves. I cannot locate any manufacturers of “formal” vests, which I believe is what you are looking for. If I hear of anything I will pass the information on in this column.