P3D Re: RBT camera choice for portraits

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Don Radovich asks about portraits and RBTs...

Don, can you be a bit more specific?  What kind of portraits?  
Formal, informal, available light, studio light, head only, head 
and shoulders, top part, full body?  Dressed, undressed? :-)

>Would mounting the full-frame close-up portraits in
>4 or 5-perf mounts (and shifting the window accordingly) counter the
>effect of the wide base enough to do close-ups?  

Certainly not.  Mounting does nothing.  It is all over when the
picture is taken.

OK, I like "people shots" too.  If I want a format studio or very
well controlled outdoors portrait, or a face only portrait, then I 
will use twin SLRs mounted bottom to bottom and 80 to 135 mm lenses.  
This is not a problem.  I have been doing this for years.

The problem is taking quick outdoors informal portraits of friends 
or strangers, using available light. 

That's where the RBT S1 comes into the picture... I am only in my
10th roll or so :-) (in a month!)  I have been more than pleased
with these first rolls.  Got some fantastic "portraits" of my
children and friends.  Here is the situation:  The kids get in
the car.  From the driver's seat I look back and see my 6 year
old son.  He looks cute with the available light.  I pull out
the RBT S1, turn it on, turn around and shoot.  That's it!
(I can send you this slide... I think it turned out lovely)

I mentioned how happy I am with the underpowered flash that lets
much more ambient light... Bill said he disagreed.  Well, I disagree
with Bill :-).  This is a new concept for me (not the disagreeing...
the low powered flash).  

No more f11 with flash that transforms the  day to night...  Try f4 
instead (not you... THE CAMERA... remember, automation?... you don't 
even have to think about fstops... you take care of the composition 
and the camera will do the fstop thinking... AND WILL DO IT RIGHT!)  

Anyway, the available tungsten light gets in and gives the portrait 
a new warm feel.  I love it!

Another example:  We are at a restaurant.
I pull the RBT S1 with the little Konica flash attached.  Turn flash
and camera on.  Point the camera to 9 year old Yianni who is sitting
across from me.  Snap the picture.  Turns out fantastic!  (Don, also
available for your inspection/comments).

The S1 is the perfect "people" camera.  Compact, automated, easy
to use.  And the autofocusing feature and sharp (OH-HOW-SHARP!)
fast (f2.0) lens guarantees that your low light portraits will
be pin sharp even at wide apertures.  The shorter interaxial 
spacing (59 mm vs. 70 for Realist or 75 for commercial processing
compatible RBTs) is a big bonus for tight shots, especially for
projection.

If I were not that shy, I would have taken some great pictures
of strangers too, like these two older fellows (man and woman), 
dressed in leather suits ("easy ride" style, but in their 60s) 
arriving with their fancy motorcycles at the grocery store... 
I was tempted to just walk in front of them and snap their picture... 
But my personality is such that I cannot do that... Not yet...

Don, send me your address and I will mail you these two RBT 
slides, ASAP.  You can post your impressions in photo-3d.

Regards -- George Themelis

PS. A short review of the S1 is published in the latest issue of
the Stereogram (which I have finished, earlier this month because
of my upcoming Christmas vacation to Greece), together with a 
review of Hugo DeWij's Comby and other rarities... As always a
few free copies will be available to those who have not received a 
copy before...


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