Les -------------------------------- The basic grip I teach also stems from weapons training. It uses the left had cradling the bottom of the camera with the thumb on the left side of the lens and the index finger on the right side of the lens with the camera bottom resting lightly across the palm of the left hand. The right hand grips the camera around the grip and the right index finger rests in the area of the shutter release. This way you can shoot verticals by just rotating the camera counter clockwise 1 quarter turn. I always shoot with an extra grip on the bottom of my cameras. reply: indeed les. but try "jabing" the left elbow somewhere in the left rib cage or lower chest. that will you give you a fourth support point for the camera, the other 3 being the hands and he head if you stick it right on the brow as i do. Bob ------------------------------------------- That's all very well for film cameras but digital ones are held in front of the body at half-arms length ... the "proper viewing distance" for the LCD screen ;o) How does that work??? reply: well i have not tried digtal yet, but what about an adapted weaver stance? on hand flexible, the other locked exented.(have to turn the body a bit) left hand grips as Les suggests and applies 60% of the total on camera pressure, right hand contributes the other 40%, and kinda relaxed to press the shutter release gently What I want to see though is a monocular eyepiece (universal soldier style) containing a wireless link to the camera. That way you could hold it above yer head, or in front of you (anything to beat the crowd). yet still be seeing what the camera sees. reply: you won't have to wait long bob...that kind of technology is already in the works and in amatter of years n anybody's hands too. don't surgeons operate this way when the probe into a body? personaly i wish it was available today....imaging the concert shots i would get with a robotic camera moving around the stage and conroled by what i should through a series of aperture with different viewing angles irrespectived of applied camera focal length! Jeff Spirer ------------------------- However, I disagree that LCD viewing is a problem. Using the camera away from the eye allows you to look at both the scene and the framing at the same time. Neither camera nor eye needs to be moved to observe what is going on around you. Also, you can view at waist level (like with many medium format cameras), which I find to be advantageous in many situations. reply: exactly Jeff, it is called peripheral vision and it is not different from pistol shooting Per Öfverbeck ------------------------------------------------- I´ve never been "taught" any particular technique. just trial-and-error (a lot of the later, for sure). I´ve used RF Leicas, 35 mm SLR´s, MF SLR´s and TLR´s with waist level finders. and lately digicams with LCD screens, and they´re all different. One common thing that I´ve found quite important is to always apply a force to the camera that is opposed to the one pressing the shutter button. So I´m careful always to place a finger on the same hand directly opposite the button, and in line with it. Then, when pressing down, the hand acts like a pair of pliers or whatever, giving no net force to the camera. reply: well referng to the above, i would also add that what you are suggesting is nothing more than the isometric (actually 60-40)push and pull methond pd pistol shooting...(well it is getting a bit boring to me the P S thing so more general , mechanics have always used equal push/pull and mutually opposing forces to keep things at place....) pablo ----------------------------- I guess it depends a lot on the camera, your size and age. Each of us develops his/hers own way of holding the camera after a while. I usually let all the air out of my lungs before I shooot (specially at 1/30 or slower)m and "clinch" my elbows to my sides Lately I'm shooting with old Zeiss cameras again, and finding positions to hold them. reply: good point on the personalazation of your hold, but i suggest you try this persiration method: 2 deap breaths and to satisfy the oxygen need, the one that will half the ar in the lungs as not to "starve" for the 12 secs of steady time one has usually available....after the point that it feels unreliable, breath again... Walter ----------------------------------- This really helps to get sharper images when making night or interior available light exposures (no flash). From having used auto advance cameras for many years, I find the first frame of a sequence is usually the least sharp regardless how carefully you make a handheld slow exposure. Don't know why? Maybe it is just due to thinking about how still you can make your body or maybe it is the actually pressing down on the release. Once the release is down it s easy to really freeze for the additional exposures. reply: obviously so....have you ever seen a trigger finger (respective to time) diagram? The Coolpix's ability to automatically delete the all but the sharpest frame is a great idea for a digital camera. Almost as good as carrying a mono-pod. BTW - My wife is as good a pistol shooter as I am (long nails and all). I would guess her photos would be every bit as sharp as mine, but she lets me do all our picture taking. Lea ------------------ How I hold my camera? Imagine a nice firm grip and a steady stance, elbows in, camera tight against the face, breath held. Snap. That's how I hold my camera. AND, I'm a woman AND I have fairly long nails AND I shoot handheld. reply; hmm another list member with elbows on the side.....i cannot physically do this, but how about trying what i suggested to Les? now to the hard part: achal ------------------------------- I am not a 'chick' but let me tell Kostas that even if you qualified your statement with "most", I still think that it is a gross misrepresentation. I have seen many talented woman/girl photographers around, printing in the same darkroom that I frequent! If I am without a tripod, my method is to have as good grip on the camera as I can. If I have something to rest my back against (like a wall), I do that, to make myself more steady, compose, adjust f stop/time, breathe (if it is not the fleeting moment) and press the shutter. I usually take three shots in the row with bracketing of 0.5 stops. Lea --------------------------------------------------- To make a sweeping statement like the above about women is offensive and sexist as can be. Shyrell ------------------------------------- I resent that comment. I am a chick (although mature). And I can hold and steady any camera as well as any man can! And I have fingernails! And they are really mine! Reply: well i never thought that you would see me as a sexist or even that i would appear so. let me be more specific on my comment: 1. it seems that "chick" has different meanings in the US and here in Greece...Lea, we don't use the Greek equivalent of that word to denote all young females. If i wanted to refer to all women i would use exactly that word. 2. it was used in the context of the women that are rather frilly, too interested in style and appearance, hence more worried on their nail integrity than that of their photographs, which are actually part of their "cool thing to have photos to remember - see i have a cool hooby which i consume 3 rolls of film a year for" lifestyle. (sorry i cannot portray them any better) And i feel that their existence in numbers that are consumer-significant cannot be dispute. 3. i never thought that any of the list female members are like that. that kind of chick Achal, would never go near the photographc chemicals! 4. As to women abilities, i have a male dominated proffesion, and much more male dominated second hobby. And i was lucky that my woman partenrs in both were a person to watch for! (in a very positive sense) now i hope i have made myself clear... please direct any replies to me by personnnaly and not to the group, kostas _____________________________________________________________________________________ http://www.mailbox.gr ÁðïêôÞóôå äùñåÜí ôï ìïíáäéêü óáò e-mail. http://www.thesuperweb.gr Website ìå ÁóöáëÝò Controlpanel áðü 6 Euro êáé äþñï ôï domain óáò!
