A Man and a Light

ACME Camera Company — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 20:54:37 +0000

“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different”

-Kurt Vonnegut

Now that I’ve got your attention let’s talk about this really cool light thing I was able to use. The Elinchrom D-lite RX 4 is a brilliant piece of equipment with great versatility. In my few days of shooting I was able to capture a wide range of images, touring through the world of the abstract, into portrait work and briefly into the narrative format.

I was quite impressed at the lights ability to be used on its own, without the assistance of natural light or another piece to the kit. Due to its size and relative power it was able to illuminate the subject with ease and the consistency of light was such that it spread evenly across subject. This was especially useful when doing portrait work. As many of you know light consistency is vital in making your subject stand out and giving solid dynamic range to your image and often, harsh directional lighting set ups aren’t useful in this context. Unless of course you are using it as a rim light or kicker, but I digress. This light, due to the size of it, can be used as both, unfortunately I didn’t think to use it in this way until after it had been returned, but if at any time you are able to rent out the light you will see what I am talking about. Here are a few examples of the lights versatility.

One of my favorite things to do with the Elinchrom D-lite RX 4 was to use it directly in my composition and I was impressed at how often and in how many ways this was possible. One of my favorite ways to shoot with this light was shown to me by Robert Hunter, a good friend and employee at Acme Camera Company, and that is to shoot directly into it. With the soft box thrown over the top, it creates a beautiful form with undefined edges and as far as the subject is concerned it gives you nice defined features and surprisingly harsh contrast.

There is a feature on the light that allows you to extend this mode of shooting into multiple arenas. It’s simple, yet elegant, there is a knob on the rim of the light that allows you to spin the soft box in any direction you please. Provided, of course, physics allows you too. I mean, as cool as it would be to have a light that folds and rotates in multiple dimensions---- wait----- why hasn’t someone done this yet? Somebody needs to get on this immediately. Should be easy right?

Anyway, the knob allows you to spin the light around its axis allowing the light to shine from multiple positions. As well, you have the ability to tilts the light up and down, giving you the option to point above your subject.

One thing to be cautious of is the intensity of the light. It’s a soft light so the light needs to be fairly close to the subject for decent illumination as you can see in the pictures below and the picture directly above these words.

I must provide a disclaimer before I head into this next section. I am terrible when it comes to using a flash. I have never learned how to use one and therefore am not to be consulted when it comes to the flash. However, to test out the breadth of features this light had to offer, I used one anyway. Given my limited experience with the flash, I cannot say how the Elinchrom D-lite Rx-4 differs from others on its flash function. The way in which I found it useful was, again, in creating a more abstract picture. What I did to create this effect was put the light in front of and to the right of my friend and exposed for his right side and then used the remote to time the flash. I’d be curious to see if the reason the light divided him in half was because of the shape of the soft box. Nonetheless, a pretty cool trick to do with the flash function.

The Build

This was one of the few areas that I found problems with the light, especially regarding the attachment of the soft box. It is necessary to say that when attaching it to the light you must make sure that the soft box head is tight, if not you will be unable to hook it on and the softbox will keep rotating. After that you need to make sure the soft box is lined up with the head. It has two rods directly across from each other that the softbox slides into and once connected you twist it and it’ll lock into place. Sounds easy enough, unfortunately it takes quite a bit of finessing and the rods are not easily visible. After awhile, as with anything it was easy enough to set up and take down, however, due to the flimsy material of the rods/softbox I could see wear and tear dwindling down the long term use of the light. That being said, it did travel well.

I have one other complaint that I am not sure is the fault of the light or just the power that it generates. But when shooting from a battery pack, I was only able to shoot for 30-40 minutes at most. Which made it difficult to really get the feel of the areas I was shooting in. My reccomendation is to know exactly what you will be shooting and plan accordingly, unfortuneately the light is not well suited for a run and gun shoot.

Overall, this light was fantastic to shoot with and I would recommend trying it out, very much worth the price of admission.

Down below is a gallery of photos showcasing the broad range of photos that can be had by using this light.

I hope you all have as much fun with it as I did. Have a wonderful day and make some beautiful pictures alright?

Hi. My name is Preston Zubal, author of this very article and I approve this message.

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Introducing the 9 Light Mini Brute

ACME Camera Company — Sat, 28 May 2016 08:04:00 +0000

With 9 bulbs each with an output of 650 watts this light is incredibly powerful. Each bulb has its own switch making controlling output very simple. The two outer banks swivel to help direct the light output and built in barn doors give you even greater control.

The Coltran Mini Brute 9 rents for $80/day. Reserve it for your next shoot.

RING LIGHT PORTRAITS By Angelina Giles

ACME Camera Company — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 15:00:00 +0000

I was recently asked to take portraits of guests as they arrived at an event. I’m not going to lie, this is one of my least favorite job descriptions. Fortunately they let me choose the lighting set up, so I brought nothing but my Nikon D800, 24-70mm lens and a ring light. I found a grey background and did not light. My ISO was around 640, shooting at 2.8 at 1/400 sec for most of the images shown.

It worked great for single portraits, insuring the subjects were just a few feet away from my light source. I adjusted height slightly for each person, and achieved the dynamic images shown.

If you haven’t already played around with this simple, yet professional light, rent one today for as little as $9 a day from Acme!

Vintage Nikon Glass & Digital Cameras

Jacob — Sat, 05 Mar 2016 02:12:57 +0000

Portraits...

Madeline was kind enough to stop by and model for us this morning. I took a series of photos with the available light from the north facing window in the shop.
Some images include a silver fill card with only a minor effect. These images were all shot at f2.5 through f4 in order to take advantage of the brightness and shallow focus
available with this lens. Our other Nikon bodies were out for rental so we used the D7100 giving this lens an equivalent focal length of 157mm. Tricky to use for sure! We are
eager to try it on a full frame camera so as to test the corner sharpness and light falloff of this lens. Here are a few of the images taken today..

These images were shot with Madeline facing the window and with the use of a small silver reflector. Note: these images have been edited for color and sharpness.

I was very surprised at the beauty and capability of this lens! It has a very smooth focusing mechanism and the focus aid on the camera made me feel secure about focusing accuracy.
This lens has so much sharpness at open apertures! Shooting with this lens/camera combination is slightly tricky as the aperture does not register on the camera display. I had to shoot
strictly in the "M" or manual mode and just watch the meter to make sure my exposure was on. This said I really enjoyed shooting with this lens and I don't feel like the manual focus/manual
exposure prevented me from getting the shots I wanted.

We moved further away from the window for these shots which changed the light pretty dramatically. These images are not edited in any way.

This lens renders color in a very interesting way that I really like. I Set the White Balance to the "Cloudy" setting and let the color fall where it
wanted. I really love the warm, magenta tones produced here. This lens only has six aperture blades which does produce an obvious hexagon shape to the background highlights.
I can live with this seeing how there are so many other redeeming qualities in this lens.

Come give it a try! Acme is now renting the Nikon 105mm f2.5 Ai starting at $15.00

find it here...
https://www.acmecamerarental.com/camshop/giftshop/products/used_gear/nikon_105mm_f2.5/@@index.html

Tourists

ACME Camera Company — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 20:07:00 +0000

We spent the weekend wandering around New York City and trying to soak up the entire concrete jungle in just a few days. I chose to bring along with me the Fuji X-E2 mirrorless camera, along with a 18mm F/2.0 Lens. I was so glad I chose this set up. When you're traveling with just a backpack, every pound counts. I had in my possession this tiny weightless camera that had the capability of full sized DSLR. I wouldn't be surprised if these mirrorless cameras took over the digital world soon.

This was my first time using this camera so there was a big learning curve. I tried to read the entire menu and figure out what all of the different settings on the camera were for. One of my favorite things about this camera was it's film simulations. I mainly used the Velvia film simulation and was amazed by the color it produced. My primary colors seemed to be the most vivid and secondary colors were also very present. The images below are essentially straight out of the camera with a little bit of exposure editing and sharpening. It was really cool feeling like I was shooting film but with the instant gratification that digital provides.

The lens ended up being different than I had imagined. It was great having such a wide canvas to work with thanks to the lens. However, at times I didn't feel like I could get my wide shots as sharp as I wanted. If I had more time with the lens I'm sure I could have figured out my sharpness issues. Overall, I would definitely recommend trying out a camera from the Fuji X-Series on your next trip. The Fuji X-Series mirrorless cameras make the perfect travel companion.

Cinestill in the City

ACME Camera Company — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 22:18:00 +0000

A few months ago I went to NYC along with my husb Mason. I took two cameras along with me to capture our trip; the Fuji X-E2 (which I'll write about in a future blog post) and a 35mm Olympus OM-2 loaded with Cinestill 50 ISO film. I finally got my film developed thanks to The FIND Lab (side note, they'll develop your first roll free and they're incredible) opening the email to my film scans was like Christmas.

This was my first time shooting Cinestill 50 and it definitely won't be my last. I am still an amateur film shooter but I think Cinestill might be my new favorite film. The detail in the highlights and shadows in this film got me hooked. Shooting 50 ISO film was a bit intimidating at first; however, if you make sure to shoot in daylight using a light meter it becomes a lot less daunting. It also helps if you have a capable 35mm SLR. I rented my Olympus OM-2 from Acme Camera for the semester. Acme rents 35mm SLR's for $35-$45 a semester, so yeah, totally worth it.

These images are all straight out of the camera. The only editing I did was a bit of cropping to a few different photos. People try to achieve the colors and details this film provides by using Instagram filters or filters you'll find in different editing apps. These filters will try and mimic the effects that this film naturally gives you. This film is so organically beautiful, no filters are needed. I'm so glad I had The FINDlab develop and scan my photos. They use the highest quality methods and equipment to assure you a flawless scan. I would 100% recommend sending your film to them. Next time you go on a trip, grab a few rolls of Cinestill and a 35mm SLR from Acme. I'm so glad I have these photos so I can always remember Mason's first trip to the big apple.

Unforgivable

ACME Camera Company — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 17:12:42 +0000

Hi, I am Emily Senkosky and I am an evolving film photographer. I took my first photography class at Westminster College and fell in love with film, specifically infrared film photography.

Here is why:

So many things today involve instant gratification. Record it, look it up on the Internet, download the app, pay for it with a card, get the upgrade.

Life in the 21st century rotates around an axis of convenience- satisfaction and accessibility go hand in hand.

Film photography, unlike so many other things in my life, teaches me to understand.

Instead of relying on the help of 21st century machinery or applications, I have to trust in the process.

Confidence in both my hand as well as the device, there is no way to tell what I have created until things have come to full development- both literally and figuratively.

Infrared film is the only film that uses a heat spectrum as well as a light spectrum to record life.

Being felt as well as seen, each film negative makes an impression that is rather honest. The pictures that are produced from this film tell an unforgivable story, sensing and recording the world around us.

As photographers we attempt to record life’s progression as it evolves, but to what point do we succumb to that progression?

Infrared film reminds me of my abilities, as well as my limits as a photographer.

When an image does finally turn out, there is nothing instantly gratifying about it.

@infraredfilm

Summer Evening Lighting Demo

ACME Camera Company — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Last week we had a lighting demo outside of our shop. It was the perfect windless night to try out our 12x12 Silk as well as a 12x12 Ultra Bounce. We paired the two with the almighty Coltrain Mini Brute 9. The 6,000 watts of light spilled beautifully through the silk. It was a golden light set up to say the least.

So this is how it all began. One giant 12x12 Ultra Bounce set-up with two Combo Stands. We wanted to create a lighting set up that was unique. We wanted to create a set up that many local photographers may not have seen before; that was the whole purpose of this little demo we threw together.

After the Ultra Bounce was set up, next came the 12x12 Silk. Combining these two products would able us to create a large light source. Our plan was to bounce our Colrtan Mini Brute 9 (which again has 6,000 watts of light) off of the Ultra Bounce. After the Mini Brute bounced off of the Ultra Bounce, it would pour itself through the 12x12 Silk. After the setting-up was done, we just had to wait until the sun went down to see if we'd get the light we were hoping for.

The sun slowly set and we watched our light source grow brighter. It took some more moving those giants around the light in order to achieve what we wanted. After you move your diffusors and bounces around enough, you eventually find the right light. It always takes some patience when you're creating a light source. As photographers we are painters of light, so that patience is important. Just like painters have to try mixing different colors of paint together to find the right color, we had to mix our light with different bounces and diffusers to find the right light.

Eventually the sun went down and our light came to life. The light was soft and almost cinematic. We also ended up setting up a V-Flat to help keep the light from spilling into places we didn't want it to. We set up an LED panel behind the V-Flat as you can see in the photo above. This LED light gave us a nice contrast against the tungsten light that fell through the silk. It was helpful having the tools we needed to assure we were in control.

Here are a few images that were the results of our efforts...

It ended up being a great night in the alley. We had some cool folks come out to try the light. It was fun seeing how photographers would position their subjects in order to find the light they wanted. A big thank you to those who attended! Stay posted and we'll continue to host demos in the future!

Jake and the Hasselblad 501 CM Kit

ACME Camera Company — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 19:25:15 +0000

Hi, I’m Jake Knaphus. I’m 17 years old, and I’m an amateur photographer. I bought my first DSLR in October of 2014 and have been shooting like mad ever since.

Recently, I rented the Hasselblad 501CM Kit from Acme, which includes the camera body, an 80mm standard prime, and the waist-level viewfinder that I’ve fallen in love with. In addition to the camera, I also rented a Minolta Autometer IV F, and a sturdy Manfrotto tripod to hold it all up.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Hasselblad, it is an entirely manual camera, meaning that there are absolutely no electronics involved, just a lens, body and film. This being my very first time with a manual camera, let alone a medium format manual camera, it's needless to say that there was a learning curve.

The process for shooting was a bit more complicated than the DSLR that I’d grown used to. Manual Focusing, manual metering of the light with the Minolta Autometer. and setting the correct shutter speed and aperture came to be more of a challenge than I expected.

The results though? In my opinion, well worth the difficulty. I found myself taking more time to compose my shots and pick what I really wanted to expose, which I think had a tremendously positive effect in my work.

I should mention that my idea of a great time shooting might differ from others, especially with me being 17, and paid sessions rarely more than a senior here and there. I took the camera, 2 rolls of film and 2 great friends and spent the day exploring around SLC.

I had a great time playing with the Hassy, and I will be back for sure.

The Power of Light Control

ACME Camera Company — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 18:19:56 +0000

“I might seem like a broken record on how important light control is, but I will continue to say it because I believe in this concept so strongly. Shaping light can add a 3D quality to your image.”

-Shane Hurlbut, ASC Director of Photography

Here at Acme Camera Company we have a plethora of tools to assist you as an artist, the painter of light. Among our arsenal of tools are the Mathews flags, silks and scrims.

Just the other day I had designed a small shot in the back of our Datsun here at the shop. There were a few problems with the light that I had to solve. The light from the D1 head was spilling all over creating distracting highlights in the background as well as overpowering the Bolex H16 I was shooting. After I had solved the problem with a few flags it looked like I was shooting a small movie scene. It was at this point however, that I realized how powerful and important it is to control your light. In this article I wanted to share my experience with light control and why I believe it is important.

Here is the final image I came up with.

The Shoot

Now these are older cameras I was shooting. The giants, the workhorses, the “A” cams (which by the way are for sale). These guys helped shape our beloved industry into what it is today. I wanted to pay the respect that is due. When you look at these cameras, you can see that they are old, grungy, and gritty. Perhaps they could easily be pictured in grandpa’s attic amidst a pile of junk. However, there is a quality about them that stands out, a shine, if you will. That is the essence I wanted to capture, the story I wanted to tell. The back of the Datsun at Acme served as our environment perfectly.

The image was captured on a Canon Eos 5D Mk III and a Canon 24-70mm 2.8L II. I used a Profoto D1 Air Kit 500 each head shooting into an umbrella placed outside each window to key our products.

When shooting products I prefer to use bounced light as a key rather than straight diffused light. I find the bounced light to be a bit more flattering on the body of products. Sometimes I will go back and throw some diffusion in front of the bounced light as well to create an even softer image. However that would not have served this image well as I was going for a bit of a harder look. With that being said there were a few obstacles I encountered.

Obstacle No. 1

The first obstacle I encountered was that the fill sides on both the bottom left and right cameras was too dark. Nothing a little fill light cant fix. I added two little Manfrotto Spectra 900S LED lights one on each side of the bottom two cameras just out of frame. I like these lights for fill because you can dim them down to your liking. I went just 1 stop under on each camera. Just enough to make them pop from the background and not drift off to shadowland. Problem solved.

Obstacle No. 2

The second obstacle I encountered was the light spill.

As you can see the Paillard Bolex H16 (center) is pretty hot and clippy as well as the cases in the background. The cases being as bright as they were took too much attention away from the cameras which of course is never good. To solve this problem I rolled out two Mathews 18”x24” Flags and placed them just out of frame to block the light from the spilling all over the tin cases in the BG and direct the light more toward our products.

Okay. That solved half the problem. But one of the fill lights on the Fuji GX680 (left) was spilling too high onto the Paillard Bolex H16 making it too hot.

The other fill light was creating a mean reflection on the tin cases in the BG on the right.

For this I employed a set of tools that I believe to be highly underused in product photography. The Dots and Fingers.

Dots and Fingers

Dots and fingers are pretty much mini flags, cutters, silks and scrims. The circles are known as dots and the rectangles are known as the fingers. I placed a Finger just above the Manfrotto Spectra 900S LED on the left to cut off the light hitting the Bolex. I did the same with the right side except I used a Dot because I found that to be more suitable.

Here is a small layout of my setup

Here at Acme Camera we are more than just a rental house with a bunch of cameras and lenses. We are here to serve you in any way possible on your creative journey.

Without these tools I do not believe I could have produced the photo above. Of course, there are always many ways to solve a problem on a shoot. This is one of them. These light shaping tools will not only solve your problems but will also give you creative freedom. You are the artist! These are simply the brushes and pallets to assist you as you make your first stroke on the canvas.

Here are some more photos from the shoot.

Good ol' fashioned flag on a c-stand.

The black side of this Umbrella also served as a flag to block out the unwanted daylight which would otherwise pollute the image.

You don't always need C-Stand to place Finger how you want it. I simply used a Double Grip Head.

Notice how the Finger flags off the light which would otherwise hit the Bolex H16.

This light had some issues. The Dot really succeeded in blocking light which would otherwise create a nasty highlight in the BG.

Good ol' fashioned flag on a c-stand.

Pictured above, author Robert Hunter.

Haley Bateman's "First Look" Video

ACME Camera Company — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 19:41:00 +0000

Hi! I'm Haley. I'm 22 years old, and have loved taking video and watching all my life. My close friends might even say too much (Just kidding). But it wasn't until recently I started to expand my passion and really build the confidence to share what I loved doing. I didn't have the experience I wanted to make it good enough. One day I woke up with an epiphany that I would never have that unless I didn't start somewhere. I decided right then to move forward, and I put myself out there and got jobs. Somewhere in between I realized I didn't have the right equipment, and that's where ACME stepped in. I have the camera, and they have the lenses I need.

So when i took the Canon 16-35 out, i had the chance to film a few things- a proposal, and a first look engagement video. I usually use a 50mm and/or a 75-300mm, but I realized if I wanted to improve each time, it starts with the shots I get. All of that seemed so up close. It was really useful to have the 16-35 so that I could introduce the setting, show two people's actions from farther away (without having to back up myself), and to be able to have both them and the beautiful surroundings involved.

It added a ton to the story I was creating, but if you're looking for a way to get those intimate shots, I wouldn't recommend it. This lens was not built to focus, in fact when I zoomed in to stills it didn't look focused at all. I would recommend a 11-16mm lens instead.

Elisabeth Legg Steps into the World of Full Framed Cameras

ACME Camera Company — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 22:09:26 +0000

Elisabeth Legg is a student at Utah Valley University majoring in photography. Elisabeth has loved cameras her whole life so her major is very fitting. In her blog post she will talk about her experience graduating from her Canon Rebel T3i, to shooting with one of our full framed Canon cameras.

I've been taking pictures for as long as I can remember. There are photos of me as a toddler running around with a little plastic blue camera, taking pictures of everything in sight. Since photography has been a part of my life for so long, choosing a major when it came time to go to college was an easy decision. I'm now a bit over halfway done with earning my bachelor's degree in photography at Utah Valley University, and I can't wait to see where photography takes me!

I recently had the opportunity to use some of Acme's gear on an engagement session for my roommate, Karianne and her fiancé, Sam. Normally I photograph with a Canon Rebel T3i and an 18-55mm kit lens, but thanks to Acme, I had the chance to have an amazing gear upgrade, even if it was just for the evening. For this engagement session I used a Canon 6D, an 85mm 1.2L, and a 600EX RT Speedlite. Not only was this gear upgrade so much fun to shoot with, but it also resulted in much higher quality photos than what I usually produce. Win, win!

I had originally planned on shooting Karianne and Sam's engagements up Little Cottonwood Canyon at Albion Basin, but the canyon still had snow up it and Albion Basin was closed off (that's Utah weather for you!). We made an impromptu decision and ended up shooting their session at Draper Park. Although the location wasn't what I originally planned for, thanks to Acme's gear, I'm very pleased with how their photos turned out!

Emmy Lowe on the Fujifilm X-T1

ACME Camera Company — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 19:25:00 +0000

Very recently professional photographer and long time customer Emmy Lowe took the Fujifilm X-T1 out on a shoot. Go inside the thought process of the photographer who conceived these stunning photographs.

As a primarily DSLR shooter, it was very interesting working with the Fuji camera. There are so many more intricate settings, my DSLR is definitely more user friendly. I also noticed that the image quality with the Fuji is not as great, though that could be due to my inexperience.

I definitely will want to try it out more and can see myself shooting with Fuji much more in the future.

Another thing I found interesting was that someone pointed out that clients may not take me seriously for using a camera that is so small and simple-looking. However, I just compare this to using a film camera which is completely respectable, so I don’t think this concern would stop me from using it in the future.

I really enjoyed stepping out of my box and trying something new, I think it is something that all photographers should do so that we can further our own expertise by seeing other types of equipment and the ability that they have.

About Emmy Lowe:

Emily is a local Utah photographer who specializes in lifestyle photography. She is a native of Utah and lived in Tennessee for 3 years, where she started her business. She specializes in weddings, bridal, and fashion photography.

She has been happily married for 5 years with one dog-child, Jack, and resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has a Masters Degree in Education and has worked as a teacher for 5 years, and her husband currently attends the SJ Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah.

She has been featured on Sweet Little Peanut, Utah Bride Blog, Lemonade and Lenses, Elizabeth Anne Designs Blog, and Rock N Roll Bride. Emmy has worked with many commercial companies in capturing their products for the public as well as many bloggers in capturing their clothing for their vendors.

Importance of Microfocus Adjustment

ACME Camera Company — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 21:50:00 +0000

It seems as though lately the topic of microfocus adjustments have been coming up more and more. Perhaps this has something to do with wedding season being in full swing and as photographers we always want the sharpest images we can get (especially when there are no do-overs). In this article we wanted to demonstrate the importance of the micro focus adjustment procedure. I am no technical genius, that being said I am going to try to keep this as simple as possible.

Depth of Field

To properly demonstrate how the procedure will be beneficial it is important to understand how depth of field works.
Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear “in focus” in an image.

To keep it simple if you were to autofocus on a subject the depth of field (no matter how large or shallow) will be divided roughly into thirds. 1/3 of the area in front of your subject will be in focus and 2/3 of the area behind your subject will be in focus.

Above is an example of depth of field divided into thirds.

Microfocus Adjustment

The microfocus adjustment procedure is strictly the relationship between the camera and the lens when using the autofocus setting. Sometimes even coming straight from the manufacturer you may experience front or back focusing while autofocusing. This does not apply when you manually focus on your subject. If the image is fuzzy while focusing manually it may simply be a user malfunction or a mechanical defect.

Several weeks back we had a woman come to us for a microfocus adjustment. Among her arsenal of beautiful Canon lenses was her “A” Canon 5D MkIII and a brand new Canon 6D still in its box.

The Canon 6D with a 50mm 1.2

"Beware of the 50 1.2"

At Acme we have a saying “Beware of the 50 1.2” primarily because out of all of the lenses we have encountered during our microfocus adjustments the Canon 50mm f1.2 in general seams to suffer the most. Not to say this lens is of poor quality by any means. The quality of the optics on this lens is extraordinary giving you stunning skin tones and gorgeous bokeh, not to mention (when calibrated correctly) sharp as a tack. However, we have noticed two things:

#1 The lens (like many others) falls apart when shot wide open. Although this fast lens opens up to f1.2, that doesn't make it the optimum F stop. The contrast turns to mush, color fringing becomes more apparent and the depth of field is almost non-existent. For more info on shooting wide open please see our article Shooting Wide Open.

#2 The Canon 50mm 1.2 users tend to experience more dramatic front or back focussing issues therefore need a more dramatic adjustment.

To demonstrate the importance of a microfocus adjustment we slapped a Canon 50mm 1.2 on the 6D. The results are mind blowing yet, expected.

Initially if you were to put the Canon 50mm f1.2 on a "straight-out-of-the-box" Canon 6D your photos may look like this:

Notice how the center of the chart (Letter B) is completely out of focus? Imagine if that was somebodies eyeball. How disappointing. The story can’t be told.

The focus is more in between the furthermost 2 and 4. This is why the microfocus adjustment is so important.

Normally with a few clicks on the negative side this image is back on track. Unfortunately, I had to exhaust the extent of the cameras microfocus adjustment capabilities by pushing the lens to -20 to get it right on track. That is simply the nature of our beloved Canon 50mm f1.2. Good news is — its right on track and the story can now be told!

Due to the shallow depth of field of this lens, it takes a pixel peepers eye to see that 1/3 of the area in front of the smallest zero is in focus as well as 2/3 behind. As you stop down and your depth of field/contrast increases the thirds will become more apparent.

I should also add that this is why the engineers at Canon and Nikon are so genius.

-Robert Hunter

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Microfocus Adjustment

ACME Camera Company — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 12:42:13 +0000

Is something about your image just a little bit off? Back focusing? Front Focusing? Losing detail? We can help. We're now offering in house A.F. Micro-Adjustments. $70 for one camera body and up to three lenses. Each additional lens can be adjusted for $10. Send or bring in your gear and let us help your DSLR reach it's full potential.

Sharpen up your world. Order your Microfocus Adjustment now.

Used Lenses

ACME Camera Company — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 12:42:09 +0000

If you're looking for discounted gear or hard to find items check out our used gear listings. We have everything from modern auto-focus lenses to range finder film cameras and everything in between. Check often as our inventory is constantly evolving.

Check out all of our used equipment listings.

Welcome to Acme

ACME Camera Company — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 12:42:01 +0000

This is where we spend our days! If you haven't had a chance to come in then this will give you an Idea of what it feels like here at Acme.

Just Getting Started?

ACME Camera Company — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 12:41:57 +0000

If you are new to photography and want to dig deeper then you’ve come to the right place. When taking on a personal project or an assignment ask yourself a few questions first:

What are some areas of photography that I would like to explore?
What’s holding me back, what is preventing me from starting?
What knowledge or tools am I lacking?

Once you have given these questions some thought, browse the site, give us a call or stop by and we will be glad to help make your vision come to life!

At Acme our goal is to help you expand your photographic understanding and provide the tools to do so.

Here are some of our favorite items that we feel are a good starting point for expanding and exploring your world of photography.

Part Time Professional

ACME Camera Company — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 12:41:51 +0000

So you’ve started turning your hobby into a part time business. Maybe you’re ready to start shooting with a full frame camera but you’re not quite ready to dive into the investment that comes along with it. You might also be ready to incorporate artificial lighting to enhance your images. It's time to mix it up, try something new and we can help. Check out this equipment that’s available for rent here at Acme.

The Professional

ACME Camera Company — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 12:40:56 +0000

You know what works for you, you have been consistently creating great images for a long time. Isn't it time to try something new? Is there something in you itching to spread your wings and take creative flight? Here are a few ideas on how to expand your photo-making awareness. Get the juices flowing as it were.

Take a technological step forward or go back in time to when chemistry was king and megapixels were unheard of. These items will make life easier or inspire a new body of work, It’s your call!