From Michael G. Noll

I’m an avid photographer who started his hobby with digital equipment in 2006. I still consider myself a beginner though I’m always trying to improve my skills. Some of my photos are published on my photoblog.

Contents 1 Recent Photos 2 Equipment 2.1 Hardware 2.1.1 Bodies 2.1.2 Lenses 2.1.3 Flashes 2.1.4 Filters 2.1.5 Memory 2.1.6 Accessories 2.2 Digital darkroom 2.3 Analog darkroom 2.3.1 Films 2.3.2 Developer 2.3.3 Fixer 3 Trivia

Recent Photos

After Flickr, my former photo hoster, changed its policy for viewing other people's pictures, I decided not to renew my paid Pro account but start "publishing" my own photos by myself instead.

Here's the latest picture from my photoblog.

• Jun 07 | Contrasting Worlds at exhibition of World Press Photo Award 2006

  
  I made this picture at the exhibition of the World Press Photo Award 2006 in Viernheim, Germany, in 2006. In the background (upper left corner), you can see the 2006 winner photo by Canadian photographer Finbarr O'Reilly, showing a mother and her child at an emergency feeding center in Tahoua, Niger. I obfuscated the facial details of the people in the foreground for privacy reasons.
  
  Please note that it is not my intention to blame the people eating in this picture. I made the photo because it shows the contrast between rich and poor countries.
  

  (continue reading)

Equipment

"Most Lenses are Better Than Most Photographers."

This list is not meant to be exhaustive. It's rather a post-it note for my friends and colleagues in case we want to test or share equipment.

Hardware

If you wonder why I added weight information to the items below, well, that's because of two reasons. First, it's important information for planning a photo trip because you want to know the weight of your photo bag, in particular with regard to baggage restrictions on flights. Second, if you ever want to buy a tripod, you should know in advance what you can expect it to carry.

Bodies

• Photographer with 2 eyes, 2 hands plus a Designated Shutter Button Control Finger®
• Hasselblad 501 C/M analog SLR camera (medium format @ 60mm x 60mm)
• Nikon D300 digital SLR camera (DX format @ 24mm x 16mm, 12.3M pixel, 825g w/o battery, 908g w/ battery)

Lenses

• Carl Zeiss Planar CFE 80mm f/2.8 (∅ 60mm, for the Hasselblad)
• Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX (∅ 72mm, 560g) - the lens I would pick for the famous lone island
• Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D AF (∅ 52mm, 250g) - wonderful for portraits and available light (view example)
• Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens 1:1 (∅ 55mm, 405g) - incredibly sharp (view example)
• Tokina AT-X 12-24mm f/4 AF PRO DX (∅ 77mm, 570g) - as good as the Nikkor for half the price (view example)

Flashes

• Nikon SB-800 AF Speedlight (350g w/o batteries)

Filters

• B+W polarizing filter circular Käsemann Slim E MRC (77mm)
• Heliopan b&w filter #8 Yellow SH-PMC 67E (67mm)
• Heliopan b&w filter #11 Yellow-Green SH-PMC 67E (67mm)
• Heliopan b&w filter #22 Orange SH-PMC 67E (67mm)
• Heliopan b&w filter #25 Red SH-PMC 67E (67mm)
• Heliopan polarizing filter circular SH-PMC 67E (67mm)

Memory

• Memory card 8GB CompactFlash Sandisk Extreme IV
• Memory card 4GB CompactFlash Sandisk Ultra II

Accessories

• Nikon MB-D10 Battery Grip for Nikon D300
• Phottix Cleon Wireless Remote N8 for Nikon D300
• Nikon ML-L3 Remote Control Transmitter
• Adidt M1-N2 Remote Control Release - compatible to Nikon MC-DC1 Remote Release Cord
• Gossen Lunasix 3 light meter
• Benro C-298 n6 carbon tripod (1880g) with Markins Q3 Emille ball head (385g)*
• Lowepro SlingShot 200 AW camera bag (mainly for the Nikon)
• Billingham 335 camera bag (mainly for the Hasselbad)
• WD My Book Studio Edition 1000GB (WDH1Q10000) and WD My Book Pro 500 GB (WD5000E032) external hard drives for backups via FireWire

*I also use the Benro tripod and its flexible center column as a mount for my Nikon 10x50 binoculars (German) for astronomy.

Digital darkroom

I use a 15" MacBook Pro (2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 250GB hard disk) with an external 24" Eizo LCD and a Wacom Intuos3 A6 Wide pen tablet for digital image processing. The most important software packages are as follows.

• Apple Aperture 2.0 - photo management and quick adjustments
• Adobe Creative Suite CS3 - post-processing and full photo editing
• Pixelpost - web publishing on my photoblog
• Flickr

Analog darkroom

I only shoot black & white with my Hasselblad camera, and I develop the negatives myself. For the start, I've been told that beginners should stick to one or two combinations of films and developers. So I chose Ilford FP4+ and Ilford HP5+ developed with Agfa Rodinal and Ilford ILFOTEC HC, respectively.

Films

• Ilford FP4+ (ASA/ISO 125)
• Ilford HP5+ (ASA/ISO 400)

Developer

• Agfa Rodinal -- mainly for Ilford FP4+
• Ilford ILFOTEC HC -- mainly for Ilford HP5+

Fixer

• Ilford Rapid Fixer

Trivia

• I did read the manuals.
• I prefer shooting in RAW.
• I do backup my digital photos regularly.
• I have spent too much money on all this stuff.