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| 'How
to Take Better Rally Pictures: The Basics' Your practical hands-on guide to improving your rally photography |
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Learning to setup your camera manually The Russian 'built-like-a-tank' Zenith-E was my first SLR camera, bought for me by my Dad when I was about 14. I thought it was the absolute business. Like any teenage lad, how well the camera would take a picture was secondary to how many buttons and dials there were; the more controls and gadgets, the better. It didn't really occur to me that there were cameras with automatic features. I liked the idea that you could take forever setting up the camera for each individual shot. It's a great way to learn how to use a camera. Like any early mechanical camera (What? No batteries?) you needed to set up the lens and exposure manually with no LEDs flashing in the viewfinder telling you that your picture would turn out a little dark or bright. You were on your own!
A potted history and technical details The Zenit or Zenith range of 35 mm single-lens reflex cameras is perhaps the best-known range of cameras to come out of the Krasnagorsk factory in Moscow. Other Krasnagorsk cameras include the Zorki, Horizont, Narciss, Zenith 80 and Krasnagorsk 16 mm cine cameras. The Zenith-E has a built-in uncoupled selenium exposure meter (range 20
ASA to 650 ASA) and some Zenith E cameras were made for 39 mm screw fitting
lenses but most, including mine, take a 42 mm screw fitting lens. It was made,
in various versions, from about 1965 until about 1982 and over that time more
than three million cameras were produced. The Helios 58mm f/2 interchangeable lens has a minimum focus distance of 18 inches with an aperture range of f/2 to f/16, a preset diaphragm, depth of field index and distance scale.
Focusing When focusing you must have the diaphragm aperture opened at maximum, otherwise it's too dark in the viewfinder to focus! You do this by turning the diaphragm ring counterclockwise to its full extent. You then point the lens at the subject whilst looking through the viewfinder and turn the lens focusing ring manually until a sharp image appears on the ground glass screen. After focusing you then 'stop down' the lens by turning the diaphragm ring clockwise to its full extent, to its preset figure. When shooting using f16 the viewfinder will become totally dark so you must compose the shot before stopping down the lens.
Exposure The main controls are two circular dials and each is concentric to the rewind knob (see below). The outer dial (calibrated from 1/30th to 1/500th sec) is the shutter speed control and this, when rotated, is constantly linked to the small 'zero' index in the curved meter-window, (see below). The Inner Dial is the film-speed control calibrated with ASA and DIN speed ratings and aperture figures.
Next, you point the camera at the subject and ensure that fingers don't obscure the photoelectric window mounted above the lens (the selenium exposure meter). You note the position at which the needle comes to rest in the curved meter-window then rotate the knurled outer (shutter speed) dial until the small 'zero' index is bisected by the stationary meter-needle (located in the curved window). The meter is now primed for any selection of coincident reading of aperture and shutter speed. Finally you align the red dot on the lens with the selected aperture, point the camera at the subject, rotate the focusing ring until a sharp image is obtained, turn the preset diaphragm ring clockwise to its fullest extent and depress the release button - a perfect exposure every time! Well, that's the theory anyway In practice the selenium exposure meter mounted above the lens is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. With a bit more experience I started to use the metering as a rough guide then best-guessed the exposure setting from there, a little like the 'exposure bracketing' technique we use today with modern cameras, just a stone-age equivalent. I tended to find the exposures were generally too bright so normally I would underexpose the shot a bit - it seemed to work most of the time. I'm mentioning all this because these days we're completely spoilt with technology that does everything for us inside the camera without us needing to know anything. Try switching your camera to 'full manual' (if it will let you) and try setting the camera shutter speed, lens aperture and ISO setting yourself. Don't worry, you might break out in a cold sweat the first time you try but at least you're now starting to think more about the picture-taking process. OK, you won't be manually stopping down the lens to the aperture required like on the Zenith-E and your camera will have excellent metering indicators, unlike the Zenith-E, that still tell you when you're over / under-exposing the picture. But you're getting more involved in the process; you'll feel more involved, more in control, and you'll be extra pleased with yourself when the pictures turn out like Bailey masterpieces because you've worked that little bit harder to get the picture you're looking for.
Haven't we come a long way? Today's flagship action sports digital SLR camera - well, until the next model anyway - the Canon EOS 1D mkII (left). A serious piece of kit and light years ahead of my trusty old Zenith-E. |
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Rally Photography - Kielder Computers Ltd. 25 High Street, New Whittington,
Chesterfield, Derbyshire S43 2DX, United Kingdom |
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My
Zenith-E, like most, is fitted with a Helios-44 58 mm f/2 lens and in 1968
it cost around £40.
To
obtain an 'accurate' exposure you first align the film-speed setting line
(engraved on the Inner Dial) to coincide with the small black dot engraved
beneath the selected film speed rating (ASA or DIN).