Entries Tagged 'rangefinder Cameras' ↓

Even doctors who were born and brought up in Britain tend to speak more than one language. Commonly, they speak two: medical English (“icteric”, “tachycardic”, “hypotensive”, etc), and another language, which they believe to be everyday speech. But it usually isn’t. Instead it is a stereotyped version of regular English, learnt from the first days of medical school by observing other doctors speaking to patients.

Weirdly, almost everyone uses the same words. At the beginning of your training you might talk normally. But you long to sound the part – even if you don’t feel it – and soon you find yourself using the familiar vocabulary of speaking to the patient, and it feels right, the way a proper doctor should talk.

Patient-speak is a fairly basic language. it aims to soothe and minimise. it is full of neutered verbs – we’d like you to “pop” off your clothes before you “hop” up on to the bed, where we will just “slip” this nameless thing that we’re holding up your nose or down your throat or – worst case scenario – up your “tail end”. Along with all the popping, we like to have a “quick feel” although sometimes we prefer a “quick look”. to help us in our work, we have a variety of equipment, but you should rest assured that all of it is special. We may wish to send you for a “special scan” or a “special test”, or arrange for you to be examined using a “special camera”. If we find you need it, you may be fitted with a pacemaker – that is, “a special device to help regulate your heartbeat” or we may repair your hernia using a “special kind of mesh”. although it is all quite special, “we do this all the time”. If something is going to hurt, we’ll let you know. it may be “uncomfortable”.

Sometimes the way we explain things actually makes them more obscure (this habit of doctors creates work for the nurses – after a ward round you can hear them translating for baffled patients).

One habitual misapprehension surrounds a common test, the oesophogastroduodenoscopy (which, quite reasonably, is rarely described using its full name, but rather referred to as an OGD). an OGD involves threading a thin, bendy metal tube – an endoscope – down your oesophagus (or as we say to you, “food pipe”) and into your stomach. you might need one if you suffer from persistent indigestion, or if you’re having difficulty swallowing your food – an endoscopy can show the cause. The gastroenterologists and the surgeons use them to look for ulcers, patches of inflammation and any areas which might be bleeding.

The endoscope uses a fibre optic light source and a lens to produce glowing pink images, which can be displayed on a television screen at the side of the bed.

When explaining an OGD, doctors habitually describe it as either a “telescope test” or a “camera test”. The first term manages to be both technically misleading and alarming, implying that we’re going to invade you with some immensely long object suitable for viewing the moon. as a result of the second, I once had a patient who had understood that we were planning to lower a Canon camera into his gut. his anxiety was immense. he kept asking me how he was going to swallow it. I described how they would spray the back of his throat with local anaesthetic (“numbing spray”). “But how am I going to swallow it?” he persisted. I reassured him some more. “They will give you something to help you relax,” I explained. it wasn’t until he asked me how we were planning to get the film out that I understood.

Sophie Harrison is a hospital doctor in South Yorkshire

if you ever used a leica m7 (or similar cameras), your comments are especially welcome. i am thinking of getting one of these.would you recommend? is it suitable for street photography and portraits?
any tips welcomed. thanks

I don't think I've had one picture out of focus on my rangefinder. I've never missed a shot because the camera focused on the wrong thing or I was too slow to manually focus. They are faster than the best digital focusing because they don't need to do anything.

Lets say is sunny, you just set to f:16 and you're walking down the street looking for interesting people to pass you by; well you set your rangefinder dial to ummm, 5 ft. Now anything within 5ft or further will be in perfect focus just as quick as you can pull the trigger. If you had about 1.155 of a second to get you camera in the air and snap because you saw something happening that fast you could just swing the camera off your shoulder and snap. another thing is they are less imposing than an SLR. Walk around with a D1 and 18-200 sticking it in peoples faces will get you noticed; not the goal of street photography. They are quiet. You can get away with it anywhere.

Some have leaf shutters so you don't get as fast a shutter speed as an SLR. I wouldn't suggest them for sports.

CANON IXUS 750

Its not broken, i just dropped it whilst the lens was retracted and now it wont open or close, how much will this cost to repair?

Thansk

Chances are more than to buy a new camera! They have the SD1100 out now (see steves-digicams.com/2008_revi… for an overview), which is a pretty nice camera. It's the newest of the SD line. Plus it has IS, which is a VERY nice feature.

Good luck!

Last Sunday, in the evening I had a moment of deep thoughts. what if I would leave my trusted Nikon D300 at home and take my evenly trusted analogue Nikon F100 on my trip tomorrow?

It sounded like a really good idea. I had still 2 rolls of colour Fujifilm in my refrigerator. that should be enough to cover the day and the limitation of shots would make me think twice before taking an image

Took de F100, checked the batteries in the MB-15 grip and loaded a film. Threw on my Nikon 50mm f1.8 and went outside, on my terrace. Light was fading and the sky had some beautiful colours. Took a shot, heard the mirror go up and then the message “err” started blinking in de LCD-display. The viewfinder stayed dark. Pushed the shutter release one more time, heard the mirror go down making the “err” message disappear.

Did I do something wrong I asked myself? Took another picture and everything went well. just to be on the safe side I took another shot. The viewfinder became dark and “err” reappeared in the LCD display.

Maybe the lens I wondered. Took a shot. Err. Changed the batteries but that had no effect. Changing mode from A(perture) priority to M(anual), or changing autofocus from single to continuous had no effect. Took of the grip, fixed it on again. Err.in the mean time the film was at its end and I used the rewind function on the camera. no problem whatsoever. Took out the film and threw it in the trashcan. no sense in developing this one.

Started shooting without a film. Err appeared 90% of the times I pressed the shutter button. A second push made the err disappear.

Then I set the camera in Manual mode and dialled in a shutter speed of 4″, just to check if the curtain was still functioning. Then it occurred to me, the camera didn’t respond to any shutter speed, 10″ or 1/1000″, there was no difference. Pushing the shutter button just made the mirror go up and the curtain opened each time with the same speed.

At this time I was in total despair. Sweared a few times, drank a beer, had a smoke and went to bed. no I didn’t cry myself to sleep for those who are wondering.

I woke up this Monday morning and my first thought went to my Nikon. maybe it will work, maybe some fairies repaired my Nikon with the help of some friendly trolls. Miracles do happen.

Made some coffee, went to the table and picked up my Nikon. Pushed the shutter button. Err. And again. Err.

Went to my computer and opened the manual of the F100. they were very clear. if the err occurs more than once during shooting then contact your Nikon repair centre. yes, sure I thought, paying a bunch for repair, probably more than a new entry level Nikon would cost me.

Had a smoke, started my second coffee of the day. Then, suddenly, another thought entered my already troubled mind. what is the camera was okay but the power grip was the problem. It would be hard to find out as I didn’t have the original battery holder anymore.

Unscrewed the battery pack and thought about it for a while. Powered the camera on and started to screw very slowly the battery pack against the camera, checking the LCD display for a sign of life. Then the camera came to life, the battery pack was almost ready to fall from the camera but it got power. Took a shot. Yo man, no problemo. Turned the camera to a darker spot in my living room and took a new shot. Heard the difference in shutter time, pointed the lens to the window, and pushed the shutter button in high speed mode. Tsjak, tsjak, tsjak. The camera worked as a charm.

Fastened the power pack a little more, taking shots. Fixed it finally firmly to the camera. The camera still worked flawlessly!

Moral of the story? I don’t know, maybe never give up hope?

Going to check eBay for a second hand battery holder. But first I’m going out to shoot.With my Nikon F100.

PS after shooting 12 images the problem occurred again. not able to fix it!