How big should my home studio be?

I frequently see people who are remodeling their house and want to create a proper photo studio as part of that space.  Since space is almost always at a premium during a home remodel, these folks want to know how small a space they can get away with allocating to their studio without making it so small that it's not really usable.  Of course, the answer depends on what type of subjects you're photographing:  automobiles require more space than jewelry.  However, by breaking it down and adding up the space required for each individual component, it's not hard to come up with a number that serves your needs.

Disassembling a Canon point-and-shoot camera

I've had several Canon point & shoot cameras since we first made the digital leap in late 2001.  Because these tiny cameras were made to be carried around everywhere in your pocket, then tend to have a hard life in our family.  They inevitably end up with some physical defect that prompts me to completely tear them apart in an attempt to fix the problem.  Sometimes I'm successful, other times not.  The process has been very similar every time for 11 years, and I expect that it won't change a whole lot going forward, so I wanted to document it here for you.

Most popular posts of 2012

Well, it's that time of year again--the time when most of the media outlets on the planet recap what they've done over the last twelve months.  Not wanting to be left behind, I present to you now the ten most popular posts from the Prairie Rim Images blog, based on page views accrued during 2012.  As expected, "Old Glass" and DIY fix-it articles make up the entire list.  If you're a recent reader, this is your chance to see what all the hype is about.

DIY variable size light tent

Because I've got bad GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), I've got a number of items that I really need to sell so as to free up more room on the shelf (and pocketbook) for new gear.  The only thing really holding me up from selling things is that I haven't taken the time to get some decent photos of the items to accompany the ads.  While driving home one night past a craft store, it occurred to me how I could make a simple light box that could break down for easy storage and still not cost a ton of money.

DIY SBIII Soft Box

I've wanted a LumiQuest SBIII soft box for a while now.  The SBIII is a great size for close-in work.  It's about as large as you can get and still use it with the speedlight flash mounted on your camera's hot shoe.  It's big enough to soften the light for tight portraits or product shots.  It collapses down small enough to fit into large camera bags or laptop bags.  It also only costs about $40 online.  Alas, it costs considerably more at our only local camera shop.  When I found myself needing a softbox just like that on short notice, I decided to make my own for a few pennies.  Here's how I did it.

Installing a split image focusing screen

If you play much with manual focus lenses -- or even if you like to manually focus your AF lenses (for macro photography, for instance), you'll realize that the factory focusing screen in new DSLR's really wasn't designed to make this easy.  They're small, dim, and have no focusing aids.  By contrast, older, mechanical cameras have glorious picture window viewfinders, usually with a split image focusing circle surrounded by a microprism ring to help you know when your subject is in focus.  I've installed aftermarket focusing screens in all three of my Canon DSLR bodies, and I've illustrated below how to do so in an 50D.

Adding a miniphone sync port to a Sunpak 544

I love my flashes, thanks in large part to David Hobby. One of the things that David is constantly promoting is his preference for using 1/8" (3.5mm) miniphone audio cords instead of the older, standard PC-sync cords for syncing flashes. PC jacks are notoriously unreliable as well as ludicrously expensive. Miniphone jacks are both more reliable and dirt cheap. Even better, the Cactus V4 radio triggers that I use come with 1/8" sync ports built in. Unfortunately, none of my flashes came with them. My old Sunpak Auto 544 "potato masher" flash came with a proprietary jack, but when that jack started to flake out on me, I figured it was time to add a miniphone plug to it.

99 cent flash diffuser

On-camera speedlights are great.  You can angle them numerous directions to bounce your light to your subject while still having the ease of use of TTL lighting.  Alas, if you don't have a bright, neutral surface against which to bounce your light, the shadows resulting from direct flash can be pretty harsh.  I got around this problem recently by using a dollar's worth of materials to make a great, portable diffuser for my on-camera flash.

DIY light tent + product shot BTS

I have an ongoing series of posts here at Prairie Rim Images in which I highlight many of the older, manual focus lenses which I love to use.  Because these are relatively small subjects, many of the photos that I take of these lenses can be made in a simple, table top studio made of parts scrounged from around my house and lit with only a single light source.

Increasing head rotation on a Canon 430EX flash

I love my flashes, thanks in large part to David Hobby. I don't love spending lots of money on equipment, which is why I opted to buy the cheaper Canon Speedlite 430EX flash instead of the bigger, badder 580EX. One of the things I sacrificed with that decision was the ability to rotate the flash head more than 90 degrees to the right. Most flashes will rotate a full 180 degrees to the left, but for some inexplicable reason, both Canon and Nikon limit the right rotation to 90 degrees on most of their flashes.  Read on to learn how I remedied the situation and increased the 430EX head rotation from 270 to 340 degrees.

Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 aperture blade cleaning

I once ran across a garage sale selling a Nikon FE body (made 1978-84) with a Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 AIS macro lens attached. This is a highly regarded lens which will reach 1:2 natively and 1:1 with a 27.5mm extension tube. Even wide open, it's "so sharp you can cut yourself just by looking at it." Everybody loves it, except that this design has a chronic problem: oil leaks onto the aperture blades, causing them to stick. The lens I bought had already succumbed to this. I was too ignorant at the time to realize this and try to talk the seller down, but I still only paid $75 for a body/lens that, in working condition, could fetch $175 on eBay.  It doesn't take much prodding to convince me to take something apart and fix it.