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The goal of this quiz is to challenge and extend your knowledge of photography. These questions and answers come mainly out of Carl Shipman (ed.) How to Select and Use Your SLR System (1981). Most photographers would discount such an introductory book as not worth reading. The questions below may suggest that there are some nuggets of information hidden away in nearly any photography book which might add to your store of knowledge, even as an advanced amateur or professional photographer. I hope so, because when I cease learning, I'll be dead! ;-)

Instructions: Jot your answers down before looking at the answers below.

1) Your new medium telephoto lens comes with a built-in one inch long slide out lens hood. This built-in lens hood is the optimal length and design to minimize lens flare. True or False?

2) Using a new lens hood, you can check for any vignetting by looking at the corners of the viewfinder against a bright uniform light source. True or False?

3) When checking a zoom lens for cutoff with a new third party lens hood, check for cutoff (vignetting) at:

a) the long end of the zoom range
b) the short end of the zoom range
c) the long end and the macro setting
d) the short end and the macro setting
e) throughout the zoom range from short to long

4) Variable aperture zooms (e.g., f4.5 to f5.6) can cause problems with some cameras due to:

a) TTL-OTF metering
b) heavier weight
c) focus shifts
d) flash use
e) none of the above

5) Compared to a prime lens of the same focal length, a low-cost teleconverter and lens combination will generally be:

a) heavier
b) sharper
c) closer-focusing
d) more costly
e) none of the above

6) Low cost teleconverters may have an optical advantage when doing...?

a) portrait photography
b) landscape photography
c) underwater photography
d) aerial photography
e) low cost teleconverters have no optical advantages vs. prime lenses

7) Teleconverters work fine with wide angle lenses. True or False?

8) Mirror lenses are preferred over telephoto glass lenses because mirrors:

a) cost less
b) are easier to handhold
c) have better bokeh
d) have wider aperture range
e) all of the above

9) An anamorphic lens attachment

a) converts a regular 35mm camera into a panoramic format
b) is used to film and project wide screen 16mm and 35mm movies
c) squeezes 50% more horizontal coverage onto the same image
d) doesn't change vertical coverage of the image
e) all of the above

10) A bird's eye lens attachment can equal or exceed the 180 degree coverage of a fisheye lens attachment. True or False?

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1) False. Most medium telephoto lenses really need lens hoods at least 3 inches (75mm) long for optimal performance. The typical medium telephoto built-in lens hood is just too short! The built-in hood size is usually more a function of filter ring size, available space on lens barrel, marketing, and cost. Surprise!
[Source: Shipman, How to Select and Use Your SLR System, 1981, p.41].

2) False. Many viewfinders only show 92% or less of the on film image. Moreover, vignetting drop-outs will show more on film than they will to the eye.

3) B. Check the short end of the zoom range for cutoff or vignetting effects. Macro settings are unlikely to show any vignetting as they work with the central part of the lens image (not the edges). [Source: Shipman, How to Select and Use Your SLR System, 1981, p.47]

4) D. A variable aperture zoom can cause problems when used with flash on many cameras, especially with slide film with limited latitude. The actual aperture will vary over the zoom's range, complicating correct settings and flash calculations.
[Source: Shipman, How to Select and Use Your SLR System, 1981, p.46]

5) C. When using a teleconverter, the combination retains the close-focusing distance of the shorter lens. This optical feature is an often-overlooked advantage of teleconverters compared to many prime long lenses. Generally, the longer the lens, the longer the close focusing distance. Longer lenses tend to be heavier, more costly, and sharper than a teleconverter and lens combination.
[Source: Shipman, How to Select and Use Your SLR System, 1981, p.53]

7) True. While teleconverters are generally used to get longer tele-lens equivalents, they also work fine with wide angle and macro lenses. With macro lenses, teleconverters can be especially handy as they extend the working distance of a shorter lens (e.g., 55mm macro plus teleconverter acts more like a 110mm macro lens). The reason we rarely use teleconverters on wide angle and normal lenses and zooms is we usually already have faster prime and zoom lenses in this range.
[Source: Shipman, How to Select and Use Your SLR System, 1981, p.54]

8) B. Mirror lenses are smaller than glass telephoto lenses, due to their folded optics, so they are easier to handhold. Mirror lenses generally have fixed apertures, while glass lenses have variable aperture ranges (a plus). Mirror lenses can produce the infamous ''donut'' out-of-focus highlights, unlike the more pleasing bokeh (out of focus highlights) of glass lenses. Simple glass telephoto lenses in the 500mm f/8 range can be purchased new for $100 and up. Mirrors feature more complex folded optical designs involving several mirrors and lenses, so they can be more costly to build and buy for similar apertures and focal lengths.
[Source: Shipman, How to Select and Use Your SLR System, 1981, p.56]

9) E. An anamorphic lens is popularly used in 16mm and 35mm movies to compress 50% more horizontal coverage onto the film. When used to project or enlarge the compressed film image, the result is a wide screen effect. The 1:1.5 ratio 35mm format (24mm x 36mm) gets multiplied horizontally by 50%, yielding a 1:2.25 panoramic ratio. If printed normally (without adapter on enlarger), the image of your model will look very skinny, while buildings will seem compacted horizontally [assuming typical horizontal adapter mount usage]. An anamorphic lens adapter may be a cheaper way to explore panoramic (1:2 or better ratio) images without giving up your current camera!
[Source: Shipman, How to Select and Use Your SLR System, 1981, p.61]

10) True. The Spiratone bird's eye attachment reaches up to 220 degree coverage at very low cost, compared to a fisheye lens or even fisheye lens attachment. Fisheye lenses rarely exceed 180 degrees in coverage, and fisheye lens attachments are generally limited to a 180 degree image circle. The bird's eye attachment uses a closeup + diopter lens focused on a spherical mirror centered and held in a clear plastic tube so it faces the camera lens. The spherical mirror can reflect up to 220 degrees or more of your surroundings on its surface, easily photographed by your camera. Cost was under 1% of a new fisheye prime lens covering 220 degrees!
[Source: Shipman, How to Select and Use Your SLR System, 1981, p.60]

From COntax Mailing List:
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000
From: Bob Shell [email protected]
Subject: Re: [CONTAX] Photo Myths

A "Shirley" is a pretty girl with a good complexion. Kodak makes master negatives to use in standardizing systems. Each one is a camera original. They pay a model to come in and pose while cameras click and click continuously for hours to make these standard negatives. Kodak always called these negatives "Shirleys", and many Kodak people still do.

The reason, so Kodak old-timers say, is that the first model hired for this job was named Shirley.

Good one for a photo trivia quiz.

Bob

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