European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 27, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Time to Check your camera Brand Grundberg new York times t s High season for photography Wilh All kinds of cookouts. Weekend trips and vacations thai need Lobo immortalized before heading blithely into the Sunset with a camera that has been sitting idly Al least since Christmas you might want to make sure it works. If you Only use your camera on a seasonal basis you should remove its Battery when you put it away. H you Haven to it s Lime to open the Battery compartment and Check it Oul hopefully the cell has t sprung a Leek and oozed All Over  it has i d suggest a Quick visit to the camera repair shop. Even ii the Battery looks line it May be close to  Check its internal condition Visil a camera shop that has the equipment to Check its output. While there buy a spare. Today s batteries arc designed to Pul out full Power practically to the end of their lives so gallery failure can and does strike suddenly. It you own a separate Flash unit Don t forget to freshen its batteries too once the gallery passes Muster in s time to try the camera s controls. If you bought your camera anytime since 1980, chances Are it has an electronic  even an electronic shutter relies on gears severs and other moving parts. So Star by running the camera through ils paces without any film inside. Some newfangled cameras Are Able to Tell when there s no film inside them and obstinately refuse to perform this particular chore. Sometimes you can tool them into in either by pressing the Contact thai signals when a film Cartridge is loaded or by inserting a used already fully rewound Cartridge if neither of these gambits succeeds you should shoot and process a irial Roll before proceeding to those Onca in a lil Elime shots. The Lens Loo has mechanical parts Hal can gel Sticky Over  your camera has interchangeable lenses Check the action of their diaphragm Blades to see if they work smoothly. Many have a mechanical lever on the face of he Lens mount that you can press to Stop Down the diaphragm manually. With  Wilh electronic con Irons. Look for a Slop Down Bulton on the camera. Failing that lire Oil several slow Shutler shots at various apertures while looking through the Backol the camera. Whatever you do do nol snarl posing around at any Mirror surfaces shutter Blades or other Interior parts. These Ere much More fragile than they look. It s far better to rust to fats to keep your camera working than to Start learning camera repair via the school of hard knocks. Ii something really seems wrong the sound of a screw Loose in the Lens Shuller that s Frozen in place seek professional help. It everything seems Fine mechanically and the camera is raring logo take a minute to make sure it also is spic and Span. The closet shelf on which my cameras reside seems to Breed dust so alway wipe them Oft on withdrawal with a soft Cotton rag reserved for this purpose. My lenses stay dust tree because i keep them in Lens Caps tront and rear but if not i gel out my can of oust of and blow a Jet of air Al them. Now is a Good time to Check lenses Lor other kinds of motes and grime Loo. I us two Lens cleaning methods for minor Lens smears i blow of the dust and then wipe the surface Wilh a special photo Grade Chamois wrapped around my Index Finger for True Lily i Lake a a tip moistened in non Greasy alcohol and run the end around the Lens in a spiral from the Center to the Edge. After this i do the Chamois bit again. Warning for sir users do not gel overeager about cleaning your instant return mirrors. These mirrors Are so fragile even a direct blast from the dust Oil can decommission them. If it or the inside of the camera generally show signs of dust use a soft bristle Brush an artist s Waler color Model is great to sweep it away. Monday june 27, 1988 avoiding redeye in photos by Andy a Rundberg new York times y pictures from the festivities of a vacation weekend arc Back and i m so a to report that they like so Many Coli prints today arc at licked with the dreaded disease known As red Eye red Eye As you probably already know. Is one of the major frustrations of snapshot style photography. The culprit that causes photographic red Eye is your and my electronic Flash. To understand How the White Light from a lash lube can create an effect out of the exorcist we need to review a bit of High school biology and physics. Remember studying no Eye it s shaped something like a sphere with a Lens at the Iron that focuses Light on the inside rear surface this inner surface called the Retina happens to be red Okay Back of physics remember the Law that goes the Angle of incidence is equal to the Angle of reflection basically it Means that if i direct a Ray of Light onto a shiny surface at an Angle off 5 degrees irom perpendicular it will Bounce off the surface Al an Angle of 15 degrees. But if 1 Send a beam onto the surface directly head on the Light is going to head straight Back Al me. This May be complicated in theory but anyone who has tried to take a self portrait in a Mirror using a camera mounted Flash already knows the practical consequence. The Flash Light bounces Back into Iho camera producing not a portrait but a picture of a Bright while Blob. Red Eye is another version of the same thing the Flash either on Iho camera or Buill into it sends a beam that enters the Dye Tram a straight on Anglo the beam Ihen reflects Oil the Retina and Back Oul of the Eyo heading directly into the Lens. Since the Rohna is red. The Light 9 reflection is red too. Given the acts of biology and the Laws of physics it s a wonder that red Eye does t happen All the Lime it does t Lor several reasons each of which provides a clue Aslo How we can prevent in. For example. The Iris or diaphragm of the Eye is som Linnes Small enough to capture the Light rays headed Back Al the camera Lens. Or the Light of Itie Flash May enter at an oblique Angle and thus reflect of at an Angle beyond the position of the camera. Or the distance Between the Flash and the camera May be sufficient to eliminate direct reflections from the Relina in the Lisl place. Here some things that can be done shoot when available Light is fairly Bright. The Eye s Lens or Pupil is smaller in Bright Light so the chances o Relle Lions irom the Back of the Eye Are reduced. Use your Flash of camera connected via a Cord to the camera s pc socket or hoi shoe. Holding the Flash above or to the Side increases the Anglo Between in and the camera meaning Lesa likelihood of reflections into Iho ions Bui Many cameras Point and shoots in particular have the Flash Bufil into the camera. Photograph your subject at in Angle. If the Flash s beam enters the Eye from the Side it will Bounce around inside without reflecting Back. Soil your subject in t looking right at the camera red Eye is held in Check. Unfortunately most people look Al you when you re about to Lake their picture. Gel closer. If the Flash unit is built in its distance from the tens is fixed but Iho Angle of incidence reflection varies according to the distance of the hash from the Retina. At closer distances the Angle is greater meaning the Odds Are belter that the Light will not reflect into the Lens. Only trouble the camera May not focus close enough for this strategy to work. Page 17the stars and stripes