Meet the OUTLAW – Ian Pinn _ NOPS Chairman (2013)

Hi,

Being as though I suggested this feature I felt it only appropriate that I should kick it off.

I have been into photography all my adult life, my passion really grew when my wife (to be) bought me a Prakitica L2 with a 50mm Pentacon lens for an engagement present when I was 19 (yes, it was a long time ago).

I was amazed at the results you could get from an SLR when compared to Box-Brownies and cheap Rangefinder cameras around at that time and the bug bit. I started to collect a few lenses and before long I invested in the new Praktica ‘B’ series of camera featuring an electronic shutter and TTL metering, before I had a hand held Boots light meter, what a luxury this was, so off again I started to aquire a few lenses and after a few years the camera broke so I looked around and decided on a Minolta X300, soon to be upgraded by an X700 which I still have to this day. The X700 is a fantastic camera with the renowned accuracy of a Minolta light meter built in dodgy exposures became a thing of the past. I stuck with this camera for quite a while, also buying in several lenses, 70-200 tamron SP zoom, Tamron 90mm Macro and Sigma 16mm Fisheye being my favourites.

It was by chance that I then acquired a used Canon EOS RT film camera, this camera was most unusual in that it featured a pellicle mirror, this is a mirror that you can partially see through, sounds daft but it bought significant advantages to the picture taking process; You could catch the decisive moment and re-take if your subject blinked, the mirror did not flip up as the image was passed through it, this reduced shutter lag massively and the frame rate went up to a heady 7 fps! This was good for a Prosumer camera in its day. So, now into the Canon system I inevitably started to collect lenses and accessories to suit, to date I have the following ‘arsenal’;

50mm f1.8 mk1

90mm Tamron Macro (old habits die hard)

28-70 L f2.8 zoom

70-200 L f2.8 IS zoom

17-40 L f4 zoom

8-15 L f4 zoom

500mm f4 super telephoto

1.4 and 2 x convertors

Tubes etc

These are currently being used on a 5D and 40D bodies.

I also dabbled with wedding/Social photography for a few years and at our peak (myself and Steve Roper) we were doing 20 plus weddings per year, this was in film days and we were using Minolta 7xi autofocus cameras, great wedding tools they were.

Nowadays I prefer outdoor photography, Landscapes, Nature and general ‘opportunistic’ type photography as often encountered when out and about. I also enjoy travel and the opportunities that it brings, holidays are great because you actually have the time, balancing a busy home and work life with a demanding hobby can be difficult at times.

I enjoy entering club competitions and also enter National and International competitions as well.

I am also a NEMPF accredited judge and have been judging around the local clubs for almost 10 years, this is something I enjoy very much as you get to see a great variety of work which can also help with inspiration into your own photography.

I joined the Outlaws almost 20 years ago and enjoy the club scene very much. We have a very talented bunch of members and we all get along famously as well, the social side is also very important to me as after all we are supposed to enjoy our hobby!

Ian’s Gallery on 500px : HERE