compromises and photography (part 2)
Back in May of 2009, I wrote this post:
http://www.bernhard.us/rob/blog/2009/05/18/compromises-and-photography/
It is about the compromises one makes when choosing different camera formats, in particular a digital point and shoot.
In that post I talked about the new Sigma DP-series of cameras and the Panasonic/Olympus Micro-4/3rds format as possible bridges between a point-and-shoot and a traditional SLR-style camera.
Well, a lot has happened in a year-and-a-half.
Both Panasonic and Olympus have jumped feet-first into this market, producing a number of cameras. Some retain SLR styling albeit with electronic viewfinders, and some have used the digital point-and-shoot design as a launching point. Both have also introduced a number of lenses to support this format and seem to be the current market leaders.
But since then, a number of other manufacturers have joined in the fray:
Samsung has released two models into this market with sensors larger than the Micro-4/3rds models: the NX10 (an SLR-styled camera body) and NX100 (a point-and-shoot styled body). Both are interchangeable lens cameras that have abandoned the traditional mirror/viewfinder mechanism in favor of a smaller and more compact design.
edit: Samsung has announced the NX5, a NX10 "lite" but I've not seen much on it.
Sony too has joined in releasing the (similarly named) NEX-5 and NEX-3 cameras (the NEX-3 being a few features shy of the NEX-5). Like Samsung, the sensors in these cameras are larger than Micro-4/3rds while the bodies are the smallest yet. Though, due to technical requirements, the lenses did not scale down quite as much which has lead to a fairly unbalanced "look" to the combos.
What has not come down substantially is price. These are not replacements for consumer point and shoot cameras. These are really alternatives to low-end DSLR cameras. They offer compactness of a point and shoot but not the low cost. These are more like stepping-stones into the world of interchangeable lens camera for those struggling with the idea of moving into a full-on DSLR experience.
Examples (with included kit lens): NX100: $600; NEX-5: $700; GF1: $680; G10: $450; E-PL1: $550;
Reviews, as always, are mixed and depend entirely on how you approach the idea of these cameras. As replacements for point and shoots they do very well, offering a lot of control, better image quality, and (for the most part) better response times. But they're not something you're going to slip into your shirt-pocket, nor are they available in blister packs on the end-caps in stores. This is a new market segment and things are still in flux.
Noticeably absent from the market are both Nikon and Canon. To that end, I finish this (long-winded) post.
I've been waiting to see what Canon will do (there are, of course, rumors of them entering the market) to see if our next "point and shoot" would be one of these new mirror-less interchangeable lens cameras. But in reality, waiting just for Canon is silly. In order to reduce the size of the camera body, Canon will likely have to re-design their lens mount. And with that assumed, any camera that Canon releases will require all new Canon lenses to work natively. Anyone wanting to use their existing EF or EF-S lenses will likely need an adapter (probably 2, one for each mount type) which would render the smaller camera design rather moot. A lens designed for a traditional (D)SLR will be big already; add an adapter and you might as well be using one of the small DSLR's like the Canon XS (which is very capable and is $500 w/ kit lens: less expensive than all but the Panasonic G10).
I don't know much about Nikon mounts, but I suspect a similar conundrum will present itself there too.
And so, in reality, you're free to choose from any of the manufacturers in this market segment. But you're "free" to spend a lot more money in order to utilize the functionality provided by an interchangeable lens mount in the first place.
(Yes, I'm lucky to have the chance to even contemplate such "problems," I realize this.)
So, I'm really glad to see that the market for these types of cameras appears to be growing and more companies are entering with compelling offerings. But I'm going to continue to wait until the costs start dropping (or until the used-market is sufficiently saturated!).
In the mean time, (and as a somewhat unrelated aside) I still will lust after the Canon 85mm f/1.8. I have become completely fixated on this lens. I rented one a couple weeks ago thinking I would rid myself of this irrationality. Unfortunately, it simply reinforced my desire to own one. I had so much fun shooting with it and was pleased with a number of my images...
Ah, the joys of photography. 
familial update
We received very little of the big snow fall that came through the Chicago area. In part because a lot of it was due to lake effect and in part because the storm seems to have tracked further south. But even so, people on the south side of Crystal Lake got more snow than we did, so we must have been right on the edge of a snowy band.
Nate went through a growth spurt not too long ago, where he grew over an inch in just 2.5 weeks. He was hungry all the time (no wonder) but now the appetite is more normal, so I think things have slowed.
I made a ha-ha-lame joke last night about how it's better to be European than Europoopin' and then had to explain the joke to Nate. He loved it and I'm just such a great dad, right? (You should have seen the look 
helloheather gave me...)
Nate's time at his new preschool seems to be going very well. A small class of kids more his age was definitely a good change. Our school-art-on-display collection is growing again, which I love. Having stuff on the cabinets, doors, etc. is so cool. When helloheather cleaned house (we had completely run out of space to display stuff) it felt so empty and naked in the kitchen.
Child number two is rapidly approaching his or her birthday. We've changed doctors (yes, somewhat late in the game) but we're both very glad we have. The previous practice was not being supportive or informative. The new doctor also delivers at the hospital 5 minutes from our house rather than the one 25 minutes away. An added bonus.
My parents (and paternal grandfather) felt the 3.8 earthquake we had in northern Illinois on February 10th. They were only 5 miles away from the epicenter though. People as far away as Madison, WI felt the quake actually, but neither helloheather or I woke up.
We did have an addition to our family, photographically speaking, at Christmas. Thanks to a generous gift, we're now the owners of a Canon T1i Digital Rebel. It's a very good upgrade to the Rebel XT that we've been using since 2006. The auto-focus is faster, the ISO range expanded, a bigger and brighter viewfinder, the shutter is quieter, and it has a big and detailed LCD. Exciting stuff.
change
Film making is changing. This is no secret. But the acceleration of this change is rather profound.
Footage shot with 3 cameras: Red One, Canon 5D Mark II, and the Panasonic GH1. The latter is ~$1500 US with kit lens.
Amazing. Certainly worth watching large and in HD on Vimeo.com (click the link below the embedded file)
compromises and photography
Photography is always about compromises. Trade-off's such as image quality vs cost vs operational speed vs weight vs size vs etc... are always taking place.
I like our digital point and shoot, especially the rotating screen. It can travel all over with us, uses AA-sized batteries, and has lots of manual control But, because of its design, it's not able to produce the images that I really want to produce right now: those with shallow depth of field.
I want images where the subject is clearly separated from the background and with a digital point and shoot, due to its small sensor and the subsequent wide angle lens (not to be confused with field of view) this is rarely possible (unless the subject is very close to the lens and the background is very far away).
The above is an example of what shallow depth of field can do for a subject. Had I shot this with the point and shoot, everything in the background would have been far more in focus and very distracting.
In the world of photography though, a digital point and shoot that can do this is as rare. And to do so with little expense is non-existent. In part, the lack of such a camera has been with physics. Until someone invents silicone (or a different type of sensor) that can flex and bend, light incident to the sensor needs to be as perpendicular as possible (or exotic designs like off-set micro-lenses above the sensors need to be employed which drives the costs way up). When using a large sensor you also need to use larger lenses (compromising on camera size) or with lenses that have smaller base apertures (compromising on functionality).
The other problem, of course, is that such a camera, even when made, is a boutique item. 99% of consumers couldn't care less about DoF (in fact, shallow DoF runs contrary to the entire direction of the point and shoot market of the past 25 years). So such a camera is immediately more expensive.
To date, only two companies have tried to go after this market:
Sigma released, first, the DP1 and recently the DP2. The DP1 had, by all reports, a stellar lens (albeit at a fixed 24mm-equiv wide) but that the operation was rather slow. The DP2 (I've yet to see a review) has a better field of view for my needs (40mm equiv, still fixed focal length) and may or may not be as slow. This may be fine for some people (and may be fine for me even) but there's nowhere for me to test such a camera and at $550 for the DP1 and $650 for the DP2 I will not be buying one.
Olympus and Panasonic announced (last year)the development of a format called "Micro 4/3rds." It was a rather exciting move as the removal of the mirror box could greatly reduce the size of the camera and yet it could still use interchangeable lenses. [Indeed the shortened registration between mount and sensor has allowed many, many other types of lenses to be adapted to be used on these cameras.] Panasonic released the G1 and most recently the GH1 (expected in June) that are essentially mini-SLR looking cameras. (Olympus has yet to release a product.) While that is fine (they are quite small and handy), the cost of these cameras is really amazing: $700 for the G1 and $1500 (estimated) for the GH1!
Clearly these are not cameras that are built-for or priced-for the consumer. So, for me, for the foreseeable future, if I want a digital camera I can stick in my jacket pocket, I'll be (happily, to be sure) shooting with our A650 and simply dreaming of a day when a point and shoot built just for me comes out.
carrying that camera
Here's a rather clever idea:
http://www.blackrapid.com/video/intro.php
I've been carrying around a SLR a lot during my lunch hour walks and have had some concerns with both stability and security. In fact, the other day the strap slipped off my shoulder without me even noticing. The only thing that saved the camera from hitting the ground was that it fell onto the top of my work bag (which is flat and flexible) which was also over my shoulder at the time.
I don't really like carrying the camera around my neck either for two reasons. First, it usually ends up rubbing a raw spot and second, it's difficult to walk without the camera either bouncing around or swinging out into something when I bend over. Even over the shoulder this happens (as demonstrated this weekend when, in an attempt to keep Nate from being close-lined by a dog lease, I ended up clunking him in the head with my camera.)
Using a standard strap across the chest is very unwieldy but is my current solution. It just takes a little bit longer to get set up for a shot (which is fine for 99% of my subject). I just like knowing there's a better way (albeit a $50 one).
fail x5 (and counting)
Here's a photo I took of the SD card that I use with our point and shoot. Say kids, you can play along at home (ask your parents permission first)! If you have a SD memory card handy, take a quick look at the back of yours and see if you can spot the difference. Or should I say, the 5 differences?
Click for a bigger view. Two of the remaining three pieces are loose on the leading edge of the card, so it's just a matter of time before they fall off as well.
I emailed this photo to Sandisk tech support. Generally speaking, I've heard good things about their RMA process so I'm hopeful they will authorize a replacement.
Canon A80 vs Canon A650 IS
With the slow and painful death of our Canon A80, helloheather and I had been looking at replacement cameras for some time. We finally concluded that the rotating LCD of the A80 was a feature we couldn't compromise on, and thus the decision was made for us: The Canon A650 IS. (The only current-production point and shoot available today with a rotating LCD.)
You can see a side-by-side comparison at dpreview.com of the two cameras here:
http://lnk.nu/dpreview.com/jzd.asp
From our perspective, a couple changes stand out as improvements:
1) Zoom. The A650's 6x zoom, while not a critical feature, is more useful than the A80's 4x zoom.
2) Image Stabilization. A very welcome addition. This feature allows you to shoot at slower shutter speeds and still have a sharp image. ( It's important to realize though that IS does not freeze your subject if he/she/it is moving. This feature only reduces blurring due to camera shake.)
3) Larger LCD with a better viewable range. 2.5" vs 1.5" screen. Enough said.
4) Greater ISO range.
5) Faster startup.
6) Dedicated ISO, Exposure Compensation, and White Balance buttons means less menu digging.
7) Second-curtain sync flash. Useful for shots where you want to "drag the shutter."
So far the down-sides have been:
1) No more high-speed mode. This is a feature I started using a lot once Nate became mobile. The mode allows you to shoot 4 or 5 frames in a row with no review on the LCD. Very handy if you're trying to capture a particularly fast child. The A650 did away with this and also, due to it producing much larger files, decreased the number of frames per second you can shoot.
2) Only one Custom mode. The A80 had two user-configurable modes on the command dial. What was nice about that is I could set general parameters for shooting outside ( -1/3 EC, ISO 50, "shade" white-balance) and inside (high ISO, incandescent white-balance). Moving from outside to inside was a turn of the dial. While the A650 does offer more control over settings via buttons on the back of the camera, the process is still more time consuming.
Other changes, such as SD instead of CF cards or the (much) higher pixel count are neutral in my book. Memory cards have never been less expensive per MB and I don't need the obscene number of pixels this camera provides, but the consumer market equates megapixels with virility (or something along those lines) so there's no avoiding it.
Overall, we've both been happy with the camera. It has done its job well so far and we're still figuring out ways to get more out of its feature set.
camera update
It turns out the battery door was something of a red herring with my A80's problems. As always, it is slightly more strange. The camera only will turn on again if you let it sit for about 60 seconds. If you push the power button before those 60 seconds are up, the camera will not turn on /and/ you have to wait an additional 60 seconds before it will. It's almost as if there's a timer that's preventing the camera from starting, so perhaps it's a capacitor that needs to discharge?
So while I thought the battery door opening/closing was the fix, actually, I was just doing it in such a way that 60 seconds or so elapsed before I tried to turn it on again. Those times that the battery door trick did not work were when I beat the clock, as it were.
Anyway, I figured that if I just don't turn the camera off, I can use it for a while. So yesterday this is what I ended up doing: when I wasn't taking a photo I put the camera in review mode and moved the zoom back and forth (which just zooms in and out of the last photo shot) in order to keep the camera awake. That way I could flip from review to record and the camera would be ready. That is, until the batteries were exhausted (which didn't happen)
All this means, of course, is that I have a serious and hard-core addiction to both photography and this camera. I think I need help.
A further slide in the world of film
There has been no official word (and there might not be) but Canon has quietly placed all but one of their film SLR bodies into the "Discontinued" category. The one remaining is their high-end professional SLR: the 1V.
http://www.canon.com.hk/En/Consumer/Product/Discontinued.aspx?series_id=1
It is not so much a surprise but it certainly is another sign post along the road that photography has changed considerably in the past few years.
helloheather and I still own 2 film SLR bodies and will likely have them until they become collector items. The market for used film bodies has fallen so low that it would hardly be worth the effort to sell them. They offer more as backup bodies in case the DSLR fails or if a second body is needed for double-duty than they would on ebay.
It was only a few years ago that DSLR's were prohibitively expensive for all but the very rich individuals or the corporations that needed them. Now you can buy used DSLR's for a few hundred dollars. Amazing changes, to say the least.
Progressive Scan CCD readout
I make no secret of my disgust of my cell phone's built in camera. It's really bad.
But because it's bad means it can sometimes be very interesting. For example:
Notice how everything is leaning one direction, in particular the road sign? This image does not represent reality. Everything I photographed was perfectly straight. But because we were in a car moving at a very fast rate, the digital camera produced this image.
Why?
The digital camera starts reading data from the sensor by rows of columns: from upper-left to lower-right.
So, as we moved from right to left in the frame, the first thing the camera recorded was the sky above the barn and the last thing it recorded was the grass and the base of the sign. But by the time it got to reading that information, we had moved forward just a little bit.
This is a pretty pedestrian example of slow progressive scan. For something a bit more interesting, take a look at this photo on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=8798593&size=m
The image comes courtesy of a blog entry on a similar type of photographic distortion due to focal-plane shutters. Worth a read.
Canon G7
A lot of noise (har) has been made over the lack of RAW file capture with the Canon G7. And, for the most part, I have to agree with the comments: Canon has shot themselves in the foot. They have mis-judged the market in order to try and force people into their DSLRs.
Anyway, the Luminous Landscape review of the G7 is up here:
http://luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/Canon-G7.shtml
Photokina – 2006 – part 2
Enough has happened since my last post to warrant an update I think.
Pentax
Pentax has announced the K10D. A 10MP feature-rich DSLR at a sub-$1000 price point. This camera is, for the money, an amazing piece of equipment.
- 10MP CCD not developed by Sony.
- Anti-Dust using high-frequency vibration (user selectable) and anti-static coatings
- CCD-shift based Shake Reduction mechanism. On-body image stabilization means every lens you put on the camera "becomes" image stabilized.
- 22-bit A/D converter. First in the industry as far as I know. However, what the body does with this information remains to be seen. RAW files have traditionally been 12-bit and JPG files are, by definition, 8-bit.
- DNG support! Another first in the industry, Pentax has added support for the standardized RAW format "DNG" first created by Adobe.
- Weather-sealing. The camera body contains a host of weather-sealing keeping out dust and water from the body.
- A ton of new program modes. Not to be confused with "scene" modes, these new program modes offer a ton of control over ISO and Aperture/Shutter combinations
- DDR2-SDRAM. High-volume, high-speed data throughput. A first in the DSLR world.
See dpreview.com for a hands-on preview.
Canon
Having already released the 400D (the replacement for the 350D) and a couple point and shoots, Canon surprisingly released 4 more with a new image processing chip: Digic III. That the 400D did not include the Digic III goes a long way in detailing Canon's approach to segmenting the market space. Digic III will also enable support for DDR2-SDRAM.
The newly added point and shoot offerings are a range of entry-level and prosumer models. However, Canon is clearly indicating that the most advanced features (like RAW format) will require the consumer to purchase a DSLR. Point and shoots, even ones with other advanced features, are still point and shoots.
- Canon G7. Canon once said that the G-series was an evolutionary dead-end. The margins were too thin and the price too close (in some cases exceeding) to their DSLR line. They've released the G7 with a mixed-bag of new features: Digic III, Image Stabilization, High-ISO (1600), longer zoom (6x). However, they've eliminated the RAW mode, abandoned the rotating LCD, and dropped the fast f/2.0 lens for a f/2.8. They have kept the hot-shoe for an external flash. The 10MP sensor is the same as the one included in the A640, so one has to wonder, what is the point? Are the features of the G7 that really worth the more than $200 price difference between the two? Any user smart enough to know how to best use an external flash with this camera would be looking for something with RAW for maximum control of image quality.
- Canon SD800 IS. To me, the most interesting of the Digic III cameras, simply because Canon did not abandon the wide-angle zoom lens. This camera features a 28-105mm Image Stabilized lens, replacing the larger S80 (which did not have IS). If I were to choose a new digital point and shoot and were willing to give up the rotating LCD, I would look very closely at this one. I can't wait for the reviews.
- Canon SD900 and SD40. The new top-of-the-line SD-series from Canon features the same 10MP sensor as the A640 and G7 is the SD900. Like the SD550 it replaces, it does not feature any Image Stabilization. The SD40 is their smallest point and shoot and is more accessory than camera. Both feature the new Digic III image processor.
Olympus
A new DSLR has been announced: The E-400.
As was expected, the 4/3-sized sensor has been upped to 10MP. But completely unexpected is that the camera is NOT going to be offered for sale in North America. No word yet as to why or if perhaps the release to the US will simply come later. This is a confusing move on the part of Olympus. Perhaps they're feeling the pressure from Sony and Pentax making strong moves into the DSLR market.
Counterfeit Sandisk Compact Flash Cards
Recently a flood of conterfeit Sandisk CF cards (Mostly Ultra II) have shown up in the marketplace. Ebay and fly-by-night web-shops are the biggest sources of these cards.
Many of the cards are well below the specified storage values (Cards advertised as 2GB actually are 1GB, etc.) The cards will often fail very quickly and take any images stored inside with them.
So, if you're in the market for CF cards and are looking at Sandisk, make sure you buy from someone like Amazon.com, B&H, or a local brick-and-mortar.
Photokina – 2006
Every two years there is a photography trade show called Photokina. At it, every camera manufacturer releases at least one new item and, in the digital age, most companies release a dozen new products.
As usual, dpreview.com has good coverage of the event. But I thought I'd mention a few highlights of items that have been released or leaked "accidently" to the net before the show has even started.
First and foremost is Canon. Their Chinese website "leaked" information about the following products: The latest DSLR: 400D (a replacement for the 350D). The expected jump to 10MP, and the unexpected inclusion of ultrasonic vibration on the sensor for dust cleaning (something I lust for). Also a part of the Canon "leak" was the announcement of two wallet-killing lenses: 70-200mm f/4 L with Image Stabilization and a 50mm f/1.2. Drool-worthy to be certain.
Olympus, so far, has released 10 new or updated digital point and shoots. In a trend that is likely to continue, at least one model claims ISO sensativity up to ISO 6400 (higher than professional DSLRs). Sadly, this is accomplished only through "pixel binning" which involves combining adjacent pixels and averaging them. This turns the detail in your images to mush (except for maybe a 4x6 print). Olympus is not the only company to turn to this method and it's an unfortunate trend. If companies would stop trying to cram more pixels into the same area (ie. the Megapixel Race) they wouldn't have to turn to these gimmicks.
Speaking of which, expect to see a number of point and shoots featuring 10MP sensors. With these cameras, consumers will get either excessive sensor noise, or will lose details to overly-aggressive in-camera noise reduction. The sensors being used are smaller than your pinky finger nail. Packing 10 million of anything into that space is just asking for trouble.
But on the plus-side almost every camera company has integrated some form of image stabilization into their point and shoot digital cameras. This is a tremendous boon for consumers.
Let's not forget the Nikon D80. Picking a price-point between the Canon 350D (soon to be 400D) and the Canon 30D, or, somewhere around the price of Sony's first DSLR the A100, the D80 offers some nice upgrades to current D50 owners or those getting a DSLR for the first time. It will be nice to see if the camera performs better in terms of image noise than the Sony (which uses the same sensor).
So that's all really for now, more bits of interest as they roll in.
The danger of information
All I want to be able to do is to take good photos of my newborn child. That's all.
Really, really, good photos.
The kind I'm not realistically going to be able to take because I lack experience, understanding, and skill. But that's another issue...
My brain, however, has chosen to manifest this desire (and fear) in another, altogether more predictable, way: "I need better camera equipment."
And so last night, I tried my hand at a lens test. I took the 50mm f/1.8 (the lens I'm planning on having at the hospital) and turned on Mirror Lock-Up, set it on a tripod, and took a dozen pictures of the back of my house (decreasing the aperture with each shot). Why? To test lens sharpness.
See, this lens took a bit of a tumble when helloheather and I were in the Grand Tetons. I left the camera bag open and when we took it out of the car, this lens fell from the bag onto the parking lot. The filter I had placed on the front shattered, but the lens seemed to have survived.
Then the other day I took some pictures in the back yard and noticed some serious problems with the corners of the images: soft and blurry. Now, at full aperture (f/1.8) I cannot expect this lens to perform like its $350 counter-part, the 50mm f/1.4. (This is a $75 lens, albeit a much heralded one for its low cost vs speed and sharpness.)
So, I was concerned that, in reality, there had been some damage to the lens. I don't normally shoot at f/1.8 but I was planning on needing this aperture in the low indoor light of the hospital. It's not like I can bring in flood lamps, reflectors, and 4 or 5 flash units (right? right?) in order to shoot at f/8...
However, here's where we start seeing the effects of too much information. First, am I performing the test properly? Are the problems I see in the test images a result of damage to the lens or are they being introduced through some fault of my testing procedure? Second, is there any benefit to looking at 100% zoom views of images? What does that really tell me about my lens? Should I print the least sharp and most sharp of the test images at various sizes to see more "true" results?
Has my pixel-peeping simply set me up to be disappointed? Would I have been better with film where I wouldn't see any corner sharpness problems until I printed an 11x17 image?
Or should I try really hard to ignore the whole thing and just take pictures?