Droid Boy

Before I get going this morning, I hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving with the important people in your family. We sure did even though one of ours was not able to make it but we are looking forward to Christmas when we all will be together.

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting with no doubt  a million other Apple addicted tech geeks. Now that the contract between Apple and AT&T is complete, the iPhone will make its way to the other cell vendors. One rumor has the "other" phone being something other than a true iPhone, something of a hybrid. As a family we are pretty much locked into the Verizon plan of free V-to-V calling. Having one type of phone or another I was in MD over Thanksgiving and my son-in-law and I went to the Verizon store for a problem with his phone.

The phone I have for my flying job is a Blackberry Bold shown below. A couple of years ago I thought

I would get used to the extra $30 charge for the internet usage and went into a Blackberry contract with Verizon. The pearl (shown below looked like it would do the trick.

Yes it is small and sleek but I gotta tell you. The keyboard is not a good design. It is a cross between a traditional phone keypad and a full QWERTY keyboard and it just does not cut it. The screen ended up being too small and all of the Blackberry's do not browse very well. So my venture to find the Verizon comparable iPhone substitute continued. Enter the Blackberry Storm.

It looked like it would be surfing bliss... Ah, but not so fast. The first time I used one of these devices in the store I could not even get the links to work on my website. The dude at the store said that something or another had to be turned on. Ok... I got it. The Storm is kind of like the PC where the iPhone is... well, an Apple product... It just works!

But alas, Motorola comes up with the Android or Droid for short. This thing is sleek and sweet. The only things I am missing that the iPhone has is the pinch technology (although it does zoom quite well) and the connectivity with the Apple applications such as iCal and iTunes.

The really nice function that it does have over the iPhone is the tactile keyboard as well as a virtual keyboard. As new toys go, the coolness will wear off over time but I hope the functionality of this device will serve me well for the next couple of years. Will I venture over to the iPhone in when Verizon is available, I am not sure at this point. I am sure I will take a close look at it though.

Take care... Doug

Seminar Summary Friday

This week I was able to attend two very good but different photo seminars. One was the Digital WakeUp Call with David Ziser on Tuesday evening and the other was the Beauty and the Beast Tour with Hanson Fong and John Woodward all day Thursday. Both were absolutely amazing and filled with valuable information. Below I will attempt to bring some insight into each of these seminars.

The Digital WakeUp Call was an evening event that started at 5:00. The actual program started at 6: and we got out about 10:40 with about a 15 minute break in the middle. David Ziser and his wife LaDawn run a very successful Wedding studio in the Cincinnati Ohio area. He also is an avid sharer of information on the ins and outs of photography. Not only in technique, but is post production and the running of the business. Very valuable stuff that he shares daily on his Digital ProTalk blog. At the seminar David is very approachable and kind. There was so much information fire-hosed at us I am not going to try and go into detail. It could be summarized though by saying that Ziser is emphatic on lighting. Making the subject look their best by elevating depth and definition with light to that of posing. After being at David' seminar I had to resist the temptation to run out and purchase a Quantum Flash set-up. But is sure is on the list though.

Hanson Fong is from the west coast and John Woodward is from New York. Both are very successful photographers with about 75 years experience between the two of them. This seminar was very different from the Digital WakeUp Call in there were not only two presenters but two different subjects. The main focus of both instructors was lighting. Woodward spoke more technogeekology than Fong did but were both extremely knowledgeable, talented, informative and humorous. The New Yorker came out in Woodward a number of times and the softer more laid back west coast personality was evident in Fong' presentations. Hence the Beauty and the Beast moniker. 

The Woodward presentations were at times like being in a college lecture on lighting. Very technical, and rich with information. Other times there would be very free spirited jousting between the two of them. Of course having been doing these as long as they have it is part of the presentation. But it works.

Hanson Fong comes off as a very likable and genteel Chinaman. Always smiling as he presents his knowledge in a soft but very understandable voice. Fong' claim is that there is not a posing challenge he can not make look good or else he will give you his camera which is a black 50D. (A black camera is one that is a pre-release from the manufacturer and has no visible marking of the model). One of the challenges the audience gave him was a selection of people that were all different heights and sizes ranging from 4'-7" to 6'- 8" and 110 lbs to 300 lbs. There were six in that pose that was supposed to be a family and he made it work. Really good stuff there.

Summary

There was so much good information between the two seminars I would like to sit in them again. One thing that was lacking in both was material to take with you. The Ziser seminar had a booklet that had outlines of the presentation but you really did not have time to take notes. David has so much to present that it causes him to speak so fast you must totally focus on what he is saying.

On the other hand the Fong/Woodward seminar had nothing to take with you. I have been to a couple NAPP/Kelby Training seminars and you can either take notes or just sit there, watch and listen because in the booklet they give you all the information covered in the seminar is in there. That is very nice. Ziser makes an attempt at this but comes up a little short and Fong/Woodward make no attempt what so ever. The technical stuff that Woodward presents is available in a $350 ($250 at the seminar) CD containing an 1100 page pdf on his research. He make clear this information is available numerous times during his presentations. I thought it was a little cheesy not to have some form of hand-out for what was covered at the show. That would be a better teaser than just saying it's al on the CD.

Anyhow, both were extremely informative and very enjoyable to attend. Coming from a profession of continual training and updating of the information we work with, attending seminars are a valuable way to expand your knowledge base on what we do.

Take care all... Doug 

How Many Lenses Do You Need?

Most photographers would say that is an easy question to answer. One more.

But then again, there are many reasons to limit the number of lenses you have in your optical arsenal. Purist say stick with as many prime lenses as you can get your hands on because they say the optics are more precise vs the moving optics in zoom lenses. The portrait photographer will swear by a good 85mm or a 70-200 mm zoom. Nature can go both ways... Landscape will go wide while wildlife will go long as will sports photographers.

Ok... So that may not be much help to answer the question. To tell you the truth, I can not answer the question. By the simple fact that Canon has over 60 lenses to choose from, the need is so diverse that the original answer may be the best... One more

Here is a breakdown on the lenses shown in this post.

A - EF 14mm f/2.8 L II USM $2299

This baby has 114° of view so you are almost looking at your feet when shooting. It is the closest lens to a fisheye and still maintaining minimum distortion. This is great for architectural and very wide landscape. It is a prime lens in that to change the focal length would require a different camera body (APS-C sensor based body).

B - EF 16-36mm f/2.8L II USM $1649

While not quite as wide as the 14mm this lens has a zoom capability that makes it very good for a metro walk around lens.

C - EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM $2149

This lens is coveted by portrait photographers for it's wide aperture of f/1.2. This easily generates soft bokeh in images. The price is the most restrictive on this lens. You are either doing a lot of portraiture or you have a nice dose of disposable income.

D - EF 50 f/1.4 USM $520

This lens is really an ideal lens for the APS-C sensored bodies such as the 40D, 50D, and Rebel line. With the 1.6 crop =factor this lens acts like it is an 80mm lens. Very nice for the cost.

E - EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS $199

Ok... This one seems a little out of place in this line-up. First it is Canon's consumer level lens but is a relatively new design. Specifically it is designed for the cropped sensor. The "S" in the EF-S designation stands for Short. That being the back part of the lens is closer to the camera body than a full EF lens. This lens would interfere with a full framed sensor such as the 5D Mk II, or 1DS Mk III. Having said all that. this has turned out to be a fine lens. A nice reach (320mm) and yet goes wide (18mm)when necessary.

G - EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM $1999

This is probably one of the best lenses in the Canon line-up. It encompasses that magical 85mm and can be racked out to compress the field without having to back up into the next county. The stabilizer can give up to four stops of additional light. Just a fantastic lens. On an APS-C (cropped) sensor it runs at 112-320mm. So what does this have over the EF-S 18-200? Bigger and higher quality glass and constant aperture of 2.8. It may not sound like that much but it is really big!

H - EF 1.4 x II Extender $299

This little device mounts between the long lenses such as the 70-200 and turns it into a 98-280mm on a full frame or 156-448 on a cropped body. That is some really nice flexibility. The only down side to strapping this buddy on is that the is a one stop loss in light. There is a 2x extender but that looses two stops. Most people call these teleconverters.

Ok now... We are moving into the twilight zone in lenses.

I - EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM $7999

You will see this lens on many football field, make that professional football sidelines. You have seen many of the products of this lens in Sports Illustrated. The glass is nice and fast at f/2.8 and allows very high shutter speeds to freeze the action. Oh, did I say it was a bit pricy.

J - EF 600mm f/4L IS USM $9199

The monster lens in the Canon line-up. It is the wildlife photographers lens of choice. Speed is not as necessary as reach. This is how they get that tiger looking into the eye of the camera. Somewhat beyond my budget though.

I have eluded to the APS-C sized sensors in this post for a reason. Having a cropped and a full framed sensored bodies doubles the utility of your lenses. That is with the exception of the EF-S lenses. So if I have any recommendation, it is this:

1. Get the best glass your pocket book can afford.
2. If you plan to have both sensor sized bodies, avoid the EF-S lenses.
3. Remember you feet! They are the ultimate manual zoom.
4. Shoot with one lens for a day to find out its limitations.
5. Practice... Practice... Practice... You parents were right after all!

Take care all... Doug

NOTES

I believe some of the Nikon bodies will accept the Nikor lenses that are designed for the full frame or crapped sensor. I am no where near as familiar with the Nikon line as I shoot Canon.

Britt Photo Rags

Have you ever noticed the number of photographic magazines on the rack at your local Barnes & Noble bookstore?  Then how many of them are actually printed in the United Kingdom. Finally how many of them are in plastic wrap? Three questions with three different explanations.

First I applaud Barnes & Nobel for stocking the number of photo magazines they do even though I have notices it varies with the geographic location around the country. As personal photography continues to grow in the United States this rend will no doubt continue.

Second, the mags printed in the U.K. are of a much higher quality of print. They are also at a greater price point. Generally $9.95 to $14.95 U.S. They are generally more content driven than news. The articles are photo specific and in some cases the entire magazine is directed towards on manufacturer. Sure we have Shutterbug and PC Photo which are excellent magazines, but the print quality just doesn't hold a dime compared to the U.K. produced products. Additionally the U.K. mags generally are accompanied with a CD for instruction or digital starting files. (Not to the U.K. put the files on a website so they can be downloaded ore streamed and you can save the cost of the CD/DVD.

Finally and as an extension of the second point, The plastic wrap drives me nuts. When I buy clothing I generally try it on before I buy it. If I buy a car I test drive it before I go into debt. When I am going to buy a magazine, I WILL get to browse its content before I drop 10-15 bucks for it. I you find a plastic wrapped magazine at a bookstore that has been opened, I may have been there.

WHAT!!! Did I just here you say "I do that too."

Thank you for your honesty, I guess I am off the hook then.

Take care all and oh by the way... Don't just take the CD from the magazine. That is called steeling.

Cya... Doug

Pseudo Macro

Last week I had picked up a Canon Close-up Lens commonly known as a Macro Filter because it screws onto the front of the lens like any other filter. So I thought I would take some shots of cookies to see how this filter worked with respect to the original lens. The 58mm filter screws nicely onto my EF 50mm f/1.4 lens. I have mostly 77mm lenses but the store had only the 58. Anyhow with the amount of macro work I actually do the smaller equaled less money. Decision was made. 

I took some test shots of various items on the kitchen counter and realized two things. First thing was a tri-pod was in order and the second was that I was not shooting very good material. Then I saw the box of cookies... Who doesn't like cookies? The first three images are of the straight 50mm lens and the second three are the same lens with the Macro FIlter screwed on. I did have to adjust the camera position so the lens would focus but maintained perspective with the cookies. The specs for each image are below.

ISO 200, 1/2 Second at f/22:

ISO 200, 1/20 Second at f/8:

ISO 200, 1/800 Second at f/1.4

These have the Close-up lens attached to the front of the 50mm prime.

ISO 200, 1/3 Second at f/22:

ISO 200, 1/20 Second at f/8:

ISO 200, 1/800 Second at f/1.4:

This last image really shows how the Close-up lens tightens up the focal length throwing the background out of focus. I have used extension tubes in the past to get the same effect but even with the 12mm tube the focal length is only about 5mm deep. This lens make that quite a bit more flexible.

By the way... The set-up for the cookie shoot was to place the plat on a paper town setting on a stool that was positioned under a recessed ceiling light (tungsten) of 75 watts. All I did in Lightroom was tweak the exposure to balance the six images.

It back to the office project now. 

Take care... Doug

Follow-Up Post

I was in my local Camera store here in Grand Rapids MI. Quick plug for Norman Camera as they are quite capable of providing not only a sufficient choice of gear but the guys in the are really pleasant to deal with.

Ok so this is a follow-up post on the lengthy post I did last week called To Carry or Not to Carry. If you recall (or even if you don't or didn't bother to read it at all you can click on the link), it was a post on the different types of gear just to store and/or support you camera. 

So with all this information in hand I had no first experience with what is known as a hand grip rather than a neck strap. In talking with the Norman Camera dude he said that Canon only makes one for the 1D/Ds Mk III or the other bodies that have a battery grip installed but that Nikon still made one.  Sold I was!

Where I have seen this grip in action is with wedding photographers and people that need a quick and unencumbered access to their camera without sacrificing the security of the rig.

The photo above shows it fitting on the hand (don't bother clicking to enlarge as it will suck). The upper strap/adjuster really was getting in my way so I reversed it so the adjuster was on the bottom. As it is right now the upper strap does restrict finger movement but not so that you can not access the top panel buttons. I think this will be offset by the freedom of movement without the neck strap attached.

Above is the little strap. There is a plastic attachment that screws onto the plate mount of the camera. This is adjustable and there are two attach points for a strap. the one side for the hand strap and the other will use the left camera attach point to mount a neck strap is so desired. But wasn't that the point of getting this strap ion the first place. Hmmm!

I have a Really Right Stuff L-Plate on the 40D and using the strap mount impedes my use of the L-Plate. Fortunately Really Right Stuff has a strap mount machined into the aluminum plate. So off with the plastic Nikon mount and I hooked up the strap directly to the RRS L-Plat and I was in business.

Hey we will be back tomorrow.

Cya... Doug

LR2 Just Rocks

I just gotta tell ya! Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 just rocks, and oh yes! That is the full name of the application so it's no surprise that most all call it simply Lightroom. This was somewhere around the 15th shot I took after we arrived at Mt. Hood. I had an EF 24-105 f/4L IS lens mounted on my 40D and it was about this time that I realized I still had the white balance set to fluorescent for some shots I took back at Midway Airport in Chicago. It is not so bad now that ACR or the Develop module in Lightroom will edit jpg's, but RAW still takes the cake and other than the drive space the workflow is essentially the same as with a jpg file. But that's not the rocking think about LR2.

Shot at 1/200th at f/7.1 at an ISO 0f 200 at 40 mm, this is the shot as it came out of the camera in all of it's fluorescent whit balance. The couple in the shot are my brother & sister-in-law.

White balance in check it was off to the normal adjustment sliders. A touch of exposure to even up the histogram, push the recover just a tad to bring back highlight detail and fill light to get some of the shadows. Brightness I may use if exposure is not necessary and contrast I usually leave forth curve. Speaking of which tweak in a nice shallow S-curve to pop the photo. The sky did not have the depth that it had in person so rather than have to go into Photoshop to work in the sky, Lightroom now has the adjustment brush and graduated filter tool. These are now grouped with the crop, red eye, and spot removal tools. Clicking on the color for the graduated filter tool selecting a blue and dragging it down from the top of the screen gives a very nice boost to the blue in the sky. This works really well with a flat horizon, hence the only hick-up in my plan. The tom of Mt. Hood took on a very blue tint. The adjustment brush has an auto-mask function that worsks great but does not extend to the  graduated filter  tool.

Clicking on the adjustment brush gives me a new node to work with and I simply needed to paint over the blue tint of the mountain with some yellow (slightly towards the red) to introduce some anti-blue if you will. It was just a bit strong but that could be backed off using the amount slider while the node is active. Totally adjustable, totally non-destructive, and totally ROCKS!

I processed about sixty photos for a slideshow in PhotoMagico and only a couple of the images required a trip to Photoshop. One of those being a seven image pano.

Hey Thats about it for me today. Take care... Doug

F I N A L L Y - Canon Steps Up

The long long long awaited announcement by Canon about the replacement to the very popular 5D was announce just before Photokina in Germany a couple of weeks ago. It sure seem that Nikon has been kicking the proverbial Canon butt for most of 2008. I like the competition as it makes the company at the top of the heap step it up. But is it enough? Ultimately time will tell.

No I have not shot with this camera and what you see below is what you can find on the Canon website with some exception. This is the paraphrased version of that information.

Quick Summary:

The EOS 5D Mark II has a 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with DIGIC 4 Image Processor, an ISO Range of 100-6400 (expandable to ISO 25600). It supports Live View shooting and Live View HD videos. It can shoot up to 3.9 fps, has 9 AF points plus 6 AF assist points, a new 98% coverage viewfinder, a 3.0-inch Clear View LCD (920,000 dots/VGA) and a rugged build.

Here are abbreviated specs form the Canon site. Scroll down to see the continuation of the this blog posting. 

Specifications

Type
Recording Media	CF Card Type I and II, UDMA-compliant CF cards, via external media (USB v.2.0 hard drive, via optional Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E4A)
Image Sensor Size	36.0mm x 24.0mm (35mm Full-frame)
Compatible Lenses	Canon EF lenses

Image Sensor Type Large single-plate CMOS sensor Pixels Effective pixels: Approx. 21.1 megapixels Total Pixels Total pixels: Approx. 22.0 megapixels Aspect Ratio 3:2 (Horizontal: Vertical) Dust Deletion feature (1) Automatic sensor cleaning (2) Manual cleaning of sensor (3) Dust Delete Data appended to the captured image

Recording System Recording Format Design rule for Camera File System 2.0 Image Type Still: JPEG, RAW (14-bit, Canon original), sRAW1, sRAW2, RAW+JPEG Video: MOV Color Space sRGB, Adobe RGB Picture Style Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, User Def. 1-3

Image Processing Type Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten Light, White Fluorescent Light, Flash, Custom, Color Temperature setting Auto White Balance Auto white balance with the image sensor Color Temperature Compensation White balance correction: ±9 stops in full-stop increments White balance bracketing: ±3 stops in full-stop increments Blue/amber direction or magenta/green direction possible

Viewfinder Type Eye-level pentaprism Coverage Vertical/Horizontal approx. 98% Focusing Screen Interchangeable (Eg-D: Grid lines, Eg-S [point of Focus], Eg-A standard focusing screen provided Mirror Quick-return half mirror (transmission: reflection ratio of 40:60, no mirror cutoff with EF600mm f/4L IS USM or shorter lenses) Viewfinder Information AF information (AF points, focus confirmation light), Exposure information (shutter speed, aperture, ISO speed, AE lock, exposure level, spot metering circle), Flash information (flash ready, flash exposure compensation, High-speed sync, FE lock), Image information (Highlight tone priority, monochrome shooting, maximum burst, white balance correction, CF card information), battery information

Autofocus AF Points 9 AF Points (1 Cross Type) + 6 AF Assist Points Metering Range EV -0.5-18 (at 73°F/23°C, ISO 100) Focusing Modes Auto, One-Shot AF, Predictive AI Servo AF, AI Focus AF, Manual focusing (MF) AF Point Selection Automatic selection, manual selection AF-assist Beam When an external EOS-dedicated Speedlite is attached to the camera, the AF-assist beam from the Speedlite will be emitted when necessary.

Exposure Control Metering Modes 35-zone TTL full-aperture metering Evaluative metering (linkable to any AF point) Partial metering (approx. 8% of viewfinder at center) Spot metering (approx. 3.5% of viewfinder at center) Center-weighted average metering Exposure Control Program AE (Shiftable), Shutter-priority AE, Aperture-priority AE, Creative Auto, Full auto, Manual exposure, E-TTL II autoflash program AE Exposure Compensation Manual: ±2 stops in 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments (can be combined with AEB) AE Lock Auto: Applied in One-Shot AF mode with evaluative metering when focus is achieved Manual: By AE lock button

Shutter Shutter Speeds 1/8000 to 1/60 sec., X-sync at 1/200 sec. Self-timer 10-sec. or 2-sec. delay Remote Control Remote control with N3-type terminal. (Wireless remote controller RC-1/RC-5 can also be used.)

Drive System Drive Modes Single, Continuous, and Self-timer (10-sec. or 2-sec. delay) Continuous Shooting Speed Max. 3.9 shots/sec.

Live View Functions Shooting Modes Still photo shooting and video shooting Focusing Quick mode (Phase-difference detection) Live mode/Face Detection Live mode (Contrast detection) Manual focusing (5x/10x magnification possible) Metering Modes Evaluative metering with the image sensor (still photos) Center-weighted average metering (video) Exposure Simulation Provided Silent Shooting Provided (Mode 1 and 2)

LCD Monitor Type TFT color, liquid-crystal monitor Monitor Size 3.0 in. Dots Approx. 920,000 (VGA) Coverage Approx. 100% (viewing angle: approx. 170°) Brightness Adjustment Auto, 7 levels provided

Image Playback Display Format Single image, Single image + Image-recording quality/shooting information, histogram, 4- or 9-image index, magnified view (approx. 1.5x-10x), rotated image (auto/manual), image jump (by 10/100 images, index screen, by shooting date, by folder), slide show (all images/selected by date/folder) Highlight Warning Provided (Overexposed highlights blink)

Customization Custom Functions Total 25 Camera User Settings Register under Mode Dial's C1, C2 and C3 positions My Menu Registration Provided

Interface USB Terminal For personal computer communication and direct printing (USB 2.0 Hi-Speed) Video Out Terminal (1) Video OUT terminal: NTSC/PAL selectable (2) HDMI mini OUT terminal

Power Source Battery One Battery Pack LP-E6 AC power can be supplied via AC Adapter Kit ACK-E6 with Battery Grip BG-E6 attached. Battery Check Auto Power Saving Provided. Power turns off after 1, 2, 4, 8, 15 or 30 min. Date/Time Battery One CR1616 lithium-ion battery Start-up Time Approx. 0.1 sec.

So! Is it going to be worth the upgrade? That really depends on what you are doing with a camera today. Will it bring back the Canon shooters that bailed to Nikon in the last year? Personally I don't think so. If you are a Canon shooter using a 20D, 30D, 40D, or even 50D that has not loaded up on EF-S lenses it could be tempting. The portrait shooter that is running a 5D, start saving now, you want to go to the Mk II. Here is how I see it.

Nikon Shooter

Nikon makes an outstanding line of cameras, great glass and are the best challenge to Canon. My recommendation is to keep you gear unless you are moving into digital but that has it's own conditions. When bot Canon and Nikon went to auto-focus lenses, Canon decided to change the lens mount to the chagrin of most of the Canon shooters. Nikon decided to not abandon their owners and mad the body backwards compatible with the exception there would not be auto focus on the older lenses. I think that was a great move by Nikon and one that probably started Nikon on its move dominance in the market.

20D-50D Shooter

If you have a bunch of EF-S lenses then stay with the cropped camera. If you are heavy in the EF lenses, going with the 5D Mk II will essentially double your lens selection if you hang on to the cropped camera. Let's say you have a range of lenses on the from 16 mm to 200 mm. Your minimum effective focal length was 25.6 mm and now is a true 16 mm. with both cameras you end up with an overall range of 16 mm to 320 mm (448 mm with a teliconverter)

5D Shooter

Put you camera on e-Bay as soon as you can and put it towards the 5D Mk II. Bit depth and the ability to crop in post on a 21 MB file will maintain a very high resolution. Not if shooting at such high ISO's is not enough.

As for me. I have the 40D and there just is not enough to upgrade to the 50D. The 5D Mk II however is a different story. Portrait photography can have no better friend than the 5D line and now that the 5D Mk II is a reality, it is a no-brainer. David Ziser has a saying in photography and it goes like this, "photography just gets cheaper, better, and faster". At a price point 1K less than the original 5D the 5D Mk II will be a winner for Canon.

Take care all... Doug