Mostly Digital Photography

Normally everything I shoot does not move (well, OK, the wind blows, and water moves, and these are challenges as well, as were the Oyster Catchers in the heading image!). However, I will be shooting some relatively slow action in a couple of months time, and I decided to do a few tests. Imagine my consternation when I found that my favourite camera – the Panasonic GH2 – is (or seems to me) a complete disaster in this situation. I decided to try using ‘burst/continuous shooting’ mode, continuous auto-focus, speed priority and ISO 800 on a few cameras, not really anticipating any serious problems. Well, the old D200, E3, A900, A55 and E-P3 did not have any problems with my relatively simple requirements of 2-3 fps, and 3-5 shots, a brief pause, then the same again, several times. The Panasonic GH2, GH1 and G1 all filled their buffers, and then took several seconds to unpredictably empty the buffer and became usable for even a single shot. I should of course add that I am shooting RAW. If I set a modest JPEG option, the Panas will work, but for the project I really do not want to shoot JPEG! I’ve tried almost every setting on all the Panas that I can think of, various SD cards (including Class 10), and they still will not perform in a way which will make them acceptable for this project. Worryingly, while looking at the specs of other cameras I might buy and and use for the project, the very comprehensive review that David Kilpatrick has done on the Sony A77 seems to suggest that this very new camera may have similar problems.

So, what to use for the project? – I think that as almost no reviews of cameras actually report on this aspect of performance (yes, burst rate at max speed, but not slower speeds, and recovery times) I will have to rely on tests I carry out myself – but of course that can only include cameras I already own. This will be a difficult project in terms of the fact that the subject will cover 100m coming towards me, past me, and away from me, so I need a wide zoom range too, as there won’t be time to change lenses (and even changing cameras takes time), and there are other potential problems too! I need to do a lot more tests to decide what to use – the combination of the Sony A55 and A900 seems capable of doing the job, but it means 2 bodies and 2 lenses, changing cameras, and the A900 is BIG and HEAVY, as is the 70-300 lens, and it will be quite an effort to carry it and other equipment for 8 hours. Would/will the Olympus OM-D solve the problem? – maybe, but of course if it will not, I should cancel the order and buy something that will be suitable for this project (but what would it be?). Suggestions in an email, please!

I spent another week with Lakeland Photographic Holidays (LPH) at the end of February/beginning of March. The weather was really quite good – it was only on the first day that we changed our plans, and as this change meant a visit to Threlkeld Mining Museum, I was more than happy! On that first day we also went to Crummock Water, on the Tuesday we visit Haweswater (superb weather, but not that many different subjects), Wednesday was a visit to the coast, on Thursday I went to Watendlath, and on the last day we visited Loughrigg Tarn. Both Haweswater and Loughrigg were new to me, and the more familiar sites were just as inspiring as usual. Many thanks again to John and Gail Gravett of LPH, and all the other participants on the workshop, for a most enjoyable time.

I used the Olympus E-P3 except on the visit to the coast, when the GH2 was brought into service. Nearly all the images were taken using the Olympus 14-150mm or the Panasonic 14-140mm lenses, which are both versatile and good performers. The 24mm Olympus and 35mm macro were used a handful of times.

I’ve now put together the slide show of the week, and also put a collection of images on my web site – pick the ‘Newer Galleries’ section on the right of this home page, then pick landscape, if you want to see them. Next up is a Blurb book of the images – I was going to try producing this using the new ‘Book’ module of Lightroom 4, but not only is it apparently more limited than using Booksmart, but I don’t find it as easy to use, and ideed it doesn’t seem to work properly for me (images disappear).

A visit to Focus last Monday (5th March) was quite interesting, though it proved impossible to get to see, let alone handle, the new Nikon D800. Actually I wasn’t that interested in it anyway, but I did get to try, briefly, the new Olympus OM-D. This is smaller than I expected, and the ‘prism bump’ isn’t as noticeable in the flesh as it looks in photographs.

Like buses, you wait for one, and then two (blog posts) arrive at the same time!

Actually this title is deliberately ambiguous, though here I’m only going to post on the subject of tripods et al, not camera manufacturers and how they support camera-owners.

So, do I/you need a tripod? Well, it depends a lot on what you are shooting – for street photography a tripod really isn’t appropriate. If you can REALLY hand-hold relatively long exposures at appropriate apertures at sensible ISO, no you don’t need a tripod (but, can you REALLY do this???).  Practically, and after looking at the results, I find a tripod makes a HUGE difference, yes, in-body or lens stabilisation can make a big difference, but  in appropriate situations the tripod is the only answer for me.   [Why spend a lot of money on a good camera and lenses, then shoot in a way that camera movement is the most important factor in the resultant image quality?]

So, if you have a tripod, and use it, do you switch the stabilisation (body or lens) off? The advice is definitely to turn it off – but is your tripod really stable, even with delayed action, if the wind is blowing? I understand why the advice is to turn it off, but I remain unconvinced, and personally I’ve never seen any evidence that when I have forgotten (or just not bothered!) to turn it off that there has been any effect on the image with any of my cameras.

Tripods are quite bulky and heavy – at least those that are of any use are! Flimsy, cheap, light tripods are generally of no real use at all. Monopods – well, it may depend on how you use them (try to position and use them with your 2 legs and the monopod acting as a tripod), but some serious tests suggests that using a monopod can be worse than just hand-holding! I’ve used a Manfrotto 55 with carbon fibre legs for some years – reasonably light, quite versatile (latest versions make changing the extender from vertical to horizontal much easier, but STILL one or the other, no tilt options on the extension. Some of the Gitzos, with adjustable tilt extensions, look even better, but frighteningly expensive. Currently I’m using a 3 Legged Thing – Brian is promoted as the light, most versatile version, but Eric seems to me a much better option: yes, a little heavier and bulkier, but MUCH more rigid (I have the original Brian, and the later Eric). The latest 3LT Eric is what I use most of the time, but for some more specialised situations the Manfrotto 55 is still my choice at present. The biggest problem I have with the 3LT at present is the mounting plate – it projects beyond the camera body on the EP-3 and GF1, so that some lenses cannot be mounted without a hone-made spacer!

Apologies for the lack of posts of late – one reason is that I’ve been finding the 366-projects (one-photo-evryday) quite time-consuming, as typically I have to take some photos, process them, select suitable ones, and upload to some or all of Flickr, my photo diary, 365project and Blipfoto!

My Blipfoto project suffered a blip in early February, when I received a very polite email from them pointing out that borders are not permitted – I’d used an image I liked shot on the iPhone 4S with Hipstamatic: this put a border on the image automatically, and I hadn’t really thought about the implications. I was sufficiently upset about breaching the rules, if accidentally, that I discontinued the Blip version of the project then.

As mentioned in the previous post, I’m finding the photo-every-day project difficult, and on the whole it makes my photography less enjoyable, though I’ll stay with it as long as I can – some images appear on 365project and my Photo Diary page, and sometimes on Flickr as well.

I’m almost always using micro four thirds cameras now – the image-quality is more than adequate for use on computer screens, and also any prints that I can produce here (A3+ maximum), and of course they are much lighter and smaller (if you include the lens) than any other interchangeable lens camera, and the lens range and quality is excellent. I do sometimes use the Sony A55 as it has a larger sensor, but the A900 is ‘relegated’ to the role of studio camera due to its size and weight, and of course my age!

I’m replacing my Smart car, partly as a result of the problems a simple puncture caused (locally, imagine how much worse it would have been if it had happened at a photo workshop in NW Scotland). While I wait for the new car, I don’t like using the Smart (imagine the complications if it got damaged before I take delivery of the new car), and that is restricting my mobility, and what photographic equipment I can carry with me – either walking or on the electrically-assisted Brompton bicycle. This focusses the mind more on using the iPad as a VERY portable accessory for photographers, but although I used it, the A55, Eye-Fi card and Shuttersnitch very effectively recently, I do still find the apps available on the iPad are limiting – I believe this is largely due to limitations imposed by Apple rather than the apps themselves.

Quite a lot is happening on the camera, and also my photography, scene at present, so here are some first thought – more to follow.

Colour management – being  (NOT) satisfied with how an image I have worked on will appear on the web, and on print, has been a huge problem for me in the past. Spyder 4 just announced … barely a month after I received my Spyder 3!! Frustrating, but I think the Spyder 3 kit I bought, which includes printer/paper calibration, will make life much easier (well, it already has!).

I’m finding the 366 days a year single image very upsetting – I want to ENJOY my photography, and having to go out to shoot an image every day may motivate some people, but I find it a pain in the … posterior. I’m sorry, but I have a life outside photography, and some days the weather, location, health, mood, just don’t motivate me, and if I have to take a photograph I will produce a really rubbish image (like today), but other days I produce several images that *I* like. Please don’t misunderstand me, those who are motivated and capable of shooting a brilliant image every day are to be congratulated, but it’s just not my scene.

The new Fuji camera and lenses are exciting – but not cheap, quite big, and the way the camera responds to the user (the ‘user interface’) has not been reported on yet, and is quite important to me. I date back to the Pentax slogan ‘Just hold a Pentax’, and for me it was so important, though YMMV! From reports so far, I think that Sony NEX cameras fail at present on the  ’Just hold’ factor, and Fuji haven’t received that message before either. For me, and it’s entirely a personal thing, the Panasonic cameras are the most intuitive to use – maximum control over how the camera performs, and in  the most obvious way for me! If the Panas don’t appeal to YOU, just choose what YOU  like, but I hope you will not feel that you need to tell me that I am wrong in what suits ME – constructive comment welcome though!

Lightroom 4 BETA has now been released – potentially at least as exciting as camera news! There are some good features in the spec, but experience so far is rather disappointing. So, book (Blurb) support and  Soft Proofing, but Apple’s Aperture has offered similar support for a long time (though Apple books, not Blurb). Soft Proofing was potentially (for me) a huge benefit, but so far I cannot find a way of preventing it changing the border/background colour, which makes it almost impossible to judge what soft proofing has done! An existing image that I had  previously round-tripped to Nik Silvereffex 2 as  a TIFF could not be updated for the metadata. An image I had processed in LR 3 seemed to look very different in LR4, and updating it to LR 4 processing made it even more different. Yes, this is a beta, but I’m seriously worried to have had all these issues in the first, 1 hour, session using it! A

As a postscript, I can understand some of the changes to the LR Develop module, but I think there are hints of ‘dumbing-down?’. Personally, and it just the way I have used LR, I’d have preferred to see more ‘power user’ features, but I suppose that would potentially damage the sales of Photoshop!

UPDATE: Just watching the excelling videos by Juieanne Kost on Lightroom 4, which make several things clearer, not least how to change the background colour when soft proofing!

I decided to shoot an image a day during 2012, then discovered there are some web sites promoting this idea, so I’m posting on those as well as my Photo Diary page.

Personally I really like having projects, as they give me some additional objectives, but I’m already finding the one-photo-per-day idea quite frustrating – some days I have lots of images, and some days none, and I want to ENJOY my photography, not have it become a chore (I have to shoot another image even if the weather is horrible, I’m unwell, other things to do, just not feeling motivated!). So I’m already not sure (on the fourth day!) that I will stick to this project.

None of the images I’ve used so far had any real merit, the first day was particularly bad as I rushed outside to shoot the first thing I could see, as the light was failing and it was just starting to rain. Today’s image must be a theme used countless times before, so I don’t claim any originality, even though I’ve not see any of the undoubted many previous images!

Comparisons

I had to stay in for delivery of a Pocket Wizard kit, and by the time it had arrived the weather had taken a turn for the worse. I really must try to get outside for some different images tomorrow!

I’m really an available-light photographer, but I do use strobes for some work now. I’d used some cheap flash triggers until now, but they fail more often than they work. The Pocket Wizards are a ridiculous price, but if they work it is worth it – I have wasted so much time and money on the cheap substitutes in the past. I’ve seen some reviews which not only comment on the price of the Pocket Wizards, but also criticise the build-quality. I find this difficult to understand – they seem well-made to me, and I’m a mechanical (and later production) engineer.

Oh, and of course the image did involve 2 exposures, one general shot and one of the screen, separately adjusted and then combined. I should probably have taken steps to avoid the highlights from the lights on the oranges, but life is too short! I should probably have bought more oranges as well, to fill the background …

Well, I haven’t been able BEFORE to fully explain where the disc space on the MBP (MacBook Pro) hard disc went, but I think I now have an explanation for MOST of it – iPhoto! I suppose I should have been aware that iPhoto, as well as Aperture, does not delete images when you delete them (!), but moves them to a deleted area in iPhoto! Personally I would expect them to go to the OS X trash can, but I was aware that did not happen with Aperture, and evidently not with iPhoto as well. You have to select the trash, delete from there, and then subsequently the OSX Trashcan – well, belt and braces, string, and hands to hold things up, but personally I find this ***WAY*** over the top.

I DON’T use iPhoto deliberately (Lightroom or Aperture are my preferred choice) EXCEPT that it seems the default/only way I can deal with removing images from my iPhone/iPad.

So, I removed the iPhoto trash, gained about 10G, then found some other images which were in iPhoto that I did NOT want there (not really sure how they got there), and got rid of those too. I now have around 30G extra storage available. I guess I should see if there is anything else that has somehow got into iPhoto which is really irrelevant!