An ordinary life in an extra-ordinary place
General
Light permitting, you could photograph sports with a high speed shutter and get razor sharp images; but with no sense of movement. So the trick is to reduce the shutter speed so the photo shows some motion blur, but not so slow that all you get is shaky hands blur.
When shooting polo I find 1/640th second gives sharp images, with some blurring in the hoof area to confirm that the horses are not just frozen in mid-air. As the day wears on and the light fades, I reduce the shutter speed and hope for some extra action blur, but without Spike shaky hand blur. Success is limited.
But this one worked quite well. Light was crap and the colours were faded, so black and white was the answer.
Canon 1D with 300mm lens, 1/200th second
….go out in the midday sun. But Englishmen don’t have to worry when they are equipped with the latest in fan cooling technology.
This particular lunatic has built himself a coat of computer cooling fans. Beneath what looks suspiciously like a sporran (maybe he is not English) there appears to be an enormous package of genitals; but quieten those beating hearts ladies, that is where the batteries are stored.
I have no idea of the identity of this gentleman; but the photo was sent to me by Nik; and it seems that being a mad inventor is a prerequisite to be a member of his circle of friends. It’s certainly a trait that Nik demonstrates regularly.
Today I had a phone call. “Serendipity!” he shouted. Or that is what it sounded like, but it could have been “stupidity”; given what I found when I rushed into his condo.
It’s the latest in his “I can’t be arsed to buy a proper set of studio lights” project. Individually, the components were quite simple.
A row of LED lights, normally lighting the underneath of the chassis of cars driven by idiots. A couple of LED spotlights and a butchered washing-up bowl, lined with foil (there are also some snacks, but they did not seem to be incorporated into the design – yet). Not the basis of a professional studio lighting set-up you might think. But put them all together and it is soon clear that you are absolutely correct.
To operate the world-class facilities, you insert the subject you wish to photograph inside the ring of lights, place the washing-up bowl on top, and then shine the spotlights through the hole. The results are, as you might expect, dire.
The tastefully chosen white background (photocopy paper) is now a delicate shade of blue and the sparkly things are not sparkly.
I asked Nik how this device could be used in support of portrait photography. He was happy to show me.
Tomorrow: How to split the atom with a Mars Bar and a bicycle pump.
I appear to have been instrumental in encouraging a number of people to join the Micro 4/3 camera club. The latest, I believe it is number ten, is Camberley.
Camberley has a Canon 5D, assorted lenses; and has no need of another camera. But that is irrelevant, he decided he wanted a GF1, justification enough for the male of the species; but not enough for wives.
He is planning to take his wife on a trip to Vietnam, and decided the trip might serve as a justification for a new camera. The conversation went something like this:
C: I am so looking forward to taking you on holiday darling!
Mrs. C: What do you want?
C: Oh, nothing. It’s just that when I went to Vietnam last time, I felt very conspicuous with my big DSLR; not a pleasant feeling at all (failing to mention the 10 zillion other tourists touting similar cameras).
Mrs. C: And……..?
C: Ah, well, and so I thought it would be good for both of us (cleverly sharing the benefit with his wife who will not be allowed to use the camera) if I bought a small camera to take on the trip.
Mrs. C: And……?
C: And so I got this (flourishes GF1 and a couple of lenses).
Mrs. C: If it’s all about being inconspicuous, why did you choose a red body?
C:…Oh (rumbled)
Never mind Camberley, enjoy your new toy essential holiday companion. And it does look good in red.
The Photokina show in Germany is almost over and anything of note has already been announced. Time to review the state of the camera industry.
Ask most people what type of camera takes the best photos and they will answer “DSLR”, the interchangeable lens, mirror-slapping monsters, churned out by the likes of Canon and Nikon in a variety of specifications and a singularity of colour (black). Not so. All else being equal, the bigger the sensor, the better the image quality; so you would do better with something like this:
Photo copyright Evan Kafka
It’s a large format Polaroid and it’s what you need for the ultimate in image quality, when you really need to print something to cover the side of a building. If you find that carrying this around produces an unsightly bulge in your pocket; then you may be better of with a medium format camera:
Photo copyright Hasselblad
This is the Ferrari limited edition Hasselblad introduced at Photokina. Still a little bulky in your pocket; but at least your wallet would be empty; don’t expect much change out of $30,000, even without the Ferrari badge.
Coming out of the price and practicality stratosphere and we end up back at DSLRs. Still the choice of the majority of people who think they want to take photographs rather than snaps. And what did the big two have to entice us at Photokina? What signs of innovation and progress? Bugger all. Nikon came up with the D7000 which I am sure is a very nice camera; but offered nothing new in the way of technology; just existing features improved. Canon offered the 60D which was greeted by yawns, even by the Canon crowd who saw it as not much of an improvement over its predecessor the 50D, which in turn offered little enticement to upgrade from the 40D. Canon and Nikon, wake up!!
So who was doing something different? Let’s start with Sony; not my favourite company but at least they are innovating.
First the NEX. Similar in concept to Micro 4/3, a mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses.
Photo copyright Sony
The good thing about the NEX is that it takes great photos from such a small size; the bad thing about the NEX is that it is just too small, with a lack of controls to enable you to manage the photo taking process. But well done Sony for producing something different.
And well done for the Sony A55. Looks like a DSLR, and indeed there is a mirror/prism of sorts; but it doesn’t move. Most of the light coming into the camera heads for the sensor and the viewfinder, with a small percentage being diverted to the DSLR-like focus mechanism. Why bother? Well, mirrorless cameras like the GF1 take their focus off the sensor using a process that is accurate, but slower than the focus techniques used in DSLRs. So the idea behind the A55 is to give you the advantages of a mirrorless camera, and the advantages of DSLR focusing. An effortless ten frames a second results (no mirror to slap up and down); so congratulations to Sony; although the latest from Panasonic may make the focusing issues redundant (see below).
Star of the show in terms of visitor interest has been the gorgeous Fuji X100.
Photo copyright Fuji
Once this is released next year, I am going to have to make sure that my credit card and this camera are never in the same room at the same time.
In the world of Micro 4/3 there was only one really new camera announced, the Panasonic GH2, The GH1 already had the reputation of producing the best M4/3 images; and being by far the best “stills camera that also takes video” on the market; especially after a Russian gentleman had hacked the firmware.
The GH2 provides even better video features, and as a stills camera it offers an 18 megapixel sensor that is sliced in different ways, depending on the aspect ratio you are shooting (16:9, 4:3, 3:2) to produce 16 megapixel images which are is claimed have more dynamic range and less noise than the previous model. Gorgeous viewfinder too. Most impressively though, the previous rather stately focusing speed has been transformed to a Canon and Nikon beating level; which partially negates the Sony A55′s design (not clear yet how the GH2 will handle fast action and multiple frames per second). The only downside is that GH2 is more chunky than the small M43 cameras such as the GF1.
Photo copyright Panasonic
No sign of the rumoured GF2, so you will have to wait for next year for that, along with the announcement of a “professional level” M4/3 from Olympus. Never mind, if you want to join the future now and go mirrorless, you currently have choice of four M4/3 cameras from Panasonic and three from Olympus; all of which will produce great photos. Last time I counted, there were eighteen lenses specifically made for M4/3, and literally hundreds of other lenses you could mount with a suitable adapter. Or you could consider a Fuji X100, or a Sony NEX, also offering a mirror-free environment.
What are you waiting for?
Oh no Spike, I need the image excellence that only a DSLR can give me; and I don’t care about lugging around all that heavy kit.
Of course, you are right. How about a Nikon D700, a full frame DSLR optimised to produce amazing images? That’s what silly Nik sold before he moved to a GF1; the idiot. After our photo shoot yesterday, I asked him how he liked the images from his new camera. This was his answer:
“They are equal to D700 pics. Very pleased.”
The future has no mirror.
Nik lives in our condo and is a keen photographer. There are few areas of Thailand which have not had one of his lenses pointed at them; and his worldwide coverage is pretty extensive too. He is a Nikon man (nobody’s perfect), with a semi-pro body and load of lenses.
At least he was. A couple of weeks ago he announced he had sold all his Nikon gear and was coming over to the dark side. And yesterday his new toys arrived. A red Panasonic GF1 with the 20mm F1.7, the Olympus 9-18 wide angle, and a Contax 45mm F2. Very similar to my lens collection; and he will be even closer when a Contax 90mm arrives via eBay.
Of course we had to lay out our toys, together with she who must be obeyed’s Olympus EP-1.
Another convert to the Micro 4/3 format; I really should be on commission.
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