Better Family Photos

Shooting In The Desert - My First Time

2012-02-08T15:35:00.001-08:00

A couple of years ago I noticed that one my friends started posting lots of "Dunes" pictures, they usually consisted of a car or two, a few guys and lots of sand. I wondered what they did in these trips and where did they go to, so he offered me to join him in one of the trips and I jumped at the opportunity. I wanted to enjoy the adventure and take better-than-camera-phone pictures, hit the jump for the full pictorial.

This is my friend's car, a 1997 Toyota Land Cruiser, fully prepped and modified for such treks, in this picture we have just left the asphalt and were reducing the tire pressure to get a larger footprint and avoid getting stuck in the soft sand.

Camera wise, I chose my 15-85mm lens and skipped everything else for two reasons, knowing that it will be windy, I was not keen to change lenses when there's a chance I might get dust on the sensor (never cleaned it, and hope to never need to), the other reason being the flexibility of the zoom, I knew I will be mostly shooting landscapes with a large DoF, and this lens provided a 24mm equivalent field of view, so the small aperture didn't put me off, I spent most of the time between f/8 and f11, and when I needed to zoom or get a close-up, it also served me well.

Of course with such environments a CPL is a very useful accessory, it really helped enrich the blue hues of the sky and darken the sand's color. The other accessories I took with me were a Manfrotto tripod + a remote shutter release /intervalometer for the night shots (review coming later), a couple of speedlights, the Lumiquest SBIII and a lens cleaning kit.

We spent the night behind the rocks you see in the picture above, it provided a good shelter from the wind. Once we settled in and setup our tents, it was almost sunset time, I took a few pictures of the beautiful violet sky hues like the picture at the top of the post, and the one below.

Once it got dark, I setup my tripod and started taking photos, the most difficult thing was focusing on far away objects in almost complete darkness. During the below shots, I learned that I don't have the patience for long exposures, I hope I can rectify this in the future.

In the photo above I wanted to light the rock to give it a more interesting look, so I setup the camera on the tripod, adjusted the exposure, and asked my friend to release the shutter when I signalled him.

The rock was quite far from the camera, so I left one speedlite with my friend and I took the other, and we agreed that I will signal him with a flash and he will release the shutter, then I will start using my speedlite's test button to light the rock, I had no idea how much light is enough, so I set my flash to full power and kept firing it during the exposure.

As you can see, I didn't really succeed (can you see me to the right of the rock?), and due to the failure of our signaling system and my lack of patience, the above shot was the only one I got. I slept very early that day and resumed shooting the next morning with the sunrise.

I enjoyed that trip very much, and would not hesitate to repeat it anytime. I was also happy with the IS performance of my lens, I took loads of nice shots from inside the car while we were jumping around.

Window Shopping: Comparing Window Light

2012-01-27T02:38:00.000-08:00

I'm still on vacation hence the infrequent posts. Meanwhile here's a quick post about a basic lighting tip.

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A common tip for lighting is to use window light. However not all light from windows have the same quality or color. In that regard, painters have known for centuries that in the northern hemisphere, the light from a north-facing window is the softest and most constant window light because it never receives direct sunlight.

I decided to see for myself how different north light is from south light and from the light of a window facing away from the sun.

In this experiment, I took comparison shots in a large room that had similar-sized windows facing north, south and east (i.e. away from the sun). The sky was about the same in each direction. The shots were taken about 1pm.

And here are unedited straight-out-of-the-camera shots of the red ball from each direction:

south

east (during the afternoon)

North

The north light is evidently the softest by far, followed by the window facing away from the sun.

I came back later in the afternoon when the sun was lower in the horizon and there were more clouds. Under those conditions, there was almost no difference between the shadows.

What Camera Should I Get? (Basic)

2012-01-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

If you're a beginning photographer or a nonphotographer and you're wondering what camera you should get, then this blogpost is for you.

First of all, I'm not going to say, "The best camera is the Canikon Ultra 2000EX Pro" or some other camera model. Camera technology keeps evolving and the best model for you will change over time. Besides, everyone has particular needs (e.g. camera size, budget, etc.) that makes it impossible to make any single camera the best one for everyone. Instead, I would rather show you HOW to figure out what's the best camera for YOU.

More after the jump.

INTRO: HOW A CAMERA WORKS
Before we get to the answer, we need a crash course in how a camera works. Basically, to record a picture, the camera has a hole that lets light shine on a sensor. The recorded light becomes the image.

There are three things that a camera needs to adjust to record the image properly: how large the hole is ("aperture"), how long the sensor stays exposed to the light ("shutter speed") and how sensitive the sensor is ("sensitivity"):
- Aperture is indicated by the "f-number" such as f/2.8 or f/5.6. The LOWER the f-number the WIDER the aperture.
- Shutter speed is usually shown as a fraction of seconds like 1/60 or 1/125 sec.
- Sensitivity is usually measured by "ISO". Higher ISO means higher sensitivity. Unlike film, digital cameras have changeable ISO.
The three variables work together. You can widen the aperture and use a proportionately slower shutter speed. You can increase the sensitivity and use a smaller aperture. You get the idea.

HOW TO GET CLEARER PICTURES
The most common quality that people ask for in a camera is clearer pictures. Here's the tricky part: blur can be caused several ways.
1. The subject could be moving too much. The solution is a faster shutter speed.
2. You might not be holding the camera steadily. The solutions are a faster shutter speed, and/or a tripod, and/or "stabilization" (the camera will move the sensor or the lens to counteract camera shake).
3. The sensor might have poor quality. If the sensor sucks, the image is not going to be very clear no matter what. To illustrate this, compare the pictures from a cheap webcam, old cellphone, or sub-$50 camera vs. a picture from a "normal" digital camera.
4. The subject could be out of focus. You can tell that this is the issue when part of the image is clear (just might not be the part you wanted). In cameras these days, this is usually not the issue except for occasional mis-focusing.
5. The lens might have poor quality. As with the sensor, if the lens is poor quality, the image won't be clear. In the real world though, any half-decent camera will have a reasonably functional lens. So this is not likely to be the issue.

QUALITIES OF A GOOD CAMERA
Although there are many causes of an unclear image, the good news is that you need to look for a few things in a camera to address all those issues:

A. Good sensor. When a camera increases its sensitivity, the image will have more "noise." A noisy image looks very grainy and/or there are colored splotches on the image, especially in the shadows.

A picture with lots of noise. Click and zoom in to see the grain.

Camera makers have a way of "fixing" noise. It's called noise reduction which removes the appearance of noise but sacrifices detail. When the noise reduction is very strong, the image looks blurry, like it was painted with water color.

An image with high noise reduction resulting in some loss of fine details and texture. Click to zoom in.

A good sensor can increase sensitivity without having too much noise (and won't need very high noise reduction). When a camera can have high sensitivity with low noise, you can shoot with a high shutter speed, addressing issues 1, 2 and 3 at the same time.

Please note that just because a camera has a high sensitivity setting doesn't mean it necessarily has low noise. There are some compact cameras that tout sensitivity as high as 6400 but look like crap at that ISO, so it's not useful.

To find cameras with good sensors, check out many sites that show high ISO comparisons of cameras such as DPReview.com. Or google "high ISO" with the camera you're investigating. The difference between sensors usually becomes very visible at ISO 1600 and above. Another way to compare is to see the size of the sensor. Generally, larger sensors have less noise than smaller sensors, although new small sensors can have less noise than a larger but older sensor. And if YOU can't tell the difference then don't sweat it - no matter what the review says.

B. Stabilization.
Stabilization can solve issue #2 above. With stabilization, a camera will try to counteract the camera shake by moving the lens and/or the sensor. Some cameras have effective stabilization while others don't. Some cameras have no stabilization at all. Others will claim to have stabilization but actually do nothing but increase sensitivity (to raise shutter speed so as to make camera shake less noticeable). See http://www.dpreview.com/news/2007/1/5/notimagestabilization .

To find out the effectiveness of a camera's stabilization, read reviews from sites such as DPReview.com. They will usually comment on how effective the stabilization is.

C. Wide aperture.
The wider the aperture available, the higher your shutter speed can be. This can solve issues #1 and 2.

The aperture of lenses is not unlimited. Lenses have a maximum aperture that will be shown in the specifications. You'll often see a number like f/3.5-5.6 or 1:3.5-5.6. That means the lens' widest aperture changes as you zoom in. The first aperture (3.5) is the aperture when the lens is at its widest. The second aperture (5.6) is the aperture when the lens is at its longest. I would pay attention to both numbers and probably give greater weight to the second number. In other words, I much prefer a camera that has an aperture range of f/2.0-3.3 over another that has f/1.8-4.9.

What about lens quality? Fortunately, camera manufacturers know their market pretty well. They know that any buyer who is looking for a good sensor will be particular about the lens quality. So all cameras with good sensors have decent if not good lenses. If you want to be particular about it, you can see reviews to compare resolution, contrast, color, distortion, chromatic aberration and other lens characteristics.

IF YOU WANT TO LEARN PHOTOGRAPHY
In addition to the foregoing factors that have the most direct impact on image quality, there are other features that you may want in a camera if you plan to learn photography, even though you might not think they're useful now.

D. Manual controls. If you really want to learn photography, look for a camera with the four primary exposure modes (PASM), PSM, or at least Manual mode. However, not everyone is willing to take the time to learn photography and in my view, it is possible to get good pictures even with fully automatic controls.

E. Wide angle. A wide angle is useful for capturing more of a scene or for shooting subjects in smaller spaces. In terms of composition, a wide angle has a unique look that cannot be easily simulated (except by stitching several shots). In this regard, many compact cameras have the not-so-wide equivalent of only 35mm or so. True wide angle would be 28mm or wider.

24mm equivalent

F. Hot shoe. A very important aspect of photos is lighting. In that regard, having a hot shoe allows you to use external flashes which give you many more options for controlling lighting. Good flash technique can also address issues 1, 2 and 3. Almost all cameras use a "standard" hot shoe, which makes many flashes partially interchangeable. The exceptions are Sony and the Nikon 1 series which have their own kind of hot shoe. If you don't plan to learn photography, you don't need a hot shoe.

G. Raw mode. Another important aspect of photography is postprocessing (editing the photo after it's taken). To have the most options for changing the image during postprocessing, you need raw mode, which means means the camera can give you an uncompressed and unprocessed image file instead of a picture file that has already been processed according to what the manufacturer thinks.

There are other factors that determine quality of a camera such as its dynamic range or whether it has certain features that are important to photographers. But those are the basics.

CONTROLS
Before buying a camera, I also suggest handling it to see if you like the controls, menus and ergonomics. For some people, this can be the deciding factor.

MISSING THE SHOT
I should mention that the other most commonly requested feature is a camera that can "shoot quickly." They usually complain that they are trying to take a photo of their kid or pet but the camera takes too long to capture the shot, thus missing the photo opportunity.

Comments:
- There's a unique camera out never needs to focus yet will always take perfectly focused shots (in fact you can change the focus *after* the photo has been taken). But it's not cheap and has many limitations. Lytro $399.
- Next fastest-focusing option: DSLR. Most DSLRs can focus faster than compact cameras. There are exceptions (a few DSLRs are slow to focus) and focusing speed is affected not just by the camera but by the kind of lens. See below: "Should I buy a DSLR?"

For most people, though, the best answer to capturing the moment (other than avoiding cameras known to have slow autofocus) is through shooting technique. Specifically, by pre-focusing and anticipating the moment. Reducing "Shutter Lag."

QUALITIES THAT ARE NOT IMPORTANT
- Megapixels. More megapixels doesn't mean that the sensor is better. It's much more important to have a sensor with less noise. Unless you plan to print huge posters, anything that has 6 megapixels is more than enough. Moreover, having too many megapixels usually means a sensor with higher noise.
- Digital zoom. Digital zoom doesn't mean anything more than the camera cropping the middle of the photo to make it appear larger. Digital zoom doesn't offer any additional detail and you can do it yourself in a computer.
- Very long lens. Manufacturers sometimes make a big deal about their camera having a very long lens (let's say over 300mm). However, for most people, there are only a few situations that require a very long lens, such as bird photography, animals, or stadium sports. Even then, you would need a tripod to hold the camera steady. For most people, it's not practical. Another thing to note is that when the lens is fully zoomed in, the aperture is usually very small (thus often forcing a slow shutter speed, which is ironic, given that animal and sports photos usually need high shutter speeds).

CURRENT EXAMPLES OF GOOD COMPACT CAMERAS THAT *MAY* BE RIGHT FOR YOU
As of December 2011, these are some compact cameras that in my opinion meet the needs of many family photographers:

Fuji X10 - has all of the foregoing. Much more than what most casual photographers need but if you have the cash...
Canon S90, S95, or S100 - has all of the foregoing except a hotshoe.
Panasonic Lumix LX-5 - has all of the foregoing. Reviewed here.
Nikon P300 - has all of the foregoing except a wide aperture, hot shoe, and raw mode. Reviewed here.

If you don't need a camera that is so compact, you might consider moving up to a mirrorless or DSLR. See below.

SHOULD I GET A DSLR or MIRRORLESS CAMERA?
Almost all DSLRs and mirrorless cameras have superior image quality compared to compact cameras. 99% of the time, a photo with one of these larger cameras will look better (less noisy, more detail) than a photo with a compact camera taken under the exact same circumstances simply because these larger cameras have larger sensors and more specialized lenses (rather than a lens that tries to do it all, and at low cost). Moreover, these cameras have controls that a budding photographer can grow into.

It goes without saying that when you're getting one of these interchangeable lens cameras, the image quality will also depend on the quality of the lens you choose. I hate to say it but when it comes to lenses you generally get what you pay for.

I should also caution you that getting an interchangeable lens camera will not necessarily guarantee that your photos will actually look good. That's because...

FINAL REMARKS
...I'll let you in on a secret: none of this really matters. If what you care about is having good photos, the way to get that is through learning photography techniques. Start with good composition and lighting. When you get decent at that, I suggest learning post-processing. If you have at least a decent (even if not great) camera, learning photography will have a greater impact on your photos than buying a high quality camera.

RELATED POSTS:
Simplified Guide to Exposure
Roadmap for Family Photographers
Basics of Lighting
Should I Buy a DSLR?

Traveling Light

2012-01-12T00:55:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be on vacation for a couple of weeks to visit friends and family. I don't expect to go to any exotic places so I decided to bring just minimal equipment. Here are what I'm bringing:

Lumix LX5. In this case, I'm betting that it will be an adequate camera to cover the wide to standard focal length. This allows me to leave behind my Tamron 17-50 VC, while still having two cameras, and a compact when the situation doesn't warrant a DSLR. Furthermore, I can take videos.
Nikon D70. It will be kind of sunny where I'm going, so the sync speed would be useful. I also like the extra long battery life. Plus if it gets damaged or lost while I'm traveling, it's not a big deal. The D300 will get some rest. :)
Sigma 50-150. To cover the telephoto. Complements the focal length range of the LX5.
one SB-800.
Lastolite Brolly Grip + Lastolite Trifold Umbrella. I really like the results I get from this compact lighting combo.
Nikon SC-29 TTL cable. Makes the Brolly Grip combo much easier to use.
charger for the LX5 and D70.

The whole kit fits into a fairly small camera bag, the Lowepro Nova 3 AW (the umbrella is under the top cover). Pardon the nasty shots. We're hurriedly getting ready for our trip so I only used my iPhone.

The Trifold umbrella peeks out from under the top flap cover.

See y'all later!

Official Nikon D4 product video

2012-01-05T20:37:00.000-08:00

Circular Polarizer: Miracle Maker

2012-01-03T14:18:00.001-08:00

Circular polarizers are a very interesting piece of equipment and usually overlooked by beginners who only buy UV filters as per the sales person's advice. I like to say that the polarizers are magic makers, the very first time you use one, you will be astonished with what it can do. Hit the jump to learn more.

The polarizer filter idea is the same as your sun glasses, I don't want to get into scientific details about light waves, polarization and stuff, but if you're interested, you'll find a good explanation here. Suffice to say, a polarizing filter cancels a part of the light reflected from any object, be it the sky, a car's windshield or the water's surface.

So how can this be of benefit for you? I'll give you a small exercise, go outside in the morning and try shooting your car from outside and see the car's interior through the glass, mostly (depending on your angle) you'll find that the glass reflects the sky and the surroundings. Check this example:

Now here's the same picture with the circular polarizer:

Just like magic, but the sharp reader will notice that the side windows have become reflective in the second picture, you can't have everything when there are different angles from which the light is reflected. But if I had to have them all clear, I would use a tripod, take two shots and use photoshop to merge the parts I needed.

Polarizers are generally useful in eliminating reflections like the example above, more examples would be shooting wrist watches, shooting fish through tanks, shooting through the surface of the water, etc...

They can also be used to get better contrasting skies and miraculously vibrant images, this works better when you're shooting 90 degrees to the sun (i.e. the sun is either to your left or your right), and since the polarizing effect depends on the angle of reflection, you'll usually find that the sky color doesn't become even across the picture. The picture below is a standard picture shot without the polarizer.

And here's the same picture with the polarizing filter:

Unbelievable! So how do one use a polarizer? See the picture at the top of the post? This is how it looks like, you thread it to your lens like any other filter and you have a part at the front that rotates, and you keep rotating the filter while looking through the viewfinder until you get the look you want. It will also be very good if your lens' front element doesn't rotate with focusing since this will change the filter's rotation each time the camera changes focus.

They always tell you to buy the best brands in filters since they have coatings that minimizes reflections and will not degrade the picture in terms of sharpness, however, polarizers are very expensive especially if you have a large diameter thread, and different lenses with different thread sizes. I myself went for a not-so-expensive 72mm (larget lens thread size I own) Chinese brand since I don't use it a lot, and I didn't find it cost me pixel sharpness at all, and for my remaining lenses I bought some cheap Bower step-down adapters like the one below.

Christmas Portrait On-Location

2011-12-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

We're sending our Christmas cards pretty late this year (it's now more like a Happy New Year card). At least I'm pleased with the portrait that we finally got to do. Rather than discuss the lighting itself, I want to talk about the shooting process. (If you want to know about the lighting per se check out this post) Here's how we put together this shot.

Scope out the site beforehand. I thought of a location for our family portrait. Although we had been there before, I checked it out to see possible places to shoot our portrait and to note the sun's position.
Have a plan. I visualized our portrait and thought of the lighting equipment I would need to get the look I wanted.
Test all equipment. Before the day of the shoot, I made sure to test my equipment to confirm that they were functioning as expected. I had been planning to use the Cyber Commander but I couldn't get it to trigger properly (will soon be posting how I resolved it). Although I was disappointed, I was glad to find out then rather than on the field. I switched to the Radiopopper JrX.
Don't haul too much equipment. Whenever I have a shooting session I often bring everything I can fit into a large storage chest so that I can address as many issues as possible. Most of the time I don't use even half of the stuff I bring. At the same time, hauling around the equipment is stressful not just physically but mentally, limiting my imagination for alternate locations (to avoid having to relocate the equipment). This time I brought only what I needed, with only a few backups. Worst case scenario? Shoot ambient and fix it with postprocessing.
Setup before the client gets there. It usually takes me a while to set up the lights with care. Meanwhile my wife has little patience and has to deal with two kids running around. To avoid pressure, we planned for me to get to the location ahead of time and set everything up. That worked very well and I was able to prepare at a relaxed pace even with my son looking around the area and asking lots of questions. I looked for the best shooting angle, setup the tripod, took test shots, set my ambient exposure, adjusted my flash exposure, tinkered with the location of the lights. By the time my wife and daughter got to the shoot, everything was ready and they just had to pose and smile.
Be open to other possibilities. Although I had a plan, I wasn't attached to it. When I got to the location on the day of the shoot, I analyzed it with fresh eyes. I saw that an alternate location would allow me to use the sun as a backlight/rimlight and I proceeded to create a new plan from there.
Simple vs. Ambitious. There were many techniques I wanted to try and I wanted to add fancy lighting effects. In the past though that approach hasn't been easy and I wasn't able to execute the complex plan very well. Instead I kept things simple. Because the setup was so simple I was able to execute it very well, which freed my mind to focus on other things like facial expressions.
Top-down vs. Bottom-up lighting. Along the lines of having a simple plan, my plan wasn't built on eliminating ambient light and creating all the light sources I would need for a portrait that was designed according to my imagination. Instead, I analyzed the ambient light first and because it was pretty good, I built my lighting plan around the existing light.
Plan for merging group shots. I took over 150 shots of us yet not one of those shots had us all with great expressions. The fact is that when I'm not behind the camera I can't see everything, and it's virtually impossible to take a perfect portrait with kids. Instead I just have to accept that I will need to merge faces. To facilitate this, I take a background shot every time I move the tripod. I make the tripod as steady as possible (by hanging a bag off the hook for example) and I shoot a little wider than I want (for flexibility with cropping).
Use manual focus mode. Autofocus slows the camera down especially in challenging conditions such as strong backlight. It's better to get the focus right then switch to manual focus so the camera won't have to take the time to autofocus.
Vagabond II instead of Vagabond Mini. For this shot I used a Vagabond Mini because it was lighter and I didn't need a lot of flash power. However the Mini had a difficult time recycling the flash fast enough. Note to self: use Vagabond II instead when I expect to take a lot of shots.

Equipment used:

Nikon D300
SanDisk UDMA CF Card. The fast CF card allowed me to take several shots in quick succession without worrying about locking up the camera.
Tamron 17-50 VC. I've come to rely on the very useful focal range of this lens. I didn't need its fast 2.8 constant aperture on this occasion but it would have been there if I needed it for impromptu solo portraits with shallow depth of field.
Linco light stand. I love this light stand because of its extra wide base and sturdiness.
Targus TG-P60T tripod. This "cheap" tripod continues to serve me well. It's not as rock-steady as "real" tripods but for my kind of photos (I rarely use long exposures) it works.
Meike MK-RC7 remote shutter. Performed perfectly on this shot. No misses. Hopefully it stays that way.
AlienBees B1600. Small and light relative to the amount of power it has. Has always been very reliable.
Radiopopper JrX Studio. The most reliable radio trigger I have.
Westcott 60" convertible shoot-through. As long as it's not windy, it works well.

Thanks for visiting the blog. We wish you and your family happiness throughout the new year!

Lumix LX5 for Lighting Lunatics

2011-12-25T04:42:00.000-08:00

You probably know that the aspect of my photos that I'm most passionate about is the lighting. My passion for lighting carries over even when I'm shooting with a point and shoot camera. Of course, looking for good ambient lighting is an option with any camera, but as much as possible I want to have maximum control over lighting by using a flash. This obsession with lighting is why I love the Lumix LX5. This hands-on review of the LX5 will focus on its use with an external flash, both on-camera and off-camera, and even with AlienBees!

My search for an enthusiast compact started with my wife's seemingly harmless request for her own compact digital camera. I chose the Nikon P300 because it had most of the features I was looking for and it cost significantly less than high-end enthusiast cameras. After shooting a little with the P300, however, my eyes were opened to a different kind of photography. I began to see enthusiast compacts as serious tools. See my closing comments on the P300 review.

Once I knew these compacts could be used for serious photos, I was willing to pay a little more for a compact that had the features I didn't absolutely need but which I wanted: a hot shoe, raw mode, and a lens with a faster aperture across the zoom range.

OTHER CHOICES
With those criteria, I narrowed the choices to the following:

1. Samsung EX-1/TL500: the fast lens and bright OLED display were tempting to me. However, the obsolete video mode (limited to 640x480 @ 30 fps) and somewhat limited reach of the lens (72mm) were deal-breakers.

2. Nikon P7100: the thought of having wireless TTL flash was very tempting, particularly because I already have SB-800s that could be used with the P7100. I also liked the articulating screen. I was ambivalent about the lens - it was slower but the 200mm reach was attractive. However, it was ultimately just a little too expensive and bulky. I have similar objections to the excellent Canon G12.

3. Olympus XZ-1: looking at its specs, it seems to have no weaknesses, and has the best lens in its class, not just in terms of aperture width but also in terms of sharpness. In terms of lighting, the XZ-1 even has a built-in flash commander! The brilliant OLED display was icing on the cake. JPEG is somewhat soft but that's ok - I was planning on shooting with raw. The problem was the cost - about the same as that of the P7100. The other problem is that Olympus may not be around to honor the warranty (due to the ongoing scandals at the company).

4. Nikon P7000: again a very tempting choice because of the possibility of wireless TTL using my SB-800 as commander. Like the Nikon P7100, the lens is slow but at least has a 200mm reach. The issue about raw shooting speed has been addressed by the new firmware. Plus, it costs far less than the P7100.

5. Lumix LX5: no significant weaknesses, particularly since the cost has significantly decreased. The lens is a little short (90mm) but still acceptable. The manual video controls, changeable aspect ratio and the enhancements from the new firmware were bonuses.

I eventually decided the sluggish menus and controls of the P7000 would have been too aggravating. I don't think I could put up with that. At the same time, while the LX5 can't use my SB-800s in TTL mode, I was hoping I could use it in auto mode and in that regard, the LX5's aperture changes only by 1.5 stops across the zoom range, so I was guessing auto mode would still be feasible. What about wireless flash? My solution was to use my Radiopopper JrX. Based on those reasons, I decided to go with the LX5 over the P7000.

VS. MIRRORLESS
Before I go on with the LX5 review, you might wonder what about mirrorless? A micro 4/3 camera has a sensor that's about 4x larger than the sensor of the LX5. At the same ISO, the micro 4/3 sensor has much less noise, and it has slightly more flexibility in controlling the depth of field.

Well, here's at least part of the problem: find me the equivalent of a 24-90 f/2-3.3 lens. (I'll save you the Google search: there is no comparable m4/3 lens.) The closest you'll find is the m4/3 kit lens (28-84 f/3.5-5.6) or Sony e-mount kit lens (18-55 f/3.5-5.6 equivalent to 24-82mm). Compared to either of those kit lenses, the LX5 is around 1.5 stops faster both at the wide end and tele end. Which would have less noise: LX5 at 90mm f/3.3 800 ISO vs. an m4/3 camera at 84mm f/5.6 2500 ISO? Suddenly, the sensor advantage of the mirrorless camera is significantly diminished.

Moreover, a mirrorless camera is also not pocketable (unless you want to use a pancake lens with fixed focal length). I thought that if I need to carry a bag anyway then I might as well use my DSLR.

VS. DSLR
One possible issue may be: what's the point of getting a compact camera when you're going to bring with it a large and bulky external flash (or worse, a monolight that even requires a separate battery source)? Why not just use a DSLR then? Those are all valid points, and I think a reason this camera category isn't as hot as it could otherwise be.

Nonetheless, I do have reasons for preferring to use a compact in some circumstances. First, we don't always need to bring a flash. For example, when my wife is the one using the camera, she doesn't need an external flash and can take advantage of the LX5's portability.

Second, bringing an external flash is not difficult. What I do is to carry the very light and inconspicuous LX5 around my neck, then keep the external flash in my wife's diaper bag. I only whip out the flash when I need it.

Third, in some cases, the LX5 is the better tool for the job because the LX5 can actually do some things that my DSLR can't:

- The LX5 can provide photo as well as video (my aging DSLRs don't have video).

- The LX5 also has nearly unlimited sync speed thanks to its electronic shutter. Great for overpowering ambient light or "multiplying" your flash's power.

- The LX5 also has a very deep depth of field. Nice for landscape shots and some environmental portraits. See my notes about hyperfocal distance under "Focus."

Fourth (or sixth), the LX5 can complement a DSLR by serving as a backup camera or a second camera (the DSLR could cover telephoto lengths while the LX5 would cover wide-to-standard).

Lastly, it's fun to be able to take nicely-lit photos with a point & shoot that look better than DSLR photos with crappy lighting :).

On with the review. In the first part of this review, I will focus on usability. In the second part, I will discuss how the LX5 performs with various lighting tools.

PART 1: USABILITY

A. FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The LX5's size is about the same as many other compact cameras. Like other enthusiast compacts with wide aperture lenses, the LX5 lens barrel protrudes from the body a bit more than typical compacts, which is understandable given the LX5's physically larger lens. To compare the LX5's size with that of other cameras, check out http://camerasize.com/compare/ .

The body is mostly metal except for the shell which is plastic. All buttons and switches are metal and only the control dial is plastic. There is a rubber grip in front and a small grip at the back of the camera.

The LX5 feels very solidly built and weighs about the same as other wide aperture compacts, which is to say about twice as much as slim compacts.

B. CONTROLS

Rear controls with GGS LCD cover shown.

Top controls of the LX5. On the lens barrel is the aspect ratio switch. There is also a focus mode switch on the left side of the lens barrel (not shown here).

The controls are pretty conventional for the most part and don't get in the way of shooting. There is only one control dial to control aperture, shutter speed, and exposure compensation. It works like this: in any automatic or semi-automatic mode (P, A, S), rotating the dial functions as exposure compensation. In P, A, or S, you can also press the dial to toggle between exposure compensation and being able to alter the exposure creatively. In P mode, pressing the dial then rotating it functions as program shift. In A mode, doing so controls aperture. In S mode, it controls shutter. Press it again then you're back to exposure compensation.

In manual mode, there is no exposure compensation. Rotate the dial to change shutter speed or aperture, pressing the dial to toggle between the two. An electronic light meter assists with setting exposure.

Although I've been spoiled by the two control dials on my DSLRs, I got used to the LX5's control scheme fairly quickly. It works reasonably well. The only thing is that the dial is a little harder to press than I imagined because it is almost fully recessed.

Other notes about the controls:

There are dedicated buttons for ISO (yes!), self-timer, customizable Fn button, focus button (discussed below), and AF/AE lock.
It's great that the LX5 has an Fn button. Unfortunately the functions that can be assigned aren't broad enough. For example, FEC is not one of the functions that can be controlled by Fn. The most useful ones to me are auto bracketing, flash mode, metering mode, white balance (though I shoot raw anyway).
The focus button can function like an AF-ON button. When the LX5 is in manual mode, half-pressing the shutter will not change the focus but pressing the focus button causes the LX5 to focus.
There are two types of menus available: a comprehensive menu and a quick menu (for options that are more often changed), each accessible by dedicated buttons. Strangely, FEC is not in the quick menu.
The comprehensive menu's interface is similar to Nikon's, with tabs on the left side and options on the right side. However, some of the options are not intuitive. For example, when changing image quality (JPEG or raw) you are shown a few icons: 6 blocks, 3 blocks, Raw with an arrow pointing to 3 blocks, Raw with an arrow pointing to 6 blocks, or raw. Do the blocks represent the resolution (more blocks = better quality) or do they represent the number of pictures that can be taken (more blocks = lower quality)? (Answer: more blocks = better quality.) There are certain options that are not immediately understandable without reading the manual such as "Intelligent Exposure."
The pop-up flash is both raised and activated with a switch. The flash is TTL only (no manual flash mode) and flash exposure compensation is set in the menus (argh). You can specify the sync mode (front curtain, rear curtain, slow, etc.) in the menus.
There is a dedicated video recording button. Pressing the button immediately begins recording video. Alternatively, there is a video mode in the dial that allows video settings to be changed.

Program mode with TTL flash at -2 flash exposure compensation

C. FOCUS

Focusing speed is not as fast as that of a DSLR but I found it acceptable. I was using firmware v2.0 which supposedly increases focusing speed by 23%.

Focus accuracy was pretty good. The LX5 also has face detection focus, which works pretty well at identifying subjects and is my preferred focus mode for photos of my family.
There were only a few times where the LX5 would focus on the background instead of the subject. But the AF correctly identifies the subject most of the time, in which case the subject would be in focus.

I like the manual focus mode's interface. When you switch to manual focus mode, you can press the up button (marked "focus") to get the camera to autofocus. Then you can use the control dial or the left/right buttons to adjust the focus. As you adjust the focus, the middle part of the screen is enlarged to help you see whether the target is in focus ("Manual Focus Assist"). The LX5 has the option of filling the whole screen with the enlargement.

In addition to the Manual Focus Assist, there is a depth of field indicator (woohoo!). It shows a range of distances from 1cm (0.04 feet) to infinity. A yellow bar indicates the range that is in acceptable focus while you adjust the focus. This feature helps me find the hyperfocal distance easily. All I have to do is adjust the focus until the right edge of the yellow range bar reaches the infinity. The left edge of the yellow bar will show me the nearest distance that is within the depth of field. At f/2.0 and 24mm, that works out to about 6 feet to infinity. At f/8.0 (the smallest available aperture) and 24mm, the depth of field is from about 1 foot to infinity! (By comparison, on a D300 with the equivalent of a 24mm lens, a depth of field from 1 foot to infinity requires an aperture of f/45).

D. BATTERY LIFE

The battery life is adequate. I've only run down the battery twice. The first time I used up the battery, the battery meter went from 2 bars to none very rapidly. However, the second time I used up the battery, the battery meter showed more gradual depletion.

The battery charger is external, which is convenient. A full charge takes about 2.5 hours.

E. IMAGE QUALITY
One of my gripes about the Nikon P300 was that even at the base ISO, there was a bit of noise (if you look closely). The LX5 doesn't have this issue and looks clean at its base ISO of 80.

At high ISOs, the LX5 has low noise compared to other compact cameras, but I wouldn't say it's exceptional. To me, it's just about the same as other high-end compacts such as the Canon S95 or Nikon P300.

For my standards (I'm not a pixel peeper and I use Lightroom 3 for noise reduction) I find ISO 1600 is usable. If you print an uncropped ISO 1600 shot at 4x6, the noise is literally unnoticeable. At 8x10 or 8x12, the image looks a little grainy, but I don't find the noise obtrusive. Even at 11x14 or 12x16, it still looks ok to me and wouldn't mind hanging it on the wall. Here's a sample at ISO 1600:

ISO 1600

The sample is not full-res (it's only 1600pix), but if you click on the linked pic and zoom it to the maximum, you'll get a better idea of what the noise looks like with a medium-sized print.

Although I find the ISO 1600 noise to be acceptable, I like to do some postprocessing which sometimes pushes shadow areas a stop or more above the ISO they were shot at, so I'm more comfortable shooting at ISO 400 or less. Here's a sample of what I mean:

In this shot, I exposed for the sky, which left the rest of the photo very dark. In post, I dodged (lightened) the dark areas, effectively increasing the ISO in those areas, so those areas look a little grainy even though I shot at ISO 80.

One possible issue I have about the LX5 is that it seems to be less forgiving in retaining highlight tones than my DSLRs. When I overexpose a shot and try to reduce/correct the exposure in postprocessing (using Lightroom), I find that the gradation of tones is not smooth. This happens even though I shoot in raw with no blown highlights, and it's noticeable even with as little as 1 stop reduction/correction in exposure. I find this surprising given that some sites say that the LX5 supposedly has over 10 stops of dynamic range. Here's a sample shot illustrating this:

Original shot.

Corrected shot (-1.0 exposure). Note the skin tones on the face.

Maybe there's a setting that I'm not using properly but that's what I've found so far.

F. VIDEO

Video is one of the stronger features of the LX5 compared to other cameras. For starters, it can shoot 720p at 30fps. It has continuous autofocus while shooting (i.e., it can change focus while shooting). It also allows the use of the optical zoom while shooting. It has a very effective optical stabilization ("Power O.I.S. with Active Mode") during video. I didn't conduct a scientific test, but the handheld videos I've taken with the LX5 look quite stable even though I was moving while shooting the videos.

Video novices like me will appreciate that the LX5's scene modes, film modes, and color modes (e.g. black and white, retro, pinhole effect, happy, Intelligent Auto mode, etc.) can be used when shooting videos as well. All you have to do is choose the automatic mode or effect you want, the same way you would for photos, then shoot the video. The preset effect will be applied to the video. There are some exceptions for modes that are photo only (for example night portrait mode). What happens then is that the LX5 chooses a similar mode in video (in the case of night portrait mode, the LX5 switches to low light mode for video).

A unique feature among compacts is the availability of full manual control in video mode, allowing you to select P, A, S or M and exposure compensation. The LX5 also shoots in either Motion JPEG or AVCHD Lite. When shooting in AVCHD Lite, the video file size is unlimited (it's not subject to MPEG's 2GB limit) and the video is stored more efficiently. Other convenient video features include a video divide function and the ability to take a 2MB still picture from a recorded video.

The video does have some weaknesses that prevent it from being a full-fledged camcorder substitute. The sound also suffers it's only mono, and re-focusing and optical zooming are audible, plus there's no external audio jack. Another issue is that the LX5 is prone to sensor blooming. Wherever there is a very bright light source in the shot, there will be a purple/magenta vertical line.

Another weakness is dark conditions. The LX5 has a high sensitivity mode that boosts the ISO but doesn't have an LED light that can be used as a video light, nor can the frame rate slow down as with some camcorders.

I also want to note that although AVCHD Lite removes the file size limit, it's not convenient for editing. Many video editors (especially the entry-level ones) cannot edit AVCHD as-is (some cannot even view AVCHD). Instead, the file has to be converted to MPEG or similar. For me, I want to avoid this issue altogether, so I just use MPEG.

G. COMPOSITION AIDS

The LX5 includes several features to aid in creative composition:
- multi aspect ratio and aspect bracket.
- multiple guide lines
- multiple exposure

1. Multi Aspect Ratio
One of my favorite features of the LX5 is that you can change the aspect ratio from 1:1, 4:3, 3:2 (i.e. 4:6), or 16:9. The LX5 doesn't just crop the photo. Instead it retains the effective focal length (e.g. 24mm) and angle of view as you switch between aspect ratios.

Another cool feature is aspect bracketing. When activated, the screen will show the framing for all four aspect ratios simultaneously. When you take the shot, you will get a version of the photo in each aspect ratio. Sadly, aspect bracketing cannot be used if you're shooting in raw mode. Still, it's an interesting feature for experimenting with composition.

2. Multiple Guide Lines
Many cameras offer guide lines to aid composition. The LX5 however has 3 guide line modes. The first mode is the rule of thirds (yes it adjusts automatically when you change aspect ratios). The second mode is designed to assist in placing the target exactly in the middle of the frame. The third mode will show a horizontal line and a vertical line that can be adjusted to any position. The lines can be used to help align elements of your composition, such as the horizon, with other elements or with the frame.

3. Multi Exposure
This feature allows up to 3 shots to be superimposed on one another. Besides having an automatic gain adjustment, the LX5 makes it easy to take multi-exposure shots because the other shots are shown as translucent images.

PART 2: LIGHTING WITH THE LX5

The primary reason I wanted the LX-5 over the Nikon P300 was the availability of several lighting options. I tried the LX5 with an on-camera speedlight, off-camera speedlight, and a monolight.

A. On-Camera Flash
The first option I tried was to use on-camera flash. Naturally, the LX-5 requires a dedicated flash (e.g. Panasonic FL500 or its twin brother the Olympus FL50) to be able to use TTL. However, other flashes can be used with the LX-5, in manual flash mode or auto flash mode. Manual flash is self-explanatory. Auto flash is an older automatic flash technology where the flash, not the camera, controls flash exposure. With auto flash, you specify the ISO and aperture you're using. When the flash fires, it will use a sensor to measure the amount of reflection from the scene. When the reflection reaches a predetermined amount (based on the specified ISO and aperture), the flash will stop firing. Not all flashguns have an auto mode but many high-end flashes and older flashes like the Nikon SB-800 do have it.

When I attached the SB-800 to the LX-5's hotshoe, I was surprised that the LX-5 was aware that there was an external flash attached. When the LX5 detects a flash, it limits the shutter speed to 1/2000. I was able to sync at the 1/2000 limit. When flash is active and the LX5 is in P or A mode, the slowest shutter speed (in dim conditions) is limited to 1/60 or faster by default. This setting can be changed with the [Min. Shtr. Speed] command to as slow as 1 second or as quick as 1/250.

I took a shot of our son's Christmas concert. The room light levels were typical for indoors lit by fluorescent light. What made it challenging was that the stage was beside a window where there was bright direct sunlight. The simple solution was to use flash to bring up the indoor light level closer to the level where there was sunlight. I underexposed the ambient by about 1 stop, then plugged in the aperture and ISO into the SB-800. I turned the head to bounce the flash above and slightly behind me. I found the flash somewhat underexposed so I increased flash exposure by telling the SB-800 that the aperture was narrower than what it actually was. As I recall, I plugged in an aperture of f/4 although I was shooting at f/2.8. Here's the result:

Without flash

With flash

Having found the correct auto flash setting, I then took a photo of my wife and daughter, who were sitting beside me. Although they were much closer to me than was the stage, there was no need to adjust the flash setting. The flash exposure remained correct.

I've had the chance to use on-camera flash in auto mode with the LX5 on a few other occasions and it worked well. I would say that using an on-camera external flash in auto mode (or manual flash mode) with the LX5 can work fairly well when you're bouncing the flash. Here are a few items to note:

With an SB-800 attached, the LX5 becomes very top-heavy. But I got used to it.
The LX5's widest aperture gets narrower as you zoom in. Fortunately, the difference is only about 1.5 stops (unlike some cameras such as the Nikon P300 where the aperture can vary by 3 stops across the zoom range). However, that could still make your flash underexposed. One solution is to limit yourself to using the widest aperture at the tele end (f/3.3).
The working range of the auto flash on the SB-800 is narrow. Let's say you use ISO 800 and want to use an aperture of f/2.8 on the LX5. You'll find that if you select an ISO of 800 on the SB-800, the widest aperture you can specify on the flash will be something like f/5.6. When I run into this limitation, I switch to manual flash instead.
The SB-800 has an auto standby mode. When the SB-800 goes on standby, it is not "awakened" immediately by the LX5 -- it only wakes up on the next shot. I find it better to turn off standby altogether or use a long delay such as 160 secs or 300 secs instead of auto standby.
For the auto flash to work correctly, make sure you don't block the auto flash sensor. That means some flash modifiers such as a softbox can't be used with the auto flash. Of course, manual flash is always a possibility.
If you're using an old flash, make sure the voltage is safe for the LX5. Some of those older flashes have very high voltage.

Another sample of on-camera auto flash

B. Off-Camera: TTL Cord
The next lighting option I tried was using the SB-800 as off-camera flash via a TTL cord. For my TTL cord, I used the Nikon SC-29 cable. In theory, this option is similar to using the flash on-camera. In practice, I found it hard to get a good result with auto flash. First of all, I was forced to use direct flash because the sensor had to point to the subject. Most shots tended to have too much flash even at the minimum auto flash settings (i.e. using the widest aperture setting in the flash). The few times I got somewhat acceptable results was when the subject was relatively far away.

With an off-camera flash via TTL cord. f/5.6, 1/5, ISO 500. Flash in Auto mode. Rear curtain sync. Note: was heavily cropped.

I got much better results when I used the SB-800 in manual mode, which freed me to use it with flash modifiers that would otherwise block the auto flash sensor. Specifically, I used the SB-800 with the Lastolite Trifold Umbrella and Brolly Grip. I underexposed the ambient a little then just guesstimated the flash power level. After a while, I got used to figuring out the approximate power level based on the ambient light levels and approximate distance of the subjects.

I would say that this option (off-camera manual flash via TTL cord) is more challenging than using on-camera auto flash but still practicable especially when you get the hang of estimating the power level. Another benefit is that it's easier to handle the LX-5 with a TTL cord adapter attached to the hotshoe than a heavy external flash. Most importantly, using a TTL cord allows me to use flash modifiers.

If you're wondering whether the Lastolite Trifold umbrella and Brolly Grip really made a difference, check out these shots:

Bare flash

With Lastolite Trifold

BTW, sync speed with a TTL cord remained at 1/2000.

C. Alien Bee + Radiopopper JrX

Sample of LX-5 used with Alien Bee and Radiopopper JrX

Finally, I tried the LX5 with an Alien Bee monolight controlled wirelessly by a Radiopopper JrX Studio. I was able to sync at up to 1/1600. However, this doesn't necessarily mean you can take full advantage of that sync speed. The bottleneck is the flash duration. An AlienBees B1600 has a t.1 flash duration of 1/600 at full power. If you choose a shutter speed higher than 1/640 the flash exposure will be reduced. At 1/800 it's not so bad. Anything above that, the flash exposure progressively gets weaker. This becomes even more of an issue when you use less than full power. Whereas speedlights have IGBT transistors that lead to shorter flash durations as you decrease output, older monolights such as the AlienBees and White Lightning units have longer flash duration as you decrease output. This is not an issue with the newer Einstein monolights, which have IGBT transistors just like speedlights.

Anyway, I used the LX5 with a B1600 for the shot above. I used the B1600 with a 60" Westcott Convertible Umbrella in shoot-through mode, mounted on a Linco lightstand (which, by the way, has great stability because of its super-wide footprint), and powered by a Vagabond Mini. It was positioned camera left. The B1600 was controlled with a Radiopopper JrX Studio. The combo worked very well. I purposely powered down the B1600 to retain the backlit feel.

Without flash

With flash

The combination of the LX5 with a Radiopopper JrX and an AlienBees (or other Paul C. Buff monolight) works very well. The light and compact JrX trigger sits well on the LX5, unlike a relatively heavy external flash. Controlling the AlienBees was easy.

I also tried the LX5 with a Radiopopper JrX controlling a speedlight but I only did test shots (not "real" shots). It works just as well as when I use a monolight.

PART 3: OTHER COMMENTS

QUIRKS AND GRIPES
I only have minor complaints with the LX-5.

User manual is in the CD only. It's not available on Panasonic's website (they only have the basic instructions).
Fiddly lens cap.
Flash compensation is via menu and takes several button presses.
In Intelligent Auto (iA) mode, the camera can only shoot in JPEG format.
No automatic HDR mode (there is a preset that can flatten contrast and simulate HDR but it's not true HDR).

ACCESSORIES

GGS LCD protector. There's a GGS glass LCD protector available for the LX5 and it fits the screen perfectly. It's inexpensive and much more protective of the screen than the typical plastic film. The image looks just as clear as not having any protector attached. I highly recommend it.
Lens cap. There is a lens cap for the LX5 that can automatically open and close as the lens goes in and out of the camera's body. I got one and it does work as advertised, but it's made of very cheap plastic and looks like a toy especially when mounted on the sleek LX-5.
EZFoto camera case. This case has a similar design with the official Panasonic Lumix camera case but costs much less and is made of simulated leather. It is made of two parts. The bottom part attaches to the LX-5 by screwing on to the tripod socket (and adds an external tripod socket). The top flap is attached by buttons to the bottom part. I have mixed feelings about this case. On one hand the case does protect the camera and seems to offer the functionality of the official case at a much lower price. However, when using the camera you have to detach the cover (and find some place to keep it). Another disadvantage is that when you're changing the memory card or battery, you have to unscrew and remove the bottom part.
External flash with auto mode. I recommend getting an external flash that has an auto mode (or better yet, get the dedicated compatible flash like the Panasonic FL500 or Olympus FL50). An external flash can really improve the image quality of the LX-5 (with proper flash technique).
TTL Cord.
Radiopopper JrX Studio. If you want wireless multiple flash setups (with the possibility of combining monolights and speedlights) this is the way to go.
LWA52 and LA6 adapter. This high quality wide angle adapter converts the widest angle of the LX-5 from 24mm to 18mm. It's much more expensive than cheap wide angle adapters but you'll get much better image quality. Believe me, I've tried one of those cheapo adapters.

LX5 GALLERIES

I'm still very new to this kind of photography, so my pictures don't do justice to this camera's potential. Instead, take a look at these amazing LX5 photos instead (although it goes without saying that it was the photographer's skills that made the difference):
Panasonic's Photos Tell a Story Part II

Luis Castaneda

Charlie Waite
David James Williams

Flickr LX5 Group
Dez Santana - I like his cityscapes such as http://dezsantana.com/lx5/e3d42f43

MORE SAMPLES

For what they're worth, here are some more samples (click to enlarge).

Lighting A Geomag, The Lazy Way

2011-12-17T05:46:00.001-08:00

So how do you light a Geomag in an interesting way while keeping all these lightstands and modifiers tucked away in their bags? Click through to know how.

P.S. If you don't know what's a Geomag, check their product page or have a look at some insane contraptions over google images.

I have a few lightstands and modifiers that I use every now and then, but I hate taking them out of their bags and setting them up unless I specifically need them in something important, but for a casual image I use a much more efficient method, bounce flash.

I recieved a small Geomag kit as a gift in an innovation workshop, it consists of little magnetized metal bars, and small metal balls (bearings?) which you can use to create all sorts of shapes. My wife made that shape you see at the top and I decided to take a few photos. The room lights were overhead and weren't very interesting, so I decided to bring out my flashes and bounce them around the room using the walls and the ceiling as large light sources.

I have three speedlites that I can trigger wirelessly from my camera using the pop-up flash, I put the Geomag at the middle of the bed, then I put one speedlite to the right of the Geomag bouncing it towards the ceiling just above and a little behind me, the flash head was zoomed to 50mm to get a large soft light, the flash was on TTL, here's the shot I got:

It looked pretty ugly just the way direct flash photos look, and the bed sheets behind the Geomag were dark, remember that this shot was completely lit with flash, I have increased the shutter speed to the max sync speed and decreased the ISO until the room lights didn't register.

So what I did next was add (and by add, I mean throw it on the bed, no stands or tripods or anything) another TTL speedlite, but this one was bounced to the right and behind the Geomag, it hit the ceiling and wall and bounced back, then I took the following test shot:

Looks better this time but not good enough, I know I could raise the exposure of the whole photo to have the bright look I was looking for, but there's something still missing, the inside of the Geomag pyramid is in shadows and needs more light.

The back side of this bed is directly to the left of the Geomag, and is made from reddish-brown wood, and from experience, I knew that bouncing flash from this wood would create a reddish color cast, I thought that would add an interesting dimension to the final shot, so I added the third and the final TTL speedlite and bounced it directly to the left of the Geomag, here's what I got:

A much better looking result, don't you agree? After being satisfied with my lighting I decided to start taking actual shots from different view points, I also used a shallow DoF to make the Geomag stand out a little more.

And finally here's a crop from the metal ball in the above shot acting as a 360 degree mirror, it will show you the directions from which the lights were falling, the light you see from the camera is the pop-up flash trigerring the speedlites, it is very weak and does not contribute to the final exposure.

I hope you've enjoyed this quick tutorial, please if you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

Holiday party photos

2011-12-15T20:14:00.000-08:00

I took photos at a holiday party, which happened to be at the same location where we celebrated our daughter's first birthday.

I shot with my usual cameras: a Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50 VC and a Nikon D70 with a Sigma 50-150.

I used a combination of lighting techniques. For the shorter shots, I used bounce flash with an SB-800 in TTL mode, which performed flawlessly. For longer shots where the subject(s) would be farther, I used an Alien Bee B1600 monolight controlled by a Radiopopper JrX Studio and paired with a Lastolite Trifold shoot-through umbrella (yes, you can take candid shots with a monolight!). I powered the B1600 with a Vagabond II to get quicker recycling times.

Happy Holidays!!!

Lastolite Trifold Umbrella - World's Most Compact Umbrella

2011-12-12T04:31:00.000-08:00

I almost always shoot on-location, which makes portability is a significant issue. Gear that is portable saves time, effort and money to bring gear to the shoot. Perhaps more importantly, with compact gear I can bring more equipment with me and have more options when I shoot.

When Lastolite released the Trifold Umbrella, I was intrigued. It was advertised as 36 inches, large enough to qualify as a versatile medium-sized umbrella, and yet small enough to be used handheld (particularly with the Lastolite Brolly Grip). It was also described as "ultra compact" when folded, which could mean that it would actually fit it in my backpack, making it unnecessary to bring any other bag. It seemed the perfect complement to the Brolly Grip. I went ahead and ordered it and was pleasantly surprised.

MOST COMPACT UMBRELLA

Just how compact is this umbrella? In the shot above, the umbrella on top, measuring a little more than 11 inches folded is the tiny 19-inch Propet reflective umbrella. The Lastolite Trifold is the smaller white umbrella on the bottom, measuring just a smidge more than 10 inches, and just an inch longer than the miniscule Strobella (9 inches long, 11.8-inch diameter).

Because the Trifold is so compact, the top compartment of my Slingshot 302AW backpack can fit 3 speedlights plus the Brolly Grip and the Trifold. If I wanted to bring a lightstand, a 5-section compact stand would fit in the tripod holder of my backpack.

LARGER THAN EXPECTED
The Trifold was also wider than I expected. Manufacturers describe their umbrella sizes differently -- some measure the top surface of the umbrella, while others measure more conservatively, using the underside distance from tip to tip, since that's the effective size from the subject's perspective. The Trifold was measured even more conservatively. The length from one side (of the octagon) to the opposite side is 35.5 inches. The underside length from tip to tip, however, is 38.75 inches. The top surface is actually 43 inches.

This is the neutron star of umbrellas.

19-inch Propet, 25-inch Creative Light, and the "36-inch" Trifold Umbrella

EFFECTIVE SURFACE AREA
When compared to my previous preferred handheld umbrella, the 25-inch Creative Light Translucent, the Trifold appears massive. It's no wonder -- measuring the effective size to the subject, the area of the 25-inch Creative Light is approximately 483 square inches (each side of the octagon is 10 inches), while the Trifold has an area of about 1086 square inches (each side is 15 inches).

DUAL-LENGTH SHAFT
An interesting feature of the Trifold is that its shaft can be extended to two lengths, either 15.5 inches or 23 inches. The dual-length shaft makes the Trifold uniquely well-matched for use with the Brolly Grip. When used handheld, the shorter length is perfect and makes the umbrella easier to hold. At 23 inches, the umbrella exerts a little too much leverage and can be tiring to hold with one hand for sustained periods.

On the other hand, when the shorter shaft is used on a light stand, the light stand will press into the umbrella, whereas the 23-inch shaft is just enough for standard use.

OTHER NOTES
Here are other things I noted about the Trifold:
- 10mm shaft: a little wider than the more common 8mm. Fits the Brolly Grip's larger receptacle.
- Rounded tips: avoid scratching your other gear or yourself (or your kids).
- Rubber tipped shaft: nice touch to help make it a little easier to fold down the umbrella.
- Angular shape: unfortunately, the top surface of the umbrella doesn't curve smoothly like other umbrellas. Instead, it is angular (as seen in the shot above).
- Zoom Angle: With the shorter shaft, I find that using a diffuser cup (similar to the Sto-Fen Omnibounce) allows me to fill the surface most evenly. At the same time, the cup sits just barely inside of the umbrella cover, minimizing unnecessary spill. In the future I plan to test the maximum zoom that will fill the umbrella when used with the fully extended shaft.

SOFTNESS COMPARISON
I was curious to see if this umbrella was noticeably softer than the 25-inch Creative Light translucent when used handheld. For this test, I placed the Brolly Grip on a lightstand, approximating the position where I would hold the umbrella. I then took comparison shots between the Trifold (paired with a speedlight and diffuser cup), the 25-inch Creative Light, with the speedlight and built-in diffuser, and the 25-inch Creative Light, with the speedlight at 105mm zoom.

The shadow on the background shows that there is a significant difference between these three setups. The difference is also clearly shown in the shadows below the chin. There is also a very noticeable difference in specularity (something I didn't expect). On the other hand, when we look at the mannequin's face, the shadows of the nose and cheek look almost the same, while there is some difference in the shadows of the lips.

It may also seem that the color temperature in these shots is different but I think it's an optical effect caused by the difference in specularity and not a property of the umbrellas themselves (note the difference even between the two Creative Light shots).

BROLLY GRIP MOD
Before I show some real-world samples, I'd like to mention that I've switched out the thumbscrew on my Brolly Grip with an eBay 1/4-20 to shoe mount adapter. This allows me to use my SC-29 TTL Cord with the Brolly Grip and I can trigger my flash reliably any way I hold the umbrella. The only disadvantage is that there is no convenient thumbscrew to facilitate attaching and removing the SC-29. I leave the SC-29 attached to the Brolly Grip when I keep them in my bag.

SAMPLES
I tried the Trifold and Brolly Grip combo as a handheld umbrella last weekend. I wanted to give my wife a brief rest so I took both kids to the park. It was quite challenging to manage both of them, answer our 4-year old's endless questions, prevent our daughter from jumping off the playground structure or running into the pond/lake to catch ducks, while having both hands effectively tied with the camera and Brolly Grip. Just to make things even more interesting, I had done a 2-button reset on my camera and forgotten to switch my camera back to raw mode. Argh. So, all of these are from JPEGs, and except for the black and white one, almost SOOC with very minor editing in Lightroom (to give a more accurate view of the Trifold's results, I also removed vignetting or local adjustments).

UPDATE: more samples here.

DISCLOSURE: I'm not affiliated with Amazon or Lastolite nor am I sponsored by them. I bought the Brolly Grip and Trifold Umbrella for my own use and am providing this review for informational purposes. I do have an Amazon Associates account and in this article I've linked to Amazon pages for the products mentioned, which means if you purchase the product I will get an approximately 4% commission (without any additional cost to you and which is a welcome way of supporting this blog).

35mm f/2 in Alexandria

2011-12-10T14:40:00.001-08:00

We're back, yes, we're back (you'll know what I mean if you're an avid Top Gear fan like me), I have been away for quite a long time now, but for reasons that were totally out of my hands, the situation is not over yet, but it has gotten much better. I thought to make it up to you with a quick post with images from my last trip to Alexandria with my work colleagues, hit the jump for more.

I went on a boys only trip with my work colleagues to Alexandria, as per my usual habit I decided to pick a single lens for the whole trip in order not to distract myself, and I decided on the Canon 35 mm f/2. It was quite a pleasure, and as I said in my 35mm f/2 review before, it is my do-it-all lens.

Now I leave you to enjoy the pictures, most of them were taken during a boat trip in the sea.

How many flashes were used to get this one? The answer is at the end.

And a couple more of my recent favorite 35mm pictures, as you'll see in my later posts, I have sort of developed a fetish for shooting shoes.

The flying man phot above was done using a single flash bounced to the ceiling and the wall on the camera left, trigerred wirelessly by my camera's pop-up flash.

This post has been written completely using my newly acquired iPad 2, this will be a subject for future posts, how can the iPad perform as a photographer's tool (everything, lightroom, editing, posting, sharing, etc...).

My next post will talk discuss my favorite uses for a circular polarizer.

Shooting in Autumn

2011-12-08T11:20:00.001-08:00

I love shooting during autumn. Of course there are those gorgeous leaves. But besides that, it's also great because of the sun's position. You know how we photographers dread the sun being overhead because it casts unflattering shadows? In autumn, the sun never goes directly overhead. This will vary of course with where you live, but here in Los Angeles, for example, the maximum altitude of the sun today is only 33.4 degrees (at 11:40 am PST) according the my iPhone app The Photographer's Ephemeris. Contrast that with an altitude of around 79.5 degrees at 12:52pm at summer solstice (June 21, 2011).

If you want to see what difference that angle makes, check out the recent review of the Lastolite Brolly Grip. The shots there were taken around 11:30am yet the shadows are distinctly angled.

If you live closer to the poles, then the sun is at an even lower angle these days. The highest angle of the sun today for Boston is just 25 degrees, at 11:33am.

Don't waste this opportunity -- get out there and shoot!

Necessary Roughness: Information vs. Emotion

2011-12-05T01:37:00.001-08:00

When it comes to action shots, a shot that is clearer, sharper and shows more of what's going on is not necessarily what I look for. Instead my priority is to capture the emotion, and I don't let the need for information get in the way.

More after the jump.

When I take photos, I don't see myself as a recordkeeper. Preserving information is not my purpose although it may be an incidental benefit of my shots. Rather, I take photos in the hope of moving another person, perhaps through beauty, emotion, or sometimes, unreasonableness. To do that, I sometimes sacrifice elements of a photo that a nonphotographer might think as always being critical in photographs: clarity, sharpness, capturing everything for the viewer.

Recently, I took some shots of my Brazilian jiu-jitsu teammates. I had seen a number of jiu-jitsu photos and most of them didn't stir my emotions. Frankly, I found many of them to be emotionally flat. I thought this was strange considering that Brazilian jiu-jitsu is an intense sport. I noticed that most of the shots were very clean: sharp, clear, with plenty of information for the viewer. I thought that this might be the problem.

While I'm sparring in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, things are usually anything but clear and smooth. Matches between equally skilled players are very unpredictable, constantly going back and forth, neither person remaining dominant for long. Sometimes, the players might appear very still, but that's only as true as a heavy spring is compressed to the maximum. A split second later and the players explode into sudden and erratic movement.

I thought about capturing the same feeling in my shots. Here are the tips I used to do that.

1. Understand the sport.

a Brazilian jiu-jitsu "pendulum sweep"

Because I understand the sport, I can not only understand what is going on, but also anticipate when a sudden movement is about to occur, and when a climactic moment is coming. In the shot above, I saw that the dark-haired player was positioned to sweep the other player off his feet. So I took aim and sure enough... whoosh!

2. Get the player's perspective.

The player in white has trapped the other player in his "guard" and is about to apply a "palm up palm down" choke.

To bring the viewer closer to the experience of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I positioned myself at the same level as that of a player. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is mostly groundfighting so I got down on my hands and knees to get most of the shots.

3. Freeze time.

A hip throw

For some of the shots, I did use a high shutter speed typically recommended for sports photos. To avoid making the shot boring though, I used this to capture moments where the high shutter speed actually makes a difference in appearing to freeze time. The shutter speed for the shot above was 1/250.

4. Facial expressions.

The player in blue winces as the player in white tries to escape.

In trying to capture the decisive moment, it's easy enough to look at the player's actions. However, I also paid attention to the facial expressions of the players.

5. Tele or wide.

Although the player in black is on the bottom, he is about to execute a choke that could win the fight.

I avoided using a normal focal length and instead either used a short focal length (and placed myself close to the players) or I used a long focal length. I believe that shots that offer a literally different point of view can be more emotional than one shot with a normal focal length.

6. Very tight composition.

Players struggling

Another way I heightened the tension and drama in some shots is by using a very tight composition. Naturally, this will mean missing much of the information in the scene. However, that's exactly what I want here because this imperfect information mirrors the experience of grappling and fighting in close quarters.

7. Blur.

The player in black breaks a hold by rotating his upper body and kicking out his leg.

Another way I charged the shots with more emotion was to use intentional blur. I used motion blur from the subjects' movement, as distinguished from blur from being out of focus, or blur from camera movement. The shot works when at least part of the image is sharp, because the viewer consciously or subconsciously understands that the shot was not out of focus and the photographer had a steady hand (or in the case of panning movements, skillfully moved the camera along the direction of movement). I added motion blur by using a slow shutter (1/20 in the shot above, though most of the time I used 1/25). Other possible options include Flash Blur and adding blur in post-processing.

Anyway, here are more samples.

The bottom player is about to execute a type of shoulder lock called an "omoplata"

The player in white struggles as the player on top pressures his neck.

The player in black rotates to prevent the player in white from gaining a superior position.

Tension vs. Climax

Flash Blur

Inspired by UFC

Dancing on the Edge of Shadow and Light

2011-11-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

Cool things can happen on the edge between shadow and light. This fan palm was at such a magical spot. It was among some plants that were shaded from the sun by a wall. However, the palm was a little higher than the other plants, and it alone was illuminated by backlight, causing it to glow against the shaded background.

RELATED POSTS:
Using Midday Sunlight

Lastolite Brolly Grip Review: Soft Directional Light Anywhere

2011-11-23T20:30:00.001-08:00

This is a preliminary review of the Lastolite Brolly Grip. This unique lighting accessory allows you or an assistant to hold an umbrella, making it possible to get soft, directional light almost anywhere, without setting up.

In this review, I wanted to focus on using it by myself, without an assistant or light stand. I also wanted to have a lot of sample shots to show the real-world potential of the Brolly Grip.

When there is no feasible surface to bounce from, one of my favorite light modifiers is a handheld umbrella, a technique that I read about from Bob Krist. I put together my own version here and later found a rare handheld umbrella made by Propet (reviewed here). The Propet handheld umbrella worked well, but it had two significant weaknesses: First, the coldshoe does not hold a flash securely (on one occasion, my YN560 fell into the water). Second, the screws on some of the parts tend to come loose and are not easily replaced. Plus, the Propet handheld umbrella itself is very hard to find. In the last couple of years I've only seen it listed on eBay three times.

When Lastolite announced the Brolly Grip I was intrigued even though I already had the Propet bracket. I thought it was somewhat pricey but not ridiculously so. I finally took the leap and was surprised that it was actually out of stock. After a few weeks of waiting, my order came a couple of days ago.

The Lastolite Brolly Grip with Nikon SB-800 and a Creative Light 25" Shoot-Through Umbrella

The Brolly Grip is made of a light but very durable plastic with a matte finish. The top part of the handle has a removable cold shoe. The cold shoe can be rotated if you loosen the thumbscrew that holds it in place. The cold shoe can also be faced backwards if you prefer the grip to be tilted the other way. The cold shoe doesn't have a receptacle for a locking pin and instead holds the flash through friction and pressure.

The grip holds the flash horizontally, placing it close to the axis of the umbrella, maximizing the use of the umbrella surface. However, this leads to other problems with optical triggering as discussed below. It also requires a flash that has a head that can be raised 90 degrees. The grip has a downward angle of around 30 degrees. I find this useful for holding the umbrella above the subject or as far off to the side as possible. If you have a light stand or boom, this could also help you add short light or possibly even a back light (see here).

Just above the grip are two holes for an umbrella to accommodate an 8mm and 10mm shaft. The bottom of the grip has a hollow receptacle for a 5/8 studs commonly used in light stands.

Strangely, there is no thumbscrew to hold the umbrella. Instead, you just slide the umbrella shaft in and it is held with friction by an o-ring inside the shaft. This leads to a few problems as discussed below.

Lastolite has a video demonstrating how the product is used:

SOFT DIRECTIONAL LIGHT ANYWHERE

Lastolite's demo shows good results but the photographer had the benefit of an assistant. What about the rest of us who don't have VALs? One of the key benefits of the Brolly Grip after all is the possibility of using it by yourself. Is it really feasible to use it alone and does it really provide soft directional light in real world conditions?

I took my son to a playground and had the chance to use the Brolly Grip in sunny outdoors with no bounce surfaces available. I used a Creative Light 25-inch Translucent Umbrella. For my flash, I used a Nikon SB-800 triggered optically via CLS Advanced Wireless Lighting, using my Nikon D300's popup flash as a commander. I held the Brolly Grip with one hand and the camera with the other. When I was holding the Brolly Grip with my right hand, I would cradle the camera below the lens and press the shutter with my ring finger (it helps that I don't use a battery grip and my Tamron 17-50 VC isn't a huge lens). An alternative to this finger stretching method is to use a remote shutter.

Anyway, here are some of the shots:

Here are some shots where the flash use is more overt:

For testing purposes, I also made some comparison shots showing the difference between ambient only versus the shot with flash (note: in the first and third comparison, the flash shot was already edited in Lightroom; the second set of comparison shots are straight-out-of-the-camera):

Even though I was using a small umbrella and I could only reach so far to the side with my arm, the light does look reasonably soft and directional. Certainly not always as soft as bounce flash but a huge improvement over direct flash. Plus, unlike bounce flash, I didn't have to worry about the color of the bounce surface.

CRITICISMS
I have some issues with the design. First of all, the umbrella holder doesn't have any kind of thumbscrew or clamp to hold an umbrella securely. Instead, there is a thin rubber o-ring inside each slot to hold an umbrella with friction. On one hand, it is easy to insert an umbrella. On the other hand, there is a risk that the umbrella might slide off. I'm especially worried about the inevitable wear on the o-ring, which may make the grip more loose in the future. Another disadvantage is that your umbrella shaft must be exactly 8mm or 10mm. That worked for two of my umbrellas but my 19" reflective umbrella was tapered so it's too loose for the 8mm. I also don't know how well the slots can hold umbrellas with hexagonal (as opposed to round) shafts. My workaround for this issue is to wrap a little tape around the shaft to make the shaft thicker and allow it to be held more tightly.

The second biggest issue I have with the design is the cold shoe. The cold shoe does not use a 1/4-20 hole. Instead, it uses a non-standard size. This makes it hard to use a third party cold shoe such as Nikon's AS-19 Flash Stand or a Frio Cold Shoe. If you have a thumbscrew that is long enough, it is possible to use a Frio. However, I haven't found a thumbscrew long enough to use with my Nikon SC-29 TTL Cord.

I have a few other minor gripes such as:

the grip angle is non-adjustable, making it less useful when paired with a light stand;
I wish they included a 1/4 and 3/8 spigot so that the grip can be used with a tripod. Might as well include a hole in that spigot too so that the lower thumbscrew can securely hold the spigot and prevent the grip from rotating.

TRIGGERING OPTIONS
One of the challenges with the Brolly Grip is the need for reliable triggering. If you're using the grip handheld, then the simplest solution is a TTL cord. Triggering would be very reliable and simple - just like using the flash on-camera. Plus, you can position the flash in any direction without having to worry about whether the flash will receive the signal. Unfortunately, because of the non-standard screw size for the cold shoe, you'll need either a long enough screw to attach the TTL cord to the Brolly Grip or you'll need a shoe-to-1/4 adapter.

Using a radio trigger is another alternative. There are many reliable radio triggering solutions such as a Radiopopper. On the other hand, radio triggers with TTL capability are quite expensive.

The remaining alternative is optical triggering. Optical triggering is not ideal with the Brolly Grip for at least a few reasons. First, the Brolly Grip places the flash horizontally. On most flashes, the sensor for optical triggering faces the front or the side of the flash (on the SB-800, the sensor faces mostly to the side but slightly to the front). When the flash is placed horizontally, the sensor can only face one side of the flash. With the Brolly Grip that means that if you use switch the grip from one hand to the other, the sensor will face away from the popup flash. My workaround for this is to hold the grip upside down if I switch hands. If I will use that side for a while, then I rotate the cold shoe so that the flash sensor will again face the popup flash.

Second, if the Brolly Grip is used outdoors in bright sunlight, then a popup flash as commander may have difficulty putting out enough light to be detected by the remote flash.

Despite these limitations, optical triggering isn't so bad in the real world. Most of the time I was able to trigger the SB-800 successfully with my popup flash. Sometimes, when the SB-800 wasn't triggered, all I would need to do is to move the flash a bit forward to bring it within the scope of the popup flash. Considering that I was shooting mostly in bright sunlight (i.e. almost the worst case scenario), I would say that optical triggering is a realistic alternative, even if it isn't ideal.

Picking flowers for mommy

USABILITY
We've already seen that it is possible to get soft directional light with the Brolly Grip. However, how practical is it for real world use?

In my view, if I have the option to use bounce flash, I would prefer to bounce for simplicity, softness and directional control. If bouncing is not an option but the ambient light is good, I might use a ring flash instead as fill for simplicity and ease of use. For other situations when bouncing is not an option and the ambient light is not favorable, a handheld umbrella would probably be my preferred solution. In that regard, the Brolly Grip is the best handheld umbrella I have right now.

UMBRELLA OPTIONS
The Brolly Grip can be ordered by itself or as a kit with a 19.7 inch (50cm) shoot-through umbrella (also available separately). I already have a couple of small umbrellas (a 19 inch reflective and a 25 inch shoot-through) so I just ordered the grip. I later found out that Lastolite also makes a 36 inch (90cm) TriFold Umbrella that folds down to just 10 inches. I've ordered the TriFold Umbrella and will post about it shortly. If you want to see a list of other small umbrellas, check out this post.

RELATED POSTS:

DISCLOSURE: I'm not affiliated with Amazon or Lastolite nor am I sponsored by them. I bought the Brolly Grip for my own use and am providing this review for informational purposes. I do have an Amazon Associates account and in this article I've linked to Amazon pages for the products mentioned, which means if you purchase the product I will get an approximately 4% commission (without any additional cost to you and which is a welcome way of supporting this blog).

MORE SAMPLE SHOTS

Winning a Photo Contest

2011-11-18T20:47:00.001-08:00

Winning a photo contest both is and isn't a big deal. It isn't a big deal in the sense that a real artist would care more about expressing his or her idea and less about the audience reaction. On the other hand, I believe that art is a form of communication that becomes perfected when it is received by another person in a meeting of minds.

I entered the shot above in a photo contest and it was one of the winning entries. This is the second year in a row when I've had a winning entry in this contest and I thought I'd talk about the approach I used in making this photo.

Ideally, I would like my photo to be something that is worth looking at. It's not enough to be beautiful if it's something that has been done before.

There are amazing photos that simply demand attention because everything comes together perfectly. For example, while hiking in the mountains, you capture a scene where dramatic clouds have crepuscular rays shining through them, illuminating a colorful and picturesque town in a valley with a vast field of green grass, with colorful flowers in the foreground, complete with butterflies. And there's a triple rainbow in the background. If you get a miraculous scene like that, then obviously that shot would win any contest where that photo falls within the theme.

Most of the time though, I'm working with a mundane subject that people have already seen many times before and I have to work hard to make the shot deserve another look.

First, I make sure that the photo doesn't have any defects. By defect, I mean anything that detracts from the photo, such as a distracting object in the background.

Second, I make sure to control the most significant aspects of most photos: composition, lighting, exposure and color. If any of those fundamental aspects are less than good, then the shot likely will not meet the required threshold.

Third, if possible I try to have a strong secondary element in the shot. All photos have a primary subject or theme. However, I try to make the photo so that it has a secondary element or theme that is also worthy of attention. For example, a photo could on its face be a portrait but the background is itself an interesting subject.

Is it a candid portrait or is it a landscape photo? It's both!

Lastly, I think of as many ways as possible to make the photo special. I ask myself, what would make someone interested in this particular photo? It could be any number of things:

a beautiful subject
an exotic location
a powerful facial expression
an interesting or unusual point-of-view
perfect timing
amazing texture
amazing details
interesting shadows
humor

The possibilities are infinite! In my view, the more "points" I can add, the stronger the photo becomes. Usually I think of at least 4 points, although a very special point could count as 2 points on my scale.

EXAMPLE
The shot above is of one of the buildings at Los Angeles International Airport. I thought about shooting it at sunset while there were dramatic clouds in the sky (not so common in the dry Southern California weather). Finally, there was a storm that created the conditions for dramatic clouds. For this shot, I used my Nikon D300 and the versatile Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC.

Minimizing distractions: When I got to the spot where I wanted to take a shot, I looked for the best vantage point with the fewest street lamps and trees. At the time I was taking the shot there were also crows flying around. The crows were not appropriate for the photo so I waited for the crows to fly away before taking the shot.

Composition: I chose a slightly longer focal length (75mm equivalent) to make the clouds appear a little larger than normal (relative to the building) and to get fewer street lamps and palm trees in the shot. See here. In framing the shot I placed the building according to the rule of thirds. I waited for picturesque clouds to move into the background to complement the subject.

Exposure: Exposure can have a couple of meanings for me. First, it means the overall exposure value chosen. In that regard, important highlights and shadows should be retained. Second, it means the selection of aperture, shutter speed and ISO within the same exposure value in order to achieve the best results. I selected an aperture of f/11 to give me deep depth of field (to keep the building and clouds sharp). At f/16 I become concerned about diffraction. I also focused not at the building, but at a point that was closer (around the closer streetlamp), in order to maximize depth of field with the hyperfocal distance. I chose the base ISO for lowest noise (according to pixel peepers, ISO 160 is the real base ISO for the Nikon D300). I selected a shutter speed to get an exposure value that would retain details in the highlights of the clouds. That turned out to be 1/13. That's pretty slow but I wasn't concerned because I was using a tripod.

Lighting: I chose to take the photo while there were cloudy skies, instead of harsh direct sunlight that would have made the building washed out. There was also one other lighting decision as discussed below.

Color: To get the most intense colors in the clouds, I waited for the last rays of sunset to hit the clouds. The other thing I did for color is to change the white balance. I altered the color temperature and tint to get the colors in the shot.

Secondary Element: The literal subject of the photo is the building. However, another significant secondary element is the clouds. Without the clouds, this photo would look just like any other of the hundreds of photos of this building.

Special Effects: Here are the points I was able to put together for this photo (some already referenced previously).

1. Golden hour.
2. Dramatic clouds.
3. Interesting reflection. I caught the sunset in the reflection of the building.
4. Contrasting light conditions. The reflection of the building here is facing west. As the sun began to set, west of this building, the clouds were already in dusk. Because of the reflection, two different "time zones" with distinct light conditions were captured in the shot.
5. Spotlight. I waited until the clouds overhead parted slightly to shine a "spotlight" on the building (that's why the left part of the building is brighter than the right part). This not only highlighted the building but allowed me to get a darker exposure for the clouds (relative to the sunlight), making the clouds even more dramatic.

So there you have it!

RELATED POSTS
What's the point of having different lenses?
Environmental Portrait: Go Short or Long?
Brushing the Sky
Mitchell Kanashkevich's Captivating Color

When NOT to Use Lens Correction in Lightroom

2011-11-13T03:27:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite Lightroom features is lens correction, which can correct vignetting, chromatic aberration and distortion. I find this really useful because my lenses are not pro-grade and suffer from these issues. With lens correction, my photos look like they are from more expensive lenses. :)

I used to assume that I ought to apply lens correction to all my images. However, I found out that sometimes, it's better not to use lens correction (or to choose which issues to correct for).

I recently took a portrait of my family and some family friends. I used a Tamron 17-50 VC at 17mm, which exhibits very noticeable complex distortion (the middle of the image bulges). Here's what the distortion pattern looks like:

Notice that the middle of the closet door bulges, but the top and bottom do not. This is one of the weaknesses of this otherwise great lens.

Anyway, back to the portrait that I took. Here's the image without lens correction:

Here's the image with lens correction:

If you look at the "corrected" image, the faces of the people at the edges look more distorted (and less flattering) than those of the uncorrected image. Take a closer look at my son's face, which appears skewed in the corrected image.

So in this case, I chose not to apply the lens correction.

Fortunately, Lightroom also allows not just turning lens correction on or off completely, but also selectively applying the lens correction to correct vignetting, chromatic aberration or distortion or any combination of those issues. You can also select the degree of correction of each issue.

Happy First Birthday, Sophia!

2011-11-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

We celebrated our daughter's first birthday with an intimate lunch party for family and friends. These are some of my favorite party photos that I've taken.

Red velvet cake by Susie Cakes

Maty as the balloon monster

Photoshop Elements 10 Depth of Field Effect

2011-11-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

I tried out Photoshop Elements 10's depth of field effect on the shot above. It's a big improvement over the original shot:

The original shot. What's with the evil eye, lady?

This is one effect that I can't pull off in Lightroom. To create the appearance of a shallow depth of field with PSE 10, I used the guided mode to walk me through the steps. First, I used a selection brush to identify the subject. Next I clicked on the button "add blur." Finally I dragged a lever to determine the intensity of the effect. It's a pretty simple process, although a similar result can probably be achieved using a gaussian blur with a layer mask.

Quick Tip: Additional Camera Profiles

2011-11-07T22:37:00.000-08:00

Here's an old tip but it's something I have to remind myself about every time I reinstall Lightroom: If you have Adobe Lightroom or Camera Raw, you can install additional camera profiles that will allow you to emulate the color modes from your camera (neutral, vivid, etc.).

I learned this tip from Mitchell Kanashkevich's Understanding Post-Processing (reviewed here) but I've also seen it been mentioned by Matt Kloskowski. Anyway, here's the link:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=labs_cameraprofiles

Just download the file and double-click to install. You'll then find new camera profiles available (under "Camera Calibration" in Lightroom). FYI this works only for raw and DNG files. Also be aware that the types of profiles that are available are camera-specific. For example, Nikon raw files will show D2X Mode 1, D2X Mode 2, etc. while Canon raw files will show Canon camera profiles.

Nikon P300: Cheap Enthusiast Compact Camera

2011-11-06T22:57:00.000-08:00

Choosing a digital camera is easy. Choosing an inexpensive but good digital camera is a bit more challenging. Each camera touts its own fancy-sounding features, some of which are just gimmicks, making it hard to pick out cameras that have the features that really matter to us photographers, at a reasonable price.I was looking for a camera that had these qualities:
- low noise for a compact camera
- zoom with a wide angle (28mm or wider)
- PASM, decent controls
- flash exposure compensation
- scene mode for my wife
- decent video capability (at least 720p, preferably with continuous autofocus and optical zoom).
- no serious problems
- around $250.
Based on those criteria, I chose the Nikon P300. Hit the jump for a review.

My wife was looking for a compact camera and within our limited budget, I picked the Nikon P300 for the reasons I posted here. On paper, the P300 seems to have many of the strengths of the Canon S95 and even some of the new features of the Canon S100 at a substantially lower cost. More importantly it had all the important features I absolutely needed:
- low noise: was almost the same as the class leaders
- wide angle: as wide as 24mm
- PASM, decent controls: yup. It even has two dials.
- flash exposure compensation: yes.
- scene mode for my wife: yup.
- decent video capability: 1080p in stereo with continuous AF and optical zoom. Super slow motion also available.
- no serious problems: none that I could find.
- around $250: yup.
I went ahead and ordered the P300, and received it a couple of weeks ago. Here are my impressions, broken into a few categories: basics, controls, shooting, video, strobist use, image quality. Finally, I close with some comments on what it's like to shoot with this camera compared to a DSLR.

BASICS

Extremely light. Other people have said it but it still surprised me. The camera seems half as light as my phone. It actually isn't (the P300 is 189g with battery and SD card vs. 137g for the iPhone) but it still feels unreal.
The build quality itself seems ok, though almost all parts seem to be made of plastic.
The size is about right - on the large end of "pocketable." Thicker than the usual slim compact camera.
Battery life is acceptable. Just enough to last me a whole day of shooting with moderate use of flash and videos. The battery life meter is not very reliable. It appears 'full' for about 90% of its life, when suddenly it will appear half depleted then fully depleted within a few minutes.
An external charger is optional. Would have been nice if Nikon included it. Without an external charger you have to use the camera to charge the battery.

CONTROLS

The menus and buttons are very responsive. This is something that I've taken for granted but it is an issue with some cameras such as the Nikon P7000, so it's worth mentioning here.
Controls and interface are intuitive (at least for me, a Nikon DSLR user). I haven't had much need to look at the manual, except for special automated functions I'm not familiar with.
Some often-used functions are buried in the menus, including ISO, flash exposure compensation, and video resolution and frame rate. However, there is a quick menu access to "vividness" and "hue". Argh.
Deleting images takes several button presses. This is somewhat annoying.

SHOOTING

24mm

I find the focal length range very useful. At the wide end, the lens is equivalent to 24mm. I did not find myself wanting a wider focal length (but if Nikon wants to make it even wider next time, that would be great!). On the tele end, I found it long enough most of the time.
Focusing speed is slower than a DSLR but is acceptable. In normal conditions it's not an issue. It's only when it gets dim that it becomes noticeable. In fairly dark conditions, it can struggle to acquire focus even with an AF assist light. I noticed also that it is easier to focus when using the wide angle than tele (presumably because of the larger aperture at the wide end).
I have no complaints about focusing accuaracy. However, in Auto mode (where the camer chooses the focus point), the camera sometimes seems to have some difficulty picking out the intended subject from the background. The camera chooses a correct focus point about half the time, unless I purposely put the subject near the center, acquire focus, then re-compose. The P300 does have face priority focus which works better and picks out faces relatively well.
The automatic and semi-automatic exposure modes give me an exposure that is usually close to what I intended, but the camera tends to select slow shutter speeds instead of shooting at higher ISOs.
ISO display. By default, Auto ISO is active. However, one problem when Auto ISO is active is that the ISO isn't displayed.
Live histogram. A live histogram (luminance only) shows up when you're adjusting exposure compensation in P, A or S. The live histogram is reasonably representative of the histogram of the actual shot (assuming flash is not used). However, there is no live histogram in manual mode, which I found weird.
Manual mode. The manual mode is so-so to use. On the plus side, I had no difficulty getting used to changing the shutter speed or aperture using the P300's dials. The light meter was also easy enough to see. On the down side, the only metering modes are matrix and center, which defeats using the manual mode for the zone system. Spot metering would have made the manual mode much more useful.
Night Landscape mode. One of the automatic features of the P300 that I appreciate is a night-shooting mode. What this does is to take several photos then combine them (albeit slightly cropped). I'm not sure what the P300 exactly does when it "combines" the images but for parts of the photo that don't move, the image does look clean and not so blurry even without a tripod.
HDR Backlighting mode. I haven't tried this yet but it appears to function like the iPhone HDR shooting mode. The camera takes a couple of shots and combines them to capture a wider dynamic range of highlights and shadows.
Panorama mode. The P300 has two panorama modes. In the Easy mode, you press the shutter then move the camera around you, either in 180 degrees or 360 degrees. The problem with this mode is that it doesn't really know how far you've turned, so I find it very difficult to reach 180 degrees or 360 degrees. Instead, the recording usually stops well short of the angle selected. The part that does get recorded looks ok though.
The P300 has another panorama mode that facilitates stitching a panorama using the supplied Panorama Maker 5 or other software. In this mode, you take a shot of the scene then the edge of the scene you took is shown on the side as a translucent image which helps you align the next image. When you take that image, it is again shown as a translucent image to facilitate alignment of the next shot and so on.

IMAGE QUALITY

Let's start with the bad news. The image quality is ok for small prints but for prints larger than 8x12 for example, the image is not very detailed. Even at the base ISO setting of 160, tiny details look smudged. Although the nominal resolution is 12mp, it holds far less detail than my 10mp d300.
The other limitation to the P300 is that it only does JPEGs not raw. That means that you have less latitude to adjust white balance (for correction or creative purposes). Usually I find the white balance to be slightly on the warm side. I don't mind though.
With respect to color and contrast, straight out of the camera, the images look a bit flat. I prefer to add a +1 to the Vividness setting for a little punch. Vividness +2 is also ok though the skin tones look unnaturally orange. If you have Lightroom it's easy enough to apply a medium contrast tone curve or a customized tone curve to add a bit of punch.

Straight out of the camera image:

straight out of the camera

Edited with Lightroom 3:

With minor edits in Lightroom

Those are the most significant limits I can think of. The good news is that if you don't pixel peep, the image from a P300 can be made to look similar to that of a DSLR in terms of color and contrast. If I print a 4x6 image from the P300 and a similar one from a D300, I have difficulty distinguishing the images. At 8x12, I can spot the difference readily if I pay attention to very tiny details but might easily overlook the differences if the P300 image were mixed with D300 shots. For a non-photographer like my wife, she cannot tell the difference while looking at an 8x12, even when I tell her what to look for.

Below are two files so you can compare for yourself. I took shots of a nearly identical scene with identical lighting using the P300 and the D300. I then tweaked the images slightly in Lightroom: I first applied a medium contrast tone curve to the P300 image (by default the tone curve is linear). I also adjusted the D300's color temperature to make it a bit warmer. Note that this is NOT a scientific comparison - I took these comparison shots on a whim so there are many differences between the two that make the comparison non-scientific. For one thing, the exposures are very different. I used 1600 ISO with the D300 whereas the P300 chose an ISO of 320. Shutter speed of the D300 is 1/100 while the P300 is at 1/30 increasing the chance of blur. Nonetheless, if you want, you can print a 4x6 and 8x12 for comparison:

P300 sample (click to download).

D300 sample (click to download).

Here's another pair for comparison. Without looking at the filename or EXIF and without zooming in, can you tell which was shot with the P300 and which one was shot with a D300?

In terms of noise, I prefer to keep it at ISO 400 or lower if possible. 800 is ok with me although details start getting lost. At 1600, the image looks smudged but usable. ISO 3200 is not great but is somewhat tolerable if you have no better alternative. Here's a sample of the 3200, with further adjustments in Lightroom:

Shot with the P300 at 3200 ISO, with noise reduction (and desaturation of purple chroma noise) via Lightroom 3.

1400 ISO straight out of the camera - no adjustments except resizing to 1600px.

VIDEO

It is very easy and convenient to record videos thanks to the dedicated video recording button. No need to switch shooting modes or anything.
For normal scenes, the video quality is good enough that I don't miss my Canon HD camcorder. The P300 even has optical zoom and full-time autofocus during video. The audio is not great but is acceptable. Finally, the P300 has an AE-lock during video that can keep the exposure constant.
I also like the slow-motion video modes. The slow-mo videos look cool. Too bad you can't switch to slow-mo on the fly (instead you have to go through the menus).
The only thing that prevents the video from being a perfect substitute for a dedicated camcorder is its performance in dim lighting. There are a couple of things that make the video mode less useful in dim conditions. First, unlike many camcorders, there is no slow shutter mode (for extra dark conditions such as filming fireworks). Second, there is no video light (on my Casio Exilim EX-V7, the flash assist could be used as a video light).

STROBIST USE

Off-camera flash triggered optically with the P300

One of the reasons I chose the P300 over other compact cameras such as the Canon SD4000 is the prospect of using it with an off-camera flash. I'll make it brief - it *is* possible to use this with off-camera flash but this is *not* a good camera for strobist use.

Yes, off-camera flash use is possible via optical sync. The popup fires only in TTL but at least there's a flash exposure compensation up to -2.0 FEC. If your external flash has a digital optical slave (i.e. one that can ignore TTL preflashes, such as the YN560) or is a Nikon flash with an SU-4 mode (such as the SB-900, SB-800 or SB-700), then you can indeed use manual off-camera flash with the P300.

Even with the ability to reduce flash exposure compensation (FEC), however the on-camera flash produces noticeable shadows when the subjects are near walls. I also find that even with a -2.0 FEC adjustment, the flash still tends to be fairly bright.

I took this shot with a P300. The popup flash was on TTL -2.0 FEC but the shadow of the flash is still visible.

The other problem is that the lens has a variable aperture throughout the zoom range (f/1.8 at 24mm or f/4.9 at 100mm). Given that your external flash can only be used in manual or auto mode (not TTL), then you may have to keep adjusting the power whenever you zoom.

If your priority is to get a camera that will seriously be able to shoot strobist style, I would instead recommend getting a camera with a hotshoe or a PC sync port. It will be more expensive but you won't have to mess with the optical sync. I would also look for a camera with a lens that has an aperture that doesn't change as much as you zoom (e.g. Fuji X10, Olympus XZ-1, Lumix LX-5, Samsung EX-1). Alternatively, you can buy a compatible external flash to allow TTL operation.

SMALL CAMERAS VS. DSLRs

When we got the P300, I viewed it as little more than a fancy point-and-shoot, not a real tool for photography. How could it hold a candle to my DSLRs? My Nikon D70 costs less (when bought used from ebay) and has better features than this. I would say that if someone is looking for a DSLR substitute, they would indeed be sorely disappointed with the limitations of these small cameras. Detail, sensor noise and depth of field control are just some ways that a DSLR handily beats these small cameras. There is just no comparison.

And IMO, that's the point. After shooting with the P300 for a while, I see it simply as a completely different tool, not meant to replace a DSLR. It's like using a DSLR is similar to oil painting, while these small cameras are similar to using watercolors. You get far less detail and far less control but that's irrelevant - it's just a different kind of photography, imho.

I think I'm also beginning to understand what Neil and Zack have been saying about the appeal of small cameras like the X100 and this P300. It felt relaxing (mentally and physically) not to have to haul around a bag full of camera gear. I can imagine it's like being a professional speechwriter. Although you can compose beautiful prose, sometimes you just want to communicate casually and not be forced into thinking about the world-changing ramifications of your work. At the same time the P300 has most of the controls I need to create the image that I want, which leaves me to think more about the photo itself and less about the gear.

So if you're looking for a cheaper way to have a DSLR or DSLR-like features, this is NOT the way to go. This is not a substitute for a DSLR and I would argue that no compact camera can ever replace a DSLR, now or in the future. Get a used DSLR instead. I got my Nikon D70 for $200 on ebay.

If you're looking for a smaller DSLR substitute, this is probably not the camera for you either. You may instead want to check out the mirrorless cameras, which tend to be smaller than DSLRs.

If you're looking for a small AND cheap DSLR substitute, then check out the entry-level mirrorless cameras. You won't have the best controls and will miss some features (e.g. wireless flash) but it is possible to get in the game for around the same cost as a high-end compact:

Olympus E-PL1 with 14-42 ($379). 4/3 sensor (2x crop).
Sony NEX-3 with 18-55 ($461). APS-C sensor (1.5x crop).
Sony NEX-C3 with 18-55 ($599). APS-C sensor (1.5x crop).

If you want a camera that you can bring anywhere and shoot discreetly whenever you feel inspired to do so, and you would like to be more concerned about composition, color, capturing the moment, and beautiful light from available light sources than about maximizing sharpness and capturing the most minute details, then a compact camera may be right for you. In that regard the P300 fulfills that role for around $250.

The biggest drawbacks of the P300 compared to more expensive enthusiast cameras are: slower lens (on the telephoto end), no raw mode, and no hotshoe.

DSLRs and compact cameras: simply different ways of shooting

OTHER HIGH-END/ENTHUSIAST COMPACT CAMERAS UNDER $600:
Unless otherwise noted, all of these compact cameras have full manual controls, low noise (for a compact camera), raw mode, wide angle, image stabilization, a hotshoe and 720p video or better. They are all under $600 (the approximate cost of entry-level DSLRs). I did not include interchangeable lens cameras due to the significant difference in size. The prices shown here are subject to change.

Canon S95 ($336). 28-105mm f/2-4.9. No hotshoe.
Nikon P7000 ($339). 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6. Much cheaper than P7100, can use an external flash as commander. Optical viewfinder. Disadvantages: slow menu, raw takes 4-5 seconds (cured with firmware 1.1). Some samples have a lens cover that does not fully open.
Samsung EX1/TL500 ($354). 24mm-72mm f/1.8-2.4. OLED screen. Articulating screen. Disadvantages: limited video (640x480 @ 30fps).
Lumix LX-5 ($369). 24-90mm f/2-3.3. Manual video controls available. Disadvantages: fiddly lens cap. Poor weather sealing on some samples.
Canon S100 ($429). 24-120mm f/2-5.9. High-speed burst. Slow-mo video. No hotshoe.
Nikon P7100 ($499). 28-200mm, f/2.8-5.6. Can use an external flash as commander. Optical viewfinder. Fixed P7000 defects, has articulating LCD.
Canon G12 ($499). 28-140mm f/2.8-4.5. ISO dial. Articulating LCD. Optical viewfinder.
Olympus XZ-1 ($499). 28-112, f/1.8-2.5 (!). OLED screen. Built-in wireless flash commander (!). Disadvantages: no AE-L button, strong noise reduction on JPEGs.
Fuji X10 ($599). Equivalent to 28-112mm, f/2-2.8. Fuji EXR sensor.
Sigma DP2S ($639). 41mm f/2.8. APS-C sensor (1.5x crop). Disadvantage: limited focal length.

MORE P300 SAMPLES
Meanwhile here are a few more samples from the P300.

Haunting Halloween Portraits

2011-10-27T01:08:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to work with some models, artists and fellow photographers (from Los Angeles Redditors) on a Halloween-themed photo shoot.

The location was a ghost town, an abandoned oil drilling town that was a couple of hours from Los Angeles. I figured we would be moving around quite a bit so I opted for a lighting setup that would be easily portable. I brought three SB-800s, a couple of light stands, a beauty dish and a reflector. Doesn't sound like a lot but after carrying them for a while it was like dragging a body. :))

Schoolhouse:
We started shooting late in the afternoon. The sun was still quite strong. I opted to shoot in the schoolhouse.

For the key, I used a Fotodiox 18" beauty dish with diffusion sock, mounted on the Cowboy Studio bracket. For the fill light I originally planned to use an on-camera SB-800 with the Coco ring flash as a master/commander. However, I found that the Coco ring flash diminished the master flash's output so much that it could not trigger the slave flash.

I instead used bounce flash as fill, bouncing off the walls and ceilings, the way I learned from Neil van Niekerk. Here are a couple of the shots:

For some of the shots, I positioned a bare flash outside the window, camera left. Also on camera left, but closer to the camera (inside the room), was the beauty dish. I then used bounce flash as fill. Here's the result:

Outdoors:We moved outdoors to shoot atop a rusty gas tank. Our agile model stayed in balance even with her knee-high stiletto boots!

For these shots, I used a bare flash camera left a little behind the subject as accent light, a beauty dish as key light, then I bounced my on-camera flash to a small reflector held by a friend camera right.

Toolshed:
We took some shots at a small toolshed that had lots of junk and a partially decomposed animal (small dog? ferret? weasel?). Because there wasn't much room to setup a light stand (and because my arms were aching from carrying the stands around) I opted for simple bounce flash at this location.

That decomposed creature near her feet is real!

For one of the shots, I added a bare flash as backlight to give a little background separation.

Mansion with 13 Rooms:
At twilight, we moved to the mansion. I switched to the same setup as in the schoolhouse, using a socked beauty dish as key light, and bounce flash as fill.

I also took some shots with the same setup plus a bare flash as an eerie background light.

------
I like how the shots turned out and I had fun meeting the other photographers. I definitely look forward to working with them again.

Camera Bag for 2 Cameras: LowePro Slingshot 302 AW

2011-10-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a bag that can hold two cameras (even with a 70-200 2.8) and allow you to access either of them readily? If so, check out the LowePro Slingshot 302 AW.

I have two cameras so that I can quickly use different focal lengths, without having to resort to using a superzoom lens (all the compromises that entails). Usually, my Nikon D300 is equipped with a standard zoom (Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC) while my Nikon D70 has my tele zoom lens (Sigma 50-150 2.8). I also like to carry two (or more) speedlights with me.

I was quite pleased with my previous camera bag, the Targus SBM200 backpack (reviewed here). Besides being almost half the cost of the similar LowePro Slingshot 202AW, I found that the SBM200 (and presumably the 202AW) could be configured to carry both my cameras while still allowing me to access either camera readily. Unfortunately, the Targus was not very sturdy. It suffered a couple of ripped seams within just 3 months of using it. It was still serviceable but it looked worn and beat up, and my wife was asking me to replace it.

One of the ripped seams on my Targus SBM200

So, after almost exactly a year, I decided to replace the Targus with the Slingshot 302AW, the bigger version of the 202AW. The cost (around $73 shipped) was the same as that of the 202AW and I figured the extra space would come in handy. I ordered mine from Amazon and the order was fulfilled through B&H Photo Video.

BUILD QUALITY
The 302AW looks well constructed although I would not describe it as premium quality. I will update this review after a few months of use to see how well it holds up.

CAPACITY
The 302AW has a capacious interior. In the default configuration, the main compartment can fit a camera with a lens plus 7 more lenses or speedlights. If you're willing to go with 6 lenses or speedlights, then the camera can even be equipped with a 70-200 2.8.

My preferred configuration is to fit it for two cameras. As you can see it has no problems whatsoever and could fit even two cameras with 70-200 2.8 lenses.

The top compartment is also very roomy. Whereas I struggled to fit two speedlights in my old Targus, this one easily accommodates 3 speedlights, with ample additional room for other accessories (perhaps a TTL cord).

OTHER FEATURES
My favorite feature is the tripod holder (pictured above with a Targus TG-P60T tripod). The tripod holder was added to the slingshots with the -2 model name (so the 100, 200, 300 and 350 won't have a tripod holder). Unlike the Targus, the tripod holder is located in a way that doesn't prevent the main compartment from being opened even when a tripod is attached. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be possible to use the holder for anything larger than a medium-sized tripod.

The 302AW has other nifty features, such as this built-in all-weather cover that slips out from under the bag (hence the "AW" designation in the model name). That could come in handy not just for rain but also sand in the beach and other harsh environments.

Another feature that I like is the dedicated memory card holders in the flap of the main compartment. The holders are large enough to fit Compact Flash memory cards. The flaps make it very easy and convenient to switch memory cards, which can sometimes be hard to fish out of a larger pocket when you're in a hurry.

The 302AW does not have a laptop compartment. For that you'll need the Slingshot 350, but the 350 doesn't have a tripod holder. At the time of this writing, there is no Slingshot 352.

ERGONOMICS
The slingshot was designed to be able to swing quickly in front of you for quick access to the camera. Unfortunately, that requires a compromise in the ergonomic design of the backpack -- it only has one strap. That means the load will be borne primarily by one shoulder, and it can get tiring (based on my experience with the Targus). I have to admit I'll be tempted to bring a few more accessories with this larger bag so I'm guessing it will be even more tiring to carry this. However, the bag does come with a waist strap that distributes some of the weight to the hips when you're trekking and don't need to quick access to your camera.

One of the comments I've read about this bag is that because it's so big, it's hard to swing it forward for camera access, unlike its smaller siblings, the 202AW and 102AW. Although it's definitely bulkier to swing forward compared to my old Targus, I personally don't find it bothersome:

[BTW I'm not sucking my gut - I've really lost weight. 15 lbs over 3 months - thanks to Brazilian jiu-jitsu! :-) ]

So far I'm pleased with this purchase. I'll update this as I continue to use it.

Bits & Pieces, A Wide Variety Of Photos

2011-10-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

See that de-focused baby chair handle? That's what makes this picture work, the one with only the baby is not even half as good.

I just realized that I don't have to wait until I have a large post or review ready to post it, so I decided to start right now, I will show some images in this post that have nothing to do at all with each other, just some photos with captions, I hope you enjoy it.

I have been using the camera less and less the last couple of months and my posting rate has been too slow, there are several reasons for that:

I have started a new job in a new company and it's taking most of my time and concentration.
I decided that I have to spend more time with my family (i.e. less time in front of the PC).
My main computer now is a desktop, which I am too lazy to sit in front of for a long time.
I lack inspiration and time.

But I am snapping out of it (by it, I mean, the photographer's block, you know what a writer's block is, right? I thought so), I started by looking at my lightroom catalog (mainly the old 550D pictures) and decided that I had to post some of them here, so there you go.

55W H7 Bulb, 60mm Macro, f/8, 1/250, ISO 400

I will start with my recent shots first, I was bored dead at home and decided to shoot anything, so I brought out my three Canon speedlites, put them to manual mode, half power and pointed all of them at the ceiling with two of them slightly towards the walls. I got out my 60mm Macro since it opens up a lot of possibilities because of the close focusing distance, I started looking around for any small object to shoot and I found that H7 bulb that I had lying around.

A Happy Friend, 85mm, f/2.5, 1/125, ISO 1600

And that's one of my friends that I visited recently, shot with the 85mm at f/2.5 since I didn't want to completely wipe his face. Light was an on-camera bounce flash pointed behind my back to the side (bounced from a purple wall, but was easily fixed by shooting in RAW).

Old Man - Full Picture, 50mm, f/4, 1/200, ISO 100

Old Man - Crop 1, can you see me?

Old Man - Crop 2

Ahhh, I miss that lens, the 50mm f/1.8 II is one wickedly sharp lens, if only it had a nicer bokeh, a better auto-focusing mechanism and a better build quality, but otherwise, it is the lens, best bang for the buck.

iPhone 3GS, 60mm Macro, f/6.3, 1/4 sec, ISO 100

iPhone 3GS Crop

I remember when I first got my macro lens, I was shooting extreme closeups to see how many hidden details a macro lens and 18 megapixels can reveal, this is one of them, we were taught that one pixel consists of three colors, red, green and blue, now I believe them.

Sunset in Sudan, f/8, 1/20, ISO 200

A lovely sunset shot outside my apartment in Khartoum, Sudan. Shot with the 18-55 kit lens.

Foggy Morning, Smart Village, f/4, 1/320, ISO 100

This was shot on one of the foggy mornings at the Smart Village where I used to work before, I saw the fog and decided that it would make very good pictures.

Biker, f/4, 1/2000, ISO 100

One of my favorite shots of a full biking day, I went along with around 25 bikers to shoot their meeting, I might post about it later, but this picture especially works in B&W because of the old style of the bike and the rider.

Little Girl, 50mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 100

You don't always need artificial light sources to get good pictures, shot in very harsh sunlight, the whole idea was to give her back to the sun and to meter for her face and not the whole scene, a slight vignette also helps.

Huh? f/6.3, 1/160, ISO 400

Total artificial lighting, one strobe on the white wall at the back, also giving the rim light on the right side of the photo, and one key light with a shoot through umbrella.

Yellow Cups, 60mm Macro, f/4, 1/40, ISO 1600, hand held, as usual

A shot that I took for one of the mini challenges on dpreview, the theme was yellow, I find this picture striking for some reason.

Out Of Focus, f/1.8, 1/25, ISO 400

I was playing with my Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/1.8, it is a manual focusing lens and I was shooting a street full of cars, rounded out of focus lights look really attractive to me (not this same picture, but usually they do), maybe because I was deprived of them with auto-focus point and shoots?