Insert evocative title here

Photo of the Week: Just Stop

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

This week's photo has been chosen by default, as I'm really busy and probably won't have time to post anything else for a few days. That's not to say that I don't like it-- I do. It reminds me that I need to shoot more with my prime lenses. Sure, zooms are more versatile, but you loose that buttery smooth bokeh that only a large aperture prime can produce. Yes, I just wrote "buttery smooth bokeh." I'm a dork.

The building in the background is the Old Chicago Main Post Office, which has been vacant since about 1997, though thankfully has landmark status so at least it can't be torn down.

Nikon D90 with 50mm lens, 1/400sec at f2 and ISO400.

The GRX: Is Ricoh Out of Its Mind?

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:34:00 +0000

After several weeks of rumors Ricoh has announced a new camera today-- or rather, a new camera system. It's called the GRX and is truly one of the most unique products released into the digital camera market in the last ten years. It's also a bit of a head scratcher, from both a design and a marketing standpoint. I think this picture explains things pretty well:

What you're looking at is a camera system which divides the camera into two distinct parts: the camera back, and an interchangeable lens/sensor module. Unlike a DSLR which puts the sensor permanently in the camera body, Ricoh has gone the opposite route and attached the sensor permanently to the lens. This is an unusual approach to camera design, to say the least, but I can see some logic to it-- allowing interchangeable sensors means you can use different sensor sizes for different lenses. It also means that dust cannot get into the sensor module, though I'm not sure that's as big of an advantage as Ricoh claims. In the year that I've owned my Nikon D90, I've only cleaned the sensor once, and I change lenses constantly.

I think the biggest problem facing this system is cost. It's all quite expensive: $549 for the body, and $830 and $440 for the two modules available at launch. It's even worse when you consider that each lens will become obsolete at whatever point the sensor it's attached to becomes obsolete. This runs completely against conventional wisdom, which has always held that buying lenses is an investment that retains value over time, where as camera bodies (in particular digital camera bodies) depreciate as new and better cameras are released. We've also been told for years that the sensor was the most expensive element in the camera, so it seems impractical to buy a new sensor each time you buy a new lens. A better system would be one that's fully modular, where the body, sensor, and lens are all interchangeable.

As is, I just don't think this system will succeed. If Ricoh is smart, they will take this in an open source direction, releasing modules that are just lens mounts rather than lens/sensor combinations. For example, a Micro 4/3rds module could be very popular. Or how about one with a Nikon F, Pentax K, or a Canon EF mount? This would really open up the camera system to more users, something it will obviously need to survive.

You can find out more about about the Ricoh GRX at the Ricoh website, or check out the full preview (with sample images) at DPReview.

Photo of the Week: Pillars of the Community

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:12:00 +0000

This week's photo was taken from the Roosevelt Ave Bridge, just west of State Street. I think this is one that you really have to be from Chicago to appreciate, and even then, a lot of people probably won't "get" it. The smoke stack is part of the 301 Taylor Power Station, while the antenna is one of the two antenna on top of the Sears Tower. I've tried to combine these two subjects in the past, but never really cared for the results. This minimalist composition seemed to work.

Nikon D90 with 55-200mm lens, 1/100sec at f5.6, ISO200. I had a polarizer attached for this one. Minimal post processing.

Photo of the Week: left behind

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:31:00 +0000

Out of all the photos that I've posted to flickr in the last four years, I feel fairly certain this one has received the least amount of attention in the 24 hours that it was at the top of my photo stream (as of this writing, only 7 views). For some reason I find this kind of funny, so I've decided to make it my photo of the week, because what the hell, I can do whatever I want on my own blog, can't I?

I found this Starbucks cup abandoned in the West and/or South Loop on a Sunday. To be honest, I'm not sure where I was, but I can tell you one thing, me and this cup were just about the only two people around. Not that a cup is a person... that would be weird.

Nikon D90 with 16-85mm lens, 1/80sec at f5.6, ISO200.

Photo of the Week: East on Washington

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:22:00 +0000

This was shot at Washington and Jefferson in Chicago, looking east. I can't help but wonder what this photo will look like in 10, 20 years, as we all view flickr through our iNeural Impants. "Remember when we actually had to touch things?" someone will say.

The structure with the clock (or what used to be a clock) and the tunnel underneath is the south end of the Ogilvie Transportation Center and rail lines. I also captured a photo from the opposite end of this tunnel as well.

Photo details: Nikon D90 and 16-85mm lens, 1/100sec, f5.6 and ISO400.

Photo of the Week: just hanging out

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:47:00 +0000

I can't escape the feeling that this photo is a little cliche-- do a search on flickr for "pigeons" and "black and white" and you'll see that I'm far from the first person to photograph a pigeon or group of pigeons perched somewhere. Still, I think the inclusion of the street light marks this as distinctly Chicago, so I'm willing to accept some cliche.

I should note that I took this photo back in August, but at the time it felt out of season. So I've waited until now to put it online.

Photo Details: Nikon D90 with 55-200mm, 1/1600sec at f8 and ISO400. I added a touch of vignetting and film grain to the photo in post processing.

Photo of the Week: Chopper 5

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:28:00 +0000

One of at least three helicopters circling above Daley Plaza, October 2nd, 2009, during the 2016 Olympic Bid rally. It took some trial and error to get this shot, as I wanted the propeller blades to be just a touch blurry and I wasn't sure what shutter speed to use. It turns out about 1/100sec works very well. This was shot with a Nikon 55-200mm lens at 200mm and f20-- I credit a steady hand combined with the excellent VR system for this photo turning out as sharp as it is. Check out this 100% crop:

Photo of the Week: "huddle up"

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:07:00 +0000

This photograph was taken from the elevated platform at Dearborn and Van Buren. The buildings in the shot, from left to right, are the Monadnock (1891–1893), the Fisher Building (1896), and the Old Colony Building (1893-94), the last of which was recently given a much needed cleaning. The light pole in the center is part of the L platform.

I chose the title "huddle up" because I liked the idea that these three very old buildings were leaning in to have a conversation with each other, with the light pole as the quarterback in the middle. That's pretty dorky, isn't it?

Nikon D90 with 16-85mm lens, 1/400sec at f10 and ISO400. I had to dodge in the Monadnock just a touch, otherwise I didn't do a lot of post processing to this one.

Cameras don't matter! No, wait, they do!

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:54:00 +0000

I can't decide who is more annoying this week: equipment whores (ie: photographers who believe that only the most expensive camera equipment is worth buying), or the "cameras don't matter" contrarians. The former category can best be summed up by the growing chorus of internet chatterers, on blogs and in message boards, who have decided that everyone should switch to "full frame" DSLRs. Nevermind that most people don't even know what the difference is. The later, by the likes of Ken Rockwell and others, who has apparently now decided that a toy camera or an iphone is all anyone needs. Well, I don't agree with either camp.

The truth is, your camera either matters or doesn't matter, depending on what you intend to do with it. For example, if you're a) shooting everything in daylight, b) you don't particularly care about depth of field, and c) you don't plan on printing anything larger than 8x10, then it probably doesn't matter whether you have a cheap point and shoot or a DSLR. Also, if you prefer the look of a toy camera or an iphone, then either the camera doesn't matter, or it does, because you will actually need that particular camera to get that particular look. Photos from a Holga do not look the same as photos from an iphone, which do not look the same as photos from a Nikon D90.

For me, it matters that I have a camera that shoots effectively at ISO800, because I take a lot of photos handheld in dim lighting, and I want my photos to have as little noise as possible. For that same reason, it also matters that I use lenses that either have a good VR system, or fast apertures (or both). So I need a good DSLR and at least semi-professional lenses. What doesn't matter to me is whether the camera is "full frame," half frame, or records photos in the fourth dimension: so long as it gets the job done otherwise. The needs of your hobby, art, or profession may differ from mine.

The problem is that both sides take their arguments too far. A full frame camera is not some panacea that will make your photography better. Camera equipment is a means to an end, and no matter how much money you throw at it, it's still the end (your photographs) that matter. No amount of gear can make up for bad technique or a poor composition. At the same time, anyone who argues that the camera doesn't matter AT ALL has clearly never tried to do sports photography, or astral photography, or anything else remotely specialized with an iphone. To argue that the camera doesn't matter at all is just silly talk. It does.

Note: this blog post was partially inspired by my friend egophony. Also, insomnia and a large cup of green tea.

Photo of the Week: "twilight train"

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:00:00 +0000

An elevated Brown Line train heads north, about to cross the Chicago River at Wacker and Wells street. I shot this photo at 1/6th of a second, f4.2 and ISO400, with my D90 mounted on a mini-tripod (a very useful little device). I would have preferred to use ISO200 and a smaller aperture (f8 or so), but that would have meant a longer exposure, and I didn't want to go overboard with the motion blur in this shot.

I corrected the perspective and sharpened the photo with Photoshop CS4.

The title is from the time of day, twilight, and has nothing to do with teenagers or vampires or forbidden love. Unless you'd like to think that it does, which is okay-- I can't stop you.

Pentax releases world's ugliest camera: the K-x Red

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Dear Pentax,

We need to talk. I don't mean to get on your case-- in the past, I've liked some of the cameras you've put out. That K7 you released earlier in the year, boy that K7 looks like a winner. But this new camera, Pentax. This K-x, as you're calling it. Red? Really? Did you really think that was a good idea? I mean, I can understand the white version, and maybe even the blue one isn't so bad. People like color, I get it, we like variety. But bright red? On a DSLR? Frankly you look a little desperate.

Sincerely,

Andy

Urban Macro is Really Hard

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Another shot in my long neglected urban macro series. I found this on one of the Purple Line platforms in Evanston. I've neglected this series for a few reasons, but they primarily come back to this: urban macro is really hard. It's hard from a technical standpoint, but more importantly, it's just hard to find compelling urban macro photos. Oh sure, I could easily go out and shoot random picture of brickwork or cracks in the sidewalk, but those wouldn't be very interesting. What I'm looking for are photos that say something unique about the urban environment, and if possible, Chicago.

Ah well... the series goes on, just more slowly than expected.

The Panasonic GF1: A little competition can't hurt?

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:42:00 +0000

It's a good time to be a photography enthusiast. Panasonic has just unleashed (I get tired of writing "announced") the LUMIX GF1, a new Micro 4/3rds compact camera with an optional electronic viewfinder. In addition, they've unveiled a new 20mm f1.7 lens, and the GF1 will be sold with either that or the already available 14-45mm kit lens.

The GF1 is a direct competitor to the Olympus E-P1 that I wrote about back in June. The two cameras share the same lens mount, 12.3mp sensor, and are more or less the same size. The E-P1 is perhaps the more stylish camera, with it's classic silver finish, but I find both cameras appealing in their own way.

To date, the E-P1 has been pretty thoroughly reviewed by everyone and their pet goldfish, and the consensus seems to be that it's an excellent little camera, with DSLR like image quality, marred by just a few shortcomings-- lack of a viewfinder and built in flash (if those matter to you), relatively slow autofocus, and a low resolution LCD screen.

Enter the Panasonic GF1, which would seem to answer those shortcomings. Electronic viewfinder? Check. Built in flash? Check. Higher resolution LCD? Check. Improved autofocus? Check. Ability to talk in robot voice and read the photographer's mind. Umm... just kidding. The one feature lacking from the Pany that the Olympus has is sensor shift vibration reduction. Panasonic has decided to go the lens route for image stabilization-- thus their 14-45mm kit lens is stabilized but not the 20mm. I think this is a big advantage for Olympus. (I'm personally waiting for Olympus to release an E-P2, which is rumored for the fall, before making any purchases).

More info on the GF1 can be found at DPReview (which has a nice photo gallery), the DC Resource Page, and The Online Photographer. It should be available in October for $899 plus an additional $200 for the viewfinder.

(Note: Goldfish photo by -Fearless-)

The Purple Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:17:00 +0000

The Purple Hotel, on Touhy and Lincoln in Lincolnwood IL. It's been closed since 2007 and probably would have been torn down by now if not for the collapse of the real estate market. It's famous for a couple of reasons that have nothing to do with its unusual color. It was the site of a mob hit in 1983 when Allen Dorfman was fatally shot seven times in the parking lot. More recently, Stuart Levine (testifying in the Tony Rezko trial) claimed that he had participated in daylong drug parties at the hotel. Fun times!

Depending on your taste, this is either a good or a bad example of 1960s modernism, but I rather like this building and find the purple facade strangely fascinating. I drive by here periodically and finally decided to stop and take a few photos.

I used a Nikon D90 for all of these, with a Nikon 55-200mm lens attached for the first photo (zoomed to 200mm), and a 16-85mm lens attached for the second two. I corrected a touch of barrel distortion in the second photo and also (mostly) straightened the perspective via Photoshop. The third photo was, obviously, cropped square.

Sony A850: only $83 per megapixel

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:41:00 +0000

Sony has announced a new full frame, high resolution DSLR, the A850. This camera is significant because it currently sits as the least expensive high resolution DSLR. At $2000 and 24.6mp, it comes out to roughly $83 per megapixel. The Canon 5D Mark II, by comparison, costs $2,699.95 at 21.1mp, or $128 per megapixel. The Nikon D3x at $7,999.95 and 24.6mp comes out to an astounding $325 per megapixel. So... if you need that many pixels (I don't) this is probably a good deal. An added bonus to Sony cameras is they come with sensor based image stabilization, so every single lens you throw on the camera will be stabilized.

This will be available in September. For more information I'd check out Imaging Resource, which not only has the announcement but a full blown review as well.

Is Capture My Chicago a good deal for photographers?

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:04:00 +0000

I'm posing that title as a rhetorical question. I don't think it is, but I'd love to hear what others have to say?

Capture my Chicago is a photography contest / social networking site / fine art book in the making. It's a collaboration between CBS 2 Chicago and Pediment Publishing, which has published other books in this model, such as "Capture my Colorado" and "Capture Cincinnati". In essence it works like this: you submit photos to their web site, the photos get voted on by the other users of the web site, and ultimately some combination of the highest vote getters and the editor's choices make it into the book. Capture my Chicago isn't paying the photographers anything, although a select few will receive prizes-- all they're really offering is exposure and credit in the book and on the web site.

I found out about this after someone left a comment on my flickr stream. I have to admit that it's a clever idea, but after some thought I've decided not to participate. While I've submitted photos to contests before, and been published without payment (ie: the Chicago Reader last year is a good example), I draw a distinction between a local, free publication and a fine art book that will be sold for $39.99 at your local Barnes and Noble. I think that pushes the boundaries of what can be considered in good faith a contest. Capture My Chicago intends to publish a book with 100-250 photos. Let's say that 150 photographers take part-- only 18 of those people are getting paid anything in the form of prizes. They're not even giving the contributors a free copy of the book-- you have to buy it yourself!

JPEG magazine has been doing a similar, user generated publication for years now, yet they manage to pay each photographer $100 bucks. That's always seemed fair to me.

In the end, I guess this boils down to what one expects out of their photography? For many people, I imagine the exposure of being in the book is enough. And if that's the case, please don't let this blog post rain on your parade. To each his own.

The Era of the Gimmick Camera has begun

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:42:00 +0000

Samsung announced a new compact camera this week, the DualView TL225. So why am I bothering to write about this? It's because this camera contains the ultimate gimmick, an LCD screen on the front as well as the rear of the camera body. Call it the Myspace camera-- other than cheesy self portraits, this really has no useful function.

I expect this trend will continue, and not just LCDs in wacky places, but whatever other nonsense camera manufacturers can include to generate interest. The photography market is saturated right now, and we've reached a point where just about everyone already owns a digital camera of some sort. Maybe an LCD screen on the front is that extra nudge that gets someone to upgrade. Or how about some cool looking analog dials on top of the camera? Or a built in projector? The possibilities are endless.

So what's next?

Cameras with voice activation?

Cameras that can read your mind, enabling faster response time? Never miss that decisive moment!

A camera slash Easy Bake Oven combo? Ummm... just think of all the brownie and cupcake photos.

through the haze (before and after)

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Another photo for the before and after series. Here's the original, mostly unprocessed version:

This shot of the Chicago Skyline was taken from the Indiana Dunes. I was climbing the Dune Succession trail, near West Beach, and used a Nikon D90 with a 55-200mm Nikon lens set as long as it could go. The hill you see in the foreground is actually some ways in the distance from where I was standing. The magic of long focal lengths is that it compacts distances and makes everything appear closer.

This is a shot that was a whole year in the making. Well, sort of. I visited the Dunes last summer and had wanted to capture the skyline, but at the time didn't have a long enough zoom with me to take the photo I wanted. So I made sure to bring the 55-200 with me this time. Maybe next year I'll visit with a 300mm!

I knew when I took this shot that I would make it black & white. A hazy summer day is just a hazy summer day, but in black & white it becomes something much more interesting. The decision to crop it square happened when I pulled it up on my computer. It just seemed to work best with the composition. I also straightened the horizon line, added a sepia tone (to the shadow areas), and finally overlaid a touch of film grain to give the photo more texture.

Yoshihisa Maitani dies at the age of 76

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:54:00 +0000

"The object of photography is to express what is in your heart and mind. A camera is just a tool for taking pictures. As a designer, I want to design a camera that becomes an inseparable part of the photographer, a camera that dose not get in the way.." -Yoshihisa Maitani

Yoshihisa Maitani passed away on Friday at the age of 76. How familiar you are with Yoshihisa Maitani probably depends on how familiar you are with the cameras made by Olympus in the 1960s and 70s. Maitani was the designer chiefly responsible for the Olympus Pen and Pen F cameras, the OM 35mm SLR system, and the XA ultra compact rangefinder cameras. In short, if it was produced by Olympus from the late 50s through the 1980s, Maitani was likely involved. He retired from Olympus in 1996.

The cameras of Maitani were innovative for a variety of reasons, but their most defining characteristic was their size and weight, which was consistently smaller and lighter than other cameras produced at the time. The original Pen was a half frame camera released when no one else was making half frame cameras. The OM-1 was essentially the world's first compact SLR, and the XA is still to this day the smallest rangefinder camera that I'm aware of. If I could describe his overall design aesthetic in just a few words, it would be to make the camera as compact as possible while keeping the controls full sized.

Maitani was truly unique in the photographic world, in that he was a well known and a well regarded designer in an industry that normally does not have individual stars. This is particularly true in Japan, where corporate culture treats products as the creation and property of the company. In spite of this, in the late 1970s Maitani was featured in a series of advertisements in the US that promoted him as the mastermind behind Olympus, using slogans such as:

BEHIND THE GENIUS OF OLYMPUS CAMERAS IS A GENIUS.

THE CAMERAS OF MAITANI. THEY'RE MORE THAN CAMERAS. THEY'RE INVENTIONS.

And my personal favorite:

I CANNOT TAKE SOLE CREDIT FOR DESIGNING THESE LENSES. I HAD HELP FROM A COMPUTER.

Ah... the modesty!

(For the record, I also had help from a computer in writing this blog post.)

You can read the full text of these ads at the Maitani Olympus fan page, which is an excellent resource in general and highly recommended.

Other than Oskar Barnack (who created the first Leica) and Victor Hasselblad (who has a company named after him) I can't think of any other camera designers who received anything close to this level of notoriety. Does anyone know who designed the Nikon F, for example? How about any Canon or Pentax camera?

This leads us to a chicken and egg question. In other words, which came first, Maitani reputation as a camera designer, or the ad campaign by Olympus promoting him as a genious? Would we have known who this man was otherwise? I believe that yes, we would, though the ads certainly helped. The simple reason is that his cameras are still being bought and sold today on ebay, and still being used by countless photography enthusiasts around the world. I used to own an OM-1 (I'm sad to say that I sold it some years ago), and I was always impressed by how compact and extremely well built it was. I'm sure someone is still using that camera today.

Readers of this blog will have noticed that Olympus has recently relaunched the Pen branding as the Digital Pen E-P1. I'd love to know what Maitani thought of this new camera? We'll probably never know, but my suspicion is he was happy to see his vision moving forward into the digital era.

The beat goes on: Nikon announces the D300s

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Nikon has announced today a follow up to their successful D300 professional camera, the D300s. That "s" stands for superduperterrific! (or... something like that). Now, I don't intend this blog to be a place where I opine about every new camera launched, however, since I am primarily a Nikon user this is of interest to me.

The D300s is a D300 with some minor changes. It has more or less the same 12.3mp sensor as the D300 and the D90, but includes a 720p video recording mode that the D300 lacked but was included with the less expensive D90. It also adds a continuous shooting speed of 7fps, dual CF (compact flash) and SD memory card slots, and a "quiet mode" which delays the release of the mirror until the shutter has been released.

In short, if you already own a D300, there's absolutely no reason to buy this camera, unless you really really want to record video with your DSLR. But if you were in the market for a D300 and haven't pulled the trigger yet, then the D300s makes a lot of sense.

Personally, I'll be sticking with my D90 which works just fine for me, but if I needed a more robust camera body (and had $1799.95 to spend), this is the camera I would buy.

Note: Nikon also released a new entry level camera, the D3000, and two upgraded lenses. You can read more about this at Nikon USA or elsewhere on the net.

Pitchfork Music Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:57:00 +0000

A selection of photos from the Pitchfork Music festival. These were all taken on Sunday (July 19, 2009) and are not meant to be an exhaustive or complete record of the festival-- just some photos that I found interesting at the time.

I used a Nikon D90 and 55-200mm f4-f5.6 VR lens for most of these shots.

This is the third year in a row that I've attended Pitchfork, and I continue to be impressed by how well run it is. They really have it down to a science. Although I heard a few grumblings that the bathroom lines were too long, I didn't experience this myself (and really, who doesn't complain about bathroom lines at a festival). I think my only complaint was the lack of diversity in the lineup-- I would have liked to see more female artists, myself.

Regarding the photos, I was struck by a couple of things:

1) We're really living in a golden age right now in terms of DSLRs. Regardless of which brand you prefer, buying a new DSLR is likely to give you a camera significantly better (in terms of image quality and features) than what was available just a few years ago.

Let's use this photo as an example:

This was shot at ISO800, zoomed to 200mm, and with the camera held above my head to see over the crowd. I composed this using the LCD screen (what's known as "Live View" on DSLRs), manually focusing on the stage. This was one of a sequence of photos, with this one turning out the best.

The point is, this shot would have been much harder with the previous generation of cameras from Nikon (ie: the D80, D70, D50, etc). Those models are just not as good at ISO800 and above, and they also don't have Live View, so the composition would have involved holding the camera in the air and guessing. That's next to impossible at longer focal lengths.

In general, I couldn't be happier right now with the camera that I own. (All I really want at this point is for Nikon to release a pocket sized version).

2) The Nikon 55-200mm f4-f5.6 VR is an excellent consumer lens. It's sharp, has a good VR system, produces adequate bokeh, and weighs next to nothing. It's also fairly compact, which makes it a good lens if you're not trying to draw a lot of attention to yourself. Oh, sure, if you're a pro the 70-200mm f2.8 VR is faster and much better built, but it's also twice as big and FOUR times as heavy. No one was paying me on Sunday, so I'd rather walk around in comfort and not have my shoulder fall off.

The Pen Story Video

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:31:00 +0000

Olympus is continuing the marketing push for its new Digital Pen Camera (which I first wrote about here) with this insane stop motion video:

My brain hurts thinking about how much effort went into this. According to Olympus, they shot "60,000 pictures, developed 9,600 prints and shot over 1,800 pictures again." My favorite part is the hang gliding sequence at about 2:30. The music is a little cheesy but effective.

Another one bites the dust: RIP Kodak Kodachrome

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:19:00 +0000

Kodak has announced today the discontinuation of Kodachrome slide film, first launched in 1935. This is sad but not at all surprising news. Kodachrome was unique from the more modern E6 process slide films and required special equipment to process-- currently, only one lab in the United States still processes it.

Read more in this Associated Press article.

I've never shot a roll of Kodachrome 64 (which is the last version still available), but I did use the 200 variety in the last ten years. Ironically, I distinctly remember purchasing several rolls in a Walgreens, which just shows how quickly digital photography has transformed the industry. In less than a decade a once iconic film has gone from being available in a drug store, to obscurity, and soon into the history books.

What I liked most about Kodachrome was the 3D quality of the slides themselves. There is no way to accurately show this on a two dimensional computer screen, but if you hold a Kodachrome slide in the air and tilt it sideways, on the layer side is a visible relief of the image. That is, the bright areas of the slide are very thin, where as the darker areas are thick. I'm not sure if this makes for a better image, but it certainly made Kodachrome unique.

According to Kodak, Kodachrome will be available until the current stock runs out, likely sometime in the fall. Buy it while you can.

satellite love (before and after)

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:23:00 +0000

I thought this would be a good photo for my before and after series. This is the original, unprocessed photo:

I shot this with a Nikon D90 and 16-85mm lens at 85mm. When I took this photo I knew that I would try cropping it in post processing. I really wanted to zoom in closer on the satellite dishes and the moon but didn't have a longer lens with me at the time. Fortunately, the photo was high enough quality to allow for the cropping-- this is an instance where having a 12mp sensor verses 6mp really comes in handy.

Aside from the cropping, I really just darkened the whole image, and boosted the saturation a bit in the sky. I did this all with Adobe Camera RAW.

Olympus goes retro, announces E-P1 "Digital Pen"

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:58:00 +0000

I received this email at 1am this morning, telling me that Olympus has finally made good on their long speculated new Pen Camera:

Dubbed the Olympus E-P1, or "Digital Pen", it's their first offering in the Micro 4/3rds lineup, and the first compact camera to have interchangeable lenses and a DSLR sized sensor (in this case, the same sensor used in Olympus DSLRs). For more information and detailed specs, I suggest reading the previews at DPReview, Imaging Resources, or visit the Olympus E-P1 page.

Olympus has apparently also realized that attractive women sell cameras:

So why is this camera significant?

The E-P1 slides into an underdeveloped spot of the camera market, namely a camera that can produce photos indistinguishable from a DSLR but in a lighter, much more compact body. This will appeal to serious amateurs who think DSLRs are too bulky, and many professionals will buy this camera not to replace their DSLR, but as a secondary "carry everywhere" camera. Others have tried to capture this market, notably Sigma with their DP cameras, but those have been marred by poor performance and other issues. Panasonic has its own Micro 4/3rds cameras, in the excellent G1 and the GH1, but those cameras are not nearly as compact. Thus, this new Olympus model is pretty unique.

Just glancing at the specs, I'd say Olympus has a winner on their hands. I was worried it would lack image stabilization, but nope, that's included. Also included is a dust reduction system. The sensor is the same 12.3 MP sensor used in other Olympus cameras, so image quality should be on par, and the E-P1 has a whole host of exposure modes and manual controls to satisfy camera purists. Yes, it lacks a built in flash and a viewfinder, which is unfortunate, but this was necessary (according to Olympus) to reduce the size of the camera. Finally, the E-P1 includes a 720p video mode for those obsessed with the idea that their still camera must also shoot video.

Did I mention that it looks really snazzy?

There are, of course, unknowns at this point. How well does the autofocus system work? How well will the 17mm f2.8 lens perform? Is the LCD screen good enough to compensate for the lack of a built in viewfinder? These are things that will be answered as reviews start trickling in.

Retro Marketing Genius?

Camera specs aside, I have to give Olympus kudos for the marketing and launch of this camera. For the last few months, Olympus has been touting the 50th anniversary of the Pen cameras on their web site, leading to speculation (now proven correct) that this was a precursor to a new Digital Pen camera. This has served two purposes: 1) it's built up a lot of interest for this new camera, and 2) it's made people nostalgic for the old Pen system, which like the E-P1, was innovative in its time for its size and features.

Tying the E-P1 to the Pen cameras from the 1960s is a brilliant move. It allows Olympus to be retro and cool, and at the same time, they get to rebrand themselves as something more than a second fiddle company to Nikon and Canon. Instead, they're the company with the history of innovation compared to Nikon and Canon's status quo. Of course that's not really true or fair, but it's beside the point-- it's effective marketing, and the other camera makers would be wise to pay attention.

Another thing worth noting is the price, which is less than expected. $750 for just the camera body, $800 with the 14-42mm zoom, and $900 for the camera and the 17mm lens. While yes, that is still quite expensive, rumors had this camera in the $1000 range or more, so this is a good job of managing expectations on Olympus' part. The E-P1 actually seems like a bargain by comparison.