Double Exposure

Short Visit to Singapore & 1 year with the Fujifilm x100s

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:36:00 +0000

I realize it's been a while since my last post. Quite a lot happened in my life.
We had a wonderful gift for New Years Eve' in form of a beautiful baby girl, Daria. That little adorable monster does, however, consume a lot of time, so the blog was neglected as a result. Last month we moved to a bigger apartment. You never know how much crap you own until you have to move it! But I digress...

I wanted to write a short post after I spend a year with the Fuji x100s and say that my initial excitement about the little camera still stands after 12 month of constant use. Since that the camera is small and light I carry it anywhere I go and I ended up documenting a lot of family moments I wouldn't have otherwise, since I would have been to lazy to log the SLR around.

Lately I went to Singapore for a short visit. Unfortunately I had really little free time. Of course owning the x100s, means you always have your camera with you. Singapore seems like a cool place and I really hope I'll have an opportunity to properly explore the city next time I'm here (also, I hope there will be next time soon :) ).

It amazing how liberating living with Fuji-x system is. The camera stayed with me all the time, without weighting me down. I just kept it in a side pocket of my messenger bag. In contrast to that my friend was traveling with a separate suitcase where he kept a bag with his Canon 7D, 17-40mm f/4, 70—200mm and a Rokinon fish eye, a tripod and a bunch of other stuff. I had the x100s and a spare battery. Now I know it's not really fair to compare our gear. We have different shooting styles, and I can see how his gear can offer a lot more shooting options. That being said it reminded me why I bought the x100s and how pleased I am with it.

Another thing that became abundantly clear to me is how unobtrusive the camera is when on the street. I didn't talk about it in my review, but It really is a more "people friendly" camera. People just react to it differently. My college's Canon made people react much more to it. Whether it's turn around or stare at it with suspicion.

The way Fuji cameras interpret color is really impressive. I almost never shoot raw files. The jpegs strait out of the camera are really good and I really like the film simulation feature. The "films" I use the most are Astia and the B&W. Man, I love the B&W out of this camera. Being able to see in B&W through the viewfinder really helps visualize the shot before it happens.

Fujifilm recently introduced a new film simulation called "Classic Chrome". It's inspired by the legendary "Kodachrome" film. From the photos I saw, it looks awesome. Very Eggelston-ish. So far it was not made available to the x100s, but I hope Fuji will continue their Kai-zen philosophy and bring the features from the newer models to the old ones through firmware updates.

Battery is still a bit of a sore spot. battery life compared to a DSLR is significantly shorter and the metering is really annoying. It will warn you about low battery when the battery is practically dead. I carry 2 spare batteries with me but never needed more than one in a day.

Something about this camera just makes it special. Maybe it's the classic design. I really enjoy the physical manual control and the ability to control my aperture from the lens. Beyond being intuitive and practical, it evokes a sense of heritage and nostalgia.

So after a year I'm still really exited about the camera. In fact I celebrated this little anniversary by getting a Fuji X-E2 for my wife. I'll write a review on it soon, I hope. One thing I can say right away is the the Wi-Fi feature is great and I wish my x100s had it.

Review: Fujifilm x100s - The perfect Image

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 17:28:00 +0000

Just when I decided it was time to upgrade my camera everywhere I turned everyone were talking about the new Fuji x100s. After a long time drolling over my keyboard, reading every possible review about it, I finally bought one. So, after using it for 5 month, how does this little camera stand up to my expectations?

Rome is an amazing city. During last Pessah vacation I had an opportunity to spend a week traveling the city with my lovely wife, Rita. As always, I was raveling with my DSLR (A Canon 40D) with a single zoom lens (Canon's excellent EF-S 15-85). Even though I try to carry a camera with me at all times, during the trip I ended up leaving the camera at the Hotel on several occasions. When we were going out at night, I didn't want to be stuck with a bag all evening and have to worry about it. They say you reach your Physical peak at the age of 30 and from there it all goes downhill. Well, being way past my peak at 31, I was tired of logging around a massive SLR camera with a huge lens. It was heavy, it drew attention and simply was too much hassle at times.

So after getting back home, I realized I wanted a smaller camera. At the same time, I didn't want to compromise the image quality I was getting from my now aging DSLR. Once I started shooting with an SLR, going for back to pocket camera quality was simply not an option for me. I didn't really know much about the mirrorless market and being a Canon user I was thinking about the Canon EOS M (that I did hear a little about). So, I did a little research, but the reviews I read were mixed. Also, It had no viewfinder which was a deal breaker for me. Being immersed in the picture through the viewfinder is a totally different experience than using the back screen.

Just as I started looking the hype about the new Fuji x100s started reaching me. First I read David Hobby raving on about it and later Zack Arias declaring his love to it (btw, best review ever... In fact, If you haven't read it, I'm not sure why you are still reading mine). Suddenly every corner of the Internet I turned someone was declaring his love for this camera ( Bill Fortney, Steve Huff and many many more).

What can I say, after reading all those reviews I was in love before I met her. So after making considerable financial calculations, ignoring them and deciding to buy the camera, I was full of excitement. Unfortunately, the x100s was in such a high demand, that it took quite a long time until I got one. Once I did order it, I was like an excited kid, waiting for my blind date.

Well, I now have had the x100s for over 5 month and I'm still amazed by it. This camera is really special. It just makes you wanna take more pictures. In fact, I think it temporary made me a worse photographer. You know when Instagram first appeared and you felt each photo from your crappy phone camera suddenly looked cool after slapping a filter on it? It takes some time to get your judgment adjusted. The same thing happened to me with this camera. I was in love with every crappy photo out of this little camera and just wanted to shoot more.

When the original x100 came out, Fujifilm created a unique, fun, quirky camera capable of amazing results. The problem was that some of the quirks were mighty annoying. The x100s addressed all of those issues while still keeping that photographic experience.

I'm not gonna go over all the features of the camera, since there are plenty of reviews out there that do just that. Instead, I'll just focus on some of my favorite features about the camera:

Size & Feel - The camera just looks retro and cool. After using an SLR for years, this thing is small! And light! and yet not too small or light. It feels steady and comfortable in your hand. The award winning design is inspired by the classic Leica's M cameras and looks classy and chic. The controls for shutter speed, and exposure compensation are old school knobs, the lens has an aperture ring. All of it just evokes feelings of heritage and tradition. That being said it is still practical and comfortable to use.

Image Quality of this camera is simply amazing.

Looking at the results from this little wonder, and suddenly my Canon's 40D sensor feels seriously outdated (well, 6 years IS a lot of time in the digital world).

Photos at ISO 1600 look great. In the Canon, they were almost unusable. Now I know comparing them is not really fair, but man, what an upgrade! The pictures out of this camera are so live and crisp. It's not only the noise performance, The dynamic range is phenomenal. You can shoot strait against the sun and still get decent detail in you subjects.

Fixed Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens - It very well might put a lot of people off this camera. But it really does not bother me. You get an awesome quality lens with a great 35mm equivalent focal length in a really small package and a leaf shutter. I rarely felt I was missing a zoom on my camera and I never owned a telephoto lens. So for a walk around camera I don't feel the zoom is something I must have. Not to mention all the great street photographers were shooting with similar prime lenses.

Film simulation is another feature I love about the camera. Fujifilm being a company that produced so many popular films over the years, has a lot of experience with color. Using that experience they created a set of presets, that tweak how the camera 'develops' the colors in you jpeg. This gives a distinctive look and character to your photos (just like using a certain film was back in the day). The effect is subtle yet really awesome. The black & white out of this camera is gorgeous!

Leaf shutter

One of the cool features this camera sports is a leaf shutter. Without going into the technical stuff, it means that the shutter opens and closes similarly to the aperture blades (as opposed to the traditional curtain shutter traveling from side to side). This results in two things:

1. The camera being Near silent when shooting. Along with it's small size, It’s a great advantage when you don't want to call attention to yourself.

2. Sync speeds at 1/2000 of a second. That’s mind blowing! This feature alone makes David Hobby go on and on about the camera.

The Hybrid viewfinder is a really cool feature. After shooting so long with an SLR going back to shooting with the LCD screen was not an option for me. This neat feature gives you lots of information while having an optical viewfinder. You can decide if you want a compositional grid, histogram and other data displayed. It also allows some cool tricks - In multiple exposure mode the first image is overlayed in the viewfinder. The downside is that, unlike the SLR, the optical viewfinder does not go through the lens. This introduces parallax distortion. Of course, you can switch to full EVF at a pull of a lever (designed like the delay lever in old film SLRs). In EFV mode you have no parallax, 100% coverage, plus you see how the film simulation/white balance/filters will look. This is extremely useful when shooting B&W which I seem to do a lot with this camera. As always the problem with the EFV is a certain lag in dark environments. Fujifilm have a really nice EVF. It’s bright, the resolution is great and I had no problems using it in dark situations.

viewfinder is big and bright.

Focusing

I haven't had the opportunity to use the x100, so I can't really report on how much did fuji improve in this regard. All I can say that without reading about it being an issue, I wouldn't been able to tell. The focusing is smooth, fast and does not feel that different from my DSLR.

Manual Focus is great as well. Manually focusing on my DSLR was always a hit and miss for me, unless I were using the Live View option. On the x100s, Fuji added several ways the camera can assist you to focus manually. When focusing, the EVF zooms in on the center of the frame, making it easier to focus and using either the focus peaking or the digital split screen to assist you. After focusing the EVF zooms out, letting you to compose.

The Hipster Factor

The chic retro look, chrome finishing, built-in filers, fixed focal length lens, the ability to shoot square format, an optional leather case - with all that you can definitely roam the streets of Williamsburg (Or the streets of Florentin, in the local version) proud. I even "hipstered" mine up with a third party lens hood and some retro looking leather strap. My grandparents said it looks like their old FED camera - I'm not sure what else you could ask for... except maybe 'Made in GDR' written on it in big letters.

There are still things to improve

The battery life, coming from a DSLR, is nothing to brag about. I purchased another 2 third party batteries and I always have at least one with me. What's even worse than the mediocre battery life is the battery indication. By the time it moves from full to the next level, you only have a few more shoots before it moves to empty and dies the next minute. A more refined feedback would really be nicer.

One other thing I'd love seeing improved is the built-in flash control. You can only adjust the flash power 2/3 of a stop (up or down). I mainly want to use the flash as fill and that really limits the use of the built-in flash in many situations.

Conclusion

If it wasn't obvious thus far, I LOVE this camera. After waiting a long while for it and reading so many positive reviews I was wondering if the it could stand up to my overblown expectations of it. Turns out it easily does! The camera never leaves my sight. I can take it everywhere I go and not be burdened by it. In fact, I rarely use my Canon any more. I was looking for a smaller camera to go along my DSLR and ended up finding a whole new photographic experience.

Not to mention David Beckham has one :-P

P.S. Creating the perfect Image

Fujifilm have done here a remarkable thing. They managed to create a real attachment to the brand. I don't remember any other brand that got so much excitement and confessions of love in the photographic community.

Whether it is constant firmware updates that bring considerable improvements and features from never models to your old camera, publishing a lens roadmap or inviting notable fuji X photographers to Japan and asking them for feedback and having them give lectures to the employees. Fujifilm seems to care about the person behind it's camera.

Recently, the released a firmware update for the x100. That’s an update for a discontinued, 3 year old camera that has a direct replacement. And we're talking about major improvements in functionality. Not only Fujifilm will not profit anything from this update, potentially they loose money on people not upgrading from the x100 to the x100s. This is deeply impressive and admirable. Actions like those create a real brand following and attachment. I'd really like to see Fuji continue carrying on with this tradition even after they established the X series.

Helmut Newton

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 10:31:00 +0000

The other night I watched Helmut By June, a HBO documentary about one of my favorite photographers: Helmut Newton. The film is filmed and directed by Helmut Newton’s wife June Newton, (who's also a gifted photographer, working under the alias Alice Springs) from "home" videos she took while joining him on assignments and while filming him alone.

If you're remotely interested in fashion photography, there's very little chance you didn't come across works of Helmut Newton. Hell, chances are if you were not born blind, you came across his images. He's one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century.

The film gives us a fascinating look into both his work and personal life. Being shot by his wife, it feels quite an intimate film.
It's amazing to see this genius of the fashion imagery, a man that earned the nickname "The King of Kink", looking like a Jewish pensioner from Florida, photographing supermodels in exotic locations or elegantly wearing a bathrobe and taking a siesta.

Elsa Peretti, New York 1975, Helmut Newton

His photos are very cinematic, mysterious & sexy. In the film he says that for him fashion photos need to look like a scene from a movie, a snapshot or anything but a fashion photography. And indeed his photos depict scenes from a naughty fantasy involving some mystery, some humor, some danger and violence and always some amazonian women.

"His fantasies are extraordinary. Anybody can have a fantasy but not anybody can have a Helmut Newton fantasy. His are richer, more explicit, less obvious, more exotic, quirkier than yours or mine or anybody else's. He's a genius of fantasy."

- Milton Glaser

He may be named the "King of Kink", but compared to photographers like Guy Bourdin and the more contemporary Terry Richardson to me his photos do not project any malice. Women in his photos are frequently naked, but seldom vulnerable.

Thierry Mugler, Monte Carlo 1998, Helmut Newton

"Feminist critics often condemned Newton’s suggestive and risqué work—much to his delight—but the women in his photographs do not in general appear to be victims; more often, they are the powerful and manipulative perpetrators of some dark crime."

- Voguepedia

I had the amazing fortune of being in Rome this spring, during an exhibition of his work at Palazzo delle Esposizioni. The exhibition consisted of 200 photos from his first three books. In those photos he managed to explore so many fantasies and fetishes, and after 30+ years his images still look fresh - it just feels that he's done it all. Seeing his photos in the museum is so much more impressive. Just like consuming photos in a printed form is just better than consuming them on-line digitally (or maybe i'm just old), seeing them up large is a whole different experience. Walking around Rome and encountering this by mistake was pretty Awesome!

"I'm not an intellectual I take pictures."

-Helmut Newton

Review: The Mighty Yongnou RF-603

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 15:16:00 +0000

Once you start using of camera flash, pretty soon you get to a point where you'll need a way to trigger your flash. And when a cord just won't do it, you'll want a wireless trigger. After doing some digging around I figured Pocket Wizard Plus is probably the best one can buy. But that again, spending over 700NIS for a single Rx/Tx unit was not really an option. Considering the fact you need at least 2 to do anything, it's a lot of money. Luckily, there is a decent option for much less.

I ended up buying the Yongnuo RF-603 triggers. Yongnuo is a Chinese company developing & manufacturing affordable lighting equipment, from TTL Remote Cords, to wireless triggers and Manual and E-TTL flashes (In a previous post, I shared some of my experience with Yongnuo's YN-560II flash).

If price is the reason I got the RF-603, let's start with that. Here you can get it for 125 NIS for a single unit. That's almost six times cheaper that the Pocket Wizard! You can also order them direct from the manufacturer on eBay and get a pair for the same price (Or even less from an unofficial seller for 24$ - 85 NIS). Considering eBay buyer protection and how easy it is to buy it, I'm really not sure who orders it from a local internet store. Of course, as with everything that come cheap, the question is do you get what you paid for? Well, if the shipment was not lost, you do. And it turns out, in the case of the RF-603, you get a very good product with a few quirks.

You get a pair of transceivers and an awesome slogan!
And all that for 30$

The units are very well built. The overall size is small and the low profile and lack of external antenna makes them easy to work with. The hot shoe is metal and the rest is nice, solid plastic. The ergonomics and design are nice and I appreciate that unlike their YN-560 flash the physical design is original (i hope...). Each unit has an on/off switch and a test/shutter release button.

The placement of the on/off switch is not ideal. Once you insert the flash in the unit's hotshoe mount, you can no longer reach the switch. It's a bit annoying but not a big issue. The lack of a locking hot-shoe is a bigger problem. It's not a problem when attaching the unit to a flash mount, but when it's on camera there's not much holding it (and a much more expensive flash) in place. It would also be nice to have a tripod screw socket.
The unit works on two AAA batteries, which is nice. The batteries last for a really long time (never quantified it) but unfortunately you don't get any indication when it's running out of juice.

I get consistent syncing in any environment, I've never encountered any interference despite the 2.4 GHz frequency band used b the units (This is in the globally unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical band used by Bluetooth, WI-FI, Microwave ovens and shitload of other stuff). The furthest I used them was around 20-30 meters and still had no problem syncing at high shutter speeds. At closer range it's faster than my Canon's sync speed (1/200 sec). Another great option that I used quite a lot lately is using them as a remote shutter release. The unit is supplied with a cable allowing you to trigger your camera from away. The button on any other unit act's as your camera button - pressing it half way will focus and pressing all the way will take the picture.

Each unit being both a transmitter and receiver gives you a lot of flexibility. What doesn't give you flexibility is a little weird and annoying design feature - One of your units must be inside a Canon (or Nikon if you have the 603N version) hotshoe for the whole thing to work. You see, the unit relies on the Canon E-TTL "wake up" signal from the hotshoe on the camera in order to decide that it is the transmitter that needs to trigger the other units to fire their flash. That really is by far my main problem with the RF-603's. Unlike the pocket wizards it's system dependent. Being a non-TTL triggers this is just plain annoying bug/feature. In some scenarios this can really be frustrating and it limits the transmitter unit to be brand specific. The units are available for Nikon and Canon (Canon unit can be adapted to Panasonic with some tinkering & soldering). I'm thinking of buying a Fuji X100s and I'm hoping the RF-603 will work with it (UPDATE: I did and they do!). That's one problem you won't get with the Pocket Wizard.

I used a pair for about 6 month now and I'm quite pleased with them. So far it's been reliable and despite it's aforementioned shortcomings it's an mighty good product for the price. In fact, I just received my send pair of these little transponders.

* Worth noting is that Yongnuo recently released the YN-560III flash, which comes with RF-602 and RF-603 2.4G compatible radio receivers built-in to the unit. Nice feature that saves space and batteries in your kit.

Review: Trying out the Yongnuo YN-560II

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 20:38:00 +0000

In Russian there's a saying the goes: "I am not rich enough to buy cheap things!" (and widely accepted there as an old English saying).
Well I decided I might just be rich enough to buy a Yongnuo YN-560II flash and hope for the best!

My new YN560-II napping...

Raised according to the above saying, I usually do prefer to spend more money on a quality product that will last, rather than something I'll need to replace way too quickly. In 2010, David Hobby Wrote in his blog about his experience with Chinese flashes (specifically the Yongnuo YN-560) and later about his decision not to review their new products until their quality control improves.

I agree with Mr. Holby for the most part, but there's no denying the appeal of a flash unit that costs a fraction of the competitors. Also, more recently I encountered quite a few positive reviews by a few photographers including Zack Arias. I guessed (and partially hopped) that since David's review in 2010, the company improved it's QC and hopefully the YN560 II version, the one Zack got, is more reliable.

So armed with my hopes and guesses, and after ordering the Yongnuo RF-603 remote flash triggers from eBay last November and being really pleased with them (You can read a more detailed review here), I decided to take the bait and ordered a YN-560II flash. With a bit of luck, I'll have a better experience with it, than Mr. Holby did.

The flash arrived remarkably fast. Two weeks for an order from China is not bad at all. Usually I have to wait over a month to get my hands on some of the cheap wonders from the peoples republic (I ordered 2 more RF-603 transceivers 10 days before ordering the flash, that I'm still waiting for).

The other manual flash I have is the LumoPro LP160. It's an awesome manual flash. It's well built, reliable, has ton of syncing options and a real quality product. I purchased it when I needed a second flash to shoot my friends on their wedding day. I was looking for an affordable and reliable flash, and I decided I didn't want to take a chance with the YN560, since I did not have much time before the wedding to sort ant faults if any would arise. So, Now that I bought the Yongnuo flash as well, I thought comparing the two would be interesting.

Design:
It's outer appearance is unashamedly "inspired" by the Canon Speedlite 580 EX II. You have to look twice to tell them apart. Right down to the flash case and stand it all the same. Beyond the moral issues I have with it, it's a not a bad thing. Canon flash ergonomics are really good, and as an owner of a Canon 580, you feel right at home. The flash feels solid and well built and the plastics do not look cheap. Canon's pull-up wide-angle panel, and bounce card are here as well. In addition, You get a flash diffuser cover (weirdly it was not part of the box, but attached outside it).

Yongnuo design team hard at work

The LP160 in comparison, looks more crude (I feel bad pointing that out since LumoPro did not rip off someone else's design). The LP160 feels lighter (according to the spec. they have the same weight) and slightly bigger in comparison.

Features:
Considering it's a 70$ flash it got tons of features.
The flash comes equipped with Mechanical Zoom, External charging plug, PC sync. port. It has a Powersaving mode and audio feedback (nice touch that none of my other flashes have). It has 8 levels of Power Settings - 1/1-1/128, with sub stop increments (LP160 goes only up to 1/64 in 1 stop steps).
In addition it automatically remembers your last settings (per mode).

Granted most of those features are not deal breakers, but they are nice too have.

Performance:
- YN-560 has a declared Guide Number of 39m@ISO 100, 105mm (the LP160 - GN43m@ISO 100, 35mm).

Recycle time is good, with NiMH batteries, I was getting around ~2s for full power recharge (and did I mention the audio feedback is a nice touch?).

The YN-560 II flash has 4 modes of action: M, S1, S2 & Multi.

Manual - Well, it's manual... As the decent manual that comes with the flash says: "In M mode, you can set the flash output level as you like" - couldn't have put it better myself. As mentioned earlier, you have 8 stops of power from 1/1 to 1/128 (similar to Canon 580 EX II).

S1 - Optical Slave mode. The flash sensor is pretty good. When tested outside midday in the Israeli sun, I got consistent sync from farther than the declared 15m (from a Canon 580 firing at 1/128).

S2 - Optical Slave mode, the sequel. In this more the YN560 flash will ignore your E-TTL pre-flashes and only fire for the real thing. If you are using your triggering flash in the E-TTL mode and won't set the YN560 flash to S2 mode, the pre-flash, designed to meter the lighting, will trigger the YN560 and so your triggering flash will evaluate the lighting incorrectly (As demonstrated below).

Left: Flash in S1 Mode; Right: Flash in S2 Mode

I don't really use E-TTL mode when working with several strobes, but It's a nice option and it works. Same option is also available on the LP160.

Multi - In this mode the flash will fire a series of flashes at a predefined frequency. A nice option my LP160 doesn't have (I guess it was borrowed from the Canon along with the design).

UPDATE: One issue I noticed is that the flash does not work it dual triggering mode. If You set the flash in S1 mode and attach a trigger to it's hotshoe, the flash will not be triggered from the hotshoe. It's not a big issue but it's useful for occasions when you want to improve your chances of syncing a far away strobe (This is an excellent example that comes to mind).

Conclusion:
So far I only had a few opportunities to use it, but I'm really impressed by this little flash. Bang for buck, it's a winner and having a third flash without selling vital organs is always a plus (You could say I'm quite attached to my vital organs). It's reliability over time is still a concern, and one I'll have to test over time.

Another version of the saying (this time I did come across it in English) is "Buy cheap, Buy twice". The thing is this flashes are cheap enough to buy twice (actually more like 7) and still spend less than 1 Canon flash, which costs here 2200 NIS (over 600$) - Crazy expensive. Sure the Canon flash gives you TTL, focust assist beam and some other advanced features, but if you're in need of a simple of camera flash this is an excellent choice.

Did you have a different experience with the YN-560 II? Share It in the comments below.

P.S.
While writing this review I found that since I ordered my flash, Yongnuo already released the YN-560III. The YN-560 III is unsurprisingly a follow-up to the YN-560 II, but this time comes with RF-602 and RF-603 2.4G compatible radio receivers built-in to the unit. According to the spec. it supports 16 channels of wireless, with a range of up to 100m. It's a nice feature to add and I really appreciate the company is now building new products that a compatible with their older ones.

P.P.S.
Also, while writing the review (Yes, I was slow writing it...), David Hobby reviewed LumoPro's LP180 flash. Looks pretty awesome! The LP160 flash was great flash and I'm really happy with. At 200$ their 3rd generation flash looks like a great deal (guessing it's gonna cost around 1000NIS here).

50mm lens Comparison

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 20:56:00 +0000

"I think the 50mm lens is an extremely good discipline lens; it requires you to see in a more refined way, not just tighter.”

-William Albert Allard

Like most of Canon SLR users I own the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II lens. I decided to check how this 'nifty-fifty' lens compares to my other, much older, manual 50mm lens.

Pushkar, India, 2012

Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II lens might be the cheapest Canon lens you can buy but it's an incredible piece of optics for the price. It was a noticeable improvement over my first lens (the decent kit Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS). If you're looking for a great inexpensive lens to add to your DSLR it's an excellent choice.

Other cheap alternatives are to give up the auto focus and go old school. eBay is full of great, old prime optics for very affordable prices (Or you can even ask your family, who knows, maybe there's a forgotten camera treasure in the attic). I bought an M42 adapter from eBay which allowed me to use lenses of my grandfather's Zenit.

Here are my impressions for my 50mm lenses.

Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II

The image quality is great, The sharpness is great, especially if you don't shoot wide open (at f1.8 it's still decent, but not as sharp). Really in the Image quality to price ratio this lens is hard to beat. And the wide aperture makes it an excellent lens for low-light situations. One other thing I like is the colors this lens produces. The lens iris is built from 5 strait aperture rings, that produce not the best looking Bokeh (out of focus area) but I don't find it a major issue 99% of the time.

EF 50mm @f/4 - Bokeh looks fine to me.
Bikaner, India, 2012

Build quality wise it is built very much according to it's pricing. It is extremely light (130g) and I love that I don't have to worry as much about it breaking since it can be easily replaced. But on the downside, It feels cheaply built (cheap plastic that rattles when you shake it) and quite frankly feels like a toy lens when you hold it. The manual focus ring is totally impractical and I suspect it's there basically just to be looked at and not be touched.

Pushkar, India, 2012

Overall, I really like this lens. Compared to the other two it has auto focus, that really makes things easier when your subject is moving.

Pentacon MC 50mm f1.8

Pentacon was an East German camera and lens manufacturer of the Soviet-era, that was formed in 1959 through a merger of several East German camera manufacturers.
I bought this M42 screw mount lens from eBay mainly because it was very cheap (7.5£) and I liked the Pentacon 135mm f2.8 that I got earlier.

Old House, Tel Aviv

The image quality is good. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 33cm (which is better than Canon's 45cm); It has 6 rounded aperture rings that produce a more pleasing bokeh. The minimum aperture is f/16.

The lens build quality is decent. It feels good in the hand, the aperture rings clicks upon turning and the focusing ring is smooth and accurate. At 250g the lens weighs almost double than the canon.

It's a nice lens, but it offers little over the Canon and most of the time I prefer the lighter auto-focusing Canon.

Helios 44M f2

This is probably the manual lens I shot the most with. In all fairness it's probably due to sentimental reasons, since this is my grandfather's lens.

Neve-Tzedek, Tel Aviv

The other reason I'm really fond of this lens is that is just different. It's focal distance is 58mm, it has a famous swirly bokeh and the feeling it was built for the soviet army.
I mean it's really well-built and weighs similarly to his eastern block relative (230 grams). the focusing ring is stiff but accurate.It has a minimum focusing distance of 55cm. And it's 8 aperture blades produce a really nice and unique bokeh. It's a bit sort wide open, and flare can be an issue but what it lacks in image quality it more than makes up for in character (In fact, writing this review made me wanna use more often)

Comparison

For those of you fond of some comparisons I took a few 'not-so-scientific' side by side photos. I shot this photos of my lovely assistant (Stimpy almost never refuses to take part in my anal-retentive activities) using a strobe with my crappy little softbox. I added some x-mas lights (or is it Hanuka lights here?) in the background to demonstrate bokeh.

at f/1.8:

at f/2:

at f/5.6:

Bokeh comparison - Crop taken from the images above (f/2) shows Helios having the nicest bokeh of the three (although at this aperture it's completely open).

at f/5.6 the difference becomes more pronounced:

Conclusion

Between the 3 lenses, I think I'm quite torn between the Canon and the Helios. All of the lens produce fine image quality (I wasn't really keen to do the pixel peeping thing), nut the Canon offers lightness and auto-focus, whereas the Helios offers nostalgia and character.

The biggest problem I have with 50mm lenses is that on a APS-C sensor camera, i feel it's focal length is not that practical for day to day use (Just like a 85mm lens on a Full Frame). I would use it much more, but it's quite limiting for my daily (Oh, i wish it was daily) use. I mainly use if when I know I'm going to be shooting at some distance from the subject. If canon would produce a cheap EF-S prime variant in the 24mm - 35mm range I think it would be a real hit.

I've created a set for each of the lens in flickr here, here and here.

Rajastan, India, 2012

7 Photography Tips for a Beginner

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 19:01:00 +0000

Digital photography made it easier than ever to get into the medium. If you feel ready to move on from using your mobile or a compact point-and-shoot camera as your main tool of taking photos, but not sure what to do, this post is for you!

Tel Aviv, 2013

Lately a few of my friends asked me for advice about getting into photography. I though it would be a good subject for my next post and a natural continuation to the previous post, where I talked about the dilemmas
I faced before taking the plunge into Photography.

1. Get A Camera:
It's your first serious camera, so I would advice not to go crazy buying the most expensive camera right away. A basic entry SLR and kit lens will probably not break your bank and will still provide you with a very potent tool to learn the trade with. Getting a second hand camera is also a great way to start.
Nowadays, you can also go for a Mirrorless camera, that offers you mobility and a smaller package without compromising the quality of the picture. One thing I do feel is missing on many mirrorless cameras is an EVF, Electronic View Finder (It might be just me being used to SLRs, but I do feel that a viewfinder gives you a more immersed experience and allows you to compose better). So, if you can, buy one with an EVF.

You can probably find something newer than that. My Great-Grandfather's Zenit-1 Camera

2. Learn Basic Technique:
If you want to take full advantage of your cool new camera, you should know how the damn thing works.
Learn The Basics of Exposure: Aperture, Shutter and ISO; What White Balance means, What are Metering Modes and Depth of Field.
Take advantage of free resources. The Internet has a lot of good sources to learn all this. You can also buy one of the dozens of books and guides on the subject (I can recommend 'The Fundamentals of Photography' by Helen Drew, but really the choices are endless).
As you familiarized yourself with those basics, learn how to use your camera settings and features. Practice and experiment with each of them.

3. Learn Basic Composition:
Ultimately, you want to take better photos. No matter If you're using a Full Frame SLR or an Iphone, you need to understand what makes a photo "good". Learn about basic composition; what is the Rule of Thirds. 'The Photographer's Eye' is an excellent book on the subject. Michael Freeman does a great job of explaining and Illustrating the composition and design elements.

Symmetry and geometry as a compositional elements, Toronto 2012

4. Learn to Edit:
Learn to use a photo editing program. Adobe Lightroom / Photoshop set the standard in the field, and there are alternatives, some of them totally free (Aperture, GIMP and Capture One to name a few). Using a photo editing program is an inseparable part of digital photography similarly to working in the Dark room is for film photography.
A book I can recommend is "Adobe Photoshop for Photographers" by Martin Evening. Here as well, you can find ton of guides, tips and inspirations online for free. Your options in the digital photography are limitless. Hopefully you won't use it to crate those ultra-violate HDRs :)

Using Editing to create atmosphere, NYC 2012

5. Learn Together
Take Courses and photography workshops. I took 2 courses from Technion Photography Center and I totally recommend it. A class in photography provides you with opportunity to discover new techniques and ideas as well as provides challenges that will help you to become a better photographer. Not to mention it's a great opportunity to meet other aspiring photographers. Studying in a group can create a supportive, creative environment.
Taking a course in a photography school also gives access to expensive equipment like professional studio lighting or a dark room.
Try finding classes that are taught by practicing photographers, who photograph for a living and preferably studied photography themselves. This way you'll actually learn from someone who has been down the road you're taking and is practicing the trade.

Self Promo, Advanced Photography Course,
Technion Photography Center

6. Learn from Others:
Like in any other field you should learn from the best. Find photographers who's work you admire. Learn what they were photographing, how and why. Try to imitate it and learn from it. But when I say imitate, I do not meat ripping them off, I do however, mean imitation as a form of studying the techniques and style they use. From there you can take it to your own direction and apply your personal vision to it. Buying Photography books, studying Art (noticed how many of the great photographers studied art?), going to exhibitions is a really good way of getting familiarized with someones body of work (Compared to it, consuming their art digitally from a screen is just not the same).

7. Practice makes Perfect
Take photos. Photography is a craft and an art form and like most things in life, you need to practice to get better at it. There is no substitute for taking photos (beyond the fact that that is the reason you got into photography to begin with). Keep your camera with you all the time & Take photos regularly. If I used the time I spend obsessing about what photo gear to buy next to actually get out and shoot with the gear I do have, I'd be a better photographer and probably a happier man (Said I, while obsessing over the Fuji x100s).
Remember it's a hobby, so you should enjoy the learning process, experiment and find the kind of photography that makes you happy, whether it's spending hours in nature waiting for the perfect light to capture a stunning Landscape or roaming the streets of your city documenting everyday street life.

Tel Aviv, 2013

Taking the plunge into Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 13:01:00 +0000

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.”
― Henri Cartier-Bresson

Probably not one of Cartier-Bresson's first 10,000 photos.

"Behind Saint-Lazare Station", Paris, France, 1932

Some people are afraid to seriously get into photography or just to take that step from using the camera on full manual to start controlling more parameters by yourself. I was once in the same situation. I thought sharing my dilemmas at the time might help people to take the first step.

I got interested in photography after I started dating a hot young architecture student (Who is now my hot young architect wife). My fear was that I might not stick with it for long either since I'll loose interest or just not being good enough. Being on a tight budget, I didn't have the money to invest in an SLR only to let it collect dust shortly after.

My solution was a compromise. I'll buy a relatively cheap compact camera, but one that has manual controls over the ISO, shutter and aperture. This would allow me to learn and practice the basic,s see how I do and then make a more informed decision moving forward. After some research I settled on a compact Canon A720IS. This allowed me to suck for a relatively small price.

Turned out, I loved taking photos and I stuck with it. I learned about camera basics, about composition and to use Photoshop to enhance my photos (The Internet is an endless source of free information, even if we mostly use it to share photos of cats that can't even spell right). The compact camera allowed me to easily carry it around with me and constantly take photos and experiment with different things I'd pick off the net. Most of it wasn't very good, but I was having fun and learning a lot.

After about a year I felt ready and eager to take the next step. My first "serious" camera was a Canon EOS 450D that I bought during a trip to Germany back in 2008. I remember being overwhelmed at the difference of quality of my photos compared to my compact camera.

That and the feeling you get while looking at the world through the viewfinder and hearing the rewarding shutter sound is exhilarating and just makes you want to take more photos. I was hooked!

Me with my newly acquired toy! (and some Germans crossing the street...)

I don't quite feel I've took those 10,000 photos yet but as long as you're photographing and trying out new stuff you'll get better at it. There are some tips I can offer a starting photographer (and ~~I'll write a post dedicated to it later~~ here is the post on the subject), but the most important one is to enjoy it and keep taking photographs.

"Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow."

– Imogen Cunningham

Photo City

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 05:27:00 +0000

Sound City is an excellent documentary, that talks among other things about the affect that technology had on the music industry and the way people make music. As a photo enthusiast, I thought about the similarities between making music and taking photos.

Yesterday, I watched Sound City, Dave Grohl's excellent documentary about "sound city", a fabled recording studio that so many of the records I love were recorded there. I really enjoyed it and easily recommend it to any rock fan. Seeing all these great musicians talk about making records, and the essence of music... but I digress.

The movie deals a lot with the Analog vs. Digital in the music world and how the shift to new digital technologies and it's implications on the music industry the way people make music (In both positive and negative way). At some point of the movie, Dave is talking about Trent Reznor, and how he uses the technology available as a tool, not crutches to lean upon.

3 great musicians, using technology to make awesome peace of music.

Watching the documentary it made me contemplate on how technology is affecting photography the way I take photographs.

Today is an exciting time for photography, the digital age gives you so much more tools for creative outlet, and Iphone revolution made photography on the go easier than ever before. Documenting every aspect of our every day life is an inseparable part of our lives. Every two minutes, we take more pictures than the whole of humanity in the 1800s. But, as with music, the digital tools should be tools to help you become a better photographer, not crutches to lean upon and skip learning and practicing. Taking a mediocre photo and slapping an Instagram filter does not make you a better photographer (It can, however, get you some likes :) )

And the technology is there, so it's very tempting to use it. I catch myself time and time again settling for a "meh" exposure or an incorrect white balance, because I can easily fix it later in Photoshop, or not taking my camera with me 'cause it's just easier to take photos with my phone.

Learning photography today is easier and more accessible than ever before. But if you want to get really good at it also requires you to try harder and not settle for good enough. Getting instant feedback on your photo, being able to take another photo (or as many as you like) was not the case in the old days (My niece could not understand why her Dad's old camera does not have a screen on the back). It required you to think more about every photo and make choices, choices we don't have to make today. Working in the dark room, One could adjust the curves and make some adjustments to a photo, but today you can easily do almost anything you heart desires on your home laptop.

In the end, I can let technology help achieve to image i want, but I shouldn't relay on it to make a bad photo to begin with, into a good one. I know I'm guilty of it sometimes. How 'bout you?

Coming back to music, as Trent Reznor says in the movie:

"Now that everyone is empowered with these tools to create stuff, has there been a lot more great shit coming out? Not really. You still have to have something to do with those tools. You should really try to have something to say."

Welcome to Double Exposure

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:17:00 +0000

“For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity.”

― Henri Cartier-Bresson

Being a photographer you're always looking to get better at it. Whether it's improving your technical skills, getting inspired by great photographers, learning new tricks in Photoshop or treating yourself to new equipment.

I guess these are the stuff I want to talk about here and hopefully learn things in the process.

Welcome!

I named the blog "Double Exposure" for two reasons:

1) a lot of the time I'm photographing with my wife.
2) Just as in this photography technique, super-exposing several exposures to make a single image, in this blog I want to address different aspects that come together to form the art of photography.

I'll share what excites me about Photography, review the gear I can get my hands on and share exciting new that I happen to come by.
I started the blog partially since putting things on paper (or webpage in this case) makes you think about the subject more and synthesize a your ideas more clearly, and partially since it's a way to socialize with other photographers. I wanna hear what are you passionate about! If you like what you read here feel free to comment and contribute your 2 cent (or more) to the subject ( If you don't like what you read - do tell me I suck :-) ).