"Photography" via Ricky in Google Reader

More with SONY NEX-7 with Voigtlander 12mm and 90mm lenses

2012-05-28T03:55:00Z

“life is just another scene in this old world of broken...

2012-05-27T22:10:06Z

“life is just another scene in this old world of broken dreams”

shanghai, china.

(Nikon FM2)

Photo

2012-05-27T17:09:16Z

MilkStudios: RT @WattsUpPhoto: Ruby on the decks @chelsealeyland @MilkStudios @Hipstamatic @williamsjeanann @HarveyNHaydon #Shhhhh we in #Montauk htt ...

2012-05-27T22:21:43Z

MilkStudios: RT @WattsUpPhoto: Ruby on the decks @chelsealeyland @MilkStudios @Hipstamatic @williamsjeanann @HarveyNHaydon #Shhhhh we in #Montauk htt ...

MilkStudios: RT @WattsUpPhoto: Chillin at rushmeyers all is #Shhhhh @Kingandgrove @chelsealeyland @MilkStudios thanks converse http://t.co/egPBvf6V

2012-05-27T21:57:42Z

MilkStudios: RT @WattsUpPhoto: Chillin at rushmeyers all is #Shhhhh @Kingandgrove @chelsealeyland @MilkStudios thanks converse http://t.co/egPBvf6V

“birds are leaving our autumn’s ending” west...

2012-05-27T12:36:38Z

“birds are leaving our autumn’s ending”

west of union square, nyc.

(Rolleiflex)

28 May, 2012 - Lightroom 4 Advanced Video Tutorial Now Completed

2012-05-27T20:48:47Z

We have just published the final chapters in our Lightroom 4 Advanced User's Guide Video Tutorials. These have been on sale for -25% while the series was being completed.

Because of the holiday weekend in the U.S.,
we are extending the -25% off sale until
Midnight Central Time on Tuesday.

Table of Contents v7

New Content Just Added...

– The Slideshow module; adding a soundtrack, titles and exporting to video

– Print - an overview

– Print - Four Features: how to quickly create a contact sheet; how to create a custom print using multiple images; how to print to a file for photo-lab printing; how to use the page layout potential of Picture Package

– Print Resolution. Another look at the right resolution at which to print your images

– Print. A comparison Black & White print 'test' using regular ColorSync printing vs. Epson's Advanced Black & White mode

– RGB readout in Soft Proofing. Yes, Lightroom 4 shows 0 to 255 RGB levels in Soft Proofing instead of percentages.

– Web. A look at some of the Flash-based web galleries available in Lightroom 4

– The Wrap. Michael & Jeff discuss Process 2012 and its greater processing requirements. How to optimize your setup for the new demands of Lightroom 4. (Mike & Jeff enjoy a margarita overlooking San Miguel de Allende, Mexico...)

We will be adding a few more videos on things that we were unable to cover during the shoot in Mexico. We will be shooting that additional content during June. BUT – Chris is taking July off for vacation so the additional material will likely not be available until late August or September. Something to look forward to.

"Every time I go back to a module I had already seen, I learn additional things. I have never seen tutorials that have the excellent mix of what the features are,
how to use them, enough of the under-the-hood information
and concepts so that I can utilize the features creatively and efficiently,
and just enough humor to keep the motivation level high. Wow!"

...

A Vintage Serape Handmade Shirt & LVC LEVI'S 605

2012-05-27T20:35:33Z

MilkStudios: Photo: Seems appropriate http://t.co/C9ApADmE #art

2012-05-27T19:36:25Z

MilkStudios: Photo: Seems appropriate http://t.co/C9ApADmE #art

MilkStudios: Checking out the Memorial Day Parade #nyc

2012-05-27T18:23:55Z

MilkStudios: Checking out the Memorial Day Parade #nyc

A relaxing Sunday

2012-05-27T12:08:42Z

A relaxing Sunday

MilkStudios: Photo: Middle of Anywhere http://t.co/sfgA0pJV

2012-05-27T17:31:00Z

MilkStudios: Photo: Middle of Anywhere http://t.co/sfgA0pJV

The Leica Monochrom – More early 1st thoughts with a pre-production camera

2012-05-27T18:00:36Z

The Leica Monochrom – more early 1st thoughts with a pre-production camera – Part 1

So I was told by Leica today that the Monochrom body I have is a Prototype and not ready for a review as they are still working on firmware (this one has .009). They tell me full production models will be ready for review in July. So for now, all I can give you guys are some more of my thoughts and a few samples instead of a thorough review.

YES, more Monochrom madness!

I have been shooting the Leica Monochrom for only 1-2 days and have been trying my hardest to see what it is that draws me to it. A B&W camera for $8000. Doesn’t sound like it makes ANY sense but I personally know 6 guys who already have their pre-orders locked in. I even heard about a guy who traded in his 0.95 Noctilux even up for a Monochrom. But why? Why is this camera luring photographers and even hobbyists in? I think it’s a mix of a few things like mystique, the fact that there is nothing else like it, pure simplicity, and partly because there is just something classic about it. Also, some guys will just buy anything new that Leica releases because once you really shoot Leica you tend to have a hard time really bonding to lesser quality. That is MY experience at least because Leica is and always will be my true love in the photo world.

Even so, I do not think Leica will sell as many Monochrom cameras as they did the M9 but there will be people flocking to this camera due to it’s uniqueness and overall quality. I have heard rumblings about “who needs ultra sharpness”? Well, you really do not need it to make a good photo but it sure does help when you are using those amazingly crisp Leica lenses. It doesn’t make a bad photo a good one but it can help a good photo become great just due to the look and feel, much like medium format film has that rich depth and “big” feel. The Mono feels like you are shooting a medium format camera loaded with B&W film. Rich quality, sharp details, and loads of tones not full of hard contrast. Basically not so “black and white” but more “Monochrome”. Click on the image below to see it in higher quality and you will what I mean.

Of course there will be those die hards who will always complain about digital saying NOTHING can replicate film. Well, they are absolutely right! The Monochrom will not replicate the look and feel of a good B&W film but quite honestly…why should it? I feel the M9 and Monochrom can EXCEED film in many ways and it is not like B&W film doesn’t suffer from blown highlights or the “flat and dull” syndrome, as it can and often does. Film is nice but it is just a different way to record those images. I have tons and tons of film files scanned at crazy high resolution on my hard drives from the years past and I was looking over some of them tonight before writing this so I had a fresh perspective.

Grain Vs Noise. Digital noise will not look like film grain as it is not grain, it is noise. But the future for the masses is digital, plain and simple. Film is slowly fading, slowly getting more sparse and yes, even more expensive. Those who LOVE film will never give it up and an $8000 camera is not the answer for the ones who really love and cherish film for its unique qualities. But for many others it will be. Again, I love to shoot film as it does offer that classic look and feel but I also accept the fact that digital is indeed the future. Still, even though I am really “feeling” this new Monochrom I am having a tough time wrapping my head around the cost..for ME. I have no doubts about its capabilities and if I were loaded with cash I wouldn’t think twice because I happen to love B&W.

As for film, I do not have that illusion that only B&W film can create a great B&W image or print because that is not the case. I have seen gorgeous images from digital cameras in B&W on screen and in print. I shot a whole Seal show in B&W with the M9 (using Silver Efex Pro to convert) and had wonderful results that were printed in a tour book. I even wrote about creating moods with B&W. If you visit that link you will see the B&W results the M9 gave me. They are good but the Monochrom does give you a different feel IMO. Still, the M9 is no slouch nor is the M8 when you take those files and convert them with software. ANY of these will provide you with acceptable results but the Monochrom will give you that little bit more.

Yep, from what I have seen of this Monochrom “prototype” it is the real deal IMO. Both this and the M9 (or any decent digital for that matter) can give you great B&W images but the Monochrom seems to give you a richer, more detailed and more “Monochrome” look. When I get a hold of a production sample in July I will post a full thorough review with the comparison shots as Leica is still working on firmware and tweaking things with the camera. I will also be shooting a bunch this weekend and will post more from it next week, hopefully some portraits and street stuff. The BIG question will be, are those differences worth the price tag (same as an M9-P that gives you color or B&W options)?

The Leica is expensive, but again, it is Leica. We all know how their pricing works. It is not an impulse buy and to even consider it means you have to accept the fact that you can not shoot color with it, that it is $8000 for the body only, that it is manual focus only, using a rangefinder system and that you get a 3 year warranty. That is a ton of cash when you can buy a used M6 for $1300 or even an M9 for $7000 and convert the files to B&W. You can also shoot a little OM-D and convert to B&W as it does quite well itself, though the files are not as rich, detailed, smooth nor do they have the depth of the Leica. I feel many Leica shooters will buy the Monochrom and come July we should start to see many reviews when the production models are available. Me, I really do not need one, but that doesn’t mean I do not WANT one It does have that classic charm and lure..the one that speaks to and pulls at your heart So far I am not fond that the ISO starts at 320 and the shutter speed tops out at 4000. Using fast glass in daytime situations (yes, many of us DO this regardless of why these fast lenses were designed in the past) so I am finding that during the day we have to stop these lenses down a a bit. Other than that, it’s an M9 with the modified B&W only sensor and crazy sharp output as you can see if you click the image below.

So do I think Leica will put an end and destroy B&W film with this camera as they claimed? No. Maybe if it were priced at $2500 and the masses bought it, but at $8000 film is not going anywhere as this price is still way to out there for most to afford. But those who are passionate enough, those who are the “real” photographers who live and breath for this, they will want one, and probably find a way to get one. It does appear to have a special appeal, like it or not. Leica had the balls to create it so I do applaud them for that – it is once again, a quality product regardless of cost.

I will try to post some more larger samples this week as I updated this from my iPad so the last few images are small as they were out if cam jpegs imported to the iPad. I will also have samples from the Leica X2, which I have to say is really really good in the IQ dept.

A touch of France

2012-05-27T17:15:00Z

We will spend the new two weeks in the city of Pondichéry. In case you haven't heard of it, was a French colony during close to 300 years and it is only in 1962 that India took over the territory.

Why spend two weeks here ? I guess we missed the croissants and baguettes too much the last few months. More seriously, we were in need of a rest and the small coastal city seems the right place for it. (click on pictures for high res)

Leica M9 with 35mm Lux Asph at F1.4, 1/180, ISO640

$99 for the Panasonic zoom lens (and new Gariz USA shop).

2012-05-27T17:03:59Z

Panasonic US deals:
It’s not a spectacular lens but for $99 it’s nice to have a walk around zoom like the Panasonic 14-42mm. You can get it now for that price at Amazon (Click here) or Adorama (Click here). And two more Panasonic lens are now priced cheaper than usual. The super nice 14mm f/2.5 pancake is now in Stock for $269 at Amazon (Click here). And the 14-42mm X pancake is in Stock for $345 again at Amazon (Click here). There is no big deal on the camera front. Just a new couple of dollars price drop on the GX1+x lens kit at Amazon (Click here).

Gariz US store:
The Korean company Gariz was the first to offer the E-M5 leather case (here on eBay). But as you know it’s always a hurdle to shop from other countries (because of the importation taxes and long delivery times). But finally Gariz opened a US located store and you can buy the E-M5 genuine leather case (Click here) and the E-M5 textured leather case (Click here). Hope they will open a store in Europe too!

Will the DSLR die? Will small cameras rule the world?

2012-05-27T16:41:00Z

I've just read several blogs wherein the writers pose this very question and then take the middle of the road argument that, "there's room in the camera cosmos for everyone..." Which is a nice way of side-stepping the intellectual honesty of actually taking a stand, but might just be the wrong answer.

Not to enrage the creationists of photography who feel that all cameras are locked into whatever form they exist in now by some edict, I'd like to make the case that, in order to survive, today's big, hungry and macho DSLRs will evolve by co-opting the best features of their current predators and keeping the goofy and lovable features that marketers think we all want...

I think that much of what we accept as necessary in a "professional digital single lens reflex camera" is there via precedent, vestigialism and ritual. Most of the voodoo of bigger SLR's is based on what we needed in the early days of digital.

Consider this, in 2002 if you wanted a camera to shoot with professionally at six megapixels (or thereabouts), with the capability of changing lenses (itself partially a conceit from the primitive film days...) and the throughput or frame rate to follow even rudimentary action (buffer), you had very, very few choices. In fact, you had the Nikon D1x and the Kodak DCS760. Both were large body styles. You had to be happy with a large body style because no one had anything else on offer with the same features. Really. So, marketers presumed in their "looking forward calculus" that, since the big bodies were selling well (remember, they were the only form factor widely available with the feature sets needed) consumers must like the big bodies and therefore it was good marketing to offer more big bodies in the future. No matter that the cameras were widely considered to be too heavy and too unwieldy to be comfortable...especially for most woman and men with smaller hands...

It's kind of like being GM in the 1960's and presuming that everyone needed a big, V8 motor because you built lots of big V8 motors and put them in most of your cars and people bought the cars, ergo they must want big V8 motors. And would never change.

I look at the Kodak DCS 760 as one of the seminal, professional, digital cameras because, well, Kodak (using big Nikon bodies and making them even bigger) was there first. And since some of them sold well their competitors, not wanting to take chances, followed suit. I think the first few generations of Kodak digital behemoth cameras were big not because the engineers wanted them to be but because nearly every part, including the electronics, was made by hand and breadboarded circuits take up a lot more space than VLSIs. I also think the engineers were constrained to use a certain body size in order to accomodate the enormous (relative to today's technology) primitive batteries and the large sized industry standard connectors of the day. Not to mention the big, dual slots required for PCMCIA memory constructs.

So, in early big camera engineering form indeed followed function. Now form follows convention. Form is following history. Form is part of marketing that plays on a nostalgia for the past in the field of cameras, to the detriment of your pocket book.

My Kodak DCS760 batteries weigh more than my entire Panasonic G3. One PCMCIA hard drive is bigger than the biggest LCD screen on my best camera. And yet those cameras didn't shoot faster than my current consumer cameras, didn't have as big buffers, don't have the same resolutions and on and on.

I fully believe that Canon and Nikon could both make a camera with the same capabilities as their D3's, D4's and 1DX's, etc. that are much smaller than the ones they currently make, without making any engineering sacrifices. Same waterproofing, same basic handling and the same performance but they choose to make them big to connote their level of professionalism. Size is now analogous to the fins on a sedan or raw horsepower. Making the cameras bigger and heavier adds to the weight and the cost but not to the usability for most buyers.

In the ten years since the introduction of the big professional digital cameras the top models have remained the same size and weight even as technology has advanced considerably in every metric. The batteries have ten times the capacity of the early ones (measuring in shutter actuations). They weigh less than half of their predecessors. SD cards hold hundreds of times more files and write them thousands of times more quickly than their predecessors. And the engineers have had a decade to leverage the efficiencies of scale for processors, shutter mechanisms, etc. So why do people still think they need to tote a brick to be taken seriously?

Well, as I said above, I think we're about to see the big dinosaurs evolve instead of just capitulating and becoming instantaneously extinct. If the camera makers are smart they'll make "smaller" a new luxury feature (as Pentax did with their LX system back in the days of film...). You're already seeing that in coveted cameras like the Fuji X1-Pro.

The next step (look to Sony) will be for Canon and Nikon to "reinvent" the finder. They'll move to EVFs but they'll rename the EVF and make it a professional feature. A "must have" for pros who need to see all the information. How will they sell it? With fear and uncertainty. You'll hear over and over again that all still photography is dead (and it might nearly be for commercial applications) and that you MUST be shooting video and "we're putting this EVF here to help you be successful!!!!!" And, they'll create (make up) some new feature set that can be construed to be even better than seeing stuff through an "outdated" OVF. You watch them. When they tip the point for sports shooters the marketing will go into overdrive and no one will ever want to go back to the "bad old days" of glass ever again. Not because 99% of buyers need what sports photographers profess to need but because halo advertising works...

The next thing to go will be the mirror. No need for a mirror if you're looking at the image directly as it appears to the sensor. Right? But again, it will be couches as an advantage because of "high speed performance" metrics. Faster and more reliable. Who doesn't want that? Nikon has already mastered the focusing issues in their lowly V system. They'll roll it up (as they always do) into their pro-sumer and then pro cameras just as quickly as they think you're ready for it....from a marketing point of view.

In a short time we'll have a professional, weather-sealed, mirrorless, EVF'd professional camera with a full frame sensor and a whole raft of new marketing "miracles." How about this information that lens designers have known for decades? : The shorter the flange to film plane distance the easier it is to design higher performance lenses. And it's true. The moving mirror made/makes for many optical and mechanical compromises.

Think it will never, never happen? Look to the moving picture industry where real money changes hands. Real directors and their directors of photography (DP's) have abandoned the moving shutter, moving film cameras of just a decade ago to embrace (now 50% or more of all new movie production) digital video cameras with EVF's and direct-to-sensor technology.

So, the process will look more like evolution. It might start with a lowly Canon Rebel Eyeview. That camera will use an EVF because it's cheaper to build and looks bigger and better than the current tunnel vision optical finders on entry level cameras. The consumer sees a bigger image. And it's brighter! And the camera is lighter! And it's a little smaller so it fits in a purse or a man bag. And the marketing...

A giant campaign. NOW YOU DON'T NEED SEPARATE CAMERAS FOR VIDEO AND PHOTOS. THIS ONE CAN DO IT ALL!!!!! And the ads will extol being able to see what you get. Once the great mass of the market speaks with their Visa cards the prosumer market will follow. And when people embrace that the pro stuff will come out at the next big sports event (Formula One? World Cup? The Superbowl?) with tremendous and heartfelt testimonials from a whole new generation of content creators who will gush about being able to follow action at 15fps with no vibration while seeing a perfect image and never loosing an opportunity because of the ability to pre-chimp!

Blogging photographers are just as susceptible to nostalgia and tradition as everyone else. We grew up with a certain form factor and we're well acculturated to believe it's the holy grail of camera designs. But we actually exist in giant swirling cosmos of alternate designs that are presaged on the evolution of technology as well as consumer taste. When the vast majority of buyers used point and shoot cameras as their daily recorders of events and milestones the DSLR was seen as the "step up" to professional quality. Working photographers knew that the medium format cameras were the magic beans. Now the vast, vast majority of people who snap photographs do so with cellphones. Even for rudimentary business use. Their perception of stepping up, big time, in quality is to step up to a 16 megapixel camera with interchangeable lenses. (the interchange of lenses being the driving metric...). And now the momentum goes to the mirrorless sector.

And, ultimately, we have to look at our societal shift for every image's final destination. The prevailing use is also fundamental in determining the form. (Form still follows function). If the end destination is a screen, even a high res screen, then ultimate image quality is no longer the marketing driver. If photography is becoming relentlessly homogenized then sophistication of the instruments takes a back seat to convenience and functionality. That means using equipment that's easier to handle and easier to shoot with. It also means that fast access to the web trumps ultimates in image size and resolution.s

As the number of full time professional photographers relentlessly shrinks more and more photography will be that of opportunity. And I think you'll agree that opportunity favors those who have A camera with them over those who own incredible stuff that requires multiple sherpas for transport.

Finally, there really is a melding of video and still photography in the generations under us. My readers and I represent generations that straddled the shift between film and digital. Most of us (not all, I get that) had opened up the back of a film camera and dropped in a roll of something and made sure the film was progressing through our cameras as we shot. But we also were there for the birth of widespread digital and if we are honest with ourselves we can see the thread of yet another change that is all about the rejection of a useful but used up paradigm of "Big, Expensive, Complex" that is being replaced by a new paradigm of "Small, Agile, Useful, Egalitarian." Especially if the quality is maintained at a constant.

If you really think that we'll never de-embrace from big, OVF, professional DSLRs try a bit of introspection and after some painful probing you might find that it's the mastery of past camera and photography traditions and the growing irrelevance of those mastered traditions that causes us to emotionally reject the inevitable evolution.

Finally, I don't want to get side tracked by sensor arguments. I've written a lot here but I am NOT making the argument that we all will be using smaller sensor cameras. Not at all. Sensor size is a whole other issue and one that still speaks to aesthetic elements of the differentials. I won't deny that a larger sensor camera has different "drawing" characteristics (based on object distance and depth of field, combined). I'm presuming that Nikon and Canon and Sony and Pentax will also come out with evolutionary, EVF, mirrorless cameras that use all three of the major, consumer sensor sizes just as I am certain that medium format digital will continue to sell to service the tiny subset of user for whom perfection and ultimate control trump issues of size, cost and usability.

No one is trying to pry your hands of a full frame (e35mm) sensor. We're just gently suggesting that form factor changes, driven by technology, are inevitable. Just as cellphone shrank from boxes in cars to slender, pocketable products while expanding their power at the same time.

It's fun to be in the middle of a swirling set of changes. Never fun when your own "ox" gets gored but change is amoral and nothing if not anti-nostalgic. We'll get over it if we have the intellectual strength to change with our culture.

MilkStudios: RT @Friendswithyou: Kick that bad idea right out of your mind. It's good practice.

2012-05-27T15:37:22Z

MilkStudios: RT @Friendswithyou: Kick that bad idea right out of your mind. It's good practice.

Jude Law shooting with Leica

2012-05-27T12:05:17Z

Jude Law shooting with Leica

entropytango: Leica CM, 35mm compact. Titanium, Made In...

2012-05-27T07:31:52Z

entropytango:

Leica CM, 35mm compact. Titanium, Made In Germany, Fabulous Summarit 40mm lens. Just an exquisite photography tool, and object of desire :). To hold it is to understand the Leica mystique…and absolute self-indulgence..I was lucky enough to find one, ex-showroom display model, mint and unused with all the (fancy) boxes, and a fresh 3 year warranty. Just don’t ask how much…..

Harajuku Fujifilm TX-1

2012-05-27T12:59:21Z

Harajuku

Fujifilm TX-1