Category Archives: Gear

What's this?

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For new SLR users: What is this little wheel next to the viewfinder (the wheel with the +/1 symbols in this image)?

It is the diopter adjustment.

This personal setting adjusts the eyepiece to your eye, just like a pair of glasses.

  1. Look through the viewfinder
  2. Now look at the focus points or the green LED information (“wake up” your camera repeatedly if necessary).
  3. Turn the diopter all the way up, then all the way down; then find the position where it is sharp – and leave it there.

If you wear glasses, you may be able to set the diopter so you can use the camera without them.

If two people use your camera, you will have to keep adjusting this setting, unless you have the same eyes exactly.

Snap

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Me, snapped by a student last night:

The Nikon D80 camera is on manual. That means aperture and shutter speed are set manually, but it does not mean that the flash is manual!

The flash is still fully automatic – the camera fires a preflash, measures light return, and sets flash power for the actual flash accordingly. We call that TTL (iTTL, part of CLS, for Nikon; E-TTL II for Canon). The flash was turned back toward the ceiling behind the photographer:never fire straight into your victim’s face if the flash is the main light source.

We're gonna need a bigger drive

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Actually, you need two (one to store your images, and one as a backup). And perhaps a third for off-site storage.

And here’s why. We are seeing four trends in photography, all increasing at the same time.

  • Pictures get bigger (more megapixels).
  • You’ll take more of them.
  • You’ll re-use them more, so will want fast access.
  • You’ll store them all in the same place.

As “digital” took over my life, the number of pictures in the last five years in my Lightroom catalog increased as follows:

  • 2004 :    1,080
  • 2005 :    2,999
  • 2006 :    5,052
  • 2007 :    5,617
  • 2008 :  13,599
  • 2009 :  26,785

I stored more in Lightroom, I took more pictures, I kept more, and they also became bigger, so 2009 is disproportionally larger than previous years.

Can you see that my images appear to be increasing at more than Moore’s law rate?

Of course I expect them to top off this year – they may already have maximized – as I do more training, and more quality shooting rather than volume shooting – but who knows. Even then, larger files will make tyour storage top out. So get ready for more storage, and be agrressive.

How aggressive? The images above filla a 1TB drive (and two backup 1TB drives).

Fortunately, storage is also becoming cheaper, and by 2011 we will have 1 TB SD cards.

Power Tip

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Quick tip for today: you do not need to power down your camera after each use. When timed-out, it uses the same minimal amount of power that it uses when you turn it “off” (which is not in fact really “off” either).  So no need to keep that switch moving: Just leave your camera on all day, and only turn it off at the end of the day, or when you pack it into the bag.

Snap

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Photography is about composition/subject + moment + light. I reckon I got several of these right here:

From earlier this year. Using a 35mm lens on a 1.3 crop camera (meaning it’s 50mm), set to f/2.8 at 1/160th second.

Moral of the story: a “standard” lens is great. This is equivalent to a 50mm lens. Do take lots of pictures and do not forget the “moment” aspect.

Question of the day

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A reader recently asked this:

I noticed in a forum that you much like the Pentax k-7. I am wondering whether you have used the Pentax K10D before and under what low setting should this or a any digital Camera take a photograph without the results being blurred. ie: 50mm 1.4 lens and at ISO 100. Are there any differences between film or digital sensitivity, should the results be the same and do you forgive digital cameras for its own idiosyncrasy. if it was film would digital cameras be better designed today. And finally, how is it possible for a camera to register a photograph out of focus when what you see is in focus?

My reply:

Yes, I have used both those cameras. They’re great, as are most all digital cameras today. The results should never be blurred if you do not want them to be. But with an f/1.4 lens set to f/1.4, you need to focus very carefully. Depth of field is minimal and even a very slight movement after focusing makes the picture blurry.

Also, use one focus area that you choose and move that over the part of the image that should be sharpest.

Sensitivity is the same: 100 ISO is equal to 100 ASA. Noise is not much different either. And you will find most experts agree that a modern sensor of, say, 10 Mpixels or more is at least as good as a negative. Beyond that, better. True, the dynamic range of film is greater, and it drops off gradually at the end, but sensors can be more sensitive. If you shoot in RAW, you minimise that difference.

When what you see is in focus, the image should be sharp. But what you see is small, and perhaps you are moving the camera? Could it be motion blur? Or “slow flash” bluer due to slow shutter speed? Or are you perhaps moving the camera slightly after focusing?

You may want to (re-)read this post here on why studio shots are sharper. And perhaps post an image you think is unsharp.

Here’s one I took yesterday, of my niece’s cat:

Click to see it in its full sharpness.

The best camera…

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…is the one you have on you. And it does not have to be an SLR with a 70-200 f/2.8 IS Lens, like this one I am carrying here in Sedona:

Even the iPhone takes nice pictures. Even of my morning coffee.

If you use an iPhone, get yourself a great little app called Best Camera, and edit your pics with a few simple filters. That leads to this more punchy image:

Have fun:


And yes, that was also taken on my iPhone, and slightly finished with Best Camera. See – you don’t always need a $10,000 camera.

More reliable PW connection

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In my post earlier today I noted that Pocketwizards aren’t always reliable when they have a wire plugged into them. That, and you need to keep them away from 430EX flashes, and point the antenna on the receiving side the same way as that on the sender, ideally.

The “a cable plugged in makes the receiver unreliable” phenomenon is presumably due to some of the RF going into that wire. So a possible solution should have been obvious to a radio amateur/electrical engineer like me:

Yes, that’s is: the little RF choke I put on the cable. And indeed, my testing shows that this type of choke seems to keep the receiver significantly more sensitive. Problem solved (or at least, problem alleviated: the other recommendations still stand).

Pocketwoes

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Nah, I exaggerate. Pocketwizards (specifically, the non-TTL model, namely the Pocketwizard II Plus, of which I own five) are great. But I do want to draw attention to two issues to watch out for.

First: what am I doing. I am firing a Pocketwizard, as in my post a few days ago. Meaning I have this setup:

The camera contains a TTL flash, plus from the PC-contact (the X-contact) I am firing an additional flash, set to manual at low power.

I even have three brand-new Pocketwizard-to-hotshoe cables [link] from Flashzebra – recommended, both the equipment and the company. My order arrived promptly via US mail (as did the mounting brackets that you see under the PW – these allow neatly mounting the PWs onto lightstands). No UPS ripoff.

The Gel on the flash above is a Honl Photo blue gel, to add a splash of colour to a photo I was working on.

To my surprise, I have found this Pocketwizard setup to not always be reliable.

When I mount the PW onto the top of the camera hotshoe, no problem. But when I use the PC connector on the side of the camera, and a cable supplied with the Pocketwizard, no go sometimes. I can fire the camera or even press the local PW’s button, and I get intermittent remote flash firing.

I have so far narrowed the issue to the following three causes:

  1. Bad X-sync contact. I needed to use contact cleaner and squeeze the connector a bit to ensure good contact.
  2. Antennas need to be polarized equally (if the sender is vertical, ideally the receiver needs to be vertical as well).
  3. Maintaining the distance from the speedlite is a good idea: Speedlites can interfere.
  4. Radio signal: when I continuously press the sender’s test button, the receiver’s LED should stay on. Normally this happens. Even when I hold my hand by the sender’s antenna, the receiver normally stays solid. But when I attach a cable to the PW, even when it is dangling in mid air and not connected to the camera, it is much less reliable.

I mean this:

With that cable, whether connected to the camera or not, the sender seems to send out less power than without. This is not surprising: the wire probably affects radiated power and pattern. But it is good to be reminded this is a radio transmitter and radio is black magic (and I am a licensed radio ham, VA3MVW, so I have some appreciation of this).

The moral of this story: Watch out, the rock solid reliability of Pocketwizards, which I had always taken for granted, is not guaranteed. Especially when not using the hotshoe.

But by watching all factors above, I think I have it down to a reliable setup -and when I have issues at least I know what they are and how I can address them.

Update: see the post I wrote a few hours later about RF chokes

Question of the day

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A reminder that I welcome questions on photography. From pros or from beginners, or from anyone in between. I shall answer (it may be a while, but I promise I will).

Here’s a recent question, answered belatedy:

What do you look for when you are judging the quality of an image?

Dpreview has recently published some sample images from the “entry level” Leica X1. See http://bkkphotographer.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/leica-x1-preview-samples-gallery-on-dpreview-com/.

I’d like to hear your opinion on how to evaluate the quality of the samples relative to other cameras. One good thing is that Dpreview keep all their samples on their web site going back years. And often they are of similar subjects – e.g. Tower Bridge, London.

Mmm. Tough one.

When I look at quality I compare subject and composition, moment, and light. But that is not what you mean, is it? You mean to compare cameras. Tough, because it is difficult to compare apples with oranges, and since different cameras address different needs, they are not always directly comparable.

And yes, there it starts with using the same subject. DPreview has Tower Bridge and the British museum as frequent subjects. Here’s my version:

Fortunately, DPreview also have their standard studio setup (with the Martini bottle) designed to test the important camera quality items.

I think for me these important items include:

  • High ISO performance
  • Noise, especially in shadow areas
  • Dynamic range: how many stops from black to white?
  • Sharpness
  • Colour saturation
  • Lack of moiré
  • Long exposure capabilities
  • Vignetting (lack thereof being good)

Note that “RAW shows the camera’s actual capabilities, while JPG shows that plus the in-camera processing capabilities”. One of those can be good while the other can be less so, or both can be good or both can be less stellar.

Does that help, at all?