Category: Photography

I am sure many of you are aware, many photographers take part in a 365 project.

The idea is you produce and publish a photograph every day.

I had a go last year at a mini version of this. I tried to take a picture a day for a month. This lasted about two weeks before the sameness and lack of originality in my shots made me give up.

Well as the month of September draws to a close I had a look back at the personal photography I had taken for prospective picture of the months.

Much to my surprise I found I had nothing. It’s not like I had not taken lots of photographs, but there were all for clients, portraits, corporate events, etc. Nothing for myself.

So this week a challenge is set. With the five days left to this month, produce five reasonable pictures.

Let’s hope I can come up with something.

Yes a coffee not an award wining photo I think.

Well after a few days the furore on many Internet forums has started to calm down. People like Thom Hogan have written a number of good articles of where this camera system fits.

Nikon may have found a genuine gap in the Market place and some of the specs and sample photography’s that are starting to appear do seem to prove they have got the image quality right. The biggest issue now seems to be the price.

For not much more I can get a Sony Nex 7 which rivals all but the very best of the current SLR’s. The Nikon 1 seems more of a Fuji X10 or Panasonic LX5 beater. With the lower cost of the Fuji and the Panasonic, together with their more pocket friendliness, it’s difficult to justify the Nikon price.

We will have to wait and see, maybe there is a more enthusiasts model with good manual controls and overrides coming. Match that with some good fast glass and some nice pocket friendly pancake lens and they may have something.

Still before I judge fully, I will wait till I can examin some photographs I have taken myself with it, and seen what the handling is really like in my own hands, until then it goes on the list as a possible.

My small Camera Shortlist (If money was no option then I would add the Leica M9)!

Sony NEX 7
Olympus E-P3 (Pen 3)
Panasonic GF1 (not the 2 or 3)
Fuji X100
Leica M8.2
Nikon V1
Panasonic LX5

So out of the two biggest Camera manufactures, Nikon become the first to release a Mirrorless Interchangable Compact.

Image quality generally is related to the size of the film or imaging sensor.

• Large Format (4 x 5 to 8 x 10 inches)
• Medium Format 6 x 6 cm’s (or close to it)
• Small Format (used to be 35mm film)

Now that digital is so popular a number of different small formats have come about. These have generally been full frame (same as 35mm, 864 square mm) APS (cropped, 376 square mm) usually giving a 1.5 or 1.6 crop. Then there is the modern digital compact. These sensors are tiny with the biggest being about 43 square mm.

Many photographers have wanted a camera that filled the gap between the small compacts and for many that missing link is the micro four thirds system.

Now we have another option, the Nikon 1. If you check the forums then you will see most people are very disappointed with this camera. People wanted something like a Sony NEX-7 with a APS sized sensor.

For me, I am open minded and will wait to see how it handles and what the image quality is like but with it’s smaller sensor and the larger sensors of the micro four thirds cameras and Sony’s NEX range, its going to have a hard job.

Luminous Landscape have some early reviews of a pre-production Sony NEX 7.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/sony_nex_7_first_impressions.shtml

Looking forward to trying one out.

Well now that the nights are getting shorter, the mornings delightfully cool, the early mornings and late evenings are being blessed with the kind of light photographers love.

The low sun, warm light, really seems to give a lift to things.

Heres wishing good photographic light to you all, good night.

Many people buy a camera based on the camera bodies specification, but when buying into interchangeable lens cameras, you are buying into a system.

I shoot Nikon for my SLR needs, sometimes Nikon have the best bodies and sometimes its Canon.  Lets not forget Sony, Olympus, Pentax or Panasonic.

Look at the whole system, and think about the sort of photographs you take and what will help you get those photographs easier.  You want a system that helps not hinders.

I currently have two camera systems, Nikon DSLR and Hasselblad.  Both quite different and I could not say one is better then the other.  Obviously the Hasselblad being medium format gives slightly higher quality results, but using it is slow and a tripod is essential.  The Nikon has much to recommend it.  The flash system is fantastic and the range of lens makes it far more versatile.

What might surprise people is that I have been after a third camera system for a number of years.  This needs to be high quality, interchangeable lens, and small, something consisting of a body three lens and a view finder that can be packed into a motorcycle’s tank bag.

I have been researching and testing cameras at my local camera shop and after several years I am still no closer to buying one.  Once purchased, while bodies may come and go the lens will be with me for many years.

I appreciate good service.  This has been highlighted recently, with once again sterling service from WareHouse Express, and Hasbean Coffee.

Last week I had the displeasure of getting poor service from a local garage.  An email to all the directors of the company did cause then to change their minds and accept my reasonable demands but its a shame when you have to twist arms to get the service that should be expected.  I am certainly glad I am not treated that way from the Bike Garages I deal with.

This week I ordered a new heavy duty tripod head and was very pleased with the service.  Placing the order last weekend to Really Right Stuff, in California, well before the week ended its here in my hand.  Well done.

I am just waiting for my new tripod legs from Italy and I have a monster of a solution for when shooting from vehicles, in the studio and when on a ladder.  Not a solution for everyone but I enjoy the perspective you get from shooting down on models.

As you can see, only a little height can add interest to a shot.