Author: Richard

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Hobbies – Too many and too expensive

Occasionally I look at things and think to myself that would be fun or that would make a good hobby.

The problem with most hobbies is they cost money and take time, and really you need to limit yourself to just one.

Many of my friends play golf or squash and this looks like a fine hobby, keeping you fit as well as looking interesting.  But I think to myself that I would not have time for them.

Currently I dabble in IT, try to play the piano and banjo; photography is a major hobby, love reading walking (especially with Timmy the Greyhound) and run several blogs.  Its a struggle to fit it all in.  Recently I have been looking at doing more kayaking and sailing but again its the time.

The time for me is a bigger issue then the money, its just a shame I could not just give up on work and concentrate on all my hobbies, but then I would not have the money for my hobbies.

First World Problems!

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Lightroom and Dropbox

Lightroom

I keep experimenting with different ways of working with Lightroom.  The problem I have is that I always want to use the computer/iPad thats to hand to work on my photographs.

Having been using Lightroom since it was released, there are about 70,000 shots in my main catalogue which lives on my desktop computer.  The catalogue on the internal SSD and the photographic files on two large external Thunderbolt2 drives.

Lightroom Mobile now means I can sync my work and use the web version and the iPad and some of the remote tools now available make the iPad very useful if you have the Pro version and Apple pencil, but sometimes you want to use your laptop.

I have been trying to work using a small temp catalogue for that months data but then it does not get synced to Lightroom mobile, and then there is importing it into your main library and remembering which version is the current version.

To make life a little easier I have been keeping this temp catalogue in my dropbox and it seems to work well and not corrupt.  Dropbox and Lightroom

So that made me think, what about keeping my main catalogue in Dropbox; well that would be good but with one major problem, on my main machine my Dropbox is on an external old 1 TB FireWire800 drive connected into the back of my MacPro.  That way all the files I want handy are not cluttering up the main internal SSD.

If your used to Microsoft Windows then you are used to shortcuts, these come from a UNIX idea of symbolic links.  You create a soft link and the shortcut acts as the real file, very useful.  Well in UNIX and MacOS is just UNIX with a pretty GUI front end, you not only have soft symbolic links but something called hard links.  This tricks applications in thinking its the real deal and not just a ‘shortcut’.  So what I did was create a hard symbolic link on my dropbox folder, and low and behold the catalogue synced across.

So far it seems to be working well but I’ll keep on top of my regular backups just in case.

 

 

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Computer Ports for Photographers

MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt3So how many ports does a photographer need on his computer?

Large Format - Hay after the Storm

The new MacBooks, like anytime a new Mac comes out with a redesign and new technology, are causing a lot of complaints.

I see a lot of people complaining about the loss of the SD card slot, while  my wife’s retina laptop has this, none of my computers ever have and all my camera with the exception of my Leica and Nikon V1 which I use as a compact use compact flash, and while my Nikon D800 can use SD I still use CF and either have the SD card set to roll over, or backup.

Ignoring things like port types I had a thought about the two types of usage I make, tethered shooting in the studio and mobile import and editing and backup.

Studio Tethering

So what ports do we need:

  • Power
  • USB Tether
  • External HD for backup
  • Optional but for some HDMI or some other type of monitor output

So depending out how you like to work thats three or four ports, something the older 15 inch MacBooks handled with ease.  Now the new machines have four TB3 connectors so a new tethering cable would be needed for say my Nikon D800 but USB3 to USB-C are now available, I do not think I would trust using a hub for tethering.

 

Remote Editing
  • Power
  • USB/CF/XQD Card reader
  • External HD for Backup
  • Optional External HD for Lightroom Catalogue Photographs

 

What about users who max out there laptops and use them as desktop replacements

Home/Office Use
  • Power
  • USB/CF/XQD Card reader
  • External HD for Backup
  • Optional External HD for Lightroom Catalogue Photographs
  • External HD for Time Machine Backup
  • External HD for iTunes
  • Scanner
  • Printer
  • Monitor

 

So by buying the appropriate cables remote working and tethering is fine, for me home use, well I have a desktop, but one of those new LG 5K monitors with built in hub would be tempting.

I would try and buy a decent quality mobile and desktop hub, and where possible have dedicated cables but I have to admit its a shame they don’t have one USB3 port, it would have made life a lot easier.

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Leica M10?

Leica M4, Kodak Tri-X
Leica M4, Kodak Tri-X

Leica and naming conventions have always been a little odd.

The first legendary M series camera was the Leica M3.  The M3 was followed by the M2 then the M1 which never had the following of the original M3.  They then went back to their roots and released the film Leica M I own, the M4.

Leica M4 & M8 by Candle Light

The M8 was the first digital M and many consider it a prototype, with a smaller then full frame 35mm sensor with a crop factor of 1.3 it was never really accepted, it also had two issues, excessive infra-red sensitivity and a very noisy and rough shutter.

The shutter was fixed with the M8.2 was then replaced by the M9 with the same shutter, no infra-red issues and finally full frame.

The M9 became the M typ 240 and its various iterations, and Leica changed their numbering scheme again, just M with a type number, but they also followed this up with the monochrom and the M-E and M-P and now M-D; confused yet?

The M type 240 is now over three years old and we are all expecting the new version soon as is my credit card!  Well the latest rumours are that Leica are going back to the old numbering scheme and the new Leica M will be the M10.  So far all we have is that it will be slimmer then the Leica M typ 240 and have a dedicated ISO dial.  A picture was leaked this week but unfortunately you cannot see much.

Heres hoping we will not be waiting too long.

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Leica TL announced

Leica-T-type-701-mirrorless-cameraThe Leica T’s replacement the new Leica TL has been announced.

Many people like me wanted a body like the Leica Q but with interchangeable lens taking all lens from the L mount.

Leica TL

The original T was quite a revelation for Leica, the kind of camera Apple would produce.  It was a little slow and lacked a built in viewfinder but it was a very daring product for which Leica deserve a lot of credit.  It sold reasonably but it was a little sluggish in AF and touch screen.  Recent firmware updates have addressed this and if your after a high tech touch screen camera and can put up with the lack of viewfinder then for a Leica the old version is a bargain now at only £949.

The new version has twice the in-built memory and is available in the more colours, I had a play with the old version at the NEC Photography show back in 2015 and was quite impressed, and I look forward to trying the new one.  As the TL like the T lacks a built in viewfinder, I doubt i’ll be getting one but its always to see a manufacture give the photographer options.

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Leica to have 48MP 35 mm Full Frame

sensorsizesoverlaidinside-updatedCMOSIS the supplier of sensors for Leica cameras has just announced a new 48MP 35mm full frame sensor. Hopefully this will find its way into the new Leica M.

I would also like Leica to think about upgrading the S to around 50 MP, as for a medium format camera its now getting a little low resolution.  It will also be interesting where they go with the S.  With Hasselblad and Fuji both announcing mirrorless medium format with a sensor size similar to the Leica S do Leica need to transition the S to a mirrorless design?

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Flash Sync Errors

flash-sync-errors

In general modern studio flash is very reliable.  I have on occasion had cheap flash heads bust into flames after a heavy session of use but in general there pretty reliable.

The main problem with cheap flash heads is consistent colour temperature.  Having a drift in colour temperature is very difficult to overcome as you have to then edit and correct every shot manually.  During each scene during the shoot I take a reference shot with a white balance card to correct for colour.  With the better flash heads having consistent colour temperature I can correct the white balance on the reference shot and then sync that colour temperature across all photographs of that scene.

This last weekend though I had an odd problem.  As you can see in the shot above, only half the frame is exposed, this is generally caused by using a shutter speed too high.

I was using a radio trigger but no matter what speed I set I had this intermittent sync problem.  I tried several triggers and it only stopped when I switched from wireless to infrared.  Not a problem I had seen before and I hope not to have again.

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Photoshop a first trial

photoshop-cc-2017

So Adobe Photoshop CC is now the 2017 version.

I opened a shot taken the other month of Jessica, after upgrading and gave it a quick test.  Unlike the previous major upgrade, I had no major shocks with features that I commonly use, its very similar in use as before, but i’ll be diving into the details when I start to seriously edit the shots I took in the studio last Saturday.