Monitor calibration is critical for photographers. There is no point in trying to do extensive post production on an image if you have no idea what your monitor is actually displaying.
To this end I use the X-Rite i-1 Display 2. This is a version of their profiler that is no longer available.
When OS X Lion was released many people were surprised that their Profilers no longer worked. Unfortunately the profiling software was written for Macs with PowerPC processors. Until Lion, all Macs came with translation software that enabled them to run software written for the older Macs.
Luckily X Rite have released a native Intel version for Modern Macs running OS X Lion and even for older versions like mine. If you are a registered user you can login and download the new version.
What camera is the best, Canon or Nikon. Mirror-less or DSLR. Is film dead. Is digital not an option for fine art photography!
There are a lot of strong feelings about what is best on the internet forums, and in camera clubs, still some anti-digital feelings in some areas, lots of anti-film people. Lets not get into the battle of wills thats is between the users of Canon and Nikon cameras.
I am always getting asked, what camera should I buy, what camera is best?
With the newly announced Nikon D800, and especially the D800E, I am extremely tempted to finally upgrade my D200’s.
The question is what do I want from a camera?
Currently I use several cameras. My carry everywhere camera is normally either my iPhone or my Nikon V1.
Nikon V1 advantages:
Portability
Responsiveness
Large depth of field
Against this you lose the ability of using limited depth of field and you sacrifice some image quality and have the noise issues that come with small sensors.
These small mirror-less cameras are now extremely popular, cameras like the Nikon V1, J1, the Panasonic and Olympus micro four third cameras, and now high end models from Fuji and Sony with APS-C sized sensors, which sacrifice very little for image quality.
My D200 SLR’s
Excellent Image quality
Responsiveness
Reduced Depth of Field
Low Noise
The downsides, are there size, and my long lens are very big and heavy, but the modern SLR is a fantastic all rounder. With cameras like the Nikon D3X, Canon 5DmkII, Sony A900 and now the Nikon D800; these cameras approach medium format quality in an easy to use body.
Window Light
Next you move up to my Medium Format kit, my Hasselblad.
Very High Image Quality
Moduler
The downsides are; its very slow to use. The other problem is cost. I shoot film with my medium format camera and high quality drum scans are not cheep, digital is also not an option, as a digital back costs around £10000. The lovely Leica S2 a SLR styled Medium Format camera will set you back £20000 for the body and the lens are £5000 each.
Each format has major advantages, and disadvantages. On the camera forums, many will argue that one camera is better then the other forgetting that many are designed for different purposes.
For example, you will find Panasonic users arguing that the DSLR is dead and there camera is far better. Well if you need a small lightweight camera as your priority it possibly is.
A few weeks ago was the American Superbowl, did you see any photographers using compacts or small mirror-less cameras. Were they after the ultimate in image quality, did you see them using Large Format or Medium Format? No they all had top of the range professional DSLR’s either the Canon 1D or Nikon D3s, they wanted to use long lens, short lens, and needed high performance.
I know a few top Landscape photographers, and while sometimes they may use Medium Format when they want to travel light, but most often they use big heavy Large Format cameras. To them, image quality and the ability to use advanced camera movements is key.
Want to shoot casual candids on the street, well you could try a DSLR but you might get noticed. How about a small mirror-less compact, you can shoot discreetly and if you are spotted then you will be ignored, you don’t have a ‘professional DSLR’ so your not seen as a threat.
For my carry everywhere camera, I want a bit of an all rounder, but size is the key factor and a built in viewfinder, thus I use the Nikon V1.
For my studio work, while I want medium format, I compromise due to cost and use a DSLR, but I may upgrade to something like a D3s, D700 or D800.
For Landscape I use my medium format, its slow to use but the landscape is not moving anywhere and I am thinking of adding a large format camera to my kit as well for the advanced camera movements, its cheaper then buying a tilt and shift lens!
I also have another requirement. As a motorcyclist who rides all over europe, I want a small outfit that has the best image quality going for landscapes. This is a camera that I don’t own yet, but so far if I had to choose one now, I would pick either the Fuji X-Pro1, the Sony NEX-7, the Leica M8 or a Lecia M9.
I keep getting asked by people what camera should they buy, what they should be asking is; what do I want to shoot, and how much kit can I be bothered with carrying!
Instead of getting carried away with the latest must have camera, think about what you shoot and what camera would be best for you, and if it suits you then its the best camera, not matter what others think!
Well by now after the weekends leak and Mondays official announcement, Photoshop Touch for Tablets is finally out. One of the most hoped and wished for Applications for the iPad.
For people wanting to make a start on there images before they go to there office and power up there main computers it looks a good option.
For people like me who want to travel light, then with apps like this, PhotoSmith and Nik software’s SnapSeed, you can now go out on site for a few days, leave your laptop at home and just have your iPad tucked in your camera bag.
First an apology, the idea behind this photo is a blatant rip off from one Chris Bennet took last year.
Often when out at a lake or river, people come along and start to feed the birds, the ensuring flock of birds wheeling around can be a great opportunity.
When you get home and review your shots you generally find a lot of blurred unsuitable photographs, but sometimes within that blurred set is something that does look interesting.
In the shot above it has a lot to recommend it. It was a shame that the main bird was not central and I just cut off its feet. I have added more blur in post production and some vignetting to draw the eye to the centre. Overall a nearly shot.
I found out from my good friend and fellow photographer Chris Bennett that Scott Kelby is coming back to the UK with his Light It! Shoot It! Retouch It! tour.
I have the book and its a great guide and useful for anyone who shoots people.
This weekend I made one of my occasional visits to Hartsholme Park.
The weather indicated that Sunday would be best, so on a bright but cold Sunday morning I headed off with my big Gizo tripod and an SLR with my longest/fastest lens. In this case a Nikon D200 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 with a TC14 teleconverter attached. This gave me a reach of up to 420mm.
Wildlife and Sports are two of the hardest photographic skills to master. Subjects often far away and fast moving. Its less how good your camera is but more how familiar you are with your subject and your camera.
I tend to customise my camera somewhat. I turn off the focus activation from the shutter button and have it set to the AF button of the back. I also reduce the number of active focus sensors available to the camera so that it will not get to confused and can concentrate its resources to a few key sensors.
Its great to see Fuji really making a comeback in the camera market. I was incredibly excited when the large sensor’ed compact X100 was announced. Having given it a try, its very close to a perfect small compact. For my large hands the aperture ring was a little difficult to operate, and a number of users have reported that its focus can be a little hit and miss, but it is a camera I love, though I do not own it.
They followed this with the X10, which in many ways I found most impressive. Unfortunately it suffers from the problem of most compacts. a tiny sensor that is prone to noise.
The X-Pro1 is what many people wanted the X100 to be, and really is aimed at the Sony NEX-7 and also the Leica M8/9 users.
At £1500 for the body and the lens coming in at about £500 each in the UK, its not a cheap system, but with Fuji’s history the lens are likely to be better then Sony’s.
Fuji’s Medium format and Large format lens are up there with the very best.
The concern is going to be the performance, the X100 was a little disappointing and Nikon has proven with the Nikon V1, that performance can be stella from a none SLR type camera.
If you love Black and White then Nik software’s Silver FXPro is the go to program. A lot of my favourite images have been edited in this software. Its a relatively easy way to produce great Black and Whites.
The Black and White snow scene I posted yesterday was just a straight Adobe Lightroom V3 conversion to Black & White from a Nikon V1 RAW file. The original intention was to get a sunset shot and have the windows of the buildings on the hill reflecting the brilliance of the sunset.
Unfortunately it just did not work, so I tried a quick Black & White, and this I feels works much better. Generally I try to decide if a shot is going to be colour or monochrome, before I shoot, but sometimes you don’t know what is going to work until you get back to the office and start processing your images.
The shot above is another image from the same day, again meant as a colour shot, and as a colour shot it works very well, but I wanted to do some testing of the Black & White conversion within Adobe Lightroom V4 Beta to see how it stacks up.
I am quite impressed and feel its done a great job. I’ll try a few more images and see how they work out, but if your into Black & White, Lightroom V4 maybe all you need.
As you can see above LR3 does not do a bad job either.
Its been a cold last few days, too cold and icy to get out to do much photography, but I went for a short walk last Friday and took a number of quick snaps of the snowy scene.
On Sunday the temperature really warmed up and now the snow is going fast. At least that means an easy motorcycle commute tomorrow.
One of the advantages or is that a disadvantages of living in the British Isles is that the extremes of weather do not last long.
Nikon D200
