Category: Photography

For studio work I tend to use my Hasselblad or my Nikon for professional work and sometimes by little Leica M for fun.

For a while now I have been looking at new backs for my Hasselblad but for 50 megapixels you can buy one of the new Fuji or Hasselblad for the same price.  Being a Hasselblad and Leica user already I would prefer to either use Hasselblad or switch to the Leica S, but recently I have been wondering do I need medium format?

Yes there is a certain look you get with the larger sensors and lens but at the NEC Gavin Hoey and a few other Olympus ambassadors showed that whether shooting assignments, wildlife or stunning landscapes, if you get it right in camera micro four thirds can deliver the goods. 

One Inch sensor – Nikon V1

MicroFourThirds – Olympus OM E-10

Cropped sensor Leica M8

35mm Full Frame

Hasselblad 6 cm x 6 cm

4 x 5 inches Large format

As you can see, certainly on the web and even at A3 print size there is not much between any of these, and how often do you need to print bigger?

Looking at the images on the web you cannot see much difference. I suspect if you mainly use the web and services like Flicker and do not print above A3, go for the format/camera and budget you prefer and ignore the forums and ‘experts’. 

I’ll post more on the pros and cons of small (35mm and smaller) verses larger (above 35mm) tomorrow. 

 

Its tough introducing a new camera system.  Ask Canon when they released the EOS mount, Fuji with the X mount etc.

Mirrorless with its short flange distance gives many advantages when introducing a new system.  Thus when MicroFourThirds came about adapters enabled lots of existing lens to be used while Olympus and Panasonic built out the range.

Leica, since they released the 35mm full frame SL have had a similar problem when introducing a new system, compounded by the fact that it is full frame thus most of the current crop of mirrorless lens are not suitable unless you want a crop.

We now have two zooms with the ranges 24-90mm and 90-280mm, and a 50mm Summilux prime.  This year they intend to round out line-up with a 16-35mm zoom and three new smaller primes of 35mm, 75mm and 90mm.

Of course until then you can always use your M glass.

Autofocus brings many advantages, but when you are trying to get a quick grab shot, its just point and shoot and its matter of luck if the autofocus manages to focus on the correct subject.

With a 35mm lens on full frame,  zone focus is relatively straight forward, but I am finding it much more challenging with the 50mm.  For the above shot, I prefocussed on a point on the pavement and when my subject reached that point I fired the shutter.

Zone focusing is something I am getting better at but I definitely need more practice.

As cameras improve it seems lens are getting left behind, and this is giving manufactures such as Zeiss a gap in the market.

With lens like their Otus range you can add a truly stunning lens to your bag that is potentially better then what your camera manufacturer can produce at a good price.

I tried out a couple of Zeiss M mount lens, the 85mm f/4 portrait lens and the 35mm f/1.4.  There were impressive in the hand with good build quality and they would focus quite well. The top shot was taken with the 85mm in poor light and a relatively slow shutter speed so is not the best example.

As well as the usual stands we had a show of work from several groups.

I also took the opportunity to revisit the Olympus and Panasonic stands when it was a little quieter and tried my own memory card in a few of the cameras.  I found the GH4 suffered a little with viewfinder blackout, but the GH5 was very responsive.  When it came time to play with the Olympus Pen-F someone had been playing with the art modes so all I got were some very odd looking jpegs.

As I mentioned in my previous post, ComicCon was on next door and we had a visit from some Imperial storm troupers and a special guest!

Chris now has his post up about the show so check it out here:

The Photography show 2017

 

This weekend myself and Chris Bennett visited the Photography Show at the Birmingham NEC.

When we arrived there was a number of shows on including ComicCon which proved a hit with photographers.

On arrival we visited the Starbucks franchise and paid over the odds for an average coffee, but captive market, so slightly understandable.

Chris collected the guide book, and once the clock hit 10:00 am the doors opened.  We headed straight for the Fuji stand, with a quick stop on the way at the Olympus stand to collect the Olympus magazine; I had to interests here, the Fuji X100F and the Fuji medium format camera.

The original Fuji X100 impressed me but I have now been shooting with Leica too long and have found the optical viewfinder somewhat lacking in the Fuji.  After playing with it for a while I confirmed what I had thought when I played with the Fuji X100T, its not for me.

I got my hands on the Fuji Medium format camera and was quite impressed.  I heard a few complaints about the size and its weight, but compared to my Hasselblad 503CW with PhaseOne digital back, this new Fuji GFX felt a little lighter and easier to use.  It was slow and heavy to use, if you have just used more normal censored mirrorless cameras but for a medium format camera its fast and easy to handle.  If your after easy to use, easy to handle medium format then the new mirrorless Fuji, Hasselblad and the SLR Leica S are definitely ones to look at.  The Fuji seems a well put together model and certainly with just the few minutes I had to use it a relatively (for medium format) responsive camera.

The Olympus stand was our other major stop.  Chris who is currently a Olympus user, treated himself to the new 300mm prime, at f/4 and an effective field of view of 600mm for MicroFourThirds.

For wildlife photographers MicroFourThirds makes a compelling choice.

I took the opportunity to have a good look at the current Olympus models. I like the top model OM-D E-M 1 and the bottom model OM-D E-M 10, the M 5 is large enough to make you think you might as well carry the M 1.

I also had a play with the Pen-F.  This is my favourite small camera currently, and I love its features and handling.  Unfortunately it is way too expensive.

As well as Olympus I also tried out some of the Panasonic models.  I liked the GH5 but not much else, though the new Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.2 is a thing of beauty.

As well as the hardware we also watched a few seminars.  I particularly enjoyed the one on wildlife photography by Tesni Ward, her pictures of mountain hares were amusing, fun and showed real character.

We also caught one from Gavin Hoey.  He gave a talk about a commissioned shoot for Olympus.  On the wall were some very large blowups of the final images, taken in a dark environment at high ISO, using Olympus MicroFourThird’s equipment.  A few years ago you would have been convinced that you needed either medium format equipment to take such large prints or at least full frame 35mm.

Drones were a big element of the show and there were also a few surprising stalls, such as IT backup solutions, dresses and fabric and even holiday companies.

Over all it was a good day.  Chris got a very good deal on his lens and I managed to get some good deals on paper.  I now know the Fuji X100 is not for me but I am tempted by Olympus.

This weekend the Photography Show at the Birmingham NEC starts. I’ll be looking forward to trying out the Olympus Pen F, the old Panasonic GH4 and to compare it with the GH5. From the Fuji stand I want to try the latest X100, the X100F and lastly the new Fuji medium format camera.

I would have loved to try a Leica M10 and the Leica Q together with the new Hasselblad mirrorless design but neither of them are there this year.

Hopefully there will be a few show offers on and like last time I look forward to getting hold of some cheap paper.

I see from my twitter feed BBC Stargazing Live will be starting in April.  Its a great program and often has tips for astro photography.  Whilst you can buy specialist lens and cameras.  Any SLR or mirrorless can produce great images.

I try at least twice a week, to have a walk around Lincoln with my camera, sometimes with more success then others.  Too many people around and your frame becomes crowded and it becomes difficult to get a strong image.  Not enough people and you are less likely to blend into the background and get a natural image.

The history of digital photography is of ever better sensors, more dynamic range, less noise and more megapixels.

Generally manufacturers like to be top of the tree in the megapixel race. It’s easy for customers to understand. The bigger the number the better right?

Well actually more megapixels generally come at a cost, and that is increased risk of camera shake, showing up imperfections in your shooting style, in your equipment but also less of the useful parts, i.e. generally less dynamic range and more noise.

It’s only because of the very fast evolution of digital sensors that we are still seeing improvements in all areas.

Many people are surprised that you only 6 MP (megapixels) to print a good quality A4 print.

The shock to people is that it general takes a fourfold increase in megapixels to be easily visible to the human eye.

Thus when considering a jump in resolution if you currently have a 6 MP camera then you need to jump to 24 MP to see a noticeable improvement in resolution. That is not to say a camera upgrade is not worth it, as you will gain in other areas, but as digital sensors reach maturity it’s going to difficult to justify an upgrade.

While waiting for my Leica M10 I have been watching the forums, especially the Leica medium format section.

Current medium format cameras go from 36 MP to 100 MP and it’s interesting looking at the reasons for people’s choices. A number of portrait photographers who shoot large numbers of people tend to want less megapixels to speed up editing and work flow, while product photographers who only shoot a few frames want as many megapixels as possible.

Thus a portrait photographer is probably quite happy with a 36 – 50 MP camera while a product photographer maybe investing in a 100 MP back with pixel shift giving an effective resolution of 200 MP.