The title of this blog post is far more impressive then the actual content 😉 As I am sure most of you know, the new iPad was announced yesterday.
I’ll leave the details for others to write about, but later i’ll blog about some of the apps I use in iOS to make my Photographic life easier.
See Chris’s Blog for more details on the new iPad.
The big two announcements recently were of course Adobe Photoshop Touch and the New Apple iPhoto. It’s apps like this that are beginning to move the iPad from a passive viewing type device to a creative device.
Well after a relatively short beta period, Adobe Lightroom V4 has been released.
Lots of information and training is now becoming available so I would advise you to check out some of the free on line tutorials and if your going to purchase V4 and want to make the best of it, I can recommend either the video tutorials from either Kelby Training or The Luminous Landscape.
For version 2 and 3 I upgraded immediately as there was functionality I really wanted to use straight away. Now I think I may wait. Last time when Adobe Photoshop CS5 was released they did a double upgrade offer that made the Lightroom upgrade a lot cheaper. Hopefully they will do the same this year.
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.
I find it hard to believe how changeable the weather has been recently.
Last Sunday was cold but bright and a great morning’s Photography was had.
The first half of this week has been dull and overcast but temperatures have been gradually rising, culminating with Thursday being one of the warmest days, a record for this time of year. Not only that but we had bright blue skies and lovely sunshine all day long.
With the week just getting better I started to make some plans for the weekend. Possibly a long motorcycle ride to the North York Moors, with camera in hand of course for the Sunday.
Instead the weather is looking decidedly dodgy in the forecast.
We have another day at Whisby Nature Reserve on Saturday for Day 3 of our Bee Keeping Course, which we are looking forward to, so if the weather is nice we will try some more bird photography and hope for a nice Sunday.
One of the joys of living in the British Isle, the weather forecast can often be wrong.
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.
You can certainly tell that spring is on the way now.
The Photographer in me has started to spot the Crocus and Snowdrops raising their heads into flower. Thoughts of Macro Photography start to fill my mind.
This bright and sunny Sunday morning saw myself and Caroline pulling on our running shoes and going for a run out of the village. The signs of spring were very much in evidence.
We saw Coal Tits, Chaffinches as well the usual Wood Pigeons, Black Headed Gulls and some very noisy Black Birds.
The fair weather motorcyclists are also starting to make an appearance, they can be spotted on their overly loud Japanese motorcycles, sporting garish one piece leathers. Power Rangers on Rice Rockets is the colloquial term.
Though as a rider of a BMW Motorcycle, that makes me a Pipe and Slippers man, obviously too old to have fun and should be a paid up member of the Advanced Motorcyclist Group, who never go over 50 mph.
Our BMW R1200GS had to go into the garage this week to have the rear suspension looked at, its had some very hard use over some very poor quality roads recently.
While it was there I had a loan bike. Our local BMW Bike dealer is pretty good about loan bikes and over the years, while our bikes are being services we have tried out just about every bike BMW make.
Today I got to have a blast round Lincolnshire on the baby GS, the F650GS. The old model from a few years a go was a real blast, but not a bike I could ride for long. It was a single cylinder 650cc bike, and that big single thumper while fun made your bum go numb after about 100 miles.
When the F800ST was released it brought to BMW a whole new engine, the parallel twin 800cc. Parallel twins have a bad reputation, but this was a whole new design with a lot of cutting edge F1 technology incorporated into it; and it is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde engine. At low rev’s a comfortable bike with amazing fuel consumption, but at high rev’s a real sporty and fun bike when the mood took you.
Versions of this engine have now been used across the range and confusingly now powers the F650GS, yep the 650 is actually an 800cc bike. The GS range now has the F650, F800, and R1200GS.
The F650 is the soft option. A fun bike easy to ride and not too threatening. The F800GS is a different beast, far more aggressive and a real off road tool.
The R1200GS needs no introduction. I have to say my R1200GS is the best motorcycle I have ever owned and is even the best bike I have ever ridden. There are other bikes that I would rate as just as good but different, but the R1200GS is unique.
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.
Nikon D200
