tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46976718390180925302024-02-22T12:54:21.345-08:00Better Family PhotosAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.comBlogger499125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-77968385208535120822013-12-11T15:36:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.658-08:00Olympus E-PL3 with 14-42 Lens $199; Moving from Nikon to MFT?<div dir="ltr"><div>I saw on <a href="http://43rumors.com/">43rumors.com</a> that the Olympus E-PL3 was being sold at Newegg for just $199 with the 14-42 kit lens included. I checked it out and it was real.</div><div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /></div><div>The E-PL3 has been out since 2011. It has a 12mp Micro 4/3 sensor. DXO scored it only 499 for high ISO, just around one third of a stop better than the Sony RX100 (which measured 390), and about the same as the RX100 II (<a href="http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Sony/Cyber-shot-DSC-RX100-II" target="_blank">483</a>). Nothing to write home about for an MFT sensor.</div><div> </div><div>However, note that the E-PL3 has a tilting LCD, built-in image stabilization, and <a href="http://asia.olympus-imaging.com/products/dslr/epl3/feature/04/">face- and eye-detection autofocus</a>. It also has a hotshoe, though the sync speed is a miserable 1/160.</div><div> </div><div>I've been curious abut the eye-detection AF of the E-M5 <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/01/olympus-om-d-first-impressions-comments.html">as reported by my friend MShafik</a>, particularly in combination with a tilting LCD (as a waist-level finder) for street shooting. At this price, this kit was just as inexpensive as a typical compact camera, so I figured in the worst case scenario it would be like a reasonably-priced compact camera with better high ISO capability than most compacts, albeit too large to be pocketable. So yes I ordered one! Will I end up migrating from full frame to MFT as MShafik did? We'll see...</div><div> </div><div>BTW I've bought from Newegg before, including two Fuji W3 cameras (one for myself and the other I gave to my brother) and I have no complaints about them.</div><div> </div><div>Newegg's price is available only for the black color. If you want the other colors, they are more expensive at Newegg. OTOH Amazon has <a href="http://amzn.to/1kAPTcl">red</a> or <a href="http://amzn.to/J7EaGj">silver</a> for around $250 (at least for now). The white one's around $300.</div><div> </div><div>FYI I'm not affiliated with Newegg and receive no commissions from them. For the Amazon links here, we would receive a small commission at no cost to you. As always, 100% of what we get will be donated to charity. Thank you for your support.</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-61295972964399485112013-12-06T10:52:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.666-08:00Sigma 18-35 1.8 Revisited; Where to Get It<div dir="ltr"><div>Back in April of this year, Sigma surprised everyone by <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/04/sigma-18-35-f18-world-first-constant.html" target="_blank">announcing the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8</a>, the first zoom lens for a large sensor that had such a wide constant f/1.8 aperture. Some even thought it was a late April Fool's announcement. But it was real. </div><div> </div><div>Then people wondered what kind of image quality compromises we would have to put up with to get such a fast lens. When DXO tested the lens in September, everyone was astounded that not only was the Sigma 18-35 the fastest zoom lens, it was also the <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/09/sigma-18-35-18-sharpest-zoom-for-aps-c.html" target="_blank">sharpest APS-C zoom</a> ever. In fact, at its least sharp focal length, 35mm, it was almost as sharp as the legendary Sigma 35 1.4.</div><div> </div><div>But at the end of the day, I decided not to get one. The Sigma 18-35 1.8 on APS-C has a depth of field that is like a 24-50 f/2.8 on full frame, and I already had the excellent Nikon 28-70 f/2.8, plus the Sigma 35 1.4, and I would prefer either one to a 24-50 2.8 full frame lens. So I passed on it.</div><div> </div><div>Meanwhile I still enjoyed the Sigma 35 1.4. It's super sharp at any aperture, has a distinctively shallow DOF, has gorgeous bokeh, and has a very versatile and useful focal length. It's my second-favorite full frame lens (behind the Nikon 85 1.8G), only because the autofocus was inconsistent (sometimes accurate, sometimes not). It didn't help that the Nikon D600 has a small AF area. At the same time, using the 35 1.4 on the D600 precluded me from using the 85 1.8 on it at the same time. So I started looking for other alternatives that would solve both autofocus issues, such as the Sony RX1 (which has 35mm f/2.0) or perhaps the Sony A7 or A7R (if they could get Sigma's support).</div><div> </div><div>Enter the Sigma 18-35 1.8.</div><div> </div><div>Apparently, the Sigma 18-35 has a trick: it can be used on full frame at 35mm. I've had APS-C lenses that were usable on full frame at longer focal lengths, such as the Tokina 11-16 2.8 and the Tokina 10-17. I haven't seen that with any of my previous Sigma lenses, such as the Sigma 10-20, or 50-150 non-OS. But someone posted a sample of the 18-35 @ 35mm on full frame (a Canon 5D2): <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/srontgorrth/9254611601/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0066cc;">http://www.flickr.com/photos/</span><span style="color: #0066cc;">srontgorrth/9254611601/</span></a> </div><div> </div><div>It looks pretty good! If the Sigma 18-35 is usable on full frame, then I could use it by itself on the D600 if I want to use just 35mm, and its aperture would almost be as wide as the 35 1.4, and if I want a 2-lens setup, I could use the 85 1.8G on the D600 and the 18-35 on the D7000. :) No I wouldn't get the same amount of background blur at 24mm f/1.8 on the D7000 as the 35 1.4 on full frame, but at least if I really wanted to have a blurred background I could use the 18-35 at 35mm f/1.8 on the D7000 (with a change in perspective).</div><div> </div><div>My concern is how the corners look at 35mm on full frame. On the Tokina 11-16, the corners were very soft on full frame. On the Tokina 10-17 fisheye, the corners were marginal. With the 18-35, the corners look at least usable at laptop viewing sizes (see the tire on the bottom right corner of the sample). So this solution might actually work for me.<br /><br />EDIT: saw this comparison of vignetting (the 28mm and 35mm no-hood look like they might be mixed up) <a href="http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Comparisons/Sigma-18-35mm-f-1.8-DC-HSM-Lens.aspx#FULLFRAME">http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Comparisons/Sigma-18-35mm-f-1.8-DC-HSM-Lens.aspx#FULLFRAME</a> Also, I couldn't evaluate the corner sharpness from these samples.</div><div> </div><div>WHERE YOU CAN GET IT</div><div> </div><div>The Canon mount of the Sigma 18-35 is readily available but the Nikon mount is hard to find right now. It's available online but only gray market (therefore no support), or at significant premiums. Meanwhile if you're interested in this lens you might check your local camera store. In Los Angeles, Samys has it for the MSRP of $799 (plus tax). Other local stores might have it as well. I sold my Nikon 28-70 2.8 and actually placed a deposit on the 18-35, but I think I'm going to have to wait due to many big expenses (including property taxes). When I can sell more of my stuff perhaps I will try it out.</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-64931890746085043252013-12-05T12:04:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.673-08:00Speedlight Modifiers - 50% discount at Fotodiox<div dir="ltr"><div>Fotodiox has a deal on speedlight modifiers, just for today. The kit includes:</div><div> </div><div><li>1x 18" Beauty Dish</li><li>1x 14" Hexagon Softbox</li><li>1x 6"x8" Diffuser Softbox</li> <li>1x 6"x8" 50 Degree Light Grid</li><li>1x 10 Degree Snoot</li><li>1x 20 Degree Snoot</li><li>1x Popup Flash Diffuser</li></div><div> </div><div>For today (12/5/13), the kit is <a href="http://fotodioxpro.com/index.php/fotodiox-pro-ultimate-flash-light-modifier-kit.html">$67.48</a>, half off its regular price of $134.95.</div> <div> </div><div>I haven't tested any of them myself, but they seem similar to the <a href="http://www.speedlightprokit.com/products/kits/">Speedlight Pro Kit</a>, which has been out for a few years now and does have samples, and was even <a href="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/06/hands-on-with-speedlight-pro-kit.html">tested by David Hobby</a>. There's also a more detailed review <a href="http://photo-tips-online.com/sitemap/brand/?brand=Speedlight Pro Kit">here</a>. Again, this Fotodiox kit is not Speedlight Pro Kit but looks pretty similar, so I think they probably function similarly.</div> <div> </div><div>Note: We're not affiliated with Fotodiox and receive no compensation for the links here.</div></div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-39707978725936824412013-12-04T14:25:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.681-08:00Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 Mini Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHWW8-xRk6U0VZzuGo6o5YenTKE7auwFnDPv14730OyHilfMxDQn6oUxafpOWWlmYTOc3-l7ZzS4nj3Ov01ZLaNvu7-wM6_DAAyuQV6O_uLGDGlYJ08Tmt6iBOV5QdXMgnk7Z2kLhUL4/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%25252039.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHWW8-xRk6U0VZzuGo6o5YenTKE7auwFnDPv14730OyHilfMxDQn6oUxafpOWWlmYTOc3-l7ZzS4nj3Ov01ZLaNvu7-wM6_DAAyuQV6O_uLGDGlYJ08Tmt6iBOV5QdXMgnk7Z2kLhUL4/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%25252039.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822243.5288" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></div> <br/><br/>My iPad is back, hurrah, now I can use the brilliant Blogsy app and post more frequently. It's a silver iPad Air with the handsome looking iOS 7 (although some apps still look old fashioned, and uses the old keyboard, hmm, like Blogsy for example).<br/><br/> <br/><br/>Today I will show you a few of my favorite pictures taken with the Olympus 45 1.8, one of the best lenses you could ever get for your MFT camera. Hit the jump for the full post.<br/><br/><a name='more'></a><p> </p> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWmNbEToazxHXUmAyX1uM8j4V1F5kNC8IuQtdaV85GHrGjBfJGjdHmIsxf9P6TPzp8pnPM7zDcMYzpEGrkjoIYNlFEfa6IwLqcaTey-JjqWk3P1StLZG5vwfvA5elqBC1nEYIuYS72h0/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520240.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWmNbEToazxHXUmAyX1uM8j4V1F5kNC8IuQtdaV85GHrGjBfJGjdHmIsxf9P6TPzp8pnPM7zDcMYzpEGrkjoIYNlFEfa6IwLqcaTey-JjqWk3P1StLZG5vwfvA5elqBC1nEYIuYS72h0/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520240.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822301.8135" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="450"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David & Goliath</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/> When I first bought into the MFT system, I bought two primes, the <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/04/panasonic-leica-25mm-f14-summilux.html" target="_blank" title="">Panaleica 25 1.4</a> as my all-round 50mm equivalent lens, and the Olympus 45 1.8 as my portrait lens, and to have some background blur when needed. I love longer lenses because of the compression they do, add a fast aperture for some background blur and you get some nice portraits. The lens cost me $399 new, while the famous 75 1.8 cost $900. I decided to get the cheaper one.<br/><br/> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAB7LiuESLp10nv2vylO9yFtsZL8u7XwQ6rPQCxTiksLIz4M3apggIguNkpNvbT0YZSy4oBYe0eckOqjD-jMPaRYbGg4zXy4XMS-BUFQu57FAyzalQ6P1lv2VJTfWmoCXnPN9vp14mkyw/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%25252043.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAB7LiuESLp10nv2vylO9yFtsZL8u7XwQ6rPQCxTiksLIz4M3apggIguNkpNvbT0YZSy4oBYe0eckOqjD-jMPaRYbGg4zXy4XMS-BUFQu57FAyzalQ6P1lv2VJTfWmoCXnPN9vp14mkyw/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%25252043.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822289.407" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="333"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left: 12-50, 40-150, 25 1.4, 45 1.8</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><em>P.S. Excuse the mediocre quality of the product shots, I took them a very long time ago and I am too lazy to go take better ones. Here's one last product picture.</em><br/><br/><em><br></em><br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGKce9a-1iu1BLLM2MtOAmc3lUARaXhmC_j61hAxeBX6-U5YePUlzuBTCYWF_xSGbBoJsWW81ZbU8bUtjJACqbz6_LWH5igEnuistq8ZJhDF9gEUQyGQ9zOy4bO3SgmZdNeskqo3tyhM0/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%25252037.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGKce9a-1iu1BLLM2MtOAmc3lUARaXhmC_j61hAxeBX6-U5YePUlzuBTCYWF_xSGbBoJsWW81ZbU8bUtjJACqbz6_LWH5igEnuistq8ZJhDF9gEUQyGQ9zOy4bO3SgmZdNeskqo3tyhM0/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%25252037.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822291.1895" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="450"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Compared to the RX100</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/>As you can see, the lens is extremely tiny, one of the many reasons I like it. It has a 37mm filter thread, that's the same size as a large coin. It is made of high quality plastic, and has a metal mount, it feels solid enough. The focusing of this lens is blistering quick, it never hesitates or hunts, ever.<br/><br/> <br/><br/>Now let us talk about images, the lens is very sharp wide open with almost no chromatic aberrations except in the most extreme situations. It doesn't ship with a lens hood, and it can lose some contrast when shooting directly into the sun, but what lens doesn't. The most impressive factor about this lens is it's background rendition, it has some of the nicest background blurs I've ever seen, in any situation. It reminds me of my Canon 100L f/2.8 Macro, just smooth pleasing backgrounds.<br/><br/> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ix8bN8NvBLc/Up0RwCpF-6I/AAAAAAAAIj8/GCEiEN9wf6Y/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520584.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ix8bN8NvBLc/Up0RwCpF-6I/AAAAAAAAIj8/GCEiEN9wf6Y/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520584.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822250.4392" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wide open, background was less than one meter behind the subject</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/>I don't know what to say else about the lens other than that it is an exceptional lens, sold for an exceptional price, and it is a must for any MFT user shooting such a focal length.<br/><br/> <br/><br/>Now I will leave you with some images, I apologize for the lack of different subjects, but 80% of the images shot with this lens are of my family, and most of them are personal and can't be posted here. I hope these will do.<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span><br/><br/> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOSyYrbSDxgfdZD7Dx-gR5IpMiZKCNNOyb8D26cO-mMXxmCaQqnNgUTr5AGVtnhv9sFjh76BNIgopRSIivsBehSiL0_AJxJ4fiky6RFrdq5SEc-chLfxc2qQP6W8lEsIuUoSCgLGjaQj4/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520029.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOSyYrbSDxgfdZD7Dx-gR5IpMiZKCNNOyb8D26cO-mMXxmCaQqnNgUTr5AGVtnhv9sFjh76BNIgopRSIivsBehSiL0_AJxJ4fiky6RFrdq5SEc-chLfxc2qQP6W8lEsIuUoSCgLGjaQj4/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520029.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822267.1875" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Street portrait, f1.8, 1/15 sec, ISO 5000, hand held</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-scQl6n9yjkY/Up0RgEeERVI/AAAAAAAAIis/pFF9Ln1l9o4/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520129.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-scQl6n9yjkY/Up0RgEeERVI/AAAAAAAAIis/pFF9Ln1l9o4/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520129.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822243.4624" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drinking juice, wide open</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Y3xG1eLWT-E/Up0Rrd1jzYI/AAAAAAAAIjk/lMaJlNufCnE/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520460.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Y3xG1eLWT-E/Up0Rrd1jzYI/AAAAAAAAIjk/lMaJlNufCnE/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520460.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822276.5964" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cold, wide open</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAe5DCCRpix4a0vbKu380eChslNI_zKamoDhIXzMbeDT6p-Qx0IHYrZkyUBHTACLsU2__P28pJniGwYVfQZ0sLVKP5d5EkAymAtYvXu_aEZty7LpVyAfosL2P5FyPRzVMoEDd17YPrjcM/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520572.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAe5DCCRpix4a0vbKu380eChslNI_zKamoDhIXzMbeDT6p-Qx0IHYrZkyUBHTACLsU2__P28pJniGwYVfQZ0sLVKP5d5EkAymAtYvXu_aEZty7LpVyAfosL2P5FyPRzVMoEDd17YPrjcM/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520572.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822309.0642" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Party, wide open, bounce flash</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEry3gu2PO1N5TndqAipMDyuXzMHErbXgO98ekMO_zhIHMJRktEtHu-q3u654AD5GxLSmy-E-E9LplTUuHb2pP1tKjXMvvoUpX1EfLvXSIiK-oBeIjik5UiHjrQfaCyYysgwjPMb9bamw/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520577.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEry3gu2PO1N5TndqAipMDyuXzMHErbXgO98ekMO_zhIHMJRktEtHu-q3u654AD5GxLSmy-E-E9LplTUuHb2pP1tKjXMvvoUpX1EfLvXSIiK-oBeIjik5UiHjrQfaCyYysgwjPMb9bamw/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520577.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822306.7302" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Polish plant, wide open</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jbcHkX4F_qo/Uma-r_kMLNI/AAAAAAAAIQ0/spAVvha0Wzo/s800/Cinema%252520Fin.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jbcHkX4F_qo/Uma-r_kMLNI/AAAAAAAAIQ0/spAVvha0Wzo/s800/Cinema%252520Fin.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822304.9966" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="424"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cinematic, wide open</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-NKYzFS-9aHU/UfBkZDOgS4I/AAAAAAAAILg/Btb-v8mJfKE/s800/2013-05-31%252520-%25252000057.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-NKYzFS-9aHU/UfBkZDOgS4I/AAAAAAAAILg/Btb-v8mJfKE/s800/2013-05-31%252520-%25252000057.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822277.264" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swing, wide open</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ZNQOsscVVsg/Up0Rb4sw8pI/AAAAAAAAIiU/S3yqffyfMCE/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520049.jpg" target="_blank" style=" "><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ZNQOsscVVsg/Up0Rb4sw8pI/AAAAAAAAIiU/S3yqffyfMCE/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520049.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822306.6694" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wondering look</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_SBG_l4cQQA/Up0ReSAYb1I/AAAAAAAAIik/OcP-RvrCM34/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520071.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_SBG_l4cQQA/Up0ReSAYb1I/AAAAAAAAIik/OcP-RvrCM34/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520071.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822310.6243" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nail polish</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rqw6NLGB7Pw/Up0Raw2yDNI/AAAAAAAAIiM/XfM8fClQ3Hs/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520040.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rqw6NLGB7Pw/Up0Raw2yDNI/AAAAAAAAIiM/XfM8fClQ3Hs/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520040.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822294.9565" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="533"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fountain portrait</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimi9Sm8Zd8ev5K1UDB7vmgwJ6Ej5JjeCtN98v7VL0WxMHNY92I0pKPFGiMfOLrpy9OHOj5AXNquwo2Hi4OcsidOVWgDA88zFD_uzNB4Mhr5LN7FQsUgrlxx8VXtA44jzwvDFTXA2y8fLc/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520121.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimi9Sm8Zd8ev5K1UDB7vmgwJ6Ej5JjeCtN98v7VL0WxMHNY92I0pKPFGiMfOLrpy9OHOj5AXNquwo2Hi4OcsidOVWgDA88zFD_uzNB4Mhr5LN7FQsUgrlxx8VXtA44jzwvDFTXA2y8fLc/s800/45%2525201.8%252520-%252520121.jpg" id="blogsy-1386195822228.8784" class="alignnone" alt="" width="800" height="450"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trip computer</td></tr></tbody></table> <br/><br/>I hope you enjoyed the images, and I hope I will be posting more, now that I have an iPad once more.<br/><br/> <br/><br/><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-15926669010812445722013-12-01T03:16:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.691-08:00Evening Portraits with Flash<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-quL-aPYOLhE/UprNKbqX_xI/AAAAAAAAjpg/BRjpdxgoJyM/s1600/D600-9730-201311301806.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-quL-aPYOLhE/UprNKbqX_xI/AAAAAAAAjpg/BRjpdxgoJyM/s640/D600-9730-201311301806.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I hope you're having a great Thanksgiving weekend. My parents came to visit and we had dinner at a resort called Terranea in a suburb of Los Angeles. I took a few shots, and this time I used flash. I'll discuss the approaches I used for three scenarios: sunset, an outdoor dinner, and a fireplace.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />SUNSET<br /><br />To ensure that the colors of the sunset would be captured, I <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/10/exposure-for-digital-cameras.html" target="_blank">exposed for the highlights</a> (in this case, by selecting Active D-Lighting to Extra High). I used aperture priority with Auto ISO on. I chose an aperture of f/2.8 to get a little more depth of field for our group shot. The shutter speed was 1/160 (should have been 1/200, the sync speed - oh well). With Active D-Lighting on Extra High, the D600 would make sure that all relevant highlights would be preserved.<br /><br />Because I exposed for the highlights, the subjects and foreground would be seriously underexposed:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MjjG9zxos_U/Upr_8rQrMPI/AAAAAAAAjsg/RwSVpDRkE0g/s1600/D600-9722-201311301802-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MjjG9zxos_U/Upr_8rQrMPI/AAAAAAAAjsg/RwSVpDRkE0g/s400/D600-9722-201311301802-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Moreover, to bring out the colors of the sky, I needed to bring down the exposure which would further underexpose the subjects and foreground. In the all-ambient shot above, that's what I did (-1.91 EV), then I just maxed out the shadow slider in Lightroom:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HUIFFe5YHeI/Upr_7t2yHDI/AAAAAAAAjsY/VDH76zDHT4E/s1600/D600-9722-201311301802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HUIFFe5YHeI/Upr_7t2yHDI/AAAAAAAAjsY/VDH76zDHT4E/s640/D600-9722-201311301802.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Unfortunately a large part of the sky is blown out. I guess the ISO was too high (ISO 2000) which reduced the dynamic range and clipped some highlights. The perils of Auto ISO...<br /><br />For the next shot I used flash, to bring up the exposure of the subjects and foreground. I bounced to a wall about 15 feet behind me using my SB-800. I would have preferred to bounce to camera left or right which would make more sense based on the direction of the sun, but there were no bounce surfaces there. (There was a window to camera right, but that would have just looked like the direct light of the flash rather than bounced flash.)<br /><br />With respect to exposure, aperture was still f/2.8, shutter still 1/160. This time the ISO was 800. Perhaps the camera figured that because I was using flash, it didn't need to use such a high ISO to maintain shadow detail (actually, because of the D600's excellent shadow recovery, I could have used ISO 800 in the previous shot and still retained all the shadow detail while also maintaining highlight detail). Here was the result.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2gYNSDMdKeU/UpsCotM06uI/AAAAAAAAjss/YwxviTl2EQs/s1600/D600-9724-201311301803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2gYNSDMdKeU/UpsCotM06uI/AAAAAAAAjss/YwxviTl2EQs/s320/D600-9724-201311301803.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Much too bright, but all the highlight and shadow detail is there. In post, I decreased the exposure to bring out the color of the sunset. The flash was too white, so I warmed up the color temperature to make it look more like the light of sunset.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ASzyiqTz-BU/UprNIFqEa3I/AAAAAAAAjpU/637nMUKBuPY/s1600/D600-9724-201311301803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ASzyiqTz-BU/UprNIFqEa3I/AAAAAAAAjpU/637nMUKBuPY/s640/D600-9724-201311301803.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I used a similar approach in the next two shots, although this time I decreased the exposure by -0.7 EV and the flash by -1.3 FEC, and -2.3 FEC in the second shot:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JdaQrHRCs4Q/UprNI_TFnnI/AAAAAAAAjsM/djD9iO1xaRs/s1600/D600-9725-201311301803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JdaQrHRCs4Q/UprNI_TFnnI/AAAAAAAAjsM/djD9iO1xaRs/s640/D600-9725-201311301803.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-quL-aPYOLhE/UprNKbqX_xI/AAAAAAAAjpg/BRjpdxgoJyM/s1600/D600-9730-201311301806.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-quL-aPYOLhE/UprNKbqX_xI/AAAAAAAAjpg/BRjpdxgoJyM/s640/D600-9730-201311301806.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />BTW my wife went back to school, so I don't have time for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu anymore, that's why my belly came back. :(<br /><br />DINNER<br /><br />We had dinner at an outdoor patio of the restaurant. With the f/1.4 aperture of the Sigma 35, there was actually no need for flash even in the dim light.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1foVKSBB_R0/UprNLr8VCpI/AAAAAAAAjpo/0OhBYfEYFZM/s1600/D600-9740-201311301818.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1foVKSBB_R0/UprNLr8VCpI/AAAAAAAAjpo/0OhBYfEYFZM/s640/D600-9740-201311301818.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marcus Tyson. f/1.4, 1/160, ISO 6400.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--RiXB5paNQ8/UprNNWgTSNI/AAAAAAAAjp4/3CQtYtblOOU/s1600/D600-9759-201311301820.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--RiXB5paNQ8/UprNNWgTSNI/AAAAAAAAjp4/3CQtYtblOOU/s640/D600-9759-201311301820.jpg" width="428" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f/1.4, 1/160, ISO 8063</td></tr></tbody></table>Nonetheless I was curious to see if I would be able to use flash. I sat across my mom, and behind her was the only wall I could bounce off from, which would not have illuminated her face.<br /><br />Here, I bounced to the tree behind me. Surprisingly I got ample light:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x60OwwQDDFA/UpsLAZP5skI/AAAAAAAAjs8/UuXvGYCU28s/s1600/D600-9773-201311301831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x60OwwQDDFA/UpsLAZP5skI/AAAAAAAAjs8/UuXvGYCU28s/s640/D600-9773-201311301831.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f/1.4, 1/160, ISO 400 +1.3EV</td></tr></tbody></table>Check out the window which shows the flash bouncing from the tree. The bounced light was greenish but could be adjusted in post. I also had to adjust the exposure by 1.3EV but the result was quite usable.<br /><br />There were also heaters beside the table, and I also tried bouncing from the upper part of a heater to camera left:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CZU6QO-7Rhw/UprNQ2nNIeI/AAAAAAAAjqQ/Gf2Ia_9ODw4/s1600/D600-9776-201311301832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CZU6QO-7Rhw/UprNQ2nNIeI/AAAAAAAAjqQ/Gf2Ia_9ODw4/s640/D600-9776-201311301832.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f/1.4, 1/160, ISO 400 +3EV</td></tr></tbody></table>I got much less light this time, needing +3EV in post, but the flash definitely contributed light. Here is an all-ambient shot for comparison:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MEwnUJyVVyU/UpsOe2E5FgI/AAAAAAAAjtI/Xlu6p-cjuqA/s1600/D600-9772-201311301831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MEwnUJyVVyU/UpsOe2E5FgI/AAAAAAAAjtI/Xlu6p-cjuqA/s640/D600-9772-201311301831.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f/1.4, 1/160, ISO 2800 +3EV</td></tr></tbody></table>I'm not suggesting you use flash for the sake of using flash. But it's good to know you have that option even in unlikely places. At the same time, we should be aware of situations when all-ambient is just fine.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DxGUngno7P8/UprNWVDKZ6I/AAAAAAAAjq4/3fSJgFv7F-0/s1600/D600-9819-201311301913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DxGUngno7P8/UprNWVDKZ6I/AAAAAAAAjq4/3fSJgFv7F-0/s640/D600-9819-201311301913.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />FIREPLACE<br /><br />After dinner, we took some shots beside some outdoor fireplaces. For this next shot, I used manual exposure.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uDO-hkBxzq0/UprNYzAVU1I/AAAAAAAAjtU/UPCAQqZrKsc/s1600/D600-9829-201311301926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uDO-hkBxzq0/UprNYzAVU1I/AAAAAAAAjtU/UPCAQqZrKsc/s640/D600-9829-201311301926.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I set the aperture at f/2.8 for depth of field. If I had been using a longer lens I probably would use a narrower aperture but at 35mm focal length, at a full body distance from the subjects, and at laptop viewing sizes, f/2.8 was adequate. I set the shutter speed at 1/125. Slower than that could result in blur if the subjects are illuminated with a mix of ambient and flash. I turned off Auto ISO then adjusted it until the ambient was just slightly underexposed (-0.3 or -0.7). I set it to 1100 ISO. I bounced the flash off a wall about 20 feet above and behind, on camera right. Because I didn't want the flash to look too conspicuous, I reduced it by -2 FEC. I used the D600 self-timer to fire off 9 shots. On some shots, the SB-800 could not recycle fast enough, so in the next shots I increased the ISO to 3200.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mQ3p5VqeG7Y/UpsVj0Ax1-I/AAAAAAAAjtg/Txihqy1tmpc/s1600/D600-9838-201311301928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="510" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mQ3p5VqeG7Y/UpsVj0Ax1-I/AAAAAAAAjtg/Txihqy1tmpc/s640/D600-9838-201311301928.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />In post, I increased the exposure +0.6 EV (+0.48 EV in the latter shot), and I warmed up the cold light of the flash to make it look like firelight.<br /><br />I used the same approach and settings for the following shot. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NSzsuiMLaTo/UprNaBYkFFI/AAAAAAAAjts/wnvYwxBYjZw/s1600/D600-9850-201311301930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NSzsuiMLaTo/UprNaBYkFFI/AAAAAAAAjts/wnvYwxBYjZw/s640/D600-9850-201311301930.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />This time I bounced on a wall about 20 ft. above, about 10 ft. behind me, camera left. Note that dark "shadow" above the fireplace is soot, not a shadow. :)<br /><br />That's pretty much all there is to it. Thanks for dropping by and Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xSZWGXgbujE/UprNbL8556I/AAAAAAAAjrc/3wB5o5Mln70/s1600/D600-9858-201311301931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xSZWGXgbujE/UprNbL8556I/AAAAAAAAjrc/3wB5o5Mln70/s640/D600-9858-201311301931.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-17351086785462913952013-11-30T07:29:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.699-08:00Nikon J1 $199; Other Best Camera Deals for Black Friday WeekendNikon J1 with 10-30 lens <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/823580-REG/Nikon_27528_1_J1_Mirrorless_Digital.html" target="_blank"><b>$199</b></a> at B&H. Recall that the J1 has a 1-inch sensor like the RX100, so this might be a compact alternative with great high ISO performance (though it's not as pocketable). DPReview says the high ISO performance is about as good as 12mp m4/3 sensor, and I would agree based on DPR's studio scene test. Other interesting features: fast and accurate hybrid AF; 60fps raw burst. Here is the <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikonv1j1" target="_blank">DPR review</a>.<br /><br />I'll continually update this space with other deals that I find for this Black Friday weekend.<br /><br />Sandisk Extreme 45mbps. 16GB SDHC <a href="http://amzn.to/1b3GvN6" target="_blank">$16.99</a> or 32GB SDHC <a href="http://amzn.to/RQKI8S" target="_blank">$24.99</a> at Amazon.<br /><br />Pentax WG-10 (shockproof and waterproof) <a href="http://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=pentax+wg-10&category=0%7CAll%7Cmatchallpartial%7Call+categories&lnk=snav_sbox_pentax+wg-10" target="_blank">$119</a> at Target. 14mp BSI sensor. I'm thinking of buying one for my kids. Another possible candidate is the Olympus TG-630 (I like the colors better underwater; 12mp BSI).<br /><br />Nikon S100 (gold). <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/818677-REG/Nikon_26282_CoolPix_S100_Digital_Camera.html" target="_blank">$89</a> at B&H with free shipping. This might be a good gift for someone who's not a photographer and just wants the slimmest camera. Features a touchscreen.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-30880225065530188862013-11-28T15:25:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.705-08:00Price drops!!! Olympus XZ-2, Pentax MX-1. And about the Casio EX-10I just noticed a huge price drop on the Olympus XZ-2 (previously $500 now under $400) and Pentax MX-1 (previously $500 now <b>under $300</b>). Perhaps it is not entirely a coincidence but Casio recently announced a new camera, the <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/11/14/casio-enters-enthusiast-compact-sector-with-well-specified-ex-10" target="_blank">EX-10</a>, which appears to share the same sensor and the same lens with the XZ-2 and MX-1: a 12mp 1/1.7" BSI (backside illumination) CMOS sensor, and a fast 28-112 equivalent f/1.8-2.5 lens.<br /><br />Even before the price drop, I had been interested in the XZ-2 and MX-1 for reasons discussed below.<br />I'm interested in the Casio as well and I'll tell you why.<br /><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />As I mentioned, I had been interested in the XZ-2 and MX-1. Both of them have a larger-than-average sensor that is also backside-illuminated. Backside-illuminated sensors are able to collect more light. For example the Sony RX100 and RX100 II have similar-sized sensors except that the RX100 II sensor is backside illuminated, and is claimed to have <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-cybershot-dsc-rx100-m2" target="_blank">40% improvement</a> in low-light sensitivity. As for the XZ-2 and MX-1, I used the DPR comparison tool and the raw files seem almost 1 stop better than those of the Lumix LX7 and XZ-1 which have similar-sized sensors.<br /><br />Moreover, the XZ-2 and MX-1 have a pretty fast f/1.8-2.5 zoom lens. With the slightly larger sensor and fast aperture, they compare favorably against other compact cameras, providing essentially the <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/previews/fujifilm-xq1/images/Apertures_XQ1.png" target="_blank">same effective aperture</a> as the Fuji X20 with its larger 2/3" inch sensor.<br /><br />Speaking of the lens, DPReview found the lenses to be sharp, and the Pentax MX-1 has earned a silver award from DPR in its full review. (The XZ-2 hasn't been fully reviewed yet but was noted for having very similar image quality in a studio comparison.)<br /><br />Besides probably sharing the same sensor and the lens, the three cameras also have a tilting LCD, which I think is very useful for street photography (similar to a waist-level finder) and for capturing more candid expressions in family photos.<br /><br />Although they share many things in common, there are important differences between the three cameras.<br /><br />PENTAX MX-1<br />The Pentax MX-1 is in my opinion the most stylish of the three. It also has a genuine brass upper and bottom plate that will wear more gracefully.<br /><br />The MX-1 has a green button like some Pentax DSLRs. The green button has some useful functions. If you use Program shift, pressing the green button resets to the normal Program mode. When spot metering in manual mode, pressing the green button will give you a normal exposure for the spot-metered target.<br /><br />One disadvantage of the MX-1 is that it only has one command dial. The XZ-2 and EX-10 also have a single command dial but they also have a control ring / function ring that works like a second command dial.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Here is <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentax-mx-1" target="_blank">DPReview's review</a> of the MX-1.</div><br />OLYMPUS XZ-2<br />The Olympus is unique in having a touchscreen with a Tap to Focus and Shoot function (like the E-M5). See this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRkhdwMBw74" target="_blank">video</a>. I think the value of having such a function is in being able to choose the focus point much more quickly.<br /><br />The XZ-2 also has a hotshoe. Although some people think a hotshoe is overkill for a small camera, I personally think a hotshoe is quite useful for a pocket camera like the XZ-2 because of the unlimited sync speed. (I have an LX5 and found the hotshoe useful. See <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2011/12/lumix-lx5-for-lighting-lunatics.html" target="_blank">here</a>).<br /><br />Among the three cameras, the XZ-2 is also the only one to allow a viewfinder accessory (but it's not cheap). It could be handy when shooting in very bright conditions.<br /><br />As mentioned above, the XZ-2 has only command dial (rear) but it has a control ring that can be used to change the aperture or other functions.<br /><br />CASIO EX-10<br />Finally we come to the Casio, a new player in the enthusiast camera segment. <br /><br />My very first digital camera (around 2004) was a Casio, and I still have the Casio <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/casioexv7" target="_blank">EX-V7</a> which I got in 2007, and it still works today. What I like about Casio is that they usually have innovative features. For example, the EX-V7 (and many other Casio cameras) have a function called "Past Movie". When you use this, it starts the video recording 5 seconds <i>before</i> you press the shutter (it's actually continuously recording and overwriting a buffer). Some Casios have a similar function for continuous shooting where you can choose a shot before you press the shutter, called <a href="http://www.casio-intl.com/asia-mea/en/dc/ex_zr1200/basic/" target="_blank">Prerecord Continuous Shutter</a>.<br /><br />What I didn't like about Casio is that the high ISO performance was just average, and the lenses had small apertures. Therefore it was mediocre for low light. However, the EX-10 now addresses the sensor and lens issues.<br /><br />Fortunately at least some of Casio's innovative features (including the <a href="http://casio.jp/dc/products/ex_10/function/" target="_blank">Prerecord Continuous Shutter</a>) will be included in the EX-10. Other interesting modes include a simulated wide angle (where you can 'paint' a larger field of view), all-in-focus macro (automatic focus stacking), and simulated background blur for portraits (regarding this latter feature, <a href="http://edunloaded.com/sponsored-review/my-casio-ex-zr20-experience/" target="_blank">here</a> is a sample - not perfect, but good enough for casual shots; another sample <a href="http://haniehidayah.blogspot.com/2012/05/casio-exilim-zr20-pop-color-blurred.html" target="_blank">here</a>).<br /><br />In addition to having some interesting modes, the EX-10 is one of Casio's "HS" (high-speed) cameras. The HS cameras are supposed to have very fast startup time. It also has up to <a href="http://casio.jp/dc/products/ex_10/function/" target="_blank">1000fps video</a> for super slow motion.<br /><br />The EX-10 may have a shutter speed as slow as 250 seconds (compared to 60 seconds for the XZ-2 and 30 seconds for the MX-1) in manual exposure mode. <a href="http://casio.jp/dc/products/model/specification/?code=EX-10" target="_blank">See here</a>. It also has a bracketing mode that can <a href="http://casio.jp/dc/products/ex_10/" target="_blank">change two variables</a> over 9 frames (such as white balance and exposure).<br /><br />In terms of control, the EX-10 features a rear command dial and a <a href="http://casio.jp/dc/products/ex_10/operability/" target="_blank">function ring</a> (like the XZ-2). For street photography, there is a button on the front that can facilitate taking waist-level photos with the tilting LCD (or can be assigned to other functions). Speaking of which, the XZ-2's LCD can flip up to <a href="http://casio.jp/dc/products/ex_10/operability/" target="_blank">180 degrees</a> (for selfies). When flipped to 180 degrees, the XZ-2 has a built-in stand that can support the camera vertically, with the shutter triggered by a gesture.<br /><br />EPILOGUE<br />So if you're in the market for a compact camera for those times when an interchangeable-lens camera is just too large, then you may want to consider these three cameras. At the time of this writing, the XZ-2 is available for <a href="http://amzn.to/1b7ohG4" target="_blank">$388</a> and the MX-1 is available for <a href="http://amzn.to/18a7XEO" target="_blank">$289</a> (black) or <a href="http://amzn.to/1b7oKIi" target="_blank">$249</a> (silver). The EX-10 is available only in Japan and we don't know yet if it will be sold in the US. Please note that these links are for our Amazon Affiliate account, which allows you to support our blog without any cost to you. <b>100%</b> of proceeds will be donated to charity. For December 2013 we'll donate everything we get to the Red Cross for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. Thank you for your support!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-2345958930829882352013-11-28T12:10:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.713-08:00Sigma Black Friday Sale on Refurb Lenses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mWoTJr95bx8/UnLTI6hdDdI/AAAAAAAAik0/J_Z_8WN9ESc/s1600/D600-7661-201310301736.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mWoTJr95bx8/UnLTI6hdDdI/AAAAAAAAik0/J_Z_8WN9ESc/s640/D600-7661-201310301736.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />For its Black Friday sale, Sigma is offering a 15% discount on refurbished lenses, including the following:<br /><br />Sigma 35 1.4 - the sharpest 35mm full frame, bar none, according to DXO. $679. Unfortunately, only the Sony mount is available refurbished at this time.<br /><a href="http://www.sigmaphoto.com/product/35mm-f14-dg-hsm-a-refurbished">http://www.sigmaphoto.com/product/35mm-f14-dg-hsm-a-refurbished</a><br />Previewed <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/05/sigma-35-14-preliminary-review.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />Sigma 50 1.4 - the sharpest fast fifty according to DPR, with quite possibly the best bokeh. $379.<br /><a href="http://www.sigmaphoto.com/product/50mm-f14-ex-dg-hsm-refurbished">http://www.sigmaphoto.com/product/50mm-f14-ex-dg-hsm-refurbished</a><br />Reviewed <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2012/05/sigma-50-14-review.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />Sigma 17-50 OS - currently the sharpest standard zoom for APS-C, according to DXO. $499.<br /><a href="http://www.sigmaphoto.com/product/17-50mm-f28-ex-dc-os-hsm-refurbished">http://www.sigmaphoto.com/product/17-50mm-f28-ex-dc-os-hsm-refurbished</a><br />Haven't tried it personally.<br /><br /><br /><u>Notes</u>:<br />1. Sigma's warranty on refurbished products: 90 days, including a 15-day return policy. <a href="http://www.sigmaphoto.com/sigma-outlet/quality-standards-warranty-shipping">http://www.sigmaphoto.com/sigma-outlet/quality-standards-warranty-shipping</a><br /><br />2. We're not affiliated with Sigma and receive no compensation from these links.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-90043015111291271252013-11-25T09:50:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.720-08:00Weekend with the LX5; Adorama Black Friday Sale on LX7<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iit60Dekjyc/UpLYdKFXsbI/AAAAAAAAjec/NZGh2-Xj1xg/s1600/LX5-1060085-201311231602.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iit60Dekjyc/UpLYdKFXsbI/AAAAAAAAjec/NZGh2-Xj1xg/s640/LX5-1060085-201311231602.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table>Thanksgiving is almost here and with it, that beloved tradition of bargain hunting on Black Friday. :) One of the more interesting photo-related Black Friday sales I've seen is Adorama's sale of the Panasonic Lumix LX7 for <a href="http://www.adorama.com/searchsite/default.aspx?searchinfo=IPCDMCLX7*&emailprice=t&j=Email112513BlackFriday-SS&utm_term=Search&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Email112513BlackFriday-SS&utm_source=RSYS" target="_blank">$299</a> ($100 off). You may be wondering whether the LX7 would be a good pocket camera. By serendipity, I took some shots recently with the LX5 (<a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2011/12/lumix-lx5-for-lighting-lunatics.html" target="_blank">reviewed here</a>), which is practically identical to the LX7, except that the LX7 has a lens that is a full stop faster: the LX5's maximum aperture is f/2.0-3.3 while the LX7's aperture is f/1.4-2.3. So here are some shots from the LX5.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-atvIofip4iE/UpQwuaJDXQI/AAAAAAAAjgM/G5HH1FVAbmo/s1600/LX5-1060017-201311231401-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-atvIofip4iE/UpQwuaJDXQI/AAAAAAAAjgM/G5HH1FVAbmo/s320/LX5-1060017-201311231401-Edit.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UuZJdQxNdOw/UpLYJAlTWRI/AAAAAAAAjcE/pfQlSLHueLw/s1600/LX5-1060015-201311231400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UuZJdQxNdOw/UpLYJAlTWRI/AAAAAAAAjcE/pfQlSLHueLw/s320/LX5-1060015-201311231400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tw56j7goyJs/UpLYF_ATdTI/AAAAAAAAjbw/SDGz2kr7FeI/s1600/LX5-1050999-201311231323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tw56j7goyJs/UpLYF_ATdTI/AAAAAAAAjbw/SDGz2kr7FeI/s320/LX5-1050999-201311231323.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AaovvYCsGe8/UpLYByHzAEI/AAAAAAAAjbU/ftQyISkcIaM/s1600/LX5-1050981-201311231311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AaovvYCsGe8/UpLYByHzAEI/AAAAAAAAjbU/ftQyISkcIaM/s320/LX5-1050981-201311231311.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ivx1PCv-hQ/UpLYAutFH3I/AAAAAAAAjbI/GoEGFY3WP0o/s1600/LX5-1050971-201311231306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ivx1PCv-hQ/UpLYAutFH3I/AAAAAAAAjbI/GoEGFY3WP0o/s320/LX5-1050971-201311231306.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yX6s0zkE4zQ/UpLYHdmLpvI/AAAAAAAAjb4/j9iRhpS92PI/s1600/LX5-1060010-201311231351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yX6s0zkE4zQ/UpLYHdmLpvI/AAAAAAAAjb4/j9iRhpS92PI/s320/LX5-1060010-201311231351.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the afternoon, I took the kids and their bikes to visit my parents' place. They live in a community that has beautiful parks and lakes.</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJFO3qMBMaE/UpLYYAfPlRI/AAAAAAAAjd0/8iLPcNLhQg0/s1600/LX5-1060063-201311231553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJFO3qMBMaE/UpLYYAfPlRI/AAAAAAAAjd0/8iLPcNLhQg0/s320/LX5-1060063-201311231553.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-arzDoymnfcY/UpLYLEtnw6I/AAAAAAAAjcQ/Nr6PyAnxWCY/s1600/LX5-1060023-201311231506.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-arzDoymnfcY/UpLYLEtnw6I/AAAAAAAAjcQ/Nr6PyAnxWCY/s320/LX5-1060023-201311231506.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B4e_O_DUVeY/UpLYNG6G-0I/AAAAAAAAjck/PpkjR4PkDEs/s1600/LX5-1060029-201311231510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B4e_O_DUVeY/UpLYNG6G-0I/AAAAAAAAjck/PpkjR4PkDEs/s320/LX5-1060029-201311231510.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ASOXjmpuVoM/UpLYSzxtsEI/AAAAAAAAjdI/hgxdS7aV3Zk/s1600/LX5-1060037-201311231537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ASOXjmpuVoM/UpLYSzxtsEI/AAAAAAAAjdI/hgxdS7aV3Zk/s320/LX5-1060037-201311231537.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XAnHkgx6Dcc/UpLYU2Sue2I/AAAAAAAAjdY/cXOfXZUGTCo/s1600/LX5-1060051-201311231549.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XAnHkgx6Dcc/UpLYU2Sue2I/AAAAAAAAjdY/cXOfXZUGTCo/s320/LX5-1060051-201311231549.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dJ-M_CGViAA/UpLYZ9LlOhI/AAAAAAAAjeA/pO4YBGOi4mM/s1600/LX5-1060071-201311231558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dJ-M_CGViAA/UpLYZ9LlOhI/AAAAAAAAjeA/pO4YBGOi4mM/s320/LX5-1060071-201311231558.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xs3XzH5TUlY/UpLYcNyQpbI/AAAAAAAAjeU/D95LyIrYdXw/s1600/LX5-1060081-201311231601.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xs3XzH5TUlY/UpLYcNyQpbI/AAAAAAAAjeU/D95LyIrYdXw/s320/LX5-1060081-201311231601.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5mGnMKssavg/UpLYeFX92aI/AAAAAAAAjek/jBAXvhbPMCU/s1600/LX5-1060089-201311231603-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5mGnMKssavg/UpLYeFX92aI/AAAAAAAAjek/jBAXvhbPMCU/s320/LX5-1060089-201311231603-Edit.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x7Sry7f-_gM/UpLYf0hjeZI/AAAAAAAAje0/t6tY9H2XsbA/s1600/LX5-1060114-201311231612-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x7Sry7f-_gM/UpLYf0hjeZI/AAAAAAAAje0/t6tY9H2XsbA/s320/LX5-1060114-201311231612-Edit.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h55pSosRkt4/UpLYhttn5QI/AAAAAAAAjfE/lwEOj8Tv9WQ/s1600/LX5-1060139-201311231619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h55pSosRkt4/UpLYhttn5QI/AAAAAAAAjfE/lwEOj8Tv9WQ/s320/LX5-1060139-201311231619.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-52335917198045846972013-11-19T11:11:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.756-08:00Yongnuo RF-603 + Olympus OM-D: Reloaded<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSqIyx7JVaoih-LVCQ_rgIchjhi2BABYFJig1pfj-a9FD7oxZNB0SwOl9879CT7wnEVOAc0woSPVd-t7bEkDKo9xgmJfrqiyNkZ9LEOzeSJHvhvU03GExYzvuHfX0PcdejxpTUCqMZj5c/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSqIyx7JVaoih-LVCQ_rgIchjhi2BABYFJig1pfj-a9FD7oxZNB0SwOl9879CT7wnEVOAc0woSPVd-t7bEkDKo9xgmJfrqiyNkZ9LEOzeSJHvhvU03GExYzvuHfX0PcdejxpTUCqMZj5c/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+304.jpg" /></a></div><br />Do you remember my <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/01/yongnuo-rf-603-olympus-om-d.html" target="_blank">RF-603 modification</a> post? In that post I was able to modify my Canon version of the Yongnuou RF-603 trigger to make it work with my Olympus camera to trigger external flashes.<br /><br />Now thanks to member <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/members/1910784029/overview" target="_blank">Earlack</a> and his post in this <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3076574?page=2#forum-post-51913939" target="_blank">dpreview thread</a>, I was able to further modify the camera cable of the triggers so that they can also wirelessly trigger my camera. Full details after the jump.<br /><a name='more'></a><br />Below is a typical YN RF-603 kit, except that there is another transceiver. I have bought two kits, so I have four transceivers in total. With these, I can trigger up to three external flashes, and I can even trigger the camera (from one of the other triggers) using the supplied cable, however, this cable has only a Canon connector, and Yongnuo doesn't sell cables with the Olympus USB connector.<br /><div><br /><div>This brings us to the modification, thanks to dpreview member mentioned above, I did exactly what he did, and instead of buying a USB connector and connecting it, I bought the cheapest wired trigger for Olympus I could find, the one shown in the opening picture.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4cMZYkb8EJQDqq25pballU-UkPqUo3KtlwshxiuZWZ-MMlj9oz5cUMEfjTdN3Rylmt3Q4JvvqfK3i9PkFL3QoucaXuuiqg3DdT_hOdnTkCywfSzR7vD4slwyVsIzVraQRR4ukm6Gm8BY/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4cMZYkb8EJQDqq25pballU-UkPqUo3KtlwshxiuZWZ-MMlj9oz5cUMEfjTdN3Rylmt3Q4JvvqfK3i9PkFL3QoucaXuuiqg3DdT_hOdnTkCywfSzR7vD4slwyVsIzVraQRR4ukm6Gm8BY/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+321.jpg" /></a></div><br />Here's the Olympus USB connector, this is what I bought the intervalometer for, to salvage the USB connector (don't feel sad for the intervalometer, I have a much better one, with an on-off switch, not fully-on-until-the-battery-runs-out like this one).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYvwJvypfT62SZ-GCeVwBgn6roYqZWcUY4dSy9IrS0I4iFiUelb5Yvj1aEvtcNx3DZzPeluQ9deoO_GRit55j0bd7w2fn9bnY4zXszawxXhwJABSBzp2k2Ri-ubZPO7g-HJ4YCjnAjgkk/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYvwJvypfT62SZ-GCeVwBgn6roYqZWcUY4dSy9IrS0I4iFiUelb5Yvj1aEvtcNx3DZzPeluQ9deoO_GRit55j0bd7w2fn9bnY4zXszawxXhwJABSBzp2k2Ri-ubZPO7g-HJ4YCjnAjgkk/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+316.jpg" /></a></div><br />Operation begins by cutting the two ends of the RF-603 cable, and the intervalometer. Thankfully, they both have the same color code.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvM1V-ED3XmftiqPit6hvX4w95JrcDv98SXDBSTHq1-3W6mzhJBmhBFplKtEThgX7WaJ9LVluekC960QmtF_xebQdRYES-qavsCBhM3-HPJKp4XmSaGJ9J74RsNppdub_i1RjCVeVELNQ/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvM1V-ED3XmftiqPit6hvX4w95JrcDv98SXDBSTHq1-3W6mzhJBmhBFplKtEThgX7WaJ9LVluekC960QmtF_xebQdRYES-qavsCBhM3-HPJKp4XmSaGJ9J74RsNppdub_i1RjCVeVELNQ/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+332.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqzqzo33zlLY_9wAUk4NEMF9zwsZ1pRVYicj6GOmEP91r7ZciD68HqoRoU2zip4yyH9d6pzZNTbXZW7gw1BLGQTPABoAf6gZ4zw2FbL9rOxMgGlTFZAHcPHOSMt0YEamnZjV75V7UNxNE/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div></div><div>I connected both whites together, red with yellow and yellow with red, the picture below is not the final one, just roughly made for demonstration.</div><div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqzqzo33zlLY_9wAUk4NEMF9zwsZ1pRVYicj6GOmEP91r7ZciD68HqoRoU2zip4yyH9d6pzZNTbXZW7gw1BLGQTPABoAf6gZ4zw2FbL9rOxMgGlTFZAHcPHOSMt0YEamnZjV75V7UNxNE/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqzqzo33zlLY_9wAUk4NEMF9zwsZ1pRVYicj6GOmEP91r7ZciD68HqoRoU2zip4yyH9d6pzZNTbXZW7gw1BLGQTPABoAf6gZ4zw2FbL9rOxMgGlTFZAHcPHOSMt0YEamnZjV75V7UNxNE/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+340.jpg" /></a></div><div> </div><div> Once done and tested, I insulated each of the wires separately.</div><div> </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fTt79kl-Ifqc-QBx7dyjUIgJKA8Tyk2yvM9qIWICxsA2HOfq5nwayDNZtfOjeQ1LWg38hbFNmmHekCef6XMk68883AiOkPCJZOnz3OlolkjNQAODuegxm7qpngW37pt1SA6w0oF09EI/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+369.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fTt79kl-Ifqc-QBx7dyjUIgJKA8Tyk2yvM9qIWICxsA2HOfq5nwayDNZtfOjeQ1LWg38hbFNmmHekCef6XMk68883AiOkPCJZOnz3OlolkjNQAODuegxm7qpngW37pt1SA6w0oF09EI/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+369.jpg" /></a></div><br />And because I didn't have a good black sealing tape, I used Gaffer's tape to hold both ends of the cable together. I will be removing the ugly looking tape and using a more elegant solution.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl8ztF1AVDw845vpus_S6cLTj8RMJ0MeiNFT2EHmh8WEcdwwGFlIpMg2sxkVSrDdDdtExVpKAJIxfwXO3zf_YcdAizPrMzS6CXks1kYj4Z_7fy10HGYERVX313VL96N-LgyxSf7Hky0as/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+372.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl8ztF1AVDw845vpus_S6cLTj8RMJ0MeiNFT2EHmh8WEcdwwGFlIpMg2sxkVSrDdDdtExVpKAJIxfwXO3zf_YcdAizPrMzS6CXks1kYj4Z_7fy10HGYERVX313VL96N-LgyxSf7Hky0as/s1600/RF603+Cable+-+372.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />And it works, however not fully as expected, the half-press doesn't do anything, and only a full press initiates the focus and triggers the shutter, but I don't mind since most probably, when remotely triggering the camera as such, I will use fixed focus. In case you're wondering, it doesn't matter if the RF-603 is mounted to the camera hot-shoe or not, and I also tried connecting the reds and yellows together, but when I tested it, the camera had the shutter "half-pressed" all the time.<br /><br />This modification will give me two important uses:<br /><ol><li>I can trigger the camera wirelessly, useful for group photos, self photos, camera positioned far away (on a pole for example with a fisheye for a unique perspective).</li><li>I can trigger both the camera and flash together, for example if I'm light painting a large area with flash, I can leave the camera on the tripod, and take the flash with me and point it at different areas of the photo, and every time I trigger the flash, the camera will snap a picture. How cool is that?</li></ol><br />Finally, all these pictures were shot handheld with the OM-D and the 12-50 lens in macro mode, ISO 3200, shutter speeds ~ 1/10 to 1/20 seconds, ACR standard noise reduction. <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><b>RELATED POSTS</b></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/01/yongnuo-rf-603-olympus-om-d.html" target="_blank">Yongnuo RF-603 + Olympus OM-D</a><br /><br /></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-92119592777912871722013-11-18T07:20:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.764-08:00Soccer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kDQYzad4XbI/UomZlPAp_sI/AAAAAAAAjPY/7BxgcIX2OWU/s1600/D7000-8506-201311161351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kDQYzad4XbI/UomZlPAp_sI/AAAAAAAAjPY/7BxgcIX2OWU/s640/D7000-8506-201311161351.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Some shots from our last soccer game of the season. Shot with the Nikon D7000 and Nikon 28-70 2.8 (42-105 equivalent).<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vctU1m2U8lg/UomZjwhy7FI/AAAAAAAAjPQ/qYZWn25tTJg/s1600/D7000-8503-201311161351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vctU1m2U8lg/UomZjwhy7FI/AAAAAAAAjPQ/qYZWn25tTJg/s320/D7000-8503-201311161351.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1J_jMykfVhU/UomZpAwmCRI/AAAAAAAAjPo/c-JJu69FtB4/s1600/D7000-8567-201311161355.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1J_jMykfVhU/UomZpAwmCRI/AAAAAAAAjPo/c-JJu69FtB4/s320/D7000-8567-201311161355.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IC9bJmRlvkw/UomZvlKsgeI/AAAAAAAAjLY/AwjltsPK2oY/s1600/D7000-8708-201311161403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IC9bJmRlvkw/UomZvlKsgeI/AAAAAAAAjLY/AwjltsPK2oY/s320/D7000-8708-201311161403.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X2VYGTYdDuo/UomZyqIH8mI/AAAAAAAAjL0/WRQH2-W07hI/s1600/D7000-8946-201311161417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X2VYGTYdDuo/UomZyqIH8mI/AAAAAAAAjL0/WRQH2-W07hI/s320/D7000-8946-201311161417.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5l3vgLfntfedZK1E-f04UaU5fE0QJisKVtx_kFBd-J1Hf6_iR2bzv3d-Ow-QLIiZfv_3-5RXsWNe7PKkw1PbYrAq0BdyHC1fluji9xkNrO8-aQXC3MRsYJFmwHrMK4KCu3PWsHDFkHf8/s1600/D7000-9013-201311161419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5l3vgLfntfedZK1E-f04UaU5fE0QJisKVtx_kFBd-J1Hf6_iR2bzv3d-Ow-QLIiZfv_3-5RXsWNe7PKkw1PbYrAq0BdyHC1fluji9xkNrO8-aQXC3MRsYJFmwHrMK4KCu3PWsHDFkHf8/s320/D7000-9013-201311161419.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N4qYfrZJ8-U/UomaQrAahlI/AAAAAAAAjOQ/ekM2n9uuevo/s1600/D7000-9277-201311161431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N4qYfrZJ8-U/UomaQrAahlI/AAAAAAAAjOQ/ekM2n9uuevo/s320/D7000-9277-201311161431.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8vAm4W-VcQTCIBvyrOjQkKCS5DqFZtgCdDGv9tbQnKjI4KkzpPY69dduKXDhHLYwSrxkkxzprMiqkSSfn2O11g5LwGYagsjW0tsuZtm-3j0GblssFrIYNvDEGZ-vdTHIUuUYUB5-RuRU/s1600/D7000-9282-201311161432.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8vAm4W-VcQTCIBvyrOjQkKCS5DqFZtgCdDGv9tbQnKjI4KkzpPY69dduKXDhHLYwSrxkkxzprMiqkSSfn2O11g5LwGYagsjW0tsuZtm-3j0GblssFrIYNvDEGZ-vdTHIUuUYUB5-RuRU/s320/D7000-9282-201311161432.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VeITMe76gn0/UomaS2h8riI/AAAAAAAAjOo/cJKNq4mV-1s/s1600/D7000-9296-201311161443.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VeITMe76gn0/UomaS2h8riI/AAAAAAAAjOo/cJKNq4mV-1s/s320/D7000-9296-201311161443.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UZvSKpYpuYM/UomaUETvU7I/AAAAAAAAjSo/_Jb6x-1jZrs/s1600/D7000-9302-201311161447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UZvSKpYpuYM/UomaUETvU7I/AAAAAAAAjSo/_Jb6x-1jZrs/s320/D7000-9302-201311161447.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-50311164707749987642013-11-11T21:43:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.852-08:00Quickly Switching Between Shallow and Deep DOF<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C7EjG8EvIUw/UoF007o_H-I/AAAAAAAAjHU/aReuKc0aLBM/s1600/D600-9537-201311111105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C7EjG8EvIUw/UoF007o_H-I/AAAAAAAAjHU/aReuKc0aLBM/s640/D600-9537-201311111105.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f/8, 1/320, ISO 100. Aperture priority.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I love using shallow depth of field, but sometimes I want a deep depth of field. Here is one way I switch between shallow and deep depth of field quickly in bright conditions without having to rapidly rotate the aperture dial:<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />In aperture priority mode, I set the aperture for deep depth of field like f/8 or f/11. In shutter priority mode, I set it to the highest shutter speed available. I set the ISO to the base ISO but I also activate Auto ISO.<br /><br />When I want a deep depth of field, I switch to aperture priority. When I want shallow depth of field, I switch to shutter priority. With the shutter speed at maximum, the camera will choose the widest available aperture that would not result in overexposure. If the conditions are not bright enough, the camera will still usually choose the widest aperture and then because of Auto ISO, it will increase ISO as needed to get a proper exposure. Compared to simply selecting the widest available aperture, you're assured that you're not going to overexpose the shot, and you're automatically selecting the widest possible aperture under the circumstances.<br /><br />This approach is what I used with the shots here. Both were taken with a Nikon D600 and Sigma 35 1.4.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1V_xNg_Cyjk/UoF0zUVJ9iI/AAAAAAAAjDM/isZZvAg2Duc/s1600/D600-9531-201311111100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1V_xNg_Cyjk/UoF0zUVJ9iI/AAAAAAAAjDM/isZZvAg2Duc/s640/D600-9531-201311111100.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f/2.2, 1/4000, ISO 100. Shutter priority.</td></tr></tbody></table>Take note that this only works in bright conditions. In darker ambient light, choosing the highest shutter speed is not feasible because you'll end up using an unnecessarily high ISO. I would either use a lower (though still fast) shutter speed to force the camera to use a wide aperture, or I would have to do it the normal way by rotating the aperture command dial very quickly.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-91319235326177432922013-11-09T01:32:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:03.942-08:00Change Is The Only Constant<p dir="ltr">First of all, I would like to apologize for the recent lack of posts, but you know what happens, you start arranging your life, tasks and schedule, and when you think you have it all figured out, something sudden happens and disrupts all of your future plans, which is how life works.</p><p dir="ltr">That's why there are courses like "Change Management" to teach people how to adapt to the continuous changes happening in life, and how not to fall behind or feel unsettled, you have to adapt. By the way, change is not usually a bad thing, but people feel scared of the unknown, while most of the time; despite how uncomfortable it might be, change leads to the better. Go to YouTube and watch "Who moved my cheese".</p><p dir="ltr">I am in the middle of one of the bigger changes in my life, and it might take some time to settle down and fall to a semi-steady schedule, so I can't promise regular posts, but I will be doing my best. Below are some of the things I would love to tell you about in the coming posts:</p><p dir="ltr">- Olympus 45 1.8 review<br>- Olympus 75 1.8 review<br>- Bower 7.5mm Fisheye review<br>- Yongnuo 560II and 560III review and comparison<br>- Yongnuo RF-603 review<br>- Cinematic photography & post processing<br>- Resuming the post processing series</p><p dir="ltr">Well, the plan is to have one of these posts ready in the coming week.</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-81292090119760662772013-11-07T14:11:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:04.032-08:00More info about Sony A7 and A7R<div dir="ltr"><div>Manual available for download:</div><div><a href="http://download.sony-asia.com/consumer/IM/4478729112.pdf">http://download.sony-asia.com/consumer/IM/4478729112.pdf</a></div><div> </div><div>Frank Doorhof's A7R review:</div><div>Part 1: <a href="http://www.frankdoorhof.com/site/2013/11/sony-a7r-part-i/">http://www.frankdoorhof.com/site/2013/11/sony-a7r-part-i/</a></div><div>Part 2: <a href="http://www.frankdoorhof.com/site/2013/11/sony-a7r-review-part-ii-small-flash-and-more/">http://www.frankdoorhof.com/site/2013/11/sony-a7r-review-part-ii-small-flash-and-more/</a></div><div> </div><div>Steve Huff's A7 and A7R review:</div><div>3-part review and wrap-up: <a href="http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2013/10/31/my-1st-look-wrap-up-of-the-sony-a7-and-a7r-cameras/">http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2013/10/31/my-1st-look-wrap-up-of-the-sony-a7-and-a7r-cameras/</a></div><div>1st look video review: <a href="http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2013/11/01/my-1st-look-video-for-the-sony-a7-and-a7r-is-now-up/">http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2013/11/01/my-1st-look-video-for-the-sony-a7-and-a7r-is-now-up/</a></div><div><br />Also check out <a href="http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/">www.sonyalpharumors.com</a> </div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-41193374467792465462013-11-04T13:55:00.000-08:002013-12-16T04:11:04.119-08:00Nikon DSLR Tip: See the active AF AreaDo you have one of the newer Nikon DSLRs that has a button on the AF/MF lever? On these Nikons, you can see the active AF Area by holding down the button on the AF/MF lever. For example, if you are using the Dynamic 9-point AF you can see the area that is covered by the location of the AF point. You can keep the button held down even as you move the AF selection point.<br /><br />Note: the Dynamic 9 and Dynamic 21 point settings are available only in AF-C (continuous AF) or AF-A (automatically chooses AF-C or AF-S).<br /><br />EDIT: Why would you want to see the active AF area? One reason is to confirm that the AF Area covers your target adequately. If not, you can move it around or change the size of the AF Area.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-74963076174121528182013-10-31T21:37:00.000-07:002013-12-16T04:11:04.205-08:00Happy Halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Just wanted to share a few of the photos I took for Halloween. These were with the Nikon D600 and Sigma 35 f/1.4. Have a safe and happy Halloween!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3x3jq7Q_WSXJlvVaIRVw5ByOaLzGI7t1120S_rrSjoFEDsvFi0HE5CZtyLB5LFvLDPr5THEr3wiano5X9AzXWesMHouCxXGFd-aA5OKGVwINSzbDa9GpwtLIHpaIKeaLLaDhG4Dbitb4/s1600/D600-8150-201310310910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3x3jq7Q_WSXJlvVaIRVw5ByOaLzGI7t1120S_rrSjoFEDsvFi0HE5CZtyLB5LFvLDPr5THEr3wiano5X9AzXWesMHouCxXGFd-aA5OKGVwINSzbDa9GpwtLIHpaIKeaLLaDhG4Dbitb4/s640/D600-8150-201310310910.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nKdr3rnPdGw/UnMqCfLRVyI/AAAAAAAAilc/MSAXUMBb-uM/s1600/D600-8148-201310310909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nKdr3rnPdGw/UnMqCfLRVyI/AAAAAAAAilc/MSAXUMBb-uM/s640/D600-8148-201310310909.jpg" width="510" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gycpiq0rNBY/UnMqEir33bI/AAAAAAAAils/gk2XAik0Svo/s1600/D600-8372-201310310953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gycpiq0rNBY/UnMqEir33bI/AAAAAAAAils/gk2XAik0Svo/s640/D600-8372-201310310953.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kMCO6dTNx0s/UnMqFfgYrEI/AAAAAAAAil0/I6YCT2knSVg/s1600/D600-8418-201310311001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kMCO6dTNx0s/UnMqFfgYrEI/AAAAAAAAil0/I6YCT2knSVg/s640/D600-8418-201310311001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJN8sBi7wSaufdjbIW5NhD_TgOz6_mr9qnN_HOxsOjGEUUR45KThK_ek5DcFHyRT1iXQxErRX2pzroFK7_YKNplkKEK5qO9Yb3GBmxylQUfR8FERVYPd_HcV2218LMTSIfKKHcTpbdUY/s1600/D600-8586-201310311046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJN8sBi7wSaufdjbIW5NhD_TgOz6_mr9qnN_HOxsOjGEUUR45KThK_ek5DcFHyRT1iXQxErRX2pzroFK7_YKNplkKEK5qO9Yb3GBmxylQUfR8FERVYPd_HcV2218LMTSIfKKHcTpbdUY/s640/D600-8586-201310311046.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-75295915607387539402013-10-28T12:27:00.000-07:002013-12-16T04:11:04.295-08:00Thoughts on Nikon DF and Sony A7<div dir="ltr"><div>Nikonrumors just did another post with rumored specs of the Nikon DF.</div><div><a href="http://nikonrumors.com/2013/10/28/nikon-df-camera-rumors-recap.aspx" target="_blank">http://nikonrumors.com/2013/10/28/nikon-df-camera-rumors-recap.aspx</a></div><div> </div><div>It seems from the specs that the DF is designed to be a compact digital rangefinder-style camera (not actually a rangefinder because it has a pentaprism). IOW a Nikon version of a Leica. If so the rumored $3000 price tag would make sense. But as Nikonrumors pointed out, it's called a hybrid camera, but we don't know yet in what sense it is a hybrid.</div><div> </div><div>So far, I find the Sony A7 more intriguing. More particularly I am most interested in the A7's autofocus capabilities. The A7 uses a hybrid contrast detection and phase detection system. With contrast detection there is of course coverage on the entire frame. It makes sense that they broke the frame up into 25 smaller areas (I.e., for faster navigation -- have you tried moving the AF point around on a Nikon DSLR in live view mode? It's like encouraging a turtle to run faster.).</div><div> </div><div>The phase detection mode has 117 AF points, but more importantly, look at the coverage (the blue rectangle in the image below).</div><div> </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0B1GaKc4sLddCZM8skaypzfYqDO-NKbUVW-FnRSdXQErMZPkPiw2KK3MIsOqXJfS9CqVRTQsfB3lEPsG_EFU_QNCx7_75yWu3YgYj31rvSu42HwTE2BM1IC8xa91RbMH8zbHBQDPYCzE/s1600/sony+a7-798456.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5939889089348030642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0B1GaKc4sLddCZM8skaypzfYqDO-NKbUVW-FnRSdXQErMZPkPiw2KK3MIsOqXJfS9CqVRTQsfB3lEPsG_EFU_QNCx7_75yWu3YgYj31rvSu42HwTE2BM1IC8xa91RbMH8zbHBQDPYCzE/s400/sony+a7-798456.png" /></a></div><div> </div><div>It covers all but the borders of the frame. This is far larger than the coverage of even the 51-AF points of some Nikon full-frame DSLRs. In fact, it is a larger area than the 51-AF points on an APS-C Nikon (such as the D300 or D7100), being significantly taller and only slightly narrower. I think this is the killer feature of the Sony A7.</div><div> </div><div>Couple that with Sony's promise of faster autofocus and automatic focusing on the near eye, and it looks like an amazing camera. Plus it has a tiltable viewfinder (for unusual angles or for waist-level shooting).</div><div> </div><div>Those are some of the reasons I'm more interested in the Sony A7. It's not perfect though. The sync speed is a dismal 1/160 and it has the weird Sony/Minolta hotshoe. But if you've seen my recent posts you know I don't shoot with flash much these days anymore. So I'm willing to overlook them. I also wish it had a touchscreen like the OM-D (though hopefully with they Eye AF there won't be a need for it).</div><div> </div><div>The bigger questions are lens selection and longevity. If they can at least get 3rd party support from Sigma then I think it becomes more viable. Otherwise it would be prudent to wait and see.</div><div> </div><div>Meanwhile, about the Nikon DF, I still hope that by hybrid they mean hybrid AF (like some newer Canons which are DSLRs not mirrorless but have a hybrid AF system). And it ought to have a wide AF area coverage, with autofocusing on the near eye, as promised by the A7. Even then it might still be twice as expensive as the A7, and won't have a tilting LCD. Though if it does use the Nikon F-mount that would be a huge advantage.<br /><br />11/4/13 EDIT:<br />Here are supposed shots of the Nikon Df. <br /><a href="http://nikonrumors.com/2013/11/04/this-is-the-nikon-df.aspx/#more-66660">http://nikonrumors.com/2013/11/04/this-is-the-nikon-df.aspx/#more-66660</a><br /><br />Based on the shots, I think what Nikon means by hybrid camera is that it's somewhere between analog and digital. It's digital at its core, but it has many knobs and dials just like an analog camera. I'm not betting on contrast detection / phase detection AF hybrid because that would be contrary to the spirit of being analog-digital. If this assessment is correct, then this looks to me like a nicer-looking but more expensive D600 with a D4 (16mp) sensor.<br /><br />11/4/13 EDIT: It looks like I'm right so far: <a href="http://nikonrumors.com/2013/11/04/nikon-df-body-only-price-2746-95.aspx/#more-66728">http://nikonrumors.com/2013/11/04/nikon-df-body-only-price-2746-95.aspx/#more-66728</a><br /><br />11/4/13 EDIT: If I were to choose between these three cameras, I would choose the Sony A7. Why? The Nikon Df is pleasing to look at, but in terms of actual function I think the A7 is superior. The A7's biggest advantage is that it is mirrorless, and has a very short flange focal distance, which means that <a href="http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2013/10/31/my-1st-look-wrap-up-of-the-sony-a7-and-a7r-cameras/" target="_blank">with an adapter</a>, it can be used with practically any lens, including Leica, Voigtlander, or any exotic lens.<br /><br />So if you are nostalgic for "classic" image quality, then I think the A7 is the better way to get it (with the right lens). As for me, I don't plan to get any of them, though the A7 will be on my radar. What I'm waiting for:<br />- Sony needs to come out with the lenses I want (with good quality and price). Alternatively, if Sigma supports the new full frame E-mount I would be satisfied. Sigma already has the 35 1.4 and 85 1.4, both with good quality/price.<br />- Sony needs to fix the autofocus of the A7 to make it both accurate and quick. I'd like it to be as good as that of the Canon 70D or the Olympus E-M5 or E-M1.<br /><br />If neither of these happen, it's not a big deal for me. I'm waiting for prices of used Sony RX1s to drop. Paired with the Nikon 85 1.8G on a Nikon D600, it would make for an awesome combination. :)</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-83937841696355093262013-10-26T16:25:00.000-07:002013-12-16T04:11:04.385-08:002013: The Camera Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcD6nI1wI-JhbETWkVFMmwC49b7UvuaVTQyz2_A1ZBFzdrdEJhUVTSVVl_3r1xYETYhCYuAtphM4mwwppOh0_u8KjuWfCntmqBcHOnzSOl6LIClJNuNZYcbgKzD3C5UVq1MP78oc-vy6g/s1600/Cinema+Fin+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcD6nI1wI-JhbETWkVFMmwC49b7UvuaVTQyz2_A1ZBFzdrdEJhUVTSVVl_3r1xYETYhCYuAtphM4mwwppOh0_u8KjuWfCntmqBcHOnzSOl6LIClJNuNZYcbgKzD3C5UVq1MP78oc-vy6g/s1600/Cinema+Fin+2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blockbuster</td></tr></tbody></table><br />This year has witnessed an incredible range of very interesting camera releases (can you guess how many?), there are a lot of tidal shifts in the market, players that are becoming stronger, and others that are referred to as stagnant and old fashioned. I am not attempting to analyze the market and company strategies in this post, instead I will be thinking aloud, analyzing what is going on around, what to do regarding any further camera purchases, and where to head to. The more I think about the new camera releases in 2013, the more I get confused, so I decided to get a white paper and a pen, and jot it all down so I can be able to make a clear analysis. Hit the jump to continue reading, and be astounded with the sheer amount of cameras released in 2013.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>Before I begin though, one word about the opening picture, this is my niece in the foreground, and my daughter at the back. I have been trying to emulate movie images and posters recently (as a result of seeing some beautiful cinematic-looking images, but more about that later), and this was one of my favorites. I will be posting another one midway.<br /><br />Back to the cameras. I headed over to the internet to find out what cameras have been released this year, and I found dpreview's camera releases timeline very helpful, so this is where I started. I decided to skip any camera with a sensor smaller than 1/1.7" (the one found in Canon's G and S series cameras), so what you're going to see below are cameras with the following sensor sizes: (1/1.7", 2/3", 1", Micro Four Thirds, APS-C, Full Frame). I will write a very short description beside each camera, so here goes.<br /><br />P.S. Cameras are sorted in ascending order by the release date, starting from Jan 2013 till Oct 2013.<br />P.P.S. ILC = Interchangeable Lens Camera, usually goes with a mirror-less compact camera.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><i></i></span><br /><ol><span style="color: #990000;"><i><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Samsung NX300 (APS-C, 20MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Fuji X100S (APS-C, 16MP, 23mm f/2 fixed lens, hybrid VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Fuji X20 (2/3", 12 MP, 28-112mm f/2-f/2.8 fixed lens, OVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Nikon 1 S1 (1", 10 MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Nikon 1 J3 (1", 14 MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sony NEX 3N (APS-C, 16MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sony SLT A58 (APS-C, 20MP, DSLT, EVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Nikon D7100 (APS-C, 24MP, DSLR, OVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Nikon Coolpix A (APS-C, 16MP, 18.5mm f/2.8 fixed lens, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Canon 700D (APS-C, 18MP, DSLR, OVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Canon 100D (APS-C, 18MP, tiny DSLR, OVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Panasonic GF6 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Samsung NX1100 (APS-C, 20MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Ricoh GR (APS-C, 16MP, 18,3mm f/2.8 fixed lens, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Panasonic LF1 (1/1.7", 12MP, 28-200mm f/2-f/5.9 fixed lens, lousy EVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Panasonic G6 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, EVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Samsung NX2000 (APS-C, 20MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Olympus E-P5 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Leica X Vario (APS-C, 16MP, 28-70mm f/3.5-f/6.4 fixed lens, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Pentax K-500 (APS-C, 16 MP, DSLR, OVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Pentax K-50 (APS-C, 16 MP, DSLR, OVF) </i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Pentax Q7 (1/1.7", 12MP, 23-69mm f/2.8-f/4.5 fixed lens, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Galaxy NX (APS-C, 20MP, ILC, EVF, Android OS)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Fuji X-M1 (APS-C, 16MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sony RX100 II (1", 20MP, 28-100mm f/1.8-f/4.9 fixed lens, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sony RX1R (Full Frame, 24MP, 35mm f/2 fixed lens, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Canon 70D (APS-C, 20MP, DSLR, OVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Panasonic GX7 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, great EVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Canon G16 (1/1.7", 12MP, 28-140mm f/1.8-f/2.8 fixed lens, lousy OVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Canon S120 (1/1.7", 12MP, 24-120mm f/1.8-f/5.7 fixed lens, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sony NEX 5T (APS-C, 16MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sony Alpha A3000 (APS-C, 20MP, ILC, poor EVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sony QX100 (1", 20MP, 28-100mm f/1.8-f/4.9 fixed lens, no VF, mobile phone add-on)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Olympus OM-D EM-1 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, best EVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Fuji X-A1 (APS-C, 16MP, ILC, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Nikon 1 AW (1", 14MP, ILC, no VF, waterproof)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Pentax K-3 (APS-C, 24MP, DSLR, OVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Nikon D610 (Full Frame, 24MP, DSLR, OVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sony RX10 (1", 20MP, 24-200mm f/2.8 fixed lens, EVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sony A7 (Full Frame, 24MP, ILC, EVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sony A7R (Full Frame, 36MP, ILC, EVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Panasonic GM1 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, no VF, tiny)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Nikon D5300 (APS-C, 24MP, DSLR, OVF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Fuji XQ1 (2/3", 12MP, 25-100mm f/1.8-f/4.9 fixed lens, no VF)</i></span></li><li><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Fuji X-E2 (APS-C, 16MP, ILC, great EVF)</i></span></li></i></span></ol><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Olympus Stylus (1/1.7", 24-300mm fixed lens, EVF)?<br />Nikon DF (Digital Fusion) Hybrid (Full Frame, OVF, F-Mount, D600 AF)?</i></span><br /><br />Can you believe that? 45 new cameras with large sensors released till now, and there are still two full months remaining in 2013. The rumors about the new Nikon full frame compact, and the Olympus Stylus are almost confirmed, it's just a matter of time, we'll see them in November. <br /><br />Now let us do some quick stats, out of 45 new cameras:<br /><ul><li>10 have mirrors (DSLR/DSLT), 21 mirror-less ILCs, 14 fixed lens compacts (except for the RX10).</li><li>4 have Full Frame sensors, 23 have APS-C sesnors, 6 have MFT sensors, 6 have 1" sensors, 2 have 2/3" sensors, 4 have 1/1.7" sensors.</li><li>The most common APS-C sensors are 16MP (variance from 16MP to 24MP). </li><li>23 have built-in view finders, 11 of them are optical (9 DSLRs + Fuji X20 + Canon G16), and 12 are electronic.</li><li>A handful of the ones without a built-in VF have the option of an accessory EVF, or even an accessory OVF (Sony RX1R).</li></ul><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbcHkX4F_qo/Uma-r_kMLNI/AAAAAAAAIQ0/spAVvha0Wzo/s1600/Cinema+Fin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbcHkX4F_qo/Uma-r_kMLNI/AAAAAAAAIQ0/spAVvha0Wzo/s1600/Cinema+Fin.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cinema Style?</td></tr></tbody></table><br />And now is the time for some quick thoughts on a few select cameras and systems, this is where I think in a loud voice.<br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><b>1/1.7" AND 2/3" SENSORS</b></span><br /><br />These cameras were great and sought after two years ago, maybe even one year ago. But with today's tiny and much larger sensor cameras (RX100, Olympus PEN, Panasonic GM1, fixed lens APS-C or FF like the Nikon Coolpix A or the Sony RX1), they are not the rave anymore. Don't get me wrong, they still produce great images, and with a camera like the Canon G16 with a fixed f/1.8-f/2.8 zoom lens, it is a great choice. There are people (even proffesionals) that still buy them and use them, but for me, having owned a G11 and used it's RAW files, they are behind the larger sensors.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><b>FIXED LENS APS-C</b><b> OR FULL FRAME</b></span><br /><br />Doesn't make sense to me because of the 35mm equivalent focal length, no matter how great the camera and the lens are. I said before that I wish Sony made their RX1 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens, and that would be something I'd buy and use exclusively (I know I can sort of do this with the A7 and the Zeiss 55 f/1.8, but I'll keep this discussion for later).<br /><br />Famous cameras in this category are the Fuji X100/S, Sony RX1/R and to a less degree, the Nikon Coolpix A and the Ricoh GR. However they make sense to street photographers and people who make use of such a wide focal length, not me.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><b>DSLR CAMERAS</b></span><br /><br />After <a href="http://www.43rumors.com/from-canon-to-mft-the-truth-behind-the-migration-by-mohammad-shafik/" target="_blank">living with the OM-D EM-5</a> and great small lenses for almost a year, I have lost all feelings and attractions towards DSLRs. Whenever I handle my brother's 60D, it feels too big and bulky, and when I don't see the playback of the picture in the viewfinder, I am a little taken back, when I don't see the blinking highlights and blocked shadows when composing, it feels ancient.<br /><br />That's not to say that I don't miss my 5D Mark III when I'm shooting my running kids and the EM-5 fails to track them, or when I want to completely eradicate a busy background with the 50mm f1/.4 lens. As I see it now, the main attractions for DSLRs is that they are getting better and better sensors, they have a huge range of established lenses to pick from, they produce great video footage, and they are becoming more affordable at the same time. Canon's 100D is a good try in providing the DSLR experience but in a small package.<br /><br />As I see it now, MFT sensors are competing with APS-C sensors image quality wise, they are not behind anymore, and the DOF difference is not really that different, and most MFT prime lenses have exceptional image quality starting from wide-open. That puts an APS-C DSLR out of my radar forever. However, that being said, the falling prices of full frame DSLRs, along with the increasing prices of high-end MFT cameras are really appealing. Assuming that size and weight are not an issue, wouldn't you be inclined to get a $1,400 Nikon D600 or a $1,500 Canon 6D over the $1,400 Olympus OM-D EM-1? Just for that full frame look? Tough choice.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><b>FUJI X, SONY NEX</b><b> AND SAMSUNG NX</b><b> (ALL APS-C CAMERAS)</b></span><br /><br />Great performers, great image quality, interchangeable lenses and comes in a small package. What's not to like? The lens line-up, that's what. Fuji has produced very good lenses, and are doing good work developing more, but right now, there are like 5 lenses, and if they don't cover what you need you're out of luck. The Fujis also have that famous X-Trans sensor, the internet says it has very high quality, but there are RAW issues when used with Adobe's Camera RAW engine, which is what I use for 100% of my photos.<br /><br />The same lack-of-lenses argument goes for the Sony NEX, I've been following Kirk Tuck's adventures with the NEX series (BTW, he sold all of them after a long love story), and before I decided on buying my EM-5, I was really considering the NEX 6 (as it was the cheapest one with an EVF), but the lack of lens choices, the weird flash hot-shoe compatibility issues and my general feeling that Sony won't be in a hurry to improve the issues, I decided to head to MFT instead. And now Sony have ditched the NEX series completely.<br /><br />As for the Samsung NX, funny enough, Kirk Tuck is testing them out for us, he's the one who brought it to my attention. I didn't notice before that Samsung had an APS-C interchangeable lens camera. He tested the finder-less NX300 and the Android powered Galaxy NX, and is reporting they have great image quality, and that the 18-55mm kit lens is very good. However, lens choices for these cameras are very limited, and quite expensive in my opinion. I had a chance to shoot a friend's NX1000 with the kit lens, and it is erm.. bad.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><b>SONY A7/R FULL FRAME MIRRORLESS GOODNESS</b></span><br /><br />Sony is a mega electronics company, and they used to make (still make) great weird gadgets, I have always lusted after their products in the 80s and the 90s. So when they came up with the RX1 35mm f/2 fixed lens full frame camera, the internet went berserk, and despite the lack of a built-in VF and the astronomical $2,800 price, it sold very well and was praised in the reviews.<br /><br />And now they've done it again. What was the hottest ILC camera on the internet a few months back? The Olympus EP-5 with the exceptional VF-4 viewfinder. Then Panasonic released the cheaper, better looking, tilt-able EVF GX7, and the EP-5 sort of went down the drain, as if it was never announced, I can't remember reading a blog about the EP-5 one month after the GX7 release. Next comes the $1,400 Olympus EM-1 and the whole world applauds, but the GX7 didn't have anything to fear because of the $400 price differential. A lot of people pre-ordered the EM-1.<br /><br />Then Sony comes a little late to the party, bag in hand, shows everyone two full frame mirrorless cameras that are the same size as the Olympus EM-5 and (sorry for the expression) pisses on the party, or at least that's how it felt when they announced the $1,700 and $2,300 prices for the 24MP A7 and the 36MP A7R respectively. The internet went even more berserk, people were cancelling their EM-1 orders, and pre-ordering the Sonys.<br /><br />For $300 more than an EM-1 you can get a full frame mirrorless camera that is smaller in size, has a built-in VF that is quite good. Who wouldn't want that? The crazy thing is that the entry prices are much much cheaper than the big boy full frames, the Canon 5D3 and the Nikon D800, and the 24MP A7 is even cheaper than bot the Canon 6D and the Nikon D610! Want to know a more crazy thing? The Sony A7 plus either the Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 or 55mm f/1.8 is cheaper than the Sony RX1R. And when Sony released the A7, it claimed that it focuses much faster than the RX1R, now that's a company that's innovating, not afraid of competing with its self and not crippling it's own products to make you buy another of its products.<br /><br />So after all this gushing, am I going to buy one? Nope, won't happen I'm afraid. For starters, it is a very new product that is not available yet, and is destined to create a huge tidal wave in the market, during which I would prefer to be eating popcorn and watching the market go crazy. Then there are the lenses, the only interesting one right now is the $1,000 55mm f/1.8 Zeiss, I'd rather wait and see, remember, it's Sony we're talking about here, they have no issues killing or creating a whole eco-system whenever they feel like it. And then there's the Nikon DF that shall be announced by the 6th of November, the key advantage I see here is the F-Mount, with all their lenses available for immediate use. We'll see.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><b>MICRO FOUR THIRDS</b></span><br /><br />And I finally reach my current system of choice. The EM-5 is serving me really well, and I'm extremely happy with the images I am getting, if you haven't seen my <a href="http://www.43rumors.com/from-canon-to-mft-the-truth-behind-the-migration-by-mohammad-shafik/" target="_blank">43rumors article</a>, please do, it is the perfect summary of how I feel about the MFT compared to owning APS-C and FF DSLRs.<br /><br />I have posted before about the GX7, and my expectations from the EM-1 <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/08/i-back-olympus-75-fx18-some-camera.html" target="_blank">before</a>, so I'm not going to repeat them, but I've not commented on the EM-1 yet. I still have doubts about the looks of the EM-1 leather finish (top view looks even sexier than the EM-5 though), it just looks odd in the photos or the videos I've seen, maybe it looks better in hand, but that will have to be a leap of faith. I have promised myself since the day I bought my EM-5 and discovered the faulty eye-sensor that I would buy it's successor. The EM-1 is not the EM-5's direct successor, and at $1,400, it is expensive for a MFT camera, so I am not yet sure I am ready to buy one, especially with all the shifting in the market. Maybe the $1,700 full frame Sony A7 will force the EM-1 to lower its price? I have a feeling that Olympus might quickly drop $200 from the EM-1's price after the holidays, or even earlier, but that's just a hunch based on zero facts.<br /><br />As for why I'd want an EM-1, here are the reasons in the order of their importance:<br /><ol><li>Focus tracking that works, and 6.5 fps with continuous focus, 10 fps without.</li><li>The best EVF ever, detailed, true colors, large magnification (same as FF DSLR). </li><li>Better ergonomics and customizable buttons.</li><li>Wi-fi, would be very useful during product shoots, where I can show the pictures on my iPad immediately.</li><li>Better video options, mic input, levels, someone said you can touch to focus during recording.</li><li>Better LCD resolution, the EM-5 weakness appears at 100% magnification.</li><li>Larger buffer, the EM-5 gets filled up in two seconds after a 9 fps burst.</li><li>Better IBIS and focusing speed.</li><li>Slightly better image quality.</li></ol>So, unless sudden GAS hits me (with my friend traveling to NYC mid-November, it might just happen), I won't be getting the EM-1 that soon. We should hear about an EM-5 successor next year.<br /><br /><br />Now that I've said all I have, what do you think?<br /><br /><i>P.P.P.S. I have not had time to proof-read the post, so please excuse any mistakes, it took me a long time to prepare and write this post.</i><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-83856006379602844852013-10-11T21:35:00.000-07:002013-12-16T04:11:04.475-08:00Recovering from Underexposure - A New Approach<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tNwhYt3WmEk/UkkbG7QkUtI/AAAAAAAAiEQ/Mu2xdi3ku-4/s1600/D600-6150-201309281642-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tNwhYt3WmEk/UkkbG7QkUtI/AAAAAAAAiEQ/Mu2xdi3ku-4/s640/D600-6150-201309281642-Edit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/10/exposure-for-digital-cameras.html" target="_blank">In my last post</a>, I discussed my strategy for exposure for digital cameras, which usually results in images that are underexposed when downloaded straight-out-of-the-camera (SOOC). In this post, I would like to discuss my current strategy for recovering shadows. Here I use Lightroom but the same techniques can be used in other post-processing software.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><br />COMPARISON OF THREE APPROACHES<br /><br />Here is the SOOC version of the image above.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GlloIAcFk8A/UkwidGfXxGI/AAAAAAAAiFM/e_qb4kAT-0Q/s1600/D600-6150-201309281642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GlloIAcFk8A/UkwidGfXxGI/AAAAAAAAiFM/e_qb4kAT-0Q/s640/D600-6150-201309281642.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I used the approach I discussed in my last post, relying on ADL to expose for the highlights. As expected, the SOOC is underexposed. However, the relevant highlights are preserved:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wOTtXL-qoOU/Ukg1HuJYoxI/AAAAAAAAiD8/0zRCxfIn1QA/s1600/D600-6150-201309281642-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wOTtXL-qoOU/Ukg1HuJYoxI/AAAAAAAAiD8/0zRCxfIn1QA/s640/D600-6150-201309281642-Edit.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">even the candle highlights are preserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />The highlights in the window on camera right are not preserved but that's ok. They don't add to the image (it was an overcast day with gray skies) and exposing for them would have led to more noise without much offsetting benefit.<br /><br /><u>Easy approach</u><br /><br />The easiest approach is of course to use the shadow slider (increase it as needed) and the highlight recovery slider (decrease as needed). In my opinion it is also the least satisfying way to recover underexposure. The result looks HDR-ish (but if you like that effect, then this is perfect for you -- boost the clarity slider next to make it look more like HDR). Moreover, in some sensors like that of the D7100, using the shadow slider is more likely to reveal noise or worse, banding.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HVz-VRL9bjI/UkwieXQxrYI/AAAAAAAAiFU/S6ZCZXRsOhI/s1600/D600-6150-201309281642-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HVz-VRL9bjI/UkwieXQxrYI/AAAAAAAAiFU/S6ZCZXRsOhI/s640/D600-6150-201309281642-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Using the shadow slider: HDR much?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><u>Global approach</u><br />The next approach is one that I've posted about <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-fix-underexposure.html" target="_blank">before</a>. In brief, instead of relying on the shadow slider, I use the exposure slider. I do use the shadow slider as well, but only up to about +20 or sometimes +30. More than that and it looks too artificial for me. I use as little of the shadow slider as possible.<br /><br />A +20 or +30 shadow adjustment for a scene that's exposed for highlights will nowhere be enough. Therefore the heavy lifting ( <span style="font-size: xx-small;">sorry</span> :) ) is done with the exposure slider which I use as much as necessary. Using the exposure slider will be more likely to blow the highlights that are actually captured. To offset that, I use aggressive highlight recovery. As much as -200 (by using an adjustment brush on top of the highlight adjustment). Unlike using the shadow recovery slider I don't find any issues with the highlight recovery.<br /><br />For very contrasty scenes I get a little help by changing the camera calibration to a low contrast picture style and if necessary, by decreasing the contrast as well.<br /><br />When the midtones look normal, I then work on restoring the oomph because the image will otherwise look very flat / low contrast. To do that, I <i>increase </i>the white slider (making whites appear more white), and I <i>decrease </i>the shadow slider (deepening the blacks). Does that effectively negate what I did with the highlight recovery and shadow recovery? Not at all. The net effect of those changes is to move the shadows and highlights a little closer to the middle, where it is easier to see them (partly because our eyes can differentiate more midtone shades).<br /><br />Here is the result:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HbbrNHEBBpY/UkwigqCBaWI/AAAAAAAAiG4/9Zzy1Yp1f9k/s1600/D600-6150-201309281642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HbbrNHEBBpY/UkwigqCBaWI/AAAAAAAAiG4/9Zzy1Yp1f9k/s640/D600-6150-201309281642.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Here again is the first method for comparison:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HVz-VRL9bjI/UkwieXQxrYI/AAAAAAAAiFU/S6ZCZXRsOhI/s1600/D600-6150-201309281642-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HVz-VRL9bjI/UkwieXQxrYI/AAAAAAAAiFU/S6ZCZXRsOhI/s400/D600-6150-201309281642-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />This second method produces a more natural and more three-dimensional appearance. Now let's talk about the third approach.<br /><br />INTRODUCING THE HOBBY APPROACH<br /><br />I call my current approach the Hobby approach for two reasons: first, it is styled after <a href="http://www.strobist.com/" target="_blank">Strobist</a> David Hobby's logic of using lights; second, because it is customized for each image, it is probably not usable for event pros who need to edit thousands of shots. So, it's just for us hobbyists. :) Well, ok, editorial and portrait shooters too.<br /><br />Until about a year ago, I was a huge strobist fan. My lighting collection attests to that (someday I'll review more of my lighting gear). I'm still a fan, but after having gotten the D600 with its exceptional shadow recovery abilities, I found that I could get results with postprocessing that closely mimic real artificial lighting (lol). Here's how it works (strobists among you will recognize the logic):<br /><br /><u>Shadow detail legibility</u><br />The first thing I do with the underexposed image is to raise the exposure for shadow legibility. In strobist-speak that means increasing the exposure to the point where the details of relevant shadows can be seen. What that exactly means varies depending on your shot and your taste. If for example you want an intense-looking dramatic scene then the shadow details would be barely visible. If you want a look that mimics Mr. Hobby's shooting style, you want shadow details that are pretty easy to see (enough that if you print the shot on newsprint with a lousy printer, you will still have enough detail). I myself prefer something in between.<br /><br />Here again is the SOOC shot:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GlloIAcFk8A/UkwidGfXxGI/AAAAAAAAiFM/e_qb4kAT-0Q/s1600/D600-6150-201309281642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GlloIAcFk8A/UkwidGfXxGI/AAAAAAAAiFM/e_qb4kAT-0Q/s400/D600-6150-201309281642.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>And here is the shot with the exposure raised to my desired shadow legibility (in this case +0.36):<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wW6o0qO535E/UlVjQd0dIfI/AAAAAAAAiHA/bzq9qVXNV_w/s1600/D600-6150-201309281642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wW6o0qO535E/UlVjQd0dIfI/AAAAAAAAiHA/bzq9qVXNV_w/s400/D600-6150-201309281642.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><u>Highlights</u><br />To tame the highlights, I use the highlight recovery slider, that's all. I don't mind being aggressive with it, although I watch to make sure the image doesn't become too flat. For stubborn highlights, I use an adjustment brush or radial gradient to bring them down further.<br /><br /><u>Midtones</u><br />To raise the midtones, I use Lightroom 5's radial gradient. To me it looks more convincing than using the adjustment brush. If you're new to LR5, pls. note that the radial gradient can be changed to an oval/ellipse and can be tilted.<br /><br />I use an inverse mask which means the effect will be within the circle that you apply instead of outside it. I also increase the feathering from 50 to 75. This simulates real world lights more closely (unless you want it to look like you used a snoot, in which case you decrease the feathering). For each gradient I try not to increase more than +0.7 or else the result looks too obvious.<br /><br />I apply this radial gradient everywhere I want to raise the midtones, starting from the darkest midtones. For some areas, I apply overlapping radial gradients that are progressively smaller. For example if I have a portrait shot from the waist up then I'll apply a radial gradient for the head and body, then to highlight the face, I'll add another radial gradient just to the head area. Note that I don't just use one huge radial gradient to cover the arms as well -- I apply a separate radial gradient to each arm.<br /><br />From the previous shadow legibility step:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wW6o0qO535E/UlVjQd0dIfI/AAAAAAAAiHA/bzq9qVXNV_w/s1600/D600-6150-201309281642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wW6o0qO535E/UlVjQd0dIfI/AAAAAAAAiHA/bzq9qVXNV_w/s320/D600-6150-201309281642.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Here are the areas where I applied a radial gradient (see the dots):<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXS1Cabbul2LFVfYbpvL7xcIOfe7B9d_KJQbMG7DtZ6Z4PcdZlNAjwiwD3lM9e7mZ6ha6UlLsEB7pjyLRjyOYz-8gp0s2Ur-k7fXD5pmhQqFn8yTU47pRZiis_1vXHrR5SuGahV-jAc8/s1600/hobbyscreenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXS1Cabbul2LFVfYbpvL7xcIOfe7B9d_KJQbMG7DtZ6Z4PcdZlNAjwiwD3lM9e7mZ6ha6UlLsEB7pjyLRjyOYz-8gp0s2Ur-k7fXD5pmhQqFn8yTU47pRZiis_1vXHrR5SuGahV-jAc8/s640/hobbyscreenshot.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />Result with midtone recovery:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tNwhYt3WmEk/UkkbG7QkUtI/AAAAAAAAiEQ/Mu2xdi3ku-4/s1600/D600-6150-201309281642-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tNwhYt3WmEk/UkkbG7QkUtI/AAAAAAAAiEQ/Mu2xdi3ku-4/s640/D600-6150-201309281642-Edit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><br /><u>Contrast</u><br />As with the second approach, I add punch to the image using the white slider, black slider, and sometimes the clarity slider.<br /><br />That's pretty much all there is to this approach. Note that this method cannot recreate rim lights or kickers or hard lights. For those I use ambient light sources or flash.<br /><br />Here are some more samples:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQ0kmip7fimAJg-uLB9jrOdcDfdJEsIfbAvb5DBFYaa2AiTjRYhRMusyFclhGQ2k8xDUlFAfKr65EhAR9Jxp_LKRxT5_7tpWsoGbJEVrcC-tCBBtUHTr6cJytsqu8WJa9R1y1Whc3jLU/s1600/D600-3440-201308091558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQ0kmip7fimAJg-uLB9jrOdcDfdJEsIfbAvb5DBFYaa2AiTjRYhRMusyFclhGQ2k8xDUlFAfKr65EhAR9Jxp_LKRxT5_7tpWsoGbJEVrcC-tCBBtUHTr6cJytsqu8WJa9R1y1Whc3jLU/s320/D600-3440-201308091558.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-10Bw_uLQ_CE/Ui8ryHvNfqI/AAAAAAAAh2I/ISe7sIoJoco/s1600/D600-3440-201308091558-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-10Bw_uLQ_CE/Ui8ryHvNfqI/AAAAAAAAh2I/ISe7sIoJoco/s640/D600-3440-201308091558-Edit.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jm1wJ8qcdR0/UjB3JTyoaGI/AAAAAAAAh3A/Px7qpPf9EDM/s1600/D600-3472-201308091611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jm1wJ8qcdR0/UjB3JTyoaGI/AAAAAAAAh3A/Px7qpPf9EDM/s320/D600-3472-201308091611.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dv04HUzlaw8/Ui8r0xXg_pI/AAAAAAAAh4k/w0QMKQ6Exac/s1600/D600-3472-201308091611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dv04HUzlaw8/Ui8r0xXg_pI/AAAAAAAAh4k/w0QMKQ6Exac/s640/D600-3472-201308091611.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XTSExJhsGIY/UlK-Dyzn0TI/AAAAAAAAiF4/jKbfrkpkQcI/s1600/D600-6249-201310061545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XTSExJhsGIY/UlK-Dyzn0TI/AAAAAAAAiF4/jKbfrkpkQcI/s640/D600-6249-201310061545.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6co67ec2xqyHXXmh5DDpp-21pWaBNKpOG1MnLMl_wBovk1lz-PEfHvv_BM0aB7wxAzrBeI5WZd1qXD78hvic5m-fxtbgDwH0N0pU0l8TidCcy3l8474CrFFiuAOMamgGwjKUWuP5LMWg/s1600/D600-6277-201310061547.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6co67ec2xqyHXXmh5DDpp-21pWaBNKpOG1MnLMl_wBovk1lz-PEfHvv_BM0aB7wxAzrBeI5WZd1qXD78hvic5m-fxtbgDwH0N0pU0l8TidCcy3l8474CrFFiuAOMamgGwjKUWuP5LMWg/s640/D600-6277-201310061547.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-2141184411789168712013-10-11T12:51:00.000-07:002013-12-16T04:11:04.566-08:00The Dead Gecko<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWchheWoVfhI-KeWF_HisU-XBOU6vdtapqfFfipWXFrEKDx7iutkriJN9ckxK97ZZlNsdhmYGDayaV3Fx8KnT3VHZu7X1XHDK2zIRbAJwcTtTVkDpKnqZOW9YT6I5zp_waehieJ1UvyE/s1600/2013-08-14+-+1112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWchheWoVfhI-KeWF_HisU-XBOU6vdtapqfFfipWXFrEKDx7iutkriJN9ckxK97ZZlNsdhmYGDayaV3Fx8KnT3VHZu7X1XHDK2zIRbAJwcTtTVkDpKnqZOW9YT6I5zp_waehieJ1UvyE/s1600/2013-08-14+-+1112.jpg" /></a></div><br />Remember my recent <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/09/abstracts-with-olympus-40-150r.html" target="_blank">Abstracts post</a>? It was during the same day that me and my friend found a dead gecko on the bathroom floor. It was tiny, but it presented a good photographic opportunity and allowed us to occupy some of the long free boring time we had on hand, hit the jump for the full story.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFiqZkOhRw9elh1_iRGXFePPMHDQm8gmjn7sX42wKycAqXo34fDphJhF5KcZuogUOb47R3i9baMROho2YxfAMs_bhm3g8w_TBYEoi3wBU9wnLTztpEgiAljPf0onu-Ilsh2eE2boLWKWw/s1600/2013-08-14+-+01651.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFiqZkOhRw9elh1_iRGXFePPMHDQm8gmjn7sX42wKycAqXo34fDphJhF5KcZuogUOb47R3i9baMROho2YxfAMs_bhm3g8w_TBYEoi3wBU9wnLTztpEgiAljPf0onu-Ilsh2eE2boLWKWw/s1600/2013-08-14+-+01651.jpg" /></a></div><br />Before I start, I want to show you how tiny this gecko is, the camera in the picture is a <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2011/06/canon-60d-vs-550d-and-600d-real-world.html" target="_blank">Canon 60D</a> and that's my very own <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2011/03/macro-talk-canon-ef-s-60mm-f28-macro.html" target="_blank">Canon 60mm Macro f/2.8</a>. The tripod is my <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/07/going-crazy-with-tripods.html" target="_blank">Manfrotto 190CX Pro3.</a><br /><br />My friend is still learning about lighting, so I let him lead to see what he would do, and every now and then I gave some pointers and suggestions. So, he started with the obvious, a slightly high angle, shooting directly on the same table where we put the gecko, and shooting from the same direction where the light came from (a large door-sized window with sunset light, which you can see from the shadow).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZByTWwOGRJTn1ZLKrjX8mcZudB3njSS7_TarFwSL81_hXBeiXbiNf5iF7XFn-lSpD5IQ32x-iLh-ThyOGl6Zg7S2PCob6pka2URy-RaEiwus2t0k1GL1uX3mLH3dxA633XNS4advmKw/s1600/2013-08-14+-+01649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZByTWwOGRJTn1ZLKrjX8mcZudB3njSS7_TarFwSL81_hXBeiXbiNf5iF7XFn-lSpD5IQ32x-iLh-ThyOGl6Zg7S2PCob6pka2URy-RaEiwus2t0k1GL1uX3mLH3dxA633XNS4advmKw/s1600/2013-08-14+-+01649.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />Here is what came out:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvn_bYwdZUyaHpyYd9nwknltDNcgsW3L8JG6knqTiGzEDKj2DZnxUoRmo_Voy9q1N5VK9nfb-36I_C0stQo0REfJoywhTgrWiv8B41blT2p1FeLoYWJSBD0ug7TCYNe24R6Bl60dezwmE/s1600/2013-08-13+-+1082.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvn_bYwdZUyaHpyYd9nwknltDNcgsW3L8JG6knqTiGzEDKj2DZnxUoRmo_Voy9q1N5VK9nfb-36I_C0stQo0REfJoywhTgrWiv8B41blT2p1FeLoYWJSBD0ug7TCYNe24R6Bl60dezwmE/s1600/2013-08-13+-+1082.jpg" /></a></div><br />Not the best background, lots of dust specks (we really didn't notice it with our eyes), and it turns out the gecko had some string attached to its front left leg. And more importantly, the light didn't look good. I did a few spot removal in lightroom, and this is what I was able to get, still not good enough.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0i4LBRu-NBUX9MY3FFnSbBs7DnEUNseBAiCbN9eBlf65xC_GqfJIMoj3c1xt77yicH0iE5JKT8UCg0FCFXEOWA2ApFIrrvNRvg_qUjon5Y_OoDWh9v_uSHFgrYMDbpNk02q10ORQkuy8/s1600/2013-08-13+-+1082+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0i4LBRu-NBUX9MY3FFnSbBs7DnEUNseBAiCbN9eBlf65xC_GqfJIMoj3c1xt77yicH0iE5JKT8UCg0FCFXEOWA2ApFIrrvNRvg_qUjon5Y_OoDWh9v_uSHFgrYMDbpNk02q10ORQkuy8/s1600/2013-08-13+-+1082+%25282%2529.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>For the next attempt, I suggested that we should get rid of the brown background, and use something black instead. The only thing we had that worked was my friend's leather tablet cover.<br /><br />As for lighting, I suggested shooting through the gecko with the sun coming from behind and opposite to the lens (backlighting). We also improved the composition, and shot from a much lower angle, almost from the eye-level of the gecko. Here's the setup shot, but after the sunset light went away (notice the useful tilting LCD, and the extremely useful tripod's extending center column):<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBvNVMeWKk-4dtBNWT8Ape02GBpiE7mNpuQ35bdPZVPcD3W4VxZNlUWpLc86yuqEQJ9ZOx_0jo558d6FKItYoZRpen0dEoiMB0fH2tIYFUy9H14IIbIl7pNiFd4ay50zPuNxsodqkqtEM/s1600/2013-08-14+-+01657.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBvNVMeWKk-4dtBNWT8Ape02GBpiE7mNpuQ35bdPZVPcD3W4VxZNlUWpLc86yuqEQJ9ZOx_0jo558d6FKItYoZRpen0dEoiMB0fH2tIYFUy9H14IIbIl7pNiFd4ay50zPuNxsodqkqtEM/s1600/2013-08-14+-+01657.jpg" /></a></div><br />And here's how it looked like with just the sunset backlighting the gecko, you'll notice we cleaned the tablet cover thoroughly, yet I had to do a little bit of spot removal.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Vey2zFzzxRlObGvxjDZD628SGum_Pfj6D8ujt8HTiBg4DJEC0F20G23zrTjU-sSmI8cP8hX3u_nbzsIrAtGveLnkMLQa68hd8GbNaVyzepmh1Ya9TSOpvL1DMtttYUHl8s2fsx0uymM/s1600/2013-08-13+-+1091.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Vey2zFzzxRlObGvxjDZD628SGum_Pfj6D8ujt8HTiBg4DJEC0F20G23zrTjU-sSmI8cP8hX3u_nbzsIrAtGveLnkMLQa68hd8GbNaVyzepmh1Ya9TSOpvL1DMtttYUHl8s2fsx0uymM/s1600/2013-08-13+-+1091.jpg" /></a></div><br />We were shooting at f/6.3, with the lowest ISO, and the sun was setting down quickly, consecutive shots looked slightly different because of moving light. For the next iteration, I decided we should use flash, and have complete control over our lighting.<br /><br />The 60D had a commander pop-up flash that triggered a remote 580EX (also my very own) in TTL mode, we were able to adjust the flash compensation either from the camera or the flash itself (which I held in my hand).<br /><br />For the lighting setup, I decided to mimic the backlight as in the shot above, but with some fill from the front. To diffuse the light, and in the same spirit of the place we were staying at, I used a large (1m x 1.5m) plastic bag to diffuse the flash light and soften it. It is transparent with some writing on it that didn't affect the color of the light. I held the bag behind the gecko, and held the flash almost one meter away from the bag. It acted as a huge (compared to the gecko's size) diffuser, and gave some very soft light. For fill, I used an idea that I used previously with great results. I used a yellow piece of paper in front of the gecko to reflect the diffused light on his eye, and open up the shadows. The benefit of the yellow paper is that it reflect the light with a golden tint. Here's how it came out:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxh4eJ3p0CUEJu6mhF10BwLLSzlS2uP8WKQIMpxzjhTeFGRkdSsXsOkZXXUydc7p0Wt_euhJIeuITlBI4UaNKOsGZe2Jl4xY9VjKVg3RcWvemN2Fuxw45nzcFUl1LP29Q1tKQiLaTuZhE/s1600/2013-08-14+-+1105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxh4eJ3p0CUEJu6mhF10BwLLSzlS2uP8WKQIMpxzjhTeFGRkdSsXsOkZXXUydc7p0Wt_euhJIeuITlBI4UaNKOsGZe2Jl4xY9VjKVg3RcWvemN2Fuxw45nzcFUl1LP29Q1tKQiLaTuZhE/s1600/2013-08-14+-+1105.jpg" /></a></div><br />You can see the effect of the yellow reflection on his eye. And to show you the difference, here is the same shot with a normal white paper, and without the vignetting. Much less appealing in my opinion.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2W9tKBY0SWI-C4xZHo5QrH8_UlyQxUsrE_eQUeLXPk1uzDYrMEWwZoyNi5P7lIVCyRCqsXHPu8IK1dylIlLqB2AW8pbwLKZYMPQd-tIrDd8REI9gd88rHRS41sHnRqDKaavpWcJ0YSdM/s1600/2013-08-13+-+1100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2W9tKBY0SWI-C4xZHo5QrH8_UlyQxUsrE_eQUeLXPk1uzDYrMEWwZoyNi5P7lIVCyRCqsXHPu8IK1dylIlLqB2AW8pbwLKZYMPQd-tIrDd8REI9gd88rHRS41sHnRqDKaavpWcJ0YSdM/s1600/2013-08-13+-+1100.jpg" /></a></div><br />At that stage, we were quite satisfied with what we got, but we decided to play with the position of the backlight and the diffuser a bit, sometimes raising the light and sometimes lowering it. It resulted in different pictures for the same subject, especially for the background, and the rim light.<br /><br />Finally, here's the opening picture (my favorite) again:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYCZfEfOdPt703jgJCCWRFx8_iMIBI-ZNGACPWaxtM21FvpazcpVvZN09QesUNLUH9ZxD67QdUa1491nzi80IMiFBD_iD3PgyGUR9UwcvH8UxMPX8bOGgg8V-ka4OHMo7xUdpugK6cP4/s1600/2013-08-14+-+1112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYCZfEfOdPt703jgJCCWRFx8_iMIBI-ZNGACPWaxtM21FvpazcpVvZN09QesUNLUH9ZxD67QdUa1491nzi80IMiFBD_iD3PgyGUR9UwcvH8UxMPX8bOGgg8V-ka4OHMo7xUdpugK6cP4/s1600/2013-08-14+-+1112.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>RELATED POSTS</b></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2011/09/sharing-some-macros.html" target="_blank">Sharing Some Macros </a><br /><a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2011/03/macro-talk-canon-ef-s-60mm-f28-macro.html" target="_blank">Macro Talk: Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM</a><br /><a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/02/macro-fun-home.html" target="_blank">Macro Fun @ Home</a><br /><a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/09/abstracts-with-olympus-40-150r.html" target="_blank">Abstracts With The Olympus 40-150R</a><br /><a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2011/05/flash-series-part-1-canon-speedlites.html" target="_blank">Flash Series - Part 1: Canon Speedlites Chat (580EX II vs 580EX vs 430EX)</a><br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-43774129516490856692013-10-09T10:32:00.000-07:002013-12-16T04:11:04.654-08:00Comments on the Nikon D610 and Pentax K-3<div dir="ltr"><div>New cameras have been announced by Nikon and Pentax. Here are some thoughts.</div><div> </div><div><u>Nikon D610</u>: virtually the same as the Nikon D600, except that it has a new shutter mechanism that can do 6fps instead of 5.5fps. The new shutter can also use continuous shutter in quiet mode. The big question that everyone has is whether it will fix the dust problem. If it does then it might be worth getting the D610 instead of the D600. The cost of getting dust swabs, blowers, etc. can mount, and they are inconvenient to use. If the D610 doesn't fix the dust problem then at least you can get a D600 at hopefully larger savings.</div> <div> </div><div><u>Pentax K-3</u>: lots of great features. The big question for me is which sensor they used? Judging by the resolution of 6016 x 4000, I think they used the same sensor as the Nikon D3200 which is by Sony. If so, that would be welcome news. The Toshiba sensor in the D5200 and D7100 has great high ISO performance but lousy shadow recovery (it has banding when shadows are recovered).</div> </div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-62798555318269567692013-10-06T08:41:00.000-07:002013-12-16T04:11:04.745-08:00 Post Processing Series: Episode 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrS06SLeNwpuICgRpPhmhRLvosX17f7CuKJXvR6shmLKB_xGwr0hR4UVuCy86r4H_wOQjjy6fNoFxMqt5u5msJsBCKv4yXpVLsV1nYWKSAcYMJIdBCsO4v3HtRv5Dh8K_wJq5x1wsdlYM/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+OP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrS06SLeNwpuICgRpPhmhRLvosX17f7CuKJXvR6shmLKB_xGwr0hR4UVuCy86r4H_wOQjjy6fNoFxMqt5u5msJsBCKv4yXpVLsV1nYWKSAcYMJIdBCsO4v3HtRv5Dh8K_wJq5x1wsdlYM/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+OP.jpg" /></a></div><br />In the third episode of this series, I will show you how I post processed the picture you see above, this is dedicated to Muhammad Usman based on his comments on the <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/02/macro-fun-home.html" target="_blank">original post</a> where I posted this photo. Hit the jump for the full post.<br /><a name='more'></a><br />This photo was part of a macro shoot that I did at home, this is a small lock that I use to lock my bag during travel. I originally shot that same lock with my <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2011/03/macro-talk-canon-ef-s-60mm-f28-macro.html" target="_blank">Canon 60mm macro</a> a while ago, and I liked it so much that I decided to do it again with my OM-D and 12-50 lens.<br /><br />On with the post then, here's the original shot:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikAIjrULXwOGuu2dUJAhGCtAIAj5XlKIwzEOQku34P7fxrn5p_yjGgM56LPMiLEnMcBUkg2Dw4RP33r140ws4mFU1mqAIjaRWJA5N6LPtO0dvWoJTzU2PPHIprZn3W3jtFDDQQ0k3aze8/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+OP+Before.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikAIjrULXwOGuu2dUJAhGCtAIAj5XlKIwzEOQku34P7fxrn5p_yjGgM56LPMiLEnMcBUkg2Dw4RP33r140ws4mFU1mqAIjaRWJA5N6LPtO0dvWoJTzU2PPHIprZn3W3jtFDDQQ0k3aze8/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+OP+Before.jpg" /></a></div><br /> <br /><span style="color: #990000;"><i><b><u>NOTE:</u></b> <b>You can click on any of the screenshots below to see the full 1920x1080 picture.</b></i></span><br /><br />And here's how it looked like in lightroom, with the default adjustments, you'll notice a specular highlights around the numbers 9 and 6 (shown in red), this is a useful feature in lightroom, you can press "J" while in develop module, and it will show any blown highlights in red, and deep blacks in blue:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif8RZuCr6ikIBGLLbSY5CqMmQk2vCWtGc0RCDzn9U5GtUDXDka5O6R4u0BjUTJkc0SfcTcYiARxO3FnUl7tGZSJ1tRegxviU7YmsZ2eRBect1HNHT4Yvb7l6iHmdPqQVF6uw8Coni2DE4/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif8RZuCr6ikIBGLLbSY5CqMmQk2vCWtGc0RCDzn9U5GtUDXDka5O6R4u0BjUTJkc0SfcTcYiARxO3FnUl7tGZSJ1tRegxviU7YmsZ2eRBect1HNHT4Yvb7l6iHmdPqQVF6uw8Coni2DE4/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Next I increased the blacks using the black slider until there were a few black parts in the picture, which is what I like to have in most pictures, they are shown in blue below:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDTyW2KsAaXCqkg_17USbe5nIi6zvgyDtixWacLDD2IUI_7jKxBG5_gRxObvlrfyRHEkysFbhAk9wqOKcxGljg4g4dzH6Y_odI_6fdZIVlVIivmQO2HTkuQJPXHC1oH9hqqkVcicuGDrs/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDTyW2KsAaXCqkg_17USbe5nIi6zvgyDtixWacLDD2IUI_7jKxBG5_gRxObvlrfyRHEkysFbhAk9wqOKcxGljg4g4dzH6Y_odI_6fdZIVlVIivmQO2HTkuQJPXHC1oH9hqqkVcicuGDrs/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+002.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />And since this is a photo of an object, and not a portrait, I increased the clarity until it the picture had enough bite and a little more micro-contrast.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_XvmG_iDaGhEnwZ6UnVQw2tYF2dcV4j1_T-H5-lWSf8HE2NRNQm1wbHF11bJnaQHjrK_bIdRF_HNID4K4S5CxzTUk3d_wkuDO53b0ynxARJEbtPkxY8tCC5P3UnIR2mspMlOVh-ZeNE/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_XvmG_iDaGhEnwZ6UnVQw2tYF2dcV4j1_T-H5-lWSf8HE2NRNQm1wbHF11bJnaQHjrK_bIdRF_HNID4K4S5CxzTUk3d_wkuDO53b0ynxARJEbtPkxY8tCC5P3UnIR2mspMlOVh-ZeNE/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+003.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Now that I am done with global adjustments, it is time to crop the picture to show just the lock dials, which is what I had in mind when I was shooting:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHAn4GNx-HVe4Aq6nv47X-IDfMA-msMBkh8zR0EKwNb9sHnmSGmi1AYF8WYFHtGwelN0DNvsx0W5BwRumnbRVHl4geJpswsBayPm0THxRAPiHY7aef0JQ065FgNAG_sFxcNearFULLX0/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHAn4GNx-HVe4Aq6nv47X-IDfMA-msMBkh8zR0EKwNb9sHnmSGmi1AYF8WYFHtGwelN0DNvsx0W5BwRumnbRVHl4geJpswsBayPm0THxRAPiHY7aef0JQ065FgNAG_sFxcNearFULLX0/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+004.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Time for black and white, there are a few ways to do that in lightroom, and my favorite is to click the B&W button in the "HSL / Color / B&W" module on the right hand, this provides me with some color control (yes, in B&W, similar to gelled filters used in front of B&W film cameras) which I find useful in portrait and landscape shots, I will be using it in a small bit.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfizV9qHsb4pYo3-HuPgbQlI7X5jGDbgPcmLHj9suSVUzozukfbJ8YDg3wf-0vKawnqAzUZ4OC5Okfu-d2074qO6rwQ5epKgawCBIOQpeYp3tyGKkRVjXIVMvYYnQ8TKhce-OSw3UEDxM/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfizV9qHsb4pYo3-HuPgbQlI7X5jGDbgPcmLHj9suSVUzozukfbJ8YDg3wf-0vKawnqAzUZ4OC5Okfu-d2074qO6rwQ5epKgawCBIOQpeYp3tyGKkRVjXIVMvYYnQ8TKhce-OSw3UEDxM/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+005.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Usually I like more contrast and more blacks in B&W photos, unless I am going for a soft high key look, and I don't mind having large areas with crushed blacks as long as they don't contribute to the details of the image. So my next modification will be adding more blacks, since you can see the lock looks gray-ish instead of black.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrETm9YdUOFIXUD2v_215T0wvJ6qCmi0CegOrwfYYORurPUDa6_S8kfNSCUloUNAinoS5DpZSc0oaH3SDgiVc2IlRuy7Bgq-5zOzrIvDlDHl9IuTGVsvcbuOXxIPSPg1ycVXHv9w7ZW_0/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrETm9YdUOFIXUD2v_215T0wvJ6qCmi0CegOrwfYYORurPUDa6_S8kfNSCUloUNAinoS5DpZSc0oaH3SDgiVc2IlRuy7Bgq-5zOzrIvDlDHl9IuTGVsvcbuOXxIPSPg1ycVXHv9w7ZW_0/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+006.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Then I reduce the highlights more to bring some of the missing details around the numbers 9 and 6 which is the focus of the image.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG2EDSeGEs017nVva6npFkoZnDCRp715ySdlnDrDrP0Nka6nTeh_pGKl-AVU6y4Z4K2ecX9r0Np9k_p7GGD_mG7CxquJPaVfnv8shNLhzSMfMMh5eFmIG-3HGcIkhmqLQe-l0FNtG_ifo/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG2EDSeGEs017nVva6npFkoZnDCRp715ySdlnDrDrP0Nka6nTeh_pGKl-AVU6y4Z4K2ecX9r0Np9k_p7GGD_mG7CxquJPaVfnv8shNLhzSMfMMh5eFmIG-3HGcIkhmqLQe-l0FNtG_ifo/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+007.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />And here's where I use the colors under the B&W section, I click the targeted adjustment tool (the small circle on the top left corner of the B&W module), and move my mouse to the part where I want to change the color, and use the scroll wheel, scrolling up lightens that color, and scrolling down makes it darker. After a few scrolls down, the lock looks better.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBIfAWACXkBFPBMy8-W8oT6Wo_ju2IZpgGh8AXoSBtNllXNnni6S055MSeNFt0vWcfd-yPeG9b1WcdHWqJV-WVX0mfZ6_NlXr04fquszyiWL2666LaF50RkqGGsiB5QU_urjXvwb2WOlA/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBIfAWACXkBFPBMy8-W8oT6Wo_ju2IZpgGh8AXoSBtNllXNnni6S055MSeNFt0vWcfd-yPeG9b1WcdHWqJV-WVX0mfZ6_NlXr04fquszyiWL2666LaF50RkqGGsiB5QU_urjXvwb2WOlA/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+008.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Still missing something, I don't like the logo at the top of the photo. Cropping to a 16 x 9 ratio will solve the issue.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWSX6VjziGFYWlUfdgPc2XS7FaR56vr8HtEhdr2BLv4hlo2bzk4PS3i7ZulxAHn6syKx_eoRo_2Jg3JQ62u9XdP6EdfDK8YX3-0X0mfWYgd3EOxjNLWtaZSdsExSLcRXKHzzSPawxKYuY/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWSX6VjziGFYWlUfdgPc2XS7FaR56vr8HtEhdr2BLv4hlo2bzk4PS3i7ZulxAHn6syKx_eoRo_2Jg3JQ62u9XdP6EdfDK8YX3-0X0mfWYgd3EOxjNLWtaZSdsExSLcRXKHzzSPawxKYuY/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+009.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />And some post-crop vignetting, I don't mind going a bit strong in a B&W picture.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRuLPwBEwCnrRw_3XMBK3fJPmJpqLuBe7jVDnea77O6NgR-TvDrK-J8adpSm2XQps8wXrbpvbkVpm40uFmB0xxHJ7NfvBFD6Ccq2XVBgg_GMP1R2BfoF_-eU-5_IWRR2deMy-nxav9QGc/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+010.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRuLPwBEwCnrRw_3XMBK3fJPmJpqLuBe7jVDnea77O6NgR-TvDrK-J8adpSm2XQps8wXrbpvbkVpm40uFmB0xxHJ7NfvBFD6Ccq2XVBgg_GMP1R2BfoF_-eU-5_IWRR2deMy-nxav9QGc/s320/PP3+-+Lock+-+010.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />And for the final touches, some spot-removal to remove the spots and dust particles. There is a very useful feature in Lightroom 5 when using the spot-healing brush, you have at the bottom of the picture a square which when you tick, helps you visualize the spots in the picture.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE1kfixso7zM9xWrdHVtIdBiWhJJn0cg9Ph5jS12vgPKgmM0oL4AeX0ttJvdQxZ1bAlamjHNAUPC98LUmDiDfT1WwTJZtXeDPX6syRt7cWh4j4MFxpTYpyyxGs1Gs2Z_KuP8wfjrcMd8k/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE1kfixso7zM9xWrdHVtIdBiWhJJn0cg9Ph5jS12vgPKgmM0oL4AeX0ttJvdQxZ1bAlamjHNAUPC98LUmDiDfT1WwTJZtXeDPX6syRt7cWh4j4MFxpTYpyyxGs1Gs2Z_KuP8wfjrcMd8k/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+011.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />A few clicks to remove the spots, and we're done.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PNqwrNqHd85XS4nyN-eE8jO5-b5CyN1kL5v0EfEIfraaAZCS4q-h7AweDTxt21ILeX4FVokXgqiBgJhAnYUF6-drG6_r7VvC8XdlhSKmAfCM19vo3-gbvsWmKUHsNgz_jPjND3WGSwc/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PNqwrNqHd85XS4nyN-eE8jO5-b5CyN1kL5v0EfEIfraaAZCS4q-h7AweDTxt21ILeX4FVokXgqiBgJhAnYUF6-drG6_r7VvC8XdlhSKmAfCM19vo3-gbvsWmKUHsNgz_jPjND3WGSwc/s640/PP3+-+Lock+-+012.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />I hope this has been a useful post. Finally here's the before and after.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_HcZ1S-daGXVn_LTVIKpyQvxnfqg5xL5JGInona9Um7o4-Fok6CfD2PKBpQcYEf4aWfuBV2mrZZ1kX2ocb1RNt26JOv9iGvOVKAzeXzR6pe24Q8yWbfG6YIspyNn3IHVYXWsboe0XJr8/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+OP+Before.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_HcZ1S-daGXVn_LTVIKpyQvxnfqg5xL5JGInona9Um7o4-Fok6CfD2PKBpQcYEf4aWfuBV2mrZZ1kX2ocb1RNt26JOv9iGvOVKAzeXzR6pe24Q8yWbfG6YIspyNn3IHVYXWsboe0XJr8/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+OP+Before.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6eooCgfO18zW5138An5AyTUdF5fh9aZyYtGMxiypu9vZdAMCw-mboy9er6hyqVfMDAMXyu00WEm5eceuqlQZkHCpcvkxNtDt7YfJf5VjNUMwdmhxhAsZnSa5Z6WubbUTVXQDWSSSb3Eo/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+OP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6eooCgfO18zW5138An5AyTUdF5fh9aZyYtGMxiypu9vZdAMCw-mboy9er6hyqVfMDAMXyu00WEm5eceuqlQZkHCpcvkxNtDt7YfJf5VjNUMwdmhxhAsZnSa5Z6WubbUTVXQDWSSSb3Eo/s1600/PP3+-+Lock+-+OP.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>RELATED POSTS</b></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/02/post-processing-series-episode-1.html" target="_blank">Post Processing Series: Episode 1 - Indoor Portrait</a><br /><a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/09/post-processing-series-episode-2.html" target="_blank">Post Processing Series: Episode 2 - Landscape</a><br /><a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/02/macro-fun-home.html" target="_blank">Macro Fun @ Home</a> <br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-18122342992056288532013-10-02T00:47:00.000-07:002013-12-16T04:11:04.836-08:00Exposure for Digital Cameras<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6y5zIUrIcBk/UkApOeZVLKI/AAAAAAAAh_s/ilCEqImTA4U/s1600/D600-6087-201309221322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6y5zIUrIcBk/UkApOeZVLKI/AAAAAAAAh_s/ilCEqImTA4U/s640/D600-6087-201309221322.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />In this post, I'd like to talk about my approach on setting the exposure for digital cameras.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>COMPARISON BETWEEN THE EYE AND A DIGITAL SENSOR<br /><br />When you raise the volume on your stereo, do you notice that as it gets louder, it takes larger adjustments to make it even louder? Our eyes work in a similar way. As an object gets brighter, it needs to become disproportionately brighter in order to <i>appear</i> brighter to our eyes. This relationship between actual versus perceived brightness is sometimes described as being logarithmic or nonlinear.<br /><br />The reason I mention this from the outset is because it is an important concept to consider when determining exposure. <br /><br />With film cameras, in particular negative (print) film, exposure works in a similar way to our eyes. It requires progressively more light in order to make it appear brighter. As a result, negative film usually preserves highlights very well. Check out the sample below:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KVCADPAZ-vw/TWMLMHNkEQI/AAAAAAAAiEE/CcZ6FYoHpuk/s1600/20110221-N90-07890008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KVCADPAZ-vw/TWMLMHNkEQI/AAAAAAAAiEE/CcZ6FYoHpuk/s640/20110221-N90-07890008.JPG" width="424" /></a></div><br />I took the shot with a Nikon N90, using ordinary consumer grade color negative film (Kodak Gold 200 IIRC). As you can see from the very sharp shadows, the sun was quite bright, with barely any clouds. Nonetheless, you can see all the highlight details were preserved, even in the light colored areas of the shot that were directly illuminated by the sun, such as the white part of the sneakers, or more critically, the skin (particularly the underside of the forearm). No blown highlights at all.<br /><br />The sensor of a conventional digital camera, however, works differently from our eyes and from negative film. Digital sensors are linear. Double the light and the recorded light is also doubled, no matter how bright or dark the image already is. To further compound the problem, once the maximum amount of light is recorded, all detail in that portion is lost forever. That part of the image will just look totally white, with no detail that can be recovered (though I admit it is possible to *simulate* recovery through careful cloning). There are also exceptions such as the Fuji S5 Pro (<a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-first-crush-fuji-s5-pro.html" target="_blank">reviewed here</a>) which is much more similar to our eyes and to negative film.<br /><br />"CORRECT" EXPOSURE<br /><br />We use the term 'exposure' in a couple of ways. On one hand it can mean whether you chose a wide aperture or narrow aperture, or a fast shutter or slow shutter, or a high ISO or a low ISO. On the other hand, it can also mean just the net amount of recorded light, regardless of choice of aperture, shutter speed, or ISO. To avoid confusion, by exposure I mean the latter (I'll refer to the former as <i>creative </i>exposure).<br /><br />Suppose we ask, what is the correct exposure?<br /><br />One response is that the correct exposure is the exposure that records the amount of light that is actually in the scene. A middle gray object is recorded as middle gray. I agree, when comparing straight-out-of-the-camera results, this is of course by definition the most accurate approach. If this is your preferred approach then an incident lightmeter is your best friend. Barring that, you can use the <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2010/11/basic-tone-placement-with-simplified.html" target="_blank">Zone System</a> to get a reasonable estimate of the light in the scene.<br /><br />The problem with this approach is that it doesn't necessarily take into account the sensor or medium's dynamic range (the range of shadows and highlights that can be captured by the medium). Suppose you have a medium that has a range of 3 stops of shadow and 3 stops of highlights. Suppose further that you have a scene that is quite dark, with tones that are primarily in Zone I, II and III. If you use the 'most accurate' approach, then you won't be able to record the Zone I portions of the scene - they are beyond the dynamic range of the medium.<br /><br />An alternative solution would be to fit the dynamic range of the scene within the dynamic range of the medium, as much as possible. In the hypothetical scenario above, the scene could be intentionally overexposed by 1 or more stops so that the Zone I is rendered as Zone II or higher, within the dynamic range of the medium. In post processing, the intentional overexposure can be corrected, and meanwhile the Zone I detail is preserved, a better end result than the previous approach that needlessly sacrifices Zone I.<br /><br />We can apply this same logic to digital cameras. Most digital sensors have a very good shadow range but less impressive highlight range. Indeed, as post-processing software improves, the useful shadow range is effectively extended to ever-deeper blacks. Therefore it makes sense to underexpose the shot as needed to fit the relevant highlight range within the sensor's highlight range.<br /><br />This does not mean we should underexpose unnecessarily, "just to be safe." Because notwithstanding advances in sensor technology, an underexposed image will have more noise. <br /><br />Keeping both objectives (dynamic range and noise), the ideal strategy for digital sensors is therefore to expose for the brightest <i>relevant </i>highlight, i.e. expose to the right as much as possible without blowing any relevant highlight detail. <br /><br />The key word here is 'relevant'. When is a highlight relevant or not? To me, a highlight is relevant if it helps in the "modeling" of the subject (i.e., helps describe the three-dimensional contour of the subject). Therefore to me, a highlight illuminated by a kicker or the shoulder is relevant, while I don't sweat over the rim light or backlight (the thin bright outline to separate the subject from the background). In general, I also don't attempt to preserve specular reflections - you know, the very bright reflections of light (there's no detail there anyway), just focusing instead on keeping diffuse highlights.<br /><br />As for the background, highlights matter to me based on various factors like whether the highlight adds to the image or not. If the sky is just featureless gray sky, then I don't care if I lose it or not (it's featureless after all!). If the background is blurred with shallow depth of field, I look at factors like whether the background is colored or not. If it's just white blobs, I don't mind losing some highlight detail there. Again, this is just my opinion on which highlights I find relevant.<br /><br />CASE STUDIES<br /><br />Let's compare these two straight-out-of-the-camera shots:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fYUWFGxVsRy4jax3nxa8fUEKPcD0z1y5o68Q9U31tvxAteuFL4lf6xWEXa4NtrX6oZINAxXrGVBa5vD2EC7fFY7sZkpwGk-VOd8zPZg2LCeTWIKKl8y31alapnLFgK8VgDLuCV4hKY4/s1600/2011122416-d300-_DSC9126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fYUWFGxVsRy4jax3nxa8fUEKPcD0z1y5o68Q9U31tvxAteuFL4lf6xWEXa4NtrX6oZINAxXrGVBa5vD2EC7fFY7sZkpwGk-VOd8zPZg2LCeTWIKKl8y31alapnLFgK8VgDLuCV4hKY4/s320/2011122416-d300-_DSC9126.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DVuhWQLvayc/UkGVt6juz8I/AAAAAAAAiCk/TP82AoNbOgk/s1600/D600-6099-201309221323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DVuhWQLvayc/UkGVt6juz8I/AAAAAAAAiCk/TP82AoNbOgk/s320/D600-6099-201309221323.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />Again, these are SOOC without any exposure adjustments. The scenes are different, and in the first one I used a flash while in the second one I did not. But note that the ambient lights are similar: sun coming from over the shoulder. In the first shot, the exposure was set for 'accuracy,' it doesn't look overexposed or underexposed as is. The second one appears significantly underexposed.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Notwithstanding the SOOC appearance, to me, the exposure in the second shot is the one I prefer based on my preferred strategy for exposure for digital cameras. In the first one, look at my skin (and that of my son). Bright patches of detail-less white, like someone spilled correction fluid on us. You could kind of rationalize and say, oh it's just backlight. But to me, because they do help shape the subjects' heads, they should have been preserved.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IUnoHMf0ww0/UkvDXoI0EnI/AAAAAAAAiEs/y5eye06lYU0/s1600/2011122416-d300-_DSC9126-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IUnoHMf0ww0/UkvDXoI0EnI/AAAAAAAAiEs/y5eye06lYU0/s640/2011122416-d300-_DSC9126-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Here is a closeup from the second shot:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6dXdiM866dQ/UkvJoMevafI/AAAAAAAAiE8/MqtP_8NKTkM/s1600/D600-6099-201309221323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6dXdiM866dQ/UkvJoMevafI/AAAAAAAAiE8/MqtP_8NKTkM/s640/D600-6099-201309221323.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br />No lost highlights at all.<br /><br />And now here are the end results after post-processing:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wCCSEFkyGHg/Tvvc2cmTFII/AAAAAAAAWZk/vPjstYa7Gh0/s1600/2011122416-d300-_DSC9127-Edit+copy-2-Edit+copy-2-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wCCSEFkyGHg/Tvvc2cmTFII/AAAAAAAAWZk/vPjstYa7Gh0/s640/2011122416-d300-_DSC9127-Edit+copy-2-Edit+copy-2-Edit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Note: it's not exactly the same shot, I know. Anyway, as you can see there are many blown highlights even after post-processing. Like I said, once they're gone they're gone.<br /><br />And here is the second shot, after postprocessing:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xz_MKOZDGmI/UkApQIKB4yI/AAAAAAAAh_8/Dv9nsPG2GQc/s1600/D600-6099-201309221323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xz_MKOZDGmI/UkApQIKB4yI/AAAAAAAAh_8/Dv9nsPG2GQc/s640/D600-6099-201309221323.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br />Although I brought up the exposure to correct the underexposure, the highlights are all still there.<br /><br />REAL WORLD APPLICATION<br /><br />So, in the real world, how do we expose to the right just enough to preserve relevant highlights? One way is to use the histogram. It helps if your camera has a zoomable histogram (meaning the histogram reflects the zoomed-in portion). Another way is to take a test shot and see if any of the relevant highlights are blinking, but this is somewhat unreliable for me. I find the camera is usually too conservative, showing that an area is blinking whereas in reality that portion still has detail when I download the shot to my computer.<br /><br />I use neither of these options. Instead I rely on Active D-Lighting (Highlight Tone Protection for Canon). For Nikon cameras, Active D-Lighting will seemingly increase the dynamic range of the shot. Actually what it does is to underexpose the shot, then use its internal postprocessing to recover underexposed shadow areas. The shadow recovery is recorded only in JPEG, and I always shoot in Raw so I don't see that in-camera shadow recovery when I download the shot, but I don't care too much about it. I can apply shadow recovery myself. The primary benefit of ADL for me is that it underexposes the shot sufficiently to preserve the highlights. In current Nikon DSLRs, the "protectiveness" of the ADL can be adjusted from low to normal to high to extra-high to auto. I usually leave it on Auto unless conditions are extremely contrasty, in which case I tend to choose extra-high.<br /><br />FOLLOW-UP<br /><br />We haven't discussed yet how I brought up the shadows. In the past <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-fix-underexposure.html" target="_blank">here</a> is the approach I used. These days, I use a different approach. That will be the topic for <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/10/recovering-from-underexposure-new.html" target="_blank">my next post</a>. <br /><div><br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-7735795991373067462013-09-28T22:43:00.000-07:002013-12-16T04:11:04.924-08:00Happy First Birthday<div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13451101@N05/9993494893/" title="Happy First Birthday"><img alt="Happy First Birthday by mic_ty" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5341/9993494893_2853962d34.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13451101@N05/9993494893/">Happy First Birthday</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13451101@N05/">mic_ty</a> on Flickr.</span></div>Shot with the Nikon D600 and Sigma 35 1.4. f/8, 1/160, 6400 ISO, aperture priority.<br /><br />This shot is representative of my current approach to lighting and exposure, a topic that I will discuss further in detail <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/10/recovering-from-underexposure-new.html" target="_blank">in a separate post</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697671839018092530.post-90104800292303190972013-09-28T15:13:00.000-07:002013-12-16T04:11:05.009-08:00A Fish-eye, A Dell Monitor & Wireless Printing<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHXLvx0N9gwf3SSH5Q7IqSIFFqeDz9G0LZ1FOF7-Oj_wax2dUP6vwKh_KxTQtRyOCiGkuHyd6up71xol6YFAmhdPNhvoVn1zbKhQWOAjTh2CabHOpG-OydYEP4js2dxL6FJL4QMgUqsY/s1600/Fisheye+-+01740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHXLvx0N9gwf3SSH5Q7IqSIFFqeDz9G0LZ1FOF7-Oj_wax2dUP6vwKh_KxTQtRyOCiGkuHyd6up71xol6YFAmhdPNhvoVn1zbKhQWOAjTh2CabHOpG-OydYEP4js2dxL6FJL4QMgUqsY/s1600/Fisheye+-+01740.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sexy looking OM-D EM-5, and the Bower 7.5mm Fish-eye</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />Today I want to tell you about three new gadgets that I've recently acquired. Hit the jump for the full post.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>Almost one month ago, B&H made a very attractive discount on the Bower 7.5mm Fish-eye f/3.5 lens for micro four thirds. This discount went viral on the various blogs and forums, and the lens was immediately back-ordered in one day. Back then, the lens retailed for around $300, and B&H offered it for just $200, it was too good to pass, despite not being familiar with focal lengths wider than a 50mm equivalent. It arrived almost a week ago.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaawBx4hRz2CSt7wORXmn6HOUP4LZHjmJ6qQJZygJCTAsZSJWZ4lZkl633PN01EGzvR9hR0SR1g5-Jn1M3j-Ua9lnu0A7H_pnoZBrew_wIOjE3xg2GVTTqrs1L82Ptgu3xtpFJDsHEzOA/s1600/Fisheye+-+01737.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaawBx4hRz2CSt7wORXmn6HOUP4LZHjmJ6qQJZygJCTAsZSJWZ4lZkl633PN01EGzvR9hR0SR1g5-Jn1M3j-Ua9lnu0A7H_pnoZBrew_wIOjE3xg2GVTTqrs1L82Ptgu3xtpFJDsHEzOA/s1600/Fisheye+-+01737.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In color, to show you how it looks like</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />But I've never heard about that brand before, what is it?<br /><br />This brand is of a Korean origin, and it sells under various brand names: Rokinon, Samyang and Bower. They make excellent lenses for several mounts. They make Cine lenses, and they even make <a href="http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/05/first-look-at-the-rokibowyang-24mm-f3-5-tilt-shift-lens-part-1" target="_blank">fairly good tilt-shift</a> lenses. All of their lenses have three common features, all manual operation, much cheaper than the similar Canon/Nikon counterparts, and they are usually very sharp and very good optically. As for the different brand names for the same lens, they are optically the same, but might be different in cosmetics, and the focus ring rotation direction.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxib3FBdYsBGMGFGib3qrP00h0qCI_voQ6k0lOudkYNDAi10jQcpByz_yePVrX4NuK5W59orBwbtcXPGTCBbMYS1bxF3Gq1iOjAcmoLDF_zgkqicicTVDHgOI5W_I4QyEzM2GcqsOufU/s1600/Fisheye+-+01738.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxib3FBdYsBGMGFGib3qrP00h0qCI_voQ6k0lOudkYNDAi10jQcpByz_yePVrX4NuK5W59orBwbtcXPGTCBbMYS1bxF3Gq1iOjAcmoLDF_zgkqicicTVDHgOI5W_I4QyEzM2GcqsOufU/s1600/Fisheye+-+01738.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clicky aperture ring, smooth focus ring and a distance scale</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />And this one is no exception. I am not attempting to review it here (search the internet and you'll only find raving reviews), but given the price point and the optical performance that I tested for myself, I am very impressed with what I got. Here are my initial impressions:<br /><ul><li>Very solid, metal everything, really impressive.</li><li>Smaller than what I expected, it is no larger than the <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/04/panasonic-leica-25mm-f14-summilux.html" target="_blank">Panaleica 25 f/1.4</a>.</li><li>The aperture and focus rings are very smooth and accurate, feels like a premium product.</li><li>The focus ring has a very long throw, but it is not a problem since I usually keep it close to infinity.</li><li>It has a built in hood that protects the lens, and the lens cap attaches to the hood.</li></ul><br /><ul></ul><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwFxnFKcQpfm2wJ6luhItBL4C681B7AqTXrJYrRvyKjdX3ngShMwCoHwBbJDPM_OZXFdB7hq3l2Qhpc2JtmFUvtru0R3_-bMgb-5sOLnUJk7s6LwrGAAj4fVlFCdeS0z_jZbeg3M8M0fs/s1600/Fisheye+-+01736.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwFxnFKcQpfm2wJ6luhItBL4C681B7AqTXrJYrRvyKjdX3ngShMwCoHwBbJDPM_OZXFdB7hq3l2Qhpc2JtmFUvtru0R3_-bMgb-5sOLnUJk7s6LwrGAAj4fVlFCdeS0z_jZbeg3M8M0fs/s1600/Fisheye+-+01736.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Huge lens cap</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />As for shooting with a fish-eye, this is something totally new to me, and a bit awkward, so I'm still learning. Mic has posted a lot about how he uses a fish-eye or an ultra-wide lens, and this is what mostly got me interested in such lenses. I prefer the look of a fish-eye to an ultra-wide lens, which creates too much distortion at the edges to my liking.<br /><br />Then there is the concept of de-fishing, I am no expert in the topic, but basically a program can take an image from a fish-eye and de-fish it to get a slightly normal-looking images, which will still be very wide. This might sound like a lot of effort, but fortunately for me, there is a generous user of this lens has created a correction profile for lightroom, which can de-fish an image immediately in lightroom with just two mouse clicks, and it works really well. Check the following example, which is not the best, but enough to illustrate the idea.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8rGg5Eihhwic654STzXBjuCDH_c_astxMsW0XbRvD9AvDrabyUHhfd_dxRaLnDUwNpANqrdXSA7CfejNgNX6oc_pwXHYgUzQzcI7YW_NC5ooGLKQyP73O6TIlaGaLNuf6SJ8KvG86gXo/s1600/Fisheye+-+00050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8rGg5Eihhwic654STzXBjuCDH_c_astxMsW0XbRvD9AvDrabyUHhfd_dxRaLnDUwNpANqrdXSA7CfejNgNX6oc_pwXHYgUzQzcI7YW_NC5ooGLKQyP73O6TIlaGaLNuf6SJ8KvG86gXo/s1600/Fisheye+-+00050.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vertical fish-eye view, this was shot through an opening just as wide as the lens body</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-I8XR26_6Vk80QqCQdhQSounNKb-qQ5t9_x_M3DOVHoxSAUykLcEHCu5zXbxeSwkSVi-xHyLfzn177rwP0oDtU4vUjzpBkWJKDCeN7aLFw_fA_41qRABMGBA23ym7b7YmwDqX22PW0g/s1600/Fisheye+-+00050-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-I8XR26_6Vk80QqCQdhQSounNKb-qQ5t9_x_M3DOVHoxSAUykLcEHCu5zXbxeSwkSVi-xHyLfzn177rwP0oDtU4vUjzpBkWJKDCeN7aLFw_fA_41qRABMGBA23ym7b7YmwDqX22PW0g/s1600/Fisheye+-+00050-2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After de-fishing in lightroom, look at the lower left white car</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1AIfUop5fi8xjQQf7Me9waUfx7At3Hl9O60bhb8BDj2_PLmjXg_EbmgmP1KnCgMVjPY47ahKvxyznr-D_dJNBQpdSRQklknZrU5Jv3wtIBR29CbPJo8wiILBQgg4BTgJWJZlpKLrw6Og/s1600/Fisheye+-+00050-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1AIfUop5fi8xjQQf7Me9waUfx7At3Hl9O60bhb8BDj2_PLmjXg_EbmgmP1KnCgMVjPY47ahKvxyznr-D_dJNBQpdSRQklknZrU5Jv3wtIBR29CbPJo8wiILBQgg4BTgJWJZlpKLrw6Og/s1600/Fisheye+-+00050-3.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After a slight crop to get rid of the wooden edges</td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxib3FBdYsBGMGFGib3qrP00h0qCI_voQ6k0lOudkYNDAi10jQcpByz_yePVrX4NuK5W59orBwbtcXPGTCBbMYS1bxF3Gq1iOjAcmoLDF_zgkqicicTVDHgOI5W_I4QyEzM2GcqsOufU/s1600/Fisheye+-+01738.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /><br /><br />And to give you an idea how crazy wide the fish-eye lens is, check the image below, and look at the camera's LCD. The lens can see both the outer edges of the lenses in front of the camera, and can see below and above the lens cap.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4mcJm8puRSe1DPDQ4x1Jd4SgOfztG-nNHJKouM4V21ueTSUbvchJiq4diBoRVcY0ICSPHYOhBpx816MfSuKQdQS0spPpScQ9D4kSZeXGZ7Uk-lwb1FrQX3okPGAo9K-dm1tO_ac8TUxc/s1600/Fisheye+-+01744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4mcJm8puRSe1DPDQ4x1Jd4SgOfztG-nNHJKouM4V21ueTSUbvchJiq4diBoRVcY0ICSPHYOhBpx816MfSuKQdQS0spPpScQ9D4kSZeXGZ7Uk-lwb1FrQX3okPGAo9K-dm1tO_ac8TUxc/s1600/Fisheye+-+01744.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Extreme wide-angle</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><hr /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq8VBbNu0JAfLoOSSKqwZFkZYTk9x_kGcm3E5kvGZP_FV2CYPtnpsLikMsk74H0j5JvwItj9PhDlVr2svGv2UdPv1ZHLZsDEBaPa8HhZbN1y3GFXHk46TyR2AIIK5tV0yyCqD9XSVj1Hw/s1600/Dell+Monitor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq8VBbNu0JAfLoOSSKqwZFkZYTk9x_kGcm3E5kvGZP_FV2CYPtnpsLikMsk74H0j5JvwItj9PhDlVr2svGv2UdPv1ZHLZsDEBaPa8HhZbN1y3GFXHk46TyR2AIIK5tV0yyCqD9XSVj1Hw/s1600/Dell+Monitor.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dell S2440L - 24" Monitor</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Now to gadget number two, a <a href="http://www.dell.com/ed/business/p/dell-s2440l/pd" target="_blank">new monitor</a> that should be delivered by tomorrow. When I built my <a href="http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2012/09/pc-buying-guide-photovideo-editing.html" target="_blank">photo/video editing PC</a> one year ago, I gave my Samsung 19" LCD monitor (max resolution 1600 x 900) to my younger brother, and bought the best 23" monitor I found at the shop back then, it was a LED back-lit Samsung 23" monitor with full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. I also ordered the X-Rite ColorMunki at the same time to calibrate my screen. I was happy until I started viewing images with gradation in the shadow areas.<br /><br />Imagine the following, you're viewing an image of a dark grey wall, with a spot-light lighting the center of the image. Normally, you'd expect to see a light spot in the middle, with the light falling off gradually towards the edges, yes? Not on my monitor, it shows you the center light spot, and concentric circles of decreasing brightness as you go toward the edges. It is downright ugly and disconcerting. I didn't know why this happened, my previous 19" LCD monitor didn't show such artifacts. I tried calibration, checking color-depth settings, changing the color settings of the picture viewing programs to no avail. Until I decided to pretend I didn't see it anymore and try to live with what I have.<br /><br />Until a few days back, I saw a list of 10 cheap things a photographer should consider buying, one of them is the HP 27xi IPS monitor that sells for just $300. I became interested, and one thing led to another, I got to know about TN display panels (which is what my ugly Samsung monitor used), IPS panels, and AMVA panels (which is what my Dell uses). Turns out the TN panels are crap as they can only display 6-bit color, and they are the culprit behind the artifacts I saw.<br /><br />I started researching the different monitors, and decided that I would buy one of two IPS monitors, either the HP 23xi or the Dell Ultrasharp U2412M. Funny enough, they are not sold anywhere in Egypt. I did everything, I called a zillion companies, the dealers, shipping companies, etc... I found out that I cannot get either monitor except if I bought one abroad, which would cost me at least an extra $150 in shipping and taxes! So I did the next best thing, I checked all the monitors sold in Egypt, sorted them by price (from high to low) to find the best panels directly, and apart from the $1,500 Apple 27" Cinema Display, the Dell you see above was the best one. I checked a few reviews and decided it would be good enough for me. Funny how things work sometimes.<br /><br /><hr /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjOB0y7OeDbbWBp8yV9QcEiLKa7P4icChLSwfGptoPnv8HP8027XU77nean5ynpxOjRXbo08_CThHabcOwY_j9qSyXGdMGVkwNYFKTqa1K0xXFQRsvmHlCXYk5RuzhHM1SLxuM6JftwSc/s1600/Brother+MFC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjOB0y7OeDbbWBp8yV9QcEiLKa7P4icChLSwfGptoPnv8HP8027XU77nean5ynpxOjRXbo08_CThHabcOwY_j9qSyXGdMGVkwNYFKTqa1K0xXFQRsvmHlCXYk5RuzhHM1SLxuM6JftwSc/s1600/Brother+MFC.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brother MFC-J825DW</td></tr></tbody></table><br />And finally, a multi-function printer. I have always wanted to test printing my images, but never bothered to do it, until I went to a photo lab to print small ID photos of my daughter, and they cost me a relative-fortune to print 12 copies in 15 minutes. And they did it on a cheap inkjet printer with cheap quality. I was cross.<br /><br />The next day, I went to buy a fairly good inkjet printer for myself, and without checking any of the printer reviews, the sales person convinced me to get this one, turns out it was awarded <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2394432,00.asp" target="_blank">PC Mag Editor's Choice</a>. Here are the highlights of the printer:<br /><ul><li>4800 dpi printer, with full cartridges in the box.</li><li>Can print on CDs and DVDs.</li><li>Has an external feeder tray.</li><li>Can print duplex (front and back of paper) without external help.</li><li>Has a special tray for 4x6 paper.</li><li>Scanner, copier and fax machine.</li><li>Wifi connectivity (can even access your facebook, dropbox, picasa, etc... and print directly).</li><li>Touch 3.3" color LCD.</li><li>Can print directly from a camera through USB, or using the built-in card reader.</li></ul>It was an attractive machine to be honest. I have tested a few prints, and despite it not being the best printer out there, I was impressed with the quality of my prints. It took me a few tries to understand how to print good images, turns out that the sharpening we use to view images at large monitors is totally different from what should be done to print something as small as 4x6 or A4.<br /><br />The most impressive feature in my opinion, is the wifi connectivity. I have the printer away from the computer with just the power cable plugged in, and I can print from far away. What a bless.<br /><br />Until next time, be safe.<br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06665927667492412484noreply@blogger.com0