Fake D600 Grip Stopped Working -- Now Working Again

Just a quick warning: I removed my fake D600 battery grip to take a picture for the GGS post and when I put the grip back, none of the grip controls work any more (dials, directional pad).  The camera continues to get power from the grip but otherwise doesn't work.  I don't know if it's permanently broken or what.  But just wanted to get the word out there right away.

UPDATE 1/6/13: tried the fake D600 grip again and it works again just like it did before.

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GGS LCD protector for Nikon D600

The GGS LCD protector for the Nikon D600 is finally here!  I ordered mine through ebay.  There was a sticker on it that said "D600" so I am supposing it was really designed for the D600.  Hit the jump.


I'm a big fan of GGS, even more so when it saved my S5's butt.  I've used a GGS LCD protector on all my cameras whenever there is one available.  For the D600 I held off on buying one for the D800 because the D600 and D800 use different parts for the Nikon plastic screen protector so I thought that their screens might be different too.  Anyway, I found a GGS protector for the D600 on ebay and it finally got here yesterday.

Unlike my previous GGS protectors, this one is only for the main LCD screen (it did not include a protector for the top LCD).  Bummer.  I might look for a GGS protector for another camera with a similar sized top LCD to use its top LCD protector.

This GGS protector is the adhesive type, not the newer version III that clips over the LCD.  It appears similar in construction to the other GGS protectors I've used.

The protector is very close to the actual shape of my D600's LCD though it's just a tiny bit wider.

Without GGS

With GGS

Installation was simple (peel and stick) but it was not so easy to get it perfectly aligned.  Unfortunately mine is at a slight angle which I know would drive some people nuts.  Thankfully I don't have OCD.

RELATED POSTS:
Thank goodness
GGS Review
GGS III Review

Nikon D600 Resource Page (see under "Accessories")

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The Truth Behind The Migration

I didn't expect the comments I got on my previous post, it seems there a lot of people interested in the change, some people thought full frame was a bust, that it doesn't differ from crop sensors, some thought that I finally saw the light and will move to Nikon, and others are interested in learning from my experience in order to avoid my mistakes.

To all, here I tell the full details of the story, the morals, and my advice to recent camera owners, it will be long, I will try to ingest some pictures to make it less painful, and for the impatient, please jump for the summary at the end of the post.

A FEW IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS FIRST

• I am not a working photographer, I don't earn any money from photography or this blog, I learned photography first and foremost to capture the beautiful moments in the lifes of my family, so the majority of my photography are portraits and candids, I am certainly interested in other types of photography, but they carry less importance. I like to describe myself as a pretty advanced amateur or hobbyist.
• I am brand-neutral, I believe all cameras can do wonders in the hands of professional users, be it Canon, Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, etc...
• I appreciate every single bit of Canon equipment I have ever used, I have not sold my equipment because of any issues with my equipment, they all performed exceptionally well, and sometimes even exceeded my expectations. If I was a working photographer, I would not hesitate to buy a similar system again.
• Because someone asked, full frame is indeed different, the look and the DoF control are unmatched by smaller sensor cameras, and the noise performance is just brilliant. So anyone thinking I have realized that full frame is a mirage, please don't, I know I'm going to miss it.
• Finally, I am not going to tell you what camera to buy, or what to do with your DSLR, I am just telling my story so that others can learn from my mistakes and avoid them, all the cameras, lenses and accessories are bought by my hard earned money, I am not advertising for any brand or any certain camera system, you'll have to find out what works for you.

THE STORY

Now that that's out of the way, here's what happened, as regular readers already know, my first digital camera I have bought from my own money was a Sony T10 P&S, I used it solely to capture the first 15 months or so while my older daughter was growing-up. Up until now, looking back at these pictures makes me regret not getting into photography earlier, everytime I look, I see ugly colors & white balance, lots of wide-angle close-up portraits, lots of direct flash pictures, the whole nine yards of pure P&S mistakes. Back then I remember Gizmodo's article and high praise of the revolutionary Canon S90, finally a pocketable point and shoot for the more quality-conscious photographers, I did a lot of research and ended up buying the same-sensored Canon G11 and getting started for the first time into the world of aperture, shutter speed, ISO, off camera lighting, tutorials, blogs, everything, that was mid 2009.

I started advancing really quickly, my daughter started crawling and walking, and I got frustrated with the slow, hit & miss AF of the G11, and after around 10 months of ownership, the G11 was sold, and bought a Canon 550D along with the holy cheap-but-rather-excellent trinity (18-55 IS, 50 f/1.8 & 55-250 IS). A few more months, and I was addicted to the sharpness of the 50 prime that I didn't really want to use the 18-55 anymore, and I also wanted a wider (50mm equivalent) prime, so I bought the 15-85, the 35mm f/2 and the 60mm macro. I sold the 50 f/1.8. Around that time I already had a 430EX and 580EX speedlites and a few light modifiers.

Fast forward 10 months after buying the 550D. I wanted a body with a better grip and remote flash control, the 60D prices were falling down, and the earthquake that hit Japan increased the request on used Canon bodies in Egypt, I was travelling to Malaysia, and I decided to shop from there, I sold my Canon 550D along with the 18-55 kit lens for almost what I bought it for, and bought the 60D and a new 580EX II speedlite from Malaysia. I was very happy with the 60D and my current crop of excellent performing lenses, the 15-85 for wide and all-round shooting, the 35 f/2 for most of my shooting, the 60mm macro for portraits and close-ups, and the 55-250 for telephoto work and compressed portraits. Later I added the 85 f/1.8 which became my background-eraser lens, and favorite portrait lens.

So good so far, here is when things starts drifting away slowly without me noticing, I started looking at the incremental upgrade costs, and pretending I didn't see the total equipment costs. Up until that point, I could justify the equipment I had and not feel too much regret buying my gear, maybe I would lose either the 60 macro or the 85 1.8. However, if you look at the main reason I started learning and investing in photography, it was to shoot my kids and different family moments, I don't sell photos or prints, I don't do commercial work, I don't even print the photos, I usually share them on the iPad (more convinent and cheaper than prints), but I enjoy the process of photography itself, some say that the camera one uses should be transparent, it should allow him to do art and get the vision in his head without interrupting his art-making process, not me, I enjoy the process of taking photos just as well as I enjoy making good photos, but maybe that's because I'm an engineer.

So what went wrong? Mic Ty started talking about the full-frame dream, I did my best to convince him it's not worth the hassle and that he can already get what he wants with his D300s, but the damage was done, the seed has been planted, and we never got rid of the idea from our heads, add to that i was following around 60 photography blogs and sites, and seeing everyone touting how great full frame is, and looking at pictures with amazingly shallow depth of field (compared to the crop sensor I had), suddenly I decided to switch to full frame, call it gear acquisition syndrome, call it haste, call it irrational, call it competition and not wanting to be left behind (Mic told me he'd sell his own crop Nikon and buy a full frame, and I wanted to do the same), and I won't blame you, it was really not well thought, and I followed my desires and the new gear lust. How bad was it?

I have already owned the 60D for 10 months when I took that decision, I sold all my crop sensor equipment, and only kept the 35 f/2 and the 85 f/1.8 to try them out on the new full frame camera, I bought a 5D Mark II reluctantly because I knew it was a step backwards from the 60D regarding some features like focusing, wireless flash control and tilting screen, and more importantly I have been waiting for the new 5D replacement, but when it was announced, I knew I wouldn't be able to afford it. Anyway, I ended up selling the 35 and 85 lenses and bought a really nice setup, 24-105L, 50 f/1.4, 100L Macro and 200L f/2.8. I also replaced the 430EX with a YN-560II flash, and the 580EX with the very expensive 600EX-RT (another stupid move).

I was really happy with my equipment, it was a really different world depth of field and noise-performance wise, but for some reason I couldn't get the 5D Mark III out of my head, all those amazing reviews and high praises for it never made it any easier for me. See a pattern? I was too engrossed in equipment lust, that I only looked at the incremental upgrade costs, I never really stood back and look at the complete picture, I was not willing to give up the quality and the DoF control I had with the full frame, I always wanted more, better, faster. I'd read a review or see a shot and then lust after this lens or that whatever, just to get a similar shot, but will this shot make my life better? Does it deserve this amount of expenditure? Will I ever want to take that shot again?

One thing that started bugging me was the size, the Lowepro Toploader 55AW that used to carry my 60D with two lenses and a 580EX flash was only able to take the the 5D2 and the 100 macro. Look at the picture above, that's a 550D with my 60mm Macro and lens hood, versus the 5D2 and the 100L Macro with the lens hood. I had to buy better and more expensive bags. Weight was another issue, with all the incremental increases over time, I was shocked at how heavy my equipment weighed when I compared it to the smaller crop sensor bodies. The logical decision is to downsize, yes? No!

This time I'd call it stupidity, one day I decided that I was fed up with the 5D2's focusing system, and that I deserved a 5D3, there was a good offer for the 5D3 selling for slightly less than $3000, so I hastily sold the 5D2 and got the 5D3 in the same day, the 5D2 spent around 6 months with me, and I thought it would be the odd duck with the least ownership period, and that the 5D3 would live forever.

I was thrilled with the 5D3, it was brilliant, and that's even not enough praise, it was completely transparent during the image making process, it took images so quick and wanted to move on to others, it did high ISO like a champ, it was (at minimum) one stop better than the 5D2 at ISOs above 1600, it was magical, but I lost some of the fun I had during the image making process, it was so good that getting a bad result or an out of focus shot a rare occurrence, but that was never the reason for selling it.


THE REALIZATION

One day during a team building trip a few weeks ago, I was sitting on the beach, phone in hand, and the Vanguard Heralder with the 5D3 and 24-105 on my lap, and I started to envy my colleagues running around and having all sorts of fun on the beach, while I sat there guarding my expensive camera gear, and not to mention the size and the weight I had to lug around. I didn't trust the room service, so I never left my camera bag at the hotel room, I had to lug it around everywhere. A few weeks earlier, I decided I'd buy a small compact camera for situations like this, but I didn't want to compromise image quality and wanted it to have a viewfinder, and of course it shouldn't be expensive since it would just be a complimentary camera.

Back to the beach, with all of these thoughts in my head, I opened an excel sheet on my phone, I wrote down the prices of the current camera gear I currently had, and the prices of a quite similar micro four thirds system based around the OM-D EM-5 (for some reason I couldn't take this camera out of my head, and Roger Cicala didn't make it any easier), don't really know why I decided to do that, maybe I imagined my self with a really small camera that I was able to take around everywhere with no fear, anyway that's what I did, and the result was a shocking eye-opener for me.

You can already see the full picture because I told the story in one-shot, but it took me years to reach this point, I was genuinely amazed at the savings I could achieve by switching to m4/3. The result was that I could sell my Canon gear (body, lenses, flashes, bags, accessories, etc...) for around $8000, and buy a new system that could do 80% of what my current system can do, while saving around $4500, gasp! Did I really go that far? The realization hit me so hard, I was quite upset for the rest of the trip, and I was more aware how much is at risk if I dropped my camera or if it was stolen from me (which happened to one of the friends earlier).

THE DECISION

From that moment, I kept checking the whole internet for OM-D system reviews, you name it, blog posts, equipment reviews, forums, flickr galleries, all weird sorts of sites. I spent a few weeks trying to measure how much image quality and camera performance I would lose, but this time I did factor in my initial and almost sole reason for taking photos at the first place, which is better family photos (touche), but that's the reality, and I also wanted to enjoy the process of taking photos again, I didn't want to buy something that made photography as easy as the 5D3 did, I wanted to be more involved, like thinking more about the backgrounds since I won't obliterate them OOF anyway, trying harder in lower light, since I won't be able to just bump the ISO and use a powerful flash. This makes getting good results more satisfying, but of course if I was a paid photographer, I'd want the best performing equipment that I can afford, that's why I am fortunate I am my un-paid family photographer.

After thorough research, and more re-evaluation, I decided to sell all my Canon gear (5D3 owned for less than 3 months), buy a m4/3 small system, and un-follow the thousand photography blogs in my RSS feed since they mostly ignite my gear lust. One benefit of my decision, is that there is no market in Egypt for the m4/3 cameras, so I wouldn't be able to buy new lenses easily, and I won't be able to sell my camera or lenses, I'd be stuck with them fo good, which I think is good for me.

THE PURCHASE

Now that you've read all of the above (or so I hope), you have every right to know what camera gear I decided to buy, and why.

One thing that ignited my interest in m4/3 is the DoF, yes, you read that right, take a look at Kirk Tuck's post on TOP here, with a FF camera, when you want to get a reasonable DoF to get both eyes of your subject in focus or get enough of a product you're shooting in sharp focus, you have to stop-down a lot, at the expense of lower shutter speeds and/or higher ISO, while on the other hand a smaller sensor used with a similar fast lens wide-open would give a larger DoF and a better impression of sharpness without resorting to low shutter speeds or high ISO. The negative would be when you need really thin shallow DoF, but you can't get everything you want now, would you?

So here's what I bought and why I chose it:

• Olympus OM-D EM-5 (black) with the 12-50 kit lens, amazing camera, magnesium alloy body, EVF (think pre-chimping with histogram), wicked fast AF, in body IS, up to 9 fps, weather sealed, wireless flash control, small, tiltable LCD, better noise performance than the 7D and the D7000.
• 12-50 kit lens (24-100 equivalent), got it because it's a bargain, and it will give me wide angle, weather sealing and macro at the same time.
• Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4, for day-to-day use, fast aperture, excellent quality and my favorite 50mm equivalent focal length.
• Olympus 45mm f/1.8, for tight portraits with a bit of background separation, very fast AF and very sharp wide-open.
• Olympus 40-150mm telephoto (80-300 equivalent) this was an Amazon suggestion, for just $130 more than the camera kit price, I got this lens, a Transcend 32GB Class 10 SD card, Olympus messenger bag, travel tripod with bag, cleaning kit, wide and tele converters with cases, UV filters, filter holding bag, and I don't remember if there was something else, it was too good to pass.
• FL600R flash, tiny TTL flash with a GN36 @ ISO 100, will be used mainly for bounce indoors, and I already have a couple of powerful YN-560 II flashes for setup shots. It also can act as a slave to the OM-D's flash.
• Sony RX100, surprise, the best P&S in 2012 if not ever, amazing performance (thanks Sony for your amazing sensors in the OM-D and here) in a really tiny package, after much consideration and almost buying the Canon G15, I chose this one. There was a kit at Amazon (at no extra cost) that adds a Sony 32GB Class 10 SD card, a Sony carrying pouch, a cleaning kit and a few other useless items.
• Thinktank Retrospective 5 bag, a small bag that can carry most of the gear listed above, and doesn't look like a camera bag screaming "come and steal me".
• Lowepro Apex 100AW & 30AW, the first for carrying the OM-D with a single prime, and the other for the RX100.
• 3rd party battery cahrgers + 2 spare batteries for both cameras.

Would you take a guess at the price of all of the above? Almost the same as the price of my 5D3 body alone, can you imagine that? And much smaller in size that I would be able to always have a camera with me, something that I wasn't able to do with the DSLRs.


THE MORAL OF THE STORY

If you came here directly without reading any of the above, you're out of luck, you missed the party, there was a lot of fun. But anyway, here are the lessons I have learned from my experience:

• If you're not a working/paid photographer, you have to set your priorities and targets firmly, and you have to keep them in front of your eyes all the time.
• Don't buy a piece of equipment because you want to be able to take a certain photo like this photography blog showed, think hard, would you take this picture again? Will it deserve the money paid on new gear?
• Use what you already have and get the best out of it, until it dies.
• Did you already get the best out of it and want to move to the next level? Don't, keep using your gear, you've already been happy with your gear and making great pictures, the next upgrade might cost 2x, but only enhance your pictures by 0.1x.
• If you have the chance to buy well-used gear instead of brand new, please do, you'll save a lot of money when you decide to sell your equipment for whatever reason.
• Are you sitting on piles of money that you don't know what to spend it on? Ignore this whole post and go buy as many cameras and lenses as you can.
• The 5D Mark III is the best camera I have ever used, and I will really miss the FF and 200 f/2.8 look wide-open.

I hope I have answered all of the inquiries and questions I've got, and I hope this post helps other people to fall into the same mistakes I did.

Posted with Blogsy

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The Overachiever: Tamron 70-300 VC Preview

When a top-of-the-line lens performs very well, it's easy to praise it.  But when a budget-priced lens shows great performance, it's harder to shower praise upon it because lens snobs who've invested thousands of dollars on their lenses would be so ready to heckle and criticize you.  After all, such an observation goes completely against conventional wisdom.  But in this blog we try to be as objective as possible.  This is just a preview but based on what I've seen, this is a kickass lens.  Hit the jump for samples.

The Tamron 70-300 VC has been out for a couple of years now (announced August 2010).  In fact, when it first came out, I chuckled at Tamron because Nikon had just released their budget-friendly 55-300 VR.  Why would anyone want a 70-300 lens from a third party when they could have a first-party lens with a wider range at the same or lower cost?

Fast forward to 2012.  The space shuttle landed in Los Angeles, and none of my lenses were long enough to capture this once-in-a-lifetime event.


Image above was from my Sigma 50-150 on the Nikon D90, cropped.  At the same time, our son was getting to an age where he would be involved in more sports, so I thought about getting a longer lens, but one that was not so bulky.  I had just sold my 70-200 VR I because it was too bulky to use on a day-to-day basis, and this time I wanted a lens that I would not hesitate to bring with me for everyday shots.

I checked out the Nikon 70-300 VR, a lens used by one of my favorite photographers, Bob Krist.  If it was good enough for National Geographic, it has to be good enough for anything.  I nearly purchased the 70-300 VR because there's a sizable rebate for it when you buy it with the Nikon D600.

But then as I researched the 70-300 VR, I read about comparisons to the Tamron 70-300 VC.  In the side-to-side comparisons I saw, the Tamron 70-300 VC was noticeably better.  I found a refurbished one with a good warranty and decided to get it instead of the Nikon 70-300 VR.

When I took my first shots with this lens, I was astonished.  The images appeared so striking in their sharpness.

One of my first shots with the Tamron 70-300 VC

As I took more shots, it seems to me that this impression of sharpness is from the lens' high acutance.  Check out this informative article from Cambridge in Colour, distinguishing between resolution and acutance.  Here is another article from LensRentals on the same topic (and about MTF charts).

The shot above had zero clarity and no additional sharpening but it looks like I bumped up the clarity setting in Lightroom.  That's what I mean by the Tamron 70-300 VC's high acutance.  Here are more shots I've taken with this lens, all of them SOOC except adjusted for white balance and in some cases exposure.  No additional sharpening or clarity.

How good is this lens, exactly?  You probably have heard about Nikon's new 70-200 f/4 VR lens.  In this post, Nasim Mansurov showed that it has better edge-to-edge sharpness than a Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR II, so the new lens is very good.  Nonetheless, professional photographer John G. Moore has both the 70-200 f/4 VR and the Tamron 70-300 VC and in his opinion, the 70-300 VC is better (just as sharp, with less chromatic aberration).

In our review for this lens, I will compare its performance to other lenses I have that have some overlapping focal lengths: Nikon 24-70 2.8G (at 70mm), Nikon 85 1.8G, Nikon 28-105.  It's not a practical test because the lenses have different functions but I'm curious how they compare.  I will also discuss the amazing image stabilization, and its other features.  In keeping with the practical perspective of our blog, I will post samples of shots where this kind of lens might be useful.


RELATED POSTS:
Nikon D600 Resource Page (see under "Lenses Tested")

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A Tribute To The 5D Mark III

The only picture I have for "my" 5D Mark III

Farewell my 5D Mark III, you've served me well, actually, more than well, you had the best, snappiest, most accurate auto-focusing system I have ever seen, you shot high ISOs like a champ, you were always live and ready for action even before I touched the trigger, something that no camera I have used to date was able to match, you gave me the shallow depth of field that everyone craves with complete abundance, even the 50mm @ f/5.6 was not enough to get the whole of my subject in sharp focus.
 
You were, technically, the best camera that I have ever used, but I was never able to feel any love from you, there was no relationship between us, not more than one between a human and a very clever robot that can do everything perfectly, all the time. I am not sad to see you go, I know I will not dearly miss you when I use any another camera (that place is uniquely reserved for my 5D Mark II), and I am probably not going to dream about owning you again.
 
Yes, I've sold my 5D Mark III, and yes, I've owned it for less than 3 months, and no, I'm not abandoning photography, I've re-evaluated my recent (last year) gear purchases and realized that I have drafted from the path I should have taken a long time ago, and it's the time to rectify that. But that will be the story of my next post, for now, enjoy some of my favorite shots taken with the 5D Mark III with a few comments on each one, consider this a mini-review of the 5D Mark III that never got to be fully reviewed as it deserved.
 
 

100L, a brilliant portrait lens

 
Before I start showing my favorite pictures, I think the 5D3 deserves a few bullet points describing the advantages it holds over the 5D2. As usual, most reviews don't speak about the complete differences between both cameras, and the general public impression is that the 5D3 has a betterfocusing system, slightly cleaner files above 3200 ISO, and dual memory cards, that is true, but the differences are much more than that, they are a lot of small changes that completely transform the experience, and can only be known to someone who used both extensively. So here goes the bullets, these are the advantages of the 5D3 over the 5D2:
 

• Much better focusing system, 61 AF points, and 41 cross-type AF points (vs one on the 5D2) which cover a large part of the frame, they are also very accurate and can focus reliably in dim conditions.
• Along with the 61 AF points is a very clever focus tracking system, I'd say I've only exploited 5% of its capabilities, but it is very reliable and accurate, there's no way your subject can escape from all 61 AF points.
• Better noise performance, 6400 ISO is as good or better than 3200 ISO on the 5D2.
• Dual memory cards, CF and SD, I see the choice a brilliant one, whenever I run out of space, I can borrow an SD from any of my friends and continue shooting. I always used the dual memory cards for backup, every photo I take gets recorded to both cards at once, I always fear losing the photos to a corrupted memory card before I get home, which I saw happen to several of my friends.
• 100% viewfinder, it makes accurate framing easy with no need for cropping in post.
• The viewfinder has an LCD overlay, it can show or hide any of the AF points, it can show grids, and it can show horizontal and vertical levels.
• Faster & longer continuous burst rate, 6 fps vs 3.9 fps, much faster and snappier than the 5D2, coupled with faster AF, it transforms the camera performance 180 degrees.
• Shutter sound is more -snap- than the slow, heavy -ka thunnnnnnk- of the 5D2, silent shutter is also really silent, I hoped to record the difference, but I didn't know I'd sell it that fast.
• Exposure compensation goes to -3 to +3 vs only 2 on the 5D2.
• More advanced bracketing modes (up to 7 shots), HDR and Multiple Exposures, not that I cared for them.
• Springy battery and memory card doors.
• New menu systems similar to the newer 7D and 60D.
• Easily configurable buttons via an easy graphical interface.
• A new M.Fn button near the shutter button.
• Better live-view modes (stills, movies) along with a new movie recording button a la 7D.
• Nicely placed DoF button than can be configured to do something else.
• Horizontal and vertical levels.
• More video modes, especially the 720p 60 fps for slow motion.
• Silent touch-sensitive controls during video shooting.
• One touch 100% zoom to the focus point during playback.
• Advanced playback modes, two side-by-side picture comparisons, and in-camera RAW processing.
• Better battery life, the 5D2 used to give me around 800 shots per charge, the 5D3 easily gets around 1300 shots with lots of LCD usage.
• Larger and more sharper LCD, better visibility in sun light.
• Better grip with more rubber beneath the hand, and it doesn't have that rubbery stink that I had with the 5D2.
• Supposedly better construction and weather sealing, nothing I noticed.

I can go on with more tiny details, but what you see above is enough to completely transform the 5D2 into a completely new camera that only shares its name. It is a brilliant camera, but I didn't feel any passion while using it, while on the contrary, the 5D2 felt more involving, and more satisfactory during the image taking process, it is slower, less accurate, but it has a soul.

UPDATE: Someone over in dpreview asked me about the soul thing, I tried my best and came up with a description that more accurately reflects my feelings:

papparazzi wrote:

What do you mean by the 5d2 has more soul (I have a 5d2)

This is something I can't describe, with the 5D2 I took every picture slowly and carefully, and I appreciated every good result, it felt like I was dealing with an old wise man, he knew how to do his job, but he did it slowly and carefully.

The 5D3 on the other hand is more eager, it was like "come on, get done with that picture and move on to another one, I won't be waiting for you all day". At least that's how I felt towards it, it's something psychological, if you don't get, just ignore it, maybe I'm getting old and sentimental.

My favorite DSLR equipment that I miss and regret selling are the 5D Mark II and the Canon EF-S 60mm Macro USM.

 
 
I will let you enjoy the pictures now, they are not technically the best images, but each one has a place in my heart for the reasons I am going to state below.
 

Hotel Lobby

 
An all-time favorite, I took a couple of days to take this picture, I had to align the table and the pot to make a symmetric picture, the shadows created by the window is what makes this picture for me, and it works much better in B&W.
 

Through Glass

 
This was taken in very dim light, a couple of 40 watts incandescent lamps lit the whole room, and my friend was sitting behind a double glass window, the 5D3 nailed the focus (Canon 50mm f/1.4 by the way) and the bounce flash gave the exact right amount of light, talk about reliability.
 

Beach Mail Box

 
I have always loved the compression a long lens creates, and this one was not taken with any long lens, it is the 200L f/2.8 wide open. This is the thing I am going to miss the most by abandoning my FF DSLR system, I will never get that 200mm f/2.8 full frame wide-open look again.
 

Reflection

 
Colors make this picture, the blue on the wall, the white bed covers and the warm glow of the bedside lamp.
 

Peaceful Drinking

 
That 200 f/2.8 again, sigh.
 

Green Fingers

 
Love the composition, the compression, the sharpness and the colors. 200 f/2.8.
 

The Boy

 
Last 200 f/2.8 picture, I promise, hand held, wide open, available light, ISO 3200, don't you just love the rendering of this lens?
 

Hapiness

 
100L wide open, bounce flash (CTO gel), while the daylight seen in the background turned bluish. Colors, shallow DoF, sharpness and the smile make this picture.
 

Strawberry Man

 
100L wide open again, brilliant skin tones and sharpness.
 

Lights Out

 
6400 ISO, pitch black, Canon 50mm f/1.4, camera locked focus and took the shot with zero hesitation, the only light comes from a hand held flash light.
 

Stanley Bridge

 
I loved the 40mm pancake because of this picture, 3200 ISO, wide open, B&W suits the picture and the blurred car makes it more lively.
 

Al Montazah Palace - The Colored Version

 
I wish I had a wider lens here, this was shot through a tiny hole in the fence, so a different composition wasn't an option, 40mm pancake, extra sharp, extra vibrant, lovely.
 

Dora

 
I love taking shoe pictures (maybe I will make a separate post filled with shoe photos, I wonder how would I convince readers this fits the betterfamilyphotos theme), and especially kids shoes, this is a famous Arabic cartoon character called "Dora".
 

Wooden Lamp

 
I love the colors, the wood design, the OOF highlights (wish they could have been circular), Canon 50 f/1.4.
 

Gateaux

 
The colors, the ice, the fork, all make for a nice shot, 50 1.4.
 

The Beach

 
A beach shot, I love the colors and the clouds in the sky, taken with my least favorite lens, the 24-105, it is a versatile lens, but I never used it unless I needed wide angle, it is no where as sharp as any of my primes, and it has to be stopped down beyond f/5.6 to give me acceptable sharpness.
 

Wood & Sky

 
Taken at the beach with the 24-105, I love the composition and the colors.
 
 
That's all I have to say about the 5D Mark III, and I've wanted to review it for a long time, but never got the chance. The next post will tell my story and the reasons for switching to a completely different system (or two) despite the technical excellence of all my Canon gear that is now sold.
 
 
UPDATE II: Part 2 with the whole story is up & running now.

http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-truth-behind-migration.html

 

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Nikon gear for sale (Los Angeles only)

My brother-in-law is selling some of his gear at very low prices.
Nikon D3S - $3300
Nikon 70-200 VR II - $1600  Sold
Nikon SB-900 - $350
Nikon SD-9 - $125

Hit the jump for details.



1. Nikon 70-200 VR II in great condition for just $1600.

2. Nikon D3S $3300.  Shutter count: Just 15071.

3. Nikon SB-900 $350.

4. Nikon SD-9 High-performance battery pack for SB-900 or SB-910. $125.

He is the first owner of all of these equipment, and he is an amateur (not a pro) therefore the equipment is in good condition and hasn't been used much.  All of the items include the original box.

Terms:
Local pickup from Los Angeles area only.  Will not ship.
Cash only.  No checks, cashier's checks, money orders, etc. etc.
These are probably the lowest prices you'll find and the condition is great, so the price is not negotiable.

Note: I'm not making a profit out of this.  These are his prices and I didn't add anything on top of them nor do I earn any commission.

If you are interested, pls. email me at info AT betterfamilyphotos.com then I'll put you in touch with my bro-in-law.  If any item is sold, I'll update this post.  So if this post still lists the item, it's still available.

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Lightroom 4.3 Fixes Nikon D600 Colors

Lightroom 4.3 recently became available for download.  One of the new camera profiles is the final version of the Nikon D600 raw support, which, I was happy to learn, fixes the oversaturated pinks and reds.  Hit the jump for samples.


Merely installing LR 4.3 will not change your images.  Instead you have to change the camera profile from beta to one of the other profiles.

Beta raw support:

Adobe Standard:

Camera Standard:

Camera Neutral:

The most accurate looking one, to my eyes, is Camera Neutral.  A huge improvement over the beta raw support's garish pinks.


RELATED POSTS:
Nikon D600 Resource Page (see under "Tips and Tricks")

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Fashion-Style Christmas Portrait BTS posted

I've updated the Fashion-Style Christmas Portrait post with a description of the setup I used.

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Fashion-style Christmas Portrait (Updated - with BTS)

The previous week our daughter got sick.  She got well then my wife got sick.  Then my son.  I thought I could dodge a bullet but we got exposed to the cold rain on Friday night, so yes I got sick too, but I think the fever broke last night.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago my wife wanted a "fashion-style" portrait.  I looked at the examples she gave me and I interpreted it to mean slightly edgy portraits.  What tools would you have used for that kind of project?  I'll post the setup I used tonight.

Hit the jump for the setup I used.

We took the shot in our garage which I hastily rearranged.  Here is a shot of the setup:

For the key light, I used a Nikon SB-800 with a beauty dish  (IIRC it's a 17-inch Fotodiox beauty dish).  Whereas a shoot-through umbrella will scatter light everywhere, a beauty dish is much more controlled and has a rapid falloff, which lets me choose what to light and what not to light.  To me, it's somewhere between hard and soft, and it looks more dramatic than some of my other light modifiers.

For the fill light, I thought about using a high highlight-shadow ratio to make it feel edgy, so I just used a 42-inch reflector.

For the background light, I used a Paul Buff ABR800.  Actually I don't usually use it for that purpose.  I could just as well have used the B1600.

For the rim light, I used an SB-800, which I clamped to one of the background stands.

To trigger and control the whole setup, I used a combination of Nikon CLS Advanced Wireless Lighting and the Paul Buff CyberCommander. (I don't like having to go to each speedlight or strobe to adjust the power.)  The SB-800 in the beauty dish was acting as master flash, and was connected to my camera via a TTL cord.  I could have used another SB-800 to control it wirelessly, but if I did that it would have contributed to the exposure and I didn't want that.

To sync the CyberCommander to Nikon AWL, I first tried connecting it to the SB-800 master flash.  Although the ABR800 did fire, it was not syncing correctly, and I could not see the ABR800's light in the shot.  I tried another way, which is to connect the CyberCommander via PC sync to my camera.  Unfortunately since the D600 doesn't have a PC sync port, I was forced to use my Fuji S5 which is my only DSLR with a PC sync port.  Connected that way, the CyberCommander synced properly with the Nikon AWL.

This was pretty much the SOOC shot, with some cropping:

Note that my kids' lower body has much less light than their faces - that's the beauty dish falloff in action.

In post, I decided to add a couple of graduated filters to remove some of the light on the right side and make it look like there is a shaft of light behind them.  I also exported to Lightroom in order to use ShineOff.

Here again is the end result.

RELATED POSTS
One speedring to rule them all
Cowboy Studio Speedlight Bracket
Formal Portraits with a Flashmeter
Are you ready for AlienBees?
Quality vs. Contrast

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In Memoriam

Yesterday I took the day off to watch our kids' holiday recital and to take them to Disneyland, so I didn't read or listen to the news or check my e-mails.  It was only much later in the day when I found out about the atrocity in Newtown.

My initial reaction was horror that something like that could even be contemplated by anyone and could befall any of us.  I don't pretend to understand how or why it happened.  I thought at first to keep silent.  In the face of the senseless murder of innocents, words seem so futile.

As I had more time to reflect upon it, however, I felt that the best way to defeat the unspeakable monsters who did this is to transform these incidents.  I believe these crimes were designed to hurt the community - not just physically, but as an attempt to sow fear, hate and dissension in the community.  That attempt cannot be allowed to succeed.  Inasmuch as these depraved acts were intended to demoralize us as a community, I believe the best response is to strengthen our sense of community even more:

- After 9/11 happened, I remember that there was such a strong sense of patriotism. Everyone in America went out of their way to be kinder to each other and to do something for the community to heal and become stronger.

- Similarly, after the mass shooting in Norway, which was motivated by Breivik's hatred for immigrants, Norwegians sang a children's song that celebrated diversity.

The perpetrators wanted to break the community's spirit but they failed, and on the contrary, the community strengthened. 

I hope that we continue to respond that way, and that we make it very clear to the beasts who wish to hurt the community that they will fail miserably at their objective.  They seek to create evil, yet instead we will have more love and kindness in our community.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

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A Couple Of Yashica Oldies

Yashica Electro 35 GTN + Yashica ST-7

 
How many of you know the above camera? Have you seen such a tripod before? Hit the jump for a flash back in time.
 
The first camera I have ever used, and learned to take photos with, was my father's Yashica Electro 35 GSN, it is not the one shown above, but it is identical in almost everything, and the top part has a silver color instead of black as the one in the picture, which is a GTN by the way.
 

Aperture, Distance Scale, DOF scale, WB, Self Timer & Bulb Mode

 
It was (past tense used to indicate it was decommissioned ~ 10 years ago) a 35mm film range finder, it has a fixed 45mm f/1.7 lens, and to focus, you look through the viewfinder where you see two images of the same scene but slightly shifted horizontally, you move the focus ring until the two images of the object you want to focus on coincide on top of each other, only then can you trip the shutter.
 

Film Speed

 
We used it with color Kodak film, I think it was ASA 400 film, you had a dial to select the film speed (aka sensitivity, or ISO in digital). The camera was mostly automatic, you pick the required aperture and it will select a shutter speed between 1/500 sec up to 30 sec depending on the light conditions, there are two lights that tells you if the shot was going to be over or under exposed, which meant the camera couldn't select a shutter speed suitable enough, and you had to take action. I remember my father taught me to use f/16 aperture when shooting in sunlight, and down to f/1.7 indoors, middle apertures were used in between both extreme lighting conditions.
 

Self Timer

 
See that silver lever with the red dot? That's the self timer, you move it counter clockwise until it locks in place (it uses a spring mechanism), and when you trip the shutter, it returns to it's original position slowly, you have around 10 seconds before the camera takes a picture.
 
One of my step mother's friends gave the camera and the tripod shown here to my daughter to play with, it was the first time for me to see that tripod, it was quite interesting, a unique design which I never saw before, let's have a few looks first, I will compare it to my Slik Mini-Tripod with a ball head, which I adore, especially that it can carry up to 3kg of weight.
 

Yashica ST-7 is really tiny

 

Unscrew the bottom, spread the legs, and screw it back

 

Legs expanded

 

Made in Germany

 

Ball head, a nice surprise

 

Compared to my Slik tripod with only the legs opened

 

Slik's maximum height

 

Maximum height, with maximum legs length

 

How would you focus like that without a rear live view screen? We're quite spoiled.

 
The tripod was a very nice surprise, it is tiny when closed (a mini monopod), it has a ball head, a nice hand strap, and it is very sturdy, and all the mechanical bits are too smooth. The one who came up with this design is a genius. Of course I doubt it will carry a heavy DSLR with a heavy lens with such short legs, but it is more than adequate for small cameras and my soon-to-be-acquired Olympus OM-D EM-5.
 
All of the tripod pictures were taken with the 5D Mark III and the 100 Macro L, I was too lazy to use any lighting equipment, so I just used available overhead room lights, all exposures were completely hand held (not even resting my hands on a table), f/8, ISO 1600 and 1/6th of a second, now that's more than 4 stops of image stabilization, and in some of the shots I was at macro shooting distances, the 100L is really the perfect lens.

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