2013: The Camera Year

Blockbuster

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.

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.

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.

P.S. Cameras are sorted in ascending order by the release date, starting from Jan 2013 till Oct 2013.
P.P.S. ILC = Interchangeable Lens Camera, usually goes with a mirror-less compact camera.

1. Samsung NX300 (APS-C, 20MP, ILC, no VF)
2. Fuji X100S (APS-C, 16MP, 23mm f/2 fixed lens, hybrid VF)
3. Fuji X20 (2/3", 12 MP, 28-112mm f/2-f/2.8 fixed lens, OVF)
4. Nikon 1 S1 (1", 10 MP, ILC, no VF)
5. Nikon 1 J3 (1", 14 MP, ILC, no VF)
6. Sony NEX 3N (APS-C, 16MP, ILC, no VF)
7. Sony SLT A58 (APS-C, 20MP, DSLT, EVF)
8. Nikon D7100 (APS-C, 24MP, DSLR, OVF)
9. Nikon Coolpix A (APS-C, 16MP, 18.5mm f/2.8 fixed lens, no VF)
10. Canon 700D (APS-C, 18MP, DSLR, OVF)
11. Canon 100D (APS-C, 18MP, tiny DSLR, OVF)
12. Panasonic GF6 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, no VF)
13. Samsung NX1100 (APS-C, 20MP, ILC, no VF)
14. Ricoh GR (APS-C, 16MP, 18,3mm f/2.8 fixed lens, no VF)
15. Panasonic LF1 (1/1.7", 12MP, 28-200mm f/2-f/5.9 fixed lens, lousy EVF)
16. Panasonic G6 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, EVF)
17. Samsung NX2000 (APS-C, 20MP, ILC, no VF)
18. Olympus E-P5 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, no VF)
19. Leica X Vario (APS-C, 16MP, 28-70mm f/3.5-f/6.4 fixed lens, no VF)
20. Pentax K-500 (APS-C, 16 MP, DSLR, OVF)
21. Pentax K-50 (APS-C, 16 MP, DSLR, OVF)
22. Pentax Q7 (1/1.7", 12MP, 23-69mm f/2.8-f/4.5 fixed lens, no VF)
23. Galaxy NX (APS-C, 20MP, ILC, EVF, Android OS)
24. Fuji X-M1 (APS-C, 16MP, ILC, no VF)
25. Sony RX100 II (1", 20MP, 28-100mm f/1.8-f/4.9 fixed lens, no VF)
26. Sony RX1R (Full Frame, 24MP, 35mm f/2 fixed lens, no VF)
27. Canon 70D (APS-C, 20MP, DSLR, OVF)
28. Panasonic GX7 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, great EVF)
29. Canon G16 (1/1.7", 12MP, 28-140mm f/1.8-f/2.8 fixed lens, lousy OVF)
30. Canon S120 (1/1.7", 12MP, 24-120mm f/1.8-f/5.7 fixed lens, no VF)
31. Sony NEX 5T (APS-C, 16MP, ILC, no VF)
32. Sony Alpha A3000 (APS-C, 20MP, ILC, poor EVF)
33. Sony QX100 (1", 20MP, 28-100mm f/1.8-f/4.9 fixed lens, no VF, mobile phone add-on)
34. Olympus OM-D EM-1 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, best EVF)
35. Fuji X-A1 (APS-C, 16MP, ILC, no VF)
36. Nikon 1 AW (1", 14MP, ILC, no VF, waterproof)
37. Pentax K-3 (APS-C, 24MP, DSLR, OVF)
38. Nikon D610 (Full Frame, 24MP, DSLR, OVF)
39. Sony RX10 (1", 20MP, 24-200mm f/2.8 fixed lens, EVF)
40. Sony A7 (Full Frame, 24MP, ILC, EVF)
41. Sony A7R (Full Frame, 36MP, ILC, EVF)
42. Panasonic GM1 (MFT, 16MP, ILC, no VF, tiny)
43. Nikon D5300 (APS-C, 24MP, DSLR, OVF)
44. Fuji XQ1 (2/3", 12MP, 25-100mm f/1.8-f/4.9 fixed lens, no VF)
45. Fuji X-E2 (APS-C, 16MP, ILC, great EVF)

Olympus Stylus (1/1.7", 24-300mm fixed lens, EVF)?
Nikon DF (Digital Fusion) Hybrid (Full Frame, OVF, F-Mount, D600 AF)?

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.

Now let us do some quick stats, out of 45 new cameras:

• 10 have mirrors (DSLR/DSLT), 21 mirror-less ILCs, 14 fixed lens compacts (except for the RX10).
• 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.
• The most common APS-C sensors are 16MP (variance from 16MP to 24MP).
• 23 have built-in view finders, 11 of them are optical (9 DSLRs + Fuji X20 + Canon G16), and 12 are electronic.
• A handful of the ones without a built-in VF have the option of an accessory EVF, or even an accessory OVF (Sony RX1R).

Cinema Style?

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.

1/1.7" AND 2/3" SENSORS

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.


FIXED LENS APS-C OR FULL FRAME

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).

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.


DSLR CAMERAS

After living with the OM-D EM-5 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.

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.

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.


FUJI X, SONY NEX AND SAMSUNG NX (ALL APS-C CAMERAS)

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.

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.

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.


SONY A7/R FULL FRAME MIRRORLESS GOODNESS

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.


MICRO FOUR THIRDS

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 43rumors article, please do, it is the perfect summary of how I feel about the MFT compared to owning APS-C and FF DSLRs.

I have posted before about the GX7, and my expectations from the EM-1 before, 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.

As for why I'd want an EM-1, here are the reasons in the order of their importance:

1. Focus tracking that works, and 6.5 fps with continuous focus, 10 fps without.
2. The best EVF ever, detailed, true colors, large magnification (same as FF DSLR).
3. Better ergonomics and customizable buttons.
4. Wi-fi, would be very useful during product shoots, where I can show the pictures on my iPad immediately.
5. Better video options, mic input, levels, someone said you can touch to focus during recording.
6. Better LCD resolution, the EM-5 weakness appears at 100% magnification.
7. Larger buffer, the EM-5 gets filled up in two seconds after a 9 fps burst.
8. Better IBIS and focusing speed.
9. Slightly better image quality.

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.


Now that I've said all I have, what do you think?

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.

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A Tale Of Seven Cameras, And One Subject

One camera to rule them all!

Welcome to one of my fairly long posts, but I promise you this will be an interesting one. There has been a lot of changes in my life recently, in some ways, I am re-calculating my priorities in my life, a lot of changes have resulted from this, selling all of my full frame gear was one of those changes, it's not about money, but rather time and much needed optimization, for example I sold my iPad since it consumes too much time that I could spend with my family instead, another thing I did was to remove a lot of blogs from my RSS feed. I am now giving less priority to photography (and photography blogging) than I used to do, that's why my last post was almost one month ago, and I apologize for this delay, but I admit I cannot spare time to blogging more than once or twice a month (there might be exceptions of course), and this takes us to the main topic of this blog, the tale of seven cameras, and my daughter.

Now that my older daughter is almost five years old, and since this is nearly when I started digital photography, I stopped for a while to take a look back, and see how how my photography has progressed through out the years, and throughout the different cameras, seven cameras in total, not including the various mobile phone cameras over the years. I wanted to see how getting more expensive cameras and lenses improved my photography, and how much did I lose by abandoning the full-frame club and carrying on with micro-four-thirds, as a lot of people would believe.

I believe this is one post that really fits the name of the blog, I give you the tale of the seven cameras, and the pursuit of better family photos, and we start with my first ever digital camera I bought from my own hard-earned money.

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1. SONY DSC-T10

Sony T10, room lights (incandescent) + fill flash, 1/50, f/4, ISO 320

Sony T10, available evening light + fill flash, 1/50, f/3.5, ISO 125

As you can see, pictures were sort of mmm-kay, and mind you, I've picked the best two examples of the usual shooting scenarios, first picture is indoors, lit with room light and direct fill-flash, the second picture makes use of the soft evening light as the sun goes down.

I have had my share of horrible flash lit photos with the shadows on the wall behind the subject, mixed white balance and all that. The Sony T10, just like regular P&S, didn't have any advanced controls beyond the program mode, where you can select exposure compensation and other stuff like white balance and so on, this was the extent of my skills.

The camera didn't focus quickly, nor did it perform well beyond base ISO, the faster my daughter was able to move, the more I yearned for a better camera, until the day came where I broke the bank and bought the Canon G11, and sold my slim Sony T10 to one of my friends.

During the time, I used to shoot with good camera phones (Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N86 & Sony Ericsson C905), the picture below is taken with the C905, I did a comparison once to one of the famous mobile phone blogs of yesteryear (wow, just checked now and the post is still up, check it here, you can see how photography-ignorant I was back then), and the C905 was as good as my Sony T10 apart from the fact that it didn't have optical zoom.

Sony Ericsson C905, evening light, 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 64

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2. CANON G11

Canon G11, evening light + fill flash, 1/60, f/5.6, ISO 200

Canon G11, 1/25, f/4, ISO 1600

Canon G11, 1/100, f/4.5, ISO 100

I was very happy when I got the G11, I was learning all about aperture, shutter speed and ISO, I also heard about depth of field, and understood that I would not get the backgrounds blurred like a DSLR could, but I didn't care, I imagined the G11 would outlive me and that we'd be partners forever.

I learned advanced shooting and lighting with the G11, I bought a couple of Canon flashes (a used 580EX and a brand new 430EX) and went all strobist style, this was when I posted my first post here after I stumbled on Mic's blog when searching for flash tutorials. One other important thing I learned with the G11 was RAW processing in lightroom, thanks to Zack Arias, it made a huge difference in my photos.

The G11 lived a relatively long time with me, and after trying out a few of my friends' DSLRs, I finally decided to buy a DSLR because of the incredibly slow focusing speed and the usual back focusing issues. I was choosing back then between the Canon 550D and the Nikon D90 since their price were similar, and I decided to go for the new Canon sensor, better video modes, and keep both my Canon flashes.

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3. Canon 550D

Canon 550D + 50mm f/1.8 II, room light + bounce flash, 1/80, f/2.5, ISO 400

Canon 550D + 60mm Macro, 1/800, f/3.2, ISO 200

I suppose my portrait shooting style have become obvious by now, I love shooting tight head shots and they are my favorite types of pictures, and sometimes I do wider shots when there is context that I want to show through the picture.

I learned Neil's bounce flash technique with the 550D, and it quickly became my favorite shooting technique whenever possible, I became quite good at getting the pictures I need with just one flash and started abandoning the more complicated light setups since they required time and space. My favorite lenses were the 35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.8 and the 60mm f/2.8 Macro that replaced it.

Next came my trip to Malaysia, and I took the chance to sell the 550D and upgrade to the 60D with it's better focusing system, better controls, tilt screen, top LCD, and just about everything else, this was also when I bought my 3rd Canon flash, a brand new 580EX II.

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4. Canon 60D

Canon 60D + 35mm f/2, available light + bounce flash camera right, 1/160, f/2.5, ISO 500

Canon 60D + Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 (adapter & manual focusing), 1/200, f/2.8 probably, ISO 800

Canon 60D + 85mm f/1.8, 1/1600, f/2.2, ISO 100

Canon 60D + 60mm f/2.8 Macro, 1/250, f/2.8, ISO 100

The 60D was a much better camera to use than the 550D ever was, and this was the second time I believed I'd live with the camera forever, it was really good, all I had to do to fulfill my gear lust was to buy more/better lenses.

One of those lenses that I bought against my own logic was the Canon 85mm f/1.8, I wanted to see for myself what was all the fuss about, what creamy backgrounds were people talking about, and after the initial wide-open-insane-purple-fringing shock, it quickly became my favorite portrait (read: head shots) lens, and I discovered that I enjoyed the background compression a telephoto lens caused.

Living happily in my Canon world, Michael started messing with my mind, until I surrendered against all my logic, once again, and bought into the full frame world, dreaming to go up another step in the photography ladder, little did I know. I sold all of my EF-S lenses and bought a 5D Mark II (the Mark III was just released and I didn't like the price) with the 24-105 kit lens and the famous Canon 50mm f/1.4.

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5. Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 5D Mark II + 50mm f/1.4, 1/100, f/2.8, ISO 200

Canon 5D Mark II + 50mm f/1.4, bed light only, 1/60, f/1.4, ISO 3200

Canon 5D Mark II + 200mm f/2.8, 1/500, f/2.8, ISO 200

You can immediately notice the difference, shallow depth of field everywhere, even at f/2.8, a huge step up in the noise department, the 60D sucked at ISOs above 800, while the 5D Mark II had insanely clean files at ISO 800, and was very good up to ISO 3200, this gave me more opportunities which I would have discarded with the 60D. The best advantage for me was the excellent auto WB and the pleasant skin tones in mixed lighting scenarios.

I sold both of my 35 f/2 and 85 f/1.8 remaining from the 60D days, I didn't like these focal lengths, instead I got the 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS and the 200mm f/2.8L primes, both lenses are easily the best Canon lenses I have ever used, ever. I did enjoy shooting with the 50mm f/1.4 after getting it to focus correctly, but it had to be stopped down a bit to be sharp, not a problem for the high ISO capable 5D Mark II. This camera quickly became my favorite, and I really fell in love with it, and if I was in the market for another full frame, I would probably choose this one again.

However, life wasn't all flowers and chocolate, through the incremental upgrades, everything got slowly heavier and larger, the bag that used to take my 60D with two lenses and a flash can now only take the 5D2 and one lens, lenses became longer, larger and heavier, even the lens hoods became larger, people started being more alert when I got the camera out of the bag, but having my feet already deep in the mud, I only looked ahead, more is better, isn't it?

The internet kept messing more with my head and showing how radically better the 5D Mark III was compared to its predecessor regarding everything, focusing, speed, better noise performance, dual cards, better screen, better movie modes, etc... Once the price reached $3000 at my local camera shop, I bit the bullet and made the switch.

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6. Canon 5D Mark III

Canon 5D Mark III + 200mm f/2.8, 1/400, f/2.8, ISO 800

Canon 5D Mark III + 50mm f/1.4, 1/200, f/2, ISO 3200

The 5D Mark III was technically better than the 5D Mark II in almost every conceivable way, but I never really warmed up to it. It handled high ISO really good that I never thought twice about choosing ISO 3200. Bounce flash indoors? ISO 3200. Hand holding the 200 f/2.8, even in good light? ISO 3200. Want a high enough shutter speed? Why think, ISO 3200. And so on.

AWB, colors and skin tones were slightly better than the 5D2, but I started suffering from the weight I had to lug around, the fear factor of losing expensive camera gear, or having it stolen, and the need to close down the aperture and lose valuable shutter speed to get adequate depth of field, mind you, apart from the 100mm Macro, all my other lenses that I used had no image stabilization, and this forced me to use as high a shutter speed as I can to get sharp photos, for example when shooting the 200mm f/2.8 indoors with available light, I had to increase the shutter speed up to 1/800 to get a sharp shot, etc...

Then in a sudden turn of heart, I decided to sell everything and switch to micro four thirds for the reasons I have stated in great detail in the full story of my switch.

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7. Olympus OM-D EM-5

OMD + 45mm f/1.8, 2 light setup, I wish I had introduced any sort of catch lights, 1/200, f/1.8, ISO 200

OMD + 45mm f/1.8, 1/2500, f/2.2, ISO 200

OMD + 45mm f/1.8, 1/4000, f/1.8, ISO 800 (a mistake, forgot to reset the ISO from a previous shot)

OMD + 25mm f/1.4, 1/320, f/3.2, ISO 200

OMD + 25mm f/1.4, lit with an iPad with a white screen, 1/20, f/2.2, ISO 800

OMD + 45mm f/1.8, ugly street lights, it was too dark, 1/13, f/1.8, ISO 3200

Before I talk about the OMD, please, have a look again at all of the images I have shown here, and give me your honest opinion, have I lost, or missed anything by switching to a small MFT sensor, given my shooting style and the illustrative pictures shown here?

In my opinion, not much, maybe I have lost the obviously shallow DOF (especially at wide angles, and large apertures) a full frame sensor easily generates. The other loss is obvious, and it is tracking rapidly moving subjects.

On the positive side, the gains are HUGE, the whole system is really tiny, and the OMD is a fantastic camera:

• Very quick to focus, even in low light.
• Focuses on faces and the near-eye on its own, I don't care anymore about focusing points, I just compose and shoot.
• Amazing image stabilization (the best I have ever used), I usually now shoot at 2-stops lower shutter speed than the "1/eff. focal length" rule dictates.
• Amazing noise performance, I dare say it is almost as good as my 5D2 at ISO 3200, and it tolerates shadows pushing way better than all of the Canon sensors I have used.
• Olympus colors, now I understand where did this phrase come from, I really like the colors I am getting out of this camera.
• Magical AWB, the best one I have ever used, and it is the only one that gets accurate colors under tungsten lighting.
• Did I mention it's small and tiny?
• The EVF shows you real-time exposure and color effects, when I shoot in B&W, I see everything in B&W, it shows you a live histogram, it shows you blocked shadows and clipped highlights in real-time, it shows you horizontal and vertical levels, it plays back the picture in the finder without having to remove your eye.
• For some reason the MFT prime lenses are sharp wide-open, I just checked all the pictures I've taken with the 45mm f/1.8, and 71% of the shots are taken wide-open, there is no reason for me to stop-down anymore, unless I need more DOF, obviously.
• And that brings me to shutter speed, having no need to stop-down the lens, and a smaller sensor with adequate shallow DOF, I can easily shoot at higher shutter speeds or lower light conditions than a full frame camera could.
• I can get shallow DOF if you want, not as difficult as the internet would make you believe.
• Cheap, the whole kit I have bought (OMD + 12-50 kit lens + 40-150 zoom lens + 25 1.4 + 45 1.8 + FL-600R flash + Sony RX100) are cheaper than what I paid for the 5D3 body alone.

So, to draw a conclusion, by looking back at the pictures of my daughter over the years and the different cameras, I don't see a huge difference or advantage to one camera over the other since I started using DSLRs, of course each camera has its pluses and minuses, but the end result is the same, I like each of the pictures shown here since I started using a DSLR equally, and that is what matters.

If you are not a working photographer, and you seek better photos, then learn to use what you have and don't fuss a lot about what more expensive equipment will gain you, they all work just fine.


RELATED POSTS

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Canon 60D vs 550D (and 600D): Real World Usage

Canon 5D Mark II: First Impressions
Story & Review: Canon 5D Mark II vs Canon 60D & Canon 6D
A Tribute To The 5D Mark III
The Truth Behind The Migration
Olympus OM-D: First Impressions & Comments on DOF
OM-D: Macro Fun @ Home
OM-D, Bits & Pieces
Review: Sony RX100

Canon Lenses Chat - Part 1: Standard Zoom Lenses
Canon Lenses Chat - Part 2: Telephoto Zoom Lenses
Canon Lenses Chat - Part 3: Prime Lenses
Canon EF 35mm f/2 Review
Hands On: Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Pancake
Macro Talk: Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Quick Review: Canon 85mm f/1.8
Canon EF Lenses Chat: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Review
Canon EF Lenses Chat: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Review
Flash Series - Part 1: Canon Speedlites Chat (580EX II vs 580EX vs 430EX)

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Faces!

You Serious?

 

This was a fun project, my friend which you see above showed me a portrait for a bearded man with lots of face details and wrinkles, and wanted to imitate the picture, so we gathered along with my brother and played a little with lights, hit the jump for more details.

 

I knew we would not be able create the exact same look becuase we didn't have enough time nor enough light modifiers to pull it off, but we did our best.

 

Rocky Balboa

 

For equipment we had three speedlites (580EX, 600EX-RT & YN-560 II, first two flashes were mine one day), three YN RF-603 wireless triggers, however we ended up using just 2 lights.

 

The camera was a Canon 60D and we used the 200mm f/2.8L (used to be mine as well), it was too long for indoor use (320mm equivalent), but we wanted to use it, especially that we had a very small black cardboard for the background.

 

Lighting was quite simple, we started by killing the ambient in manual mode, exposure was 1/250, f/11, ISO 200. Key light was a bare flash with the full Rogue Grid, high and 20 degrees camera left, you can easily figure out its position if you connect the shadow of the nose tip to the nose tip itself in the opening picture, flash power was 1/64, then for fill, I used a shoot through umbrella, camera right and almost on axis, then we tried several power settings until we were satisfied with what we got, I believe it was 1/32 power, but it was much less effective than the key because of the umbrella and the distance.

 

Serial Killer

 

Post processing was fairly simple, we intended to shoot in B&W from the beginning, so I took the RAW files into LR, hit the B&W button in the colors panel, opened up the skin tones a bit (targeted dropper for saturation, then moved the mouse wheel upwards), added contrast and blacks, increased the clarity quite a bit, and finally used the adjustment brush to decrease the highlights and exposure at the surroundings of the face.

 

That's all, not bad for a couple of hours of fun, what do you think?

 

Astonished

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That's Why I Love My Canon 5D

Canon 5D Mark III + Canon 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.4 - mix of florescent, tungsten, other playground colors and my flash

One of the greatest benefits of my switch to full frame was the colors and skin tones, for some reason both the 5D Mark II and Mark III gave me better skin tones and colors than I was able to get from the 550D or the 60D. They have more tolerance and are more forgiving with mixtures of different light sources.


Take the example above, this was shot at a children playground which is mainly lit with florescent, and there are various yellow/red/green rotating lights, and some tungsten to make things more challenging, I was shooting at ISO 3200 with the Canon 50 1.4 wide open, I metered for the background, and used on-camera bounce flash (with no gels) to light my subject. I was bouncing from a wooden ceiling. I always have my 5D set to auto white balance, it is that good, and I got the picture you see above, no tweaks apart from a hint of black and contrast. Really Cool.

Same as above, but shot at f/2 this time

The shot above is from the same swinging chair, but from the other side as you can see from the trees in the background, the fiery color on his head is from a tungsten lamp just above (the swing spins, and moves up and down, this was up, near the tungsten light source). I admire the resultant colors and white balance once more, no tweaks from my side. This is what I saw at the time.

Did you notice the octagon shaped OOF light above his knees? This is my only gripe with the Canon 50 1.4 (after figuring out the correct MFA value of course), I love the OOF highlights to be rounded, even at f/2 if there are several light sources in the background, it will look like that, and it looks more pronounced as you stop down. I will try out a couple of brand new 50 1.4 Sigmas in a couple of weeks, if I find one that focuses accurately with my 5D3, out goes the Canon and in comes the Sigma.

Same lighting scenario, 50 f/1.4 @ f/1.4, this time you can see the lights and the bounce surface

One more example from the same location, shot wide open at f/1.4 (the 5D3 focusing system is a bless, that bull was moving and bucking around trying to throw off its rider on the ground), this time you can see the lights and the wooden ceiling from which I was bouncing my flash. .

See the different light sources? Why do they do this? Canon 40 STM Pancake, wide open @ f/2.8

Another location, this time we were indoors, for some reason I can't quite understand, they were using both tungsten and CFL lights hand in hand, in the same row (look above the kid's head), both have totally different color temperatures, once more, the 5D3 with auto white balance got everything just as I saw it, bravo. This was shot with the Canon 40mm Pancake wide open, I have mixed feelings about this lens, but I decided to keep it a while longer before deciding whether to keep it or sell it. It has nice bokeh, and is very sharp wide open, checkout the 100% crop below.

100% crop, Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM Pancake, wide open

RELATED POSTS

Canon 5D Mark II: First Impressions
Story & Review: Canon 5D Mark II vs Canon 60D & Canon 6D
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Updated: Tamron Lens Caps (or the Mark II Canon Lens Caps) for Canon Lenses

Tamron Lens Cap vs Canon

Canon lens caps are the worst lens caps (in my opinion) amongst all lens manufacturers, they are flimsy, weak, difficult to install and take off, and incredibly difficult to use with lens hoods because they don't have a that place in the middle where you can hold the lens cap from.

Other manufacturers like Nikon, Tamron, Sigma, Tokina and Sony have similar cap with that middle pinch thingie like the one you see above, when I was shopping for lens caps, I wanted them to be Nikon, they would look contrasty with my Canon gear, but I didn't find all the sizes I wanted. I also liked how the Sony caps looked like, but again, can't find all sizes, and I ended up buying the Tamrons, they are incredibly strong and tight, and I have them for all my lenses, starting from 52mm to 77mm, they are just great.

Canon 60D & Canon 15-85

I still believe the 60D is the sexiest looking DSLR ever, the buttons, the curves, and the slanted top LCD screen. The 15-85 with the lens hood reversed looks pretty good itself.

UPDATE:

Seems like Canon were listening, check out there new Canon Mark II lens caps, now these look even cooler than the Tamron ones, do you know where can I buy them?

Credit: CanonRumors.com

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Flash Portrait in Fayoum Desert

Flash Portrait - End Result

I want to share with you a few flash pictures I took during my second trip to Fayoum desert, you might remember my three-part post about my visit there four months ago. I repeated most of what I did before, but challenged myself not to take a single picture similar to the ones I took last time.
When I posted the lead picture you see above on Facebook, it got some nice comments, so here's how I did it. Can you guess how many lights were used? Can you guess the light modifiers used?
 
I started by taking a normal picture using aperture priority, to show you how the available light looked like, we were sitting under a wooden roof with full 3pm sun blazing outside, as expected, the camera was tricked by the strong back light and under-exposed the subject, I opened the shadows in Lightroom.
 

 
Next, I turned the camera to manual mode, I wanted to decrease the available light exposure as much as I can, so I started by choosing the fastest shutter speed possible with flash (sync speed), which is 1/200 in my case, I also reduced the ISO as much as I can, which is ISO 50, finally I closed my aperture and taking test frames, I ended up with f/18, I decided that I want this ambient level judging from the histogram and the back LCD preview, here's the final setting without flash.
 

Ambient light reduced greatly, see the backlight?

 
See that backlight on both shoulders and the head cloth? They will end up in the final picture, they give an edge to the subject. Next, I triggered my Canon 580EX II using another speedlite (600EX-RT) on the camera with it's output turned off, I used the flash on ETTL (i.e. both the camera and the flash worked together to determine the correct flash power), and started shooting. One of my friends was holding the flash, bare, without any light modifiers, we took two or three frames until I got one I liked, here it is straight out of the camera.
 

SOOC

 
Almost there, I like the effect and the shadow covering his mid-section caused by his hand, but I find the eyes that you can see through the sun glasses and the flash reflection quite distracting, so I used the local adjustment brush on the sun glasses to decrease the exposure until it looked natural, and then I cloned out the remaining flash hot spot, and here's the end result for your convenience.
 

Final result

 
I took a similar picture of one of my other friends, using the exact same method and a bare flash as well, but no bright background this time, there was a shaded area behind his back, what I like about this picture is his look, the light shape on his face and eyes, and the black and white conversion.
 

Looking at the future

 
I followed the exact same method with an interesting looking mini-cart outside in the sun, I started by taking an available light shot, but with reduced exposure, can't remember how much, probably -2 EC.
 

 
It looked quite ok, but its color was too close to the sand and the walls behind it, so I turned to manual mode and decreased the ambient exposure, my settings were the same, 1/200, f/18 and ISO 50, here's what I got.
 

 
I then added an external bare flash to the camera right, and slightly higher, mimicking the sun's position, I adjusted the flash exposure compensation until I got this frame.
 

 
I like it more than the available light shot, but the wheels are quite dark, and I wanted to lift the shadows a bit, so I enabled the on-camera flash and set its power to 1/2 the power of the other flash (remember, I'm using ETTL, the camera determines the suitable flash power and then uses half that power for the on-camera flash), but that looked like too much, so I changed the ratio to 1/4 power, and here's the end result, with almost no processing, a few tweaks in the color and some burning using the adjustment brush would yield a better image, but I just wanted to share the concept with you.
 

Final image

 
And just for kicks here's one more picture taken in the same way, I hope you've enjoyed this post. Any questions are welcome.
 

Hanging pot

 

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