Photographs, Photographers and Photography

February 27, 2007

HP DesignJet 90 ink use

Filed under: Printing — Thomas Pindelski @ 2:19 pm

Frugality is thy name.

I did some arithmetic to show just how inexpensive ink and paper are when it comes to a large exhibition print using the DJ90 here.

Well, it’s coming up on my first anniversary of ownership of the HP DesignJet 90 printer and it finally came time to replace one of the ink cartridges as the Light Magenta indicator started blinking, showing the ink was about to run out. Replacement is literally a 10 second afffair – pull the old, plug in the new.

An appropriate time to point out that the DesignJet should never be unplugged from the mains; even when switched off with the front panel push-button, the DJ keeps the ink cartridges warm to prevent clogging. The front panel light attests to the fact the printer is getting power and the warmth of the ink cartridge area confirms the clever warming feature, something sorely needed on my older Epson 1270 which would clog up if not used for a month or so. I just came back to the DJ after six weeks of not using it and the first print was as perfect as any other. Why HP doesn’t shout about this feature from the rooftops beats me, but then it’s always been a company more about engineering than marketing.

Here are the ink meters right after replacing that Light Magenta cartridge:

My best estimate is that over the past year I have made twenty 18″ x 24″ prints and fifty 13″ x 19″ ones, before that first cartridge gave up the ghost. As the picture shows, the other cartridges are between 1/2 and completely full. Do the math and that works out at less per square inch than those great instant 6″ x 4″ prints from the local drug store at 19 cents each. And you get fade resistant inks into the bargain – suffice it to say that Wilhelm’s test say 82 years or something silly, meaning I won’t care when these start fading! Wilhelm Research is the leader in testing ink longevity.

HP seems to be continuing with the dye ink based DJ series, even though the new pigment ink based DesignJet Z series with built-in colorimeters would appear to be their latest thing. The Z series uses pigment inks. Pigments rest on the surface of the paper like paint on a wall, whereas dyes need a porous medium as they are absorbed, like stain on wood, meaning that the paper you use with the DJ90 has to be suitable for dye based inks – not all papers are absorbent.

I have read tests on the Z series which suggest that there is nothing to choose between dyes and pigments (heretofore dyes were generally regarded as superior for color fidelity) though I have not seen Z prints for myself. Given the target user market for the new Z printers – professionals – I doubt that HP would supercede the DJ dye printers with something inferior. These are very costly printers and not something you would really want to use for small prints.

Anyway, after almost a year the honeymoon with the Hewlett Packard DesignJet 90 printer continues untroubled – no breakdowns, no lockups, no cryptic messages. Should these ever get remaindered and you like big prints, do consider one if you can make the space for it at home. That’s with a Mac, of course. I can’t see how any Windows user could write objectively about up time given that he or she is busy rebooting most of the time….

February 26, 2007

Apple’s Pages revisited

Filed under: Software — Thomas Pindelski @ 2:52 pm

Posters are easy with this great application.

I had decided to get some posters printed to better publicize my photo show in April which will be at a local wine gallery here in central California’s wine country.

Before trudging off to the printer and getting once more cross-examined on the arcana of RGB versus CMYK (printers speak in an exclusionary language all their own – can you wonder the profession is in terminal decline?) when it comes to printing the wretched thing, I thought I might give my home printer a try instead.

Now page composition is about the last thing I want to do. I admit it – I have little interest in learning some complex page composition application for once a year use, when my time is better spent taking pictures. But then I remembered that one of the fine Apple applications I have enjoyed a lot for book assembly is Pages, so I fired it up and looked for poster templates. And here they are:

I clicked on ‘Gallery Poster’, clicked on the ‘Media’ icon which popped up my library of Aperture pictures (a feature which arrive with version 2.0.1 of Pages) and simply dragged and dropped a picture of choice onto the template. Pages resizes it automatically as long as you respect orientation – meaning a vertical snap for this template. Ten more minutes were spent on the narrative and the results is this – note the sexy drop shadow I added for effect:

OK, so I’m twelve minutes into this project and so I start getting ambitious. I make half a dozen posters, dragging alternative pictures into each, Export them to a medium quality (to keep file size down) PDF file which I then move to my web site server. A couple of dozen emails later to friends, asking their opinion, and it’s off to bed. The originals are in Canon 5D RAW format but Pages seems to know all about that – smart!

Next morning a bunch of replies shows two clear winners and I print each on 13″ x 19″ satin paper on the Hewlett Packard HP90 ink jet printer. And it’s off to the gallery and local merchants to see how many I can get interested in hanging the poster in their windows.

Postcards announcing the show? No problemo. Into the Pages postcard template and we are done:

I’ll get some two-sided photo paper for these and rip off a few dozen on the HP.

Now is that interactive design or what?

Now back to taking pictures.

February 23, 2007

A good snort

Filed under: Photography, Technique — Thomas Pindelski @ 8:15 am

Or not – but isopropyl alcohol does the trick when it comes to a clean screen.

I have used Kodak’s Lens Cleaning solution from time to time to clean my iMac and iBook LCD screens and, frankly, it’s been an exercise in frustration as it seems nearly impossible to leave a screen with no drying marks. Same result when you use it to clean camera lenses, which makes you wonder what Kodak is thinking about. If, that is, anyone at Kodak ever thinks anymore.

So, the other day, on a whim, I tried Isopropyl Alcohol, the large bottle selling for under $2 at the local drug store. Now be warned. You really want to try this on a discreet spot before going crazy, in case plastic parts you apply this to start to melt. I had no such problems (it cleans the case and keyboard of the iBook nicely too) and after a couple of swipes with a clean tissue (no perfumed or lotion soaked varieties – just plain old Kleenex) I was rewarded with crystal clear screens on both computers.

I have tried it on my lenses – these always use UV filters, so it’s those I actually clean, and it works every bit as well, though in that case I do use lens cleaning tissues rather than Kleenexes.

Oh! yes, it’s also one fifth of the price of the Real Thing.

Just don’t drink or inhale – it’s a poison and no substitute for a martini.

February 22, 2007

Printer profiles and root canals

Filed under: Software — Thomas Pindelski @ 1:50 pm

There’s little difference.

When making a couple of test prints for my son’s annual birthday picture I realized that the prints were coming out far too cool toned compared to the screen image.

Oh! boy!

Something had changed – whether my screen had aged or my HP DesignJet 90 printer has changed, or the Commies had got to it …. or some combination of these calamities.

While a colorimeter is a nice tool, you can profile your screen almost as well using Apple’s built in profiler, accessed in System Preferences->Displays->Color->Advanced as here:

I find a target white point of 6000K gets me the closest screen-to-print match in my environment. Yours will differ.

Then I loaded the latest, updated drivers from HP. It always pays to have the latest drivers for your paper of choice.

Do not trust the Print Preview in Aperture – despite Apple’s statements to the contrary, Print Preview colors are simply incorrect, as this screen shot shows – note the pink tint to the background in the smaller Preview image in this screenshot:

No, it’s best to set your colors using the regular full screen preview – those match the print if you follow these instructions.

What is surprising about this process is how much the perceived colors of your print will vary as you walk around the house with it. My display space is in a corridor with warm, incandescent lighting, so I have to balance skin colors to be right in that location.

They say that to evaluate a sound system use the voice or piano for calibration because we all know how those should sound. Well, for prints, use a human being whose skin color you know.

The results are worth it:

Some day computers screens and color printers will come with built in colorimeters (the latest professional models from HP now have these built in) so that this sort of thing becomes less of an agony, obviating the need for test prints. Stated differently, printer profiling with the current stage of desktop computer technology compares unfavorably for fun with a root canal.

Time for a Canon 5D upgrade

Filed under: 5D — Thomas Pindelski @ 9:47 am

Canon releases the 10 fps EOS -1D Mark 111.

Canon’s announcement of a new 1D Mark III, a 1.3x cropped sensor professional grade camera begs the question when the 5D Mk II will become available.

.

There’s not a lot wrong with the 5D – click in the left hand column for more; what the camera does need is dust removal for the sensor (for whatever reason, the 5D seems especially prone to attracting dust to its sensor) and an LCD screen that can actually be read outdoors. The 5D does not need a larger screen or one with more definition. Rather, it needs a legible screen. And you can forget live preview (something Canon added to the Mark III, allowing screen ‘chimping’ before the picture is taken – pros need this feature? Really?). Just make the bloody thing useable outdoors.

Still, with the 5D’s price as firm as it is – probably the result of robust demand and no full frame competition at this price – I’m not holding my breath for an upgrade any time soon. That still leaves us with the best full frame digital camera (the only one, in fact) available at an (almost) reasonable price.

February 20, 2007

That Canon wonder lens again

Filed under: Photography — Thomas Pindelski @ 1:27 pm

The 85mm f/1.8 may just be the bargain of the century.

OK, admit it. At least some of you thought “Any lens is good stopped down” when you read this piece. Fair enough.

So here is a little bit of nonsense, taken at dusk yesterday, with some rather quirky statistics. ISO 50 as I want to force full aperture use, and 1/2000th for the same reason. Aperture? Why, f/1.8 of course, for all those of you thinking “F/1.8 can’t be any good for $350″.

Wrong!


Canon 5D, 85mm f/1.8, ISO 50, 1/2000th @ f/1.8

February 19, 2007

Annie Leibovitz

Filed under: Photographers — Thomas Pindelski @ 11:37 am

Finally, she does it right.

I have avoided reference to Annie Leibovitz’s photography in this journal, finding her work so over the top and in such poor taste that the less said the better. She is very much of the “put a famous face in a ridiculous situation and fame and fortune follows” school. That doesn’t make her work good photography.

So it give me considerable pleasure to relate that the annual VF Hollywood Issue (March) has a 33 page film noir portfolio of her latest work which is an absolute cracker.

As I mentioned before do not buy this magazine for its editorial views unless you are one of those poor, foolish conspiracy theorists who believes the administration is responsible for all the ills of the world while solely interested in enriching itself. No, you are not going to find rational, objective political analysis anywhere near the pages of Vanity Fair – the content is by loonies for losers.

But you will find cutting edge photography which inspires and teaches – not a bad reason to subscribe.

Rush out and get the March issue and you will see some great photography by Leibovitz, meticulously directed and with lots and lots of top notch actors posing in the pictures – the likes of Amy Adams, Ben Affleck, Jessica Alba, Pedro Almodóvar, Alec Baldwin, Adam Beach, Jessica Biel, Abigail Breslin, Jennifer Connelly, Penélope Cruz, Judi Dench, Robert De Niro, Robert Downey Jr., Kirsten Dunst, Aaron Eckhart, James Franco, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Hudson, Anjelica Huston, Rinko Kikuchi, Diane Lane, Derek Luke, Tobey Maguire, James McAvoy, Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore, Jack Nicholson, Bill Nighy, Ed Norton, Peter O’Toole, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Kerry Washington, Naomi Watts, Forest Whitaker, Bruce Willis, Patrick Wilson, Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood.

Quite a list, huh?

February 17, 2007

Cheap and good

Filed under: Cameras — Thomas Pindelski @ 12:58 pm

You don’t have to pay ridiculous Leica prices for Leica quality.

All the talk in yesterday’s column about Canon’s superb 85mm f/1.8 lens got me to thinking about how lens technologies have changed in the fifty or so years since the Canon was first designed – good designs do not die!

Multicoating was added maybe twenty years ago, brass gave way to alloys and then machined focusing helixes gave way to nylon gears and miniscule stepper motors in the lens mount. Materials got lighter and cheap aspherical surfaces (resulting from casting rather than polishing) became the norm is more specialized lenses. Exotic high diffraction glasses of yesteryear became commonplace.

So how is the user experience when comparing what I think is the finest portrait lenses ever made, the 90mm Leica Apo-Summicron Aspherical with the much less costly Canon at not much more than one eighth of the cost!

You would think the handling experience of the Leica optic on an M body would blow anything out of the water, and you would be close. The compact lines and very short throw of the focus collar on the Apo make for a sweet handling lens. All Leica Ms handle the 90mm focal length well when it comes to viewfinding, the result being that the M with the Apo is a sweet package.

Now the Canon is light for its bulk which surfaces the old prejudice that it cannot be durable. Time will tell. A surprising benefit of this bulk is that the camera and lens are very comfortable to hold, especially when oriented vertically which is the norm for most portrait pictures. Hand held the Canon has it all over the Leica in this orientation. Add the vertical grip and things probably improve further.

Then it comes to focusing and here, again, the conclusion is surprising. Nothing beats a Leica M3 rangefinder for manual focusing in the poor light of a studio environment. Nothing except for the 85mm Canon on a 5D with focusing on the central rectangle only. The old trick of focusing on the eyes then quickly recomposing was simple enough with the M3. With the 5D it’s a dream. Camera up, part depress the shutter button, recompose, click. Takes about a half second once you get into it. And it’s so dead right every time you begin to wonder how you lived without it. Depth of field is a scarcity in the portrait studio so focusing errors are cruelly revealed. Especially when you like to make 18” x 24” prints like I do.

So the new world of electronics and micromotors and LEDs and contrast sensors and on and on really has left the old world of mechanical-everything behind. Charming as that world seems, it no longer offers the best tool for the job.

February 16, 2007

The Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens in the studio

Filed under: Photography — Thomas Pindelski @ 10:06 am

They are almost giving these away.

Even if you don’t bother with Canon’s sleazy rebate deals – sleazy because your chances of actually getting your rebate are something of a crapshoot and it is a lousy way for Canon to treat its cusomers by trying to trip them up with endless paperwork – the 85mm f/1.8 lens is a superb bargain. B&H lists it for $340 before rebate.


Canon 5D with the 85mm f/1.8

I had toyed with the idea of one for a while, having used a 90mm – first an Elmar, then a Tele Elmarit, then an Elmarit-M and finally the ne plus ultra Asph Apo-Summicron on my M2 and M3 Leicas – for years. $2,800! It’s an ideal length for head and shoulder portraits in the studio on a full frame 35mm camera. Forget all that rot about the perspective being better than with a 50mm – in reality the differences are not noticeable. No, what makes a difference is the fast maximum aperture, which is nice for composition after the f/4 of the 24-105mm L zoom, as the viewfinder is quite a bit brighter. It doesn’t hurt that the lens is a fraction of the weight and bulk of the zoom.

Using my portable Novatron gear and the background-in-a-bag, my little portable studio dictates an aperture of f/5.6 at ISO 100 with the two Novatron heads in reflective umbrellas at 1/2 and 1/4 power, respectively. With the Canon 5D it’s more like f/6.3 as Canon is very conservative about its ISO rating. The LCD screen and a couple of test shots obsolete the electronic flash meter. The sensor in the camera is about 1/2 stop more sensitive than indicated. So when our son’s fifth birthday rolled around, it was the perfect opportunity to give the 85mm an outing, and all I can report is that the results are indistinguishable from the 90mm Apo Summicron on my M3. Well, actually better, as the definition is as good but with the 5D’s wonderful full frame sensor, there is simply no grain visible even in 18x enlargements. None. And that makes for wonderfully smooth skin tones compared with 35mm film. A fairer comparison would be with clunky medium format film gear as far as grain is concerned. Trust me. You do not want grain in studio portraits.

Some user reports on the web suggest the lens is a dog, focusing incorrectly. I can only think that these comments reflect poor technique. You need to switch off all that silly matrix focusing or whatever it’s called, make the center rectangle the sole focus point, and focus on the eyes. Half depress the shutter release to lock focus, recompose and click. The short duration flash puts paid to any camera shake and the Novatron has a 1/2 second recycle time on these power settings, meaning you can take pictures as fast as you can compose and press the button.

And with children, that’s a good thing as it’s simply impossible to predict moods and expressions. One of the few instances where machine-gun shooting is justified. With the able assistance of my lovely wife we managed to bang off some ninety picture in 5 minutes (at which point our ‘model’ was getting pooped) and four were really good. One of those, as we flipped though them on the iMac, made us both go ‘WOW’ and here it is:


Winston at five. Canon 5D, 85mm f/1.8 at f/6.3, ISO 100, two Novatron heads in umbrellas

Resolving power? How about this – the silvered umbrella and flash head are clearly visible:


At 18x magnification

The 18″ x 24″ print is printing right now on the HP DJ90.

My lady wife? Thought you would never ask:


Elenia and Winston.

Processing? Simplicity itself. Drop the originals in Aperture, warm up the color temperature a tad – the Novatrons are on the cool side – and press the Print button. Beauty needs no retouching.

If you are serious about studio snaps get one of these or, if your DSLR uses a cropped sensor, then a 50mm will do as well. The f/1.4 version from Canon is as cheap as the 85mm and is very special; I have little doubt that the offerings from the competition lack anything by comparison – that’s competition for you.

February 11, 2007

Great pictures! You must have an expensive camera.

Filed under: Photography — Thomas Pindelski @ 4:20 pm

And Shakespeare had an expensive pen.

That’s what I heard when a friend (?) was looking at some of my photos on the wall the other day and I confess it’s not the first time I have heard this sort of silliness. (Not the ‘Great pictures’ bit – I can live with that).

And while I continue to maintain that good gear makes a good photographer better, it will never save a bad one.

Well, this time I did respond with the Shakespeare crack but it was lost on my audience, which probably begs the question why I was showing this person my snaps in the first place. Then again, you cannot control your audience, and I suppose all publicity is good.

Great car. You must be a great driver.

Great woman. You must be a great lover.

Great kitchen. You must be a fabulous cook.

Oh! dear….

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