Photographs, Photographers and Photography

September 30, 2008

1929 Redux

Filed under: Photography — Thomas Pindelski @ 10:21 am

“Those who deny history are doomed to repeat it”. Churchill.

In 1907, the crash immediately preceding the one prior to the 1929 Depression, John Pierpont Morgan is credited with personally saving the financial system when he led a band of capitalists in infusing private capital into a doddering stock market. The loans were repaid and America went about its business in due course. Since then, various US governments have repeated his actions but, sadly, using your money and mine to bail out crooks both on Wall and Main Streets.

So after yesterday’s greatest ever one day percentage decline in the Dow index, it seems only appropriate to recall how Wall Street (or, more correctly, Broad Street) looked back then.


A magnificent picture of the limits of greed. Photographer unknown.

The building at left – 23 Wall Street – served as J. P.Morgan’s headquarters until the 1990s when it was sold and converted to residential housing. It’s at the corner of Broad (where you can see the Stock Exchange) and Wall (not visible, Wall is behind you). Morgan purposely limited its height to two stories as the ultimate statement of WASP wealth and power.

I was lucky that the Morgan Bank was my client in the 1981-1983 period but less lucky with my assigned seating in the Board Room, which has to have had one of the longest tables ever made. For some reason the usher always insisted on seating me right opposite the glowering, mutton chopped oil of JP himself, staring down on me from Protean heights. To this day all I can remember of those tedious and boring meetings is Morgan’s censorious glare. We could use him today.

If you continue west a few yards on Wall Street you come to Trinity Church, burial place of America’s first and greatest Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. I used to visit it often. Each time I would pass the shoeshine boy outside the Church and was always reminded of the (perhaps apochryphal) tale attributed to financier Bernard Baruch who, upon receiving a stock tip from the boy in early 1929, promptly went out and sold all his shares. He survived the Depression and prospered mightily. When asked his secret, Baruch honestly responded “I made my money by selling too soon”.

In January 2008 I followed Baruch’s advice.

Schadenfreude? No. Churchill. “Those who deny history are doomed to repeat it”. Though I suppose I should add that WSC was wiped out in 1929 ….

Strange that many years later I would end up working for America’s other great Treasury Secretary, Bill Simon, but that’s a story for another time.

September 29, 2008

Grain is dead

Filed under: 5D — Thomas Pindelski @ 10:30 am

From the Canon 5D Mark II.

Vince LaForet’s work with the new Canon 5D Mark II at 1600 and 3200 ISO confirms that, for all practical purposes, grain is dead.

Click the picture for large JPGs at high ISO speeds from the new Canon body. In many you will see color fringing near the corners suggesting Canon has some way to go to better Leica in its optics, albeit even L lenses are mostly chump change compared to those from Germany. The fringing (correctable in post processing in Lightroom or Aperture) is especially noticeable in the snaps taken with the 45mm TS-E and the 15mm Fisheye (which I own and love). High time Canon started adding in-camera processing to fix this sort of thing. Obviously, the body ‘knows’ which lens is mounted and it’s not like Canon is ignorant of the aberration patterns in their optics. Adding a lens ‘map’ for each lens doesn’t sound like nuclear physics.

What you will not see is grain.

It would seem that the resolving power of Canon’s latest sensor significantly exceeds that of many of its lenses. I would suggest that use of any of the consumer zooms on this body is a complete waste of time – the proverbial Coke bottle lens on a Hasselblad. The cheaper non-L primes are fine (I love the fisheye, the 50/1.4 and the 85/1.8) but ‘kit’ lenses are a no-no. Garbage in, garbage out.

So, if you want grain, you are going to have to add it at the processing stage!

September 28, 2008

Mother Russia

Filed under: Photographs — Thomas Pindelski @ 9:55 am

Nothing changes.

What on earth can one make of Russia? For centuries it has stumbled from one brutal murderous dictator to another seemingly yet more heinous. Democracy, simply stated, is a concept they are incapable of embracing, preferring the cold clutches of the state and cheap booze. The current Russian poll to seek out the greatest Russian has Stalin in a healthy lead. Runner-up? Tzar Nicholas II. This from a nation that has given us Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky, Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov, Horowitz, Nureyev and on and on. You figure it out. I cannot.

So how is it that so cruel a system has given us much of what we think of as great art today, whether in music, painting, ballet, opera, architecture, you name it? Maybe it’s simply that the Slav creative gene only works well when depressed.

Click the picture for a beautiful monochrome photo essay by James Hill on the remains of agrarian Russia, appropriately published in that most socialist of US papers, The New York Times:

September 26, 2008

Brooklyn Then and Now

Filed under: Book reviews — Thomas Pindelski @ 11:52 am

Yes, dear, NYC does have five boroughs.

To the average Manhattan dweller who, like the cartoonist Steinberg, believes civilization is bounded by 96th Street, Water Street, the Hudson and East rivers, it will come as a shock if I write that some of the most charming architecture and open spaces in New York City are to be found in the Borough of Brooklyn. And, of course, the best views of downtown from the Promenade on the East River.

I was fortunate to live there for a while when I first moved to New York in 1980 and liked much of what I saw – vibrant cultural diversity, a burgeoning progressive arts scene and all those great parks and churches. And it’s closer to Wall Street by subway than much of Manhattan.

These thoughts came flooding back upon opening the pages of this quite splendid book:

On opposing pages we see pictures of identical sites in Brooklyn with the old ones typically taken fifty to a hundred years ago. What is so striking is that, almost without exception, the old Brooklyn looks a whole lot better than the new, the latter invaded with ugly mass housing and devoid of the welcoming warmth of trolleys and trams.

It is only appropriate that the Brooklyn Bridge adorns the covers for there is no finer architecture to be found in America.

It’s a great way to wile away a couple of hours for very little – my remaindered copy ran a few dollars.

September 25, 2008

Cristóbal Balenciaga

Filed under: Book reviews — Thomas Pindelski @ 8:10 am

In a class of one.


The cover says it all

If you love severe sculptural form – whether in your women, buildings or clothes – then there’s a strong argument to be made that fashion starts and ends with the Basque designer Balenciaga.

If you love great photography of the most beautiful women and clothes ever seen, then there’s every reason to get this very large and very expensive book about the designer.

The core of the book addresses Balenciaga’s output through 1968 when he closed his eponymous couture store in Paris. The last third deals with the resuscitated Balenciaga name from 1999 on and it is rubbish – ugly people in T shirts and poor make-up. The book is still worth it for the first two thirds.

The 1950s saw the nascent flowering of the supermodel who would henceforth have a name and with it fame and fortune. The only snag is that Balenciaga’s designs demanded a perfect figure. Size 8 and up need not apply. And in the likes of Lisa Fonssagrives (Mrs. Irving Penn), Suzy Parker and the impossibly perfect Dovima (she of Avedon’s ‘Dovima with Elephants’) Balenciaga had all he needed to best show his creations. The Basque with French and Spanish in his blood and the sureness of line last seen in Matisse tolerated nothing less than perfection.

There was another significant change in the 1950s – the rise of the supermodel coincided with like ascendancy of star photographers, and their work is on show in a big way here – Cartier-Bresson (some priceless dressing room snaps which are new to me), Avedon, Penn, Clarke. The best of the best.

Here’s my favorite of Dovima in a stunning Balenciaga creation, appropriately taken by Richard Avedon.


Balenciaga and Dovima, 1950

And you thought you had long fingers?

And if the following raises a question it is a simple one – Where have all the lovely women gone?


Balenciaga and Georgia Hamilton by Avedon, 1953

September 24, 2008

Game Boys

Filed under: Photographs — Thomas Pindelski @ 7:00 am

Photo Essay by Shauna Frischkorn.

I quote from the original:

Eyes cast upward in ecstatic contemplation—500 or 600 years ago these expressions might have been found in a work by Raphael or Guido Reni. But Shauna Frischkorn, an associate professor of art at Pennsylvania’s
 Millersville University, has captured the agony and the ecstasy of our own age in a wide-ranging series of portraits: no monks or saints, just ordinary teenage boys playing Halo. She says that “while they seem passive, they’re actually performing fast-paced maneuvers and executing split-second decisions, making these portraits of intense concentration.”

Whatever the frightening implications of this misdirected intensity may be, the essay is intensely original and worth taking a look. Click the picture for more.

September 23, 2008

Signs of intelligence at Leica

Filed under: Cameras — Thomas Pindelski @ 8:24 am

A medium format DSLR.

With all the money wasted in making the underwhelming Leica M8, a dated and obsolete 35mm format SLR and the silly rebadging of Panasonic point-and-shoots, you would think it was all over at Leica. With its modest resources the company is foolishly trying to compete against the vast capital of Canon, Sony, Nikon, Pentax, etc. all of whom make cameras far superior to anything from Leica at a fraction of the price.

Well, finally, Leica has taken a leaf out of Apple’s book and is Thinking Different.


The Leica S2. A 30 x 45mm 38 megapixel sensor and a new range of lenses.

Clearly a premium product which should appeal to many professionals, this camera would seem to compete directly with the Hasselblad H range of digital cameras and, I would guess, would be priced similarly, meaning $30,000+ for the body alone. The DSLR format (much like the Pentax 6×7 in concept, but digital) makes for a far easier to use camera than the more tripod oriented Hasselblads and the lens range promised is impressive.

The sensor is made by Fujitsu, and unknown quantity, so it will be interesting to see how it performs. Much of the design work seems to have been done by Phase One, an established presence in larger format digital cameras. That’s encouraging.

Of special note is the fact that all the lenses will have leaf shutters which are ideal for flash sync, as they will properly expose the whole frame with flash at any shutter speed. Of course, the inclusion of a shutter in each lens makes the lenses costlier and Leica lenses are already very expensive, thanks to an overpaid, lazy, unionized German workforce. In fairness to Leica, the many Leica lenses I have used over the years have, without exception (OK, the 1930s 50mm f/2 Summar was a real dog above f/4) been superior to just about anything out there. The Apo-Macro Summarit f/2.5 120mm (equivalent to 85mm on a full frame camera) looks especially mouthwatering. And, joy of joys, Leica has finally discovered autofocus, some 20 years after Japanese SLR makers added this great technology to their interchangeable lenses. I would guess the lenses will retail well north of $5,000 each though who knows what the dollar price will be once the kindergarten known as the US Congress gets through with destroying our currency.

Promised for the summer of 2009, if the company survives that long, you can read more at Leica’s poorly designed, lugubrious web site – if you have the patience to get through all the mindless and time wasting flash videos.

If the camera ever gets into volume manufacture, it could fairty be said that this is truly the first innovative camera design from Leica since the M3, which I used for some 30 years. That game changer first sold in 1954 ….

September 21, 2008

Vince LaForet on the Canon 5D Mark II

Filed under: 5D — Thomas Pindelski @ 9:33 am

A real user – that I trust.

I haven written before of the exceptional commercial photography of Vince LaForet.

Click the picture to see LaForet’s first impressions of the still and movie modes of the 5D Mark II.

When a great commercial photographer extols the image quality of a camera, (”The 5D MKII camera produces the best stills in low light that I’ve ever seen – what you can see with you eye in the worst light (such as sodium-vapor street lights at 3 a.m. in Brooklyn) – this camera can capture it with ease.“) I tend to be somewhere between belief and skepticism. Is the writer conflicted? Does the manufacturer pay him with free gear or hard or soft dollars?

In LaForet’s case I trend to the belief end of the scale. He has too much great work out there to risk his reputation.

The intriguing thing about his blog entry is that he seems most enthused with the movie mode of the new camera. Who would have thought it? If he is right, then it is indeed a game changer – 1080p HD video from a DSLR! I don’t make movies (though the genre fascinates me) and don’t need the awesome low light capability, but for many these facets of the new body may put them on the upgrade path.

September 18, 2008

Immersive media

Filed under: Panoramas — Thomas Pindelski @ 6:47 am

A step up from QTVR.

I have written a lot in this journal about my discovery and adoption of QTVR 360 degree virtual reality photography using Quicktime and a special camera mount. If you would like to see some of the results of my efforts, please click here.

Now all of that is old hat!


Immersive Media’s Dodeca 360 camera

How about a 360 degree movie version? Click here for a demonstration. The camera, by Immersive Media has no fewer than eleven lenses and can be worn on the head, for those seeking to emulate the man from Mars. It seems pretty light.

Now where’s my check book?

September 17, 2008

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Filed under: 5D — Thomas Pindelski @ 7:49 am

No more speculation.

Hop over to DPReview for all the details you could possibly want on the new Canon EOS 5D Mark II.


The new camera looks less well balanced than the old, looking top heavy to my eyes

I speculated about the features a few days ago and was dead wrong in some important ways.

  • The sensor is 21 mp, similar to that in the top of the line 1Ds Mark III. Wonder how they are addressing the cannibalization of sales?
  • Price. $2,700 in the US, not $3,000. This will clobber used prices for the 5D, making that a very attractive entry into full frame digital.
  • Full weather sealing. Seems like they added it.

Here are some other features which add value:

  • Movie mode. If you don’t like it, don’t use it. Nice to have.
  • Highlight tone priority – cuts down on burned-out highlights.
  • An allegedly improved LCD screen. Given how awful the one in the 5D is it’s hard not to believe Canon on this one.
  • Three Custom modes, up from one. Great. Especially as that Print button is still there and still useless, though it now doubles for Live View.
  • ISO 25,600 maximum, which may work well with the improved sensor. We will see. If so the expense of ultra large aperture lenses can largely be avoided, as this is three stops faster than the 3,200 on the 5D.
  • Wireless file transmission using the new removable handgrip. Great for studio previews.
  • The ability to fine tune the focus setting for up to 20 lenses – a great way of keeping lens cost down by forcing the user to tune the lens to the body.

And yes, Canon has still to Fix that flap!

All in all, a worthwhile update and a boon for those looking to get a 5D whose used price will likely head south of $1,500 with the glut of amateurs updating for the latest and greatest. Don’t knock them. These gear heads are your friends. If you can live without the new features (sensor dust removal is nice!) then save $1200 and get a 5D.

September 16, 2008

The new photojournalism

Filed under: Photography — Thomas Pindelski @ 8:46 am

Some career choices.

Here are some things you may not want to do for a living:

  • Work on Wall Street
  • Win the US election on November 4, 2008
  • Go into home building
  • Become a photojournalist

The first three are obvious, but the fourth?

Check out this smart way in which CBS is seeking to get millions of prospects to work for them absolutely free:

Basically, you load this application on your smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry, whatever) and, when you see a newsworthy event, you snap the picture and send it to CBS.

Given that the chances of seeing a newsworthy event are close to zero, these things being random and unlikely (plane hits bridge, intelligent life found in Washington DC, etc.), CBS has just smartly hired a few million photojournalists with no payroll, labor, transportation, copyright, etc. issues. Smart. The sort of thing the media need if they are to survive the gale force storm of the internet, TiVo and blogs.

And at least CBS has the sense to know that a phone camera is just fine; there’s no point in wasting money on expensive DSLRs.

Still want to be a photojournalist?

The iPhone version of this application is available from Apple’s AppStore. Price? Exactly what the future value of photojournalism is. $Zero.

September 15, 2008

A handy backpack

Filed under: Cameras — Thomas Pindelski @ 1:26 pm

From LowePro.

When I sold my Rollei medium format film gear the LowePro bag in which it was stored was sold also. Way too large for anything I would contemplate in terms of equipment given the Canon 5D’s more compact size.

I finally got around to deciding on a new bag for the 5D gear and settled on the LowePro Mini-Trekker AW. LowePro has such a huge selection of products that it’s not easy finding what suits your needs best and though they have a selection aide on their site it’s not as good as it could be.

I narrowed it down knowing that I wanted a comfortable backpack design for trekking through the woods and aware that a handful of lenses, a ring flash, a few spare CF cards, batteries and the 5D’s instruction book (yes, I still get lost in all those menus and buttons sometimes) would be my companions on such trips.


Loaded for bear

In the above configuration, reading clockwise from the top left: 85mm/1.8, 15mm fisheye, 24-105mm L, 5D/200 L, 100mm macro, 50/1.4, 20mm, ringflash. I use UV filters on all lenses (except the fisheye whose bulbous front element precludes the use of a filter) so have need of only one lens cap – for the fishy. Alternatively, I can exclude any one lens and mount the 400mm f/5.6 L on the camera instead. It fits nicely with the lens hood collapsed. A neat attached fold-out plastic cover makes the whole thing weather resistant and quality is top notch – a notable feature of LowePro bags. It comes in green or black (ugh!), does not scream ‘Steal Me’ and has external straps and a supporting pocket for a tripod. (I prefer a shoulder bag for the tripod to spread the load and use a Tamrac for my 30 year old Linhof tripod). Add the QD sternum and waist straps, included, and you have something clearly thought through at the design stage by a working photographer. As I want for nothing gear wise, this bag should have a long and useful life ahead of it.

LowePro’s site asks for $182 for one of these which is ridiculous. I bought mine on ePrey for $120 delivered, new with all OEM instructions, labels, what-have-you.

By the way, here’s my old one with the Rollei 6003 kit:


A throwback to the bad old days of film

The scale is different, but the old bag was some 50% larger than the Mini-Trekker.

As usual, I find that all those zippers need some breaking in but once you get over that the bag is as user friendly as these things can ever be.

September 13, 2008

The most famous photographer in the world

Filed under: Photographers — Thomas Pindelski @ 7:22 am

No question about it.

The current issue of Vanity Fair has an extract from Annie Leibovitz’s book illustrated with three superb photographs – of Demi Moore, Arnold Schwarzenegger and HM Queen Elizabeth II, and a not so good one of Mick Jagger. Read it here.

I was very much taken with Ms.Leibovitz’s modesty and straight forwardness. I hope you will be too. Surely, there is no more famous photographer working today?

The current issue also has a fine survey of the great photographers who have been published in Vanity Fair over the past 95 years, by Christopher Hitchens. Is there a finer English writer today? Berenice Abbott, Helmut Newton, George Hoyningen-Huene, Harry Benson, Cecil Beaton, Bruce Weber, Edward Steichen – they are all there.

And finally a piece on Vladimir Putin with a penetrating portrait by photographer Stéphane Lavoué. I was about to write what I really think of this fellow but decided against it. I do not own a gun and feel, if I said anything bad, I would have to meet those burly guys with dark glasses and ill fitting suits suitably prepared. So, for once, discretion is the better part of valor.

September 11, 2008

Thanks, Mr. Land

Filed under: Cameras — Thomas Pindelski @ 11:35 am

Polaroid is no more.

The technology of photography was never more magic than when you used Polaroid cameras and film.

Now, as the WSJ reports, Polaroid film is no more. Even with modern DSLRs capable of tethered shooting and near instantaneous screen display of a snap, nothing will ever match the magic of Polaroid.

You can read more about the Einstein of photography and the creator of Polaroid, Edwin Land, here.

September 10, 2008

Not in the Canon 5D Mark II

Filed under: 5D — Thomas Pindelski @ 9:46 am

Rumors abound – these you can be certain of.


Teaser ad on the Canon site

With all that speculation about the iminent replacement for the Canon 5D, here’s my list of things I can pretty much guarantee will not be in the 5D Mark II:

  • A 21mp sensor. No way. That would immediately cannibalize sales of the ultra-high margin 21mp 1Ds Mark III which goes for $8,000 a pop. And with the 11 mp in the 5D being as good as it is, reckon on no more than 16mp. Let’s hope they don’t muck up resolution in the process.
  • Ultra-high framing rates like in the 40D and 50D. Same reason as above.
  • Full weather sealing. No way no how. This camera is aimed at the advanced amateur snapper, not the pro in rain forests, even if a few rubber gaskets cost $1.50 to add.
  • Eye controlled focus. That’s the fabulous technology available in some late Canon film SLRs. The camera focuses where you look. (This still seems like magic to me). For some reason Canon have never added it to any of their DSLRs. Just imagine using something like Helicon Focus with eye controlled focus. Sight down your subject – click. Look a little further – click. Oh! wow. But not to be in the Mark II.
  • A smaller body. That would cost too much to re-engineer. Canon will add already mature and developed technologies like sensor dust removal and live view (ugh!) but a comprehensive re-engineering of the body would cost too much.
  • A change for that dumb Print button to make it useful – such as a mirror lock-up control. Someone at Canon has a real axe to grind for their printers (surprise!), so expect more of this silliness.
  • Lens aberration correction inside the camera’s software. See the first bullet point above.
  • A permanently attached vertical hand grip. That would look too ‘professional’ and adds needless bulk to an amateur’s camera. Indeed, one of the appealing aspects of the 5D is that it does not look professional – especially if you add some electrician’s tape to all those gauche logos.

Expect the announcement in late September at Photokina in Cologne.

September 8, 2008

Edward Hopper and photography

Filed under: Book reviews, Paintings — Thomas Pindelski @ 7:33 am

Even if you don’t care for painting, check him out.

I have written before about the American painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967) and of both the love I have for his work and the strong influence he has exerted over my way of seeing as a photographer. For Hopper is that most photographic of painters. And I don’t mean photographic in the dry, sterile, rather sick sense of the photorealists (gee, if you are going to kill yourself making a painting look like a photograph, why not just photograph the bloody thing and save some time?). No, I mean it in the sense that with his people-in-the-city paintings there are all the elements of photographic composition with the painter’s singular advantage that distracting clutter can simply be blended out with some brushwork.

Case in point:


Edward Hopper, Two on the aisle, 1927

You get a touch of realism in the ‘decisive moment’ timing of the picture, a touch of surrealism in the detailing of the woman’s face and a touch of Degas (also a fine photographer) in the back of the woman in the box on the right. The perspective is gently skewed in the best Bonnard tradition.

Invariably, when it comes to people, Hopper trends to the lonely vision of the American Experience, as here:


Edward Hopper, New York Ofice, 1962

I know exactly how he felt.


Leica M3, 50mm Elmar, Kodachrome 64, Anchorage, 1978

Nor is that vision unique to American cities:


Leica M3, 35mm Summaron, Kodachrome 64, Paris, 1974

There are many fine books on Hopper. One I recommend is “Edward Hopper: Light and Dark” by Gerry Souter, Parkstone, 2007. Barely published and already remaindered, it’s replete with many illustrations (over 140) and Souter’s text makes for interesting reading, devoid of pomposity. Any photographer looking to sharpen and refine his vision could do worse than plonking down $25 for a remaindered copy.

September 7, 2008

Italy from Above

Filed under: Book reviews — Thomas Pindelski @ 7:33 am

A superb book.

The most beautiful women.

The world’s greatest art.

The finest fashions.

The most beautiful cars.

The magic of opera.

The best wines.

The most sublime architecture.

The deepest possible contempt for government and taxes.

The realization that you work to live, not vice versa.

And if that wasn’t enough, why not throw in the most gorgeous landscapes?

That is Italy and to say that the photography in this large book is spectacular is to do the photographers – Antonio Attini and Marcello Bertinetti (names to conjur with!) – an injustice.

No fewer than 423 pages grace this book which comes with a DVD of the Alps. Aptly enough, the foreword is by Franco Zeffirelli, and if you haven’t seen a Zeffirelli staging of an Italian opera, well, you haven’t lived.

Mine came from Edward R Hamilton, a tad shopworn, for $19.95, DVD included. Sure, they don’t take web orders but at that price, what’s your hurry? Get an envelope and a stamp. And don’t ask. Just go out right now and get this fabulous book.

As an adjunct, if you want to learn how Brunneleschi worked his magic on the dome in Florence, add this while you are at it.

September 6, 2008

Helicon Focus

Filed under: Software — Thomas Pindelski @ 1:14 pm

An insanely great application.

Now and then an application comes along which truly must be graced with the Insanely Great accolade, especially now that Apple has ceased making insanely great products and prefers to focus on insanely great sales instead.

That application is Helicon Focus from some programming geniuses in the Ukraine which, by the time you read this, will doubtless be a part of the USSR again.

Simply stated, Helicon Focus asks that you make several pictures of a subject with the focus slightly different in each, so that your range of pictures has something sharp in each plane. The application then merges the images for one overall sharp one.

Pictures beat words, so here’s one of the six originals I took of that much abused currency, the US dollar. Doubtless it’s illegal to photograph currency, but when the subject in question is worthless, it’s no longer currency right? Here’s the first of six snaps, with the focus at the far end:

Now here is the composite of six originals, each with slightly different focus points, after processing in Helicon Focus. The slight image magnification is conferred by the application to allow for image size changes between the component pictures. It’s something you can adjust in the application’s Preferences. Suffice it to say that the default setting of 4% magnification seem to work pretty well, so make sure you leave a little space around your subject to allow for this magnification:

Look carefully and you will see an out-of-focus band around the ‘A’ in ‘America’ – I should have taken more snaps with smaller focus adjustments. The lens was set on manual focus and the camera on manual exposure.

You can either use a stationary camera and adjust focus or use a focus rail to move the camera. The latter approach avoids image size changes but as the program adjusts image sizes when blending, if you use the stationary camera approach, I fail to see the advantage of a focus rail. If you use ring flash you should use a stationary camera as otherwise your lighting intensity will vary between component pictures.

Mind blowing! Insanely Great!!

So any time you need extreme depth of field and your subject is stationary, this $30 application is just what the doctor ordered.

All six snaps were taken on a Canon 5D with the 100mm macro lens at maximum aperture, for minimum depth of field. Helicon Focus reads many formats, including the RAW originals used here. Processing (MacBook, 2.1gHz C2D) took maybe 40 seconds and the interface is completely intuitive.

For those with high speed motor drives I imagine you could just set the camera on Continuous and move the focus ring as you bang away.

Well done Helicon Focus and let’s all pray you avoid the clutches of Mother Russia. Heck, you can always ask the French to save you ’cause sure as hell we will not. And for those of you who enjoy locking up now and then, Helicon Focus also comes in a Windows version. Either way, an available premium version of the application takes advantage of multi-core CPUs so if you use a computer with Intel’s drop dead (Insanely Great!) Core2Duo or Core4Duo or whatever, your processing speed will be nice and fast.


A composite of ten images. 5D, 100mm macro at f/2.8.

I’m using the Canon macro at f/2.8, its maximum aperture here, so as to push the application hard; realistically you would expect to stop down to take advantage of the lens’s sweet spot as well as to reduce the number of exposures required. For this lens, f/8 to f/11 seems best. You can see some overlap issues on the right of the above image – something I will address in a subsequent piece.

Disclosure: After writing the above I was given a free registered version of Helicon Focus by Dan. While it’s always nice to get things free, remain assured that my objectivity is not about to get corrupted. Sure, like all of us I can be bought, but it will cost you a sight more than $30! Thank you Dan.

Postscript: I shared the constituent RAW files for the above image with Dan Kozub of Helicon to see what was causing the slightly imperfect alignment visible in places. Dan wrote back that a new, enhanced version of the application would be out in about a month and would fix the issue. He advised me that he had tried it with my images and all was well – so at least it wasn’t me! In fairness to Helicon, this was a pretty extreme test given the closeness of the flower and the flower’s extreme angle to the plane of the camera’s sensor.

For some more practical ‘in the field’ tests, please click here.

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