Monthly Archives: March 2008

The Panasonic LX-1 revisited

Panasonic

A fine, unobtrusive street snapper.

I bought the Panasonic LX-1 a couple of years ago with but one purpose in mind. It was to be an unobtrusive street snapper, both smaller and more capable than the Leica M2 it replaced.

You can see my various ramblings on the subject by clicking here.

Since then Panasonic has ‘upgraded’ the camera to the LX-2 adding a bigger LCD screen. Neat idea. The one on my LX-1 is miles ahead when it comes to use in bright sun over the horror in the Canon 5D. They also squeezed in more pixels on that miniscule sensor. Not so neat an idea, as the original is noisy enough and more pixels will not help in that department.

Most importantly, I glued a 28mm Voigtlander optical viewfinder on the top plate, and its field of view matches the widest (default) setting of the zoom lens in the LX-1 nicely. Because depth of field is huge (the lens is but 6.3mm in focal length at its widest) I switch off the auto-focus with the handy slider on the lens barrel and bang away merrily on the street. Response time? Almost as fast as that old M2 with its antiquated film and processing needs. Optical quality? Add a bit of sharpening and chromatic aberration correction and 13″ x 19″ prints are fine. At that size sensor noise starts to intrude, much as film grain did with the M2. You might think that the LX-1 lacks the M2’s low light capability as the lens is not fast but the built in IS is good for two shutter speeds, so the lens’s f/2.8 becomes an effective f/1.4. The whole experiment has been a resounding success. The auto-exposure adds immensely to speed of use. And I console myself that I’m still using a Leica lens when I suspend disbelief and buy in to the engraving on the lens rim.

I’m hoping that the Sigma DP1, with its large sensor and fixed focus lens, will further improve matters, but one thing it will not beat is the tiny size of the LX-1. I was reminded of this when wandering about San Francisco the other day. As usual, I was cradling the LX-1 in the palm of my hand, ready for instant action. Handled thus the camera is invisible until raised to the eye. It was amusing to see a few other snappers either using point-and-shoot digitals and squinting at the ridiculous LCD screens at arm’s length (hard to be more visible, really) or using giant DSLRs and big zoom lenses which simply scream for the subject to disappear.

Me? Happily unobtrusive, courtesy of the fine engineers at Panasonic, greatly enjoying the native widescreen format of the sensor.

The snaps from one day’s fun follow.

* * * * *

Quite what this lady was thinking of with a WASP mannequin selling Chinese clothing I don’t know, but it works for me.


Chinatown vendor. Panasonic LX-1, 28mm, 1/200, f/3.6, ISO 100

This pipe bender was far too busy to worry about photographers:


Pipe bender. Panasonic LX-1, 105mm (LCD finder used), 1/800, f/4.5, ISO 100

The little pop-up flash unit in the LX-1 is not to be sneezed at – it adds that bit of contrast in a shady location, such as that where this beautiful gate was placed:


Beautiful gate. Panasonic LX-1, 28mm, 1/30, f/3.6, built-in flash, ISO 100, ImageAlign used to remove barrel distrotion

These workers were doing what white American labor specializes at, in the shade of the Transamerica pyramid:


American labor. Panasonic LX-1, 28mm, 1/200, f/3.6, ISO 100

There’s nothing wrong with the color rendition of this little gem.


Chinatown silks. Panasonic LX-1, 28mm, 1/100, f/3.6, ISO 100

Throw a great Renaissance name at me and you have my interest. Suspend a pizza pie over a passer-by’s head and you have a picture. By the way, the menu at lower left is perfectly distinguishable in the original, so no excuses need be made for the lens once color fringing is removed in Lightroom.


Flying Pizza. Panasonic LX-1, 28mm, 1/125, f/3.6, ISO 100


Detail of the picture above.

Finally, add one of life’s little incongruities and you have a perfect end to a perfect picture taking day in the gorgeous city of San Francisco.


Precarious perch. Panasonic LX-1, 28mm, 1/30, f/3.6, built-in flash, ISO 100

Because the shutter in the LX-1 is almost dead silent, I have the ‘clack’ sound switched on otherwise it’s hard to know when you have taken the picture on a noisy street. As is typical with modern cameras, there is no progressive resistance in the shutter release button to clue you in. No matter – you get used to what it takes after a few exposures. The wonderful shutter release ‘feel’ of the old rangefinder film Leica is just one more over-hyped piece of nonsense.

Needless to add, the built-in IS adds immeasurably to good definition in the original snaps and 54 RAW snaps on a 1gB SD card is just right for a day’s fun. Sure, you have to adjust for red color fringing and sharpening when processing, but as I can do that with a preset for automatic import into Lightroom, I have no problem with what I call the modern idiom of lens design – meaning poor lenses and great software.


Chinatown medley. Panasonic LX-1, RAW, ISO 100

All pictures taken on March 23, 2008, RAW, processed in Lightroom.

A face in the window

Panasonic, Photographs

A quick look.


Panasonic LX-1, 28mm, 1/1000, f/3.6, ISO 100

Spotted in San Francisco’s Chinatown yesterday. The small and unobtrusive Panasonic is ideal for this sort of thing and has mercifully low shutter lag, which distinguishes it from most point-and-wait pocket digital cameras.

As the chaps at Monty Python once put it ….

Photography

Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, eggs and spam. And Dusies.

Which is about the ratio of comedic nonsense to quality thinking I get as Comments on this blog. And, if others’ experience is anything to go by, I am actually doing pretty well.

Once, when I was living in NYC, then mayor Ed Koch, who was famous for his outspokenness, pulled new bicycle lanes from the streets. These had been installed at great taxpayer expense just weeks earlier and were, of course, promptly disregarded by all and sundry. When asked why, he famously replied: “When I make a mistake, it’s a real Dusie!”.

The reference is to the Dusenberg company which made its most exotic, most expensive car in 1932 – coinciding with a little something called the Great Depression …. bankruptcy followed.

Anyway, check the last little piece of childishness, a real Dusie, in this priceless collection, added today, which gave me some innocent amusement which I know you will share. The writer? Yes, another honorable member of the spam list or, if you prefer, the Monty Python Collection.

So, after months of experimenting I am so confident of my new spam tools I hereby challenge all spammers to try to break the system and encourage their efforts as, who knows, there may be some more little gems like this latest one to add to the list. And thanks, Ms. Mentally Bankrupt Spammer, for some great editorial material. I’m almost inclined to take your name off the spam list in the hope of some more priceless gems from you – not!

The real capacity of storage cards

Canon 5D

A welcome ‘feature’ of the 5D.

I mentioned a while back that I was moving to 2gB cards in the 5D, from the 1gB I started with.

The welcome capacity increase and falling price made sense.


With an empty 2 gB card

The 5D continues to dutifully reports room for 120 RAW pictures on a blank card, yet the other day I again noticed how low that estimate is. Obviously, the size of RAW files will vary depending on the scene, but the difference I noted is anything but insignificant.

Apple’s Disc Utility reports available space of 2.039gB on a formatted 2gB Extreme IV card, so that means Canon is assuming an average file size of almost 17mB per image in computing the above count. Nice that they use so large a size as it means they are erring on the side of safety.

Here’s the scoop:

That’s actually 140 images plus a count of two for the containing folders. And there’s still 350mB of free space left! Do the numbers and you come up with a capacity of 171 pictures, or 42% more than that original estimate. Of course, this will vary with the scene photographed, as more detail and color translates to a larger picture file size.

Now that’s a ‘feature’ I can handle any day.

Follow-up:

Check Comment #1 for a very interesting discussion of some of the underlying reasons for varying file sizes.

The pictures I was writing about in this case were studio photos taken with studio flash with just the subject’s eyes critically sharp (the 85mm Canon f/1.8 lens was used and 18″ x 24″ prints were a breeze to make and superb in every way) and everything else pretty much out of focus, so it seems the low ‘sharp content’ correlates with the small file sizes. The 10mB file above was a blank where I pressed the button before the flash was ready to fire, so that would appear to be the base file size of a 5D image. The Comment suggests that, for identical subjects, two lenses of like focal length will result in the one with higher micro-contrast generating a larger file size – an interesting ‘test’ method for this variable.

Two years with the Canon 5D

Canon 5D

What’s good and what rankles.

It’s been some two years since I bought my Canon 5D, an appropriate milestone from which to reconsider what is good and bad about the decision.

Since then the price has come down significantly, meaning almost a 30% drop yet, amazingly, with other market segments seeing many model changes since, the 5D remains available and has not been upgraded. I have no idea how sales of this model compare with Canon’s other offerings, and I suppose you could argue that they haven’t made a replacement because sales are very high …. or very low.

I don’t care. It remains a quantum leap in making the picture taking process an easier one. Forget all the mind numbing choices in all those menus, the reality is that the chances of making a technically solid picture, sharp, properly focused and grain free have risen manyfold owing to this superb machine. Plus you can make a perfect print of any size you want from just about any frame. More time for seeing, less for worrying.

Things I like:

  • The 3:2 aspect ratio of the frame. I grew up with Leicas. It would be even nicer at 16:9 widescreen.
  • The large, uncluttered, near life-size, viewfinder.
  • The fact that the depth of field and coverage of a 50mm lens …. remain the depth of field and image coverage of a 50mm lens on a film camera.
  • The grain free sensor – the ISO adjustment is just another way of controlling aperture and shutter speed. I never worry about grain. If I need grain, something like this works.
  • The great selection of inexpensive Canon lenses – the non-zooms I own are mostly wonderful.
  • The lack of shutter lag – as good as a Leica M2 or M3.
  • Autofocus. With mediocre eyesight like mine the fabulous rangefinder in the Leicas is improved upon by modern technology. And it’s faster.
  • Spot focus/lock/recompose. Never another unsharp studio picture.
  • Auto exposure. Another impediment removed.
  • Spot exposure measurement for those difficult occasions.
  • The reliability. The 5D’s OS makes a Mac look like a dog. You never have to reboot.
  • The battery life. Simply incredible. Carrying a spare hardly seems necessary.
  • The 85mm f/1.8 EF Canon lens. The Leica Apo-Summicron Asph at a fraction of the cost.
  • How all that automation makes use with a 400mm Canon ‘L’ lens so easy.

Things I dislike:

  • The bulk. Bigger than my Leica Ms, it’s no joy to tramp around with.
  • The noise. Not bad, but silence would be nicer.
  • An LCD screen which is unusable outdoors.
  • Poor auto white balance indoors but easily fixed with one click in Lightroom.
  • The attraction the sensor has for dust. I mitigate that by using (superior) non-zoom lenses, but that’s not the answer. Actually, it’s more the pump design of Canon’s 24-105mm zoom and poor dust sealing in the lens that seems to be to blame here.
  • The advertising – that big white ‘Canon’ logo and crass ‘5D’ sticker – both easily fixed with some black tape. You want me to advertise your goods you pay me, OK?
  • That criminally inept stock strap. Criminal, as the first thing it will do is make sure your camera falls off your shoulder.


    5D and friends. Not a worthless lens hood in sight.

  • The fact that I take too many pictures. Digital makes you lazy, less selective. Good digital management in the likes of Lightroom helps. But nothing beats the Delete button.
  • That horrid flap.

But, taken as a whole, these really are minor gripes in exchange for the wonderful image quality.

The 5D will likely be updated/obsoleted any day now, but for this photographer it remains the bees’ knees. Would I buy it today in preference to anything else? Absolutely. The improvements in Mark II – sensor dust removal apart – will be visible to academics only. But the 5D (Mk. I or II) only makes sense if you like to make Really Large Prints. For web display even a 2 megapixel P&S is fine.


The Canon 5D. A new era in equipment.