Monthly Archives: January 2010

Brands and investments

Hardware, Micro Four-Thirds

I don’t get it.

Every time some new hardware format appears you hear the usual carping along the lines of “Why do we need another lens mount”, “Why do we need another manufacturer”, “Why do we need another storage format” and so on. This is invariably followed up with “I have too big an investment in Brand X” and “Brand Y does not know how to make cameras”.

This thinking has me puzzled. My daily snapper currently comes from a company better known for washing machines and toasters, Panasonic. It has a unique lens mount and a unique format in the G1. Yes, I can adapt just about every lens known to man to fit but it makes no sense to do so as the camera then loses many of the automated features which make it so appealing.

When I bought it I didn’t think making toasters and washing machines was a problem. In fact, given the maker’s reputation, I saw it as a positive. And as for that ‘investment’ thinking, please. A camera is a consumer (not very) durable and depreciates daily. There is no investment aspect to it unless you are a collector of antiques, which are useless for photography. It’s simply a tool which loses value over time.

Given that I will likely dump the G1 for something better soon, I couldn’t be better pleased with my return on ‘investment’ which will look something like this:

Pictures taken: 10,000
Pictures retained: 2,000
Loss on resale of body: $250

Thus, my ‘cost per keeper’ is some 12 cents or so.

If you ask me, at the price of a couple of really nice dinners that’s the bargain of the decade, but it sure as heck is not an investment.

Dummy. (Depreciated) G1, kit lens in Little Italy, San Francisco.

Jeff Bridges

Photographers

The real thing.

Unless something goes awfully wrong with the universe, Jeff Bridges will win the Best Actor Oscar this coming March 7 for Crazy Heart, the story of a washed-up Country and Western musician.

Now while I would generally pay serious money to avoid having to hear C&W music ever again, I make an exception here for one who is as good an actor as there is.

What I did not know is that Bridges is an accomplished doumentary photographer and you can see his images from both Crazy Heart and Ironman at JeffBridges.com. Like the man the site is funny, unpredictable, interesting and completely without pretense. Go to the Photography section and it’s clear just how hard making a movie really is and how many people work behind the scenes. His wonderfully quirky web site is just lots of fun and well worth a visit. Click the picture below to go to a video of him singing country music – he also did his own singing in the movie. One talented man.

Autoviewer

Software

A fast web display application.

I chanced upon the free application Autoviewer the other day which, once downloaded, can be used as a web display generator using iPhoto or Lightroom and comes in Windows and OS X versions.

I tried it with Lightroom 2 using the ‘Web’ module (first time I have ever gone there, believe it or not) into which Autoviewer integrates elegantly and within 30 minutes had uploaded a 42 slide presentation of recent street snaps which you can see by clicking the picture below.

San Francisco street snaps July, 2009 – January, 2010

Autoviewer uses Adobe Flash technology so it may be a bit poky on older machines. However, I used my netbook with its slow Atom CPU and it does fine. There are also SimpleViewer (tabular presentation) and PostcardViewer (what is says) options available through Lightroom 2, though the full screen approach seems to work best for formal presentation of photographs.

I know I have to edit this selection down, but thought a quick first look would be of interest, as I’m beginning to think that a slide show presentation is superior to the clickable thumbnails I have traditionally used on my web site.

HDR for street snappers

Technique

If it moves, forget it.

I gushed on about High Dynamic Range photography ages ago here, meaning that the curative aspects of time have done their thing and forced me to reconsider.

You see, unless you have one of those blitzoid megabuck Nikons which take a bazillion snaps in the blink of an eye, HDR is useless if your subject moves. And this is not just the case with the street snapper’s target. A wavering leaf or a flying bird – if the images differ in subject matter, forget HDR. They cannot be merged without ghastly ghosting effects.

And as I’m a street snapper at heart, traditional HDR techniques do not work. Heck, it’s tough enough getting one good snap, let alone the three or more dictated by HDR. So, somewhat unconsciously, I have found that I am using the localized adjustment tools in Lightroom 2 a lot more. When I have a subject with challenging dynamic range, I will underexpose by a stop or two to tame the highlights and then bring back the shadows with a spot of localized exposure adjustment.

Here’s an example of what I am talking about. The underexposed original saw me bringing back the detail in the vendor’s face while leaving the reflective sculpture alone:

Chrome vendor, Maiden Lane, San Francisco. G1, kit lens.

So yes, this is still HDR, albeit with a street snapper’s twist.

Epson’s EVF

Cameras

Now in quantity production.

A reader sent me a link to Epson’s press release with details of their new Electronic View Finder. What’s significant about this is that smaller camera makers like Ricoh and Pentax who lack the capital to develop something similar will be able to buy the part at reasonable cost.

Click the picture for more.