REVIEW : The Photographer's Go Bag that doesn't scream "CAMERA"

I like camera bags. Family has said I am with camera bags like some people are with shoes. Based on the closet, and the shelves and beside the chair, they're right. I am a huge fan of the bags from Think Tank. There are many fine manufacturers, but when I add up all the kit I have spent hard earned buckolas on, most of it is Think Tank gear. From belt kits, to airport sized backpacks, to little bags to big bags, I tend to use my Think Tank bags as "go bags" - pack what I need for the gig / assignment / event and go.

After being robbed of my gear in Barcelona in 2011, I am VERY SENSITIVE regarding camera bags that look like camera bags. Enter the Retrospective series from Think Tank. Recently I had a project / assignment to shoot a Polo match. I knew I was going to be moving around a lot, that I would be using mostly long lenses and a monopod. So I went out and invested in the Retrospective 20.

It looks like a messenger style bag. It has no visible logos. It has a great strap that is comfortable all day and that is long enough that I can sling it across my body or hang it from a shoulder. It's quick to get into, has good padding and its size belies just how much kit you can get in it. The giant bellows pocket on the front is really deceiving. For my Polo work I carried in this relatively small and highly innocuous bag the following gear;

Canon 1D Mk IV with Canon 100-400L mounted Canon 7D Body Canon 2x Converter III Metz 58 AF-2 flash with off camera cord RRS Flash bracket Think Tank Memory Card holder Lenspen Microfibre cloth

The bag was comfortable all day and held my gear safely and securely. The front flap velcros closed with good sized velcro patches and they have silencers sewn on so you can open the bag with no noise at all.

Think Tank has a graphic that is reminiscent of an X-ray to give you an idea of how the bag could load up.

The point is that it can be accessed quickly, holds a camera with a long zoom or prime attached and carries well.

I also own the Retrospective 5 in the Pinestone finish and the Retrospective 30 when I feel the need to carry a lot of stuff into the field.

As kind of a useful aside, Think Tank's material that lines their bags is 18% grey so it's also your portable grey card.  We all know that when you really need a grey card, you don't have one, but with Think Tank you do.

If you are in the US, support the Photo Video Guy by buying your bag online through these links.  Black. Pinestone, Blue Slate.  I am not sponsored by Think Tank and pay for my own gear.

REVIEW : Canon 180/3.5L Macro Lens

Introduction I enjoy macro photography and have worked hard to try to build a bit of skill on the subject.  While many lens claim to be "macro", to be true macro lenses they need to deliver 1x life-size on the sensor.  This means that if you have a full frame sensor of 24mm x 36mm, then the lens must be able to produce an image of the subject that is 24mm x 36mm in real life.

Macro photography can be challenging because depth of field diminishes as the image plane gets closer to the subject.  This is just optics math in action, so consequently, small apertures are used for the closest shots to avoid having only a pinpoint deep focus depth. At the same time, macro lenses need to be optically fast to aid focusing in poor lighting conditions.

Macros are best done from a stable platform, such as a tripod because you might find yourself with slower shutter speeds to accomodate the small aperture, and you want to avoid pushing the ISO too high to maintain the highest possible resolution and low noise.

When we shoot close, we also often need to manage the light as proximity might create shadows or block out the light entirely.  The sample images included here were done with multiple flashes because the ambient light just would not work.  Flash is very useful in macro work because our subjects may be moving, and when very close, even subtle movement can blur the photograph.

I have owned the Canon 100/2.8L macro for some time and like it very much.  I do not advocate macros shorter than 100mm because with a shorter lens you must be physically very close to the subject.  This distance between the front element and the subject is referred to as "stand-off distance".  By the same token, we also know that as focal length increases at a given aperture and camera to subject distance, depth of field is reduced so to go too long will result in depth of field compromise.

After listening to noted photographer Bill Fortney advocate Nikon's 180mm macro lens, I arranged to borrow a Canon 180mm f/3.5 L series macro for testing purposes.  Even the 100mm when shooting life-size requires you to be very close and as I wanted to use softboxes and octas as my sources, I knew I would benefit from the increased stand-off distance the longer lens affords.

Lens Specifications

• Focal Length : 180mm
• Maximum Aperture : f/3.5
• Construction : 14 elements in 12 groups
• Angle of View : 13 degrees 30 minutes
• Closest Focus Distance : 0.48m / 1.6ft
• Filter Size : 72mm
• Size and Weight : 3.2" x 7.3", 2.4 lbs. / 82.5 x 186.6mm, 1,090g
• Includes : Reversible Lens Hood, Tripod Collar

Thoughts

The lens is very sharp and focus is quick because of the Ultrasonic motor.  Focus is internal and of the floating type.  This method is more costly to make but the value returned is minimized aberration as focus distance changes.  It's one of the distinctions between a proper macro lens and a generic one.

The tripod collar increases size and weight but I wish I had one on the 100mm that I own.  Changing camera orientation does not change the image centre, allowing for creative positioning without massive amounts of reset work from a focus and cropping perspective.

In very low light, I found that autofocus with the 1D Mk IV was not effective.  This isn't surprising as the flower petals were not particularly contrasty and even when manually selecting focus points, there just wasn't enough light to make AF accurate.  Switching the lens to manual focus completely decouples AF and the manual is fast and light.  Subjects snap in so I am quite impressed.  I also use an old Minolta angle finder to avoid neck strain and on the rare occasions where I just need more magnification, use Live View and a Hoodman loupe.  The net of it is that obtaining critical focus is simple and consistent.

I was using a set of Metz 58 AF-2 flashes in Westcott Apollo striplights and octas as the primary source and a third Metz with Rogue gels firing at the background paper.  I was using Pocket Wizard radios and their AC3 zone controller and as documented earlier was underwhelmed with the zone control performance.  As the shots were being captured between f/29 and f/32 I was pushing the Metz flashes in the softboxes very hard.  Moving the flashes to manual output from eTTL gave me more control.  This is a Pocket Wizard Zone controller issue, not a flash problem and I've documented it elsewhere.  Once past a number of false starts with the lighting, I was able to get to where I wanted to be.

Colour rendition from the lens is excellent.  As I always do, I used a B+W UVA filter on the lens.  B+W filters are superb and I still wanted the protection for the front lens element in case of something very bad happening.  I used a Jobu lens foot to convert the standard tripod mount to one that would fit the Really Right Stuff bracket that I use.  This is not a flaw in Canon's tripod foot, it is entirely done to suit my tripod configuration.

On the 1D Mk IV, the effective focal length is 234mm due to the 1.3x crop factor in the camera.  That's about as long as I would care to go for macro.  Mounting the lens on the 1Dx full frame makes this lens a really fine portrait lens too, although I don't think I would switch to it away from the 700-200/2.8L that is my portrait "go-to" lens.

I did not experience vignetting or sharpness falloff centre to edge and you shouldn't with a high end macro lens.  I opened the RAW files in both Lightroom and DxO Optics Professional and was pleased to see that the lens profiles in both were needed not at all to address lens issues.  This simple test is a strong indicator of where design issues exist in lenses.  Lightroom's profiles are excellent and in my opinion, those from DxO Optics are the best in the business.  When these acclaimed profiles make only miniscule corrections, this is indicative of superlative lens design.

Conclusions

I have to return the lens soon and will be sad to see it go.  If I did not already own the similarly excellent 100/2.8 L macro, I would not be returning the 180/3.5L.  Knowing what I know now, it's the one I would buy if I could have only one macro lens.  I want to thank Nathan Reeder at Henry's for assisting me in obtaining the lens for the review.

Highly recommended.

Where to for Pocket Wizard's eTTL offerings?

I made substantial investments in the Pocket Wizard TTL radios to use with my Canon cameras over the last couple of years.  I bought the Mini TT1 to use as the primary transmitter and a number Flex TT5s as receivers, and an AC3 zone controller.  I've also purchased the AC7 hard shield because the Canon 580EX II is known to be susceptible to radio interference, particularly when installed in one of Westcott's Apollo soft boxes. For the most part I've been using the Pocket Wizards in a very general manner for distance triggering of TTL flash.  And for the most part, they work quite well.  I do find the need to program them through the Pocket Wizard utility to be a nuisance and Pocket Wizard's documentation would need to improve significantly to achieve the level of suck.  So, as long as you don't need anything more than triggering, they're fine.

The real point though should be to be able to manage flash zones and output by zone for eTTL flash just as you can in the manufacturer's infrared systems.  I use the term eTTL because I have Canon cameras, but Pocket Wizard does support iTTL for Nikon with the appropriate devices.

Recently Canon replaced their optical triggering system with radio in the new 600EX-RT flashes and the ST-E3 controller.  Infrared works fine indoors with line of sight, but it doesn't go around corners and often fails outdoors.   Hence the demand for radio.  Initially I was surprised at Canon's decision because of the apparent lack of backward compatibility with the older flashes.  This has proven to be false as the new flashes can use infrared if you wish.  The ST-E3 is radio only, no infrared.

To get zone control with radio Pocket Wizards, you use the AC3 zone controller and this is where things start to fall down.  The AC3 provides for control of three zones, each zone being configurable for Off, TTL and Manual.  Manual puts the remote flash in manual mode but still allows for eTTL exposure control on other channels.  The theory is that in eTTL mode, you would have +-3 stops of exposure control for each zone, plus whatever control you apply globally on the camera.  The reality is that in a lengthy test, this was not so.  Despite multiple manipulations and test firing there was no demonstration of a six stop range.  Using the AC3 to put the flashes in manual mode actually allows you to vary the power from full to 1/64 power and it works extremely well.  But, I really wanted full eTTL control, and did not get it.

i recall Joe McNally saying at a seminar that Pocket Wizards were decent triggers but that zone control performance was inconsistent at best.  Joe is a big fan of Nikon's Creative Lighting System of course, but not a fan of Pocket Wizard.  He calls them not ready for prime time, and based on tests across several hundred exposures, I have to agree.  This brings me to the question I ask.

A decent powered eTTL flash for Canon or Nikon will run between $400 and $600.  Add another $250 for a Flex TT5 receiver and then $100 for an AC3.  Comparatively, even Canon's 600EX-RT at $729 retail is a better value, the radio is built in, the user interface is extremely elegant and it works consistently.  You will also need a transmitter on the camera and zone manager, so just under $400 for Canon's ST-E3 or about $330 for a Mini TT1 and an AC3.  Simplicity suggests that the Canon solution might be better.  Pocket Wizard says you can use Flex TT5s to control the power of studio flash in non-TTL mode but it's spurious because it works only with a special receiver add-on for a limited number of studio heads.  Since most better studio heads have their own remote system, this is less valuable than one might think out of the gate.  For example, Elinchrom's Skyport radio system comes with their head kits and allows power control from the camera in a single transmitter.

So given that Canon is down the road on radio and is anticipated to replace the 430 EX II with an RT model this fall, why would a photographer without an existing Pocket Wizard investment buy Pocket Wizards at all.  To even use the new CTL software in conjunction with your light meter, you have to replace the radio transmitter in the meter that you already have for about $140.  It's ridiculously expensive for what it is.  The latest CTL software still doesn't work with the 5D Mark III or the 1Dx and there is no date announced when the update will be available.

Based upon the state of Canon's movement into radio and the reasonable probability that Nikon will add radio in the next round of flashes, building on their excellent Creative Lighting System, where does this leave Pocket Wizard?  Unless there are significant price drops and significant usability improvements, I fear that they are on a slope to irrelevance.  Speedlite-ista Syl Arena has reached the same conclusion.

Bowens has ceased delivering PocketWizard receivers for their studio heads because of customer complaints that the Mini TT1 and Flex TT5 units when in transmitter mode won't fire the heads creating customer dissatisfaction, and even with the very nice Plus III transceivers, there are less expensive solutions out there for the studio.  Elinchrom's solution is far more elegant and robust.

I have gotten decent use out of my investment and as simple radio triggers for flash, they work consistently and well.  So long as you don't care about zones, even the eTTL remote functionality works.  But the zone controls are extremely flaky and I had lots of burned shots, despite reading the docs and watching the tutorial videos by Mark Wallace on YouTube.  At no time did I experience accurate eTTL output control with the AC-3, completely inconsistent with my experience using Canon's infrared system and now their radio control system.  If the internet is any indicator, I'm not alone, and Pocket Wizard's zone eTTL radio model is broken or at best unreliable.  i will be keeping my stuff until I can replace all my infrared controlled flashes (a very expensive proposition) and will continue to use the Plus II and Plus III triggers with my studio flashes as they all have Pocket Wizard receivers installed already.  What I won't be doing is spending any more money on anything from Pocket Wizard.  I'm disappointed and don't see them as a viable solution for  truly flexible eTTL flash configurations.

REVIEW : Canon 40/2.8 pancake

There has been a lot of news around the first of the pancake lenses from Canon, mostly about the size, although I think it is more significant that it is the first of Canon's new STM build lenses that supports continuous autofocus for video, although at the time of this writing, only on the Rebel T4i (under it's various global names). Specifications

• Focal Length : 40mm
• Maximum Aperture : f/2.8
• Construction : 6 elements in 4 groups
• Field of View : 57 degrees, 30 minutes
• Filter Size : 52mm
• Closest Focus : 0.98ft / 0.3m
• Size and Weight : 2.7 x 0.9 inch, 4.6 oz. / 68.2 x 22.8mm, 130g

Thoughts

It is very slim, very lightweight and if you want a short wide angle on a full frame or nominal standard lens on a crop sensor, this fits the bill.  You can literally drop it in a shirt pocket.  Autofocus is quick, brightness is decent center to edge and it works like a standard lens.  But like Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Vacation upon arriving at WallyWorld, my first impression is "and so what?"

If you want a standard focal length lens, you can get Canon's plastic fantastic (body not elements) 50/1.8 for less than half the price.  It's not STM, but the average DSLR owner has never used the video in his or her camera more than twice, so autofocus video is not exactly a killer must-have for most users.  Filling a class on DSLR video is tough, it's easier to fill a class on flash, the interest in general just isn't there.

The maximum aperture of f/2.8 is fast enough for today's digital SLRs as most of them do a decent job at higher ISOs but if I was looking for low light performance, why not go with the cheaper and just as sharp 50/1.8?  So it's not about low light...

40mm as a focal length on full frame is, well it's boring and on a crop sensor it's, yup boring here too.  It closely approximates the magnification and general field of view of the human eye, and so is not all that dynamic in the viewfinder and will tend to encourage snapshots.  That's not bad but you can get excellent snapshots from your camera phone.

At 4.6 ounces it sure is light.  But wait a second, Canon's 50/1.8 weighs in at, yes you see it coming, 4.6 ounces.

So let's stop here for a second.  The general DSLR shooter doesn't care about video, so the STM feature isn't really a benefit.  It's slimmer than the 50/1.8 but weighs the same, so the only benefit is that the camera isn't deeper front to back.  It's optically slower than the 50/1.8 by more than a full stop and more than twice the price and the focal length is not really a grabber although it is closer to 35mm than 50mm so better for street shots and casual family snaps.  So far I'm not finding anything really compelling.

Processing Images

Yes the lens is sharp.  It is a fixed focal length lens of a standard focal length with a relatively small maximum aperture.  Making a lens like this sharp for the lens wizards at Canon is something that they can do in their sleep.  If it wasn't sharp, that would be odd and seriously worrisome.

As at this writing, Lens Profiles do not exist for this lens for Lightroom.  Opening the images in the superb DxO Optics Pro v7.5 doesn't reveal a profile for the 5D Mark III and the 40/2.8 as being available, so rather than mis-apply a poor preset, I left it alone.

As consequence when looking closely at the images at higher magnification, I detect some barrel distortion and even though this lens is not an ultra-wide, I find that the perspective exaggeration is excessive.  The sample shot of Quyen is not cropped specifically to give you a sense of this.  In other shots of goods on shelves, I could detect bending of straight lines, albeit only if they were at the tight edge of the frame.  If you were shooting this lens on a crop sensor, I suspect that the smaller image circle would eliminate this from view.

Looking at the histograms and the photo in Lightroom 4.1 and in DxO Optics Pro 7.5 the images are decent.  I shot them on a 5D Mark III that I borrowed off the store shelf, and the focus and exposure were done in automatic modes as that is how this lens will often be used.  I did make an image using bracketing and constructed an HDR as well.  All images will benefit from basic post processing and those from this lens / camera combination are no different.

I've included some of the sample images herein.  They are admittedly boring as I had limited time to make the shots and could not travel far.  The outdoor shots of the motorcycle and the car were at ISO 100 while the indoor shot of my friend Quyen was at ISO 6400 and some noise is therefore visible.

Conclusion

Despite lots of hype about the lens and all the effusive enthusiasm from other reviewers, while it works well and is sharp as expected, I have to ask why you would pay more than double the price of a 50/1.8 for a smaller maximum aperture and exactly the same weight unless you need autofocus in video.

Order this lens from B&H

Clarifying misunderstandings on the Canon 600EX-RT Flash

When Canon announced the 600EX-RT, there was a lot of excitement about the transition from infrared remote control to radio based remote control.  There was also a lot of consternation because most all reviews created the impression that there was no real backward compatibility if you had invested in the older remote technology. Certainly Canon's focus today is on radio with a replacement for the 430EX II expected this fall to go with the 600EX-RT.  There has been little to no discussion of any option other than radio control.  Yet explained in the manual are the instructions to use a 600EX-RT as part of a larger infrared remote system.

The 600EX-RT can work as either a Master or a Slave in a Canon Creative Flash System structure.  While radio is the default, optical services do work when you select them.  You can select the optical options through the flash, although in my own testing, that mode was inconsistent in operation.  When I tried to make the settings work using the 600EX-RT on a 5D Mk III and a 430 EX II as a slave, I was unable to have the ready light display and have the flash fire more than once.  When I got home and tried this with the 600EX-RT on the 1Dx and a 580EX II as a slave.  This time I tried using the External Speedlite control menu to configure the 600EX-RT for optical remote Master mode.  It worked flawlessly and in my opinion making the settings on the camera rather than on the flash is faster and simpler than navigating Canon's menus.

As with any other decently powered hot shoe flash, don't even think about running the unit on alkaline batteries, unless you have direct access to a truck full of batteries.  You'll be happiest when using rechargeables, and my recommendation is to use batteries of at minimum 2100ma current capability, 2700ma for preference.  I also noted that the flash head is larger than the 580EX II so if you like keeping a Sto-Fen diffuser on the flash head as a matter of course, your old ones won't fit, you'll need to buy the new model.

If your Canon DSLR does not have a built-in flash, you could either use a Speedlite as the shoe mounted Master (with or without contributing flash power) or the ST-E2 optical controller.  You can use the ST-E2 as a transmitter to the 600EX-RT if you configure the flash as an optical slave and set the correct groups and channels.  So again you have some backward compatibility with the new flash.  However if you go with Canon's new ST-E3 transmitter, forget about using it with anything other than a 600EX-RT as it is wireless radio only.  Since the ST units are basically flashes without the flash head, limiting the ST-E3 to radio only at its very high price is disappointing, fortunately the 600EX-RT is not similarly crippled.

So if you've been disappointed by the disappearance of the 580EX II from shelves or been misinformed about the optical capabilities of the 600EX-RT, now you know.  The initial higher prices on the 600EX-RT are beginning to level out and as at this writing they are selling for around $600 in Canada.

REVIEW : Sony RX100

I've been shooting photographs for over 35 years and have tried all manner of cameras.  From the days of film to today's digitals, I've enjoyed the practice of photography, be it with  a 4x5, medium format, 35mm, full and crop sensor and micro four thirds.  I've even owned point and shoots, although not many.  I had a Canon G9 for years and nothing came along that would replace it, other than perhaps my iPhone.  My point and shoot is my iPhone, but for the first time since the demise of the G9 that could change. i arranged to borrow the Sony RX 100 following reading Steve Huff's review on his site.  I respect Steve very much as his reviews are always balanced.  That he's a Leica guy, just adds to the fun.

The RX 100 is Sony's newest point and shoot.  Unlike most P&S cameras it has a 1" sensor, the same size as the Nikon 1 family.  The lens is a fixed 3.6x zoom from Carl Zeiss. It's focal length is from 10.4mm to 37.1mm which maps to about 28mm - 100mm on a full frame.  Max aperture starts at f/1.8 and drops to f/4.9 at maximum zoom.  The first thing you notice about shots through the lens regardless of exposure mode is the image quality.  I have Zeiss lenses for my M9 and they produce rich almost 3D images.  The glass in the RX100 is similar to that.  Very sharp and when shot wide open in the wide mode has a really nice bokeh.  Normally, you cannot get shallow depth of field on a P&S, mostly because the sensors are so small.  The 1" sensor coupled with the very fast maxumum aperture gives the kind of depth of field control you normally only find on a DSLR.

The sensor renders at about 20.2MP and you can shoot in RAW and/or JPEG mode.  Note that the RAW format is very new so ACR and Lightroom don't have RAW converters yet.  Sony makes software that they call Image Converter that can be downloaded at no cost.  I use Macintosh computers and the software specifies support up to OS X 10.7.  I did run it on OS X 10.8 and it worked most of the time, only crashing twice.  Once Adobe and Apple get a converter done, you won't need the software and that's probably a good thing.  For the sample images in this post, I used Image Converter to convert the RAW files to TIFF format before processing in Nik's Snapseed.

The JPEGs out of the camera (set to save RAW + Large JPEG) looked like JPEGs.  You know, decent enough but with a lot of the detail gone.  Using Apple's Preview to compare the TIFF and JPEG images, the difference is significant and visible.

In order to test the camera as a buyer might, I shot most of the photographs in automatic mode, using a variety of viewpoints and exposure situations.  Overall the images were very good, with even backlit scenarios being corrected properly.

The autofocus is very fast, and works well in low light (with focus assist) and handles low contrast well.  In addition to the Intelligent Auto mode, there is Superior Auto.  It adds blur protection and noise reduction.  It works very well indeed.  The auto modes are complemented by the usual suspects of Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual.  The lens has a ring around it that takes on different roles depending on the mode.  For example, in Av, it allows you to control the aperture selection, in Tv it controls the shutter speed.  Manual mode is particularly impressive.  The lens ring controls the aperture, and the rear selector wheel controls the shutter speed.  The camera provides direct exposure simulation as you modify the settings which is very usable.  The LCD is extremely bright and incredibly sharp so using the LCD without a proper viewfinder is still very workable.

There is of course a movie mode at 60fps in either interlaced or progressive modes.  Video is very good, although the light weight of the camera tends to introduce shake.  Sony incorporates their Steady Shot technology and it does a decent job.  A nice function is the ability to use AVCHD or MP4 as the storage modes.

Panoramas are very common in P&S cameras these days.  Sony calls their implementation sweep mode and it is very easy to use, and works really well.  It works in both horizontal and vertical shifts, so you can do panoramas in any orientation.

There are a number of of scenes in scene mode as you would expect.  Sony has done a good job of covering the bases and added a few.  Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Food, Macro, Sunset, and Night Scene are implemented.  Sony adds Pet (apparently they've seen the endless cat images on the web), Handheld Twilight (reduces blur in low light), Night Portrait, Fireworks and High Sensitivity (basically ISO push).  The auto modes will make smart decisions about which scene settings to use and is surprisingly accurate.

Minimum aperture is f/11 which gives great depth of field, similar to f/32 on a full frame.  Shutter speed range is 1/2000 to 30s plus bulb mode.  The camera has a drive mode which is selectable for single shot, burst (up to 10fps), Speed Priority Burst, 10s self timer, a Self Portrait Self timer, a 10s timer that takes three shots when it completes, a 3 shot bracket with +- 0.3 EV or 0.7 EV and a White Balance bracket mode with Low or High shift settings.

In addition to the expected Auto ISO, it is selectable between ISO 80 and ISO 6400.  In Auto mode you can select the Maximum and Minimum ISOs that the camera can select.

The default metering mode is a multi pattern mode that handles diverse lighting situations very well.  You can also choose from Center Weighted Average and Spot metering.

The Fn button is fully programmable, but in default mode cycles through selectors for Exposure Compensation, ISO, White Balance, Dynamic Range Optimizer and Picture Effect.  Usability is high and the simulation capability shows what the shifts in exposure or white balance will look like.  It's very simple and quite brilliant.

Images are stored on either Memory Sticks (boo hiss) or SDHC or SDXC cards (yea!).  The card slot is beside the Lithium Ion battery.  The battery is small and is rated for approximately 330 images on a charge.  For a camera this capable, I would have preferred a larger capacity battery.  A spare will be necessary for serious shooters.  My tests were done with a 32GB Transcend card and it worked fine although it's not my first or second choice for production.  You can pull the card to import photos or connect to your computer with the supplied micro USB cable.  Unfortunately, you'll need this cable to connect to the supplied wall wart to charge the battery as there is no external charger.  This is typical for Sony and is one of the major drawbacks of Sony products as you cannot be charging a battery while using the camera.  It's dumb and Sony should get with the program.

From a physical perspective the camera is truly shirt pocket sized with the lens closed.  The lens cover is integral so no parts to lose.  Body construction is metal and feels really well built.  In addition to the shutter release and mode dial on top is the power button and zoom rocker.  On the back is the selector wheel / 4 way rocker and four other buttons, Fn, Help, Play and Menu.  There is a dedicated recessed button to start and stop video.  In addition to the covered USB port on the right side, the bottom plate gives access to the battery / memory card slot and a micro HDMI port.  There is a tripod socket that is conspicuously made out of steel. 

There is of course a built in pop-up flash.  Power specs are a bit optimistic but it does the job.  As you'll see in the image, it looks like a Transformer arm when extended and I am worried about the durability.  When I was first using the camera, the flash would try to deploy and be blocked by my left hand.  That's acclimatization on my part.  Closing the flash feels awkward and increases my concern about durability.

Overall, I am extremely impressed with this camera.  It may end up being the camera that replaces the iPhone 4S as my point and shoot.  The quality of the automatic modes, coupled with the rich overrides make it eminently usable.  If only it had an optical viewfinder, it would be perfect.

Pros:

Great lens, terrific construction, excellent image quality

Cons:

Flash stalk seems fragile, no optical or eye level viewfinder

Highly Recommended

Here are some sample images shot with the camera and processed with Nik Snapseed from TIFF files created from RAW by Sony's Image Converter software.

What should be in the bag

As long as we all understand that this is an opinion piece we're gonna be just fine. 1. A reasonably current camera body. This means something under 5 years old. Older digital slrs still work fine but the tech has moved so far you'll be happier with the better metering and autofocus systems introduced in the last few years. If your battery is more than 3 yrs old, you should think about a replacement. The question of crop sensor or full frame depends on you. If you want ultra wide angles, full frame serves best but for long telephoto work on small subjects, the reduced image circle of the crop sensor really helps.

2. A wide angle to short telephoto zoom. Today's kit lenses are pretty good but there are better options. Something in a 24-70 or 24-105 for full frame or 18-85 on a crop sensor will work. You'll be happiest with a fixed maximum aperture, so look for something between f/2.8 or f/4.0. Slower than that and you give up shallow depth of field and will need to push your ISO to handhold in low light.

3. A telephoto zoom. I like the 70-200 range because you can get good to very good maximum apertures, again in the range between f/2.8 or f/4.0. Don't go for too much reach because you'll sacrifice lens speed and reasonable handholding ability. Look for a lens with a tripod collar. You'll thank me later.

4. A TTL flash. Yup, a flash before more glass. Make sure it works fully with your camera's flash management program and buy the most power you can afford. At some point, often the same day you'll be buying modifiers that improve the quality of light but eat up power. It must have a head that can bounce and swivel at least 90 degrees. Each camera manufacturer has their own unique flash interface. This tends to lead buyers to the manufacturer's own flashes. Not ad but premium price. There are third party flashes that compete effectively and they're often less expensive. Ive been using Metz Mecablitz products for over 30 years and recommend them highly.

5. A macro lens. Look at something in the 100mm range to give decent stand off distance, but still reasonable lens speed. f/2.8 is fast enough, for really small subjects, you'll be on a tripod anyway. For Nikons, you cannot beat their 105/2.8 macro. Canons are best served by the 100/2.8 L series macro. There is a non-L version as well that is still very good. These focal lengths are not only great for macro workout are stellar for portraiture. I don't recommend macros of shorter focal lengths because to achieve 1:1 life size ratios, you will be right up to the subject and this can give you trouble with lighting.

6. A tele converter attached to the telephoto zoom. These things used to really degrade he image quality but the vendor matching ones are excellent. I recommend the 2x as the best all round choice. For Canon get the series III versions as they are much better than their predecessors. Nikon's TC-200 is excellent.

7. Select accessories. This is one of those places where things can get really out of hand, so I'm going to try to keep things short. Or sort of short.

Gadget bag - zillions of choices, try to avoid building a collection. I'm a bad one to talk as I have many bags for different purposes. It's common to buy and sell bags as your use cases change. Great bags are available from LowePro, ThinkTank and Domke. Tripod - carbon fibre for preference with a ball head. A good tripod isn't cheap but a cheap tripod is a complete waste of your money. I recommend Manfrotto, Gitzo and ReallyRightStuff for legs and standardize on RRS ball heads. Filters. - Multicoated UV filters on each lens. Cheap filters ruin images. Also a polarizing filter if you do landscapes. I recommend B+W across the board. Heliopan are also superb, and the US manufactured Tiffen filters are typically very good. House brands are a prescription for failure. Flash diffuser - lots of options, the Gary Fong collapsible Lightdome is one option that works very well and is easy to use. Batteries - NiMH rechargeable batteries for the flash with a charger. Was elect batteries with output equal to or more than 2100ma. Lenspens - buy a few, they get lost easily. Memory cards - faster is better always and a well built card can survive a lot. A cheap card with the same specs as an expensive card is cutting corners somewhere, usually in the memory itself. That is the most important component since you have nothing without it. Avoid cards with less bandwidth than 60mb/s if you can and while it's good to have multiple cards, small cards are false economy. At the time of this writing, 16gb cards are the most cost effective buy. I've used Transcend in the past but have experienced slow bandwidth, high performance specs notwithstanding. So for now at least, I would stick with high performance Lexar or Sandisk cards. The Hoodman cards are the toughest on the market and use the best flash memory but are very pricey. You'll also want to process your images. Software often comes with the camera but it's most often limiting. Many computer operating systems include a basic photo editor such as the iPhoto application included with Apple's OS X. After trying many different tools I recommend Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Lightroom runs on Windows and Macintosh, and not only edits, but has a superb cataloging system. Lightroom is an editor for photographers. You certainly do amazing things in Photoshop itself but PS is a designer's tool first whereas Lightroom is built for photographers. Adobe cut the price substantially with version 4 making the product much more accessible.

Once you've accumulated a kit something like this you are in pretty solid shape. There are always more things to get, such as off camera flash options, additional flashes, battery grips, non-slip straps, a second body and more lenses. We haven't talked about printing at all and won't here. I will close the post with thoughts on more glass

Beyond your wide angle lies the realm of the ultra wide. This space really demands a full frame sensor. Rectilinear wides keep lines straight but show plenty of perspective exaggeration. Fisheye lenses allow straight lines to bend. They look cool but are costly and have limited use in general. I personally select the 14mm rectilinear on a full frame as one of my favorite lenses.

If you need more reach you are into the realm of super telephotos. This is very expensive glass since its specialized demands also necessitate high lens speed with wider maximum apertures. Unless you are generating a lot of revenue, you may be better off renting. If you are going to shoot pro sports or do serious bird work, this range starts at 400mm with 600mm lenses being favoured. They cost like a decent used car though.

Tilt shift lenses allow you to manipulate the plane of focus, most often used to correct architectural images that are leaning or look like they are falling over. They're expensive and today's post processing software can do a lot of corrective work, formerly the province of tilt shift lenses. Some landscape photographers really like the tilt shift lens to control the scene. Well known and widely respected photographer Moose Peterson uses the tilt shift in this way.

There's a lot of noise about fast primes these days. Back when film ruled most SLR cameras came with a 50mm lens with maximum aperture of f/2.0 or slightly wider. Now vendors call these "portrait" lenses. This is true on a crop sensor because of the reduced image circle, but on a full frame it's a bit wide. If you really feel the need to get a fast prime, save your money until you can afford a lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.4. My favorite 50/1.4 is by Zeiss but it is really expensive and is manual focus only.

If someone tells you that photography is an inexpensive hobby, they may have a mental illness or a serious addiction to hallucinogens. It is an expensive hobby. It's also the only way I know to freeze time and tell a story in a single image. Gear is great but getting out and shooting is the most important thing.

Announced : The Canon EOS M

Well yes I know that it's been rumoured for quite some time, and yes I know that Canon has been conspicuously absent from the whole mirrorless interchangeable lens format marketplace. Well, now they aren't.  Mostly.

Mostly because while the camera, flash and a pair of lenses are announced they won't be available until October 2012, sort of classic Canon of late, announce today, deliver in the future.

So what is in this little monster?

First up is the 18MP APS-C sensor.  If that sounds even vaguely familiar to you, it should since Canon has 18MP sensors in a few cameras already such as the Rebel T2i, Rebel T3i, Rebel T4i, 60D and 7D.  Funny most all run ISO ranges of 100-12800.  Not a bad thing, it's a proven sensor that produces good images until you push into the higher ISOs in low light.  Processing is handled by Canon's current Digic 5 CPU.

Given that it is APS-C you can apply the usual multiplier of 1.6x to the focal length of lenses to get an approximate sense of what the field of view would compare to on a 35mm film camera.  I know lots of people love to talk about this but I wonder when we will just get to the point of talking right to field of view and lose all this crop sensor nonsense.

That said, the prime lens is an EF-M 22mm f/2.0  That is a new lens mount although an EF / EF-S adapter was announced today as well.  The field of view will be like a 35mm lens in the old world, very popular for family shots, groups and street shooting, wide without excessive perspective exaggeration.

It looks like there will be a kit zoom as well, an 18-55/3.5-5.6 image stabilized STM lens.  Canon recently announced STM lenses with the T4i with the benefit of continuous autofocus in video and smooth and quiet operation.  This compares consistently with the 18-55 range found in most DSLR kits and in the Sony NEX line.

Shutter speed range is from 30 seconds to 1/4000 of a second and the E-TTL accessory flash syncs at 1/200.  There is no built-in flash in the camera so no stalks to break or transformer like arms to shear off.  The body is similar in size to its brethren, most closely resembling the Sony NEX-5n in size.  It has a 1M dot LCD viewscreen and no optical viewfinder (BOO HISS), nor any visible connector for an accessory EVF (BOO squared).

The camera uses SD, SDHC and SDXC cards and while it has no built-in wireless, you could always go with one of those Eye-Fi cards if you need wireless connectivity.  With that fast processor, don't cheat yourself by stuffing your old cheap-ass SD card in this puppy.  Get something that will do at least 60MB/s continuous read and write.

The camera, wait for it, does HD video.  Enormous surprise.  All the usual video suspects are present.  The STM lenses will help a bit but the presence of "stereo microphones" on the top of the camera are unlikely to give the Dolby folks anything to worry about.

Like other cameras of its ilk, the EOS M has a number of enhancing technologies including noise reduction (it takes four shots and uses the best parts for the composite), handheld night scene mode, HDR backlight control mode, intelligent auto and seven creative filters.  So far no one has put in a creative filter called Instagram and called that one over.

The announced flash is the Speedlite 90EX.  It's small and pocketable with a Guide Number of 9m at ISO 100 so it's not going to reach great distances but will get the job done.  Canon was smart and used their standard shoe configuration so this flash will work on any Canon camera and other Canon E-TTL II flashes will work on the EOS-M.

The camera seems bereft of knobs and dials and this is due to it being driven by a 3" LCD touchscreen.  It is said to be smudge resistant.  Time will tell how well that works out.  The demographic of buyers will include those who live and breathe touchscreens and those who like real tactile response. Since there is no optical viewfinder and no EVF add-on the likelihood of it turning into a nose-operated device is minimized.  Personally I'd happily give up touchscreen for an optical viewfinder.  Canon is not known for easy to use menu systems so I hope this is better than the touchscreen layout on the current crop of point and shoot cameras they have.

Canon Canada is listing the lenses as individual skus, along with the EF/EF-S lens adapter and the flash.  As of this writing they are only showing the camera in kit form with the 18-55 and the flash all in one package, which if one were so inclined makes a lot of sense.  Vistek is listing two kits, one with the 22mm and flash and one (in black, red or white) with the 18-55 and flash.  Pricing is $829 and $879 respectively.  Note that these are preorders as the product is not expected until October.  Henry's website listed the lenses and the flash but the search did not turn up the body yet.

Will it sell?  Of course it will.  It says Canon on the front and the hype around it has been incredible.  Nikon didn't exactly knock the doors down with the Nikon 1 and despite customer satisfaction issues with the J1, since the price correction was applied they sell pretty well.  The Canon has a standard sensor which will give a higher probability of excellent images and Canon is well-respected in the point and shoot game so this is a natural step up for the P&S shooter who wants simple and quality.  And everyone will get to wait until October, unless the camera gets 1Dx syndrome and that becomes next June.

Canon's EOS 1Dx - First Impressions

Well the long awaited 1Dx showed up this Monday.  Thank goodness I'm a member of Canon Professional Services, otherwise I would likely have seen the thing in October.  It is seriously constrained and backorders are substantial. So to first impressions.  Start lifting weights.  Or at least curling dumbbells cause this critter is serious.  When Canon says built tough, it feels tough.  It is heavy, solid and fits my hand perfectly.  It is heavier in the hand than my 1D Mk IV and it doesn't yet have the RRS L bracket on it (because they are backordered too).

I am taking things slowly and have now read the manual through cover to cover twice.  Once in the little paper book you get and once using the PDF version loaded into iBooks on the iPad.  The manual is decently laid out and the language is clear.  None of the common translation bugbears is present.

Having owned the 10D (sold), the 20D (traded in on the 40D), the 40D (traded in on the 5D Mk II), the 5D Mk II (traded in on the 1Dx), the 7D and the 1D Mk IV hats off to Canon's people who are starting to get the concept of User Interface when it comes to menus.  Much less is buried in Custom Functions and more is readily available as a menu item.  The completely new autofocus system has its very own menu subsystem and while the nomenclature sounds like bafflegab until you read the documentation, you can get around pretty quickly and get things done in the menus with great efficiency.

I noticed right away that Canon put some thought into the target market that would by the camera.  In addition to shutter releases, AF lock and AE lock on the battery grip for vertical orientation, they have also created separate button sets for Mfn1, Mfn2, Depth of Field preview and the joystick itself to make vertical orientation fast and easy.

The viewfinder shows full coverage and is bright with easy to read indicators.  You can set the AF success indicator to appear in frame or out of frame.  I tried it in frame and found it distracting but it is less informative out of frame.  There has been a complaint that the focus point indicators are hard to see in low light (because they are black) and I have to agree.  Hopefully Canon can address this issue that also plagues the 5D Mk III in firmware.  It's a UI mistake that someone needs a smack for.

Canon changed their plan to use a completely different battery post announcement and prerelease so the LP-E4 batteries from the existing 1D Mk IV are compatible.  I'm glad they did as I like many photographers are sick to death of getting our pockets picked for tiny changes in battery configuration.  The new battery is called the LP-E4N and has gold labelling.  Other than that I cannot tell the difference.  Canon has a nasty history of making silly mods to make customers buy new.  For instance the only difference between the battery grips between the 5D Mk II and the 5D Mk III is that the first grip has a little post that is not on the new one which prevents you from mounting the old one.

One of the callout features of the 1DX is the top ISO of 204,000.  It sounds ridiculous but it actually works.  I found that the performance at 25600 was better than 12500 on the 1D Mk IV.

The new focus system is as fast as they claim, although the real enhancement is found when you use it in AI Servo mode.  Canon provides six pre-defined AI Servo focus "cases" that are all customizable and while I surely have not stress tested them yet, initial looks are very promising.

The camera has in camera RAW processing, in addition to the usual ability to shoot RAW and/or JPEGs.  The JPEG options are similar with plenty of predefined "styles" and size options.  Since I never shoot JPEGs, I haven't spent any time in this area except to set the style to Neutral so the LCD panel shows images with as little modification as possible.  I'm sure that there are good reasons for the in camera RAW processing but I am quite happy doing so on the computer when importing, either directly into Lightroom or via Photo Mechanic (which unlike Lightroom makes use of the JPEG that exists inside every RAW file).

Since I work during the day, I really have not done anything to put stress on the camera yet.  I have found some little things that I really do like and one of these is the ability to set the frame count in burst mode.  I don't need 12fps (or 14fps) very often but 3fps in low is a bit light so being able to make a simple menu setting to make it 5fps is just brilliant.

Some folks are complaining about the fact that it is 18MP vs the 22MP in the 5D Mk III.  To each their own.  I'll take a slighter lower pixel count for the rocking low light capability thank you very much.

This is only a first impression set, more to come.

Canada alternative to the Flashpoint beauty dish for small flash

At the recent Joe McNally seminar he advocated using the Flashpoint beauty dish for small flashes.  Flashpoint is available from Adorama, and they do ship to Canada but you don't have to go that route if you don't want to.

I discovered a modular kit called Easy-Go at the local Henry's.  They carry a number of pieces for the Easy-Go flash modifiers.  For this kit, in addition to your small flash, you need the proper mount adapter for your flash.  In my example I am using a Metz 58 AF-2, which is the same size head as the Canon 580 EX II flash it is labeled for.  The mount slips over the flash head and grips with rubbery "fingers".  It's quite stable and doesn't slide off readily.  The first image shows the dish itself, the mount (with clip side up) and the Metz flash.

The mount has replaceable clips that clip onto the rim of the beauty dish and hold it securely.  You can remove the dish of course to use the mount with other accessories.  I have not yet found an Easy-Go grid for the beauty dish as is available for the Flashpoint at extra cost but I have a couple of ideas on how to make one, so more to come on that.

The beauty dish retails for about $40 and the mount for about $20 so $60 all told.  Just be sure to get the right mount for your flash.  Now I have tried this before and returned the unit because the TTL system was consistently getting the exposure wrong.  In his seminar, Joe made the simple point that the default TTL flash exposure is often fooled so if one considers it a place to start and then uses the flash exposure compensation function found in most all digital SLRs that use TTL flash.  I admit I had not looked at things that way and had readily used FEL to correct other TTL challenges.  More fool me.

So if you want to go the route of a small portable beauty dish for small flash, you don't have to order across the border (presuming you are in Canada) and can get the Easy-Go through your Henry's outlet or your local photo retailer.  The distributor in Canada for the product is Nadel so they can likely direct you if you don't have a friendly local retailer.

Building a small flash extension pole

I attended the Joe McNally One Light Two Light in Toronto yesterday and learned a ton of stuff.  One of Joe's tips was to use a painters pole to make a low cost small flash boom.

Joe recommended the extensible pole by Shurline.  When he went to demonstrate it, the nail pin he was using, that had an SB900 on a bracket and holding a Lastolite 12 soft box took to the air and bounced off an attendees head.  So when doing my own, I wanted to try an alternative.

The Shurline has an aluminum insert that is threaded for a paint roller handle.  This makes the outside diameter of the adapter too large to fit into a small flash bracket.  The solution I saw involved removing the insert and replacing it with an Avenger nail pin.  I had a hunch that the outside diameter at the inside of the thread was pretty close to the inside diameter of a flash bracket.  So I went and bought a Shurline at Home Depot for $30 to see what I could do.

Using a micrometer that measured inside and outside diameters, I found I was right.  The outside diameter of the fitting at the inside of the thread was a bit smaller than the inside diameter of the flash bracket I was testing, which happens to be the Joe McNally Tri-Flash bracket from Lastolite.

In the first image you can see the ground down thread section. Its pretty close to flush but not entirely, but is ground from the tip to the mounting ring.  This allows the tip to fit deeply into the flash bracket mounting hole.Since I did not want to go the nail pin route, I took the pole into my shop and went at the fitting with a grinding wheel in the bench grinder.  Going reasonably slowly I ground down the threads to be mostly flush.  I didnt smooth things out completely because I wanted it to be easier for grip screws to grab on.

The Shurline is collapsible and unlike many other options has a simple trigger release and pinhole locking notches so you arent rotating friction locks like on a tripod.  While this fixes the expanded lengths to fixed distances, it makes extending fast and easy.  Also nice is that holding the handle while pressing the trigger release and pulling apart, the pole expands both ways so its easy to control.

In the next image you can see the pinholes in the pole expanded to the first notch.  Youll note that the visible pinhole provides a locking notch for when the pole is completely compressed.

The final image shows the pole expanded a bit with the McNally Tri-Flash bracket mounted on it.  Its a simple enough project and much less expensive than the flimsier booms sold for around $200.  Total cost was the $30 for the pole and about 10 minutes of my time on the bench grinder.  You could use files of course but that would take more time.  Some poles have plastic fittings instead of aluminum which will be modifiable more quickly, but would also be more fragile than the aluminum fittings.

REVIEW : Westcott Icelight

Much was made at the announcement of Westcott's Icelight about size, portability and softness.  All true.  Sort of. The Ice Light comes from Westcott and is designed by respected photographer Jerry Ghionis.  Specifications are located here.

The device comes in a simple kit as shown;

The case is lightweight and easy to handle, the charger attaches quickly and the gel clips, well they allow you to put a gel in front of the light source.  Yes it actually does look like a short lightsaber, but without the interesting audio additions.  The switches are on/off and variable brightness, all clear and simple to work with.

At first glance the thing should be brilliant.  And it is.  Sort of.

The Good

• Lightweight
• Mounts to a light stand tilter bracket with a standard fitting
• Hangs at the end of a boom without needing a giant counterweight
• Very soft light
• Portable
• Recharges reasonably quickly
• Colour balance is very good

The Not So Good

• Seriously underpowered if competing with any volume of ambient light
• You have to get it REALLY close to your subject
• Battery life ok, not great
• Hard to get by with just one
• Needs a stand, voice operated or not
• Needs a tilter bracket
• Durability a concern
• Expensive - Really expensive

In fairness, my use cases may not fit the device well.  I wanted one for a number of reasons

1. To use as a tool when I teach lighting techniques
2. To use as a supplementary source to fill harsh shadows or soften closeups when shooting outdoors
3. As a "one light" fast portrait source
4. Convenient like a flash, but with a softer look
5. Reasonable depth of field control

I'm afraid that the relatively low output, the requirement for extra kit to position it and that one just isn't enough doesn't cut it for me.  Doesn't make it a bad product, but I would need it to deliver a lot more than it does for what I feel is an outrageously high purchase price.   It is version one of the device.  I did shoot models with it (several its in actuality) at Photoshop World and the light is nice, but for the cost involved, I could get a set of Spiderlite TD6s that while larger and more cumbersome do the soft light job much more effectively and with enough power to permit useful depth of field control.  It's going back to the vendor.  I am hopeful that the price comes down out of the stratosphere so its ROI improves and I am hopeful that future versions have a lot more output.  As it stands, I cannot make a business case for it.

The Canon T4i

Canon has announced the replacement for the venerable T3i. The T4i should be available in stores in Canada by the 20th, with the new lenses available likely in July. The new camera still has the 18mp sensor as seen in the 7D and the 60D. What is new is the Digic 5 processor that is driving the processing in the camera that provides 14 bit depth compared to the 8 bit depth in the predecessor. That's a significant enhancement. The new camera has 9 cross point autofocus and 63 zone metering, similar to the 60D. The burst mode is to be 5 fps and that's very quick for decent resolution in a consumer oriented camera.

Unlike most DSLRs, the T4i will have continuous autofocus for video, but there is a small catch. For the continuous AF to work, you'll want to be using one of the new lenses announced at the same time.

First up is an EF-S 18-135. This new lens incorporates a stepper motor which gives very fast focus movement. Second is a 40/2.8 pancake lens also with a stepper motor for AF with video, but this lens is an EF mount so it can be used on full frame bodies. The new lenses as noted likely won't be available until July so we'll have to wait to see them to give a fair performance assessment.

Look for sales on the T3i to make space for the T4i which is a replacement. Prices are still in flux but the new camera will likely retail pretty close to the older one.

Prime or zoom? Thoughts on a common question

I met a couple of club members at the Exposure show this weekend and one, who is really committed to constantly improving his skills, was saying he needed a new lens to shoot a wedding.

He shoots a Nikon DX camera and loves his Sigma 70-200/2.8 but found that after crop factor he wasnt able to do groups.  His other lens is the 18-55 kit lens.  After talking to a representative at a couple of the booths he had concluded that he needed an 18-200.  Its not my money so not my place to tell him that spending money on a lens like this will turn out to be a mistake.

He, like many photographers, is discovering that the kit lens is not cutting it for him.  But he does need a quality wide angle lens for group settings.  The challenge as we know is having effective depth of field control when going wide.  

I made the suggestion that he rent a prime or two, along with a second body rather than investing in a lens that duplicates the range he already has.  The Sigma is faster and edge sharper than the kit lens or the 18-200.

One of the challenges of a DX body is that getting wide becomes a problem.  Nikon does a really nice 20/2.8 and 24/2.8  When we calculate the effect of the DX sensor that 20mm becomes 30mm and the 24mm becomes 36mm.  So if he has a big group, neither really suits.  If he had an FX sensor, the 24mm would work well for larger groups without fall over effect.

If he has to stay with a DX sensor, his options become more limited.  Presuming that the 18-55 wont do the job, I will suggest either of the Sigma 10-20/3.5 EX zoom or Nikons own 12-24/4 IF-ED.

Theres no simple answer to these kinds of questions.  The DX/FX or crop/full frame body choices have a dramatic impact on future agility when it comes to glass.  This is why I see more and more serious photographers going with both crop sensor and full frame bodies to provide coverage on the wide and the telephoto.

REVIEW : Hahnel Giga T Pro II Wireless Timer Remote

I've been getting a lot more engaged in night photography and I learned a method for getting better images from Scott Martin and Dr. Russell Brown at Photoshop World in March. The process is called Stacking and while you can do this with special software, Russell has released a Photoshop script called Stack-A-Matic that easily combines your images into a single image. The key to successful stacking is an intervalometer. For most night shots I had been using the Canon RS-80N3 remote cord. It's basically an electro-mechanical release allowing you to release the shutter without touching the camera and to hold the shutter open in Bulb mode by using of a sliding lock. It's simple and it works and sells for about $105 although ymmv.

I could use this release for stacking but it depends on me to be accurate in my exposure timing and in my sequence timing. What Scott and Russell advocate is a sequence of shots of fixed exposure duration separated by one second intervals in order to ensure that star trails are gapless. This isn't HDR, it's lots of short exposures that are stacked to get amazing levels of detail, very low noise and a cumulative very long exposure. Doing things this way means you can get star trails without blowing out the foreground or having your sky look like a pointillist painting because of all the digital noise.

I looked first at Canon's timer remote, the TC-80N3. It looks like the RS-80N3, except that it has a digital timer in it. Since these timers are pretty common these days, I was shocked when I saw that it sells for about $275. Really!? And you are still tied to your camera by a 2 1/2 foot cable.

That wasn't going to work as I also wanted to be able to do some light painting and that means getting away from the camera while the sequence is shooting. This led me to the Hahnel Giga T Pro II Wireless Timer Remote.

Long name for a very simple tool. The kit consists of a transmitter, a receiver and a couple of cables to connect to different Canon models. The transmitter can work just like the TC-80N3 via cable but the kit really shines when you carry the transmitter and set the receiver at the camera connected via cable to the remote port. The wireless is via radio, not infrared and there are multiple channels available to avoid interference.

You can trigger single sot, burst mode, delayed firing and hold the shutter open in bulb mode simply. In bulb mode, the transmitter even includes a timer so you aren't looking at a watch or counting seconds.

The kit really shines for interval sequences. After reading the documentation (which is easy to understand), I programmed 10 second exposures, 1 second apart with 30 repeats as a test. It took less than a minute to program, pressed the start button and walked away. Just over 330 seconds later, I had 30 images, all exposed as selected.

Then it's simple enough to use Dr. Brown's Stack-A-Matic to combine all the images together in Photoshop. You can get Stack-A-Matic here from The Russell Brown Show web property.

Summary

The Hahnel Giga T Pro II Wireless Timer Remote retails for about $130. I'd suggest it over the alternatives I did test and choose not to write about. The kit is available for Canon, Nikon, Olympus and Sony cameras.  Hahnel lists a Panasonic model but it looked to be a special order.

Fuji Announces New Cameras - But Not the One I Want

With CES imminent, expectations are high around announcements from the major vendors and with the success in 2011 of both the X100 (yuck) and the X10 (also yuck) Fuji is one of those major vendors.  Smart marketers those Fujians, getting their press releases out BEFORE the avalanche of releases that is CES.  And Fuji did not disappoint.  Well except for me.  Here's the text from the overlay release; and the links should be hot, unless I screwed up the post. FUJIFILM Corporation (President and CEO: Shigetaka Komori) is delighted to announce the new lineups of the FinePix digital camera series. The wide range of new FinePix lineups will provide customers even more convenient solution from capturing to sharing, professional to simple point and shoot, and satisfy and amaze all customers around the world with their exciting photography life.

• Fujifilm FinePix F770EXR and FinePix F750EXR: “Zoom” and “Speed” in compact body
• Fujifilm FinePix F660EXR: the travel compact camera that takes you further
• Fujifilm FinePix HS30EXR and FinePix HS25EXR: faster, sharper, even more versatile
• Power, flexibility and creative control with the FinePix S4500, S4400, S4300 and S4200
• Fujifilm FinePix SL300, SL280, SL260 and SL240: the next level of bridge cameras
• Fujifilm FinePix XP150, FinePix XP100: ultimate compact for the most demanding shooting conditions
• Fujifilm FinePix XP50: takes everything life can throw at it
• Fujifilm FinePix Z1000EXR: Stay connected in style
• Fujifilm FinePix Z110: the ultimate picture-taking accessory
• Fujifilm FinePix T350 and FinePix T400: versatile and easy-to-use value compact cameras
• Fujifilm FinePix JX700, JX580, JX550, JX520 and JX500: simple, but stylish
• Fujifilm FinePix JZ250 and FinePix JZ100: compact zoom with stabilization technology in slim body

The new cameras will be showcased at 2012 The International CES, Las Vegas, USA.

=====

That's a long list of cameras.  I had prior info about the SuperZooms and they make sense given the success in the holiday season of Nikon's P500 and Canon's 40xs is.  But, if I were a buyer for a camera store chain, I'd be filling the coffee mug with straight Lagavulin since it is clear that no one at Fuji has studied anything about the problems created by too much choice.  Looking at the list, I think of Lowe bags.  There are so many too choose from, buyers end up choosing none, or one that's not right.  Harvard Business School has done numerous studies on this "Too Much Choice" issue but plainly manufacturers in the photo industry are not paying attention.  Thus camera stores have buckets of inventory of products so close to each other from a single vendor that no one can readily tell them apart.  You'll note that Leica does not make this mistake and you'll also note that there are no M lenses to be found and that Leica sees fit to raise prices because of demand.

What did Fuji not announce?  Where is the X Pro, the interchangeable lens CDSLR/EVIL/Mirrorless/MILF that has been rumoured and of which photos already exist.  If, as Trey Ratcliff proposes, the future is not the DSLR, then the X Pro fits that niche and certainly there is space above the X100 and below the M9 for serious enthusiasts.  C'mon Fuji, get the lead out and get that new camera out.  As for the rest of your announcements, I'm sure that they are all really fine products, but frankly I'm bored and underwhelmed.  What is it the cool kids say?  Oh yeah.  Meh.

Sandisk and Google for the win!

You may have heard this story but I think it is so awesome, I want to share it with readers.

A user of a Canon 1000D lost his camera overboard into the ocean off Vancouver.  Fourteen months later, a scuba diver discovered the camera while on a dive.  Now this diver is a complete class act as he not only raised the camera, he pulled the SD card (a Sandisk Extreme III) from the camera, let it dry out and cleaned it and then tried to read the card.  To his surprise there were photos on the card.  So he loaded them up on Google in the hope that this might help identify the owner.

The Google folks helped out and the original owner was reunited with the camera and the pictures!  That is just so cool!.

Awesome shout outs to the diver, to Google and to the nice folks at Sandisk whose product survived over a year's immersion in salt water and still was able to be used to recover the pictures.

Pretty cool article comparing the Sony NEX-7 to the Leica M9 - Using the same Leica lens!

The Sony NEX-7 is very skinny on the ground given the horrible flooding in Thailand.  My contact at Sony fears that stores won't be seeing new gear until February at the earliest.  The folks at Leica explain the absence of pretty much every one of their M lenses on "market demand".  Why?  Because folks are buying newer mirror less cameras and Leica adapters to use M lenses.

No doubt about the quality of the Leica glass, but what happens when you put Leica glass on the hot new NEX-7?  The people at Luminous Landscape have done it in a multi-part assessment.  Follow the link to read the article 15 December, 2011 - NEX-7 vs. Leica M9 Resolution

Where do I get those cool lens glasses and mugs

Must be the season but a lot of people have been asking me where to get those glasses and mugs that look like lenses.  There is the Nikon shot glass, and the Canon mugs that look like L series zooms.

The place to go is Photojojo's online store.  Go check it out, they have some wicked cool and full geek on gear!

Nikon 1 Series Firmware Update

Nikon has released a firmware update for the J1 and V1 cameras in preparation for the release of the FT1 adapter.  The FT1 allows the mounting of Nikon F mount lenses on the new small sensor cameras that despite the mcmarketing are not actually CDSLRs where C is compact.  They are more like CARFs but that's a different rant.