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Posts Tagged ‘Experience’

Shooting experience: how the Nikon D7500 won me over

13 Jun
Initially, the D7500 was going to be my secondary camera for a music festival I was shooting, and the D750 was going to be my primary. But ultimately I ended up using the D7500 more.

The arrival of the Nikon D7500 to our office coincided with one of my favorite annual Seattle events, the Big Building Bash, an all-day music festival held in the city’s industrial SoDo neighborhood.

Ordinarily I shoot music with a Nikon D750 and two primes, which vary depending on the space I’m shooting. I run a small publication – along with a group of contributors – documenting the DIY aspects of Seattle’s music community. This mostly means shooting in small, intimate spaces where multiple camera bodies or big lenses would likely raise an eyebrow or two.

But Big Building Bash is a bit more casual in nature than a show in someone’s living room, so I felt comfortable bringing two bodies. My kit included: The D750 with a 24mm F1.8G as my primary camera and the D7500 with an 85mm F1.8D as my secondary. Switching lenses between the two cameras effectively gave me four (equivalent) focal lengths.

Big Building Bash is a charming little music festival held under the West Seattle Bridge in SoDo’s warehouse district. It is a showcase of Seattle’s best up and coming music, with no real emphasis on a specific genre. This leads to a vast array of acts and shooting scenarios, with the strong sun cutting through highway overpass pillars and the occasional passing train engine only adding to the overall charm.

We got to the festival as the first bands on the schedule were starting to play. With attendees trickling in and the mid afternoon sun shining bright and direct, I started dialing in my preferred camera settings.

AF Fine Tune

I fired a couple of test shots with each camera and noticed that the 85mm on the D7500 was front-focused. No problem, the camera has auto AF Fine Tune. A nifty, though strangely hidden feature that automatically corrects front or back focus. It’s great for primes, but less useful for zooms, as only one adjustment value can be saved. A quick Google search pulled up our own video, revealing how to unlock this feature. Within moments my 85mm was perfectly calibrated. It was time to get shooting!

I found myself switching the two lenses back and forth between my camera bodies. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy shooting with both a crop sensor and full frame body. The reach of the 85mm on the D7500 proved extremely useful and I appreciated also being able to go as wide as 24mm with the D750. However 35mm is probably my favorite focal length, so the 24mm on the D7500 was also a joy to use.

3D tracking

I’m a creature of the night, and adjusting to live music in a bright environment took some brain rewiring. Normally, I dial in all my settings manually including ISO, and shoot using AF-C and a single, manually chosen point (the center point if it’s really dark). Instead, I switched both cameras to Auto ISO and decided to give 3D tracking a go on the D7500.

The D7500, D7200 and D750 all use the same 51-point AF system. But each has a different metering sensor, which is also used for image recognition. The metering sensor in the D7500 is borrowed from the company’s flagship APS-C DSLR, the D500, and is the highest-res of the bunch: ninety times higher than the D7200 and twice that of the D750.

3D tracking allowed me the freedom to frame as I pleased, as long as my subject fell within the AF coverage area.

I’d used 3D tracking before while writing about the Nikon D5 and was impressed by its reliability. The D5 also uses the same resolution metering sensor as the D7500, but with triple the AF points. And while the D750 and D7500 use the same 51-point AF system, the AF area covers far more of the D7500’s APS-C sensor than it does on the full-frame D750. The limited AF area coverage and the generally low light nature of my work are the reasons I do not often use 3D tracking on my personal camera.

The AF coverage on the D7500 is the same as on the D7200. However the metering sensor, used for image recognition, has been substantially upgraded.

And my inexperience using/trusting 3D tracking on anything other than the company’s most expensive body lead me to commit the unholy act of ‘chimping’ several times during the first band. In my defense, I did this just to be absolutely certain I was actually getting sharp, in-focus shots. Thankfully Carey Rose has set the ‘OK’ button on the D7500 to zoom images in playback to 100% on the focus point. This made double checking sharpness quite simple.

This was one of the very first frames I shot on the D7500 using 3D tracking. Once I trusted its capability, I was free to concentrate on composition.

Once I felt I could trust the subject recognition, it didn’t take long to get hooked on using the D7500’s 3D tracking. The camera stuck to my subjects of choice with ease. And the 51-point AF system provided enough coverage so that I could even place subjects close to the edge of the frame.

‘It didn’t take long to get hooked on using the D7500’s 3D tracking. The camera stuck to my subjects of choice with ease.’

Ultimately 3D tracking freed me up from having to think about autofocus and allowed me to simply concentrate on composition and exposure, which in turn lead me to use the D7500 as my primary camera for the duration of the festival. That plus I liked the reach of the 85mm on it.

Drummers with long hair are photographic gold. I used the camera’s 8 fps continuous drive to try and get the perfect frame.

Burst, buffer and tilting touchscreen

I don’t normally shoot in continuous drive mode, but with an 8 fps burst and a super-deep buffer of 50 Raw files or 100+ JPEGs, I figured, I’d give it a try. An eccentric drummer provided the perfect opportunity to fire off a long burst. After looking back through those images, I decided to keep the camera in continuous drive mode for the duration of the festival, figuring I might as well come back with as many photos to choose from as possible.

The tilting touch LCD also proved useful: I use Live View on my D750 occasionally, but moving the AF point with the D-pad is a slow and annoying process. With the D7500 I could simply tap on the area I wanted to focus on. Of course, AF in Live View is contrast detect only, so speeds are a bit sluggish.

I used the tilting touch LCD to frame this shot toward the start of the show. This was the view from the beer garden. Did I mention the D7500 has great weather beer-sealing? Because it does.

Other takeaways

As the festival pressed onward, and I became comfortable with my chosen settings, I slipped into autopilot mode and simply tried to enjoy and photograph as many bands as possible. It wasn’t until hours later, with the sun dropping behind the buildings, that I started to lose my faith in 3D tracking and switched to old-fashioned AF-C using a single point. To be honest, switching back felt downright prehistoric after a full day of near-compositional freedom.

I ended up shooting over 8 hours and in that time I put away 2,542 images (Raw + JPEG) with 3/5 battery still left. Not bad for a camera with a CIPA rated battery life of 950 shots per charge.

This was one of the last frames I shot using 3D tracking. As the band Snuff Redux finished their set, the sun ducked behind the buildings and I switched back to AF-C using one point.

Ultimately, I brought the D7500 along to Big Building Bash thinking I’d get some time to test it for work. But I photographed the show primarily for my own purposes/publication and as such, getting the shot was paramount to testing gear. Still, if nothing else, I figured the D7500 would be a good compliment to my trusted D750. But it turns my D750 was more a compliment to the D7500.

Note: Images in this story are all JPEGs edited and occasionally cropped to taste (no ACR support yet). You can see the original out-of-camera JPEGs in the sample gallery below.

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Sony a9 shooting experience: Here’s why I’m impressed

24 Apr

Introduction

Sony’s looking to storm the sports photography market with its new a9 mirrorless camera.

When I started shooting sports for college publications, I was stuck working with 3 fps. Then I graduated to a new camera offering 5 fps, and gravitated towards weddings and events. Now that I’ve been with DPReview for a year and a half, I’ve gotten used to 12, 14, 18 and 24 frames per second for shooting just about everything.

To be blunt, past a certain threshold, burst shooting speeds don’t net me appreciably more keepers in my usual style of photography. But that won’t be the case with everyone, and honestly, it doesn’t hinder my enthusiasm with regards to the new Sony a9, even though that’s one of its headline features. Even setting burst speeds aside, this camera is among the best I’ve ever used, bar none. Here’s why.

Background

During my time at DPReview, Sony’s always left me feeling a little conflicted.

On one hand, the technology and features crammed into the company’s cameras are always impressive; during my interview for this job, our own Rishi Sanyal showed me Eye AF on an a7R II, and I accidentally blurted out an expletive as my jaw dropped – it was something I’d never seen before. On the other hand, I’ve consistently found the usability of Sony’s cameras to be a primary concern for me. The interface and general operation were laggy enough to be irksome, I got lost in the menus all the time (movie options should never be nonsensically shuffled among stills options), and there were times that I felt I was fighting the camera to get it to just do what I wanted.

Sony’s RX100 V is an incredibly capable pocket camera, but the series hasn’t seen any ergonomic or UI improvements in two generations.
Photo by Samuel Spencer

The list of qualms I have with the a7-series in particular is full of items that, on their own, are quite insignificant; but as the list grows, they all combine to make for cameras that I almost never choose for personal work or play. But the sheer volume of improvements and refinements in the a9 are having me singing a different tune.

So, what exactly has changed with the a9?

Despite similarities to the a7-series at first glance, a lot.

The buttons and dials all come with better haptic feedback. The AF joystick replaces an eternity of clicks when moving the AF point. When you flip the screen out, the eye sensor is disabled, which resulted in fewer missed shots when working at odd angles. Boot-up time is shorter. Battery life is way better. The interface is more responsive. I don’t get lost in the menus at all anymore. All of these changes add up to a camera that is more transparent, in the sense that it just ‘gets out of the way’ more than any previous Sony camera I’ve used, and lets me get on with taking pictures.

The controls, the feel and the operation of the new a9 have all been improved relative to Sony’s a7-series of full frame mirrorless cameras.

Even if you don’t use the full 20 fps (electronic shutter) burst speed, shooting anything you could want without any intrusive shutter noise (important for delicate moments during, say a wedding reception) without any blackout whatsoever is a revelation. Sure, the RX100 V and Olympus E-M1 II both also offer fully electronic shutters and silent operation, but neither has a full-frame image sensor, neither can show you a live view during bursts (only slideshows of images being taken), and the a9 suppresses rolling shutter so ably that it’s one more thing that I almost never have to worry about.

I had a big hand in the reviews of Nikon’s D5 and Canon’s EOS-1D X Mark II, and while the optical viewfinder blackout on both of those cameras is incredibly short, I have to stress that the Sony a9 goes one step further in that it shows no blackout whatsoever. None. This camera makes it easier than ever to simply follow the action, and catch exactly the moment you want.

An additional plus – this camera has taken the preliminary crown (review units are forthcoming) for the best mirrorless autofocus system I’ve ever used. We were given the opportunity to photograph hockey, figure skating and a full-on track meet, and the a9 rarely let me down. Watch our site next week, when we’ll be able to post actual photos and videos from these events for you to examine for yourself.

What’s the catch?

Okay, there’s a few catches here.

First of all, do you need 20 fps? I don’t. There are, of course, those that will. But that feature, that incredibly fast readout speed of that new 24MP sensor, is something you’re paying for if you shell out $ 4,500 for this new camera, even if you’re only interested in the other (not insignificant) improvements outlined above.

I shot over 2,800 images during our shooting experience with Sony in New York. That caused me worries about card space (even with a 128GB card), cost me hard drive space, and cost me time during downloading and editing. I’m no pro sports shooter, so take this with a grain of salt, but I’m having a hard time convincing myself that I got an appreciably greater number of keepers because of the a9’s burst rate than I would have with a slower-shooting camera. Heck, I even switched to 10fps halfway through to save card space, and I still came away with images I was pleased with. And it’s worth noting that the absence of any blackout whatsoever is still incredibly awesome, even at 10fps.

This image is from the first occasion where I really soaked a camera in the name of a shoot; photographing the King County Search and Rescue team during a training exercise as part of my job for Puget Sound Energy. That D800 and 24-70mm F2.8 are still in good working order, though the rubber zoom ring on the lens had started to come a little loose.
ISO 1600 | F4 | 1/100 sec
Photo copyright Puget Sound Energy, image via Flickr

Also, Sony’s made claims that the a9 is weather resistant, but after handling the camera and flipping out the port doors, battery door and memory card doors, I just don’t have the same faith that it would survive a downpour that a D5, 1D X II or E-M1 II could shrug off. That said, this isn’t necessarily a common requirement, but it’s something to keep in mind. Were I to take a personal a9 into a rainstorm, I’d gaff tape the heck out of it.

And lastly, where are the XQD card slots? Yes, the a9 has an amazing buffer that I never once hit, but that buffer takes a good amount of time to clear. Incorporating XQD cards would also have meant my download times would be appreciably reduced at the end of the day, plus they’re simply more durable for demanding situations. After having used them extensively on Nikon’s D500 and D5, I’m sold: for sports cameras, faster media is the way to go.

The wrap

Looking forward – does the a9 have what it takes to steal the hearts of sports shooters around the globe? Only time will tell. Okay, time, durability and quality of professional service and support.

Professional sports and action photographers have demanding jobs, and it goes without saying that learning a new camera system is not usually something they’re looking to add to their workload. But the a9 might just be worth it.

Sony says it’s rolling out more robust professional support, with one-day turnaround for loaner units when a camera needs repair, and walk-in service centers in New York and Los Angeles (with more coming soon), and better support throughout Canada. That’s promising, for sure, but in a chicken-and-egg dilemma, do you want to be among the first to adopt the Sony system and test the validity of those claims for yourself, or wait to see what other professionals who switch have to say? 

For a professional wedding and event photographer who isn’t spending hours in inclement weather, I’d say the Sony a9 is worth a look if you’re used to Dx-series cameras from Nikon, and 1D-series models from Canon. With the a9, you’ll save a ton of weight, have a higher frame rate (again, only relevant if you need it), and likely have an easier time following the action than with even the best DSLRs. 

But it must be said, the cost of switching systems isn’t something to be sneezed at – and it’s something we’ll be looking at in detail in a forthcoming article, so stay tuned.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Sony a9 shooting experience: Here’s why I’m impressed

23 Apr

Introduction

Sony’s looking to storm the sports photography market with its new a9 mirrorless camera.

When I started shooting sports for college publications, I was stuck working with 3 fps. Then I graduated to a new camera offering 5 fps, and gravitated towards weddings and events. Now that I’ve been with DPReview for a year and a half, I’ve gotten used to 12, 14, 18 and 24 frames per second for shooting just about everything.

To be blunt, past a certain threshold, burst shooting speeds don’t net me appreciably more keepers in my usual style of photography. But that won’t be the case with everyone, and honestly, it doesn’t hinder my enthusiasm with regards to the new Sony a9, even though that’s one of its headline features. Even setting burst speeds aside, this camera is among the best I’ve ever used, bar none. Here’s why.

Background

During my time at DPReview, Sony’s always left me feeling a little conflicted.

On one hand, the technology and features crammed into the company’s cameras are always impressive; during my interview for this job, our own Rishi Sanyal showed me Eye AF on an a7R II, and I accidentally blurted out an expletive as my jaw dropped – it was something I’d never seen before. On the other hand, I’ve consistently found the usability of Sony’s cameras to be a primary concern for me. The interface and general operation were laggy enough to be irksome, I got lost in the menus all the time (movie options should never be nonsensically shuffled among stills options), and there were times that I felt I was fighting the camera to get it to just do what I wanted.

Sony’s RX100 V is an incredibly capable pocket camera, but the series hasn’t seen any ergonomic or UI improvements in two generations.
Photo by Samuel Spencer

The list of qualms I have with the a7-series in particular is full of items that, on their own, are quite insignificant; but as the list grows, they all combine to make for cameras that I almost never choose for personal work or play. But the sheer volume of improvements and refinements in the a9 are having me singing a different tune.

So, what exactly has changed with the a9?

Despite similarities to the a7-series at first glance, a lot.

The buttons and dials all come with better haptic feedback. The AF joystick replaces an eternity of clicks when moving the AF point. When you flip the screen out, the eye sensor is disabled, which resulted in fewer missed shots when working at odd angles. Boot-up time is shorter. Battery life is way better. The interface is more responsive. I don’t get lost in the menus at all anymore. All of these changes add up to a camera that is more transparent, in the sense that it just ‘gets out of the way’ more than any previous Sony camera I’ve used, and lets me get on with taking pictures.

The controls, the feel and the operation of the new a9 have all been improved relative to Sony’s a7-series of full frame mirrorless cameras.

Even if you don’t use the full 20 fps (electronic shutter) burst speed, shooting anything you could want without any intrusive shutter noise (important for delicate moments during, say a wedding reception) without any blackout whatsoever is a revelation. Sure, the RX100 V and Olympus E-M1 II both also offer fully electronic shutters and silent operation, but neither has a full-frame image sensor, neither can show you a live view during bursts (only slideshows of images being taken), and the a9 suppresses rolling shutter so ably that it’s one more thing that I almost never have to worry about.

I had a big hand in the reviews of Nikon’s D5 and Canon’s EOS-1D X Mark II, and while the optical viewfinder blackout on both of those cameras is incredibly short, I have to stress that the Sony a9 goes one step further in that it shows no blackout whatsoever. None. This camera makes it easier than ever to simply follow the action, and catch exactly the moment you want.

An additional plus – this camera has taken the preliminary crown (review units are forthcoming) for the best mirrorless autofocus system I’ve ever used. We were given the opportunity to photograph hockey, figure skating and a full-on track meet, and the a9 rarely let me down. Watch our site next week, when we’ll be able to post actual photos and videos from these events for you to examine for yourself.

What’s the catch?

Okay, there’s a few catches here.

First of all, do you need 20 fps? I don’t. There are, of course, those that will. But that feature, that incredibly fast readout speed of that new 24MP sensor, is something you’re paying for if you shell out $ 4,500 for this new camera, even if you’re only interested in the other (not insignificant) improvements outlined above.

I shot over 2,800 images during our shooting experience with Sony in New York. That caused me worries about card space (even with a 128GB card), cost me hard drive space, and cost me time during downloading and editing. I’m no pro sports shooter, so take this with a grain of salt, but I’m having a hard time convincing myself that I got an appreciably greater number of keepers because of the a9’s burst rate than I would have with a slower-shooting camera. Heck, I even switched to 10fps halfway through to save card space, and I still came away with images I was pleased with. And it’s worth noting that the absence of any blackout whatsoever is still incredibly awesome, even at 10fps.

This image is from the first occasion where I really soaked a camera in the name of a shoot; photographing the King County Search and Rescue team during a training exercise as part of my job for Puget Sound Energy. That D800 and 24-70mm F2.8 are still in good working order, though the rubber zoom ring on the lens had started to come a little loose.
ISO 1600 | F4 | 1/100 sec
Photo copyright Puget Sound Energy, image via Flickr

Also, Sony’s made claims that the a9 is weather resistant, but after handling the camera and flipping out the port doors, battery door and memory card doors, I just don’t have the same faith that it would survive a downpour that a D5, 1D X II or E-M1 II could shrug off. That said, this isn’t necessarily a common requirement, but it’s something to keep in mind. Were I to take a personal a9 into a rainstorm, I’d gaff tape the heck out of it.

And lastly, where are the XQD card slots? Yes, the a9 has an amazing buffer that I never once hit, but that buffer takes a good amount of time to clear. Incorporating XQD cards would also have meant my download times would be closer to three minutes instead of thirty at the end of the day, plus they’re simply more durable for demanding situations. After having used them extensively on Nikon’s D500 and D5, I’m sold: for sports cameras, faster media is the way to go.

The wrap

Looking forward – does the a9 have what it takes to steal the hearts of sports shooters around the globe? Only time will tell. Okay, time, durability and quality of professional service and support.

Professional sports and action photographers have demanding jobs, and it goes without saying that learning a new camera system is not usually something they’re looking to add to their workload. But the a9 might just be worth it.

Sony says it’s rolling out more robust professional support, with one-day turnaround for loaner units when a camera needs repair, and walk-in service centers in New York and Los Angeles (with more coming soon), and better support throughout Canada. That’s promising, for sure, but in a chicken-and-egg dilemma, do you want to be among the first to adopt the Sony system and test the validity of those claims for yourself, or wait to see what other professionals who switch have to say? 

For a professional wedding and event photographer who isn’t spending hours in inclement weather, I’d say the Sony a9 is worth a look if you’re used to Dx-series cameras from Nikon, and 1D-series models from Canon. With the a9, you’ll save a ton of weight, have a higher frame rate (again, only relevant if you need it), and likely have an easier time following the action than with even the best DSLRs. 

But it must be said, the cost of switching systems isn’t something to be sneezed at – and it’s something we’ll be looking at in detail in a forthcoming article, so stay tuned.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Juggling with one hand: Leica M10 shooting experience

14 Mar
A slightly blurry jet-lagged elevator selfie, which – yes – I could have taken on an iPhone. At least I didn’t add a fake film rebate…

Rangefinders are weird. The idea that superimposing a small ghostly image in the middle of a tunnel-type optical viewfinder is in any way superior to focusing with an SLR, (let alone using autofocus) is frankly bizarre, in this day and age.

In the digital world, a lot of people use the word ‘rangefinder’ rather lazily, to mean anything with a viewfinder positioned on the upper left of its back, but real rangefinders are uncommon. So uncommon, in fact, that Leica (the company which arguably perfected the technology) has made only ten substantially new cameras of this type since the mid 1950s.1

Grabbed quickly on my way back to my hotel on the new 35mm Summilux, this F2 snapshot isn’t pin sharp but by the time I’d nailed focus, the dog had moved.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the M-series, but if I’m being honest, their appeal has always been at least as much romantic as practical. They’re finely constructed, some of my favorite photographers used them, and they look beautiful. More so the film models, admittedly, but the M10 still retains a lot of the same aesthetic appeal as my all-time camera crush, the M6. Maybe I’m just shallow.

I also collect vinyl. Not because I believe it sounds better than CD or MP3 (it doesn’t), but because I’ve always been a pops and crackles kind of guy, and when it comes down to it, I don’t trust music that doesn’t weigh something. If that makes me a hipster, I’ll save you the bother of leaving a snarky comment and just admit it now.2

Speaking of music, I’ve heard it said that if you write a song on a banjo, and the song works, then it’s probably a good song. The point of course being that because the banjo is so simple, and so limited an instrument compared to (say) the electric guitar, it forces the composer to focus on the essentials of structure and melody.

One of relatively few examples of successful zone focusing from my trip. I estimated subject distance at a little over 6 feet (one an a bit me’s) and shot waist-level on the 35mm Summilux at F5.6 to give a small margin for focus error. 

I can’t play the banjo, but I feel much the same way about shooting with a rangefinder, compared to (say) a modern DSLR. It’s a substantially less versatile tool, which forces me to slow down and think more about the photographs I take (and what kind of photographs I take). A day of shooting with the M10 can be very rewarding for this reason, but it can also be hugely frustrating. I’ve been spoiled by zoom lenses, autofocus and multi-zone metering for the better part of 20 years. At this point, shooting with a rangefinder, even a relatively sophisticated digital rangefinder like the M10, can feel a bit like trying to juggle with only one hand, and frequently did, on this trip.

“Who needs autofocus when you’ve got zone focusing?”

‘Who needs autofocus when you’ve got zone focusing?’ That’s a comment I just read on the Internet. Who needs autofocus, you ask? I do, apparently, judging by the miserable hit-rate I achieved during my first experiments with zone focusing. To my credit, I did get better, but accurately estimating distance by eye is tricky, and takes practice.

A less successful example of zone focus, also taken with the 35mm Summilux. I like this shot, and on film I’d probably call it acceptably sharp, but it’s not sharp enough for a DPReview sample gallery. My distance estimate was a bit off (the wall behind my subject is where the plane of focus has ended up) and it looks like a touch of camera-shake has crept in, too. 

Here’s a tip though – using their own height as a reference, most people can estimate distance roughly by imagining themselves lying down, and asking ‘How many me’s away is that person/thing?’

Try it now – it’s OK, I’ll wait.

See what I mean? Fortunately, I’m a simple, easy-to-visualize, boringly average, already-engraved-on-the-focus-ring 6ft in height, and that’s about the right distance away for a lot of candid street portraits. Shooting in this way, I’d position the focus ring at 6ft, set a conservative aperture of around F5.6-8 to account for some slop, and bingo – things would usually end up more or less in focus.

Note my use of the word ‘usually’ and the term ‘more or less’…

Nailed it. A successfully zone-focused F4 shot, taken in the same indoor market as the previous image. The small size and unobtrusive appearance of the M10 (once the ostentatious red dot has been taped over) tends not to draw much attention. 

The last time I shot with a rangefinder for any length of time I was using an M3, usually loaded with black and white film. Truly accurate focus didn’t bother me much, back then. Aside from anything else, being a 3-dimensional medium, film is very forgiving of minor focus errors. Not so the perfectly flat sensors inside digital cameras. And let me tell you, 10 years’ subsequent training as a professional pixel-peeper (try saying that when you’ve been moderating comments all day) is hard to shake. 

Working with the M10, one of the first things I had to get over was the learned fallacy that a shot is only worth keeping if the subject is exactly in focus. Maybe one day I’ll be able to judge distance and framing with 100% accuracy when shooting from the waist, but I’m certainly not there yet. Until then, and for the sake of my own sanity, I’m trying to to concentrate a little more on caring a bit less. 

Small and discreet

The M10 is small and discreet enough that often, you can snap quick moments without getting in anyone’s way or attracting too much attention. But in order to do this, you’ve got to be quick. You can’t standing there dumbly for ages like a second-rate living statue, fiddling with focus or exposure with the camera to your eye, or fretting over exact framing.

Often during my shooting, if the light was reasonably consistent I’d check accurate exposure using the built-in meter from time to time, but keep aperture, shutter speed and ISO locked. At this point, with the lens set to the hyperfocal distance for whatever aperture, taking a picture became a simple matter of raising the camera to my eye, and pressing the button. 

One thing I’ve greatly enjoyed doing with the M10 is shooting with some classic lenses. This F4 portrait of my friend and frequent tour-guide Emi was shot on my 1950s Nikon 5cm F1.4 S.C., (still my all-time best junk shop find). While it’s not in the same league as more modern optical designs, it’s lovely for portraits. Just be aware of curvature of field…

The transition to pre-setting exposure and focus wasn’t natural, (I’m a control freak, I suppose), but I found shooting like this with a 28mm Elmarit at F8, and either focusing hyperfocally or guestimating focus using the ‘how many me’s?’ method to be quite freeing. It certainly made me much more agile.

In fact, sacrilegious as this might sound to some readers, I think that the M10 is at its best when used essentially as a point and shoot camera – for street photography at any rate.  

Taken at F8 (possibly F11…) on the 28mm F2.8 Elmarit, this shot is one of a sequence of images taken at the lens’s hyperfocal distance. Used in this way, the M10 basically becomes a point-and-shoot camera. 

Speaking of 28mm, while I’m normally more of a 35mm fan, I found myself reaching into my bag for the wideangle frequently when shooting with the M10. Partly for the luxury of a bit more depth of field when shooting street scenes, and partly because I enjoyed being able to live inside the entire area of the M10’s viewfinder. Although slightly improved compared to the Typ 240, it’s still hard to see all four of the the 28mm framelines in a single glance, but given that the finder itself covers roughly a 28mm field of view, for the most part you can just ignore the framelines completely.

Another hyperfocal shot taken with the Elmarit 28mm, I waited as this group of people descended the staircase, and took a series of images. This one is my favorite. 

When the M10 is used like this, photography becomes a very immersive experience. The finder is brighter and more natural than an SLR’s ground-glass projection, and much more immediate than even the best electronic viewfinder. The 28mm F2.8 Elmarit is tiny, too, and without a hood attached, it does not occlude the finder. Even the premium 35mm F1.4 Summilux is a small lens by DSLR standards. Having that kind of quality in a compact, unobtrusive full-frame package happens to be one of the few unequivocal arguments in favor of rangefinder cameras in the 21st Century, and one that is made loudly (and justifiably) by Leica fans today.

One of the reasons I enjoyed shooting with the M10 so much when traveling is that I’m getting old, and I really don’t like having a lot of weight hanging around my neck when I’m out and about. I walked almost 70 miles in 3 days in Tokyo and Kyoto, and that would have been miserable with a full-frame DSLR and equivalent lens outfit. My back hurts enough already.

Some observations:

  1. When I was in Kyoto, the M10 got pretty soaked, repeatedly, and continued to work perfectly. Your experience may vary.
  2. Battery life is fine. It’s not something you need to worry about. You can easily get 500 shots on a single charge if you’re not using live view all the time.
  3. Connecting a Leica rangefinder to my phone to view and upload images felt very odd, somehow, but worked well enough.
  4. If nothing else, I sincerely wish the M10 had some kind of horizon level guide. I swear I have one leg longer than the other.
  5. The M10’s long startup time had less practical effect on my photography than I expected, but I did miss a few shots.
  6. Aspherics aren’t everything. The Minolta M-Rokkor 40mm F2 is a superb little lens, if you can live with the inaccurate frame-lines in the M10’s viewfinder.

Someone commented on my gallery of samples recently to the effect that ‘in Japan you can’t miss’, but I assure you, you can miss. And I know that because I did miss – a lot.

Several times I raised the M10 to my eye and tried to take a shot, forgetting the camera was turned off, and in the ~1.5 seconds it takes to power up, the scene had changed and the moment had passed. One day, it seemed as if I had the wrong lens mounted the entire day. Every time I switched lenses I’d see a shot that would have worked perfectly with the previous lens, and by the time I’d changed back, once again the moment had gone.

On a murky day in Kyoto3 I apparently forgot everything I’d ever learned about metering, and had to push each of my Raw files by at least +1EV in Lightroom to even see what it was I had tried to capture. A humbling experience, to say the least. 

Rangefinder focusing is tricky, but newer Leica lenses (like the 35mm F1.4 Summilux) have impressively little curvature of field. What this means in practical terms is that provided your subject doesn’t move, it is possible – with practise – to focus and recompose, even at wide apertures. This portrait (which I’ve cropped a little) was shot in a moving train at F2.8.

Despite offering automatic exposure, live view and all the rest, the M10 doesn’t make life easy for a photographer who’s not used to rangefinder shooting. It definitely provides the smoothest operational experience of any digital M-series I’ve used to date (although our sample does have a habit of crashing from time to time during image review) but the simple fact of the matter is that as I said in the first sentence of this article, rangefinders are weird.

“I would have come back from Japan with more in-focus, correctly-framed shots had I traveled with a DSLR”

Off-center focusing is tricky (there’s a reason why a lot of well-known shallow dof images captured on Leicas have their main subject positioned in the center of the frame) and when shooting using the optical finder, framing might charitably be described as ‘approximate’ 4. Off-the-curtain center-weighted metering takes some mastering, too.

Without question, I would have come back from Japan with more in-focus, correctly-framed shots had I traveled with a DSLR. I’m not afraid to admit it. But at the end of the day, would I have had as much fun? I doubt it – and I certainly wouldn’t have thought as much about my process. 

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1 I’m being pretty strict about omitting sub-variants in that total. The M6 spawned a bazillion special editions for example, most of which I can only assume still languish unused in dentists’ safes, and given that it’s essentially just a (slightly) modernised M3, I’m hesitant to call the fully-mechanical M-A a ‘substantially new camera’. An argument could be made that the Monochroms deserve their own appellation but I’ll leave that to the pedants to decide.

2 Although I would like to lobby for a general Internet policy whereby terms can only be used as insults when the thrower of the insult understands what the term means, and – ideally – when the term itself actually means something to start with. Who’s with me?

3 This article was actually called ‘The Kyoto Photo-call’ for about five minutes, before Allison made me change it.

4 Personally, I find shooting with anything longer than 50mm on a rangefinder to be very frustrating, for this reason.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Fujifilm GFX 50S: on the streets of Tokyo, a shooting experience

09 Mar

Introduction

Edited to taste in Adobe Camera Raw and cropped in slightly | ISO 200 | 1/60 sec | F2.8

Japan has long been at the top of my list of places I would like to journey to. Like my coworker, Carey Rose, I enjoy traveling with a camera as a means to create a visual travel diary or log of my adventures.

This year, I was fortunate enough to cover the CP+ trade show in Yokohama, Japan for DPReview. Of course one does not simply fly all the way to Japan for work and not spend some extra time exploring. And so I delayed my flight back by three days, so that I could have some time to check out Tokyo, a city I’ve long admired from afar in the pages of street photography books and magazines.

Originally, I was going to bring my Leica M6 + 40mm F2 Rokkor  (a camera I too often neglect) to explore the streets of the World’s largest city. But when Fujifilm informed us they’d have a sample GFX 50S we could take home from the show, my plans changed.

It was weird, at first, shooting street photography on a medium-format digital camera.
Edited to taste in ACR | ISO 800 | 1/800 sec | F2.8

To be honest I never really considered the prospect of trying to shoot street photography with a digital medium-format camera. In fact, the only digital medium-format camera I’ve spent any considerable time using is the Pentax 645Z. And while capable in many situations, the 645Z is pretty cumbersome to walk around with, being 630 g/22.3 oz heavier than the Fujifilm.

I already had my heart set on shooting a single focal length in the 40mm Rokkor, so I didn’t really mind that the only lens Fujifilm could provide was the 63mm F2.8, which is equivalent to 50mm. I really enjoy limiting my focal length when traveling, it tends to give me more mental clarity into what I’m seeing and forces me to move my feet and change my perspective more.

Handling

Out of camera JPEG | ISO 100 | 1/500 sec | F2.8

In short, I love the ergonomics of this camera. The grip is extremely comfortable, it’s well-weighted (at least with the 63mm F2.8 on), and most control points can be accessed using the camera with a single hand.

Stopped for a beer at the Tokyo Sky Tree, mostly to be a tourist, but also to take this photo of the GFX 50S at 350m above the city.

In fact, I’d go as far to say that in terms of ergonomics and comfort, I’d prefer to spend the day walking around with the GFX 50S over a Nikon D810 or Canon EOS 5D SR (with similar-sized lenses) for a few reasons. For one, all three camera bodies weigh nearly the same: The 5D SR is 845 g (29.8 oz), the D810 is 879 g (31 oz) and the GFX 50S is 919 g (32.5 oz). Moreover, the grip on the Fujifilm is just so much more comfortable, especially when holding the camera for an extended period of time (believe me, I’ve spent very long days with the both the Canon and Nikon in tow).

Fujifilm colors + a high resolution sensor = Lovely files.
Edited to taste in ACR and cropped in slightly | ISO 100 | 1/400 sec | F6.4

I also love the control layout. The top plate is very similar to that of the gold award-winning Fujifilm XT-2, though the GFX has no dedicated exposure compensation dial. Both the shutter speed and ISO dial can be locked. I mostly used the camera during the day in full manual with my shutter speed held at 1/500 sec to freeze any movement I encountered. When I saw something I wanted to shoot, I simply raised the camera to my eye and adjusted my ISO and aperture accordingly. This quickly became a very effective and natural way to shoot (though I acknowledge I could have kept my ISO closer to base in some of these images. Using Auto ISO also would have helped) .

The GFX 50S gives users two ways to move one’s AF area or point: via the joystick or the touchscreen. Fujifilm could have easily skipped the touchscreen in a camera like this, but I’m glad they didn’t. While I did not use it much for AF point placement (mostly because the joystick is fabulous), I did enjoy employing the touchscreen while flipping back through images (also pinch to zoom is nice). Oh, and the screen flips out both vertically and horizontally (like on the XT-2), which is very useful. I found myself framing with the LCD probably 25% of the time.

Notes from shooting

When I framed up this image, there was no subject in it. But thanks to the sluggish AF, by the time the shutter fired, boom, I had a subject!
Edited to taste in ACR | ISO 200 | 1/1250 sec | F5.6

For the most part, my experience shooting with the GFX 50S was positive. Maybe it was all the canned coffee I was drinking, or the excitement of exploring somewhere new, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself while shooting with it. That said, I had a few frustrations:

Autofocus, as you might expect from a contrast detect system, is quite sluggish. Not only that, it’s also pretty loud. And when fully racking focus from minimum to infinity, the 63mm F2.8’s lens barrel extends considerably. The camera is also a tad slow to start up. It’s really useful that the on/off switch is located in front of the shutter (like on any Nikon DSLR), but I missed a couple decisive moments due to the combination of sluggish start up and slow autofocus.

That said, while AF is slow, it is both accurate and precise (in good light). This is the positive of a mirrorless camera using a CDAF system.

AF speeds are a bit sluggish which sometimes resulted in me missing decisive moments. Fortunately I had a lot of time to compose this image.
Edited to taste in ACR | ISO 400 | 1/1900 sec | F3.2

I only shot using the GFX 50S in AF-S, using a single point. AF coverage is excellent, extending out nearly to the edge of the frame and, as I mentioned, the joystick is an effective way to painlessly move the AF point. When I first was handed the camera, I switched it into AF-C and instantly started to feel nauseous due to the constant, very slow hunting. I quickly switched it back to AF-S.

Because I mostly shot with the GFX 50S in decent light while in Japan, once I was back in Seattle, I was curious to see how its autofocus would hold up in crummy light. The answer: poorly. Using a dimly-lit bar as my scene (settings around ISO 12800, 1/60 sec at F2.8), the GFX 50S proved largely unable to focus on anything. This is not all that surprising given its contrast-detect AF system. And I still got some shots, I simply switched the camera to manual focus and used focus peaking.

Thank God the GFX 50S is weather-sealed. This was shot moments before it started to downpour and I had no umbrella.
Edited to taste in ACR | ISO 400 | 1/800 sec | F4

Another stumbling point is the EVF experience. Although resolution is pretty high (3.7 million dots) the viewfinder image gets noticeably ‘crunchy’ when focus is initiated, and moiré and ‘shimmering’ can be very distracting in some scenes, especially cityscapes.

This didn’t bother me quite as much as it bothered my colleague, Barney. But as soon as he pointed it out to me, I couldn’t unsee it. 

That’s pretty much it for things I did not like, back to things I did: the camera is weather-sealed, and not just a little weather-sealed, but very weather-sealed. One day, while out exploring part of the Asakusa district in Northeast Tokyo, I got caught in a heavy rain storm. Now, contrary to popular belief, we don’t get heavy rain in Seattle, just drizzles, mists and spits. This is to say, I was not prepared for the rain that would fall. Fortunately, the GFX 50S was.

I was also really quite pleased with the camera’s battery life. Fujifilm introduced the new NP-T125 battery, and it’s enormous, which is awesome. I shot constantly for two and a half days without needing to charge it up once.

The images

I was able to crop this file in nearly 50% and still have a nice image thanks to the camera’s high pixel count.
Edited to taste in ACR and cropped in considerably | ISO 12,800 | 1/90 sec | F2.8

So I obviously enjoyed using the camera but what about the files? Well, you be the the judge. Adobe just updated Raw support for the camera earlier this week and boy did I have a fun time playing with these files. The above, for instance, is cropped in nearly 2x.

Raw files also seem to have excellent dynamic range. I was able to pull exposures quite far. I was also able to recover a ton of blown highlights from the Sens?-ji Temple photo at the bottom of this article (first image in the gallery). This is due to a behavior we found regarding high ISO files having extra data in the highlights. But we’ll go more in depth on that in the review. To be honest, as a former X100-series owner, using this camera reminded me just how much I love Fujifilm colors and skintones. And processing Raw files allowed me to go back and apply any one of the lovely Film Simulations in post.

I forgot how lovely Fujifilm colors are.
Edited to taste slightly in ACR | ISO 800 | 1/500 sec | F4.5

The take away

There’s something really strange/enticing about being able to shoot casually with a digital medium-format camera. And despite some sluggishness in its operation, the GFX 50S was  surprisingly good for street and travel photography.

And while the entire experience was a bit overwhelming from a cultural perspective (I speak no Japanese and spent a lot of time alone with my thoughts listening to Tom Waits) exploring Tokyo with what I believe to be one of the most exciting digital cameras in a long time, was truly remarkable. I’m already planning a return trip.

So if you’re not going to read any of this article, here’s my takeaway: the Fujifilm GFX 50S is fun and easy to use and the files look awesome. What more can I say?

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Fujinon MK18-55 T2.9 cine lens: First impressions and shooting experience

22 Feb
Setting up the Fujinon MK18-55mm T2.9 cine lens with the Sony FS7 and Zacuto rig. (I accidentally left the matte box back at the office. Shh… don’t tell anyone.)

Fujifilm is a respected name in the photography world thanks in part to its highly regarded X-series cameras and lenses. However, Fujifilm is also a major player in the professional cinema market, producing cinema lenses with prices that reach upward of $ 90,000. The company is now extending its cinema expertise into what it calls the ‘emerging production’ market: users who need capabilities and features beyond what’s available in standard DSLR or mirrorless lenses, but who don’t have a budget to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single lens.

The Fujinon MK18-55mm T2.9 cinema lens is the first in Fujifilm’s new MK line of Super 35 lenses designed specifically for this market. It will be joined later in the year by the matching MK50-135mm T2.9 lens, giving users complete coverage of the very useful 18-135mm range of focal lengths. The MK line is based on the company’s Cabrio line of cinema lenses, which have prices starting around $ 15,000, and both lens lines share the same coatings and basic mechanical build. At $ 3,799, the MK18-55 is still a bit pricey by photography standards, but a relative bargain for a high quality cinema lens.

Sony E-mount on a Fujinon lens? Read our First Look slide show to learn why.

Despite being a Fujifilm product, this lens uses Sony E-mount. (We discuss Fujifilm’s reasons for choosing E-mount in our First Look slide show.) As a result, I tested the lens attached to a Sony FS7, a Super 35 camera that’s very popular among this segment of users.

Shooting with the MK18-55mm T2.9

We only had a couple days to do our testing, so I threw together a quick shoot highlighting one of the Pacific Northwest’s favorite sports – climbing – and met up with local climber Jay Griffin at The Mountaineers climbing wall in Seattle. This scenario was perfect for shooting with focal lengths across the range of the lens, as well as for some good follow focus opportunities.

TL;DR – I really like this lens. In fact, I won’t even make you wait to get to the video, so here it is:

Video shot using the Fujinon MK18-55mm T2.9 cine lens and Sony FS7 camera. All footage was captured in DCI 4K/24p using Sony SLog3, edited in Final Cut Pro X, and graded using LUTs from Color Grading Central.

I chose to shoot the entire video shoulder-mounted, so I set up the FS7 on a Zacuto Recoil rig with rails, a Z-Drive follow focus, and a Gratical Eye viewfinder, along with the FS7’s remote grip. This is a fairly straightforward setup, but it takes a few minutes to arrange all the pieces so that everything works correctly and is ergonomically arranged for the camera operator

Setting up the rig highlighted one of the important features of the MK lenses: they’re matched. For this shoot I only had the MK18-55mm available, but later in the year Fujifilm will be adding the MK 50-135mm to the line as well; both lenses share the same weight and dimensions. In a two-lens shoot, it would be incredibly easy to switch between the two while leaving things like matte boxes and follow focus in place. Also, since both lenses have identical T-stops it would be easy to match exposure as well.

Using the lens was a joy. As with most cinema lenses, it’s completely mechanical, and build quality is outstanding. Every movement feels well damped, and one gets the immediate sense that it’s a high quality piece of precision equipment.

One place where this mechanical build is immediately noticeable is the focus ring. Unlike most modern DSLR or mirrorless lenses, which continue to spin after reaching the end of their focus range, the MK18-55mm has hard stops.

Working with a follow focus is a breeze thanks to the mechanical lens design and geared focus ring.

It was simple to set up the Z-Drive follow focus with the standard pitch gearing on the focus ring, and thanks to the 200 degree focus rotation angle it was easy to make precise focus adjustments, using peaking in the viewfinder as a guide. The large rotation angle made it easy to adjust for small movements or to follow Jay when he moved slowly. You don’t get this level of precision with the shorter focus throw of most DSLR lenses, and you certainly don’t get it with focus-by-wire!

I didn’t notice any obvious signs of lens breathing, a phenomena that causes a lens’s field of view to change slightly as a lens is focused. Breathing is fairly common on stills camera lenses, and it rears its ugly head when you’re trying to do something like rack focus between two subjects. Cine lenses are designed to suppress lens breathing, and as far as I could tell the MK18-55 did so extremely well.

Like other cine lenses, the MK18-55mm has a parfocal design, meaning it should maintain precise focus during zooming. Still photographers often don’t care much about this since it’s simple to zoom and then refocus before taking a shot. For video work, however, you sometimes want the zoom to be part of the shot. Loosing focus mid-zoom is a big deal.

Since I was using a shoulder mount rig without an assistant, it wasn’t very practical to test the parfocal performance of the lens with Jay. However, back in the studio I lined up the lens with our studio scene and confirmed that its performance is excellent in this regard; once focused, the subject remains in focus throughout the zoom range.

 Shooting with the Fujinon MK18-55mm T2.9 lens and Sony FS7.

It should be pretty obvious by now that I really enjoyed using the MK18-55mm. In addition to finding it well designed and delightful to work with, I was very pleased with the footage I captured. Optical performance appears to be outstanding. Based on my brief experience I would have no qualms about shooting a full project with this lens. It’s exciting to see Fujifilm entering this market, and I’m really looking forward to future lenses in the MK line.

Now, bring on the MK50-135mm so I can use the set!

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Medium-format meets the modern age: Hasselblad X1D-50c shooting experience

12 Dec

Hasselblad’s X1D-50c caused quite a stir when it was announced over the summer, as its mirrorless design and relatively tiny size defied what we thought we understood about the relationship between sensor size and body bulk in digital cameras. All previous digital medium-format models, other than the Leica S series, have been DSLRs with spacious mirror box housings and forward projecting architecture, but the X1D-50c breaks that mold and harks back to the Mamiya 7/Bronica RF compact rangefinder style. More exciting perhaps is the adoption of the features that we associate with mirrorless compact system cameras, such as touch focusing and an electronic viewfinder, that bring this usually lumbering format into the modern age.

Although the price of the system is higher than those centered around 35mm-style DSLRs, it is also a good deal less than we have come to associate with the 6×4.5cm digital format. The combination of the X1D’s design, features and price made the camera popular immediately. Hasselblad has said that it took more orders in the first ten days than it had expected to take for the year – but now, of course, it has to actually deliver the product to those who pre-ordered it. My understanding is that it is almost ready and I’ve been able to shoot for a short while with the latest pre-production X1D with a 45mm F3.5 lens.

The camera itself is finished but the firmware is still being added to and refined. As such, this article should give you a good general idea of what the camera will be like when it is all done and a pretty clear idea of the image quality we can expect from the finished product.

Body and handling

The Hasselblad X1D-50c isn’t all that much bigger than a Panasonic Lumix GH4 and it will displace less water than the Nikon D810 (don’t try that at home). Size-wise, then, it feels very much like a standard DSLR. The grip is well pronounced which makes the camera very comfortable to hold and to carry, and which makes it feel secure in the hand. The controls feel quite chunky, deliberate and designed to reduce the chances of pressing something by accident. Although the dials are in slightly different places it seems as though they and the shutter release button came out of the same parts bin as those used on the H6D body. These exaggerated features lend the X1D-50c the feel of a big camera but without the size.

I’m pleased Hasselblad has adopted new buttons for the top plate instead of the slightly spongy ones used around the info panel LCD of the H6D, and it has changed the feel of those running down the side of the rear screen. The exterior of the body houses only nine control buttons plus a depth of field preview and the on/off button, so the space feels un-cluttered and simple to navigate.

The menu system is very much the same as that used in the backs for H6D, with bold icons and a large shouting print that will require reading glasses less often than the GUIs of most DSLRs. All the features are activated by touch and options can be scrolled through using the touch screen or the traditional control wheels.

Those used to traditional DSLR and CSC menus might find that of the X1D-50c sparsely populated when it comes to features and options – and it is. The menu will be gradually fleshed out as Hasselblad develops the camera, but don’t expect it to have the same number of options as a regular DSLR.

The 3″ rear LCD is clear and bright, and its 920k-dot resolution makes the display useful when focusing manually. The EVF is also very clear and its 2.36 million-dot display feels very detailed. The firmware version I was using didn’t allow playback in the viewfinder so I couldn’t check to see what that would look like, but Hasselblad tells me that will be coming soon in a further update.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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66 Degrees North: Olympus E-M1 Mark II Shooting Experience

02 Nov

If there’s one thing I learned about the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, it’s that it can handle mother nature with the best of them. At an Olympus-sponsored press event in Iceland, the camera got pelted with rain, sleet, snow and hail, all of which occurred over a 20 minute period on more than one occasion. Despite both the camera and the photographer getting soaked, the Mark II kept on going.

Black Beach near Vik. ISO 200, 1/160 sec, F5.6, Olympus 12-100mm F4 lens @ 100mm equiv. Photo by Jeff Keller.

In most respects the E-M1 II feels very ‘Olympus.’ The controls aren’t radically different than other recent OM-D models, and the Super Control Panel (which is on by default) and a slightly restyled menu system are both there. The E-M1 II feels great in the hand and is well balanced. The build quality is superb, which I learned firsthand when the camera knocked the front plate off of the electronic lock on my hotel room door (oops).

Icelandic horses. ISO 200, 1/160 sec, F4.5, Olympus 12-100mm F4 lens @ 132mm equiv. Photo by Jeff Keller.

The E-M1 Mark II has an impressive 440 shots-per-charge CIPA battery life rating, though the battery drained a lot quicker than that in the roughly 4°C/40°F temperatures. Quite a few of my colleagues used the optional grip full-time, while I saved it for aurora shooting, where I really didn’t want the camera to run out of juice, since (ironically) I found it easier to hold the camera without it.

Given its spot as Olympus’ flagship mirrorless camera, it should be no surprise that the E-M1 Mark II has two memory card slots, located on its right side. The top one supports UHS-II media, while the bottom one is UHS-I only. The UHS-II slot is noticeably ‘thicker’ than the UHS-I one, which is another way to tell them apart. For this trip, I set up the camera to put all videos onto the UHS-II card – a necessity when shooting at very high bit rates – and all stills to the UHS-I card.

A break in the hail at Black Beach. ISO 200, 1/400 sec, F10, Olympus 12-100mm F4 lens @ 50mm equiv. Photo by Jeff Keller.

Something that affected my shooting quite a bit was the Mark II’s overly sensitive shutter release button. This resulted in many unwanted photos and, in one case, my memory card became filled with 2000+ shots while using in the Pro Capture mode, because I was unknowingly shooting the entire time I was waiting for a geyser to erupt. Other members of the press echoed my concerns about the touchy shutter release.

Skógafoss. ISO 200, 1/400 sec, F7.1, Olympus 7-14mm F2.8 lens @ 16mm equiv. Photo by Jeff Keller.

While the E-M1 II’s big claim to fame is its advanced autofocus system, the Olympus event in Iceland was essentially all landscape photography. Our journey included a lot of waterfalls and geysers, plus some shooting around Reykjavik, but fast-moving subjects were scarce, so I can’t comment on how well that part of the AF system works. What I can say is that in single AF mode the Mark II was both responsive and accurate, though it did miss focus (in both front and back directions) on a few occasions with the 12-100 and 300mm lenses.

Two features I got to test out were the Pro Capture and Live Time modes. The former works by buffering shots as you half-press the shutter release, saving up to 14 of them when you fully press it. My plan was to capture the moment a geyser erupted, but as mentioned earlier, I was actually recording images the entire time due to that oversensitive shutter release button. The fact that I chose the wrong geyser didn’t help matters, either. Another member of our group had better luck and got some great shots using Pro Capture, so maybe it was just me.

Northern Lights over Reyjavik. In-camera Raw conversion (I’ll update when ACR is available). ISO 800, 21 sec, F2.8, Olympus 8mm F1.8 fisheye. Photo by Jeff Keller.

I used the Live Time feature when shooting the Northern Lights, which unfortunately weren’t as strong as expected. Live Time is a long exposure mode that displays the current image at an interval of your choosing, so you can close the shutter when you’re happy with the result. For aurora shooting I turned on Live Time, set the 12-100mm lens wide-open at F4 and used an ISO value between 800 and 1600, depending on the current auroral activity. Just to be safe, I turned on anti-shock to prevent any shake caused by pressing the shutter release button. While the ‘show’ wasn’t great, Live Time was a valuable feature that made it easy to decide when to press ‘stop’ when the exposure looked right.

I came back pretty satisfied with the photos I took on the trip, though I had to dump a lot of photos due to water on the lens (did I mention it rained a lot? Every time I wiped it off, more would appear.) I have no complaints about color, though at default settings JPEG noise reduction is higher than I’d like. Normally I’d pop the images into Photoshop and use ACR to tweak that to my liking (and bump up the shadows in a few of my photos,) but the only option at time of publication was converting the Raws in-camera. If you’ve used Olympus’ in-camera Raw conversion, you’ll know that it’s quite confusing, though I appreciate the addition of shadow/midtone/highlight correction.

While I didn’t take a ton of video, I was impressed with the results. I shot exclusively at Cinema 4K (24p), which maxes out at 237Mbps. The bit rate never got that high, since it varies depending on your subject, but the quality was never in question. Despite Olympus’ claims of 5.5 stops of shake reduction, a few videos seemed a bit shakier than I was expecting. In continuous AF mode there was a bit of ‘hunting,’ but not enough to concern me.

Gullfoss in Dramatic Tone. ISO 200, 1/100 sec, F5, Olympus 12-100mm lens @ 36mm equiv. Photo by Jeff Keller.

The one thing that about the E-M1 II that remained a mystery until the very end of the trip was its price. Some of the group were guessing around $ 1500, while I was thinking $ 1800. As it turned out, the E-M1 II is a penny under $ 2000 — a full $ 600 over the MSRP of the original E-M1 and on par with the Nikon D500. That’s a lot of dough for a Micro Four Thirds camera and while my initial impressions of the camera were positive, I want to see how it performs in our tests – especially in terms of autofocus – to see if its worth the price.

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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‘It’s about sharing your beautiful experience’: Nikon Photokina interview

26 Oct

Photokina 2016 gave us a chance to speak to Nikon about the models it’s showing, where the market is going and the challenges it faces.

It was a relatively quiet show for Nikon, with three KeyMission lifestyle cameras taking up as much space as the recently announced D3400 and 105mm F1.4 lens. We took the opportunity to speak to Naoki Kitaoka, Department Manager, Marketing Department and Masahiko Inoue, Group Manager, Marketing Group 2, to see how the company sees the market. Please note the following interview has been slightly edited for clarity and flow.

What’s the key mission of KeyMission?

We started by asking whether they foresaw DSLRs and other dedicated cameras returning to being the niche product they were at the end of the film era and where KeyMission fits in:

‘We don’t want to change our policy,’ said Kitaoka: ‘We will keep offering the best DSLR to the customer. On the other hand, smart devices are getting popular: almost everyone has one or two or three devices in their pocket. In the mobile era, we have to offer new solutions that are fit for the mobile era. We want to be the end to end solution for consumers. The KeyMission is one of our solutions I think.’

The KeyMission range, including the KeyMission 360 are aimed at ‘immediate immersive storytelling,’ the company says.

KeyMission, then, is intended as a way of bringing Nikon’s expertise to new customers, Inoue explains: ‘Our competence is high quality imagery. So we will continue to keep that our core competence and apply it into the KeyMissions.’

‘For instance, the lens in the KeyMission 360 has a very wide angle of view. But this kind of category needs the size to be wearable. Using our competence and some new techniques, we managed to keep the quality and realize the miniaturization.’

‘It’s a very wide-angle view. Very fast lens: F2.0. Very bright and very wide, normally that kind of lens is larger optical design but we try to do the miniaturization.’

As well as image quality and size, simplicity is another aim for the camera, says Kitaoka: ‘It is not just an action camera. With the KeyMission series, we are bringing to market the ultimate tools for immediate immersive storytelling. They also demonstrate the role Nikon technology can play in the exciting new field of VR.’

‘The concept is about sharing your beautiful experience.’ Inoue concurs.

This means making it easy to share a wide variety of content types, Kitaoka says: ‘We believe every single model, every single customer has a different image of sharing. We have expanded the categories we cover to include KeyMission so you can find your best camera, from KeyMission to DSLR. Additionally, different types of consumers with different purposes need different types of cameras for every mission. We don’t want to interrupt your adventure.’

The value of sharing

This need for simple sharing underpins the company’s plan to introduce a version of its SnapBridge sharing system across its entire model range: ‘Easy means setting up between camera and smartphone,’ says Kitaoka: ‘We launched the WMU app so we had kind of experience for this setup process. We tried to improve, to make the setting easier. But still some of you might feel it’s quite difficult. Now three or four steps are needed to connect camera to mobile phone. We are trying to reduce steps from four to one, and finally zero.’

‘Now three or four steps are needed to connect camera to mobile phone. We are trying to reduce steps from four to one, and finally zero’

The company has chosen the technology it thinks will help. ‘We use Bluetooth Low Energy so it can realize smart link,’ says Kitaoka. There’s a benefit to this technique, despite its low bandwidth, he explains: ‘If we use Bluetooth you can use Wi-Fi at the same time. Once you can shoot your story and then camera automatically sends your story to smartphone. Your Wi-Fi can stay connected to the internet: you don’t need to switch Wi-Fi from the camera to Internet. We wanted to make your steps easier.’

The future of Nikon 1

Moving on, we asked about the future of the Nikon 1 series and what role it now plays in expanding Nikon’s audience. Despite a dearth of releases, the cameras featured prominently on Nikon’s booth and both men spoke positively about the system’s future.

‘The Nikon 1 concept is fit for some customers,’ says Kitaoka: ‘For now we’ll keep Nikon 1 as usual.’ The sudden focus on KeyMission doesn’t take away from this, he explains: ‘as I told you before, the action category getting popular. [The] market [is] always changing so we launched KeyMission series to expand our customers.’

It’s been nearly two-and-a-half years since Nikon last released a Nikon 1 V-series body but we’re told the system is still part of the company’s plans.

Inoue elaborates: ‘Some manufacturers have tried to enter the DSLR market with their mirrorless camera or something. Our standpoint is different. Because our product mix covers full-frame and APS-C DSLR and the Nikon 1, these three product categories mean we offer to the full lineup and we receive each customer’s good reactions.’

‘And then we’re not seeing cannibalization between the DSLR and the Nikon 1: the customer is completely different.’

Totally different, but with an overlap

While this distinction is clear for the J and S models, we wondered whether this also applied to V series customers. ‘The J, S and V models are different categories, says Kitaoka: ‘the V series is sort of special, people they well know about DSLR, what is a photograph, they understand these ideas.’

The smaller size of the cameras provides a benefit for these customers, Kitaoka explains: ‘Sometimes you get work from a client that requires you to travel for the job and maybe go back to shoot more. In that kind of situation, sometimes the photographer doesn’t get enough money from their clients to carry their whole equipment because of the baggage costs of the airline.’

‘V3 helped them a lot. The telephoto lenses are smaller. Just in case, they use V series for second camera at the same time, so they can reduce the size of their systems.’

‘One of the most important features of the V series is the high frame rate and accuracy of autofocus. It’s fit for professional photographers’ demand. It’ll never be the main camera for a photographer but it can help them a lot.’

Neither man would be drawn on whether Nikon intends to concentrate on one of these 1 series user groups over the other. ‘We really recognize the mirrorless type of camera, the possibility and we always study [the market],’ says Inoue: ‘but sorry, we won’t be able to comment on future products.’

1V vs DL

On the topic of future products, we also weren’t able to get clarification on when to expect the much-delayed DL compacts, so we asked how these users were distinct from the Nikon 1 V series customer:

‘DL’s concept and target is users of the D800 series,’ says Inoue: ‘Of course the D800 is a very nice camera but the DL… Anytime and anywhere [you can] take a high quality picture by using the DL. It’s a very good second camera for that kind of user. Therefore the switching and the menu, the GUI, is in accordance with the DSLR equipment. That kind of DSLR customer can use the DL without any stress. Even the power switch is in the same position as on DSLR. Zooming dial right here.’

There’s still no news on when Nikon’s delayed DL series of 1″-type sensor compacts will arrive.

‘[They] borrow technology from Nikon 1 and DSLR. Of course the one inch sensor, on-sensor phase detection autofocus and high frame rate continuous shooting, everything from the Nikon 1, but the high quality images and the user interface and the Picture Quality control from our D series. Also the lens quality. You know, the DL has fast lenses with the nano crystal coating, but in a compact type of camera. This is the first time we’ve used that kind of technology in a DSC.’

Who uses video?

Finally, and continuing the theme of making models for more than one type of customer, we asked about the importance and challenges of video for Nikon.

‘There are two types of high end users [using video]’ explains Kikaota: ‘those who started [their careers] shooting still pictures, but also there are a lot of customers who started with video. In our company we have two types of customer. It’s difficult to make one solution to fit for both of them.’

‘I think that line between movie photographer and stills photographers has gone. The client wants to you to shoot the both of them at the same time to reduce costs’

Shooting video with current cameras can often be quite complicated, we suggested. ‘[This] complicated operation is fit for the customer they started shooting from video. On the other hand there are professional [stills] photographers: they are not yet used to using video, their demand is easy operation. So there are two types of people. It’s a big problem.’

‘We are trying to make a solution fit for both of them. One solution is Flat Picture Control. Flat Picture Control is well suited for the professional photographer, who started shooting pictures and now find they have to shoot some video, too.’

‘They are not necessarily so familiar with video editing or modifying video. With Flat Picture Control they can understand from stills point of view.’

‘Now we have an exact solution right now, but we will keep considering [whether to make] a separate product or [if it should] go into the one product.’

Nikon recognizes the challenge of adding video features that both stills and video shooters will appreciate.

‘I think that line between movie photographer and stills photographers has gone. The client wants to you to shoot the both of them at the same time to reduce the costs.’

Kitaoka then expanded on the demands they’re hearing from customers: ‘First of all, quality of the movie is a basic demand so we have to answer that, second frame rate, then lens quality and autofocus, also, [the challenges of] movie AF and still AF totally different.’

‘Movie autofocus needs to be smooth, sometimes fast, sometimes slower, depends on the situation. Movie shooters want to [be able to] choose high speed autofocus or natural speed autofocus.’

‘Actually we equip the autofocus system fit for the movie but a lot of people [are finding it difficult to use] autofocus between still photo and movie. But we keep trying to [provide the] best movie autofocus in [our] DSLRs and across every single category.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Study finds that yes, you can take photos and enjoy an experience too

15 Jun

As smartphone picture-taking has become ubiquitous, so has criticism of it. It’s become a common refrain to hear that taking pictures detracts from fully enjoying and experiencing an event, whwther that’s a concert or a papal visit. To be truly in the moment, you shouldn’t be taking photos.

Depressing stuff, but a new study presents a different view, one that photographers would probably agree with: taking photos enhances enjoyment of experiences, rather than detracting from enjoyment.

A previous and much-cited study looked at the effect of photo-taking on memory, and found that people taking photos of objects at a museum were more likely to forget what they’d seen than people who hadn’t taken photos. This new research focuses rather on enjoyment rather than recall. 

According to lead author Kristin Diehl, ‘unlike checking your email or texting, […]  photo-taking actually directs you towards the experience’.

The research mostly focuses on use of a simple camera for taking snapshots, both in real-life situations like a city bus tour, and simulated scenarios. Again and again, participants in the study who were directed to take photos reported higher enjoyment of the experience than those who could not take pictures. 

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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