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POLL RESULTS – Do You Use Your Camera for Video?

28 Dec

The post POLL RESULTS – Do You Use Your Camera for Video? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

A week or so ago I asked the question:

Do You Use Your Camera for Video?

Many people voted and the survey results are in.

It looks like almost half voted NO, with 25% using their stills camera for video occasionally.

For that 15 % who said No, but would like to learn or the others who do use their cameras for video, check out these articles below.

Essential Tools for Making Videos on Your Mirrorless Camera
Equipment List for Making Better Smartphone Videos
How to Demystify Shooting Video With Your dSLR
10 Reasons Why it’s a Good Idea to Start Producing Video Content
Beginner’s Guide to Doing DSLR Video Clips
Shooting Products and Video Using Home Depot Lighting
Lightroom Tricks: How to Process Video in Lightroom Classic CC

The post POLL RESULTS – Do You Use Your Camera for Video? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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Real Estate Photography: Get Better Results with the Right Equipment

25 Oct

Real estate photography throws many challenges your way, just like any type of photography.

You deal with perspective issues and light and shadow extremes that confound even the best cameras. You also need to be critically aware of your surroundings and probably have very limited time to do the job.

The good news is, creating pleasing photos of interior rooms no longer requires a great deal of investment and experience. Nowadays, it only requires a few specific items, a few pointers, and a little practice.

In this article, you’ll learn how to get better results with the right equipment to take your real estate photography to the next level.

Which camera to choose for Real Estate Photography

Smart Phones

While the main choices for real estate photography are between DSLR or mirrorless cameras, you may hear an argument in favor of modern smartphones too.

While smartphone cameras are useful for some scenarios, they are not well suited to real estate photography.

Some of the main downfalls of smartphones include:

Smartphone Apps process the image for you, resulting in a processed JPG image that you have little or no control over. The ‘lossy’ nature of JPG discards much of the original information, limiting what you can do in post-processing.
The sensors are tiny, with the pixels packed in tight, reducing the dynamic range and causing more noise.
Lenses are tiny and generally made of plastic. They lack the precision of milled glass lenses, and are easily scuffed or scratched. Lens quality plays a big part in achieving good quality images, so it’s unrealistic to expect the same performance that you’d get from a camera lens.

Smartphones perform well under ideal lighting conditions; however, interior real estate photography presents some of the most challenging light you’ll find in photography.

Use your smartphone as a tool to find great compositional angles, but not as your main photographic equipment.

See other ways a smartphone can be used here.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 2

DSLR and Mirrorless Cameras

Whether your preference is a DSLR or mirrorless camera, your primary choice is format: Full Frame, Crop-sensor or Micro 4/3.

Each format changes the field of view (FOV) of a given lens. You can think of the FOV as the ‘zoom’ of the lens.

Full-frame equates to the standard 35mm film view of analog cameras and is the standard measurement still used today.

Crop-sensor cameras have smaller sensors, creating a ‘zoom’ effect of 1.5X or 1.6X. Micro four-thirds (M4/3) cameras increase the ‘zoom’ by 2X.

In practical terms, a 50mm lens on a full frame camera produces almost the same field of view as a 35mm lens on a crop-sensor camera. That same field of view results from a 25mm lens on a Micro 3/4 camera.

It’s vital to understand that different sensor sizes impact the focal length of a lens.

When reading advice on which lens to use, always remind yourself it’s the ‘equivalent’ focal length, then do the calculations as described above for your own camera’s sensor size.

The good news is that if you already own a recent model DSLR or mirrorless camera, you likely don’t need a new one.

It’s true that “recent” is a bit vague here, but in my experience, mirrorless cameras up to five years old, and DSLRs made during the last ten years should be more than capable.

Lens choices

Many photographers say prime lenses (non-zooms) produce a better quality image than zoom lenses. A good zoom lens, however, may be more convenient for real estate photography.

A decent quality zoom that starts from a wide angle (say between 12mm to 24mm) provides more compositional flexibility than a fixed lens.

Small rooms inside houses may be a little cramped, restricting the space available to set up a tripod and camera. Using a wide-angle lens of around 12-24mm may be necessary to give the required field of view to capture a small room.

In larger rooms, and when photographing outside, 35mm may give a better view of the property. There’s no definitive ‘right’ answer to field-of-view as it all depends on the surroundings and how much space you need.

If you find yourself with distorted lines and dark areas around the edge of your image shot with a wide-angle lens, these may be fixed in post-production.

Cheaper lenses, especially zooms, have more optical weaknesses, so if you’re going to invest in new gear, you might get more benefit from upgrading your lens instead of your camera body.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 3

One indication of lens quality is a low aperture number such as f/2.8. A lower number aperture opens the lens wider than lenses with high numbers like f/5.6.

While this allows more light to enter the sensor, the focus plane becomes narrower, causing some of the room to be out of focus, which is not ideal for real estate photography. Use an aperture of f/8 or f/11 to allow more of your room to be in focus.

Chromatic aberration (CA) is caused by light dispersion as it travels through the lens. In plain English, it’s that pink/green color fringe you sometimes see around the edges of objects, most noticeably in areas of high contrast like window frames. Cheaper lenses have more problems with CA.

Using a better quality lens shows less CA, but the laws of optics means fringing can still happen occasionally. Most photo software includes functions to reduce or remove this, although it’s great to avoid it as much as possible in the first place.

Camera features to look for

Camera features to look for buried in just about every modern camera menu are the five features and functions that can seriously help for real estate photography images.

The first four of these features help you overcome the problems posed when photographing scenes with a high dynamic range (HDR). In these situations, all cameras struggle because they can’t match our eye’s adaptive responses.

The fifth, the digital level, helps with the challenge of perspective. Inside and out, houses have vertical and horizontal lines. If they’re just a little off-center, the whole photo looks lopsided and uncomfortable to the viewer.

1. AEB (Automatic Exposure Bracketing)

Automatic Exposure Bracketing is a specific setting that instructs the camera to take multiple shots of the scene while changing the shutter speed of each shot – all with one press of the shutter release button.

You can change the shutter speed for each shot manually, but it is faster (and potentially more precise) to let the camera’s onboard technology do it under your guiding hand.

2. EV Range (Exposure Value Range)

The reason to take this automatic series of shots is to capture all details, from bright windows to darker interior areas, although some cameras have more limited AEB capabilities than others.

Here are the two camera features to consider:

The number of bracketed shots: This is the number of exposures the camera takes when you press the shutter release in AEB mode.
Exposure Compensation: This is the spacing of exposure compensation between each bracketed exposure taken in AEB mode. These two factors combine to determine the total exposure range possible.

You need to look at both features to determine whether the camera’s EV range capability is sufficient for your needs. For real estate photography, look for AEB settings that let you choose five shots in 2-steps or nine shots in 1-step.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 4

3. Continuous shooting

It is important that your camera can shoot continuously to minimize the number of times you release the shutter manually. Doing so avoids accidental camera movement or shake.

4. Luminosity histogram

The histogram offers clear information to ensure we cover the full dynamic range. While it may seem confusing at first, it’s straightforward once you know what it’s showing us.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 5

Having an EVF (electronic viewfinder) somewhat reduces the need for a histogram but not entirely. Even with an EVF, it’s hard to determine highlight or shadow clipping by eye. Capture all the bright and dark areas correctly by using histograms.

5. Digital level

If your camera has a digital level, it’s quite handy. Not all camera models do, so you may need to look in the manual to find it. Once activated, a horizontal line runs across the scene in your viewfinder.

You can instantly see if the camera is at an angle and if so, make the needed adjustments to avoid a sloping room.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 6

While you’re checking the horizontal lines, don’t forget the verticals. Tilting the camera up or down causes vertical lines, like walls, to look slanted.

Pro tips on using the digital level

Take time to inspect the scene in live view, making manual corrections if necessary even if they contradict the digital level.
Use a tripod so you can step away from the camera while seeing the live view screen and the room.
Double-check your composition for framing, height, and perspective.
Shoot from below eye level. An excellent place to start is between your chest and hip height, but there may be times to raise the camera. You might, for instance, want to show a particular view or other details you wish to highlight.

Flash and Lighting Equipment

Speedlights

The built-in flash on your camera is unlikely to be strong enough to balance interior and exterior light levels because of the high dynamic range present in most real estate interiors.

The built-in flash may create unwanted, deep shadows in the room. You’ll get a better effect by mounting a Speedlight flash on the hot shoe, then bouncing the light off the walls or ceilings.

With some practice, it becomes easier to find the right bounce position for each room.

Another technique for using Speedlights is taking them off camera via a wireless connection. This way, you can position the lights just where you need them.

Studio lights

Finally, there are studio lights.

While these are effective and give results that look professional, pro lighting equipment is expensive. The lights are also bulky and heavy and often need a power supply. Moreover, using them correctly requires considerable practice and skill.

The exposure bracketing technique, where you use the camera’s AEB features listed in the previous section, offers a less demanding way of achieving light balance for an interior scene.

Taking bracketed exposures becomes a natural part of your photography workflow, and you don’t have to worry about carrying heavy lighting equipment, or learning how to use it.

The bracketed exposures are then merged to HDR in post-processing to get a correctly exposed image. While Photoshop and Lightroom offer HDR merge, many real estate photographers prefer using Photomatix Pro.

This specialized HDR software offers natural-looking presets optimized for property interiors.

A tripod

If you get good, sharp results from handheld shots, using a tripod may seem unnecessary. However, no one can hold a camera steady for the slower shutter speeds used for interior real estate photography.

The minimum shutter speed for handheld shots is normally1/60 second as a rule-of-thumb, while interior scenes require much longer exposures.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 7

What to look for in a tripod:

Ball heads – These let you quickly change angles and orientations without having to fiddle too much with either camera or tripod.
Rubber feet – When you’re working on slippery, polished floors there’s less chance of the tripod sliding out of position. Rubber feet also protect fragile surfaces.
Lightweight and sturdy – Look for solid construction with tight joints and rigid legs. Top-of-the-range tripods (such as carbon-fiber models) carry a higher price tag, but less expensive aluminum versions do the job equally well with a little care. Any tripod is better than no tripod at all.

A good tripod gives you more compositional freedom, as you can position them just about anywhere. Attempting to keep the camera perfectly still without a tripod limits you to existing stable surfaces.

A remote shutter release

A remote shutter release untethers you from the camera, providing freedom of movement.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 8

While the most obvious function of the remote release is preventing camera shake when you press the shutter button, there are other, less apparent advantages too:

The tripod stays steady, even on a soft surface.
You can step aside to avoid casting shadows, or to remove your reflection from windows or shiny surfaces.
Your hands are free to hold distractions out of the frame, such as cables or plant fronds.
You can move around to assess composition from different angles or spot potential distractions.
You may need to monitor the road so you can shoot during a gap in traffic.

As an alternative to a remote shutter release, you can use a cable release or the camera’s automatic timer.

Some other helpful equipment

Beyond the main equipment needed for real estate photography, there are a few other items to make your job easier and more efficient:

A traditional bubble level – While the digital level is handy, some people may prefer external units that slot into the hot shoe or some tripods that have bubble levels built-in.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 9

Gaffer tape – Use it for quick cleanups such as removing pet hair or holding back a curtain or cable. Use tape to mark the position of your tripod once you find a good composition.

Avoid using duct tape as the adhesive is too strong and it doesn’t peel off cleanly. Gaffer tape leaves no residue on most surfaces.

Cleaning cloths – You need a cloth for your lens, but also one to remove dust specks from surfaces or to polish water marks off bathroom fittings.

A lens hood – Use a short hood on your wide-angle lens to cut down the flare from windows or other bright lights.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 10

Conclusion

Despite its challenges, anyone can learn to take great real estate photography photos by starting with the right equipment. Using the right equipment also sets you up for success, and with just a little bit of practice, you can discover what works best for you.

If you have any questions to ask me about equipment for real estate photography, please ask me in a comment below.

HDRsoft is a paid partner of dPS.

The post Real Estate Photography: Get Better Results with the Right Equipment appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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GoPro Q2 2018 results show improvement: new products promised for late 2018

04 Aug

GoPro has revealed its Q2 2018 financial results, boasting a massive 40% quarter-over-quarter revenue increase to $ 283 million and net loss of $ 32 million, which the company says is a 51% sequential improvement. This marks two consecutive positive quarters for GoPro, which has historically struggled and taken various actions, including multiple layoffs, in an effort to survive.

GoPro saw its inventory drop $ 47 million from its first to second 2018 quarters, reaching the company’s lowest inventory level since early 2014. Year-over-year, GoPro also reduced its operating expenses by $ 16 million and increased its paying Plus subscriber numbers by 9% quarter-over-quarter.

GoPro says it took 97% dollar share of the action camera market in the US, with its Fusion model taking 48% of the nation’s spherical camera category

GoPro claims its 18th straight quarter of having the #1 selling camera in North America, also citing a strong presence in the spherical camera, European, and Asian markets. Based on data from NPD Group, GoPro says it took 97% dollar share of the action camera market in the US, with its Fusion model taking 48% of the nation’s spherical camera category.

During the company’s earnings call with investors yesterday, GoPro CEO Nicholas Woodman revealed that the company will release three new products later this year. Details on those three products were not provided, but it’s likely one will be the company’s upcoming flagship Hero 7, an update to the Hero 6 action camera released late last year.

Catch up on GoPro’s Q2 investors’ call

Via: GoPro

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Reader poll results: What would you want from Nikon and Canon full-frame mirrorless?

31 Jul

We asked, and you responded. Thousands of you, in fact. We’ve already voiced some opinions about what we’d like to see from a full-frame mirrorless camera from the remaining two of the ‘Big Three’ manufacturers. So when Nikon went public with its development announcement recently, and with rumors swirling about something big coming from Canon, we turned the microphone over to you – our readers. We asked what you wanted to see from a Canikon mirrorless, and here’s what you had to say.

The number one request across the board was for full compatibility with existing lenses. When Sony created the E mount, it was starting (almost) from scratch and primarily aiming to attract new customers rather than maintain an existing base.

Ironically, creating a new system is much more daunting for Canon and Nikon since there are literally millions of F and EF-mount lenses in circulation, a huge number of them in the hands of working professional photographers. These customers just need their gear to work and can’t afford the time or expense of replacing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of lenses and relearning an entirely new system. Equally as important are Canon and Nikon’s non-professional users, who even if they wanted to, couldn’t afford to replace their ‘old’ lenses overnight.

For these reasons, we would hope that ensuring compatibility with these legacy lenses will be a major priority for both Canon and Nikon and we weren’t surprised to see this concern reflected in our poll results.

Nikon’s 1-series showed that the company knows how to make a fast hybrid AF system, and Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS autofocus has been impressing us for years

Coming in second is a request for a high resolution sensor, followed closely by a sports-ready AF system and a lifelike viewfinder in third and fourth place, respectively. It remains to be seen how ‘pro’ any eventual full-frame Canikon mirrorless product/s will be, but we know from interviewing senior executives at both companies that matching the DSLR viewfinder and autofocus experience is key to their vision of what a competitive high-end mirrorless camera should look like.

If nothing else, Nikon’s much-maligned 1-series showed that the company knows how to make a fast hybrid AF system, and Canon’s mirrorless-ready Dual Pixel CMOS autofocus has been impressing us for years.

Many of you want to see in-body stabilization too, which we’ve come to really appreciate in the Sony a7/a9-series, as well as in mirrorless ILCs from Olympus and Panasonic. In-body stabilization has never been a standard feature on DSLRs (notwithstanding the sterling efforts of Minolta/Sony and Pentax) and it’s hugely useful for both stills and video capture.

Comments on Facebook, Twitter and on our site ran the gamut from serious and reasonable to not at all serious and wholly unreasonable. Here are a couple of our favorites.

Easy ?
1. UHDp50/60, 4:2:2 10bit internal video recording
2. Uses new “SDUC Express” and/or CFast2.0
3. 5.5 stops of IS/VR in-camera
4. 15-stops DR for stills, 14-stops DR for video
5. 14bit RAW files (losslessly compressed & uncompressed)
6. 18-90mm f/1.8 AF lens at launch

— Eric (@1HDBIZ) July 25, 2018

We won’t be left hanging for too long – Nikon will be livestreaming its ‘special event’ on August 23rd. Until then, the speculation continues and you can view the full results of our poll below.

Have your say

$ (document).ready(function() { Poll({“pollId”:”5717924829″,”openForVoting”:false,”mainElementId”:”poll0″,”slot”:null,”isSingleChoicePoll”:false,”minNumberOfChoices”:1,”maxNumberOfChoices”:3}); })

What are the most important things you'd want from a Canon or Nikon mirrorless camera?

High resolution sensor11.3%
High speed shooting1.9%
Good quality video3.8%
Sports-ready AF system10.7%
Easy-to-use AF system4.0%
Lifelike viewfinder10.2%
Responsive controls and menus3.4%
Configurable controls/interface1.4%
Pro video features such as waveforms / 10-bit capture1.5%
Small, affordable primes5.4%
Fast primes2.5%
Tele zooms0.5%
Full compatibility / full performance with existing lenses13.0%
Lightweight4.3%
Compact size6.3%
Substantial grip1.6%
Good battery life4.5%
16-bit Raw1.4%
Top plate settings display0.3%
Dual card slots1.0%
Effective weather sealing3.2%
In-body stabilization7.9%

Total voters: 3,783

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Tips for Better Results When Shooting in Low Light Conditions

23 Jul

Shooting in low light conditions can result in beautiful photographs. But it also presents plenty of technical challenges for you as a photographer to overcome.

noodles in a person's hands - Tips for Better Results When Shooting in Low Light Conditions

The main issues with doing low light photography are:

You may not be able to use a shutter speed fast enough to hand hold your camera without creating camera shake.
If you use a high ISO, your photos can be very noisy.
Shooting at a wider aperture might not give you the depth-of-field you need to get enough of the subject in focus.
Your pictures can be underexposed and lack shadow detail.
It may be difficult for your lens to focus in low light.

Working with a tripod can greatly reduce some of these technical difficulties, but what about situations where shooting handheld is usually a necessity, like street photography? Or in places where a tripod may be prohibited, like a restaurant or museum?

There are ways to take control of your camera to ensure you get the most out of these challenging situations.

urban street scene high viewpoint - Tips for Better Results When Shooting in Low Light Conditions

Tip #1 – Use a Prime Lens

There is no denying that zoom lenses are convenient, but choosing a prime over a zoom lens can ensure that your images will be that much sharper.

Zoom lenses are constructed with extra glass elements that move in order to zoom. More elements within the lens contribute to lens diffraction, a phenomenon of optical physics that degrades the quality of an image. Lens diffraction is why a generic prime lens can often be sharper than a much pricier zoom counterpart.

2 images of a tree and leaves - Tips for Better Results When Shooting in Low Light Conditions

Shot with an 85mm prime lens.

Tip #2 – Use Shutter Priority

We’re taught that the best way to get great photos is to always shoot in Manual Mode, but sometimes this isn’t the case. In low light photography, shooting in shutter priority mode will help you take better control of your camera.

Shutter Priority mode lets you set the ISO and shutter speed, while the camera will calculate the best aperture for the lighting conditions in which you’re working.

The shutter speed needs to be fast enough to prevent camera shake. Your settings will vary, depending on your focal length and the size of your camera’s sensor. A good approach is to start with the same number (as a fraction) as your focal length for a full frame camera, and then add a stop (double it).

For example, if you are shooting with a 50mm on a full frame camera, try 1/100th of a second and check your results. For a cropped sensor, double your focal length number and add a stop (so 50mm x 2 = 100 x 2 = 200 so 1/200th).

Keep in mind that this is only a guideline. It’s to be used as a quick baseline from which to start. Your camera, the lens you’re using, and the environment you’re shooting in are all factors that will influence your end result.

Tip #3 – Use a High ISO

Tips for Better Results When Shooting in Low Light Conditions - tree with pink lights in it

Your images can be very noisy at a high ISO. Some cameras handle high ISO settings better than others, but the vast majority of DSLRs (and mirrorless cameras) these days have good ISO capabilities. At least good enough to give you a decent base file for post-processing.

Lightroom and Photoshop can fix noise effectively, but the best results can be had with a program called Dfine from DxO’s Nik Collection. (Note: Once available for free, this plug-in can now be purchased with the entire Nik Collection from DxO).

The software measures select areas of your image for noise and adjusts it automatically. You can also take control and selectively increase and decrease noise reduction intensity and type in different parts of the image.

Before beginning to shoot in low light, I recommend doing an ISO test to determine how far you can push it with your camera. Run a few images through your post-processing program of choice and analyze the results. If you need to do a lot of noise reduction, your images might end up looking too plastic.

Tip #4 – Use Back Button Focus

Many of us rely on autofocus these days, especially if we have less than 20/20 vision. Both autofocus and manual focus have their pros and cons.

For example, when using autofocus, it’s very easy for the camera to miss focus at wider apertures. Also, when a scene lacks contrast, which is often the case in low lighting scenarios, the lens may struggle to find focus. You can remedy this by focusing on the edge of a brighter spot in your frame and then recomposing.

Tips for Better Results When Shooting in Low Light Conditions - images show in low light with back button focus

You’ll need to use focus lock, or back button focus so your camera doesn’t attempt to refocus once you try to recompose. Back button focus moves the trigger for focusing from the shutter button to the back of your camera. When your focus is not set with the shutter button, your camera will not attempt to refocus when you take a shot.

I always have my camera set to back button focusing, whether I am shooting in low light or not.

Low Light Portraits

If you need to shoot portraits in low light without a tripod, try image stabilization if your lens offers this technology. Image stabilization counteracts any minor vibration due to shaky hands.

An image stabilizer can help you shoot at a slower shutter speed that you ordinarily would with a lens that doesn’t have this function.

When shooting portraits, shoot at the lowest (widest) aperture possible. It will give you a narrower depth of field, which will help you blur out a busy background by letting it fall out of focus. If possible, use a reflector to bounce some light onto your subject’s face.

Tips for Better Results When Shooting in Low Light Conditions - portrait in low light

This child portrait above was shot handheld, very late in the day, without a reflector. Despite using some of the tips outlined here, it still was underexposed. I was able to bring some brightness back by using Curves in Photoshop and lightened the right side of her face a bit to counter some of the dreaded raccoon-eyes you often get with low light portraits.

Post-processing can go along way toward counteracting some of the problems encountered in low light photography, but trying to get things as perfect as you can in-camera, will save you a lot of time and headaches later.

Low Light Landscapes

Shooting at the golden hour or blue hour, when the light is low, is an ideal time to shoot landscapes. But it also presents the same challenges. In this case, a good, sturdy tripod is essential.

Also, you’ll need a shutter release. Manually depressing the shutter button will cause a vibration that will introduce camera shake and cause your images to be less than sharp.

When shooting landscapes in low light conditions, use Manual or Aperture Priority mode and be careful not to underexpose, or you’ll end up with too little shadow detail.

Your aperture should be fairly narrow, such as f/8 or f/11. Stopping down to apertures such as f/16 or f/22 can cause lens diffraction, in either prime or zoom lenses, no matter the quality. Shooting at f/8 will give you a good depth of field and enough sharpness. Not to mention, most lenses function at their best around this aperture.

Tips for Better Results When Shooting in Low Light Conditions - marina at night shot

Bulb mode is also a great way to shoot landscape photography. This mode is mostly used for long exposures at night or in dark conditions and allows you to do an exposure longer than 30 seconds. You can keep the shutter open as long as required to get the shot in this mode.

If image sharpness continues to be an issue, taking three identical images with different focus points and blending them together using the focus stacking function in Photoshop is an excellent remedy.

Low Light Indoors

Sometimes you’ll need to shoot indoors in low light where you can’t use a flash, such as in a museum or a restaurant. You can choose to crank up your ISO and try Shutter Priority, as mentioned above.

For shooting subjects like food or still life indoors in natural light, shoot by a window and do a long exposure with the camera on your tripod. As long as you have some light, you can still shoot. Use reflectors to bounce some of the light back onto your subject.

Long exposures can be used for still life indoors pomegranate - Tips for Better Results When Shooting in Low Light Conditions

In Summary

The key to getting consistently great results shooting in low light is understanding the principles as outlined above. Take some time to practice and take notes on what you observe while trying to get a well-exposed image.

After a while, it will become second nature for you to know what to do in any given low light situation.

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NVIDIA’s content-aware fill uses deep learning to produce incredible results

24 Apr

Adobe Photoshop’s Content-Aware Fill is the current industry standard when it comes to removing unwanted artifacts and distracting objects, but that might not always be the case. Because while Adobe is currently working on an advanced deep learning-based “Deep Fill” feature, NVIDIA just demonstrated its own AI-powered spot healing tool, and the results are pretty incredible.

As you can see from the two-minute demonstration above, the prototype tool can handle both basic tasks, like removing a wire from a scene, as well as more complicated tasks, such as reconstructing books and shelves inside an intricate library scene.

The secret behind this tool is NVIDIA’s “state-of-the-art deep learning method” that the tool is built on. Not only does the tool use pixels from within the image to reconstruct an area—it actually analyzes the scene and figures out what it should look like when it’s finished. This helps to create a much more accurate and realistic result, even when the original image is an absolute disaster.

The best examples of this can be seen in a paper NVIDIA team members published titled ‘Image Inpainting for Irregular Holes Using Partial Convolutions.’ As seen in the comparison images below, NVIDIA’s tool blows Photoshop out of the water when reconstructing portraits where much or most of the face is removed.

From left to right: the corrupted image, Adobe’s Content-Aware results, NVIDIA’s results and the actual image.

In the discussion section (section 5.1) of the aforementioned paper, NVIDIA says its “model can robustly handle holes of any shape, size location, or distance from the image borders. Further, our performance does not deteriorate catastrophically as holes increase in size.”

NVIDIA does note, however, that “one limitation of our method is that it fails for some sparsely structured images such as the bars on the door,” as seen in the image comparison below.

From left to right: the corrupted image, NVIDIA’s results and the original image.

Current shortcomings aside, this particular tool—prototype or otherwise—appears to be leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else that’s currently on the market. Unsurprisingly, there’s no word on when, or if, we’ll ever see this hit the market, let alone in the consumer market, but we’ll keep our fingers and toes crossed.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Fujifilm Imaging Solutions posts excellent financial results

14 Feb

Fujifilm Holdings has posted its financial results for the first three quarters of the 2017 fiscal year, and it’s all good news for the Imaging Solutions division. The segment recorded a revenue of 297.7 billion yen (approximately $ 2.77 billion USD), a bump of 15.6% year-on-year. Imaging Solution operating income totaled 50.0 billion yen (approximately $ 465 million USD), up 76.1% over the same period during the previous year.

From the figures in its earnings presentation, it seems the bulk of the increase comes from the Photo Imaging business—read: Instax cameras—but strong sales in the Electronic Imaging business show the X-Series is starting to deliver. Quarterly revenue for Electronic Imaging is up 39%, thanks to strong sales of the X-E3, X-T20 and X100F models, and the mirrorless medium-format camera GFX 50S and corresponding lenses.

Sales also increased in the Optical Devices business, largely due to strong sales of various industrial-use lenses, used for example in vehicle cameras or projectors. And, finally, Fujifilm’s presentation also mentions the launch of the new MK series of lenses, which are designed for cinema cameras and targeted at the growing area of video creation for online purposes.

If you want to dive into more detail, you can find all the report documents, including a video of the presentation, on the Fujifilm Holdings website. But long story short: Fujifilm’s Imaging Solutions division seems to be doing very well.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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DxOMark republishes Pentax 645Z results and it’s as good as we always suspected

15 Nov

In a move likely to completely silence all whispers of chicanery, DxOMark has finally published its results for Ricoh’s Pentax 645Z. The camera just misses out on being hailed as the best stills camera sensor ever (as it would have been, when data was first published for the camera back in 2015), but it still scores a very impressive 101 points.

And, as we know, points mean… Er…

Several years after its release, the 645Z still holds its own in the company of some excellent cameras built around similar sensors.

The results themselves are very similar to those of the Hasselblad X1D 50c, which itself is based around a very similar Sony CMOS sensor (albeit for at least $ 3000 more). How much of the difference can be ascribed to better readout circuitry, how much to the Hasselblad’s use of 15-bit Raw files (I mean, that extra 0.1EV of DR has to live somewhere), and how much is simply within the tests’ margin of error it’s impossible to know.

Still, we can now be certain that, while not quite the best sensor in the world, is 99% as good as the best sensor DxO has tested.

In all seriousness, though, whatever the reason for the delay, it’s a seriously impressive performance from a very aggressively-priced camera. And, since we have first-hand knowledge of how difficult it is to get a 645Z for long enough to do extensive testing on, we think it’s great to see its performance recognized.

Click here to read DxOMark’s assessment

Press Release:

Pentax 645Z: A great choice for medium-format shooters

Pentax’s medium format camera delivers in all areas

PARIS – November 14, 2017 – DxOMark has just published the results of its in-depth analysis of the Pentax 645Z medium-format camera. With an overall DxOMark sensor score of 101 points, the Pentax 645Z has the second-highest-scoring sensor we’ve ever tested, beaten only by the 51.4Mp Sony sensor in the Hasselblad X1D-50c. The 645Z achieves extremely good sub-scores, indicating that it can capture a huge range of colors and tones in a single file.

It’s clear from our testing that the Pentax 645Z’s sensor is extremely capable, coming within a whisper of matching the performance of the Hasselblad X1D sensor. Its high dynamic range and color sensitivity make the 645Z ideally suited for capturing the types of scenes that are traditionally favored by medium-format photographers — landscapes, weddings, portraits, and other photographic genres that require capturing images with lots of detail, low noise, and smooth tonal gradations.

In addition, the Pentax 645Z controls noise well, making it suitable for use in relatively low light, and perhaps expanding the range of conditions in which medium-format cameras are traditionally used.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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GoPro Q3 2017 financial results reveal return to profitability

04 Nov

GoPro has reported its Q3 2017 financial results, detailing revenue that highlights a return to profitability. The company has undergone extensive business restructuring over past months in an effort to reverse its fortunes while decreasing non-GAAP expenses. According to its latest quarterly results, GoPro saw a 37% year-on-year revenue increase, raking in $ 47 million in cash with a 40% gross margin.

GoPro achieved both GAAP and non-GAAP profitability during its third fiscal quarter, with company CEO Nicholas Woodman saying, “GoPro has turned a corner, restoring growth and profitability to our business.” In addition to growing revenue, GoPro saw “dramatically reduced operating costs,” though the lower costs won’t affect its product roadmap, according to Woodman.

In its third quarter last year, GoPro saw a GAAP net loss of $ 104 million. Compare that to this year’s Q3 GAAP net income of about $ 15 million, and you’ll get a sense of the drastic improvement the company just posted. The turnaround has been largely driven by GoPro’s average sales price (up 22% year-on-year) and the cat that its quarterly operating expenses were the lowest they’ve been in 3 years.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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6 Tips for Getting Consistent Results Shooting in Low Light

05 Oct

It’s often challenging for photographers to get consistent results in low light. Problems encountered may include camera shake, out of focus photos, and noisy images. There are three main reasons that these things happen.

How to Get Consistent Results Shooting in Low Light

You may not be using shutter speeds fast enough to hand-hold your camera without getting camera shake.
Your camera may struggle to focus properly in low light.
Your photos might be noisy because of high ISO settings, underexposure, or a combination of both.

With this in mind, let’s look at some steps you can take to get consistent results when shooting in low light conditions.

1. Take your camera off full automatic

If you’re using your camera in a fully automatic exposure mode, such as portrait or night scene, it’s time to stop. You have little or no control over your camera’s settings by using these modes. That stops you from getting the best results in low light.

The only modes I recommend that you ever use are Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program Auto or Manual (the last one only if you really know what you’re doing).

How to Get Consistent Results Shooting in Low Light

For best results in low light avoid your camera’s fully automatic exposure modes!

2. Avoid using the built-in flash

Fully automatic exposure modes may also engage the camera’s built-in flash in low light. The problem is that built-in flash doesn’t provide high-quality light.

Don’t get me wrong. There will always be circumstances where it’s more important to get the photo than to worry about its aesthetic qualities. If you’re photographing a friend or loved one in the dark, it’s better to use the flash and capture the moment, however ugly the light, than not capture it all. But if you want to create beautiful photos, then you will want to either learn to use off-camera flash or make the most of the available light.

I made this photo at dusk using an off-camera flash with a softbox. There’s no way you can replicate this quality of the light in this image without the right equipment.

How to Get Consistent Results Shooting in Low Light

3. Use Image Stabilization

Image Stabilization lets you take sharp photos using longer shutter speeds than you could with a non-stabilized lens. This is useful to know if your photos tend to suffer from camera shake in low light.

There are two types of Image Stabilization. Canon and Nikon build it into their lenses. That means the technology only works if you have the right lens. As most kit lenses are image stabilized it is likely you own at least one image such lens you can use in low light.

Other manufacturers, like Olympus and Panasonic, place the image stabilization mechanism in the camera body. The advantage of this system is that it works with any lens. If you’re not sure how image stabilization works with your camera then check your manual for the details.

Most image stabilization systems give you a four-stop advantage. Let’s look at what that means in practice.

Let’s say you’re using an 18-55mm kit lens on an APS-C camera. Ideally, without image stabilization, you need a shutter speed of around 1/125 second to achieve a sharp image with a hand-held camera (some photographers may argue you could use a slower shutter speed). An image stabilization system that gives you a 4 stop advantage means you can drop the shutter speed to 1/8th of a second and still get a sharp image. That’s very helpful in low light.

For example, I made this photo in a dimly lit museum with a non-stabilized 18-55mm lens at 1/160 second, f5.6, ISO 1600. If the lens was image stabilized I would have had the option of using ISO 100 and 1/10th of a second, giving me a much cleaner image with less noise.

How to Get Consistent Results Shooting in Low Light

4. Don’t be afraid of high ISO

Most modern digital cameras give you excellent performance at high ISOs. It’s quite possible your camera is capable of giving great results at ISO 3200, 6400, or even higher. You won’t know until you try. This is another good reason for taking your camera off fully automatic. Now you can decide what ISO to use, rather than leaving it up to your camera.

The best thing to do is test your camera at all its high ISO levels to find your noise tolerance level. For example, you might find that ISO 6400 is the highest setting you’re comfortable using. Once you’ve decided this, you know the ISO range you can work with for your camera.

This photo is taken at ISO 6400, the highest ISO I’m comfortable using on my camera. I had to use the high ISO setting because the photo was taken indoors in low light.

Low light

5. Use a prime lens

If you don’t have one already then it’s worth considering buying a prime lens. For example, most 18-55mm kit lenses have a maximum aperture of f/5.6 at the 55mm end. But on a 50mm prime lens that maximum aperture could be f/1.8 (or even wider). That’s a difference of over three stops (eight times more light), which means that you can take photos in much lower light conditions.

The only caveat is that there is much less depth of field at wide apertures. But you can use this to your advantage by exploring the use of bokeh in your low light photos. I made this photo of a Chinese lantern, taken at night, using an 85mm lens set to f/2.

Low light

6. Use a tripod

A tripod comes in really handy for taking photos of landscapes and cityscapes in low light. All the methods listed so far, such as using a high ISO, Image Stabilization, prime lenses and so on, have disadvantages. Noise increases at high ISOs, wide apertures don’t give much depth of field, and even Image Stabilization has its limits.

The benefit of a tripod is that you can use your camera at its lowest ISO setting (giving good image quality), and a small aperture such as f/8 or f/11 (allowing for a greater depth of field).

Shutter speeds will slow right down at these settings. Again, use this to your advantage. Slow shutter speeds are great for landscape photography because moving parts of the landscape, like water, become a silky blur. With cityscapes, the light from passing traffic becomes long streaks of light.

A tripod also opens up techniques like long exposure photography (photos taken with shutter speeds between a minute and eight minutes long) and painting with light (using flash or torchlight to illuminate the scene during a long exposure).

I used a tripod to create this landscape photo, which needed an exposure of 30 seconds at f/8 and ISO 100. The water blurred during the exposure, which helps add mood and atmosphere to the photo.

Conclusion

The key to getting consistent results shooting in low light is understanding the limitations of your equipment and taking control of your camera to make it do what you need, rather than what it wants. With a bit of work and patience, you can learn to take great photos in low light. The benefit is that low light conditions are often beautiful. Most places and landscapes look beautiful at dusk. Shooting at these times will help you take moody photos.

Do you have any ideas for shooting in low light? Let us know in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more about the creative side of photography then please check out my ebook Mastering Photography. It shows you how to take control of and be creative with your digital camera, no matter what your skill level!

The post 6 Tips for Getting Consistent Results Shooting in Low Light by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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