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6 of the Best Smartphone Apps for Travel and Landscape Photography

Ansel Adams, the godfather of landscape photography once said, “A great photograph is knowing where to stand.” Sadly, I stood in all the wrong places when I began. I watched in envy as seemingly everyone else was taking pictures of an epic sunrise, an arching Milky Way, or an ethereal cityscape blanketed in fog.

Landscape photography apps are essential tools that help you be in the right place at the right time, like this rooftop in Busan, South Korea. © Pete DeMarco

Eventually, I learned that compelling landscape images are created long before the shutter snaps. Like anything in life, having a plan or vision about what you would like to create will massively increase your chances of reaching your target. The same goes for photography.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely respect chance, or what some may call serendipity. But capturing spontaneous events takes a fair amount of planning. Even the man who coined the term “The Decisive Moment”, the great street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, would plan his frame and then wait for life to happen within his photographic stage.

When Preparation Meets Opportunity

Landscape photography is like going to the casino. You can’t control what cards you get, but by learning the game you can increase your odds of winning.

In photography terms, Smartphone apps are essential tools in the image creation process, right up there with your camera, lens, and tripod. You can literally make the stars align with them.

Knowing where to stand (and when) makes all the difference in landscape photography. © Pete DeMarco

Here are six Smartphone apps I use to plan out my landscape photo shoots. Use them well, and it won’t be long before you get comments on your photos like this, “You always seem to be in the right place at the right time.”

#1 – PhotoPills

PhotoPills is the best photography app on the market. Period. It’s the photographer’s Swiss Army knife. It does so many things. I use it to plan my astrophotography shoots. I can easily figure out the phase of the moon, the location of The Milky Way, where it will rise, how high, at what angle, and at what intensity. The best part is the 3D augmented reality for finding The Milky Way in the sky.

PhotoPills is an excellent app for astrophotography. I used it to plan this shoot in Penang, Malaysia.© Pete DeMarco

And that’s just the beginning. Whether you are doing timelapse photography, location planning, tracking the sun or the moon, or calculating your hyperfocal distance, this app has it all. The $ 9.99 price tag is well worth it considering all you get in return (available for iOS and Android).

#2 – The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE)

TPE used to be my go-to app before PhotoPills made it obsolete. The best thing is its simplicity. I mainly use it to track the sun and the moon. But since PhotoPills does that and so much more, I rarely use it now. I still included TPE on the list though because you can use it for free through their “web app”. Just go to their home page and click on TPE for Desktop.

You can’t control the light in landscape photography, but you can learn how to make the most out of what you’re given. © Pete DeMarco

It also has 3D topographical maps and can help with astrophotography shoots. Still though, PhotoPills offers far more at a lower price. Watch my short video tutorial on how I use this app to find where the sun will rise and set. (Price: $ 11.99 for iOS and Android; browser version FREE)

#3 – Sun Surveyor

Sun Surveyor is another helpful Smartphone app to plan the rise and fall of the sun. © Pete DeMarco

Another app similar to TPE is Sun Surveyor. It’s mainly just for tracking the sun, the moon, and how the light will fall. If English is not your first language, the app has been translated into a number of different languages like Korean, Chinese, Turkish, Czech and many others. With limited features though, I’d probably just use the free desktop version of TPE or buy PhotoPills instead. (Price: $ 9.99, iOS and Android)

#4 – Tide Charts Near Me

The land bridge in this photo is only visible at low tide. Apps like Tide Charts Near Me are helpful when photographing seascapes like this one. © Pete DeMarco

If you’re into seascape photography, knowing the level of the tide is essential. Some shots you can only get at low tide or high tide. Tide Charts Near Me is a super simple app with a great graphic interface for showing the height of the tide on any given day or time. There’s also a moon phase calendar included as well. (Price: Free for iOS & Android)

#5 – Maps.me

The most important thing of all is being able to make it to and from your shoot location. Google Maps and Apple Maps are decent. But the problem is that you need to use data to access those maps, which can be costly if you’re traveling internationally.

Also, if you’re in an area with no cell phone service then your map app won’t work. Yes, you can use Google maps offline but you have to download each individual location first.

Finding your way around a big city or new country can be daunting. Offline map apps like Maps.me not only save you roaming data fees, they get you where you need to be. © Pete DeMarco

Maps.me is a fantastic offline map app solution. It’s simple to use and does much more than just help you find your way. Once you install the app, all you do is download the country map for your destination.

Then you can locate the nearest ATM, restaurant, wifi connection, and more with ease, without using any data. It works with GPS, not wifi, so you can find your way anywhere in the world. However, if your device isn’t GPS enabled, like say an iPad or another tablet with only a wifi connection, then it won’t work. Check out the video for more details. (Price: Free for iOS and Android).

#6 – Wundergroud

Clouds can add drama to your landscape images. Weather apps that show the hourly forecast like Wunderground can give you a planning edge. © Pete DeMarco

Last but not least, knowing the weather forecast obviously makes a huge difference in photography. Almost any app will do for this. I prefer Wunderground because it gives a detailed weather forecast by the hour, not just the day (Price: Free for iOS and Android).

Beginner’s Guide To Landscape Photography

If you found this article helpful and would like to learn more, check out Pete’s course A Beginner’s Guide to Compelling Landscape Photography.

The post 6 of the Best Smartphone Apps for Travel and Landscape Photography by Pete DeMarco appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

August 11, 2017
Consumer Reports no longer recommends Microsoft Surface devices: too unreliable

Photo by Jared Brashier

Yikes. Microsoft’s Surface devices—particularly the versatile Surface Pro tablet computers—have become popular among photographers. But if you’re considering taking the plunge on the new Surface Pro, you might want to consider this news from Consumer Reports. The respected car, appliance, and gadget tester just completed a survey of over 90,000 Surface owners, and what they found forced them to remove the ‘Recommended’ label from the Microsoft devices.

According to the report on CR, the breakage rate of Surface devices is ‘significantly worse’ than competing laptops and tablets. How much worse? According to its survey, CR says 25% of Surface owners will run into issues within the first 2 years of ownership. This finding applies to Surface Pro tablets, Surface Book laptops, and standard clamshell Surface laptops.

Common problems reported by survey participants include freezing, unexpectedly shutting down, and have issues with their touchscreens.

For its part, Microsoft disputes the report, claiming their own support numbers don’t track with the CR survey. “We don’t believe these findings accurately reflect Surface owners’ true experiences or capture the performance and reliability improvements made with every Surface generation,” said the company in a statement.

To read the full report, head over to Consumer Reports.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

August 11, 2017
How to Let Go of Perfection in Photography

In the digital era, where perfection seems within our grasp through post-processing and limitless opportunities to reshoot, it’s easy to get hung up on perfectionism. In some genres, such as product photography, it’s a necessity. Your commercial client won’t appreciate blown-out highlights on a shampoo bottle or soft focus on the wheel of a prestige car.

But in many other areas of photography – especially when it comes to your personal projects – letting go of perfectionism can help unleash your creativity and ensure that you don’t miss important moments.

Beautifully imperfect.

My brush with perfectionism

Earlier this year, my firstborn turned 18 and I wanted to create a slideshow of photos from her birth to the present day. Since I was still shooting film for the first 10 years of her life, this involved trawling through printed photos.

What stood out to me was that among my favorite photos, very few were technically perfect. Some were poorly composed. Others were out-of-focus, underexposed, or badly lit. In fact – and I hate to admit this – if I’d shot these photos in the digital era, I’d have rejected many of them, or attempted to reshoot them to get them “right”. But they captured expressions that epitomize my daughter. They had caught candid moments between sisters, and snippets in time I’d forgotten, but want to remember.

Grainy, underexposed and soft, this photo of my children snuggled into an armchair reading books is priceless to me.

Embrace the imperfect

Almost everything about the black-and-white photo at the top of the page is imperfect from a technical stance. The subject is too centred; the sun has cast shadows over her eyes and highlighted her nose; the highlights are blown out, and the focus is soft on the eyes. To me, though, it is exquisite. The windswept hair, the tilt of her head and quirky smile capture her sweet nature, and the way she looks (to this very day) when she is daydreaming.

In all three photos above, there are technical faults. But the clumsy embrace, the dimples, those eyes and that cheeky pout could never be replaced by technical perfection.

While this article is not about film versus digital, it is hard to deny that the digital era has brought out the perfectionist in us all. Those of us who cut our photographic teeth in the film era will remember what it was like to accept imperfection. When you had a maximum of 36 frames on a roll of film, there was no room for rapid-fire shooting in the hope of getting one good shot. Unless you did your own printing, or were prepared to pay for custom printing, you were stuck with the composition you’d shot. There was no histogram to meddle with, no brushes to delete stray hairs, and no actions or presets to smooth everything out.

Perfectionism is the enemy of creativity

My youngest daughter is wildly artistic. She’s a keen photographer and has an eye for composition, lighting and quirky camera angles. To my frustration, she refuses to master some of the basics such as the exposure triangle and depth of field. While I think this has more to do with teen rebellion than creativity, I have learned something from her.

Technical skills are important, there’s no question, as we need to master the fundamentals of our craft. In photography, this means understanding light, how focal length and depth of field work, and the relationship between shutter speed, iso and aperture. We should be aware of the rules of composition even if we choose to veer from them.

But digital photography allows us to take our perfectionist tendencies to an extreme.

Would this photo be improved if it were straightened, and the white balance perfected?

Perfection is a myth

When you make perfection your goal, you’re often left with a sense of failure. Rather than enjoying your achievements, you waste time lamenting what you failed to achieve and what you could have done differently.

Creative minds are rarely tidy (neither are their workspaces – just ask the aforementioned daughter). Creation can be a messy business, yet making a mess is something that’s discouraged from an early age. Creativity is the explosion of paints and brushes across the table. It’s the random words smudged across school books that become poems and songs. It’s burnt saucepans, twisted ankles and spilt ink, and it’s weird composition, missed focus, and unwanted backgrounds. These messes can lead to wonderful things that you’ll miss if you are focused on reaching perfection.

It’s worth remembering that Penicillin, potato chips, Scotchguard and the pacemaker were all the result of mistakes.

I am no landscape photographer, but when I revisited my birth country I wanted to capture how the majority of South Africans live. The photos below were shot from a slow-moving vehicle, and a landscape photographer could point out their many imperfections. But I think I achieved what I set out to do, and that’s good enough for me.

Khyelitsha, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town, was established during the apartheid era as part of the Group Areas Act, and is now home to around 2.4 million people.

Tins roofs, uninsulated buildings and a riot of electrical wires overhead.

In the background, the mountain range for which Cape Town is famous. In the foreground, the outskirts of Khyelitsha.

Perfection is boring

There is a long list of famous songs which were recorded with mistakes, including Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, The Police’s Roxanne, and Radiohead’s Creep. It takes nothing away from our enjoyment of them – in fact, it enhances them. It reminds us that they were made by humans, who are fallible just like us.

I believe there is something in the human psyche that craves imperfection. In recent years, we have seen a resurgence of vinyl in the music industry. The trend in photo editing, especially for portraiture, has swung towards emulating film. And it is the millennials, raised in the digital era where everything sought to be perfect, who have led these trends. Lightroom presets such as Mastin Labs and VSCO are doing a roaring trade making digital photographs look like they were shot on film.

The flat tones in this photo were the result of underexposure. Now there’s a preset to emulate this look.

In this photo, the skin tones are too green, the central composition could be improved, and that red bucket draws too much attention, but contributes nothing to the story. Yet the photo reminds me of how much fun my children had on their first camping trip, and is evocative of my own childhood.

You’ll miss the important moments

Henri Cartier-Bresson, a master of candid photography said, “Sharpness is a bourgeois concept.” To him, photography was all about capturing the decisive moment, not getting hung up on technical perfection. Get too fixated on perfection, and you’ll miss the moments that take your breath away.

Your subjects can’t repeat a candid expression because you missed focus. An embrace is only spontaneous the first time. Spend too long worrying about shutter speed or depth of field, and you’ll miss it. If it’s restaged, it will show.

Discovering what my children had done when left unsupervised with craft paint in the backyard: priceless.

The photo below of a woman with her teenage daughter is an outtake from a family photo shoot, snapped in the break when they had dropped their guard. Because it is out of focus, I was tempted not to show it to them, but I was so drawn to their natural smiles and the warmth in their embrace that I changed my mind. It turned out to be one of their favourite photos. The outtakes are often the best photos, when people behave spontaneously.

This photo of my daughters was shot on 35mm film. Had I been shooting with a DSLR, I may have reshot it because the focus is soft. I’m so glad I didn’t. That split-second interaction sums up their relationship – the little one’s curiosity while her big sister asserts her superior status.

A moment is only candid the first time.

Progress over perfection

Candid photography and photojournalism are all about capturing the decisive moment, no matter how imperfect the conditions. You can’t reschedule the moment your baby takes his first steps until the light is right. And trust me, if those photos are blurry and the cat makes a guest appearance at the critical moment, they will still move you to tears when you look at them 18 years from now.

Regardless of what genre you like to photograph, keep shooting. Keep learning; read widely and take inspiration from anywhere you can. Learn from your mistakes and strive for improvement, but don’t get hung up on perfection. Enjoy your photos and, most importantly, the process of creating them.

The post How to Let Go of Perfection in Photography by Karen Quist appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

August 11, 2017
Sigma warns of aberration bug affecting some of its lenses on Canon DSLRs
Sigma has issued an advisory for five of its lenses over an error that occurs when they’re used with select Canon DSLRs.

The issue crops up when the cameras’ “Lens aberration correction” function is turned on. According to the company, having the lens aberration feature enabled on the Canon EOS 6D Mark II, EOS 9000D (77D), EOS Kiss X9 (EOS Rebel SL2), or the EOS Kiss X9i (EOS Rebel T7i) cameras will result in an error when paired with the following lenses:
- SIGMA 30mm F1.4 DC HSM | Art
- SIGMA 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art
- SIGMA 30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM
- SIGMA 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM
- SIGMA 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM
Affected users are advised to keep the lens aberration function disabled until a fix is released.

Full Product Advisory
Dear Canon EOS 6D Mark II, EOS 77D, EOS Rebel T7i, EOS Rebel SL2 Users

Thank you for purchasing and using our products.

We have found that some SIGMA interchangeable lenses for CANON are not fully compatible with EOS 6D Mark II, EOS 77D, EOS Rebel T7i, EOS Rebel SL2.

When certain lenses are attached to these cameras and the “Lens aberration correction” function on these cameras is set to “Enable” for Live View shooting, an error would occur.
Please set the “Lens aberration correction” function of the cameras to “Disable” when using SIGMA’s interchangeable lenses for CANON.

In addition, please also refer to other notice below, related to the usage of EOS mount SIGMA lenses on Canon cameras.

[Phenomenon]
When the lenses listed below are used on EOS 6D Mark II, EOS 77D, EOS Rebel T7i, EOS Rebel SL2 and the “Lens aberration correction” function on the camera is set to “Enable” for Live View shooting, an error would occur.

[Products concerned]
- SIGMA 30mm F1.4 DC HSM | Art
- SIGMA 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art
- SIGMA 30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM
- SIGMA 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM
- SIGMA 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM
[Usage Notice for customers who are using EOS mount SIGMA lenses on CANON cameras]
When using the SIGMA lenses for CANON, “Peripheral illumination correction”, “Chromatic aberration correction”, “Diffraction correction” as well as “Distortion correction” from the “Lens aberration correction” function of the camera are not supported. Therefore, we recommend you to set them to “Disable”.
If those functions are set to “Enable”, the performance of the lenses may not be accurate.

For further information, please contact your nearest authorized SIGMA subsidiary / distributor.
http://www.sigma-global.com/en/about/world-network/

We appreciate your continued support for our company and products.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
August 11, 2017
Shooting modern motorsports photography with a Kodak Brownie No. 2

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Photographer and automotive writer Murilee Martin has published a series of modern motorsport photos he took using an old Kodak Brownie No. 2 camera from 1926. The collection, 24 photos in all, was published recently on Autoweek where Mr. Martin explains, “After learning how to drive a Ford Model T recently, I decided that I needed the camera equivalent of the T, the camera that gave the world the ability to shoot photographs cheaply and easily.”

The photos above, as well as the rest of the collection found in the Autoweek post, were taken with the Model F version of the Kodak Brownie, one that sports an aluminum chassis rather than the original model’s cardboard frame. The photos were shot on ordinary 120 film during the 24 Hours of Lemons race in California.

To see the full gallery or find out more about what it was like shooting fast action with a 91-year-old film camera, head over to Autoweek.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

August 11, 2017
Cones on Poles: Field Guide to Elevated Traffic Cones in Everyday Contexts

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

Like some many things in the built environment, once you start noticing cones on poles you will see them everywhere — Cones on Poles, an “unofficial sequel” to The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal by Matt McCormick, explores “the strange phenomena of people placing cones on poles and other elevated places.”

What started out as a joke has become a study of adaptive patterns — per Matt, some are “predictable, like a cone being placed atop a bollard that keeps people from backing up into an oil tank,” while “others that are more geo-locative, like a cone on a mailbox or telephone pole in a rural area, set in place to create a sort of landmark.”

Over time, he has started noting and naming different configurations — a cluster of three or more is a “congress” (above) and then, of course, there is the self-evident “triple stack” (below).

“Traffic cones are symbols within a larger semiotic system we’ve created around the driving of automobiles (signifier: traffic cone / signified: hazard),” he explains, “but with cones on poles we see instances of people individualizing that system; the practice of everyday life, as Michel de Certeau puts it.”

Cones, in essence, signal us to be on guard, whether by indicating the presence of a fire hydrant, acting as a beacon for a home or simply (much like street art) making us wonder: what is that there for?

“Like so many of my projects,” says Matt, “this is both tongue-and-cheek yet also serious. It’s fun and goofy, but also part of my larger effort to simply encourage people to pay attention to the natural and built environments around them.” Follow this semi-serious documentary project on Instagram, and check out a trailer for Matt’s latest documentary film below.

Little People of London: Miniature Urban Street Art Images

Slinkachu is at it again, adding his innovative flair to the world of creative urban street art. These photographs, taken around town in London and even shown in galleries, are just a small …

Weightless Space: Ghostly Floating Room Hovers in Midair

A fantastic feat of architectural trickery, this anti-gravity ante-room installation appears to hover in thin air and open up into nothingness. It sports a single point of contact with the ground …

Real Life Instagram: Street Views Framed with Colored Filters

Instagram is both broadly adopted and heavily criticized for the faux-vintage filter options provided to users, providing opportunities for aptly-timed and well-executed spoofs like this …

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

August 11, 2017
NPPA to raise dues for the first time in 11 years, because defending truth ain’t cheap

The National Press Photographers Association, the professional organization that regularly advocates for and defends the rights of visual journalists in and outside its ranks, has announced that it will be raising its membership dues for the first time in 11 years starting this coming January. Because, as they explain, “defending the rights and freedoms of visual journalists isn’t free.”

The news was announced in a blog post published earlier this week by photojournalist and NPPA President Melissa Lyttle. As more and more photojournalists are forced to work freelance, without the backing of a major media organization, the NPPA has had to adapt, writes Lyttle.

“This has made our legal advocacy work more critical than ever, as our members experience a rise in interference, harassment, and arrests along with an increase in assaults of journalists,” she writes. “We also see a public increase in the distrust of the media, challenges to the First Amendment by the current administration, state, and local government, an ever-increasing number of copyright infringements, and a rash of ill-conceived anti-drone laws.”

But all of this advocacy and legal work comes at a price, and so the NPPA board has voted to increase membership dues for the first time in 11 years, starting January 1st, 2018.

If you’re interested in joining the NPPA or re-upping your membership, you can do so at the old rates by the end of 2017. Once January 1st rolls around those annual rates will go up to $ 75 for student and retired member memberships ($ 10 increase), $ 145 for a professional membership ($ 35 increase), $ 240 for a family membership (households with more than one working photojournalist), $ 170 for international membership with surface mail, and $ 245 for international membership with air mail.

NPPA membership comes with several perks, including: discounted insurance, services and products; being listed in a searchable database of photojournalists; the ability to participate in the NPPA’s mentorship program; and more.

To find out more about the price increase, perks, NPPA’s mission or anything else about membership, head over to the official announcement or visit the NPPA homepage.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

August 10, 2017

New gear and impressions: Peak Design’s ‘Leash’ shoulder and ‘Cuff’ wrist strap

The new Peak Design Cuff in the ‘ash’ color (top) and new Peak Design Leash in the ‘black on black’ color (bottom). The addition of metal hardware to both these products is a major part of the update, though I personal prefer plastic hardware because it won’t scratch my camera.

I’ve long admired Peak Design products because they offer an elegant and simple solution to the chore that is removing and replacing one’s camera strap, something I do a lot of working at DPReview.

The ‘secret sauce’ of the Peak Design system is what the company calls ‘Anchor Links,’ which are small loops of incredibly strong cord connected to a circular plastic anchor. The cord threads through a camera’s eyelet and the anchor attaches to a Peak Design shoulder or wrist strap.

The company’s Leash (camera strap) and Cuff (wrist strap) have been available for a while, but this update should offer some nice improvements to two already well-thought-out products.

What’s new

Both products have been re-worked for a more low profile design, and feature machine anodized aluminum hardware. The strap portion is still made out of ultra strong seatbelt-style nylon.
The Anchor Links have also been redesigned: The cord portion has been reduced to half the thickness for easier threading through narrow eyelets, but still holds up to 200 lbs like the older anchors. The plastic portion of the anchor is now angled for easier connecting.
A new aluminum anchor mount (included with leash) can be connected to a tripod socket allowing you to wear your camera more comfortably as a sling.
The updated Leash gains a second length adjuster. The hardware for the adjuster is now made of aluminum instead of plastic, and the adjuster has a leather strip for easy access.
The Cuff gains a new aluminum adjustment mechanism. There’s also a built in magnet in the leather portion of the strap for storing as a bracelet when a camera is not attached.
New color options: In addition to ‘black on black’, there is now an ‘ash’ color option which features tan leather accents and silver aluminum.

Impressions: the Leash

The new and improved Leash, in use. To remove the strap, simply press on the circular portion of the anchor and slide it up.

In my seven or so years writing about cameras, it brings a small tear to my eye to think about the cumulative hours spent fumbling to remove and replace camera straps. If only I’d started using Peak Design accessories sooner.

I’ve been using the updated version of the Leash for about a month now as my primary camera-reviewing strap and it’s largely been a good experience. Peak Design sent several of their new Anchor Links along with the review samples and I’ve been able to keep them on the different cameras I’ve been juggling. The Leash ships with four of these little connectors, and an additional 4 will set you back $ 20.

The old Anchor Links (left) and the newly-designed ones. Both have the same weight limit.

As mentioned above, the Anchor Links have been redesigned to play nice with narrow eyelets. Still, I ran into several occasions in which I struggled to affix them to certain cameras. Ultimately with the help of a push pin, I found success.

Back to the strap itself: I’m quite fond of the width of the Leash. Thick straps tend to get in my way and irritate my neck. And the nylon material of the Leash seems reassuringly strong.

That said, in general I found the strap too slippery. Sometimes I like to bike with a camera slung around my back. I could not do this with the Leash because my camera kept sliding forward. Simply put, the Leash could definitely benefit from some sort of grip or padding.

It’s nice to have two points of adjustment though (the previous version had one). However I can’t help but feel like the leather strip connected to the buckle – meant for easy adjustments – is over-engineered. Grabbing the buckle alone seems like an adequate method of adjusting. Furthermore, the leather strip makes loosening the strap easy, but tightening the strap is another story.

After a fair trial, I do not think I would purchase a Leash to use on my personal camera. More likely: I will consider Frankenstein-ing my current leather strap to use Peak Design’s Anchor Links and Strap Connectors for easy removable.

Impressions: the Cuff

I had less opportunity to try out the Cuff (I’ve been testing cameras too large to warrant a wrist strap), but I did spend a little time with it on a Ricoh GR as well as a Leica M6. And my impressions of it are almost entirely positive.

The leather portion of the Cuff hides a small magnet that can be moved up around. Why? So that when you are not using the Cuff, you can easily store it out of the way as a bracelet. The Cuff also features a new aluminum adjuster. It simply slides up and down, but works as intended.

When not using the Cuff, it can be folded up and worn like a bracelet. This keeps it out of the way, but at hand, until it is needed again.

One issue I did encounter while testing the Cuff is the nylon loop on the Anchor Links can feel too short, forcing you to grip the Anchor Connector along with the camera (see image below). Peak Design, if you are reading this, pretty please offer an Anchor Link with a longer cord.

I wish the cord on the Anchor Links were longer to avoid getting in the way of gripping the camera.

The Cuff may be a tad overkill for a camera as small and light as the Ricoh GR (shown above) but proved appropriate for shooting with a Leica M6 + 40mm Rokkor combo. It also looked darn nice attached to the latter.

Conclusion

Overall, as far as quick attaching strap systems go, I’ve yet to find one I like better. Both of these products are well-made and seem both reliable and durable. Though there are aspects of the Leash I still feel could be improved upon, the Cuff is one of the best-engineered and nicest-looking wrist straps I’ve used.

Overall, as far as quick attaching strap systems go, I’ve yet to find one I prefer more. Both these products are well-made and seem both reliable and durable.

The original Leash and Cuff retailed for $ 20 and $ 35 respectably. The new versions are $ 30 and $ 40. For a decent camera strap, $ 40 does not strike me as outrageous, but $ 30 for a wrist strap is certainly on the pricey side. Ultimately, I think I could justify the latter purchase, because there really isn’t any wrist strap quite like the updated Leash (especially the magnet bit). And the ‘ash’ color option sure looks fly. I’ll probably skip the Leash though.

What I like about the system:

Peak Design’s Anchor Links make it simple to remove and replace a strap
The cord portion of the Anchor Links is now narrower than before for cameras with small eyelets
New ‘Ash’ colorway is quite sharp-looking

What I didn’t like about the system:

Metal hardware on a shoulder/wrist strap can scratch your camera
The loop on Anchors Link is too short, gets in the way of gripping some cameras

I am not a fan of the new easy-grip strap adjusters on the Leash. They make it easy to loosen to the strap but difficult to tighten it.

What I like about the Leash:

Narrow strap with mostly low-profile design stays out of the way when shooting
Two strap adjustments points

What I didn’t like about the Leash:

Leash has has no grip to stop it from sliding or padding for shoulder
Leash quick adjusters feel over-engineered and have difficult time tightening the strap

The Cuff in ‘ash’ has a classy look.

What I like about the Cuff:

Movable magnet in Cuff is a nice touch, makes it easy to store wrist strap as bracelet when not in use
New strap adjuster is simple but effective way to tighten or loosen the Cuff

What I didn’t like about the Cuff:

$ 30 is a tad pricey for a wrist strap

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

August 10, 2017

Canon EOS Rebel SL2 / EOS 200D Shooting Experience

The EOS Rebel SL2 (known as the EOS 200D outside of North America) is Canon’s second-generation ultra-compact digital SLR. The SL2 is largely packed with Canon’s latest tech, including Dual Pixel AF, a DIGIC 7 processor, Wi-Fi with NFC and Bluetooth, and a new user interface for beginners.

While its small size may lead one to believe that it’s an entry-level model, similar to Nikon’s D3400, the SL2 actually sits above the bottom-end Rebel T6 (EOS 1300D), which costs $ 150 less.

The SL2’s main competitor is the aforementioned Nikon D3400, which is just a tad larger and heavier. The SL2s’ other peers are all mirrorless and include (in our opinion) the Canon EOS M5, Panasonic DMC-GX85 and the Sony a6000 which, after 3+ years on the market, is still competitive.

Key Features

24.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor
Dual Pixel autofocus (for live view and video)
9-point autofocus (through the viewfinder)
DIGIC 7 processor
3″ fully articulating touchscreen LCD
5 fps burst shooting
1080/60p video
External mic input
Wi-Fi with NFC and Bluetooth
Available ‘Feature Assistant’ user interface

Just about everything in that list is Canon’s latest and greatest, and the external microphone input is a nice extra. The one feature that’s not new is the 9-point autofocus system that you’ll use when shooting through the viewfinder – it’s identical to what’s found the original SL1, which is over four years old. You’ll get a much better focusing experience by shooting in live view, which uses Canon’s excellent Dual Pixel AF technology.

Compared to…

Now let’s take a look at how the specs compare between the the SL2 and the peers mentioned a few paragraphs earlier.

	Canon SL2	Nikon D3400	Canon M5	Panasonic GX85	Sony a6000
Resolution	24MP	24MP	24MP	16MP	24MP
Sensor size	APS-C	APS-C	APS-C	Four Thirds	APS-C
Lens mount	EF	F	EF-M	Micro 4/3	E
Image stab.	Lens-based	Lens-based	Lens-based	In-camera	Lens-based
AF system (live view)	Dual Pixel	Contrast-detect	Hybrid (Dual Pixel)	Contrast-detect	Hybrid
AF system (viewfinder)	9-point	11-point	N/A	N/A	N/A
LCD	3″ fully articulating	3″ fixed	3.2″ tilting	3″ tilting	3″ tilting
Touchscreen	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Viewfinder type/mag.	OVF / 0.54x	OVF / 0.57x	EVF / N/A	EVF / 0.7x	EVF / 0.7x
# control dials	1	1	2	2	2
Video	1080/60p	1080/60p	1080/60p	UHD 4K/30p	1080/60p
Wireless¹	Wi-Fi + NFC + BT	BT	Wi-Fi + NFC + BT	Wi-Fi + NFC	Wi-Fi + NFC
Battery life²	650 (OVF) 260 (LV)	1200 (OVF) N/A (LV)	295 (LV)	290 (LV)	360 (LV)
Dimensions (mm)	122x93x70	124x98x76	116x89x61	122x71x44	120x67x45
Weight	453 g	445 g	427 g	426 g	344 g

Strictly comparing the SL2 and D3400 you’ll see that they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. While there are ‘little things’ like the type of LCD, viewfinder size and wireless functionality, live view autofocus is the main differentiator. It’s simply no contest there, with the SL2’s AF system blowing away the D3400 in live view and movie mode.

With the exception of the Sony a6000, the SL2 is close in weight, and not far of in size, to the three mirrorless cameras in the group. All three of the mirrorless cameras have an additional control dial, making exposure adjustment quick, and their EVFs are larger than the optical viewfinders on both dSLRs. None of the mirrorless models can compare to the DSLRs in terms of battery life, but only when you’re using the latter with their optical viewfinder.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

August 10, 2017

Throwback Thursday: the iPhone 4S

Credit: Gabriele Barni

Late 2011 was a period of big changes for me. I had just finished up college, an internship, and landed my first ‘big boy’ job at Puget Sound Energy doing photo and video for their communications department. It was also around this time that I got my very first smartphone, an act which would forever change my perspectives on photography.

Okay, well, it was my second smartphone that did that. My first was a Blackberry Bold, which was a Puget Sound Energy company phone, and I very briefly thought that it was amazing. I was wrong. You see, wanting to keep my work and personal life somewhat separate, I figured I should purchase my own smartphone for personal use. So I picked up a just-released iPhone 4S, and the Blackberry felt prehistoric in comparison.

With a decent camera in my pocket at all times, I of course started an Instagram account and promptly put a photo of a bagel sandwich up for all the world to see. Yes, this is literally the first image on my Instagram profile, and it’s probably damaging my credibility to this day.

A lot of people credit cell phone cameras with the death of the compact camera, but I think the iPhone 4S was one of the first cell phones with quality that could really rival the PowerShots and Coolpix’s of the day. In high school, VGA camera phones were all the rage, but a lot of us still carried around a dedicated compact camera for ‘real’ photos.*

But with the iPhone 4S, you got an 8MP sensor, a reasonably fast F2.4 lens, 1080p HD video recording and a Retina high-density display that was probably the best display I’d ever seen up until that point. Suddenly, for an average consumer to get appreciably better image quality, you had to step up to a reasonably high-end camera, and that’s why I think the iPhone 4S was the final nail in the compact camera’s coffin.**

Of course the Sony RX100 came out the following summer and, though it did inspire eventual competition and somewhat stemmed the hemorrhaging sales of compact cameras, the $ 650 MSRP was a sign that dedicated photography tools capable of truly better output than a phone were going to be pushing ever further up-market. In other words, further out of the reach of average consumers, reinforcing for those consumers that a camera someone already has on his or her phone is going to be good enough.***

For the benefit of mankind and my personal friendships, I got over my strange obsession with posting images of my meals, and started taking pictures of other things. Cropped to taste.

In any case, I was lucky enough to have a DSLR at the time for more serious work, but whenever I didn’t want to lug that around, the iPhone 4S was there. I even ended up preferring the phone to an original Olympus Pen Mini for casual photography because of its speed, overall image quality and the ability to quickly share images to the web. Without Google Drive or Wi-Fi pairing, it was an ordeal to get images onto the iPhone from any source other than the internal camera.

In fact, looking back on my own photos from early on with the 4S, I’m struck by how often I thought that an Instagram filter was an improvement, when really, some more careful framing and more conservative editing would have been better advised. But maybe there’s more to it. I can see now that the iPhone 4S’s camera was good enough that it wasn’t the limiting factor for me at the time, it was just my own skill and taste (or in this case, a lack thereof).

This is one of the less egregious crooked horizons and ‘filter jobs’ I could find on the early days of my Instagram account, but it still looks darn overcooked to me these days.

Something about how most of the images I can find from this camera are uploaded and super compressed and all that.

As I grew in my career and as a photographer, I ended up getting a cheap Moto G when the iPhone 4S started to feel a little dated. I should have known better. I had become absolutely addicted to having at least a decent camera in my pocket at all times, and images from the Moto G just looked washout out and ‘cheap’ in comparison to the iPhone, despite having the same 8MP resolution.

That ‘addiction’ to a decent camera is something that has reached epidemic proportions throughout the world. For better or for worse, photography has been democratized and commoditized, and there just isn’t any going back – and while yes, we can thank smartphones in general for that, the iPhone 4S was one of the more influential players in changing the way that we view smartphone cameras and smartphone photography.

Photo by Scott Everett

* ‘Real’ photos usually included my 1980 Datsun 210, or trying to perfectly time the shooting of an unopened soda can with a bow and arrow. You know. High school kid stuff.

** The advent of 1080p video capture in phones is also probably why Flip and other pocket camcorders disappeared seemingly overnight.

*** After having gotten used to the iPhone 4S, I still thought for a while I had a need for a cheap, carry-everywhere camera, maybe with an optical zoom. So I got a Canon PowerShot A1200 at Costco, and the photos were absolutely horrible in comparison to the phone. For a long while, I swore off ever having a camera that lay somewhere between my iPhone and my D80.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

August 10, 2017

Blog

When Preparation Meets Opportunity

#1 – PhotoPills

#2 – The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE)

#3 – Sun Surveyor

#4 – Tide Charts Near Me

#5 – Maps.me

#6 – Wundergroud

My brush with perfectionism

Embrace the imperfect

Perfectionism is the enemy of creativity

Perfection is a myth

Perfection is boring

You’ll miss the important moments

Progress over perfection

Dear Canon EOS 6D Mark II, EOS 77D, EOS Rebel T7i, EOS Rebel SL2 Users

What’s new

Impressions: the Leash

Impressions: the Cuff

Conclusion

Key Features

Compared to…