Category Archives: blog
Amazing Human Body
We saw a performance by Traces at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry last night. An acrobatic dance show described on their site thus:
TRACES combines high-level circus skills with an electric urban street energy. With disciplines as varied as Chinese poles, basketball, skateboards, classical piano, dance, comedy and illustration, these five acrobats move quickly from one skill to the next, interpreting each in surprising and innovative ways.
It was breathtaking. I really like modern dance, especially street forms, but circus level performance with strong dance choreography in a well thought out setting is a truly uplifting experience. What well trained, athletic, talented people can do with their bodies at times defies our common experience of physics and is a joy to behold. There is a promotional video on the site well worth seeing (although probably best not to if you are already looking to go see them, so you get everything as a surprise).
We see a lot of performances at the Belgrade because it is not so far from the base office I am attached to for my employer although I very rarely visit there as I am usually working on client sites. It is also a good hour or so from home. I am though a member of the theatre club associated with the office which brings to my attention a wide variety of theatre productions usually at discounted prices. As Stratford is not so far away, this includes many performances by the RSC at the The Courtyard Theatre (we got to see the now famous performance of Hamlet by David Tennant at a preview show, for example).
There is another reason for liking the theatre: there is a rather good Indian restaurant a short walk from their called Tumeric Gold which is deservedly award winning and offers an atypical menu. There also use less oil than most such places and offer healthy options. The atmosphere is also rather special not least for being based in a four hundred year old building in the heart of medieval Coventry. Fortunately, we got to Coventry in plenty of time to have an extremely nice meal at a relaxed pace.
The trip home was not fun as several slip roads onto the local motorways were closed, and even when we finally managed to get onto the M6, we found it completely closed a couple of junctions before the the exit we needed so we ended up taking a detour through Wednesbury and Wolverhampton, cutting around the traffic diverted from the M6.
Posted in Arts & Entertainment, Eating out.
– 6 March 2010
Mortal
A few Fridays ago, I was sat in the coffee bar at Stafford railway station waiting for a train to London. A rarity these days as I am mostly working in Swansea and normally work from home on Fridays. My work phone rang but I failed to retrieve it from the depths of the correct pocket in time. A short while later I got the voice mail beep and was able to listen to a message from a friend telling me to call him back urgently. Worrying. I only spoke to my friend every few months or so and we tried to get together at least once a year.
The message said he had sent me an email, so I checked my personal email and Facebook on my iPhone whilst calling him back on my work phone. Looked like he had sent email to work which I could not get at from the station. My friend, P, told me that another friend, R, had been found dead in his hotel room in Edinburgh. Whilst I was talking with P, I received a message on Facebook from R’s daughter. She said “brace yourself i’ve got bad news. R is dead. … i’m sorry for your loss.” His daughter was saying “Sorry for your loss” to me. Continued…
Posted in Family Life, Musings.
– 28 February 2010
We used to have cats
I am not a cat person, by a long margin. We did not have any when I was a kid and what I did see of them in other people’s homes did nothing for me. I have long regarded them as parasites. I like dogs. We had dogs when I was a kid.
For many years it was impractical for us to have a dog. As I felt the kids were missing out on the experience of having pets, I relented and agreed (suggested in fact, as no one else would have dared) to get a cat.
We acquired a used model that we decided to call Kirtsie. A very healthy, cautious and smart example of the species who we discovered over time had something in common with me. She did not like cats either. We discovered this when we acquired a second cat.
The cats survived the move from our small home in Caterham to our oversized ex-farmhouse in Shropshire. In fact, Kirtsie thrived in the space and the convenient hunting grounds. The other sadly died within a short time from a hereditary disease. We decided to get some more cats. We acquired new models, too young, and riddled with ring worm. That was fun. I have these horrid memories of these rat like creatures (they had to be shaved) with sharp claws that would cling to us and crawl up towards our heads whenever we ventured near their medical confinement (the downstairs bathroom). Belatedly realised that the room was too cold for them. Eventually, they recovered and took to the environment happily. Kirtsie ignored them as well.
On a rare drunken night out with my wife, we decided it was time we got a dog to give the kids the very different experience to these as pets compared to cats.
We obtained an excellent medium sized dog from what is now know as the Dog Trust. She turned out to be extremely good with all of the cats, children (used by several parents to cure their kids of their dog fears – rather than cautions), and people in general.
Through illness and an uneven battle with a car, both of the newer cats passed on. We think this made Kirtsie happy. (“Two down, one to go was my catch-phrase for a while.”) She was less happy when a second dog appeared to keep our first dog company.
In trials, she had seemed to stand her ground so it was not expected that there would be problems with the second dog. However, over a short period the new dog become bolder and chased her a few times and she backed down (at one point ending up in the rafters of our bedroom when it was being refurbished) – the dog made it to pretty high section of the scaffolding.
Shortly after, she left. She popped back a few times but did not stay. For the next year or so, the kids you see her near their school and sometimes she would go over and say hello, but she had clearly found a new home.
So, we now have two dogs. Funny how some things work out.
Posted in Family Life.
– 28 January 2010
Photography and digital editing
There seems to be a large number of photographers who object to the use of Photoshop and the like to adjust photographic images. There are clubs where such practices are banned for competition submission. Given that RAW images require a little post-processing to be usable (and not everyone is happy for this post processing to be carried out by the the computer in their cameras against broad-brush preference settings for vibrancy, sharpness, etc.) this is problematic for many.
I would argue that photographs have always been subject to manipulation, it is just easier to do it these days. Even the way a photograph is taken in the first place has a huge impact of course. There is no such thing in my view as a “real” or a “pure” photograph.
Recently, in response to someone again complaining about the digital editing of photos, I wrote this:
But surely doing lots of very detailed and careful dodging and burning as part of the printing process is just the same as adjusting levels, dodging, burning, etc in Photoshop. As soon as you shoot a 3d view with a 2d imaging device and make decisions around depth of field, you have moved into an artistic world. It might be easier and less time consuming to use Photoshop than working in a dark room, but the pricipled are the same.I personally do not like heavily over processed images either, nor am I a great fan of what I consider over saturated velvia film stock, I do not like HDR images that have been tone-mapped to death and have auras around everything but I appreciate the more subtle works which will do until exposure range greatly increases and HDR displays become available.
There is no pure form of photography though. I am with you in wanting to get things right to my taste in camera as much as possible with little post processing. That said, Mr Adams [Ansel Adams] is one of the world’s most highly regarded photographers, and I am not. You have to wonder what he would have done with Photoshop.
and Brian Culbertson made the point more clearly (reproduced with his permission – with minor corrective edits):
When film was the standard there was a degree of manipulation you could do in the developing or processing of the film itself as well as in the dark room. pushing or holding the developing times, adjusting chemicals to shift color and contrast, cross processing, film speed speed and types. There is also the adjustments made while shooting the shot f-stop, shutter speed, movement, lighting, reflectors,gels, filters…...the list goes on. And in the darkroom there were no limits. The paper used and the different levels of silver, and dye in them. Use carbonated water when mixing the chemicals? Are any of the forms of manipulation more pure or acceptable than others? In any case you can manipulate for a more classic photographic image, or non traditional image. It seems that the goal is always the same to produce an image that you envision. Is the process of manipulation, and capturing really the focus? Sometimes it is rewarding to try something new. Even if it is not right for the current thing you are working on it might be perfect for a future project or vision.
** updates **
Since the original post, discussions continued
Firstly, I provided an interesting link
And now I find an amazing contribution to the discussion from a guest blogger on Scott Kelby’s site:http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2010/archives/7617
Well worth reading don’t you think?
G Stormz Painchaud replied (copied with permission):
I agree that it was worth reading, Stuart.
My opinion has not change though. He said himself, “Most of my images only had subtle adjustments using curves or hue/saturation, but they were applied in a way that transformed the original capture.” (Scott Kelby)I believe that there are amazing scenes to photograph & keep original—simply because there would be nothing you could add to improve the perfection of the already existing piece. What I believe is that any great photographer could visit or find a place in which these images could be produced—how they are. Photoshop, however, make the photographer completely unchallenged That is too say, he knows he can adjust/add/erase anything bad within the photo.
ANY photographer could find that one image—but they are impatient.
They know that people want new photos a.s.a.p, which is why they find something that looks mediocre & photoshops it. The point is to get a great (photoshopped) image to the audience to show more of their work.
Scott mentions (as you & other have, Stuart) about Photographers from other periods in history. Some, who have the “purist” opinion of work—are in fact hypocrites. They have only praise for photographers from different eras, but bash those of today – who do the same (with better equipment). I do NOT agree with this. I am a naturalist—for those ancients & the newer photographers – & don’t agree with it—no matter who produces the work.
Before this discussion goes any further, I have a question . What is the exact definition of a “Purist”? I have been called a “Purist” when it comes to photography, but I’m not so sure. What are the terms in which a person is a Purist—to what extent? Do they take a photo & do not edit it at all, or do they only enhance with light/dark-black/white ? I do not agree with Photoshop, but I do not post my photos without a “natural” enhance. If a Purist is against all editing—then no, HELL no, I’m not a Purist in the least .
Enhancing & Photoshop are not the same thing. Scott mentions this in the blog aswell. I edit the shades of my photos with the free common downloads you can find anywhere on the web. Yes, I am agreeing that enhancing with these types of programs is a type of Photoshop, but the term for these programs are used lightly. Real photoshop can do things to photos that the common download cannot—ADD/REMOVE items in the image. Photoshop (what I am against it for) is that it can REMOVE/ADD & change anything in the photo that the photographer dislikes & didn’t want or couldn’t take out at the time the photo was taken .
My response:
I think we broadly agree Stormz XO, we are just at different points on the same scale between enhancement and manipulation. I am happy to some personal arbitrary point with enhancements using whatever tools one chooses but less so with manipulation (which is what most people think of when talking about Photoshop) where content is changed (remove/replaced/added) and/or fundamental colour relationships are altered.If an image can not stand alone without significant manipulation, then I think you and I would agree that time would have been better spent taking a better picture.
Purist was a term using without definition but was intended to mean someone opposed to all digital post processing of an image (perhaps even in camera). You are clearly not a Purist.
Thank you. This has been interesting. May I quote you also on my blog? Do you have a public portfolio of images online? I would be interested to look at examples of your work.
and finally, for now
Thank you, it has been one of my more mature conversations on this subject.
I am looking into having a site with all my work (not just the ones that have been alowd to post), but I have a fanpage & a deviantart ;
[snip]
You can quote me, I hope we can have similar discussion in the future .
Posted in Photography.
– 27 January 2010
Echo from the past: Butterley Engineering 1985
A lifetime ago, I worked for a heavy engineering design and manufacturing company in Ripley in Derbyshire. Sadly the site was run down last year with business transferred elsewhere within and without the holding company. The manufacturing site has some historical relevance though and the aditnow.co.uk website and forum has been tracking the demolition works.A friend pointed out to me a recent posting of a copy of a 1985 company magazine featuring news about improvements to the site and a photograph of me and my boss at the time sat at a CAD workstation. Fortunately I am seen only in profile, which does not look much different from how I am now.
Posted in blog.
– 27 January 2010
Shooting portraits
On a group on Facebook, a beginner posted links to some nice vivid family photos and asked how he could do the same. I posted the reply below. His own camera is a Nikon D90 with a 50mm f1.8 prime lens.
Yes, you can achieve the same sort of results with your camera.
The Nikon D90 is an excellent camera and you have a great prime lens. You have the choice of generating the images tweaked the way you want in camera and output as JPEG files or using unprocessed raw files that you then process on your computer. There is a lot of advice on the web about the best ways to set the profiles on a Nikon D90 to produce various results.
There are many raw processors around, some are free or very cheap, and you should have got a basic one with the D90 from Nikon.
There are many photo editing applications around. Whilst Photoshop is the best known, consider also the current versions of Paint Shop Pro from Corel and Photoshop Elements from Adobe. Also, look at free options such as the open source GIMP (photoshop like) application or Google’s free Picasa.
It is not really about the software though. You should focus on getting things right in the camera in the first place as much as possible.
Remember, it is all about the light. Some tips:
- Learn to shoot using natural light – especially preferred for the shooting of babies
- Shoot when light is well diffused – cloudy days are best, net/shower curtains over bright windows are great for indoor shots.
- Avoid harsh, direct light (midday sunlight is not at all flattering) – best outdoor light lasts for around an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening – the golden hours around sunrise and sunset when the sun is low in the sky, a lot weaker and helps to give scenes a lot more texture.
- Learn to use cheap big reflectors (large reflective boards from your local DIY store) to bounce/reflect light to where you need it.
- Learn how to use your aperture settings to control the depth of field so you get just the effect and impact you are after (typically popping the subject from the background)
- Read these “rules” on portrait photography: http://www.lumitouch.com/benstudiotutorial/rules.html
- Learn to read the histogram on the back of your camera to check exposure and do NOT rely on just the picture preview.
- Practice. Practice. Practice.
- Only when you have mastered your camera and are managing light to a level where you are comfortable in what you are doing and know how to go about getting the results you are after, should you start to think about playing with software to any significant extent.
Portrait 1 – natural light
This photo was taken using the first Pentax digital SLR with a basic zoom lens. You have much better quality equipment.The subject is sat in a chair near a window that has a net curtain drawn across it and my wife is holding a white chopping board (yes, a chopping board – we were in a holiday cottage in Scotland) near to the left hand side of the face of the subject to reflect some of that window light on to the side of the face that would otherwise be a bit too dark (you want different levels of light around the face to help shape it but not too great a difference or you end up with some bits overexposed or other bits too dark).
The wall paper behind the subject is sufficiently far behind for the aperture I was using for it to be out of focus. We had removed a picture from the wall first.
The black and white with blue eyes effect is somewhat clichéd but easy to do in just about any photo editing package; in photoshop or paintshop it is along these lines: duplicate the layer, use the channel mixed in monochrome mode to make the topmost layer go grey, adjusting red/green/channels to get the best image you can (we stopped trying to add up to 100% years ago), and add a mask the layer to show though the original eye colour.
Portrait 2 - natural and flash light combined
This photo, by contrast, was taken with a D300 (which, in picture quality terms, is slightly inferior to the D90) but with the help of some Nikon flashguns in softboxes.
It was processed in Photoshop Lightroom from the raw file. Processing was very light, just setting the white balance correctly and boosting the blacks a little.
Posted in Photography.
– 18 January 2010
Next meeting, 21st Jan @8, theme: ethical trading
YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN US AT THE PUB TO CHAT ABOUT GREEN ISSUES, ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES OR WHATEVER TAKES YOUR FANCY ……
NEWPORT GREEN DRINKS MEETS EACH MONTH
COME ALONG TO OUR NEXT MEETING AT ‘THE BRIDGE INN’, LOWER BAR, NEWPORT TF10 7JB ON THURSDAY 21ST JANUARY 2010 at 8PM – for the theme ‘The minefield of ethical trading’ led by Bob Unwin.
Green Drinks – How it all started
In 1989, at a pub called the Slug and Lettuce in Northern London, Edwin Datschefski was sitting with several of his green design colleagues when he noticed an enviro-minded acquaintance at a nearby table. As it turned out, the friend was sitting with a few of his own eco-conscious mates, so they pulled some tables together – so a movement was born. The concept evolved into Green Drinks and now it’s global. In 2001, an official website came about, and the movement has since spread across the world – see www.greendrinks.org
The spirit of Green Drinks is that anyone can come along, and this makes for interesting interactions. There are lots of benefits to green drinks; they are hard to quantify, but when you have seen people come and make new links and learn and argue and set up new schemes and get new jobs etc, it is a good feeling.
Posted in LA21.
– 13 January 2010
Raw v. Jpeg again
Revisiting the raw v. jpeg debate, a key difference is that the raw file is what the sensor captured without any processing (other than some compression, if selected) being applied whereas a jpeg (or TIFF) is what the camera itself post-processed from the sensor data in accordance with various camera processing settings. The preview on the camera shows you the embedded jpeg preview in the raw file if you are reviewing a raw shot, and that includes application of the picture control camera settings. If you are reviewing a jpeg shot, you look at that of course.
In the case of Nikon, if you review and/or process the raw files using Nikon software on your computer, then you see the raw file with the same camera settings as were set at the time the picture was taken (a profile reference is embedded in the raw file) but you can switch to an alternative profiles. None of the other major raw processes (including Adobe Camera Raw – until ACR 5.3, when Adobe reverse engineered a reasonable approximation) can understand and apply the Nikon picture control data to the best of my knowledge because Nikon have been somewhat secretive in the encoding of it (even changing the encoding between recent models) of the profiles. If you post process using non-Nikon software then you work from the basic raw data and whatever profile the processor has built in (or selected) and then make changes you want. Obviously, we can not apply an alternative picture control profile to a JPEG or TIFF file from the camera, as the original data has already been processed and lost. As far as I can tell, it is the same for Canon except that they have been more forthcoming with their profile data formats so that other raw processors can read them. Ditto Sony. In addition, if you shoot raw and intend to process you are probably working in the AdobeRGB colour space rather than the sRGB colour space, which is what the display on the back of the camera operates in. (The cameras are generally at least slightly better in their overall gamut footprint than sRGB.) I am not sure therefore that reviewing a raw file on the back of the camera that has a sharpening filter applied is especially informative – in fact, isn’t the display really mostly useful for looking at the histograms? Regarding sharpening (once of the picture control settings), note that this is usually the last or nearly last step in the post-processing workflow. So, although I would set it for JPEG or TIFF images produced by the camera, and, in the case of raw files, may want to preview it when originally viewed on my computer before commencing post-processing, I would remove any sharpening until I had finished other post-processing work. Useful thread on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikon_d300_users/discuss/72157605667434167/ (especially contribution from intrHawkPosted via email from kyber’s posterous
Posted in Photography.
– 31 December 2009
Having nude photographs taken
(Taken from a reply I posted on a facebook group discussion)
Posted via email from kyber’s posterous
Posted in Photography.
– 22 December 2009
Learning photography online
(from a reply I posted on a facebook photography group)
There is a huge amount of material online to help individuals learn and improve their photography including academic course leading to recognised qualifications with a number of universities and photography organisations. The most important thing you can do though, is take photographs. Photography is an art and a skill, and not something you can just learn. You have to practice. Google is your friend. There are lots of basic introductions to photography – some good, some bad and some that will suit you better than others. The best way is to try a few. Also, there are a huge number of photography forum and photo sharing sites where you can find other people going through the learning curve and you can learn with them, learning from each other’s mistakes. one of the newer forum sites I like tied to a couple of magazine, is http://www.photoradar.com/ also, consider getting an account on flickr.com – much better than facebook for sharing and commenting on images and there are thousands of groups dedicated to different aspects of photography including many that provide (mostly) constructive criticism on your work telling you how to get betterPosted via email from kyber’s posterous
Posted in Photography.
– 22 December 2009
Borders no more
I was saddened to see Borders in Birmingham this weekend selling off everything including store fittings. Borders has been my favorite book store for a while, especially their out-of-town stores on retail parks. I preferred the style of their stores to those of Waterstones. It also removes one of the more interesting options for ebook readers (as an alternative to the UK dominant Sony devices and the recently arrived international version of Amazon’s Kindle).
We were in Birmingham to see Avatar in 3d at an IMAX cinema but arrived early to make sure we were not delayed too much by bad weather and Christmas shopping. As it turned out, we need not have worried, others turned up much later without problems. However,it did mean we had time to go the Yo Sushi in Selfridges and also to do a little bit of shopping [not too much, as my wife and I were accompanied by my elder daughter, now 18, who really does not like shopping]. It was so cold we stayed in the Bull Ring shopping centre as much as possible. Book shops are a favorite haunt of mine, have been from childhood, although I do tend to buy most of my social reading (novels, biographies, etc, rather than technical/academic books) in electronic form these days, I still enjoy browsing a store and having a coffee once I have selected a few books. That said, now that I am so used to be able to search for books that match exacting criteria to suit my mood, I do get overwhelmed somewhat in a book store by having to look the old fashioned way. The idea of a book shop having to close though was disturbing to me. Just feels wrong. I felt the same when my home town lost its book shops a few years ago (thankfully, new book stores opened a year or so later).Posted via email from kyber’s posterous
Posted in Arts & Entertainment, blog.
– 20 December 2009
Digital Camera Recommendations
A few weeks ago, a colleague asked for advice on what DSLR camera to purchase for his wife for Christmas. She had past experience of using an SLR camera, an Olympus model, but had not used it for a good number of years. She also had a reasonable stock of Olympus lenses and he wondered if she would be able to reuse them on a DSLR. I thought I would retain an edited version of my response on my blog for reference.
Dear Colleague
Re: DSLR camera for your wife.
I sounded out a few people in forums I participate in as well as my local photo club in order to answer the questions.
They confirmed what a quick google search has suggested, namely that reusing old Olympus lenses on modern cameras (even Olympus cameras) whilst technically feasible is not particularly practical (everything has to be manually operated). Not recommended. The new Olympus camera system uses unique lenses and their cameras and lenses tend to be physically smaller than those of the other manufacturers. Indeed, in addition to their DSLR offerings, they have come up with a system that does away with the R part of DSLR whilst retaining the ability to change lenses. (R stands for reflex and refers to the mirror that sits in front of the sensor/film, and bounces the image that comes through the lens up to the viewfinder via a pentaprism, which flips out of the way when the picture is taken – producing a familiar camera shooting sound) – see section below on Frame size for more information. Whilst there are a wide range of DSLR camera manufacturers. You are recommended to either go with a Canon or Nikon model as these are the market leaders. There are very good cameras from other manufacturers, but if you want the benefits of mainstream support and economies, it is best to go with one of the leading two. Any of the current range of either manufacturer is likely to prove to be an excellent camera for your wife. As she has experience of using film SLR in the past though it is probably best to avoid the entry level cameras as she is likely to grow tired of them quickly.
Differentiators
The key differences between cameras as you go up the range are:
- Manual v. Menu controls
- Speed
- Quality
1. Manual v. Menu
Three settings control the photo taking process: a) duration of exposure, b) aperture (size of hole through which light passes), c) sensitivity of sensor (digital or film) – the ISO ratings. In more detail:-
a) Exposure duration (shutter speed): all modern DSLRs cover a very wide exposure duration range – this will not be an issue.b) Aperture: although set on the camera, this is a lens issue, not a camera issue; better quality lenses offer lower f numbers (e.g. 1.4, 2.8) – these are called faster lenses because the lower the number, the bigger the hole, therefore the less time is required to get the same amount of light in HOWEVER large apertures produce shallower depth of field images (so only small part of the image in the depth dimension is in focus). Prime lenses have one focal length (a fixed magnification level if you like). Zoom lenses have multiple-focal lengths, which makes them optically more complicated. Cheap Zooms tend not to be fast (or as you zoom – magnify – the biggest aperture you can use gets smaller and smaller). Faster lenses are required for action photography (sports) and are also helpful for portraiture where you want to blur the background.
c) Sensitivity of a digital sensor: this is pretty much preset by the manufacturing process, and increases in sensitivity is then achieved by amplification of the signal – the better the quality of the sensor the better the results of amplification (less noise – just like turning up the volume on a cheap amp gives your distortion, but sounds great on a better system)Generally, the more expensive the camera, the easier it is to change these settings between shots. On the medium cameras and up, you tend to see two knurled knobs (one in front and one behind the exposure button) which you can adjust easily with thumb and finger whilst looking through the viewfinder. These are usually set to control the exposure duration and the aperture. These are the heart of control/creativity in photography. On the cheaper cameras, you tend to have to go into menus to change things.
DSLRs have several operating modes running from fully-automated, scene based (on the cheaper models, to make them more like the small “consumer” cameras), through aperture priority (where you set the aperture, and the camera sets the shutter speed automatically), shutter priority (the opposite of aperture priority), to full manual mode. You can also get controls for, amongst other things, adjusting how the camera judges what the right exposure is likely to be (for example, averaging the light it sees thoughout the whole sensor, weighting the reading for the centre, or taking a spot reading from the centre), exposure compensation (forcing the readings and hence automatic elements in a particular direction to allow for factors the photographer understands but the camera doesn’t such as when photographing someone in a white wedding dress against a dark background where the camera will try to average the two out by default), auto-focusing mode (motion tracking, multiple-points, etc.). The more expensive and professional the camera, the more features tend to be controlled by physical buttons/switches/slides/etc. rather than going through menus.
Given your wife’s experience, she will probably be better having good control.
2. Speed
This refers to how quickly the camera is ready to take a picture from turning the camera on. For the cameras you are looking at, this will not be an issue. It also refers to how fast and for how long it can take a series of pictures. For capturing special moments when the exact timing of the moment is not certain, the faster the camera and the bigger the buffer the better. The better cameras can manage as much as 4-8 frames per second. (Obviously, in video mode, they are recording far more frames per second, but not to the same quality standards as a still picture and modern compression technology is used heavily on video content using frame delta approaches and lossy near redundancy reduction.)
3. Quality
It is important not to confuse quality and resolution. A 12 mega-pixel sensor can produce a better picture than a 24 mega-pixel camera in many cases. The higher the resolution, the more “scaffolding” there is between the individual light collectors which results in increased noise and poorer amplification options. Flow down of technology is rapid at the moment, so in some ways, the more recent and cheaper Nikon D90 can produce slightly better photos than the older and significantly more expensive D300 using the same lenses. The D300 has a wider range of functionality though and better build quality (including protection to keep rain and dust out of the insides of the camera). The D300 is designed as a semi-pro camera and hence has a more robust and protective case. See Clarkvision.com for detailed comparisons between different sensors.
Choices
So, to the current camera choices as at Christmas 2009. Note that VR = vibration reduction, IS = image stabilisation : in either case, optical/mechanical mechanism in Nikon/Canon lens respectively to compensate for vibration when shooting a low speeds (such as taking a picture indoors without a flash).
Options
| Canon 1000D | - around £380 with 18-55mm NON-IS lens – ideal for snaps/portraits and not bad for landscapes |
| Nikon D3000 | - around £400 with 18-55mm VR lens – ideal for snaps/portraits and not bad for landscapes |
| Nikon D5000 | - around £580 with 18-55mm VR lens – ideal for snaps/portraits and not bad for landscapes – this camera does video as well |
| Canon 500D | - around £570 with 18-55mm IS lens – ideal for snaps/portraits and not bad for landscapes – this camera does video as well |
I think the Canon 500D would be the best option (and that is despite me having a Nikon) keeping your budget constraints in mind. A cheaper alternative would be the Canon EOS 450D £430 plus lens.The best choice though in my view for a longer term investment would be a Nikon D90 but the body alone would cost around £600.Remember though, invest in glass (i.e. the lenses). You can start with a cheap body and a decent lens and you can always keep the lens and use it on future bodies.
Frame size
One last thing to keep in mind for your wife. The film that your wife probably used on her old Olympus camera was known as 135, or 35mm – actually, each negative was 36×24mm. Most DSLR cameras use a sensor that is around 2/3 this size, similar to the short lived Advanced Photo System film format, APS for short, and so the sensors are often referred to as APS-C (where C stands for cropped) sized.
There are now full frame sensor cameras available from both Canon and Nikon. As you would expect, these costs a good deal more than the APS-C cameras. It is worthy of note because older lenses were designed for the original 35mm film size and generally work well on the latest full frame cameras as well as the APS-C cameras BUT some more recent digital lenses were designed for use ONLY on APS-C sensor cameras and whilst they may fit onto the full-frame cameras, they do not cast an image onto the whole sensor. Keep this in mind when investing in more expensive glass as your wife may choose to upgrade to a full-frame body in the future.
Incidentally, the Olympus DSL camera systems uses a smaller sensor size (called four thirds), which many would argue reduces quality compared to APS-C let alone full frame sensors. It is around 30% to 40% smaller than APS-C sensors. They have now introduced micro four thirds.
The use of APS-C sized sensors means that there is a multiplication effect in place against full-frame lens sizes such that a 300mm lens used on a full-frame camera acts like a 450mm lens – i.e. a longer zoom, great at the zoo/safari – on APS-C cameras. This is less helpful at the wide-angle end where an 18mm lens which will give a nice wide view on a full-frame camera gives a more conventional 27mm angle of view on an APS-C camera. (Incidentally, human eye is around 50mm in full frame terms.) This multiplication effect is also known as the crop factor.
Note that much larger format sensors are available for the “medium format” market, where manufacturers such as Mamiya and Hasselblad produce cameras that cost much much more than the most expensive full-frame (35mm) sensor camera. These cameras tends to have replaceable digital backs. There are third party manufacturers of digital backs such as PhaseOne. The resolution on these cameras are often larger than that of DSLRs but the sensors are so much larger that the individual light sensors will be considerable bigger than those of DSLRs even with the higher resolution.
Posted in Photography.
– 20 December 2009
Train, Bus or Car
My youngest daughter has to buy a bus pass each term to cover her travel to/from her college in Telford. This also provides unlimited travel throughout the area every day of the week. Sadly, she lost the pass last week. It costs £5 to get a replacement (about the same as a normal peak-time return) the first time, and around £35 the second time. Fortunately, this is the first time she has lost the pass.
She has a letter from the college which lets her travel for a short time on a very limited number of services without the pass. All other trips have to be paid for.
For safety, we will often give her a lift when going to a strange area or when otherwise she would be at or walkking to a bus stop/station alone at night. For everything else, we expect her to use the buses. If she does ask for a lift, we ask her for fuel and time payback. The former based on the fuel efficiency of the car used (so she prefers lifts from her sister in the Golf to taking a ride in my heavy Mondeo estate). Payback of time is usually in the form of some baking – she makes superb cakes. She is choosing the bus over the car in many instances even though she is paying cash for the bus without her pass because using the cars costs so much more.
During the week, I currrently work in Swansea. This is around 180 or 135 miles away, depending on whether or not I go on the potentially faster (but rarely so) route around the outside (M54, M6, M5, M4) or cross-country ( Via Bridgenorth or Shrewsbury, then near Ludlow, Leominster and across Brecon Beacons). The shorter journey uses more fuel even though it is shorter but because it is so windy. Either way takes at least 3 hours and usually closer to 3.5 hours plus one or two breaks on the way. I have looked at train options, but they are simply not practical. Several fast trains, or slow cross-country services both of which take longer than driving.
I stay in a rented flat during the week located in the Marina in Swansea. A great place to stay. Fortunately, rather than having to drive, there is a courtesy bus service. This leaves at either 7.45am or 8.15am and returns at either 6pm or 6.30pm. These timings make for a shorter but welcome day to that I am used to from most projects, but I have internet services in my flat and can carry on working in the evenings when I need to. It is nice not having to fuss with a car and parking during the week. I find though that I still get travel sick on the bus. I am just about okay if I can concentrate on looking where we are going, but if I start talking to someone, I usually feel pretty rough by journey end.
Not especially green, but trying to help a little.
Posted via email from kyber’s posterous
Posted in Trains, Planes and Cars.
– 7 December 2009
Train, Bus or Car
My youngest daughter has to buy a bus pass each term to cover her travel to/from her college in Telford. This also provides unlimited travel throughout the area every day of the week. Sadly, she lost the pass last week. It costs £5 to get a replacement (about the same as a normal peak-time return) the first time, and around £35 the second time. Fortunately, this is the first time she has lost the pass.
She has a letter from the college which lets her travel for a short time on a very limited number of services without the pass. All other trips have to be paid for. For safety, we will often give her a lift when going to a strange area or when otherwise she would be at or walkking to a bus stop/station alone at night. For everything else, we expect her to use the buses. If she does ask for a lift, we ask her for fuel and time payback. The former based on the fuel efficiency of the car used (so she prefers lifts from her sister in the Golf to taking a ride in my heavy Mondeo estate). Payback of time is usually in the form of some baking – she makes superb cakes. She is choosing the bus over the car in many instances even though she is paying cash for the bus without her pass because using the cars costs so much more. During the week, I currrently work in Swansea. This is around 180 or 135 miles away, depending on whether or not I go on the potentially faster (but rarely so) route around the outside (M54, M6, M5, M4) or cross-country ( Via Bridgenorth or Shrewsbury, then near Ludlow, Leominster and across Brecon Beacons). The shorter journey uses more fuel even though it is shorter but because it is so windy. Either way takes at least 3 hours and usually closer to 3.5 hours plus one or two breaks on the way. I have looked at train options, but they are simply not practical. Several fast trains, or slow cross-country services both of which take longer than driving. I stay in a rented flat during the week located in the Marina in Swansea. A great place to stay. Fortunately, rather than having to drive, there is a courtesy bus service. This leaves at either 7.45am or 8.15am and returns at either 6pm or 6.30pm. These timings make for a shorter but welcome day to that I am used to from most projects, but I have internet services in my flat and can carry on working in the evenings when I need to. It is nice not having to fuss with a car and parking during the week. I find though that I still get travel sick on the bus. I am just about okay if I can concentrate on looking where we are going, but if I start talking to someone, I usually feel pretty rough by journey end. Not especially green, but trying to help a little.Posted via email from kyber’s posterous
Posted in blog.
– 7 December 2009
Working at home
Every time I work at home, I make the same mistake: I forget to take breaks. I do not eat enough (not really a major loss for me) and I end up very stiff with my back hurting like hell from sitting in the same position for to long. I also often end up too cold as I am sitting still for so long.
On the other hand, it is nice not to be constantly interrupted and be able to get on and concentrate on some critical tasks. My wife now gets up around 5.45am so she can go for a swim/gym session before she attends college. She also does it to avoid traffic. I would like to take the rare pleasure of lying in bed a while longer, but once I am awake, I start thinking about work and all the tasks I need to follow up on. That leads to the other problem with working at home: you don’t stop when you should even though you have started early. I have fallen foul of the long hours culture, on client site Mon-Fri every week before. I promised myself not to do it anymore. I had lots of feedback that I was working myself and my teams too hard and working too many hours – for which you get no recognition or reward (getting the job done right is the goal). Fortunately, the project I am now on has a much more sensible setup not least because a bus service is provided between where I work and my work flat (or offsite car parks instead at the top and tail of the week) which forces you to leave the office at a sensible time. I still end up working in my flat (often too late) but not as much as I used to. Most weeks, I now get to work from home on a Friday (something that I have not been able to do for years). This can be treated with some degree of flexibility providing you have put the work in earlier in the week (in the office or back at the flat/hotel). It is also a chance to catch up on some non-client stuff (e-learning, expenses, general career admin, etc.). The previous week I stayed over in my flat for the weekend and did a lot of extra work and, owing to a clash of parents’ evenings, I have had to work from home for the last couple of days. On site Wed-Fri this week, and if I don’t get done what I need to, will probably travel back Saturday. I have a fourish hour drive to/from my client’s site from home, so have to make sure I am not too tired for the drive. (Sadly, the trains are not practical for me.) The Friday at home option means I am now enjoying weekends at home properly again. I even get to go out with the family on Friday evenings sometimes. Not sure how to fix things at home though. This is one of the downsides of telecommuting. People who work exclusively remotely learn of special ways to manage it (or die young).Posted via email from kyber’s posterous
Posted in blog.
– 24 November 2009
Windows 7
I have finally made the leap from Windows XP to Windows 7 for my home machine. I never bothered with Vista (although I did have to manage the development of a build including Virtual PCs running both XP and NT for a client) and did not get around to trying out the Windows 7 release candidate.
Over the years I have built many PCs myself but I no longer enjoy doing this. I would rather spend time with my family, looking after my fish or doing photography. Sadly, I have had machines in bits in my study for over a year and this weekend decided it was finally time to do something about it. I had a really nice case for a rebuild but, unusually, the standoffs (to support the motherboard) are non-standard (only slightly) and I had lost the standoffs that came with it. I tried putting a standard standoff in but it sheared off. I was not until I got a rotary tool (Dremel clone) that I was able to drill this out again and use the proper standoffs that I found some time later. My main usage of a desktop PC now is for editing and managing photos. This is of course doable on a laptop, but a much slower and somewhat frustrating exercise compared to the experience on a half-decent desktop. I used to play a lot of computers games, but not so much now (not even on the consoles). I still have a vague interest though in the development of PCs and their use as a gaming platform. I think we are just reaching that point in the cycle where the PC leaps far ahead of the game consoles in capability as the technical refresh cycle for PCs is so much faster. I checked out a computer fair at the weekend. That was a big disappointment. Relatively small, too little competition and not enough innovation. I came away decided I was right to stick with my year old middle-of-the-road AMD processor and motherboard. Windows 7 installed quickly an easily. I went with the Home Premium version as I could not see much point going for the Pro (let alone Ultimate) version. The key difference seems to be the inclusion of a Virtual XP PC capability but VMWare is free and works better (I have no shortage of XP licenses – full ones – I can redeploy). Not that I have found anything that needs it yet. Just for fun, I am running a virtual instance of the latest Ubuntu linux distro. I have also finally given GIMP a really good go as a cheap (free) alternative to Photoshop – it is simply too expensive to keep up to date with Adobe. I am sticking with Adobe Lightroom though (Lightroom 3 beta is out now) as this is a huge productivity tool. I find I do not need to tweak many pictures in Photoshop now, and I do not think I need to do anything that I cannot do easily in GIMP (I tried Photoshop Elements and found it too limited, especially around layers and masks). One of the reasons my PC had been in bits was because the main hard disk (not that old) was failing. Probably caused by me not having assembled the system fully so the hard disks were not properly supported and probably vibrated too much. Tried usual recovery measures. I also had a problem with the main board not recognizing the graphics card even though they were from the same manufacturer. No such problems under Windows 7, I picked up a cheap replacement hdd to use as the boot drive and stuffed in a few 200gb drives I had laying around. Fortunately, with the build completed over the weekend, I have been able to let the machine burn in and carry out some long cycle tasks as I have been working at home for a couple of days. I have been working away on my work laptop – mostly catching up on some critical background reading I needed to do – with my new build churning away next to me on the kitchen table. Purchasing a Mac was seriously considered. In hindsight though (and to the benefit of my wallet), I am glad I stuck with Microsoft. Macs may be a lot easier, but you do not get as much for your money.Posted via email from kyber’s posterous
Posted in blog.
– 24 November 2009
Challenges to the DSLR
The micro-four-thirds system has introduced cameras that have all the characteristics of DSLRs without the reflex mirror system because of the use of electronic viewfinders (and hence they are not actually DSLRs) but currently these viewfinders are not as good as optical viewfinders especially when shooting fasting moving subjects and/or in low light.
Continued…Posted in Photography.
– 10 November 2009
Daughter turns 18
It is a strange feeling. Really, nothing has changed since the day before, but everything has changed. One of my two children (daughters both) has turned 18. As she is not the good-time, drinking, partying kind, there is no big bash to mark the occasion and she seems to think that 18 is not as important as turning 17 which allowed her to take up driving.
Continued…Posted in Family Life.
– 9 November 2009
Yet another photography user group on the web
There are a huge number of photography/photographer user groups on the web. These vary from the highly-generic (e.g. holiday pics) to the very specialist (e.g. macro photography of a particular subject matter using a particular lens/camera combination for example). I am a member of many, a subscriber to a few, an occasional contributor to a good number but a regular poster on a very small number.
Continued…Posted in blog.
– 9 November 2009
A weekend in Swansea
Last time I rented a flat, I was unmarried and living in Ripley in Derbyshire. The flat was something of a come-down from living in my own home, but I’d had to sell up because of some bad business deals (actually, trusting someone too much – we live and learn). I was at the time working for Butterley Engineering as their IT Manager.
Continued…Posted in blog.
– 26 October 2009
Shooting in the woods
Life has been so hectic over the last few months that the Mrs and me have not had much chance to do model photo shoots. My SO continues to be on duty with St John Ambulance or visiting universities (to continue her studies) on many weekends reducing the opportunities for shoots considerably as we normally shoot together.
However, a model that got in touch with us some months ago and did a quick tester shoot with us got back in touch recently and said she was happy to do a shoot 1:1 with just me. As we had met before and got along well, I decided to go ahead and make a day of it.
Tasha had done a studio shoot before with a white backdrop, so we decided to go the non-backdrop route indoors and outdoors. I went somewhat minimalist and used just a couple of small naked flashes on light light-stands. The desired effect is to produce photos that look as though they have been taken in natural light but which in fact could simply not have been achieved without the aid of flashes (the background would have been overexposed in order to capture enough natural light on the model).
We shot both around the house, in the back yard, by the side of the field next door, and in our own garden before heading off for a quick lunch at a local pub and then heading into the woods. I wonder if any tongues were wagging about me being out with a young woman and not my wife.
Some poses had Tasha sitting in trees, so there was a little bit of familiarity involved in making sure she got in and out of position safely. All completely innocent of cause. One of the advantages of working with someone a little more mature than many of the models we help get started. Tasha isn’t actually someone wanting to be a model, but just someone after some nice photos.
We finished off back at the house, with my Mrs home by now working away on her computer, with one last set of clothes to do a shoot with, namely a bikini. The wet room beckoned. Lighting not great, but we got some halfway decent pics I think.
Processed the photos quickly for a change and uploaded them to our private website. Tash quickly grabbed a few for her Facebook profile.
Posted in Photography.
– 15 October 2009
Teething problems with the flat
I have spent my first working-week in my flat in Swansea. What a pleasure it was. A great sense of freedom from life in a Marriot.
Continued…Posted in blog.
– 9 October 2009
