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› archive for ‘Educational’

The Power of Light – Make Use of Small Flashes

If you haven’t embraced the abilities of small flashes yet, then you might be missing out on some of the most enabling aspects of today’s photographic world.  I “chucked” (no correlation to the venerable Mr. Pace) my studio strobes several years ago in favor of a portable, light-weight lighting solution.  Anything from macro photography such as jewelry, flowers or bugs to location shooting like weddings or family portraits to shooting in the studio, small flashes have found a niche.

Today’s flashes are more powerful and faster recycling than ever before, and can be accessorized with secondary power packs like the new Quantum Blade to further increase performance.  RF transmitter/receiver systems like Pocketwizard’s Plus II’s have supplied reliable triggering devices for years, and most recently the TT1 Mini and TT5 Flex from Pocketwizard have TTL (auto flash) capabilities which further increase the level of quick, precise control.  Light modifiers (e.g. umbrellas, soft boxes, snoots, grids, beauty dishes) are now built specifically for small flash usage.  The bottom line: its never been easier to shoot high quality flash photography.

Im certainly not saying there is no reason to own studio equipment, and some of the newer strobes are almost as small as Nikon’s and Canon’s Speedlights.  For example Elinchrom’s Quadra RX are powerhouse units and weigh in at a measly .25Kg or about a half a pound.  More to come on the Quadra system.  Studio strobes will generally put out much more power than small flashes which will allow you greater control of ambient light.   However, a strobe will not travel as easily, always have its own portable power system or be able to sync at faster shutter speeds than today’s small flashes.

In the next post i will talk in depth about how to control small flashes in different situations.

Stay tuned…




Better Than Daylight


I do a fair amount of higher ISO rated shooting with my photography these days and there is no doubt that the capacity to which we are capable to shoot this way has literally changed the realm of photography.  Its a game changer as much as roll film or Polaroids or the advent of digital photography.

Camera sensors are rated for a range of sensitivity and my Nikon D700 shoots from 200ISO through 6400ISO. Then you have the option of pushing beyond the sensor’s ratings into “High ISO” or, essentially, push processing (remember that?).  Push processing was rating film at your camera for underexposure then “pushing” the film back to its original rating during the processing of the negatives. This was tricky to get just right, unless you did the math.  Let’s be honest though, the math sort of ruined the fun and sometimes I’d rather just guess and see what came out the other end. This was akin to shocking your film with a cold water rinse just before the fixing stage or cross-processing chromes in color chemistry. All these options, with so much left to the unknown, often resulted in undesired results, but every once in awhile strange and happy photographs would greet you on the other end.

I know a lot of photographers that wont budge over 800ISO on their fancy pro DSLRs.  Three years ago I was more inclined to agree with them as the loss of detail through noise reduction or the overwhelming amount of noise produced in the image made it near impossible to see what was what.   Put simply, as a photographer, all we do is chase the light around.  Today, however, if you’re not venturing down the higher ISO road, you’re missing out on some great light.

I love night photography.   The color cast from lights at night are anything but normal.  The strong shadows and eerie light patterns are a draw to my photographic eye. Normally higher ISO ratings aren’t a necessary tool with night photos, a sturdy tripod is, however, a must have piece of equipment.  My daily tripod is the Manfrotto 3021BPro which is the earlier version of the 055XProB.

The image above (click for a larger view) was shot without a tripod because I can’t find my quick release plate for my tripod head.   I know, I know… =/  so the thought enters my head, lets see what light is out there.   With my D700 and my 70-300VR lens hand-held (lens hood pressed against a glass door) I looked across the backyard, dialed the ISO to High 2 (25,600 ISO, this is two stops above 6400 with each stop acquiring two times as much light), set the aperture to f/11 (the sweet spot on that lens) and the shutter speed to 1/2 seconds.  This metering set is equivalent to 200 ISO, f/11 at a 60 second exposure time (shutter speed).  Keep in mind VR in your lens can compensate the same 2-3 stops regardless of what shutter speed you start from.   I braced myself against the back of a chair for a little extra stability.

B/W picture control was set at the camera. The image was processed through Nik Capture NX2 for sharpening only. NO noise reduction was applied (NR was off in the camera, also).

I don’t normally venture above 6400 ISO on my camera, but i didn’t often cross-process slides either. Some days it just feels right to be a little abnormal.

Go shoot something differently tomorrow.

Get outside your comfort zone.

___________________

John Scott



Nikon Product Support Pages: 85 Micro and 1001 nights

What to do if you’ve got a D90 and an 18-200 VR II but you want to get closer than 20in to a flower, a grape, or the crud collecting on the charging base of your electric toothbrush? What about that thing, which might be part of your prom keepsake, that your dog just coughed up?

For around five Franklins the AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 85 f/3.5 ED VR will put you as close as 11 inches to the object whose details you must see at 1.0x magnification. It incorporates Nikon’s VR II technology for a 4 shutter speed advantage over your coffee addiction. You’d do well to toggle it off when you’re working from a tripod, as it’ll incorrectly adjust for no motion. For more reasons why you’d want to use the DX 85, click over to Nikon’s Support page, which is surprisingly amiable.

If you’re a glass buff, a fan of The Decarmeron or Arabian Nights, or just need something to read that isn’t about the iPad or Gerard Butler’s Roman hands, check out “NIKKOR -The Thousand and One Nights,” where Haruo Sato and Kouichi Ohshita chronicle at random the history of NIKKOR lenses.



Fro Knows Photo

So, thanks to the Twitter, we are now aware of the existence of this cool cat named Jared Polin (@jaredpolin), who does a series of informative and colorful YouTube videos called “Fro Knows Photo.” And, they’re pretty hilarious, and seem well grounded. So, we’ll be giving him some love and reposting some here for him. If you like any of these, don’t forget to head over his way for more. He’s launching a dedicated site for these soon, too.

(Warning: Does contain some language which some might consider offensive. Use your best discretion, ‘k people?)



Olympus Posts Slew of E-PL1 Videos

Olympus, maker of tough, waterproof point-and-shoots and DSLR’s that I’ve been famously known to run under a sink and stand-on at parties, only to then photograph the onlookers, and co-pioneers of the mirror-less compact interchangeable lens camera frontier, sent us an email today telling us about their new YouTube video spots about their E-PL1.

These 11 short videos are aimed to help you all through the various highlights of the E-PL1, and to help explain what it offers over regular compacts (‘point and shoots”), or the full-blown DSLR boat anchors like I carry. So, if you’ve got a few minutes and an interest in one of the hottest new camera types in decades, why not hop over and watch a few?



Finally, A Reasonable Set of Lens Recommendations

So, I know it’s popular right now to love primes, especially among hobbyists, but for my money I think guest blogger Chris Folsom over at DPS is on to something when he says the three best lenses for a beginner to own (or anyone, for that matter) are a standard zoom, a telephoto zoom, and a macro prime. He argues that those will cover the bulk of any shooting situation, and then once you’re used to their limitations and what you shoot more you can expand your collection to match your needs,which I approve of. That’s why my kit consists of two mid-grade zooms, a single fast prime, and a Lensbaby.

Most prime fans I know counter with cost, primes are (typically) cheaper than zooms. My counter is that a mid-grade zoom (take my Oly 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 for example), I have marked on the barrel 14, 18, 25, 35, and 54 (that’s 28mm, 36mm, 50mm, 70mm, and 108mm for those of you not used to Oly’s system). That’s five good prime lengths there, and while 2.8 – 3,5 is a bit slow for some of them, it isn’t out of line for others even in primes. So, was it worth 400 bucks for 5 known focal lengths, and the 36 others in between? I think so, which is why always tell friends to get the best zooms they can afford for most of their work and fill in special needs with primes as needed. But, that’s me.

Check out the full post through the link. If you’re reading this on Facebook, jump over to our blog to see said link.



Canon PowerShot Flowchart (January 2010 Edition) Finished

Click For Full-Size

So, continuing our series of “Which Point-and-Shoot is right for me?” flowcharts we now have the current Canon PowerShot line-up readied. It’s a biggie, so click on it over there and give it a moment to load.

If you missed it, the Nikon version is HERE

[UPDATE]: The fancybox popup is catching the link, try this one to see it full-sized:

http://robertsimaging.com/test/canon-pns-january-2010.png



Forumbusters: Don’t Hate on AF-S

So, if you own both a computer and a camera, there’s a better than average chance you’ve encountered one of the many online gear forums, where people discuss camera equipment. And, while a lot of useful information can be learned from these forums, they also rival the Mos Eisley cantina for biggest dens of inequity going, and I’ve lurked on them long enough to notice there are several popular fallacies that seem to never go out of style, which is sad because they frequently stand in the way of better customer satisfaction.

So, we’re going to start addressing a few of these as a respected dealer of equipment, with all our insider knowledge and decades and decades of experience with camera equipment over the ages.

And first up is AF-S. AF-S is Nikon’s designation for lenses with an integral ultrasonic motor for focusing, introduced in 1996. Now, if you’re new to equipment, you may not know that auto-focus cameras used to use a body-based focus motor and screw drive system. Nikon’s AF-S comes under fire because starting with the D40, they started leaving a body-based motor out of their cameras, forcing users to buy AF-S lenses if they wanted autofocus. This gets decried a lot as a shameless attempt on Nikon’s part to force new lens sales and cut-off the used market. AF-S gets a lot of hate.

Of course, never mind that Canon switched entirely to in-lens focus motors when it created its EOS system and EF mount in 1987, making it’s entire FD line-up completely unusable with new cameras. Or that Olympus and Sony’s DSLR systems also use only in-lens AF systems. Or that in lens AF systems are faster, quieter, and more accurate. Obviously such technological improvements must be bad, right?

Simple answer: if you’re a new DSLR customer and can afford it, go AF-S. Even though the more expensive bodies still support the body-motor, in-lens focus motors have been the future for the past twenty years. They might cost you more than the old used ones, but they’ll continue to work going forward on all Nikon bodies. Plus, don’t forget that focus motors aren’t all that’s improved in the past twenty years: lens coatings, exotic lens elements like aspherical elements, and even basic lens formulas have all continued improving and the newer AF-S lenses will yield more than just a focus motor for your money.