Gear Reviews | Suspect Photography

October 11, 2015

6 Tips to Make Great Photographs with the iPhone 6

This shot was taken while I was at a stop light sitting on my Vespa. I looked up and the drama of the clouds struck me. I slipped the phone out of my pocket pointed it straight up and make this shot. It looked good in color, but the B&W was more dramatic.

When you leave home and hit the road, be it for work, play, or pretty much anything you set out t do, you should always carry a camera. There is a photographic axiom that says, “What is the best camera? The camera you have with you!” and that is undeniably true. The camera you will sling over your shoulder is going to change over the years and a new camera can stimulate you and put you into a photo-taking mood by simply being new. The technology changes, and even the great masters used a range of cameras across thier careers.

Taken at dusk on a bridge over the Arno River in Florence. I pushed the saturation to give it extra punch. I also shot this with my trusty Fuji XPro1, but made the same shot with the IPhone so I could tag and share it by the time I steppe off the bridge.

But sometimes you leave your camera at home because it’s just too heavy and cumbersome. Compositions and photo movements abound, just because you don’t have your camera with you doesn’t mean you aren’t seeing and the photo opportunities are not present. Three things you don’t leave at home that are non-negotiable are; keys, wallet and mobile phone. The camera & phone combo may be the greatest technological achievement of the 21^st century because it allows us to always have a camera with us, and the ability to share our images.

Keep your eyes open when walking and when you see something interesting, bam! You can capture faster than you can call your mom. Construction site for Hudson Yards project in NYC.

My only ‘photo-phone’ experience so far has been using the Apple iPhone, so if you are going to call me an Apple fan boy, go ahead, I accept that moniker because I believe in the iPhone and started off with an iPhone 3 in 2007. The first photo I took was a homeless person in a atm bank lobby. Later I would shoot what might have been the first IPhone wedding of NY fashion designer Michele Korn using only the IPhone 3. I fell in love with the device, simply because it was always in my pocket! Dutifully I went from iPhone 3, to 4, to 4s, skipped a 5 and got the 6 early in 2015. The progression has been upward, but the 6 was a big leap in quality from its predecessors. All images shown in this blog post were taken this year with the IPhone 6.

Still Life with the IPhone, you bet! This was a homage to Edward Weston’s pepper. I added the cherry tomatoes to give the image a set of balls 😉

So here are my 6 recommendations:

One- Wipe you lens off each time you go to make a photograph. That lens is tiny, and you need it as clean as can be to maintain sharpness. A finger print will substantially soften the image and lower contrast. An actual smudge or what we call “schmutz” in New York will diffuse your image to the point of total failure. Use your t-shirt, a tissue, or whatever you have handy. Of course a micro fiber is the best choice. My wife Barbara keeps her iPhone in a micro fiber pouch to protect it in her pocket book from scratches and that makes a great way to keep the lens smudge and scratch free.

Nikki Sixx on tour with Six AM. I was about 15 feet back and did cropped in post. The colors were awful as most concert photography is, so I just converted to black and white.

Nikki Sixx on tour with Six AM. I was about 15 feet back and cropped in post. The colors were awful as most concert photography is, so I just converted to black and white.

Two- Be touchy. Your phone does have auto-focus and auto-exposure, but it can get fooled. Compose your image first, and then tap on the subject of your photo. Once you have a focus and exposure lock, you can then drag your finger up or down to adjust exposure. Very useful for backlit subjects and in that case, touch up for + exposure. This will come handy when you are shooting at the beach or in a snow scene.

View from Little Round Top over the Valley of Death at Gettysburg, PA. This is a great example of working the exposure. I tapped the cannon and then had to further adjust the exposure due to the setting sun in the photo.

Three- Capture with the standard camera setting. Don’t bother with the HDR mode, it’s better to adjust your image later in a post-processing app which we will talk about later. The standard photo is a 4:3 ratio which will give you a standard image. You might want to consider shooting in square mode if you plan on using instagram, since instagram forces you to use square compositions. This will save you having to crop later and perhaps missing a part of the image that you wanted in or is needed for the composition. Getting it as close to perfect in the capture, then fine tuning later in post is a great rule of thumb.

I saw this composition across the street and waited about 3 minutes for the traffic to clear. Look close, they are all on their phones! I corrected the perspective in Snapseed to make the lines all straight.

I saw this composition across the street and waited about 3 minutes for the traffic to clear. Look close, All but one (who is eating) are on their phones! I corrected the perspective in Snapseed to make the lines all straight.

Four- Turn the flash off. Yup, unless it is really dark, like the inside of club or outside at night and you are shooting a subject less than 7 feet away, the flash (which is really a led light and not a flash at all) will make a crappy photo. There are three settings, off, on, and auto. By default it’s on auto out of the box, you will want to set that to off. I never ever use the flash function, I hate the way it looks. A trick to use if you must shoot in the dark, is have a friend hold up their iPhone and use it as a flash light. This way, the angle of light gives shape as opposed to your flash right next to the lens making a flat over exposed image.

Go ahead, be that person who posts their food, but make sure it looks good! If you can’t shoot your dish in good light then just don’t. Use the table cloth to add to the ambiance, feel free to arrange the salt shaker and utensils so it looks good. Never use the flash!

Five- Use minimal if any zoom. Any zooming you do by pinching the image will digitally zoom it, and it’s better to just do that in a post app. I advocate if you are good with composition to use a little bit of zoom if you can’t physically get closer, like a shooting a building across a busy street, but really cropping should be done in post to maintain quality. When you have to 8 to 12 megapixels like the iPhone has, you have plenty of pixels to crop in post. Also, your focus can be tricked if you zoom heavily.

Street shooting with the IPhone you never miss a shot. Just keep an eye on the street signs so you don’t get a ticket 😉

Six- Use the best app ever invented, and that is Snapseed. Invented by Nik and then acquired by Google, Snapseed does it all. I love Snapseed because it’s free, and it’s spectacular. I used to advocate Adobe PS Express and Camera bag but Google has super charged Snapseed into a beast of an app. And did I mention it’s free? Every image you see on this page was captured with the iPhone, then opened up with Snapseed and edited. I suggest you subscribe to this blog, I’ll be posting a Snapseed tutorial soon.

NY Harbor from a tall building in Battery Park. the Drama filter in Snapseed just really brings out the rays of light and clouds.

Well there you have it. Six tips to make you iPhone experience rock. Keep shooting!

~David

The house I summered in when I was a kid in the 70’s. Bradley Beach.

And lastly, my two favorite things to shoot, Barbara my wife and the Raven Wing my Harley Davidson.

10 Comments

September 15, 2015

Fujifilm XF 18-135 3.5 ~ 5.6 OIS WR Lens Under a Tuscan Sun Review

Zoomed all the way in, Castle Fiorintino. The sun was setting and it really worked. I had to pull over for this one.

The Tuscan summer vacation always leads me to a mini photo project using specific gear. In the past years the cameras have been diverse such as the Instant Italy summer, using only Fujifilm Instax cameras. Other times I had the pleasure of weeks resorting only to Deardorrfs and Hassalblads, Nikon rangefinder and toy cameras and of course the summer of water color not using a camera at all. This year since a Tuscan darkroom is available after setting one up last year, I knew I’d grab a film camera and using periscope (the social media livecast software), it was decided that the Zeiss Icon 535 medium format would be employed. But I did want a digital, and after the past year of using the cream of Sony’s crop of cameras I was distraught on what to use.

The light in the kitchen is always perfect. Processed in Snapseed.

On my shelf, gathering dust was my trusty Fujifilm XPro1. I was down to only two lenses, the 18 and the 35. Why was a layer of dust on it? Well for one, this past year as I said I had been using what I would call, Ultra Modern Digitals, in particular the Sony RX series and a few short weeks ago, the brandy new Sony A7rII. Scroll back on this blog to see the many posts about these cameras.

18mm range and nice and wide. Processed in Snapseed.

Handling the XPro1 was a joy as it always has been. With its viewfinder allowing the option of analog or digital, the classic rangefinder look, the fit and finish and of course, the solid click of the shutter I resolved that I would bring that. But I must say, I know those two lenses inside and out, just like I know Cortona and the local country side, and I needed a new lens to inspire the exploration with the Xpro1.

Cortona and heavily processed in Snapseed.

So I reached out to my Fujifilm connection and long time friend and photo confidant, Brandon. He replied to my text contritely saying, “or be so not Dave and do a crazy zoom 18-135”. Sometime over a year ago, Fujifilm unveiled a “super zoom” that was weather proof and a slight departure from the old school primes that preceded it. For one, it is an image stabilized lens, and secondly the aperture ring while being where you would expect it, near the lens mount, is electronic. It’s not a small lens, and on the camera takes the compact Mirrorless and makes it DSLR size. The aperture is a variable f3.5 at 18mm and at 135mm is a slow f5.6. I figured the best way to deal with the slower zoom was to keep the stabilizer on and reset my auto iso settings. Jumping into the menu I selected 200 to 6400 auto with a min shutter speed of a 1/5^th of a second (taking into account the stablizer).

Amazing I was able to catch focus, that’s what 3 years with this camera does to you. Wide open and zoomed in, processed in Snapseed.

Brandon explained the weather proofing as ingenious. The back of the lens has air conduits built into it for intake and exhaust. This keeps dust inside the lens or pushed out of the lens, and not on the sensor. A fear of long zooms is the vacuum they create as they are zoomed. Fujifilm engineers figured a work around this inherent problem and I had no issues what so ever with dust contamination on the sensor.

Around 80 mm and wide open.

I enjoy using the lens. It’s a big beast for sure, but by strapping the camera on backwards to my shoulder, the lens tucks nicely into the nook between my but and flank. How about performance? The images will speak for themselves. I found the images tack sharp from edge to edge. Shooting wide open on the wider focal lengths makes for a lack luster bokeh, but certainly at the tele settings on close up subjects, the bokeh improves. It’s no 35 f1.4 for sure, but the flexibility of the zoom overrules that objection quite nicely. Don’t buy this lens for sweet out of focus blurry for and back grounds, buy it to pull in distant details- of which it will do very nicely.

Winter is Coming.

Those steps are special to me, in 2003 that was Barbara and I walking down them freshly married.

Also Fujifilm is now offering a line of filters. They are made of metal (not brass) and feature glass Fujifilm Super EBC coated optics. They are not thick and burly B&W filters, but inexpensive and well matched to the system. I would match them to any lens purchase I will make in the future. The threads are perfectly suited for the other lenses in the line up.

Fujifilm Branded Filters for the perfect fit. Shot with iphone 6

A crazy zoom, OK I like it!

~David

Performance
Focal Length	18 – 135mm Comparable 35mm Focal Length: 27 – 206 mm
Aperture	Maximum: f/3.5 – 5.6
Camera Mount Type	Fujifilm X mount
Format Compatibility	APS-C
Angle of View	76.5° – 12°
Minimum Focus Distance	1.48′ (45 cm)
Magnification	0.27x
Elements/Groups	16/12
Diaphragm Blades	7, Rounded

Features
Image Stabilization	Yes
Autofocus	Yes

Physical
Filter Thread	Front:67 mm
Dimensions (DxL)	Approx. 2.98 x 3.85″ (75.7 x 97.8 mm)
Weight	1.08 lb (490 g)

5 Comments

August 7, 2015

Sony A7rII Evaluation and Test Images

Abstract taken in Central Park of a Sun Bather. 90 mm 2.8 aperture priority f16 B&W conversion Nik Silver efx

This is my first A7 family camera to put to the test. I have been a big fan of the RX100 and RX10 since they came out, and had a failed Sony A6000 encounter. Meatloaf says, “two out of three aint bad”, so I planned on going in with an open mind for this camera and take it for a test shoot, or two.

Sony 90 mm f2.8 Aperture Priority f4. Super snappy autofocus made this shat a breeze. The little guy was moving bouncing around.

I’ll be honest; I wasn’t a fan of the first A7. It didn’t care for the feel, fit and finish. Of course it was Sony’s first attempt, and I always am leery of first versions. However the camera did truly put Sony on the map, and turned many photographers away from Nikon and Canon so I knew it did have merit. I was eager to put the A7rII in my camera bag on two recent shoot.

Sony 90mm f2.8 Aperture Priority F2.8 Processed in Nik Silver efx

Upon opening the camera I was taken aback about how sturdy and good feeling the camera is. The shutter has a solid quality snap to it, and is much quieter than it’s predecessor. I still wouldn’t call it quiet like a Leica, but the sound is lower and deeper. Something akin to a dulcet clunk than a tinny smack.

I ran the camera with two lenses, a 90 F 2.8 macro and a 24-70 F 4.0. I shot with the 90 more; because I am a fan of portraits and that was the current project I’m on, Throttle Portraits of bikers and thier bikes.

The photographer-motorcyclist-paintballer known as The Kingpin shot with 90 mm 2.8 wide open with one reflector off to the side.

This portrait says it all.

The auto focus is superb. The A7rII has 399 focus points. Yes, that’s 399 focus points. My wife and I hosted Brian Smith and his lovely wife Fazia over for a dinner the first day I had the camera. Brian set up the autofocus spots to be manually shifted by hitting the OK button and then navigating the plane of focus. This took some getting used to, but the camera as you move the point of focus across its generous full frame view, you can also adjust the size of the focus spot with a command dial. Brian’s findings on the camera can be found here. Focus is crisp, and the multi point auto hits it’s mark effortlessly. I would venture to say that it is the best auto focusing camera I have ever shot with. This coming from a guy who sold the Maxxum 700 camera at JC Penny when Minolta first introduced the first generation at AF SLR.

Long Live Hogs and Heifers RIP Hogs and Heifers.

An advancement with the A7rII is it’s low light capability. I really didn’t test that aspect since I was too consumed with shooting portraits. I did get the chance to bring Vincent Versace to Hogs and Heifers, a classic NY dive bar that will be closing at the end of August due to massive rent increases from a soulless corporation (that is rant you can joing me on Facebook about). I made one shot of the whole bar, with the setting sun pouring in from the east. I think it was a difficult shot to expose and the camera really handled it well. The interior shot of Hogs and Heifers was made in Aperture Priority f8 and auto out of the box auto iso. I wish I could tell you the iso it chose, but the 42 megapixel file is crippling my aging powerbook.

The Obelisk next to the Met in Central Park. Sony 90 f2.8 Processed in Nik Silver efx

I found the buttons plenty, and this is a camera that when getting used to, is a fine instrument to make digital photographs. That being said, at $3200 it better be. It is not that much smaller than a SLR, the Mirrorless aspect doesn’t shed that much size nor weight. It does, but not that much. Don’t buy this just to save weight, once you slap on the lenses it will be heavy. Buy this for the technological wonder it is. I didn’t test video, but lets make an assumption, it’s going to do very well. The only real problem I had with the camera was its viewfinder. It’s top of the line and works very well, however it is digital and I’m old school, I’ll take a digital camera and accept it and make inspired images, but I’ll be darned if I have to see the world pixilated. Come shoot with me using the Deardorff and you will see why I prefer an analog approach.

Look at that detail!

I will be moderating a panel with Colby Brown, Daniel Watson and Kenta Honjo August 12^th at 2:00 pm. More info below- please join us.

Spread the Word!

Have a ball with this camera! It’s a serious contender.

It’s my ball and you’re just here in my woof world because it’s my ball.

~David

6 Comments

December 14, 2014

I Can’t Breath- But I Can Photograph

My favorite image of the day, to look up and see this display of people coming together with a flag flying was dramatic.

I want to establish right off the bat that this post is about photography, not the politics. My choosing to take my camera and record the protest does not indicate my personal feelings nor alignment. What I do feel is that as photographers we have a duty to record the world around us. We don’t have to make a living at it, but we are the observers whose observations can outlive us. Future generations will be able to look at your images and share an experience based on what you photographed. That is a scary thought in of itself, and photojournalism is extremely subjective and barely objective. I certainly seek objectivity in the matter, and feel I pretty much got it. I barely spoke to anyone; actually the only person I had a full conversation with was a NYC Parks Dept officer. Our conversation consisted of the fact that it was peaceful.

I don’t usually shoot in panarama mode, but when I do it’s for really really really big crowds.

However this is the internet and people throw opinions around like police hand out tickets so at the end of this post, I’m going to speak my mind about the recent issues surrounding this protest. It’s my soap box, you can choose to not read or make your comments. Now, back to the photographic portion of this post…

Pissing off the Police Union is where he is.

As I stated earlier, I believe it is both your civic and artistic duty to participate as a viewer/observer/recorder of the important social issues that occur in your lifetime. I’m not saying you should go well out of your way, but if these occur locally, be there and f8. They are societal milestones, events, and gain the interest of the masses. They can often define the ascendant generation. Going to and placing oneself in the epicenter is a solemn privilege that you as a creative should encourage.

“The world is going to pieces, and people like Biderman and Hill are photographing stars.”

– David George Brommer, December 2014.

I have shot a few demonstrations in my day. The first was a NORML rally at William Patterson College in NJ in the latish 80’s. The next would have been great anti-Iraq war protest that took place in 2003 in NYC. I rolled through the Occupy movement when it was in full force. I heard about the #MillionsMarchNYC from local channels, and put aside the time to go shoot it. Having watched the other protests, mainly the Ferguson and the SF/Oakland ones, I was a bit wary of getting caught up in a mele. I would be simply a citizen armed with a camera, and my opposing force would have truncheons, shields and tear gas. In the back of my mind a spot fear appeared. We all know what fear is right? It’s the mind killer! Mostly I feared getting gassed. I had seen the nasty canisters bouncing up to a CNN crew and the journalists all getting a good hit of it in Ferguson. I dug out my Israeli issue adult gas mask size three and stuffed it into a WW2 vintage ammo sling bag. Plan for the worst, hope for the best, and if worse happened, I could keep my vision intact and the cameras clicking.

When protesting, protest in Patagonia. Oy.

Noon: Inspect the camera arsenal for today’s shoot. I go for the Sony RX10 because I want a telephoto lens to pick out faces and signs a distance away (24 to 200mm f2.8). It’s also weather proof and resilient, so it can take it if the environment gets crazy. I also grabbed my trusty Fujifilm Xpro1 and slapped on the 18mm f2.0. I picked the Xpro1 because it can take a hit, and the look and size of the 18mm (1.5x APS-C size sensor brings it to 28mm effective) would both perform, and fit in my bag. Instead of a camera bag I choose a vintage ww2 ammo satchel, because I like the way it melts to my body and it’s discrete while having an edge. Note, the bag does have a Domke insert to further pad the gear. I also stuffed my gas mask and a fresh filter in the bottom of the satchel. In this game the best offense is a good defense.

Israeli issue M15 gas mask and cartridge. Sony RX10 digital camera. Fujifilm Xpro1 with 18mm f2 lens. US issue WW2 ammo pouch.

2 pm I parked the Vespa on Bleecker and Sullivan. Twitter images showed the masses of protesters thronging beneath the Arch where 5^th Avenue meets Washington Square Park. Enter from the rear, so you can get an idea of dispositions of the crowds.

As you neared Washington Square park there was a constant buzz of helicopters. The eye in the sky never looks the other way.

I wanted to capture the faces and signs. I wanted to show the disparity of the protesters, and what they were saying. Simple task.

All Lives Matter.

As I walked further into the epicenter around the fountain I found the wide settings on the camera were taking most of it in. Standing up on bench I was able to zoom into details. The Sony RX10 has swing a out LCD screen, I used my height and tilting out of the screen so I could turn myself into a 8 foot tripod in this fashion. That gave me a sweet perspective on the throngs.

Get that monument in so you can readily arm the viewer with an accurate location.

There was not a police presence inside the protest throng, except Parks Dept (protecting the trees from being climbed) and this interesting Police Captain from Philadelphia. I do have a regret, I noticed one Parks Dept Officer with a tonfa strapped to his belt. Interesting, but I didn’t feel like getting my lens smashed by it so I didn’t shoot him. I regret that now.

A Police Captain from the City of Brotherly Love.

The protesters, while mixed with all races, were predominantly white.

Pockets of protesters could broadcast stories.

6 pm Time to edit and archive shot images. I shot as jpegs and imported into Nik Silver EFX through Photoshop. Since the subject matter was heavy, I felt that I would add drama and impact by choosing a heavy process. I went to the Film Noir Preset #1 and then decreased the size of the grain 40% while pushing up the structure. I also minimized the spread of the digi-faux rebate edge.

Brommer is now going to discuss his feeling on racism. It might be time to click here for lighter subject matter.

My personal take on the issue at hand is that it’s something that has been brewing in this country since the 1800’s. Racism. It’s not always fair and it’s not easy to understand. It may very well resound in all of us, deep down, hidden and can bubble up in certain circumstances. Others make decisions and judgments based on race with little provocation and thought. I see color and race, I am a photographer and my job is to see. However, I do not let race, nor social standing effect the way I interact with the population. So while acutely aware of racial details and stereotypes the factor is nullified until you give me a reason to respond from your deeds and words. After all, we are all human. And I’ll treat you like a lady or gentleman as long as you are one. That’s how I roll. I’m ashamed when a racist thought runs through my head. My first best friend was Lamont Swain, we played together on the streets and playgrounds. I was a skinny little white kid, and Lamont was a skinny little black kid. R.I.P. Mont Mont, your friendship showed me in the end, we were just skinny kids.

In a perfect world you don’t get taken down so hard you die for selling illegal cigarettes. In a perfect world when you steal and you get caught you don’t resist arrest. In a perfect world the cops don’t have the right to use violent force unless being met with violent force that is un-arguable. In a perfect world a segment of the society was not enslaved and then after generations set free. In a perfect world all the children are taught to respect one another and know right from wrong. In a perfect world no one would take advantage over another. In a perfect world… is just a dream.

~David

6 Comments

October 16, 2014

The Aesthetic of Compositional Perfection and Post Production

The fog was thicker than pea soup at the Dickey Ridge Lodge.

I’m one of those odd people who throw on a heavy backpack and hike in the woods for days. I have been doing it for a long time now, at least 25 years. I have a dwindling network of friends who I go on these hiking trips and we fancy to call our selves Trailpounders. Among all the miles I have hiked in pristine wilderness across many states I am reluctant to carry a cameras, or serious one at least. The reason being weight, and getting the picture right. Cameras can weigh quite a bit, and add to that good lenses so that you can make high quality photographs is daunting when you’re crossing mountains and pushing every fiber of your body to keep moving up switchbacks.

I have been tasked by B&H & Sony to create a program on the RX10. The focus of the program will be, “Travel Composition with the RX10”. To prepare for the program I have been shooting exclusively with the RX10 and pushing what it can do while learning what it cannot do. I’m familiar with the camera, and those who follow my blog will recall the initial review of the RX10 I wrote and shot a little under a year ago.

Elderly folk appreciating the park. They moved slow, but stuck a cord inside me. America’s National Parks are for everyone, every age.

This past weekend the Trail Pounders planned a four day hike in the beautiful Shenandoah National Park. Since I was working on material for the presentation, I figured this would be the perfect place to shoot with the RX10 and put it to test doing some nature photography. I would suck up the weight (1.79 lb / 813 g with battery and memory card) and stuff the camera in my trusty Moutainsmith Frost Fire pack.

The trip was excellent and pretty heavy duty. I’m not getting any younger and that pack isn’t getting any lighter. I felt I could have reached for the camera more often, but hiking (especially in a group) is an act all of its own. We managed to traverse about 17 miles in three days which didn’t afford me much lens time. On the trail we crossed a pine covered mountain top (Neighbor Mountain) and ran the ridge. I came across these interesting pine cones that had survived a fire, called a pack break and took some photos. I did my “composition dance” and moved around trying to find that perfect angle to capture the pine cones, you know that angle, the one with a perfect background and every branch facing the right direction? Well I couldn’t find it. I just couldn’t get the lens, the pine cone, and what I wanted to capture groove.

Pine Cone as it was shot- no editing.

As I sat editing I thought, “I was so close… but darn those extra branches”… I saw them when I shot and figured they would not cut my mustard. It was then that I figured I’d work them in post and try to rescue them. This wouldn’t be retouching per sey , but more compositional rescue. I busted out my trusty Wacom table and set to it. After the image was cleaned up I ran it through Silver FX and finished it to my personal standards.

Did I succeed? Did I just polish a turd? I always joke that I have taken so many bad photographs that when I do shoot now, it’s with a great intensity to only shoot what is decent if not compositionally perfect. But now, when the world is simply not cooperating it might be safe to shoot the best you can, and then do some very heavy post to get it right. Ethically I’m not 100 percent behind this, but I do feel good that at least the option is open. What do you think?

Here are a few more from the first edit. I shot in jpeg and used the creative modes that are built into the RX10 such as “Autumn Leaves” and “B&W”. Each image is taken into Photoshop and massaged.

Home and Shelter. I have had this tent since 1993.

Hiker JA- one of the Trail Pounders founders. Note, a circular polarizer was used to clear up the water behind Joe.

SHAZAM! Joey V, he was a Trail Pounder for years and didn’t even know it.

Fall Leaves straight up.

The lone tree sits in the fog.

I’ll post a link to the RX10 Presentation when it goes live. If you don’t live near NYC, we will be recording the presentation and I’ll post that too.

Till then, this Trail Pounder is signing off!

The three last Trail Pounders.

4 Comments

January 21, 2014

Fujifilm XT-1 : Sh*t Just Got Real

Attention Suspect Photography Fans- Finding Photographic Style and Composition in NYC 4 Day Intensive Workshop April 17th to April 20th 2014. Early Registration Discount By March 1st.

The mouse that roared in the photo world of gear is certainly Fujifilm’s X system. Not sitting on the laurels of their acclaimed XE and XPro cameras the short giants have released a sneak peak of their new flagship camera, the XT-1.

—

UPDATE January 31^st.

The smoke has cleared, the Fujifilm XT-1 was officially announced and you can now pre-order this gem of a camera at B&H.

A few clarifications, we did not get a double card slot. What we did get is an amazing and groundbreaking viewfinder. The viewfinder is larger than the Canon EOS 5D MKIII’s and has unique features never before seen such as a vertical view with info off to the side, not blocking the frame. A focus assist “box” in the viewfinder while still giving you the full view beside it. 3 new weatherproof lenses down the road.

I’m debating on pre-ordering one. I think it’s vastly worth it, but I’m just afraid that when I go to shoot, will I grab my XPRO1 or the XT-1, you can only shoot with one camera at a time.

Ohh heck, who am I kidding, of course I’m going to grab one.

—

Several websites have released info and speculated such as Petapixel, Fuji Rumors, and the great Fujix Forum regarding the new camera. The date that an official announcement from Fujifilm will be is January 28^th it seems. Lets look at this dream camera a little further based on what we know now.

First off, head over to Fuji Rumors and look at the post. Andrej was first to break the story. I have included some leaked pics that I can only imagine how they were obtained. Looked like a dude had a about 3o seconds with the camera and shot some iphone images. But what a tease!

Hump and Dial:

I think what is most interesting is that they went for the HUMP, the look of having a pentaprism mirror on the camera which is a departure form their other Mirrorless offerings which mimic a traditional rangefinder. We also see an additional dial for ISO, bringing the total analog dial count to three. I can’t think of any other camera that has that many dials on the top deck! Not too sure why the emphasis is for a dedicated ISO dial, I always recommend to just set your auto ISO parameters and that’s just one thing to not worry about. Regardless, the dials look super cool.

Weather Sealed:

YES! A great feature that I wish my Xpro-1 had. I was taking a class one year up at Maine Media Workshop and a classmate and I went to shoot in the Camden cemetery with some light painting techniques. It was raining and I had a Canon EOS 1 DS III that was weather sealed, I loved it, I put the camera on the tripod and just kept water drops off the front elements and shot away in the rain. My fellow student couldn’t really shoot since her 60D was susceptible to the rain.

Fast- Like kittens with jet packs:

Coming in at 8fps continuous shooting with AF tracking this jammer is going to keep up with the big boys. One thing with Fujifilm is certain, their AF gets better with each generation.

I can see the light:

With a hi-performance EVF that is. OK, Sony has been doing a great job on great EVF’s so I expect that. Better be at this point anyway.

Twice is Nice:

Double SD slot is a new feature for Fujfilm. I would have liked to see CF and SD but why not? Slap an extra card in, say two 128GB SD cards and shoot till the XT-2 comes out. Since I love to shoot RAW+Jpeg I hope I can assign files to card 1 and card 2. That would be something I’d dig.

That’s all the compelling rumors that are out now that I care to mention. The price at $1800 with a lens is inline for a camera of this heft and specs. But what about Nikon and Canon?

What surprises me most about this upcoming announcement is how the big two have completely missed the boat on Mirrorless. Last week I was on a Linblad Expeditions trip with Nat Geo shooters to Baja and was helping a guest with a Nikon V1 camera. Oy Vey what dog! And the Canon guy who came up with their Mirrorless should be thrown off a cliff. Fujifilm was silent for the late 2000’s and Early part of this decade, but man have they hit the ground running.

It looks like we wont see an Xpro-1 replacement soon, and I bet we can expect them to offer two lines, a SLR style and Rangefinder type bodies. Regardless I’m excited and can’t wait to get my hands on this camera. Will I buy it? Well I have to say I do love my Xpro1 to death, and I don’t know if I could cheat on the Xpro with a XT.

Lets keep our eyes and ears open and see where this goes. Long live Fujifilm!

Update 1/22 More pictures of camera leaded on Fuji Rumors- and man does it look good! Click Here for Goodness!

9 Comments

December 14, 2013

Sony RX10 Review – The Perfect Travel Camera

The great digital camera buyer Ben at B&H gave me a call about a month ago and said come down to my office, Sony has something to show us. I was busy and told him I didn’t have time and he replied, “you should come down, they have a game changer here… a 24-200 mm 2.8 constant aperture camera that is compact”. I ran down. Now how can you get that fast aperture of a zoom lens to go from super wide to tele in a compact ZLR (Zoom lens reflex)? What I beheld was the Sony RX10 which actually can do all that. I got to mess around with the prototype and was impressed. Last week I actually got a production model to play with. The following are my observations and some quick work produced while testing it. Like my other reviews I’m not going to get super technical, but I will show you a load of images so you can judge for yourself.

Union Square shot at 180mm f2.8. The camera make cropping distant subjects so easy.

So first off lets get back to that lens, because that’s really the reason to consider this camera. The RX10 sports a Carl Zeiss 24-200 mm f2.8 lens. That focal length is the 35mm equivalent. It is not a 2.8-5.6 variable aperture; it is a fast f2.8 throughout the range. Sweet. Very Sweet. The lens is damn sharp, and in my testing I couldn’t help but put the zoom out and bring in distant subjects. For those of you who know me, I’m a wide guy, and prefer getting more in my picture from using a wider perspective. My testing would have to get me out of my comfort zone, so I decided to shoot something that’s out of range of my wide lenses, NYC water towers. They make great subjects!

This short study was all shot with the creative B&W mode. The RX10 allows you to fine tune the creative mode and I chose a +1 contrast and +1 sharpening for good measure.

Lets discus this lens. You zoom by twisting the lens (or a use the toggle on the top of the camera) and it activates an electronic servo zoom. The zoom was fairly slow, and that leads to a precise adjustment of focal lengths, but again, it is a slow process. From 24mm to 200 mm it took me 4 seconds to zoom across that range. The aperture control is very nice, instead of changing aperture from a dial on the back or front of the grip like most cameras, the aperture ring is located like a traditional slr optic, on the back of the lens near the body. Those who appreciate a manual feel will dig this aperture ring, it has a very solid tactile feel with positive 1/3 stop clicks. I want to reiterate, it feels very substantial and of quality. You can also hit a slider button and the aperture ring then looses its clicks for adjusting aperture silently in movie mode. I suggest a 62mm UV filter as an add on. You want to protect that Zeiss goodness right? Go for B&W’s standard 62 mm UV.

Gabe and Barry Biderman. Two generations of great photographers. Love these guys.

The camera measures 5.1 x 3.5 x 4” and while certainly not a pocket camera it is not overly large. It is about the size of an entry level DSLR like the Canon Rebel t4i or Nikon D5200 with a fat kit lens. There is ample rubber around the body and it feels good in the hand. The viewfinder is superb and has a diopter. I don’t wear glasses, but for me, it was very easy to view through the finder and the EVF is a High-resolution XGA OLED Tru-Finder whatever that hell that is, it works very well. You can with custom functions make sure you see exactly what you to see meaning things like iso, exp comp, levels, metering mode, and more is visible or invisible. The viewfinder has a nice rubber coat, and there is a built in diopter as well, so I assume that if you did wear glasses, it’s not bad at all. The LCD is a 3.0″ / 7.5cm 1,228k-dot tilting Xtra Fine TFT design and works very well. I have to say, it was very nice to use the tilt at ground level to get a cool perspective. Auto focus rocked, super fast and very modern. For those that want manual focus you have a very nice large focus grip on the lens which you can then rely on Sony’s excellent focus peaking feature. Whether you go AF or MF you will be content, both modes work wonderful.

Running through the zoom to get an idea just what 24mm to 200mm can give you. And the answer is, “a lot”.

RX10 sports a 20 megapixel 1” sensor that is up to the task. The camera rocks in low light and also has a new generation processor that builds raw and nice jpegs. I’d say pretty much you have a top of the line sensor in this camera, Sony has been making leaps and strides in their sensors for the past few years. The sensor leaves nothing to be wanting.

The following images are fine in their own right, but when you need to crop in post, how does the jpeg file hold up? Judge for yourself.

Sunset Creative Mode- notice the helicopter in the distance?

800 % crop into the image to pick out the ‘copter. Notice the detail in the blades? wow.

Can you find the mother in law waving?

There she is! That’s Elvira and she is at about 600% magnification. Great detail is still in the shot. That 1″ sensor really shines.

The camera has a clean design, it’s not cluttered. The top left of the camera has command dial with the usual modes, but also adds two custom settings, so if you like to profile the camera with specific style, it’s a breeze to recall the settings. The top deck LCD panel is lighted so you can see what your doing in the dark or dimly lit room (a feature from mid-line & high end DLSR cams) There is also a exposure compensation dial that has a firm feel and is not easy to misadjust when the camera bumps against you (I really like that, my go to camera the XPro1 is so dang easy to accidentally move that dial).

This was taken at Photo Walk with National Geographic photographer Jay Dickman in Union Square NY. Image is shot at 24mm.

The buttons and dials on the back of the camera make sense, there is one Fn button you can assign to a multiple of tasks or get into a high level menu adjustment mode. The deep menu system is easy to navigate, you can access almost anything you would want to change and I found it easy to get in a make an adjustment on the fly quickly.

Gabe grabbed the camera and turned to a mirror to make this image of our party table with photographer Tim Cooper. I’m on the phone in the background struggling with AT&T’s crappy service.

So I didn’t play with the movie mode, I’m not into that but my research confirms the camera has an excellent video system that borrows a flicker free scan system that is only found on the FS700. It has a headphone mini jack and audio in with manual level control miniphone jack too, and for those who want XLR connections you can add the pricey Sony XLR-K1M Adapter and Microphone Kit to get perfect audio. Pretty impressive if you’re into that sort of thing.

The range of the zoom lets you really work your perspective. Shot of the James A Farley Post Office steps in NYC.

And since the camera is a modern high end jammer, you get some other cool bells and whistles, like built in WiFi that can download to your mobile phone and tablets. The RX10 is also weather proof, so feel free to take it out in the rain.

The only negative I can see on the camera is that it is a slow start up and shut down. The camera has to move around that big lens it takes its time. I counted a solid 2 second delay on the start up and shut down. That could be annoying. My other concern is that its not a small camera, that is the trend and cameras these days are high performance in small packages. This camera is super performance in a relatively large package.

So the camera sells at $1299. Yikes! But you do get a serious lens and really you don’t need to buy anything else to make some great images. The question I asked myself is who is this camera for? Well it’s not for the soccer mom and those that are looking for a bargain. This camera is for someone who appreciates high quality and has some disposable income. I am known as a camera whisperer and today I had lunch with the actor Alan Arkin. Alan is on the quest for the perfect camera, not to large, not too small and super high quality. I had been suggesting to him the Fujifilm X system for over a year and just when I thought I had him set, I busted out my RX10 and he fell in love right away. When I mentioned who I thought this camera was for, he proclaimed, “me!”. Needless to say, Alan bought an RX10 on the spot. I look forward to hearing how he feels after shooting with it. I hope he enjoys it, but he really couldn’t keep his hands of it at lunch.

Alan enjoying some lunch at Mercado in Hell’s Kitchen NYC. Between being a wonderful actor and teaching acting, he enjoys a good camera.

I would say it shines for travel photography; this is the ONE camera you need to pack when on the road. You will travel light, and be assured you will take great images in any light of near or distant subjects. At 10 frames per second and that great AF you wont miss anything. I give it 9 of 10 ten stars. Speed up the start up and shut down time and I’d give it a perfect 10. Now if you ready to buy the Sony RX10 be a mench and buy it at B&H.

This was taken at B&H’s Event Space during a Sony A7 demo. The lights are Ikan LED and the theme was Alaska. I like that soft bokeh of the background.

Specifications

Imaging
Pixels	Actual: 20.9 Megapixel Effective: 20.2 Megapixel
Sensor	1.0″ (13.2 x 8.8 mm) CMOS
File Formats	Still Images: JPEG, RAW Movies: MP4, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, MPEG-4 AVCHD Audio: AAC LC, AC3
Max Resolution	20MP: 5472 x 3648 @ 3:2
Other Resolutions	10MP: 3888 x 2592 @ 3:2 5MP: 2736 x 1824 @ 3:2 18MP: 4864 x 3648 @ 4:3 10MP: 3648 x 2736 @ 4:3 5MP: 2592 x 1944 @ 4:3 0.31MP: 640 x 480 @ 4:3 17MP: 5472 x 3080 @ 16:9 7.5MP: 3648 x 2056 @ 16:9 4.2MP: 2720 x 1528 @ 16:9 13MP: 3648 x 3648 @ 1:1 6.5MP: 2544 x 2544 @ 1:1 3.7MP: 1920 x 1920 @ 1:1 12416 x 1856 5536 x 2160 8192 x 1856 3872 x 2160
Aspect Ratio	1:1, 3:2, 4:3, 16:9
Image Stabilization	Optical
Color Spaces	sRGB, Adobe RGB

Optics
Lens	Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar, 14 elements in 11 groups 7 Aspheric (35 mm equivalent: 24-200 mm) Aperture: f/2.8
Filter Thread	62 mm
Zoom	Optical: 8.3x Clear Image Zoom: 16.6x Digital: 66x Digital: 93x Digital: 133x Digital: 249x

Exposure Control
ISO Sensitivity	Auto, 125-12800 (Extended Mode: 80-12800)
Shutter	4 – 1/3200 sec in Auto Mode 1 – 1/3200 sec in Program Mode 30 – 1/3200 sec in Manual Mode 8 – 1/3200 sec in Aperture Priority Mode 30 – 1/3200 sec in Shutter Priority Mode
Exposure Metering	Center-weighted, Multi, Spot
Exposure Modes	Modes: Aperture Priority, Bulb, Intelligent Auto, Manual, Movie, Program Shift, Programmed Auto, Scene Selection, Shutter Priority, Superior Auto, Sweep Panorama Compensation: -3 EV to +3 EV (in 1/3 EV steps)
Shooting Modes	Anti-motion Blur Black and White Copy HDR Painting Handheld Twilight High Contrast B&W Illustration Landscape Macro Miniature Effect Night Portrait Night Scene Partial Color Pop Color Portrait Posterization Retro Rich-Tone Monochrome Sepia Soft Focus Soft High-Key Sports Sunset Toy Camera Effect Vivid Color Watercolor
White Balance Modes	Auto, Cloudy, Color Temperature Filter, Custom, Daylight, Flash, Fluorescent (Cool White), Fluorescent (Day White), Fluorescent (Daylight), Fluorescent (Warm White), Incandescent, Shade
Burst Rate	Up to 10 fps at 20.2 MP
Self Timer	10 Sec, 2 Sec
Remote Control	RM-VPR1 (Optional)

Flash
Flash Modes	Modes: Auto Fill-in Off Rear Sync Slow Sync Compensation: -2 EV to +2 EV (in 1/3 EV steps)
Built-in Flash	Yes
Effective Flash Range	3.28 – 33.46′ (1 – 10.2 m) Up To 66.93′ (20.4 m)
External Flash Connection	Hot Shoe

Memory
Memory Card Type	Memory Stick Duo Memory Stick Pro Duo Memory Stick PRO HG-Duo Memory Stick PRO Duo (High Speed) Memory Stick XC-HG Duo Memory Stick Micro Memory Stick Micro (M2) SD SDHC SDXC microSD microSDHC microSDXC

Recording
Video Recording	Yes, NTSC
Resolution	1920 x 1080: 60 fps, 24 fps 1440 x 1080: 30 fps 640 x 480: 30 fps

Video
Video Clip Length	Up to 29 Minutes
Audio Recording	Built-in Mic: With Video, Stereo Optional External Mic: With Video, Stereo

Viewfinder/Display
Viewfinder Type	Electronic
Screen	3.0″ LCD Rear Screen Tilt (1,229,000 pixels)
Screen Coverage	100%

Connectivity/System Requirements
Connectivity	DC Input HDMI D (Micro), USB 2.0 USB 2.0
Wi-Fi	Yes
Software Requirements	Windows: XP (SP3), Vista (SP2), 7, 8 Mac: OS X 10.6 or later

Power
Battery	1x NP-FW50 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Pack, 7.7VDC, 1080mAh
AC Power Adapter	AC-UB10 (Included)

Physical
Dimensions (WxHxD)	5.1 x 3.5 x 4.0″ / 129.0 x 88.1 x 102.2 mm excluding protrusions
Weight	1.79 lb / 813 g with battery and memory card

3 Comments

Category: Gear Reviews

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This short study was all shot with the creative B&W mode. The RX10 allows you to fine tune the creative mode and I chose a +1 contrast and +1 sharpening for good measure.

The following images are fine in their own right, but when you need to crop in post, how does the jpeg file hold up? Judge for yourself.

Specifications

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