Nikon p310 : that amazing 200$ compact camera

I lose a lot of point and shoot cameras. While it helps me try a camera every few months or so, it doesn't help my bank account. I needed a camera to meter for the old school film cameras I have to use for school (and also to serve as my snapper for instagram). Therefore the search for a new compact camera started. When I saw the Nikon p310 for 200$, I started to reminisce of my days with the p300 I once had before (it died in a kayak incident which led to the purchase of the TX10). The previous camera was hard to use and to post-process on, but for the price, it was bang-on what I needed: manual controls, f1.8 lens and useable ISO 1600. The p310 provides a similar value for that awesomely good price.

200$ won't get you much in the camera world: a consumer entry level compact camera with an "OK" zoom (most will start at F3.3) and an "OK" image quality (most will get to ISO 800 and crash then again F3.3 aperture helps no one shoot ambient light). The p310 for that price gives you similar dSLR controls and a great sharp lens to boot.

It's a beautiful mess 

I warn you though, the camera ain't easy to use.

• AF is reliable 2/3 of the time, even with Assist-Light on.
• The camera will deliberately block you from using certain shutter speed, ISO or aperture values depending on your actions. 
• The camera menu interface is some crappy DOS shit. It has nothing to do with modern Nikon dSLR camera (okay it's not as bad as a Fuji, Ricoh, Nikon 1 and so on and so forth). 
• The camera has a hard time producing great colours regardless of the picture controls mode you set it on and regardless of the custom picture controls you manage. Knowing your way out of Lightroom or Photoshop plays a integral part in the enjoyment of that camera. (update: I managed to come up with a decent custom picture profile that I will share later in this blog)
• The camera will never tell you when it runs out of battery. It will show you a full bar then turn off on its own. 

If you can live with all that, you will be treated with a camera that should give you enough reason to leave your iPhone in the pocket and your dSLR at home.

In the hands 

The build quality of the p310 is on simple minimalistic. The magnesium shell gives an overall solid feel and small finished details like the subtle rubber grip placement, the feedback on the buttons, wheels and nozzles are testaments of Nikon's expertise on no-compromise practical camera design. The only part that let me down was the screen… I was surprised at how easy it scratches vs. its dSLR counterparts. Just buy a screen protector if anything and you'll do fine.

Using it 

Using the p310 requires a certain level of photography knowledge. Not to say that the camera performs badly on auto for the common man, but the auto mode is probably dumber than more user friendly cameras like Canons and Sonys. Powering on and off the device takes no time, I'd say it's instant. When working well, AF is on the fast side of things, unless you put it in macro mode. The shooting interface is intuitive enough to give you all the information you need to take a shot without overwhelming you. There is a customizable FN button on which you can assign useful settings like ISO/white balance. There is a long list of customizable settings hidden in the menus that actually help the camera provide a better shooting experience: you can decide on the shooting aspect ratio; disabling noise reduction and tweaking the picture controls well radically boost the image quality way above what the ubiquiteous Sony 16mp BSI (found in probably every digital camera today) is capable. While the Nikkor zoom lens's aperture isn't constant, it does provide a decent working fast apertures at various wide focal lengths (24mm f1.8, 28mm f2.0, 35mm f2.5) with image stabilization that makes 1/10 slow exposure shots possible. Customizable Flash exposure rocks and is usually spot on especially when set for 2nd curtain. There is a User function mode that remembers your settings for a particular type of photography. Scene modes are also part of the deal with "Sweep-Panorama" mode being the most useful. Auto ISO works wonders as it even lets you set a minimum shutter speed for it. HD Video recording is a button press away and the well-stabilized optical zoom is useable. All in all, this is a well functional camera for seasoned photographers, but not for people who aren't ready to learn the ropes of photography.

On the computer 

I bought the p310 to upload photo on the web (Facebook/Instagram). For those uses, P310 photos offer plenty of detail and crispness. Auto White Balance mostly nails the colour and said colours are on the realistic side of things, making the overall native image pretty flat on some occasions, especially in daylight. When viewed at 100%, images look good up until ISO 1600. Lowlight shots in bars and concerts look great without being OMG stunning like dSLRs with good lenses. Dynamic range is narrow as expected, yet using D-Lighting helps in creating a boring flat HDR-like image that doesn't blow highlight or burn shadows. The JPG file can surprisingly sustain quite a lot of stress in Lightroom before breaking down, all you need to do is increase colour noise reduction by a bit and you are ending up with an above average good file. HD videos are crisp and clear with great sound recording free of distortions no matter how loud the music is.

Conclusion 

Once you get passed all the initial complications and actually get down to shooting with it, the Nikon P310 is probably the best pocket camera of the year. The pricing is ridiculously low and the camera that beats it cost nearly twice its price, mainly for the ability to shoot in RAW (the Canon s110 and now the Nikon P330). If you are looking for something small that takes great pictures, this is hands down the best solution, until compact cameras break the ISO 3200 barrier.

To see how it looks on Instagram go here. Read more...

Photoshop resize action for Facebook :: Summer 2012 edition

Over the past few months, facebook has been continuously improving its image processing engine in order to make photos look good. Now that facebook photos can be displayed fullscreen, I have developped a photoshop resize action in order to output:

• The best image quality (looks good after upload) 
• The smallest file size (saves uploading time)

STEP 1 - FOLDER ORGANIZATION

1. A folder of selected images to resize
2. A folder where the new resized images will be saved

STEP 2- INSTALLING THE ACTION

1. Save the action file onto the desktop (here is the download link: http://www.mediafire.com/?lq53y845wfz47pa) 
2. Open Photoshop
3. in Window-> Actions, load Action called "PYKtures_FB_Export.atn"
4. Load the saved action file on the desktop

STEP 3 - USING THE ACTION

1. Go to File->Scripts->Image processor
2. Select the images to process
3. Select locations to save processed images
4. File type, save as JPEG
5. Set Quality to 10
6. in Preferences, Run Action [PYKtures_FB_Export.atn][FB Fullscreen High]
7. Press Run and let the magic happen. Photos will be resized and saved into a JPEG folder of the upload folder

FINAL STEP 4 - REMINDERS

1. Make sure you upload on facebook using HIGH QUALITY.
2. Make sure to share this post and THANK ME ^^

Then you are done!

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The camera game of 2011

2011 was a year where mirrorless cameras evolved into serious cameras and where some interesting brand decisions were made. Lets try to put some order into all of this and explain.

The Exmor R domination of the compact camera world

The Sony Exmor R sensor is probably a marvel of recent times. It can produce great full HD video, ISO 1600 images and shoot full resolution images at 10fps. Most of its common 10fps uses were for “handheld twilight mode” where the camera shoots many hi-iso frames and combines them into a noiseless image, “HDR mode” where the camera brackets a few shots at different exposures then combines them automatically and the highly popular “sweep panorama” that lets the user create panoramic shots just by sweeping the camera from one side to the other of a landscape. Not only Exmor R sensors are the saving grace of many photographic devices today like the Nikon p300 or the Apple iPhone 4s, such technology brought Sony to sit comfortably at the top of the compact line with its X series (WX, HX, TX), a territory usually shared by Canon and the now fallen Lumix. Canon’s only response against the Sony uprising is the S100.

The restructuration year of Lumix

Lumix in 2011 tried pushing in various expensive directions within the G line of micro-4/3 cameras. It first started with the expansion of its 16mp sensor from the much successful GH2 on lower end bodies like the G3 and GF3 to accommodate the need for better image quality at high-ISO and to be able to produce high quality HD videos to compete with Canon. It also produced X series lenses for the micro 4/3 system, a line of high-end motor driven (not barrel driven) zoom-lenses with special nanocrystal coating that reduces lens defects and enhances contrast. While Sony was dominating the compact world with its new sensor, many Lumix enthusiast were wondering if the LX6 would once again set a new benchmark in compact image quality. The answer came to the world bearing the name of GX1, a high-end compact micro-4/3 camera body. By changing the L into the G, it became clear that Lumix is attempting a migration to the G series while keeping its once great compact line in vegetative state. As such 2011 was spend redirecting itself in camera evolution. One might agree that to fight against both compact (the much better s95 and the Sony Exmor R line) and dSLR fronts (the new Sony 16.2mp sensor found in the D7000), Lumix had to attack in sacrificing its current evolution and begin exploiting a middle ground solution to create a space that the consumer wouldn’t have thought to exist.

Canon’s video domination

It has to be said. Canon’s new found direction in HDSLR video dominance created a huge market for videographers among with a world of new video accessories that emulate the setups found in more expensive video solution. All the recent consumer Canon dSLRs have a tilt and swivel screen to help the videographer frame video images. There is no denying that regardless of how good the competition is, Canon dominates completely this market and is there to stay. On the other hand, the company has fallen behind in the photography department by recycling the once great but very plasticky Canon 7D 18mp sensor.

Nikon’s strong start and weak finish

Looking at Nikon’s decisions in 2011, one would say that the company knows what it wants and can afford wasting money experimenting in creating the ipod-like abominations called the Nikon 1. Nikon started strong with the D7000 literally taking the photographic industry by force. The D7000 offered a significant upgrade to the crop sensor crowd with much better ISO performance and many more stops of dynamic range. Then it continued strong with the release of the 50mm f/1.8G that finally gave the low to mid end crowd an affordable 50mm lens. Then the Nikon 1 happened… That new camera line made Nikon’s evolution in cameras questionable in which it’s sacrificing resources in competing in a market with a product that isn’t ready to be released into it.

Olympus search for speed

Olympus didn’t do much aside from releasing lenses that I never tried and that cost way too much to purchase and upgrading its AF engine in its recent entries in cameras. 2011 was an evolutive year for the company on the micro-4/3 side only, almost like it’s letting other product lines die slowly.

Pentax’s worst year ever

A brand stuck in between owners and failing at producing coherent photography products, Pentax managed to downgrade itself into an abysmal level by creating the Pentax Q line, a failed attempt into the mirrorless camera industry. Like all pentax products, the initial idea was bold: to use the acclaimed Exmor R sensor in an interchangeable lens body that encompasses the retro look of the Fuji X100. Like all Pentax products, it feels like an unpolished turd: slow menus, slow operation, generic looking buttons, etc… Over the past few years, Pentax only updated the sensor within its dSLR line without enhancing anything else. It was eventually bought by another excentric brand that produces awkward looking cameras: Ricoh. Lets all pray for a complete reboot for 2012.

Fuji’s suXess

As cheezy as that tag line just sounded, Fujifilm did succeed in reproducing a series of retro-looking like cameras to please its crowd looking to dive in some of the magic of the leica rangefinders without actually knowing how to shoot with one while applying its expertise on high-ISO image quality on the image. It’s also great that Fujifilm decided to dump the dreaded color-fringing SuperCCD for a Sony sensor. It stands now as a competent contender to the mirrorless camera solution.

Nexavior

Some might call me biased towards the NEX. Thing is that the Sony NEX series has come a long way from being that sony Ericson cellphone camera with a lens device. Throughout the year 2011, it has received a considerable amount of firmware updates to improve the user experience and upgraded to nearly flawless modern digital photography sensors (great hi-iso and dynamic range) on its current camera line. On top of that, a huge variety of lens adapters made using attractive 35mm prime lenses on the NEX possible. With the peaking mode, it’s even more encouraging. The NEX has truly become the definite example of how a mirrorless system should work.

The beginning of the end of the compact camera

In 2011, cellphone cameras started to be capable of great image quality. With the help of strong processors and great image enhancing softwares, creating great images with a modern smartphone is somewhat easy and fast to share. The trend of image sharing drove the use of the smartphone as camera and the abandonment of the compact camera that added an extra electronic device in everybody’s pocket or bag.

2012: the year of the next generation of dSLR

2012 will be a defining year for dSLR photography. The next Canon 1 series will clash against the Nikon D4 (16.2mp camera which ISO goes up to 204 800) whereas the Nikon D800 (36mp sensor camera) is set out to annihilate the Canon 5dmkII. I would also expect Nikon to finish making AF-S G version of its current non-G prime lens lineup (85 f/1.8D, 135 f/2DC, etc…). It would be also very surprising to see Nikon make a 50mm f/1.2N. I’m also quite glad rumors are suggesting the production of a version II of the legendary Canon 35L lens. Lumix has to come up with a way to drop the price down in order to make its G series much more attractive. NEX needs to continue releasing lenses in order to beef up its library, including a low aperture zoom lens. Fujifilm is expected to release an ILC system. Pentax/Ricoh needs a reboot. I can see the smartphone cameras becoming better up to a point where users wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a cellphone and a compact camera. I would love if Sony makes a pro-compact camera with its amazing sensor to go against the Canon s100, but to do so would put Sony out of its philosophy in providing for the everyday consumer that wants a camera that takes great photos on auto-mode.  To finish, I think the year 2012 will be even more interesting than 2011 because our glimpse at the future of photography through the clash of the flagship dSLRs of both leading brands in high-end consumer photography will define what is possible to capture today with a digital camera.

Stay tuned. 

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2011 Lightroom workflow

Hey there people. Back then in june 2009, I had lots of people ask me about giving out a Lightroom post-processing workshop to accelerate their workflow and help them give a better render in their pictures. So with a stroke of inspiration, I wrote my whole photography style down to give back to a community that produced such strong friendships and inspirations to me.

Two years later, my photography has greatly improved to the point of being at quite a decent level of legend…. Wait for it… DARY. Still a lot of demand on a Lightroom tutorial of mine came to me, especially with the trend of shooting in raw and taking months to post-process. So I devised a way to effectively produce jaw-dropping images in the shortest time for everyone to just post those hard drive killing pictures and get rid of their RAWs as fast as they can.

So without further ado and with lots of love for you people who follow my photography, here’s my revised Lightroom processing article.

STEP 0 : the basics

• G : Library Grid
• E : Library Fast preview
• D : Develop interface
• N: Multiple pictures layout display
• 1-2-3-4-5 buttons: add stars
• R : Crop interface
• M: Gradient Mask
• K: Brush Mask
• V : toggle grayscale (black and white)
• Ctrl/CMD – Shift – S : Synchronize settings
• Ctrl/CMD – Shift – E : Export selected pictures

Post-processing
Regardless of people telling you they don’t do it (probably because they don’t have time or don’t know…), post-processing is mainly consists on applying corrections (exposure, color balance) to a picture to shape it in the ways we saw the picture when we first used the camera to shoot it. It’s an action that produces a picture. It happens either in the camera settings when it’s creating a digital picture file, at the lab when they are creating the negative, in the darkroom when you are printing a picture by enlarger or in a software like Lightroom today when you are post-processing a RAW file.

RAW vs. JPG
It’s not a question of being pro or being skilled or to the level of shooting raw, it’s a question of practicality. It’s necessary to shoot in RAW when it is available if you are planning to color balance or even correct exposure. The RAW file contains a lot of hidden exposure and color information (called dynamic range). They reveal themselves when called upon by the software (as in the software doesn’t have to virtually add extra information on the image as it is already there to display when the user makes a change). The JPG file has no such information and the software has to emulate and add additional information like some god ugly gray tones to an image by rendering post-processing a headache for the inexperienced ones.

Two types of noise : Chromatic vs. luminance
Chromatic is the color noise that appears in Red, Blue and Green dots in the grain of the image. Luminance is the graininess of the image.


STEP 1: Shooting for post-processing
In order to give yourself the best working platform for post-processing, you must change your exposure metering habits to meter for the best file rather than to meter for the photo to be viewable on the fly. Since each brand has it own ways to write a RAW file, I discovered through massive stress testing a way to shoot for the best file rather than shoot for the best photo.

Canon: +1EV at ALL TIMES
Modern Canon raws are really beautiful when shot well (especially using L level lenses). They are very contrasty, colorful and almost publish ready. When turned in black and white, they look naturally stunning. The only issue you will have with Canon is the level of post-processing you can do on them. Rarely have I seen a Canon user apply a lot of changes to his pictures before adding colors to them or turning them all to black and white. Canon highlights are very easily recoverable. The canon raw has also a lot of native contrast so it’s best to overexpose at least a stop to get a decent level of shadow detail as shadow recovery generate a lot of chromatic noise in the process.

Nikon: -1EV most of the times
Nikon raws are files of massive dynamic range that can really take a beating in Lightroom when shot well. Most the details in a Nikon lie in the shadows. Shadows will always be recoverable with little noise. Until the release of the Nikon D7000, Nikon cameras were never able manage overexposure well which made highlight recovery to near impossible. Save yourself the troubles by underexposing the picture to get a decent level of highlight detail.

Sony: -0.3EV to -0.7EV
Unlike what the Nikon users will tell you, Sony is sensor maker (its sensors power the best of the Nikon and Pentax dSLRs) that know how to get the best out of its sensor. For the same sensor, a Sony raw file will capture twice more exposure detail than any other equivalent camera by also weighting twice as heavy. I remember seeing how far superior the Sony A700 file quality is to that of a Nikon D300s. With Sony, you can recover both Highlights and Shadows. It’s probably the best file ever to work with until the Nikon D7000 came out.

Panasonic: as long as there is highlight detail.
Panasonic makes the noisiest files of all but also the most detailed ones. You will always get noise in a Panasonic raw file no matter what you do. Just make sure your highlights are complete.

STEP 2: Import pictures

1. Have a dedicated folder to store your “original pictures” and another folder to store your “processed pictures”.
2. When ready, just plug your camera. Lightroom will usually detect it and automatically classify the shots by date.
3. Be sure to “select copy to harddrive” and to specify the folder for “original pictures”
4. Select the date you wish to import. If you are not sure, check the box that prevents your from importing duplicates of shots you have in your harddrive.
5. Click import and wait

STEP 3: The staring process in Grid (G) and Preview mode (E)
This is what I usually do:

1. Render all the standard size preview with Library->Previews->Render standard size preview
2. Using preview mode (E), go through every picture and ask yourself if you REALLY like it and add 1 star to it.
3. Sort all pictures that had 1 star or more. If the number of image is still too much for you to handle, add a 2nd star. At this point, you might start seeing duplicates of pictures that you shot using continuous shooting.
4. Select multiple image (with either shift or ctrl/cmd pressed down) and press N to compare and remove images from the selection.
5. Sort all pictures that had 2 stars or more and look at the number of images to process.
6. Repeat 3 to 5 if needed.

After this, you will have a decent doable amount of images you want to keep and process. Failure to doing so generates:

• Duplicates of a same subject
• More work for you without knowing it’s more work
• Bigger album with less interesting images due to repetitiveness.

STEP 4: Develop mode
This is where the real magic happens.

Develop mode has many settings and sliders; here are some of the most important ones.

The Basic section

• White Balance and Tint: Manages the color balance of the image.
• Exposure: Manages the overall light of the image
• Recovery: Recovers highlights details
• Fill Light: Recovers shadow detail
• Blacks: Darkens the shadows of the picture
• Brightness: brightens the highlights of the picture
• Contrast: Manages the differences between the brightest and darkest parts of the picture.
• Clarity: Hardens or Softens the picture. Do not use Positive Clarity for beauty portraits
• Vibrance: Manages the intensity of the colors
• Saturation: Manages the presence of the colors

The Tone Curve section (best section evar)
Each slider of this section is pretty much self-explanatory and it’s pretty much the best section ever because it gives you so much more control on your image than the basic section.

Detail
This is where you’ll find NOISE REDUCTION!!! Use them wisely. If you reduce noise, you also reduce detail, so you must find the right balance.

• - Luminance takes care of the graininess
• - Color takes care of the chromatic noise

Camera Calibration
VERY VERY IMPORTANT SECTION for Canon and Nikon users. There is this option called PROFILE that lets Lightroom switch between different camera profiles of both brands. Some profiles have more or less contrast than the other, rendering post-processing much easier for the user. I usually leave it on adobe standard but when things get harder, I do this:

• Canon: put it to camera faithful for colors, camera landscape for black and white
• Nikon: put it to camera neutral, camera landscape for black and white

STEP 4a: My basic practice

1. Color balancing the image: Use white balance and tint to make sure there are no unrealistic colorcasts. Some cameras like to white balance to the blue side in daylight and the yellow side indoors. Add split toning for extra color correction.
2. Graying out the image: In Basic, put blacks to Zero. In Tone curve, bring up the Darks and Shadows.
3. Adding contrast to the image. Bring the exposure down still you see some highlight details. Use Lights to stretch contrast of the image. Use Shadows to dig in the blackness of the image.
4. Removing Noise: Remove color noise. Remove luminance noise.
5. Add exposure masks (will explain later probably when I come back from my trip) to selectively modify the exposures or color balance in the key points of the image. (M for gradient, K for brush)
6. Add another star

STEP 5: Synchronising settings.
If you have a stack of pictures that look alike, you can attribute them all the same setting so that you don’t have to redo the same process you did for the first picture of the gang.

1. Develop the first picture
2. While having the shift key pressed down, select the last picture of the batch in the film roll
3. And synchronize the settings (Ctrl – Shift – S)
4. Click the stuff that you want to be synchronized in the window that pops out and click OK

STEP 6: Exporting the pictures.

Almost done!

1. Sort pictures by the highest star grade (these are the ones you processed…)
2. Select all
3. Add Exif information like title, description, tags etc…
4. Export (Ctrl – Shift – E)
5. Select the “processed pictures” folder
6. Name the subfolder: year-month-date “title of the album”
7. Have JPG at Quality 100, sRGB, image resolution at 180 in the image parameter settings
8. Click OK and wait
9. When done, delete RAWs

EXTRA: Getting the right post-processing equipment
If your computer lags here’s what you can do:

• File->Optimize Catalog
• Keep a small catalog of images
• Max out your RAM.
• Buy a Solid State Drive for software and temporary working files. it usually goes for 2$/Gb so spend wisely (I had to go for a 160gb because my computer can only get an internal harddrive)
• Make sure your processor is 2.2Ghz at dual core.
• Get a future proof mac computer of the current year.

I guess that’s it for now. If anything, write me a comment below and I’ll consider adding it to the already beefy Lightroom processing article. For now I gotta pack for my trip to San Francisco!!!

Have a great end of summer!!

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A small reality check on the State of the digital camera (summer 2011)

Today, digital photography has evolved to a point where image quality from daylight to low light has been achieved and perfected. Lets take a look at the current trends and behaviors of the mid of 2011 camera users.


Nobody prints

Everybody publishes on facebook or the web. Some will print 4x6 because they cost 10 cents at the pharmacy store. Only commercial photographers or fine arts photo students print bigger than 8x10 and a bigger print is expensive as shit for consumers.


HD recording
Coolpix p300

Most cameras can record 720p HD video. Most of it ending up on vimeo, youtube or facebook video. The main difference will be in video quality, sound, optical zoom and continuous autofocus.


State of the affordable fullframe sensor dSLR (35mm equivalent)

5dmkII

D700

A game of specialty (moving vs. staged)
On one side, you get the extremely responsive time-freezing Nikon D700 that gives you a 12mp file that has infinite exposure latitude and color balance capabilities and on the other, you have the Canon 5dmkII that produces massive images of high resolution with the most beautiful bokeh ever. If you are reading this and planning to buy one of them, you are either rich or a working photographer. If you are buying of these to work, look at what you mostly shoot: moving (events, weddings, sports, high-dynamic range, low light) or staged (portraits, fashion, studio) subjects. Using only the middle focus points in the best to mildly good lighting conditions, the 5dmkII is a bitchy princess that needs to be shot slower (+1 EV) than the Nikon and used with L lenses to avoid its white balance failing on you, but if you manage to overcome all of these constrains, you will create the world’s most beautiful images (mainly because of the bokeh of its L prime lenses). The Nikon D700 is an image-snatching gazelle that shoots everything anywhere anytime as fast as you can move.


State of the cropped sensor dSLR (1.6x, 1.5x)

The useable ISO performance of a dSLR goes up to 12800 : The absolute death of the Fullframe dSLR for ISO performance.

While Canon’s 18mp camera sensor is lagging behind in the ISO range and exposure latitude, the new Sony 16.2mp sensor that powers the current generation cameras (Nikon D7000, Sony a55, Pentax K5) brings a revolution that removes the need of a Fullframe camera upgrade for image quality: a massive increase in exposure latitude (to the point of near HDR looking raw files) and ISO performance (two stops gain).

Massive increase in RAW file
14-bit RAW files now weight an average of near 20mb per RAW file at minimum. This fills up buffers, memory cards, external hard drives a lot quicker than before. It’s a nightmare for photographers who shoot a lot on a daily basis, as they need to buy faster and bigger cards (UHS-1 type SD cards) in order to manage the body transition.

Decent HD video quality achieved yet still very far from camcorder
for full HD video go here

Every dSLR of 2011 can produce jaw dropping HD video that fill the screens of HDTVs or 20+ inch computer monitors. Yet to be able to use the video mode, you’ll need to spend a few hundreds on a video rig in order to keep the footage stable and still manual focus your subject as the continuous autofocus engines are still globally retarded at this point. Audio recording is still mono so you’d need to invest in an external microphone to plug in the camera. All in all impractical and making you look like a boss if you ever plan to use this function properly…

Any lens, regardless of zoom or aperture, is sharp enough for most consumer purposes.
This also applies to image stabilized from 18-55mm up to 18-135mm kit lenses. When the proper photography technique is applied, they produce images that are clear enough to be uploaded in low-resolution on the web or printed at 4x6, 8x10, 12x18, etc… the extra things that other more expensive lenses will offer are
- Bigger practical range that go from 18-200mm up to 18-270mm (resulting in bringing less lenses for a daylight photo outing)
- F/2.8 apertures for low light shooting (resulting in smaller range pro-level zooms)
- Aperture of f/2.0 or lower for incredibly thin depth of field (resulting in prime lenses)

Death of the Entry-Level dSLR kit (18-55 + 55-200 lenses)
People that buy a cheap Entry-Level dSLR (Nikon D3100, Canon T2i) will surely gain access to half of whatever’s been written so far on such gear. The problem is the usage of them. From all the years I suggested friends on their fearful and hesitant 1000$ or more investment on a kit, only a small amount of them still frequently use their dSLR on a monthly basis. The other ones simply left the camera at home because they can’t afford the better dSLR lenses (especially for low light shooting, like the f/2.8 lenses that go for 500$ or more) until technology makes a leap or I start writing another State of the digital camera article. And remember folks, an investment becomes expensive only when it’s useless. Then again, some really love to feel like they are holding a big-looking 1000$ investment in their hands, the best they could come up with according to their reading of the reviews and the specifications, etc…, and they loooove to feel like they are shooting like a boss with cameras of big names and shit… once every year. It’s the biggest waste of money in 2011.

You can’t bring one to a concert

Yup, dSLR are prohibited at most paying concerts. So your 1000$ investment stays at home while your neighbor uses its compact camera or smartphone.

Don’t bring a dSLR in da club
Because everybody would think you’re the club photographer and request pictures from you. Also, clubs are so tight nowadays, alcohol will splash on your camera and people will bang on to it. Finally, the working club photographer would go WTF on you because you’re stealing his business… just get drunk and dance dammit!


State of the mirroless camera
In 2009, the Olympus EP1, very first mirrorless camera, made its appearance. Made by Olympus, it was obviously a laggy, slow, unpolished interface of a camera. The lenses were also badly made and ugly. While the camera completely sucked, it introduced an image quality that rivaled the entry-level dSLR cameras while still being able to fit in a woman’s handbag. The problem was just the responsiveness.

Today in 2011, Panasonic, Pentax and the giant Sony are all intensely competing in this format using various designs to achieve amazing image quality. It sells for about the same price as an entry level dSLR (800$) and delivers the same results.

Sony NEX cameras of this fall (NEX-C3, NEX-7) will be powered by the amazing 16.2mp sensor that makes the Nikon D7000 dominate the crop sensor market. It comes with the standard 18-55 kit lens and delivers as much goodness as the current entry-level dSLR. The lens selection is modest though the system is barely one year old. The amount of adapters you can have for the NEX is infinite though: adapters for Nikon F mount, Canon EF mount or the more popular FD mount, etc…

Olympus EP cameras are making a comeback this fall with 3 new bodies who apparently are instantly responsive so stay away from it for now.

Panasonic G series cameras are the one who offer the most hands on manual modes of all cameras. For photographers who want the most control for the buck, you better go for them. Panasonic also has the most vast lens library for the enthusiast photographer with great lenses like the 20mm f/1.7.

Pentax Q cameras seem to suggest the most compact mirrorless system ever created. Using the revolutionary Sony EXMOR R sensor, it will attempt to create the very first Sony EXMOR R raw shooting camera. It will be interesting to see where that leads in September.


State of the compact camera
LX3

Fuji F70EXR

FH20


Back in 2008, the Lumix LX3 dominated the market with its hypersharp leica lens and great CCD sensor. It was Panasonic domination over Canon, the age of the CCD. The competition was very far from the duo of Panasonic and Canon. The main drawbacks of the compact cameras were the ISO performance destroying the image quality after ISO 400 and the native jpg dynamic range being close to zero or ugly-grayish because of the “shadow enhancement”/”fake HDR” engine. Fujifilm tried to resolve the problems with its SUPERCCD sensor, but it failed because the sensor couldn’t drop down from ISO 400 without showing signs of image defects, took a lot of energy to run and recorded at half-resolution with defective white balance and horrible menu interface. HD recording was primitive and not very good. For 200$, you could get a sub 400 ISO full auto camera. You would need to get to 400$ to have the zoom range exceeding 10x with manual functions and pay the premium price of 500$ for a RAW shooting compact. RAW was a necessity because you could manually increase the dynamic range of your pictures and neutralize the noise. Lets look at what's cool today.

500$ High-end compact are only good for photos
The two only good CCD cameras are situated in the high-end 500$ cameras: Canon S95, Lumix LX5. Other equally priced cameras are either slower working or bulkier versions of those models offering nothing more or less. HD video recording on them is subpar. If you are buying one of them, you are looking to shoot and process RAW files. Their lens is quite limited in zoom and the technology that powers them is almost 4 years old. I expect CCD based high-end compacts to die in 2012, because it cannot outdo the image quality of the Sony EXMOR sensor.


Sony’s blessing: the EXMOR R sensor.
The Sony EXMOR R is a back-illuminated CMOS sensor dominates today’s current compact market. A BSI (back-illuminated sensor) basically means that the electronic circuits of an image sensor are placed at the back rather than in the front blocking light and noising up so that more space is dedicated to record incoming light.

Coolpix p300

First of all, it reaches a staggering useable ISO 1600 sensibility setting. That’s 3 stops higher than the useable ISO 200 of the CCD powered compact cameras.

Coolpix p300 (for full HD video go here)

Second, 1080p HD recording comes at standard. Most EXMOR R equipped cameras even have optical zoom enabled during video and stereo sound, perfect for youtube!

Coolpix p300

Third, because the sensor is sized at 1/2.33 inch, the zoom range can go from 18 times to a whooping 35 times zoom from a 24mm wide angle start or support a massive aperture of f/1.8 for extreme low light. The native focal length of 6mm gives the user the possibility to shoot at low as ¼ sharp.

High fps rate of 7fps and above made many things possible like the multishot HDR or multishot hi-ISO modes possible and sweep panorama functions that don’t require a panorama stitching software.

The Sony sensor can be found in any compact camera claiming they have a CMOS sensor built-in: Sony WX/HX/TX series, Nikon s9100/p300 series, Canon HS series and so on and so forth.

Current suggestions
If you are thinking of getting into photography with an entry-level dSLR kit don’t! Get an EXMOR R compact camera instead. Chances are you’ll be using this investment a lot more than your entry-level dSLR. If you have more money, get a mirrorless camera. dSLR today are only worth getting for the ones that can afford spending a lot of time on them and buying them with gear and lenses that either excel in lowlight (below f/2.8) or zoom range (18-105 or more with stabilization) while still being able to carry all this bulk everywhere you go and taking more than 3 seconds to get out of the bag and being spotted as a photographer etc…


A look to the future
Cameras will need to produce something that will give them a big advantage over the next generation of high-powered smartphone.

With low-light image quality nailed, the only remaining problems with compacts today are native dynamic range and DOF control. And yes, I do understand this limitation because of the sensor size. Yet Lytro claims to have cracked the virtual DOF emulation process while other brands like Sony and Fujifilm are offering their way of emulating background bokeh.

I do believe people will stop buying entry-level dSLRs in the future as current mirrorless or EXMOR R compacts remove the need for one.

Sony NEX better step their game up because of the massive variety of low aperture prime lenses available on the Panasonic and Olympus micro four-third side. The Nex-7 is said to be the enthusiast upcoming NEX camera with more hands on controls and a next generation sensor capable of useable ISO 102 400 images. Fujifilm is said to produce its own version of a micro four-third sensor.

The Pentax Q will probably make Nikon release a mirrorless camera with the same specs and Nikkor lenses. I would be very surprised to see Pentax and Nikon sharing the Q mount.

dSLR cameras will either become more like working tools for the photography or videography professionals, enthusiasts and students or be bought by value-seeking consumers and stay at home.

Anyhow the gap between casual photographer and enthusiast will widen a lot more than it is today.

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Photography in Concordia :: PYKtures Spotlights

University has always been quite the “buzz word” that brings people to believe in the promise of higher education especially mixed with the word "photography" which is today's most popular practice. Then again, what exactly is higher education? The application period for college programs has started and there have been many of my friends wondering what is the Photography program in Concordia. Some of which are excited to build their portfolio and get in. But what are you really getting yourself into?

I know that I’ve only been there one semester but ever since the beginning of my 2nd semester, things have become a bit clearer on what the program really is about. So I will attempt to write about it in order to inform you guys.


Art School, not technical school



Being part of a BFA (Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts), it is truly a program of FINE ARTS. So, it is purely artistic program. To be honest, the technical classes (like one class that last 2 hours in the whole semester) only show an overview of what they expect you to know already. In other words, it’s best that you know the technique of photography before getting in. As in technique, I speak about spot on composition, shutter speed, aperture, metering, post-processing etc… I feel that most of the classes I’m having teach me on how to think more on how to shoot. This is CLEARLY NOT a technical program. This is NOT a place where you learn how to use your camera. If you feel you lack the technique, take a few classes at Lozeau/Photo service or go for Dawson College or Collège Vieux-Montreal as they have a commercial photography program that teaches you every technical single trick in the book in order to produce working pictures.


Film



You will shoot film, a lot of negative film rolls and use up tons and tons of photo paper sheets. You will have to pay for your film and photo paper as well. You will need a film camera to shoot film. They don’t cost a lot and if you are using fullframe lenses on your dSLR, just getting the cheapest functional film SLR compatible to your lenses will do. Image quality in film comes from the quality of the film roll you are using and the sharpness of the lens. You can also borrow Medium Format cameras from the shop but they are usually borrowed a lot. But, don’t be afraid of film. If you master digital photography, the transition to film goes on quite smoothly. It’s best to wait for darkroom access to shoot film. Else, you are just wasting your money. The darkroom unleashes so much power out of film that you’d think that your dSLR takes pictures with ugly image quality in daylight.


Portfolio



All the instructions are HERE.

To get in you have to give in 20 pictures and a letter of intent. Now don’t just go on choosing the 20 best pictures of your life, it doesn’t work that way. I often hear about portfolio being refused due to their “too commercial” nature. I then asked my teacher about what they expect to see in a portfolio submission: VISION. They want to know that you can carry an idea over a number of pictures in progression, not know that you have the technical qualifications to practice photography. They want SERIES of pictures. For my portfolio, I submitted a series of 20 shots. But, you can go by 5 shots or 10, you choose.


Will not turn you into a pro



I think to this point you are wondering if this program will ensure that you will be able to sustain your life after it ends. The answer is NO. Then again, I knew that from the start and got pleasantly surprised at the content of the classes. They push your creativity so much that if you really let the program change you, you’ll have a chance to have your work requested.


I hope you are more informed about what the program is really about and will make you decision more carefully. :)

Other useful sources
Office of Student Affairs

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An ongoing list of awesome photographers :: PYKtures Flashes

In my search for inspiration for my Wonderland project through some amazing blogs, teacher references, friend references and books among other things, I found a set number of photographers that keep a flow of continuous awesomeness on their part. Here's a small list of legendaries I crave for today.


Gregory Crewdson

image source: http://cityzenart.blogspot.com/2010/07/gregory-crewdson.html

It was my friend Champ that showed it to me at first, then my teacher featured that photographer in our photo class. There is clearly something I really adore about him: the narrative each image creates, a great knowledge of artificial lighting, a painting effect that surrounds the images. Aahhh, if I want to become a good photographer one day, I wish if anything to follow his footsteps.

wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Crewdson
aperture.org article: http://www.aperture.org/crewdson/
other links:
http://www.emptykingdom.com/main/featured/dont-be-crude-son-be-gregory-crewdson/


Kanako Sasaki

image source: http://www.oneroll.cn/photographer/kanako-sasaki.html

As I was doing my wonderland project, my teacher suggested me to look at her work. I was so inspired by her creativity on the subject I was exploring. One day, I aim to become as good as her.

Her website: http://www.kanakosasaki.com/index.html
Her wonderlust project: http://www.oneroll.cn/photographer/kanako-sasaki.html


Julia Fullerton-Batten

image source : http://www.popphoto.com/Galleries/Personal-Work-Category-Winner-Julia-Fullerton-Batten

There is so much imagination and technical brillance to her photographs. It just blows my mind

her website: http://www.juliafullerton-batten.com/

Ann He


15 years old girl wonder. I'm speechless of her talent. There is so much flow in her pictures that make me go Woahhh everytime.

her website: http://www.annhe.com/
her flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/quicklikesilver/

Tamara Lichtenstein


I really really really love her subjects and how she makes them look sooooo beautiful. I wish I was able to do that. For now, I can only envy and admire. She also manages to pull of some sweeeeeettt double exposures.

her flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tamgutlich/
her website: www.tamaralichtenstein.com


Jill Willcott


She is sooo lucky to have such beautiful environment and subjects to shoot with. Eyes can't stop looking at her pictures.

her flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jillwill/

Danny Taillon


He's the Champ, a schoolmate and great friend of mine that I admire, over-admire and idolize. Zen and serious, highly selective, showing only but the strongest of his pictures, there is something about his series that speak so much to me. A scary level of consistency, technicality that inspires and drives me to make my series stronger.

His amazing flickr: http://www.flickriver.com/photos/dagitaisight/


Ellen Kooi


I love her narratives. Very vivid, quite huge (when I look at the size of the prints in the rare videos that showcase them).

Her website : http://www.ellenkooi.nl/
Feature on 500 photographers: http://500photographers.blogspot.com/2011/01/photographer-197-ellen-kooi.html

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