Computers, Photography, and the Meaning of Life

Canon G2 and Models: the Missing Link Revisited

2009-12-10T22:37:00.000+01:00

A month ago I mentioned looking for an old article about a photographer who lent his Canon G9 to a few models so that they take self-portraits. Some of what I remembered seems to have been incorrect. It most likely was this blog post where the photographer in question did that with Sports Illustrated swimsuit models. Unfortunately it contains a dead link. The photographer still posts on Flickr but the photos are no more. It would seem the only thing that remains is this set of pirated photos.

Nikon Series E, Manual Fun

2009-11-16T23:27:00.000+01:00

All three of my Nikon Series E lenses turned out to be fun. They just aren't exactly for low-light photography. Very sharp at f/8. This is from the 100/2.8:

To OM or Not to OM

2009-11-12T22:30:00.000+01:00

Old manual lenses on DSLRs are fun, if a bit demanding. Still, I had my share of this fun already. I have a bunch of Nikon F-mount lenses and a "dandelion" adapter for Olympus 4/3. The one I use most is a Series E 50/1.8. Sharp from f/2.8 to about f/11, it is a nice macro lens when used with extension tubes.

I'm hearing that old OM Zuiko lenses, especially the 50/1.4, are among the sharpest lenses available, and have great bokeh. So now I'm wondering if I should get one. I don't have a compelling motivation to get one, but it seems like an interesting idea to ponder on...

Canon G9 and Supermodels - the Missing Link

2009-11-07T21:33:00.000+01:00

Last year (I believe it was last year) I've read a short article or blog post about a fashion photographer who borrowed his G9 to a few supermodels he was working with at the time. It was a short project where they were supposed to make self-portraits in their hotel rooms, or something like that. I'm looking for it because one of the models did a great job with it and I found that interesting. I don't remember the name of the photographer, or any of the models (I don't usually care about celebrity gals) for that matter. Every Google query I've tried so far proved ineffective, with the exception of returning a few bastard copies on Flickr. Not what I was looking for.

What I Do With Raw

2009-11-06T23:39:00.001+01:00

Here's some stuff I tried with raw development:

This one was with UFRaw and then some additional work in GIMP:

These two were with RawTherapee, with some GIMP for the sky in the latter one:

Testing Raw Development Software

2009-11-06T22:38:00.005+01:00

I've been testing raw photo development software for a couple of weeks now. Some conclusions are already apparent.

I use Olympus so I started with Master 2. It's OK but it's basically a PC version of the camera's built-in engine. There's the obvious advantage of being able to fix white balance and perhaps a bit of exposure, but nothing special really. Still, thanks to Oly for providing the software for no extra charge. The upside from archival point of view is that the JPEGs it generates are about 30% smaller since there is enough CPU time to optimize compression. The downside is that it tries to be everything to every Olympus camera user, which is perhaps too much. It also has the ugliest interface I've seen in some time.

Next was UFRaw. Good control, all typical raw software features. Preserves very little detail due to poor demosaicing. In fact it tends to cluster pixels/photosites in 2x2 squares so it's only useful if you're going to use a 2.5MP downscaled version of the photo.

Next: Adobe Lightroom 3 beta. It did a pretty good job on the ORFs I tried it with. Detail was on par with Oly Master 2 but highlight recovery was definitely better. What put me off is the whole concept of library and the slightly cumbersome process of exporting JPEGs. It took me a moment to figure out the latter. Also, navigating through all the correction tools could be better. Even on a 1280x800 screen I was constantly scrolling up and down and opening and closing palettes. It's prettier than tabs but less practical. Not on my disk anymore.

Next: RawTherapee. It does bear some typical marks of an understaffed Open Source project but it's getting there. The tools/settings navigation needs some improvement (or a bigger screen). The program occasionally has performance/responsiveness problems. It also has problems with ICM profiles. There's no way to change the default highlight recovery method (to CIELAB, which I prefer). On the upside, highlight recovery and noise reduction are pretty decent.

Finally: CaptureOne Pro. WOW. Honestly. For me, this one is a clear winner, except in the price category. The most intuitional interface in the whole bunch. Excellent highlight recovery. Built-in profiles for most popular DSLRs. Good defaults. The only weakness I found is noise reduction which is not very effective. Probably because PhaseOne cameras have big pixels and low noise. My complaint: You gotta pay. :)

Also ran: Bibble. Gotta try it once again since I'm totally unconvinced at the moment.

Verdict: CaptureOne is the clear winner, but because it's rather expensive for me, I'm gonna stay with RawTherapee, which is a close second place.

Fifty Lessons

2009-04-15T22:06:00.003+02:00

Larry Workman QIN has posted fifty short lessons on how to make your (mostly landscape) pictures better. There are many other online tutorials on the matter but I think this one stands out with regards to quality and topic coverage.

Getting It Right, the Google Way vs. the Apple Way

2009-04-04T19:02:00.003+02:00

I was using an old Mac today and did some photo-related stuff on it. I couldn't find any Gimp.app for Mac OS X 10.3, but I took a look at iPhoto (version 5). What struck me was that the image adjustment controls are so much better thought out than in Google's Picasa. It's much easier to arrive at the desired result. The exposure slider is what is missing from Picasa, and I can say for sure it is missing as I did read some posts in various forums where people asked how to do in Picasa exactly what it does in iPhoto.

The only problem that I didn't notice is that Mac's screen gamma is higher than the one in Windows, so after adjustment the photo turned out dark in comparison to my other stuff.

I noticed that only after posting it to Flickr. I don't know how that will turn out on my PC when I get back to it.

So the conclusion of today's episode is that iPhoto has better adjustment controls, but you need to be careful if you're not used to the way pictures look on a Mac.

Simulating Film in GIMP

2009-03-30T21:59:00.003+02:00

I've been looking for a way to recreate the analog film feel in my digital photos. There's a lot of cool stuff available, including several vintage photo effect tutorials and scripts. However for a more natural, realistic effect I'd recommend trying out the Silicosaur PhotoFX scripts. I did a simple comparison image (in GIMP, of course):

How Much Is 100% Charge?

2009-03-27T10:48:00.002+01:00

I own one of these modern mobile phones that have some decent USB functionality. As a bonus (or maybe something we should expect?), you can use the USB connection as a power supply to recharge the battery. I've been using it recently and I noticed something: Even if the battery indicator goes to 100%, the battery seems to discharge a lot faster than when fully charged using the standard mains charger.

This probably has to do with battery charge measurement calibration. USB can only provide 5W power, if I recall, so it may not be able to actually top the battery off. I guess this has some influence on the measurement process.

Pointlessness Hour

2009-03-27T09:42:00.002+01:00

Tomorrow is Earth Hour, a great initiative. Except that... not really. Turning lights and other electrical appliances off is supposed to show up on power consumption measurements. It will, but it will not show on power production measurements: As one of my acquaintances pointed out, power centrals do not turn power generators on and off immediately on consumption changes. They do it over longer periods according to predicted power consumption - mostly to compensate for seasonal changes, etc.

To be honest, I don't think carbon dioxide should be our biggest environmental concern. I'm much more worried about toxic waste that results from modern technologies. We should not abandon attempts at using less energy, but we should balance that with the total costs, some of which may not be possible to measure from monetary point of view at present.

Unexpected Best-Seller

2009-03-21T13:19:00.004+01:00

It seems that the Lumix LX3 came to be an unexpected hit, at least to Panasonic. Various different sources seem to indicate that in many places around the world it is impossible to buy one at present, or if you can buy it, only the silver version is available.

My guess is that Panasonic thought it would be worth making to test a new direction in compact camera development, but they expected it to be a niche product that only conscious buyers would get. What makes it more interesting is that they made it in black and in silver, but apparently everyone wanted black. As a result, you can actually get a silver one but few people are buying it, either waiting for the black model to reappear, or going for a different camera.

I wonder if Panasonic want to wait their customers out and sell the existing stock of silver ones, or if they simply can't cope with market demand. One other possibility is that they want to finish developing the LX4 which is speculated to perhaps be a micro-Four-Thirds camera.

I had a chance to try the LX3 a little as a friend of mine bought one (silver, of course, and in an off-the-shop-display bargain). It's pretty nice for a compact digicam, even if after a couple of months of owning a DSLR I find framing on an LCD to be a tad lacking.

Darwin Day Is Coming

2009-02-07T22:39:00.002+01:00

I have just found out about the upcoming celebration of Darwin Day. This year, it marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and 150th of his publication of "On the Origin of Species".

Rockwell on Composition

2009-02-05T19:41:00.003+01:00

Ken Rockwell has written a short piece on composition that sums up some basic facts nicely. I've seen all of that stuff in photography books already, but he rephrases it and puts emphasis on a few things that don't usually stand out in a book or a tutorial.

The Mystery of Repeated Reinventing of the Wheel

2009-02-04T23:07:00.004+01:00

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how people writing software try to reinvent the GUI design in silly ways. This is most apparent when they try to replace the system-given set of graphical widgets (a.k.a. controls). Why create your own window frames, menus, scroll bars, etc. if you already have those? While more and more UI toolkits try to resemble the local platform, e.g. Java's Swing and GIMP's GTK+ (at least on Windows), some people who write actual software try to do their own thing.

This rant was prompted by Olympus Master 2, the free image management and processing tool that you get with an Olympus camera, but that is just the latest example. I first noticed it with Canon ZoomBrowser which, now upgraded to ZoomBrowser EX, makes it much less apparent. Google Picasa has its own UI toolkit as well, but of these three applications it at least benefits on usability (although I'm sure that standard Windows widgets would work just as well).

I just don't get it. I don't know how these look on a Mac (all three are available in some form, I believe). Mac users expect a far more consistent UI design across all applications, and there's even a 140 page guidelines book, so being able to use the same code everywhere doesn't explain anything. No, I just don't get it.

To be fair, there are cases where doing everything from scratch makes a lot of sense. Google Chrome is my favorite example. It is one of the cleanest, most streamlined and lightweight UIs I've seen so far. But Chrome actually uses system widgets where it makes sense. Another example, Winamp, is a classic. In its case it actually wouldn't make sense to make it more Windows-like. If you don't believe me, check out Foobar 2000.

But, like I said, every time you make an exception, you need to ask yourself why. If you're not sure, the result is usually worse than what you could do the standard way. The fancy UI of Olympus Master 2 is a good example of wasted effort that didn't solve any problem. I'm only keeping it for the lens distortion correction and for raw image development.

Ministry of Silly Chemistry

2009-01-31T12:53:00.002+01:00

Every once in a while someone brings up the less serious side of science. This time it's Dr Paul May from University of Bristol. He has collected a long list of molecules with silly or unusual names. Some of my favorites: cummingtonite, moronic acid, diabolic acid, and angelic acid. :)

Olympus E-420 First Impressions

2009-01-19T22:19:00.003+01:00

Last weekend I finally got some sunlight to try my new Oly E-420 in. Even after only some experimental shots of my cat :) I have to say I really like this camera. My A640 is nice, but there are some things a compact camera just can't cut (yet). These features stand out in particular:

Optical viewfinder. It is so much easier to frame and compose using an OVF than an LCD. Plus, some users complain about Olympus' small magnification but I actually like it as more of the image is within my best vision angle.
Fast autofocus. Except for low-light conditions, it's almost instantaneous.
Lens quality. The image is sharp and clear across entire zoom range, for both lenses.

The only complaint I could have is that highlights aren't handled in the most graceful way:

It would be nice if there was some non-linear, soft-knee response around the brightest values to keep some detail. I'm probably asking too much though, and the above scene had a lot of contrast in the first place. As I look at it, I think the camera did the right thing and exposure seems to be well balanced overall.

Verdict: Camera approved. :)

The Fallacy of Lens Protection Filters

2009-01-12T21:42:00.004+01:00

Photo accessory manufacturers and camera stores will tell you a lot about how you need to protect your lens' front element from dust and scratches. In photographic forums, this is yet another topic for never-ending debate. And it turns out to be yet another myth back from the non-hardened glass and UV-sensitive film era.

A protective filter makes sense if you a) have an expensive lens, b) buy a top-notch, multi-coated filter, and c) go where your lens might actually suffer from, say, ocean water spray or sharp desert dust.

Otherwise, dust and scratches on the front element are not that big of a deal.

So, the only filter I'm getting for my Oly E-420 will be a circular polarizer.

So Much for "Fairly Sure"

2009-01-12T21:29:00.003+01:00

Not so long ago I wrote that I was most likely going to buy a Panasonic LX3. Well, so much for it. Yesterday I went and bought an Olympus E-420 kit. It actually cost me less than the LX3 would, and that with two lenses.

The main reason behind getting a DSLR rather than a compact digicam was the ability to see the framing and subject well in strong daylight. I'm yet to take it for a real test, but a few shots taken at home (and low light) show that the convenience and image quality should be just fine.

Fur Coats and Lolcats

2009-01-06T21:14:00.005+01:00

I Can Has Cheezburger? may be a humor blog, but for once they actually hit the bullseye on a serious matter. Their latest entry could be used by an animal protection campaign:

I rarely pay attention to the "greater good" stuff but this one struck a chord with me, even if it was created somewhat inadvertently.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T00:26:00.001+01:00

Happy New 2009!

More GIMP Fun

2008-12-31T19:26:00.003+01:00

Initially, I just wanted to fix a vacation photo that was nice but had a converging perspective. After some more manipulation, I arrived at this:

Selective desaturation is generally passé these days, but I think it serves the purpose quite well in this case. Just another exception to a general rule.

Ticked Off by Bad Spelling?

2008-12-31T18:36:00.004+01:00

Do you get ticked off by bad spelling online? I do. So does Eric Burke, who prompted this post. Maybe his idea of concentrating on just one spelling issue is good, in the sense of fixing one problem well instead of spreading attention over many different ones.

There are more of us. My favorite anti-bad spelling post so far is "Amature Ignores Advise, Looses Lense Extention", probably because I spend most time on photography forums, but also because this short sentence says all in its misspelling.

The issue of bad spelling is not new. It even got honorable mention in a TV show years ago:

I go online sometimes, but everyone's spelling is really bad. It's... depressing.

People always spelled bad, I'm afraid. It just didn't show because what went published in print passed through professional checkup. The ability to post freely by yourself removed that filter.

There are really good computer spellcheckers available that can deal with the usual suspects and even some grammar issues. But you have to have them, and more importantly you have to use them. Until online forum/blogging software gets some AI-enhanced spellchecker built in that can fix all this stuff for you, I guess we are doomed to more cringing.

"We're Closed for Holidays"

2008-12-23T23:27:00.003+01:00

No Discman for You

2008-12-20T19:32:00.003+01:00

An acquaintance of mine has recently asked about buying a portable CD player, what was once known as a discman or CD walkman. You got it right: You can't!

In this age of mobility and short-lived devices, no-one cares about carrying a (bulky for today's standards) CD player with them. You buy an MP3 player that will last a year or two at the most until a better, fancier gizmo comes out, and that's it. Of course, you need a computer to transfer the music first, but everyone has one, right?

I'm glad I still got my discman because a) it will play any of my 80 or so CDs without the need to pass them through my PC, and b) MP3s are individual files that don't hold information on gaps between tracks. The latter matters to me because I listen to albums the old-fashioned way, as a whole. Also, you can actually have something in these gaps: On one of Pat Metheny's albums there's a 45-second gap between tracks that actually contains a separate composition.

But hey, who am I kidding? Manufacturing goes where the demand is, so if 99% of people prefer the short-lived, temporary thing like MP3s and digital photos that never make it on paper, the rest of us must make do with workarounds.

I Got My Mind Set on LX3

2008-12-14T16:52:00.006+01:00

For the last two years and a half I've been using a Canon A640. I really like this camera. It's about the right size for my hand, has all the controls I want relatively easily accessible, and above all, it takes great pictures.

The A640 has one drawback that makes me look for something more, though: Its lens only goes to 35mm equivalent at the wide end. So, I've been looking for a replacement, or perhaps a second camera to go to 28mm or wider. I've looked at some options over the last few months.

Olympus E420 looks interesting, with its small size and good kit lens. It's pretty much the only DSLR that is small enough for my hands. Nikon D40 is much bigger and an older design, but just as inexpensive and reportedly great image quality; too bad it got some flack for its light metering. I even ventured into higher price ranges with Pentax K20D until I held it: It's far too bulky for me.

I've also given some cursory look over some compact cameras, including Panasonic TZ-5 and Canon G10. I really like Canon's compacts! But, somehow, ever since I discovered Panasonic LX3, I keep returning to it. The reviews are good, the features appealing, and it's a compact camera. It's a funny thing: My initial experience with photography has been with film SLRs, and I really liked that stuff - interchangeable lenses, good image quality, and big, bright viewfinders. Somehow, for digital I prefer compacts. They are good enough for me, even for an occasional airshow.

So, as much as other options seem to be tempting too, I'm fairly sure at this point that I'm going to get myself an LX3 sometime in the Spring.

Rules All Developers Should Keep in Mind

2008-12-11T23:19:00.003+01:00

Some time ago I found 100 Rules for NASA Project Managers. Most of this stuff is for managers, but there are several points that developers should take note of, if they haven't already. Due to the copyright, I'll just quote the numbers of my favorite rules: #55 (I see this all too often) and #62 through #65. Most of the rules in the document will make sense in any software project, though. It was written who clearly knew what they were talking about.

What's With All the "Professional" Products?

2008-12-08T08:06:00.003+01:00

More and more products that have nothing to do with any specific job are being branded as professional - e.g. toothpaste, chewing gum; I'm sure you could bring a few more examples. So what's with that "professionalism"? I completely fail to see the point, other than a marketing spin. Looks like the word "professional" has joined the ranks of "active", "natural", and others.

Still the Best

2008-12-02T22:50:00.005+01:00

After two years, I still find "Between Heaven and Earth" to be my best photo ever taken:

It's a simple, postcard-like picture, with no special composition - just a plain, straightforward vacation shot. Somehow, when I have to pick a set of my best photos, this is the first one I add to the list, every time. I'm still trying to figure out this phenomenon.

One Small Surprise

2008-11-29T21:56:00.003+01:00

I thought I already knew all the ups and downs of my small camera, the Canon A640. Then I was looking through some of my older photos today, and I noticed something in this portrait of my cat (I know, it's so cliché):

I know my camera to give somewhat soft image at the long end of its zoom range. The photo above was taken at the 140mm equivalent, which is the maximum for A640, and within the resolution limitations of the relatively high ISO (it was a cloudy day) the photo seems to be tack sharp at the cat's face. The only explanation I have is that it was taken at a rather short object distance - maybe the lens performs differently at infinity.

Digital Imaging Record Breakers

2008-11-26T22:27:00.002+01:00

One company makes video cameras that are capable of recording up to 1,000,000 frames per second, and up to 6,000 fps in HD. The demo videos are really worth seeing.

Meanwhile, scientists at University of Hawaii are building a 1.4 gigapixel (that's right, 1,400MP) camera. Take that, pixel peepers!

How Not to Take Portraits

2008-11-26T21:51:00.003+01:00

From yesterday's post on the DPReview forum: Great Olan Mills photos (not). I have no words.

Freefall

2008-11-24T22:46:00.003+01:00

If you're bored of Garfield or Dilbert but like the genre, you might be interested in Freefall. I found it lighter and smarter than both of the above and read every episode. It helps to know the backstory; reading from the start might actually be even more fun.

Latin's Not Dead

2008-11-24T22:00:00.003+01:00

Ancient Romans may all be dead but their language lives on. From medical terminology to humor, you can still find people practicing Latin. I don't, but I occasionally like to find something humorous in a short collection of modern expressions/phrases translated to Latin. My favorite:

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui.
(Bad kitty! Why don't you use the cat box? I put new litter in it.)

You have to have a cat to understand this one. :)

Finally Some Progress With GIMP

2008-11-22T16:57:00.004+01:00

Yay! I've finally managed to do some useful image processing with GIMP:

I took a well-exposed but rather bleak photo, and after some tweaking with the Hue-Saturation tool I got the above pic. I also had to do some local desaturation - there was a blue sky reflection in one part of the pole that didn't look too good. I'm not entirely happy with the green of the grass in the upper half, but I guess it's acceptable.

Regular Expressions Could Be Faster

2008-11-21T18:56:00.003+01:00

I've just read an article by Russ Cox where he points out that the regular expressions algorithm used in most programming languages and tools (except for grep and awk) is far slower than it need be. The only good reason for using the slower algorithm is that it can handle backtracking (\1, \2, etc.) in patterns. As the author suggests, though, the faster one could be used normally and only fall back to the slower one when backtracking is needed.

Empty Shelves for Old Geezers

2008-11-21T07:55:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I talked to a friend about buying music. This made me remember how, some twenty years ago, music stores had these big shelves full of complete discographies. These days people either download their music or buy CDs online. Music stores as well as music sections in more general stores have small, bare-bones, and somewhat random collections.

Yes, I get it, I should buy online. But somehow I prefer the straightforward process of picking up a CD from the shelf and paying for it at the cash register - and then it's mine. Looking through an online catalog, no matter how complete, just doesn't give me the same sensation of plenty.

Why I Don't Love Film (It's a Mixed Bag)

2008-11-20T22:23:00.010+01:00

By now pretty much everyone interested must have read Ken Rockwell's rant about film photography. I enjoy Mr. Rockwell's writings, and I find him to be right about many things photographic, but this time his temporary enthusiasm for his latest passion ticked me off a little. I'm guessing his perspective is medium and large format, but somehow his conclusions don't sit right with me.

Granted, I am an amateur photographer, and I know next to nothing about professional photography. I'm also fairly sure that film in large format is orders of magnitude cheaper than digital. I am looking from a different perspective though.

I got my first SLR plus some lenses in 1996 as a gift. It was great. From newbie to passionate beginner in days, I was hooked. Soon after, I got myself a Nikon F70 kit plus a nice tele (you know, "If I had a better camera...").

Both these cameras were a passion for me over a few years. I took a lot of pics with them. What made me almost stop was the cost of film and batteries, quite expensive for me. Carrying the weight around wasn't fun either. I thought, "My next camera is a P&S".

Soon after, I went digital with a Canon A75. I loved it. It was easy to use, it gave immediate feedback about exposure (no waiting another two months to end the roll and order prints), and the pics looked great! My biggest surprise: The first prints I ordered from it were sharper than anything I got from film, and this from a puny amateur camera!

All the complaints I read about DSLRs and the price of technology that will be obsolete in a couple of years are a put-off for me. I did consider an entry-level DSLR recently, the Nikon D40 kit, but I gave up. This is the one case where Ken Rockwell clearly made a mistake: In his recommended cameras page he suggests the D40. Yet on another page he complains that it has a defective meter.

For now, my main workhorse is a newer P&S, the Canon A640. While I'd prefer it to have a slightly different feature set, it works great for my taste. I even took it to a couple of airshows, with good results. Oh, and I recently tried some of Ken Rockwell's tricks and they worked for me.

Who Am I?

2008-11-20T21:00:00.002+01:00

No, not in the Babylon 5 sense of the question. Just, who's this new guy on the block?

I am a thinking-addict that could use an additional outlet for his musings. I am also a software developer by profession and a weekend hobby photographer. And that leads to more thinking. :)

Anything more about me is either irrelevant in this age of global anonymity, or will come up in time, or will appear in my profile. Who cares, anyway? If you do, ask. :)