Equally, I’ve worked my way up the heap in a predominantly Windows-world.  Beginning with Windows 3.1, 3.11 for workgroups, then on to 95, 98, the worst idea ever – Millenium, then on to XP, Vista (a.k.a. Windows 7 beta), and finally to Windows 7, I’ve become intimately familiar with the inner workings of each of these operating systems.  During that time I also became pretty familiar with Apple systems:   Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, and today’s Snow Leopard.

Last but not least, my phones started with the LG Flip Phone, before I migrated to a Blackberry, then an  HTC.  On the heels of that, I’ve also used the Samsung, Motorola Droid, Motorola Droid 2, and last but not least, the Motorola Droid X.  This past weekend, I finally caved…

I now am the owner of an Apple iPhone 4s.  The circle has been completed – working from home primarily on an Apple Macbook Pro, an iPad 2, and now an iPhone 4s – this Windows certified technology geek is now pretty much an Apple fanboy!  I gotta admit – it is pretty cool gear!  I do still work with Windows systems, primarily XP and 7 (along with the server equivalents), and am still pretty well-versed on the Android systems as well (I did a roll-out of over 250 phones on my last contract job including Windows Mobile, Android, Blackberry, and Apple devices.)

I’ve resisted the single-source ownership of computing devices for as long as I could – but the deal was just too good to pass up (psst…thanks Verizon for being out of the iPhone 4….the 4s is a great device at the discounted rate I got!)  Why did I switch?  Touch screen more than anything else.  Every smart phone I’ve had (primarily the Motorolas), the touch screen has lost sensitivity to the point where I have found it difficult to even unlock the phone or answer a call.  My upgrade window at Verizon kicked in Jan 1st.  I debated long and hard about it as the iPhone 4 was a $100 upgrade cost, and the iPhone 4s was a $200 upgrade.

After trading in my Droid X and an old iPod Touch, I had about $94 in credit due…so figured for $6, I could try it once.  A visit to the store and I was told that the iPhone 4 was out of stock – would I be interested in the 4s?  Well sure, but I had not intended to pay more than my original upgrade cost.  Well, Mr. Anderson, since you’ve been a faithful Verizon customer for so long, let’s see what we can do.  I walked out of the store with the 4s for $6!  Sort of a no-brainer…

Are you resisting the trend?  What are your platforms?  Am I joining your fold or have I betrayed the open sourced cause?

One of the latest lenses that they folks at Sigma have been gracious enough to let me borrow for an extended period of time is their 30mm f1.4 lens.  You read that right – f1.4!  Much like the “nifty fifty” because after the crop sensor is factored in, it’s really close the an equivalent of a 50mm on a full frame sensor (30*1.6 = 48)!

I’ll take the usual tack and look at Focal Length, F-Stop Range, Noise, Size/Weight, Build, and Cost, and Image Quality separately. So, let’s get started!

Focal Length

At 30mm fixed, this is another lens where zooming is not an option so you have to zoom with your feet!  This means walking around to get either closer to or far enough away from your subject to get the composition you need.  This could be construed as a disadvantage for those that prefer to dial their lens rather than shuffle their feet, but since I need all the exercise I can get, I am going to call this a positive!  Another positive is due to its relative focal length (48mm) after crop sensor size is factored in.    The rationale here is that it’s a pretty close approximation to what the human eye sees naturally.  So, it’s very much a WYSIWYG approach to composition (what you see is what you get)!

One of the advantages of this is that because it’s a fixed focal length, optical quality is pretty tack sharp all the way through, and even through various f-stop levels.  Overall, the focal length is definitely a positive – even for those used to zooming or adjustable focal length lenses.  It’s quite a treat to get into shooting with a lens like this!

F-Stop Range

The bane of a photographer’s existence is having a scene present itself to you where the light is fading, and you have no tripod or way to stabilize your gear.  The counter to this has been to invest in what’s becoming commonly known as “fast glass”.  The idea is that you can capture a scene at a wider f-stop ratio to let in more light in a shorter amount of time.  The downside to shooting wide open like this is that your depth of field will suffer unless you are focused to infinity. This does limit creative possibilities if you are hand-holding, but the advantage is that you can shoot in lower light.

At f1.4, this lens is designed to let in an amazing amount of light when shot wide open.  I was able to take some decently sharp pictures in near darkness with nothing but sidewalk lights and an indoor light around my house.  Another shot I was able to get included an underpass that was in near darkness and I could make out details in the underpass (see sample shots further on…)  This feature alone (in my opinion) makes a lens worth considering if the budget is there.

Noise

As is the case with most modern lenses, the noise that comes from running the auto focus is becoming much more tolerable.  Older lenses have had noisier motors (like my Sigma 70mm Macro – very loud when focusing).  Because this is a newer lens, and also due to its prime lens design, the lens is very quiet when it does focus in (the focusing ring never has far to go…)  Another pro for the 30mm!

Size/Weight

The Sigma 30mm has the size of a kit lens. It’s very compact which makes for easy inclusion in a camera bag.  When you have multiple lenses and need to decide whether a lens goes with you or stays home, this is one to take with you simply because it takes up such a small amount of space.  As for the weight of the camera, it’s surprisingly well-balanced on the Canon 40D, providing for a nice fit and comfortable shooting environment.

Build

The signature brushed dark metal of the Sigma line is present here and I’ve always been a fan of how these lenses are built and how they feel in your hands.  Exuding professionalism, and a solid graphite brushed metal coating make this a definite pro.

Cost

At B&H, the build cost is the same for Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and all other mounts at $489.  You may be able to save a couple bucks here and there by shopping for sales and discounted or used equipment sites, but based off the retail price, the ballpark is around $500 for this lens.  While $500 is a substantial dent to most wallets, I would have to say that this is worth the money.  I’ve had this lens on loan from Sigma for the last 2 months, and it’s not left my camera through several photo walks, two assignments, and of course all of the testing.

Image Quality

Now for the fun part: the image testing!  Now in the interests of full disclosure, I cannot share some of the images here on the blog because of client releases and such (although I will say that I was comfortable with photo delivery to clients using this lens, so that should be an indication of image quality).  Here’s some shots from when I was shooting in other various conditions:

So, there you have it – various examples of the lens shooting under normal, close up, and low light conditions.  In most I’ve just done simple post production work for sharpening, so there are straight out of camera (sooc).  In the low light shots, I did include some noise reduction to handle the grain, and you can see it cleaned up fairly nicely.  Overall, a great lens – thanks to the folks at Sigma for the extended use for testing.  I’ll be sad to see it go!

So, how are we going to round things out this week?  By turning things around!  Yep, the tip is to use the shoot through umbrella as it’s own reflector!  Take a look at the results.  I took a picture of the world (okay, it was a globe in our spare bedroom) from the flash in two different setups:

While it’s always better to shoot with your flash off-camera, this is probably the best lesson in showing that just because your flash is off-camera doesn’t make it good light!  Yes, it’s better than on camera lighting, but look at that harsh specular highlight, and how…well, boring the photo on the left looks.  Then consider the photo on the right – the hottest part of the light is nowhere near as specular (bordering on not even becoming a specular highlight…), and the diffused, reflected light gives some nice character and a sense of depth lacking in the first.

Here’s the lighting setup for each shot:

So, as you can see (hopefully), this demonstrates that turning things around (not just your camera) can have a surprisingly good effect from time to time.  It really becomes subjective at this point, and some may prefer one style over another, but that’s part of what makes the craft so enticing – you are limited by nothing more than your vision!

Thanks for tuning in to this unique week-long series on off-camera lighting – I hope you enjoyed reading these tips as much as I enjoyed writing them!

On that note – I’d like to ask you for more ideas on some themes and topics in this vein.  This really seems to have resonated based on the traffic, email, and feedback I have gotten thus far, but I do want to keep content moving in directions you are interested in, so feel free to chime in the comments with ideas, thoughts, and feedback not only on existing content, but asl on ideas thoughts and feedback for new content down the road!

Have a great weekend (don’t forget, today is the last day to get your entries in for the November Flickr contest) and be sure to stop back next week for the year-end wrap up on a bunch of product reviews – and you know what that means!

Quite a bit already, and we’re almost done, so I’d like t round things out with a little bit of stabilizing.  You see, while light stands are great for moving your flash off-camera, they’re not the most stable things around.  Certainly not like a tripod for your camera!  Why is that?  The answer is in the physics – a light stand is typically a single pole that is extended into the air, whereas a tripod is three poles that converge at a point (your ball head or camera mount).  Whereas the former has each other to lean on and stabilize things, your light stand doesn’t have this benefit.  But, you can minimize the wiggle!  Here’s how…

Most light stands will have a three-legged base which collapses down to help with portability and to compact the size.  I’ve seen people take light stands out, and the first thing they extend all the way are those three legs.  Don’t!  When you take the three legs to their maximum height, yes, you are getting more height, but you are losing leverage and stability!  Don’t!  Instead, do this:

See how in the first example the legs are high, narrow and only have three points touching the floor – this invites a top-heavy rig, which is always more likely to topple over.  If you sacrifice those 3″ at the bottom, look what you can gain!  A wider stand base = more stability, a lower light stand = additional stability, and then the addition of the center point for even more stability!  The one on the left is how it’s supposed to be done.

For an added corollary, you can also bring sand or water bags to your shoot and fill them when you get there…then place the bags inside that little “pocket” that is formed for even more of a weighted base that will further reduce toppling risks!  (Consider it a Light Stand Tip 4A!)

Tomorrow we wrap up the week of lighting do’s and don’ts when using light stands and shoot-throughs!  I hope you’ve enjoyed these as much as I enjoyed writing them (it’s always fun to do a series like this, because it has a beginning, middle and end – which makes for nice writing projects!)

The bare flash

The results are not atypical of what one would expect.  We can see quite a bit more diffusion over a flash fired with no shoot through at all.  The light is cast much wider across the umbrella, and a certain amount of diffusion can be noted.  However, we can also see a hot spot of light in the top half of our umbrella.  Bad?  Not necessarily, considering either shooting with no umbrella, or worse – using the flash on camera!   But can we make it even better?  Let’s try!

Flash+Reflector

An interesting result!  We see the light now is carried through more of the umbrella bu looking at the center point as our frame of reference.  See the light expanding a little further down past that center point?  Cool!  But also, look what happened at the top – the reflector took light from the top and bounced it down to the bottom as we clearly have a shadow line going across there.  Hmmm, not sure I like that, so let’s try another improvement!

Flash+Diffuser

Now we’re talking!  Look at that light!  It’s clean and even throughout the umbrella!  No lines from a reflector, and nowhere near as much spill over the edges of the umbrella itself.  This is some nicely diffused light!  But wait – can we take it even further?  Let’s try one last thing, just to see what happens!

Flash+Diffuser+Reflector

Uh oh, we over-thought it!  The light is still pretty evenly diffused and spread across the umbrella, except for that one rectangle area across the top where apparently the reflector blocked the light from getting to – thus creating a shadow.  For me, it looks like #3 was the best choice of flash controls.  Here – take a look at all four side-by-side-by-side:

Flash Comparisons

I’ve circled the areas that caught my eye in terms of the quality of light – what I like and what I dislike about each – with labels under each setup.  As noted above – my preference is for #3.  The lesson learned here?

Use the built in diffuser when using a shoot through umbrella for a nice even light source!

As in all things though, it’s not a “my way or the highway” mentality – all thoughts and opinions are welcome!  So, which one(s) did you like best? #1? #2? #3? #4?  Sound off with your own thoughts in the comments or via email – feedback and discussion is always encouraged!

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Contest Reminder:  Only a few days left to enter the Image Wizards contest.  No fuss, no muss, just enter your image in the Flickr thread for a chance to win a 16×20″ print from them (as judged by yours truly!).

Be sure to stop back in tomorrow for the fourth installment of how to get the most out of a single light setup!

In yesterday’s post, I showed how light can spill over an improperly mounted umbrella. I got a few emails noting that light does seem to still spill over the top of even a properly mounted one.  While that’s right, there’s a couple things to keep in mind.  First off, the flash is mounted to a trigger, not to the light stand directly.  This does raise the flash a tad (about an inch), and while that may not sound like much, it can increase the spill.  Now there are some triggers that are extremely low profile or that can rotate to lower the height of the flash by angling it forward, but there are downsides here too.  If you think about the idea of moving the head of the flash closer to the umbrella, you are essentially decreasing the amount of fill that your shoot thru will get.  The light will be more concentrated, (a.k.a. hotter) the closer it gets to the umbrella.  Conversely, the further away from the umbrella, the more diffused it will be.  Take a look:

Now, again, the terms “wrong” and “right” are subjective, because you may want a hotter light from your shoot thru.  The only thing I would say to that though, is that if you want a hotter light – why use the umbrella in the first place?  A shoot thru is designed to reduce the “hot” factor of the light and make it more even and diffused.  You can best accomplish this by positioning the light as far back on the umbrella as possible.  How far?  I usually leave about a quarter of an inch to an inch just so I can grab the umbrella if needed from the back side.  You can position yours where ever you like – just remember the “hot factor”!

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for Part 3!  I bet this is one a lot of you will likely say “Now, that is cool!”  In the meantime, keep sharing your own ideas, tips and tricks for getting the most out of your lighting gear!

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P.S.  A couple admin notes – the monthly giveaway is almost done (with a 16×20″ print from the folks at ImageWizards at stake), so get your shots in on the Flickr thread before Friday!  Next week is review week on the blog too, with books, gadgets, lenses, even a camera, and of course, the annual Holiday Gift Guide!

After experimenting with my own sets of various wireless triggers, and the number of questions that have come out in this area, I’d like to set about de-mystifying the concept of wireless triggers.  In doing so, let’s separate for the moment the whole reason for removing flashes from your camera (better lighting, more control, etc.), and for introducing the wireless element (fewer cables to trip over, longer range, etc.)  Let’s instead start where most people like to start – talking about the gear!  There’s basically four competitors out there, and I’ll cover the nuts and bolts of each here:

PocketWizards

• Link: Pocket Wizards at B&H Photo
• Cost: $440.00 Set
• Pros:  They just work.  These are the ones professionals use, and they do so for a reason.  You can even use them to trigger your camera!  Another plus is a long range and pretty sturdy!  Lastly, readily available through multiple vendors so warranty/worry-free
• Cons:  Expensive and large.  At close to $450 for a pair (you have to have at least two), it’s nearly the cost of a flash!  When the accessories cost almost as much as the main gear you are trying to accessorize (the flash with a trigger), the cost is probably too high in my opinion.

CyberSyncs

• Link: CyberSyncs from Paul C. Buff
• Cost $270 ($180 and $90 for a transmitter/receiver set)
• Pros:  Much more cost effective than the PocketWizards, and work with nearly the same durability, repeatability and range.  Not at the same level as PocketWizards, but for the price, this is one many enthusiasts look at seriously.
• Cons:  Not as reliable, durable and extensive a range.  Paul C. Buff is considered to be reliable and I’ve heard good things about them, but let’s face it – they’re no B&H.

Radio Poppers

• Link: Radio Popper Store
• Cost: $170
• Pros: Low cost of entry for the Jrx system, nice and compact system.
• Cons: Batteries are unique size so getting replacements can be more expensive in the long run.  I could not get multiple flashes to fire from on-camera with any measure of repeatability.  Documentation on their website not as clear I would have hoped.

Generic Triggers*

• Link: Varies
• Cost Varies – from $20 to $100
• Pros: Very low cost of entry, wide variety of vendors to choose from
• Cons: Reliability and warrantability can be sketchy depending on which vendor you go with.  No surprise, you get what you pay for.  My first generic set were from Gadget Infinity for $20 and could not get them to work right with any regularity.  My most recent set, (branded by a friend under the heading of *Blackbelt Light) costs $75, and are very reliable.  I got one trigger and three receivers for $75 and they have worked flawlessly.  Likely out of warranty after 90 days though under most normal circumstances, and again, no B&H, but having friends in high places helps!

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So, there’s the nuts and bolts from the various wireless triggers out there, from generic to professional grade ones.  It’s worth noting that that one player is notably absent, that being the Elinchrom Skyport.  The reason I left this out is because initially they were available from B&H, but are now distributed by Manfrotto, and while I have no bias for or against either company, when a product shifts distribution channels, that in and of itself raises a flag in my eyes.  Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, I’ve not been able to test or know anyone who has tested them that I could get to give me feedback in time for this writing!

Perhaps the best part of all of this is that now you get a chance to share your own thoughts, questions, and comments on wireless triggers?  Do you have any of the above sets?  What are your own experiences with these?  What about the Elinchrom’s?  Anyone out there use them and care to share thoughts or experiences?

1.  Avoid changing your lenses in the field – Let’s face it, dust enters from any uncontrolled area, and the area where you have the least control is in the field.  I’ve seen folks change out lenses in the field all the time, so it’s certainly not going to damage your camera or sensor unless you are completely reckless, but anything that opens your sensor to the ambient air also exposes it to ambient dust.  Wanna know how much dust is actually in the air?  Turn on a flashlight in the dark!  We oooh and ahhh over beautiful sunbeams in photos – what’s actually happening though is sunlight bouncing off dust particles in the air!

2.  Point it Down – If you have to change your lenses out in the field because you only have one camera body (like me), or for some other reason, don’t let gravity help!  Point the front end of your camera toward the ground when swapping out lenses.  In general, things fall down not up, so by pointing the sensor toward the ground, dust is less likely to settle in there.  It will take a bit of practice, because in essence, you are swapping a lens out blind, but this just speaks to the principle of knowing your gear!

3.  Be quick – So many times I’ll see photographers think of swapping that wide angle lens with a zoom, prime or some other lens.  The first place they go is the camera!  They take the lens off, cap the lens, put it in the camera bag, pull out the other lens, uncap it, and then mount it to the camera on their tripod.  Meanwhile, the camera sensor has been exposed for about 60 seconds.  That’s a long time to be exposed to the elements.

Cleaning a sensor is tricky, but cleaning a lens is a simple wipe from a microfiber cloth and a dab of lens cleaner.  I do it the opposite way.  I take the destination lens out, uncap it, and even position it right next to my camera.  Then in one fluid motion I unlock the lens on-camera, twist it off, and put the new lens on.  Cap the old lens, put in the camera bag, and the sensor was only exposed for about 3 seconds!  Which do you think lets more dust in: 3 seconds or 60?

4.  Use a dust bag – In some environments, there is dust everywhere.  I’ve shot on beaches in South Carolina, dusty conditions in Colorado and Mexico, and more places than I can count where the amount of dust in the air was just nasty.  For circumstances like that, it might be worthwhile to consider a dust bag.  The idea here is to insert your camera and the new lens into a bag where there is no dust, and swap out lenses inside that.  They are usually translucent s0 you can see what you’re doing,  and you don’t have to worry about keeping the sensor face down. The caveat to this is that by inserting a camera and lens inside one of these bags, you are already introducing dust, so the “clean” environment theory is blown right there.  Unless you are trying to change your lens in a sandstorm in the desert, this one is not as high on my recommendation list – but that’s not to say it is without merit whatsoever.

5. Cap the camera – A lot of people forget that their cameras come with a custom cap so that when there is no lens attached, you can put the camera cap in place to help protect it.  Sure, I usually have a lens mounted and at the ready, but if you are not deft enough with your hands to remove a lens and attach a new one, the camera cap can be a great interim step.  Also consider this – what if you send a camera in for cleaning?  Do you really want to send that 70-200 f2.8 lens in with it?  Extra weight, extra shipping, extra handling, all make for more possible damage and loss points – why put even more gear out there like that?  Cap your camera!

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There ya have it – 5 ways to clean, 5 times to clean, and 5 methods to avoid sensor dust on your camera!  Whew!  What a week of sensor talk!  What are your thoughts on the topic?  Did I cover it in enough detail?  Too much?  How and when do you clean your lens?  What’s your best strategy to avoid the dust bunnies?  Sound off in the comments, or via email, as always!  You know I love to hear from the reading audience!

Anyway, that’s it for this week kiddos – have a good weekend and keep on shooting.  Just a teaser of a preview for ya…as next week is gonna be a fun one!  If I can get off my $%^& and finish some writing this weekend, there will be a couple book and lens reviews forthcoming, as well as a surprise release for all you newsletter subscribers (I’ve not forgotten you)!

I cleaned the camera sensor after getting back from this trip.

1.  When the built-in cleaning mechanism is unable to keep the sensor clean.  This tells me that there is something sticking in place that is not easily removed on its own.  Further, when the built-in mechanism removes dust from the sensor, it has to put it somewhere.  When that “somewhere” gets full, the mechanism just can’t do its job anymore.  It’s like a vacuum cleaner loses its cleaning ability when the tank is full.  When that happens, I will usually pull out my Rocket Blower to get stuff off the sensor.

2.  When the Rocket Blower no longer is able to clan the tough spots with its powerful puff of air, I generally tend to take one last ditch effort with my own Lens Pen or PecPad solution to swab the sensor clean with that special cleaning solution.  The theory here is that if something really is “stuck” on the sensor, I should be able to wipe it off with this Lens Pen solution.  When my own efforts to remove sensor dust at this level are ineffective, it’s time for me to consider a professional cleaning.

3.  Because I live in a suburb of a larger metropolitan area, getting a professional cleaning is my next “level” of cleaning.  When it goes past my ability to clean, the guys over at CamRen do a great job of getting all the nitty gritty off my sensor, and for a reasonable price ($50).  Plus, it’s done very quickly (usually same day service), so my down time is minimal.  The only thing I don’t get is the “certified” service from Canon.  I don’t know if Canon does anything extra or special in their maintenance procedures, but I’ve never had need to use their services.

4.  Annual maintenance: I try to maintain a cleaning schedule of at least annually…meaning that even if in the past 12 months my sensor hasn’t gotten “that” dirty, I’ll get it cleaned professionally anyway, just because I am a little OCD about keeping things clean.  For me, the investment in keeping gear clean just makes the equipment last longer (and easier to sell if I ever upgrade).

5.  When it gets dirty! – I know this sounds rather obvious, but it probably does need to be said, at least to point out particular scenarios.  My general rule of thumb is that I will get an extra cleaning cycle in if the camera gets a lot of heavy use in a short period of time.  For instance, my trip to the Adirondacks, the coast of southern Mexico, or the Wild Sand Dunes of Colorado all ended with a professional cleaning.  I tend to change lenses a lot so when I do that “in the field”, more dust tends to get in more often.  So just to stay ahead of the game, I have a professional service done after such events, because odds are – a lot of dust hit that sensor!

Those are my five times to clean my sensor – but as stated above, these “rules” are not carved in stone.  Merely my own guidelines for how to clean my sensor and when to clean it.  In giving these guidelines the light of day, it of course begs the question to the reading audience:  When do you clean your sensors?  Do you have any criteria?  Schedules? Levels of filth that are tolerable versus intolerable?  What does it take before you clean your own camera sensor (or get it cleaned)?  How many of you have ever cleaned or tried to clean your own camera sensor?  I know there’s a lot of trepidation out there on this topic, so have no fear if that describes you – you’re not alone!

Coming up tomorrow, the $64,000 question – how to avoid getting dust on your sensor!

1.  Let the Camera Do It! – Many cameras today have a technology called “Dust Delete Data” where you can identify portions of your sensor that have evidence of sensor dust.  Once the camera has these points identified, it will digitally remove said exhibitions of dust and you can go on your merry way.  I’ve never used this method though, with the understanding from others who have that it is not 100% foolproof.  Additionally, in my mind – the dust is still there, so if the camera can’t do it automatically, I want to!

2.  Edit manually – Many purists may think it’s a time honored tradition to pour over your image, pixel by pixel and eliminate dust spots using the clone stamp tool in Photoshop, dodging and burning in the darkroom or correcting for its.  While this is certainly a viable method, and is likely the best way to ensure all dust spots are cleaned.  The problem is that over time, this can become very tedious.  Quite frankly, with all the software tools and services available, the usefulness of this approach even for the thrifty-minded has really become more time and labor-intensive than most people can tolerate, so not sure this is as viable an option as it used to be…nevertheless, it is an option, so I would be remiss in not mentioning it!

3.  Use a Rocket Blower  -  Often times, dust is just a light piece of foreign material that snuck its way onto your sensor when you were swapping gear out in the field (We all do it…).  The good news is that stuff like this is easy to clean out using a Rocket Blower (like this one from Giottos) to blow any errant dust off the sensor and let gravity do the rest.  The reason this is good news is that you don’t have to touch the sensor (yikes!), and 9 times out of ten, you are all set to go shooting again at a minimal cost (these can be found pretty cheaply on B&H, Adorama, or your own favorite retailer).  The bad news is that if this doesn’t work, now you gotta spend some money!

4.  Clean it yourself – There are many solutions available on the marketplace ranging from a full Rocket Blower and lens cleaning kit (like the one featured above), or the popular Lens Pens,  to dedicated full cleaning kits like this one from Delkin and alcohol swabs where you can gingerly switch your camera from auto cleaning mode to manual mode and reveal the sensor for you to dabble as best you can.  While the long term benefits of this solution are quite good (a good cleaning kit will cost you about $50 – the price of one professional cleaning and can last for dozens if not scores of cleanings), you run the risk of damaging your camera if you aren’t both a) very careful and b)steady with your hands!

5.  Pay a pro – The course of action to take if you are beyond the Rocket Blower, and just don’t want to muck around where your Thunder Thumbs don’t belong in the first place!  Most cities have services where you can drop off your camera and pick it up the same day for anywhere from $50 to $100.  Most vendors also offer a cleaning service from them.  The problem there is you have to ship it to the service center, pay for the privilege, and then be without your gear for a certain period of time!  Now if you are a member of the Canon Professional Service, these cleanings are done for free (but the price of entry isn’t cheap in terms of gear ownership!).  I’m pretty sure Nikon and Pentax have similar offerings for professionals who use their gear.

Thankfully, a few shops here in Denver offer this service, and when my gear gets sticky enough, it’s time to take it in!   I think it’s time, given the amount of dust in the first image:

Versus the amount of time it took to clean this in post production (about ten minutes…this was just the upper left corner)

So, this naturally begets two more questions, right?  How often should you get your gear cleaned?  and How to Avoid Sensor Dust in the First Place!  Well, you’re in luck, because guess what’s coming up tomorrow! (You had to see this was coming, right?   Happy shooting (and cleaning), and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

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Don’t forget, the monthly photo contest is on – win a free Lensbaby Composer!  Get your shots in for a chance to win a super cool lens worth $300 retail! (Still trying to get the folks at Lensbaby to let me review the new one…)

Bill M. Carroll

Congrats again to Bill – if you could drop me an email, I’ll coordinate to get your info over to the right folks at NAPP to process everything going forward! You are sure to enjoy countless resources, tips, tricks, tutorials, and other content NAPP provides to all its members!  Everyone, if you could take a moment out of your day to congratulate Bill for his awesome shot (and a great expression on the kid too!) that won the contest!

*****

Don’t forget, the October Contest is now also underway, so gear up those cameras to capture the idea of “stacks” somehow!  The winner this go around will become the proud owner of a Lensbaby Composer!

Since we weren’t shooting in any sort of “official” capacity, i figured it’d be a good time to kick the tires on this new lens (sorry, can’t reveal it just yet).  Suffice to say, I was not thrilled with the shots.  As luck would have it, I had swapped out between my 70-200 Canon and this lens right before the race, and inadvertently left my 1.4 TC on.  The end result was that the shots were just “off”.  The entire ten second scene was exciting to watch, and a few great shots presented themselves to me, but because of the gear selection and conditions – I got nuthin’!

However, always with education in my mind, this was a great story for two reasons.  First and foremost – it’s a reminder that if you are shooting an important event, always shoot with tried and true gear you know, and have had positive results with before.  Second, it’s always a good idea when testing new gear to try it in various configurations to make sure you know what you are getting before your return period expires.  Imagine if you purchased a lens, had enjoyed it, then past the return window, you decided to then test it with accessory items like a TC, only to get less performance than you expected. Oh well, chalk it up to an expensive mistake (glass is never cheap, and even good glass can not work for your particular style of shooting!).

As sort of a bonus tip, I also learned that when shooting sports, always keep your aperture above the minimum for a couple reasons.  First, a deeper depth of field will give a better sense of place, and second, if your focus is even slightly off and you happen to be shooting at a higher number, the chances of getting at least part of the scene in focus is better than if you shoot like I did – at 1.4!  While I normally don’t share bad shots – in this case, it’s helping to serve as an example of what not to do:

As you can see, nothing is really in focus, and my suspicion is that it was due to the presence of the TC as further studio testing produced results consistent with what I would normally expect without the TC.  And with the TC, the oof results also continued in studio – with a lot of difficulty in even achieving focus on objects unless the contrast was especially evident.  Even then, it jiggled a lot betwenn two focusing points, so the lesson I got in all of this is that when using a __________ (thought I was gonna say it, didn’t ya?_, don’t use the TC!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend too.  What did you shoot and what were your lessons learned?  Sound off in the comments with your own thoughts, ideas, tips, and tricks!  Until tomorrow – happy shooting!

I get this question a lot too.  The problem with any ultimatum, is that it’s going to invite bias and subjectivity.  Whether it’s lenses, cameras, computers, software or even media cards, there is no objective and universal vendor or manufacturer of media cards that is head and shoulders above the others in the field.  What I can tell you is that there are some who are notably superior.  I’ve not ranked these in any specific sort of order, but from my own experiences, these are the vendors that deliver a stable, high quality product with a good focus on QA:

• Lexar
• Sandisk
• Hoodman
• Ridata

If you get your media from them, by and large, you will probably be happy with the results.  I’ve heard stories of amazing success and durability anecdotes ranging from going through the clothes washer, to getting pounded by a 2000 pound vehicle.  One of the most amazing ones I read was someone who took a swim in the ocean, sweated in a sauna, and cooled off at a pool bar before realizing the media card wallet was in his swim trunks pocket – and all survived!  So, you can really pick and choose from the above and likely get quality results.  For my own tastes, I have used all of the above, but will say that I’ve noticed Lexar cards can be found for slightly less, either through promotions or sales for equivalent capacities.  Of course in the interests of full disclosure, they have also contributed to the contest giveaway series here, so that in and of itself could introduce some subjective bias on my part again.

So, there you have it!  On On Monday I looked at capacity considerations in Megabytes vs Megapixels, then later an article looked at speed transfer rates in How Fast Can You Shoot, and today, the last in this series of articles – the vendor portion of the equation.  There are, of course, other factors that could go into any buying decision, but this wasn’t about being exhaustive, rather being informative and sharing my own thoughts, insights, and experiences with media cards in photography.

Just a couple final reminders as we go into the weekend:

First up, the LDP Contest Series is underway, and I’ve added a 70-200 Special Edition from the folks at Photojojo to the giveaway.  Expect a review forthcoming shortly!  Make sure you enter for your chance to win.  Already in the prize list is a license for Photo Rescue software.  Enter here!

A new newsletter is forthcoming shortly, as is a new eBook!  This time it’s free, but only going to subscribers, so be sure to get signed up before that is released!  Special promos and discounts may also be in the newsletter for other products too, so if not signed up, you can get in on the action here.

Have a great weekend everyone, happy shooting, and we’ll catch up again next week….”on the flip side”!

On initial glance from the title, one might think this blog is segueing into a dialog from the Top Shot show over on the History Channel (very cool show btw), but I’m actually referring to the notion of speed often associated with shooting digital.  Sports shooters, action shooters and the like often will get the fastest cameras, the fastest cards they can get, with the fastest processors, and go to all sorts of degrees to eliminate bottlenecks in their capacity to shoot fast and on the go.  To an extent, their efforts are justified, but how fast does your card need to be?

As you may recall on Monday, I talked about how the real meaning of memory in media cards.  We talked about Megapixels and Megabytes, and I gave some real world number ranges for what you could expect a media card to handle.  So, today, we’re going to follow up on that topic of discussion and take a look at speed ratings for cards.  As always, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye, primarily because there are lots of numbers bandied about when speaking about card transfer rates.  Before we wade hip dip into this, one brief note here is to give serious props to Rob Galbraith for compiling a pretty extensive database on his website of data transfer rates for a whole slew of cards with a whole slew of cameras.  If you really want to dig into the minutia of how fast cards really are, be sure to check it out!  Just one note though, that this database has not been updated since 2008 so cameras made since then will not be found with any reliable information.

With that in mind, today it’s probably more helpful to walk through the various points that can contribute to data transfer rates for cards.  The natural first stopping point is in the camera itself, in what is commonly known as fps, or “Frames Per Second”.

Frames Per Second

Quite simply this refers to the number of actuations a given shutter in a camera can cycle through in exactly one second.  As indicated above, the abbreviation for this is typically fps, and is easily culled from the spec sheet for pretty much any camera on the market today.  For those of you that want to see a compilation though, here you are (I should note that I grabbed all this data from the vendor websites on claimed fps for the highest resolution image settings.  If you set your file size to sRaw, or jpg and add compression, your max frame rate may increase…:

The bottom line here though is that with most DSLR’s on the market, if you expect more than 10 fps, that’s probably not going to happen (assuming also you are shooting continuous and on the highest resolution setting.)

So, even the camera you have can cause bottlenecks in write speeds…if your camera can’t write data that fast, it really doesn’t matter how fast your card can write data if it doesn’t have the data to write.  Now granted, each camera will have different MP counts so the Canon 5D (for instance) will of course have a slower fps rate because it’s a larger file, and it’s a full frame camera, so will naturally be slower than the 7D by comparison simply because it has to be.  So what we really need to be measuring is the amount of data that is being transferred per second (see now why I did that article first? )  So, we’ve reached the second point of bottleneck now in talking about transfer speeds and that’s the buffer.

Buffer

The best analogy I have is that the buffer in a camera is very much like the RAM in your computer.  It’s a sort of staging area, where data is stored before it gets actually sent to the processor and then saved to the card. Without the buffer in place, fps rates would drop dramatically because there would be no place for the camera to temporarily hold data before writing.  The buffer is what allows you to keep shooting.  So, this brings up two important questions:

1.  How can you increase the buffer?  (You can’t really…)

2. How can I tell how much of a buffer my camera has?  (As of this writing, I am not sure if this metric is reported consistently by vendors, except when reviewers say “an increased buffer size improves performance”…which is still relatively meaningless.)

Since it’s not something we can really measure, nor change without buying into a whole new camera, here it’s just sufficient to say that this is the second bottleneck point, and is usually where you will run into moments of pause.  Why? Because cards are usually transferring data that fills up the buffer, and at that point the camera can’t take in any more data. When this happens your camera won’t let you take any pictures.

The other factor that comes in to play though ties more to the card itself and not the camera, which is the speed factor.

Speed Class Rating

Media card vendors like Lexar, Sandisk and others like to use terms to define their speed.  Catch words like Extreme, Pro, Extreme Pro, 300x, 600X and all sorts of fancy jargon is used for marketing purposes.  Notice the various cards on the market – the more buzz words, usually the faster the transfer rate claim, and of course, the more expensive the card! 

So, rather than pour over all the various vendor semantics, I figured it’d probably be better to stay on what is a more neutral metric – speed class ratings.  While we could also introduce variances between the CF and the SD format in terms of write speeds, since most devices are moving to the SD format and it’s smaller cousins (mini SD and Micro SD), these are likely the ones we’ll see more often in the future, so the speed class ratings here are most relevant.

To that end, there are 5 different ratings or grades given to SD cards.  These are 2, 4, 6, 10, and 1 respectively.  The last rating (1) is reserved for the SDHC and SDXC card types, and has a special designation as UHS, for Ultra High Speed…while the lower ratings all have transfer rates classified as normal and high speed.  A full chart is viewable on it here.  In a nutshell, the higher the number, the faster the card can transfer data, so keep that in mind as you shop for media.  The ultimate barometer really though is not how fast you need to capture, but more what you need to capture, and as the chart indicates, video needs faster transfer rates than stills, so naturally the higher ratings are intended primarily for videographers.

If you really wanna geek out on data transfer rates, a better place to go for that is the Rob Galbraith database I mentioned upthread.  Again, it’s not been updated since 2008, but the general trends are probably consistent with the current market of vendors we have to choose from.

One final note on data transfer rates…card technologies have changed substantially in recent years, enough that there are now cards referred to as UDMA cards.  While the current generations of cameras from both Canon and Nikon support this mode of reading and writing data to media cards, older cards may not and will read the card at the slower rate. So, if you have an older camera, you may want to check for UDMA compatibility before getting a newer UDMA style card.

 Conclusion

So, what’s the takeaway from all this?  Hopefully three things:

1.  Transfer Speeds are not just a function of your media card, fps rates and buffer rates in cameras are factors too.

2.  Paying more for a faster media card might not be needed if you are not shooting video.

3.  If you are shooting video, or need the extra oompfh of speedy cards, make sure you are using the right speed class, and with the best camera you can.  As the old adage says: it’s a poor craftsman that blames his tools…

Happy shooting and we’ll see you tomorrow to wrap our discussion of Media Cards with a look at the various vendors!

And for the more detail-oriented, here’s the extended version…

Just one of the many considerations here is how you are saving your images.  There are also many facets in the “how you save your images” too.  For instance, RAW as a file format will always have more data in it than its more lightweight sRaw counterpart. Even further, jpg does a certain degree of compression in camera to help save on file storage space, so it will also decrease your file size usage.

2.  Quantity of Light

Another consideration to factor in is whether you are shooting in low light or bright light.  With digital photography, the more light you have in a scene, the more data there is to the image.  Conversely, darker images will have less data and take up less storage space on both your media card and your computer. Take, for example, this series of images I took of “Dino” outside on Sunday.  The exposure is set to under-exposed by 2 stops, neutral exposure, and over-exposure by two stops, as defined by my shutter speed.  The amount of storage space that was consumed on both the media card and my computer is indicated beneath each image.

3.  Varying degrees of color

The amount and types of color can also factor into how much storage space an image takes up.  I’ve actually addressed the issue of color in these exact terms before, so for a more thorough explanation of that, check out this article here.  Here, the summary is really the only relevant part, where green encompasses the largest amount of data, blue comes in second, and red encompasses the least.  Other color hues will fall somewhere between these three primary colors, so storage space will be a function of colors in your images as well.

4.  Bit Depth

Another factor that will enter into play (mostly in post production though) is that of bit depth, which is basically how you are saving your file out from processing.  Most cameras will capture in 16 bit depth, and will be imported in Photoshop or Lightroom at their native bit depth, unless you manually change it from 18 bit to 8 bit (which a lot of people do when using the full version of Photoshop, because that enables tools that are not available in 16 bit mode).  You can also output to24 bit or 32 bit mode, but these are mostly used for offset printing (think CMYK) and HDR imaging, which while popular does not speak to standard storage space for images captured natively in camera.  So, the bit depth is really beyond the scope here, but if you’d like to learn more about various bit depths and their usage, feel free to get started at the Wikipedia article here.

5.  Megapixel Count (Resolution)

The final element to consider in how much storage space an image will take up on either a card or a computer is the megapixel count.  Now, unfortunately there is no direct correlation from megapixel to megabyte as one is defined by the resolution of the image and the other is defined by a byte in computer terms.  While the former is mealleable depending on sensor type (CMOS vs CCD vs Foveon, etc.), the latter is pretty well delimited as a byte is a single unit of data.  So

Having said all of the above – raw versus jpg, light versus dark, one color versus another, bit depth, and megapixel count…there are some general rules of thumb we can draw based on significant research that has been done in this area (and by significant, I mean me hitting Google, Wikipedia, and various communities, asking if anyone knows of any authoritative resources I could check out).  The upshot is that images will largely be a function of their megapixel count.  Now, because of the variances in the other factors here, there is no hard and fast rule that is set in stone for image file size relative to MP count, but on a very rough scale, each megapixel of data will typically contain about a megabyte of data.  So the conversion is almost a 1:1 ratio.  Keep in mind of course that this is very rough, because I have seen with my 10MP camera that I have raw file sizes in excess of 17 MB!  It’s always better to work within an expected range, rather than using hard and fast rules anyway, so for that reason, here’s a chart:

Keep in mind that these formulas are very generic in nature as the methodology is not completely scientific, but can help you determine the expected capacity of your media cards for photos!

So, the natural extension of this takes us back to the original question:  How many images you can store on a media card given a certain pixel count?  Extrapolating things out is just a simple matter of math and Excel!

Coming up next, another factor to consider in your media cards:  speed transfers!  (See the theme forming for the week?)  Until then, keep on shooting!

So, for today, I am happy to bring to you the latest gear review – from none other than the folks at Sigma, with their 85mm f1.4 lens.  Let’s just jump right in:

1.  Focal Length – I’ve talked at length on the blog before about fixed focal length versus variable length zooms.  Their differences, both pros and cons of each are duly noted, and for the most part, I think we can skip the formalities of the technical explanations.  It’s an 85mm lens.  This means you are not going to be able to zoom with the lens, rather with your feet.  It also means that you will gain pros in IQ (See #8 below).  Normally I am shooting with either a 10-22 for wide angle landscapes or a 70-200 for portrait work, so this took a bit of adjusting.

When I did shoot portrait work, I kept on having to step further back to bring more of the subjects face into the scene, and with landscapes, I found myself rotating into portrait position (vertical) and instead of trying to get everything in one shot, rather capturing several shots, with the acceptance that I would have to stitch together in post production.

It’s not perfect for either, but a good compromise in focal length to try and meet the needs of both ends as much as possible.  If I had to choose my favorite focal length, it probably would not be an 85mm, but there are very subjective reasons for that, which probably aren’t as relevant here, so I will defer that for another post.  The focal length is what it is.  You either like the length or you do not.  I was middle of the road on it – sometimes I liked it, sometimes I didn’t.

In the end, I think the focal length was fine for most purposes.  Even

2.  F-Stop Range – This is the reason I want this lens.  Stopping all the way open to an f1.4 gives you amazing results from two key perspectives:

• Depth of Field – When you shoot with a low depth of field, the subject is very easily separated from the background.  This also brings up the subject of bokeh quality, and here I was quite impressed as I didn’t see any evidence of jagged lines or aperture opening sizes, which is often characteristic of cheaper lens builds.
• Low Light photography – Low light photography to me means shooting at or near dusk, or in an incandescent environment where you don’t want to introduce flash.  You don’t want to be a part of the scene.  The photographer wants to blend into the background and be as unobtrusive as possible.  Lenses with low f-stop ranges allow you to do this, and the Sigma 85mm f1.4 is no exception!

3.  Noise – The motor on this lens is as quiet as one would expect for current technology – whisper!  I never heard anything that would cause a distraction, and at this point I am actually considering upgrading the Sigma Macro for this reason – the quieter the operation, the easier it is to concentrate on what you are shooting!

4.  Size/weight – About what would would expect for this focal length and aperture.  Remember, the lower the aperture (f1.4) the beefier a lens will have to be, because elements will need to be thicker in order to have any sort of stability.  It made for near perfect balance in conjunction with the 40D.  On a larger camera like the 5D or 1Ds Mark IV, I could see where you might not have as much a balance, but for my purposes, it works!

5.  Build – Patented and as expected, the water resistant housing, and non-slip grip that is now almost a trademark feature of Sigma was present so no surprises there.  I always enjoy shooting with Sigma gear because the heft of it just feels solid in my hands.

6.  OS/IS/VR – There is no built in motion correction here, which is what I collectively use to refer to the proprietary features of Sigma, Canon’s and Nikon’s camera shake correction technologies.  ALthough I should probably share that OS = Optical Stabilization (Sigma), IS = Image Stabilization (Canon), and VR = Vibration Reduction (Nikon).  Since this lens doesn’t have this motion correction feature, there’s really not much to discuss here.

The one note I would have is that when shooting with this lens, the benefit is primarily in that you can shoot at f1.4 which lets in a lot of light.  To that end, the need for motion correction is probably not as needed, except for the most exceeding low light scenarios, but you’ll see in a minute, that’d have to be pretty darn low!

7.  Cost – For the benefit of shooting at f1.4, the price of admission is hefty indeed.  B&H Photo prices it out at $969.  Since this is a new lens in their lineup, you likely will not find it for much less than this, as there is no aftermarket yet to speak of.

8.  Image Quality – Here, as always, I like to let the images speak for themselves.  I’ve tried to include a few samples that demonstrate both the depth of field capabilities and the low light performance.  Keep in mind – every image here was shot hand held!

So, in the interests of not hitting the email subscription base with a lot all at once, I’ve pulled the remaining posts and will have them go live next Monday (possibly over the weekend as well), to ensure the gear reviews get their fair share of “air time”.  I know some will be very interested in reading about the Sigma 85mm f1.4 I’ve had on loan for a few months here now (being returned to Sigma on Monday).

In any case, thanks for all your patience as I sort out these snafus and hopefully return to a regular blogging schedule come Monday!  Have a great weekend all!

So, when I started getting back into it as an adult, nearly all my gear was too small for me – you grow a lot between 12-41!  I became acutely aware of that when I resumed the camping gig two years ago with the family canoe trips!  I struggled through a few years of “making do” with loaner stuff, and trying to eke one more use out of 30 year old equipment.  Just as I browse the clearance racks of B&H Photo, the walls of REI (with a main branch office right here in Denver) have also kept my eye.

Then, just this last weekend – REI had one of their apparently quite popular Garage Sales – members get exclusive access to some pretty amazing deals from returns.  After learning the hard way with camera gear (that used sometimes is better than new!), I decided to take a peak:

• Backpack – Retail $299 – Used once $49.95 (broken zipper)
• Compact Air Matress – Retail $99 – Used once (no leaks – verified) $10
• Long 20 degree sleeping bag – Retail $150 – Used once $30
• AsoloFlame Hiking Boots – Retail $159.99 – Used once $59.99

When you think about it, the net results are pretty staggering.  Consider that I bought gear which at retail prices would have totaled $708.  I spent about $150 on the full set, and another $35 in cleaning and repairs (laundered the bag myself, the zipper fixed for $15, and the boots cleaned for $20).  That means I saved $523!  That’s 74% off!

If I was smart, I’d have done the same with photography.  Think about it…who cares if the tripod has a nick on one leg, or your camera body as a cosmetic scratch on one corner.  Even camera bags can get obscenely expensive.  My last camera bag I bought I paid nearly $400 for!  I probably could have found one with a busted zipper or whatever for 74% off.  Save your money where you can folks – that’s the tip here for the day.  Do we want nice and shiny stuff?  Sure!  But the question is – do we need it?  Not when I can save over $500!

So, shop around – look at Craigslist, see what’s on Flea Bay!  Heck, there’s even some good used gear that pro shops sell used – or even rental houses.  Just stick with reputable outfits and you’ll never go wrong.  But always consider going used – the gear will likely work the same, and you save a few bucks!

My coffee never had a better container!  Yup, it’s kind of hoax here, but it is a legitimate product.  This coffee mug has an exterior that is made to resemble the Canon EF 24-105 f4L lens.  It clearly isn’t, but truth be told, when I received mine in the mail, I was pretty excited.  It does serve its purpose admirably – keeping my coffee hot and in good sipping condition well enough for the duration of the morning caffeine intake.

I was a little disappointed that the focusing rings didn’t rotate, nor did the AF/MF toggle or the IS toggle – in fact, the former was simply painted on.  It did have the cap that looked like a real lens cap, but that didn’t pinch on like a normal lenscap would.  To an uneducated eye, I can easily see this as passing muster for a real lens…until you picked it up!

Nevertheless, it was the talk of the office when I poured my first cup of coffee into it.  It retails higher than I would have expected for nearly $40, but you can get your own here.  And for the Nikonians out there, don’t worry, Nikon versions are available too!

JawDoc

His image of the Tilt-a-Whirl (or whatever you call it) really stood out for me in terms of the sense of motion and speed, so congrats to you sir.  If you could be so kind as to drop me an email, I will forward your name and info over to the folks at Camera Bits who are ready for delivery of your installation code for Photo Mechanic!  One final nod of thanks to them as well, for their generous contribution for the June Giveaway!

And now, for the July Giveaway, our next prize is yet another doozy!  The good folks over at Thinktank Photo have generously sent some of their latest product line to me for review, and now up for grabs is none other than their already well-received Streetwalker Pro bag.  This holds an astounding amount of gear for its size, allows for a tripod, and much more.  I’ve not had a chance to kick its tires yet (so to speak), but you know a review is going to come up soon for this month, so keep an eye and ear open!

It retails for $159 US, and this one is a beauty!

Again, because the prize will be shipped from my location rather than Thinktank, the shipping requirementsare built into this months guidelines:

1.  All images must be between 600-800 px on the longest dimension.

2.  Each person can submit up to two images

3.  The theme is STREET, fitting for a Streetwalker Pro

4.  Contest Deadline is:  July 31st at midnight Mountain Time (GMT -7).  Add or subtract for your own time zone as needed.

5.  US Residents only…sorry international folks.

6. The photo must be included in this Flickr thread.

7. The Flickr photo must be downloadable – we share the winning photo via announcement here on the blog and in newsletters – so I need to get it to do that!

8. Have fun! Remember photography is supposed to be fun so keep that in mind as you approach the May giveaway.

9. Reminder Guidelines and Rules of Engagement links are here for easy reference.

Special thanks to not only Camera Bits and Think Tank photo, but to all the sponsors – and for readers out there, if you would like to see a product reviewed and/or offered up for a giveaway, feel free to drop suggestions in the comments – that’s where vendors look!

The link to enter the contest is here – good luck to all!

Lakes Photo

Congrats and send me an email with your contact information so I can get your Hoodman Loupe out to you!

*****

So, with the June contest now set to begin, I’d like to welcome a new sponsor to the lineup – the folks over at Camera Bits, makers of the reknowned Photo Mechanic!  After I talked with Kevin Mullins on the last podcast, decided I had to check it out.  What a cool piece of software – it loads full res versions of photos stunningly fast!  I can totally see why wedding and event photographers would use something like this to help expedite their work flow.  I used it to sift through about 500 photos from a recent shoot, and what would have taken me about 20 minutes in Lightroom took about 5 minutes with Photo Mechanic!  That’s a 75% time savings!

So, if you take that percentage out to the thousands of photos that are often associated with event photographers, that can translate to a huge reduction in post production!  It’s tempting for sure, and with the software valued at $150 retail, certainly well worth the investment!  You can get a fully licensed version of the software for free just by submitting your own image to the Flickr Contest thread here!  Good luck to everyone and thanks to the folks at Photo Mechanic for their generous contribution!

Hoodman Loupe

Hoodman Loupe

The whole purpose of the Hoodman Loupe is to block stray light from hitting your LCD.  In sunlight or hazy scenarios, it can often be challenging to view your screen, and even change settings if you own a newer camera.  Given it’s simple function, the review aspect of this really is a simple matter to determine, does it do the job it claims to do or not.

Not only did it completely block all ambient light with ease, the Hoodman Loupe also seemed to make the on-screen photo much more brilliant and crisp than I had remembered before using it.  That surprise was further mitigated by seeing how compact the Hoodman Loupe actually is – at roughly 2 inches long and an inch deep.  Not only did it perform adequately, but at this compact size, the Hoodman Loupe is an easy addition to your camera bag with the minimal footprint it takes up in space.

Most rubber or manufactured products attempt to make things slick of shiny and in so doing, the product becomes quite slippery and difficult to hold.  Not so with the Hoodman Loupe, as the rugged rubberized exterior was nicely made, and I was pleased to get an easy grip on it.  Although easy to hold when in use, I was not as thrilled with the ease of porting.  The short trap that they provide to carry it around your neck is much too short for me.  Now granted, I am 6’1”, but certainly no giant, and the size was just awkward for me.  While the quick release snap does attenuate it to a certain degree, the idea of keeping it tethered somehow is a little more reassuring (I have a penchant for losing small items when taken away from my body…LOL)  The accompanying carrying case was a nice addition, but did serve to really make it easier to carry…this seems to only serve as a storage container for when not in use so you can differentiate it from other gear in your bag.

I did recall after using this that a DIY solution was suggested by Larry Becker, of NAPP notoriety (he does the weekly NAPP News segments and writes his own blog at Larry’s Cheap Shots), and think his belt clip idea is both innovative and and highly functional.  If the folks at Hoodman made this accessory and slapped their brand on it, I’d be half inclined to purchase the entire kit from them directly.

It’s a fairly simple idea in total, and not much else to say other than – it works!  The sturdy construction, and compact nature of it is perfect for any photographer who wants to utilize their LCD.  For those of us with older cameras where shutter, aperture, ISO, and all other settings done via dials and the top viewer, it may not be as relevant, but for shooters using more recent gear like the Canon 50D, 60D, and 7D, the back screen is used much more to make these adjustments, so a device like the Hoodman Loupe could be a huge aid in making sure you’ve got your settings where you want them.  For $80, you almost can’t go wrong!  This is definitely the accessory you never thought you needed, but you really did!

Remember, this very Loupe is being given away at the end of the month, so for your chance to win this cool accessory, don’t forget to submit your BLOCK themed photo in the Flickr thread here.  Good luck to those who enter, and thanks again to the folks at Hoodman for their sponsorship and contribution!

1.  Having someone else do it – Most camera stores offer this service for around $50, so if the idea of getting anything near your sensor just gives you the heebie-jeebies, by all means, this option is a good one for the nervous Nelly.

2.  Air Blowers – These are rapidly becoming one of the more popular options as they are relatively cheap, easy, and don’t require messing around with chemicals.  You simply put your camera into the cleaning mode, insert tip of the air blower near the sensor and puff it a few times remove and you are done.  Some claim fantastic results with these while others say stubborn dust won’t come off from this method.  The advantage of this approach is that you never have to touch your sensor (technically the filter in front of the sensor) with anything!  The downside is that results may not get everything off.

Giottos Rocket Blower

3.  Sensor swipes – Certain swipes are made just for camera sensors that use hydrostatic charges to remove dust from your sensor.  It’s got an advantage in that it’s a dry cleaning approach so requires no chemicals.  I have heard of some who are reluctant to use this as foreign fibers and materials can get in the swipe which could scratch your sensor.

4.  Chemical cleaning – Pec Pads, Eclipse alcohol and sensor swipes all combine in this method to give the most thorough cleaning, virtually guaranteed to remove even the most stubborn dirt from your sensor.  The risk – doing it wrong can permanently damage your sensor and the cost of buy-in is a lot higher than other methods.  Once you buy-in though, the long term cost drops rapidly!

Since I only mentioned it briefly at the beginning, I should also clarify that the idea behind cleaning your sensor is actually a misnomer – all of these solutions are cleaning the filter in front of the sensor – the sensor technically never gets cleaned unless you use option 1 – sending it in for a cleaning.  All the camera vendors (Canon, Nikon, Pentax, etc.) offer this service, but the downside there is multi-faceted in that it’s usually more expensive, you have to go without your camera for a period of time, and there’s shipping involved!

What methods do you use?  I know some people that combine multiple approaches, while others simply just shake it out once and a while (heck, I read a story once of a guy that used his t-shirt! – not sure how valid it is, but you get the gist).  Sound off in the comments with your own cleaning products and approaches!

The Aero-Master Tether Table

The Tether Table is a pretty straightforward device – it comes with the table itself, made out of T6 Aerospace Aluminum (whatever that is).  Regardless of what the official name is – this table is pretty solid – I have no doubts as to whether it might bend under the weight of a laptop.  What I found to be really nice is that it spins onto a tripod (sans head of course) quite nicely, and just as easily fits over the top of a light stand.  The stability is also pretty equal between the two once it’s locked down.

So, how does the table lock down?  There’s four little Allen screws that tie the female acceptor tube to the bottom of the table through the top.  Their design makes them lay seamlessly flat so no worries about your laptop getting off kilter.  Here’s a few sample shots to show you the design:

The other part that bears mentioning is the additonal kit item (not included normally with a Tether Table) is the Jerkstopper – a handy little device that attaches at both the laptop and camera end to avoid getting cables tugged out of your connection points.  They really help to keep equipment from falling, plugs or connectors from getting ripped or damaged, and the add-on value is well worth the $22!  Here’s the product shot from Tether Tools site to give you an idea…

The first problem I found was that it does require either a light stand or a tripod.  So, if your camera normally goes on a tripod (mine does) and you have an external flash that goes on the light stand (mine does), then either the flash has to become more of a portable device (enter the wireless trigger system), or you need to get another light stand.  I initially lucked out in that I am/was running the triggers through their paces for my good friend Kerry Garrison over at Blackbelt Lighting for an upcoming review this Friday, but the need for another light stand has become pretty clear to me.  When I am using two-light setups though, things could get complicated, but that’s a personal gear issue, nothing really to do with the Tether Table itself, so no harm no foul there.

The second problem I found was budgetary.  While the sturdy construction and clean polished look and feel are certainly features I can appreciate, being on a budget, the cost of entry to obtain a Tether Table of this caliber is a little pricey for my blood.  At $179 for the Table and another $22 for the Jerkstopper kit, we’re over $200 and while it’s not inconceivable, it’s certainly rich for the enthusiast blood.  For most professionals it is easily justified and likely something you can itemize in an invoice if needed.  So, not completely out of reach, but up there for sure.  Oh well, no one ever said photography was going to be cheap!

When all is said and done, I do think it’s a worthwhile investment.  These can be invaluable in a studio or on-location shoot where you need to be moving around in between shots.  The benefits of both the Tether Table and the companion Jerkstopper could be invaluable in a number of environments, including macro photography, food photography, portrait photography, and most product photography where a dedicated preview monitor would be super handy to have! To that end,  I will be sad to see it go, but alas, the Contest Series gets priority!  Thanks to the folks at Tether Tools for their generous contribution, and best of luck to all the participants!  (If you haven’t entered your photo yet, the theme is FLAT, and the contest link is both here and at the top of the page!)

Have you got an idea for a product review?  Is there something you’d like to see a test drive on?  Sound off in the comments and I’ll try my darndest to make things happen!  See you next time here on the blog.  (And don’t forget the Facebook page where the “Behind-the-Scenes” video is posted on using this very table!…”Likes” and comments there are always appreciated too!).

Here’s a couple tips to scheduling a good moon shoot:

1.  Check the weather in your area – It goes without saying that you don’t want a lot of cloud cover, but at the same time, clear skies mean no heat is staying in the atmosphere.  Since it’s still relatively early in the year, standing around at midnight could be a tad chilly.  Plan ahead, dress warmly, and you’ll be able to stay out longer to get the shots you really want without being cold or uncomfortable.

#2.  Location, location, location – In photography, as in real estate, location can mean everything, and a lunar shoot is no exception, even though it’s in the sky.  Depending on the type of view you are looking for, you may want to find some place that gives you a completely unobstructed view of the horizon.  Alternately, you may want to include something “human sized” to give a sense of comparison.

#3.  Pick your gear – In astro-photography, you will most likely be shooting at the longest end of your reach, so don’t bother taking the whole kit-n-kaboodle.  Maybe take a variable zoom to stuff in a cargo pocket in case you want a “behind the scenes” kind of shot if going with others, but no more than two lenses are needed.  Don’t forget your tripod and extra batteries, as well as a flashlight.  Other essentials I have on my checklist include my wallet and cell phone.

What stakeouts have you planned in your area?  Taking any friends?  What about your own suggestions and tips for lunar photography?  Sound off in the comments!