Images From Precarious

Simplified Lightroom Workflow

Shot just the other day with my D700 and 16-35 f/4. Edited in Lightroom (of course). Taken at a local lake that is flooding in a big way right now, some of the picnic tables were under water.

I’ve been told I need to slow it down and explain things like I would ‘to a six year old’, at least in relation to my explanation of my Lightroom workflow. So here are a few paragraphs about my Lightroom system in the simplest terms, as requested.

To import photos from a card into Lightroom is the first step. I always set to ‘Copy’ photos as it is the least likely to cause irreparable damage or a mix up that will result in the loss of files. Next I set the ‘organize by date’ option and I am careful to always select the same file naming format (2010/2010-12-17 is an example) so that my photos are organized chronologically. When importing I also apply a Develop Preset called ‘General Basic’, more on that later though. The last important thing to decide on is what sort of previews you’re going to want and in all but a few circumstances I really recommend selecting 1:1 for editing purposes. Hit the import button and we’re ready to move on.

While the photos are importing I am already sorting them using the ‘pick’ and ‘reject’ flag system. A photo I want to keep gets a white ‘pick’ flag (hotkey p in the Library) and one that I am sure I do not want gets a black ‘reject’ flag (hotkey x). The easiest way to do this is to use the Library Filter, select Attribute and then select the grey ‘un-flagged’ flag (slight irony). This will show only the photos that you have not yet flagged in the grid or loupe view and whenever you either pick or reject (p and x hotkeys) a photo it will disappear, leaving only the ‘un-flagged’ photos to view. Using this technique you can really rip through photos, getting rid of those you do not want and selecting those worthy of further consideration. Once I’ve completed that I delete all rejected photos and reset the Library Filter to show all the picked photos. Realistically you don’t need to do this since only picked photos should remain at this point, but I do it anyways just to make sure I didn’t somehow miss a photo somewhere. Now I begin to flick through the photos and rate each one as either a 1 or 2-star photo. 1-star photos are keepers but not ones I plan to spend time editing anytime soon while 2-star photos are the highlights of that particular shoot. Using one hand to rate each photo using the ’1’ and ‘2’ keys on your keyboard (duhh!) and the other hand on the arrow keys to quickly flick back and forth as you make rating decisions this process can be even quicker than the previous pick/reject stage.  Once I have accomplished that I am more or less finished in the Library and the final thing I do is to set a second Library Filter so that only the 2-star photos are visible. Now we can edit.

There really is no workflow in the develop module. There are ways to save time, certainly, but each photographer is going to be so different that I won’t get in-depth about it. One thing I do want to mention is my ‘General Basic’ develop preset that I apply to all of my incoming photos. Creating a preset is quite easy, you do it on the left panel in the develop module; I’ve got dozens of them floating around for different purposes. It’s important for everyone to create a preset that is specifically for import (unless you really love Adobe’s standard settings…). I call mine ‘General Basic’ because I have some other ‘General’ presets that I often use and I’m kind of obsessive so I named them in an orderly fashion. You can name yours however you like and the settings can be whatever you like but I find having a preset specifically for import to be a great time saver. Mine applies some vibrance and clarity, a custom tone curve and some basic sharpening, all things that I find myself doing to most photos anyways and since I apply it at import it makes it easier to accurately sort and rank the photos. However you decide to develop though, eventually we all must move on to the end…

And it all ends with being exported. Maybe I’m just weird but being exported sounds like death to me. At the end of the line you get exported. Alright fine, I’m weird. Moving on. So you have these nicely sorted and developed photos and you want to print them or post them to a website or burn them to a disk or whatever it is people do these days. There are many variations and many reasons you’d do things differently than this but for workflow purposes here’s my standard method. I select the photos I wish to export and push the ‘export’ button. Shocking, yes? Directly after I do that the export dialogue pops up and asks all kinds of questions. The two most important tabs are ‘file location’ and ‘file settings’. File location is exactly what it sounds like, where do you want your exported files to go? I have a folder called ‘exports’ on my hard drive that is totally separate from the rest of my photos and all of my exported files go into that one location. This way I know where they are, can access them easily and they aren’t getting mixed up in with my master files in Lightroom. If you are working off of a single hard drive then the desktop is a good place for that file. Once you’ve got the location figured out then it’s on to the file settings. Let’s assume that these photos are going to stay on computers in some form (internet, e-mail, or just viewing on a computer in general). So you select Jpeg as the file type and sRGB as the colour space. If you do those two things you’re pretty much set. The quality is dependent on the situation but I generally find 60 to be a nice compromise between quality and size, though I often use 40 as well if I’m going to be uploading the files to the web or sending them through e-mail. We’re done except for one last thing, not as important but really simple and worthwhile. The output sharpening in Lightroom 3 is really excellent for most purposes and as long as these files are destined for a computer screen I always select  ‘screen’ and ‘standard’ in the output sharpening tab. And we’re done. Or I am at least. You may want to use some of the other options for different reasons but what I’ve described above is the bare minimum of decision making you’re going to have to go through when exporting. Final paragraph, please.

So here we are. The end of the road. Or is it just beginning? No, no it’s the end. I’m tired and the ice in my vodka is melting. So that is my extra super simplified Lightroom 3 workflow in written form. I’m left feeling that a video would be much more useful for most people and I may consider going in that direction. I’ve been told I have a voice (and a face) for radio so maybe that’ll be my ticket out of this dump. I’m still getting to my storage and backup article and I’ll also cover keywording in Lightroom sometime soon (clearly absent here). That’s all for now folks.

Sayonara.

www.PrecariousPhotography.com

Why Lightroom, When Lightroom and Lightroom 3 Work Flow

No smoke, no fire. Just hard lights. D300 and a prime lens of some sort.

Another of my pet topics and since it’s an integral part of this whole file format, storage and backup binge I’m on I figured it’d be a good time to hit on it. If you don’t know much about Lightroom then this would be a decent place to start. I’m going to assume you have the software and some images and want to know a bit more. If I get some positive feedback I'll go into more detail, consider this a very basic survey. 

Lightroom is usually classified as a DAM (digital asset management) program. It’s really not fair to classify it as such since it’s also a powerful parametric editor (this means that when you edit a file in Lightroom the original file is not actually changed, but a copy is made with your changes applied), a printing pretty decent printing RIP, a serviceable slideshow creator and last, as well as least, a web gallery publisher. We’re going to focus on the first two modules and then finish off by discussing exactly how I make use of Lightroom and a few tips.

The library module in Lightroom is the DAM portion of the software. This is a Bridge like space where your files are stored. The difference is that Lightroom is a catalogueue system, which admittedly has some drawbacks but if you’re like me and have many thousands of images to keep sorted, keyworded, rated and just generally organized it’s a heck of a system. It allows you to quickly and efficiently import and organize large groups of images. Bridge, a program that is touted as an alternative to Lightroom for DAM, is certainly usable in that capacity but not as efficient. This is because Bridge is meant to be a multimedia project builder more than anything else (hence the name ‘Bridge’, it’s literally a bridge for mixed media types). So if you can get in the habit of using Lightroom it will lead to a quicker, more efficient workflow when managing your ‘assets’ (I just call them pictures). The largest drawback has to do with the logistics of a catalogueue system and the fact that if something happens to that catalogue you are up %&# creek without a paddle. All your hard work keywording, editing and other non-permanent changes that were stored in that catalogue (file previews as well) will vanish. Easy way to fix this? Backup your catalogueue to at least one totally separate location, just like you do (or should do) with your photos. Problem solved. Next paragraph please.

The development module is really where the fun starts, I don’t have time (well I do, but I’d like to eat dinner sometime before midnight if that’s alright with you) to go deep into detail about exactly what you can do in each and every setting but I’ll cover some of the highlights. The biggest highlight for me is that it’s literally a single hotkey to take an image from the Library to Develop and back again. No other programs have to open, no minimizing of windows, just clean and seamless transitions. When you’re editing 200+ (after culling down from 500+ in the Library) photos from an event this is a real time saver/simplifier. You can also do basic corrections to a file or a group of files while still in the Library which can be handy now and again. The single most powerful tool in all of Lightroom 3 is, in my opinion, the sharpening/noise reduction feature (the two are linked). For me this tool has replaced a pair of $200 Photoshop plug-ins for 90% of my sharpening and noise reduction means, for most people its good enough for 100% of their needs. Sure you also get that with Camera RAW as well but it’s not seamlessly integrated with a DAM and printing RIP. Another neat feature of Develop is the ability to do lens corrections either through supplied lens profiles as well as manually. This can have a very clear impact on the quality of a photo, especially if your particular lens has distortion or vignetting issues.

So here’s how I use Lightroom to manage my 20,000 images. Step one is to take pictures. Step two is to import the photos directly from the card via a card reader into Lightroom using a date based file system (thus all of my photos are chronologically organized). While the files are importing I am already keywording, culling out substandard images based on a quick visual inspection (any badly missed exposures usually die right here) and maybe even doing some light (ha) editing, by the time the files are finished importing I usually have all the major keywords done and many of the misfit photos culled out. Next I continue to cull and sort files using the flag system. Every photo either gets a ‘pick’ (white flag) or a ‘reject’ (black flag); I delete all rejected photos after this step. For the final culling stage I rate each remaining photo a one star or two star. One and two star files are always unedited files in my personal system (once I edit a file I give it a rating of three, four or five stars). With that finished I begin to edit whichever files I need, usually that’s some or all of the two stars; generally one star files are things that I keep ‘just in case’ or because I think I may use them later for some other purpose, they are not the cream of the crop but I also do not feel they deserve to be deleted just yet (that is the ultimate fate of many, sadly).

Beyond what is listed above it can go in many directions, but most often I edit and do a final export without ever leaving Lightroom. If I am printing I still export to CS to use soft proofing and sometimes a sharpening plug-in. If a file is going to undergo heavy editing, the sort of thing only CS can do then it’s a simple click of Ctrl+e and you’re off to the races, but it always comes back to Lightroom eventually. It’s just the circle of life for my photos. Minus the Narniaesque talking lions, Nazi hyenas, creepy baboons and fucked up Disney sexual messaging.

Cheers mates.

www.PrecariousPhotography.com

The RAW Facts And Why Jpeg Is (Probably) A Better Bet

 One of my first photos with the D700. It took a while to get use to the ultra-shallow depth-of-field.

I’ve tried to explain the RAW file format so many times (even here on this blog in a three part series) that I am fairly certain I could do it in my sleep. What I have never done is take a look at the sort of person who doesn’t shoot Raw and isn’t going to start (and doesn’t need to).

So let’s look at everyone who owns a camera with interchangeable lenses, not just DSLR owners but you EVIL people too. Now let’s eliminate a huge chunk of people right away. If you have ever or would ever like to be paid for your photography you need to know what RAW is, how to use it and how to store it. A second large group are the high fidelity nerds (that’d be me), a lot of wildlife chasers, birders and landscapers fall into this category; we all need to be using RAW. A third group that should be using RAW are the serious hobbyists. If you have a D90/50D, D300s/7D or (god forbid) a D700/5D Mk II and more than $2000 invested in glass then you should be using RAW (if you’re not then some sleazy salesman sold you way to much &^%$ you do not need). After eliminating those three groups we are left with… the majority of the photography world. The soccer parents, casual snapshot artists, that guy that hangs around the front of Starbucks taking photos of discarded cups and plastic bags for no… apparent… reason. These people spend between $1000 and $2000 on their entire camera system and generally do not buy any extra software above and beyond whatever may come in the box. These people, these are the ones I want to talk to. Everyone else, go grab a coffee, this next paragraph isn’t for you (come back after though, we’re not done).

Alright people, here’s the deal. You make up a huge portion of the camera geeks out there, the majority actually. What no one is telling you is that you need help. An intervention. First I have to admit something though, I’m not proud of it but I tricked you into reading this with a title that made it sound all happy, like you didn’t need to know about all that nasty RAW business. What I neglected to mention is that you do need to know about the Jpeg business. Pencils out, I’m gonna learn you good. Ready, begin. When shooting Jpeg you must: always use the highest quality setting your camera has, nail the exposure and white balance (or get it as close as your skills allow) and finally, but most importantly, avoid editing as much as humanly possible. When I say “must” I mean you must if you take pride in your photos, if you really want to make use of that relatively expensive camera you bought and most importantly (in my mind) if you want to have good quality photographs of your family, friends and personal experiences for years to come. All of these “must do” things stem from one fact of Jpeg that can really ruin your day (and your precious, precious memories). Jpeg is a compressed format. What that means is that every time you re-save a Jpeg file you are compressing an already compressed file. You lose quality every time you do it and eventually (as quickly as two or three saves) you will just end up with mush, your photo will cease to exist and you will have a gross, watercolour effect with pixels the size of Kentucky (without the bourbon, sadly). The only other thing you have to do is remember to never overwrite your original Jpeg files, keep those neatly organized and unedited somewhere far away from your edited copies. So, in summation, get it right in camera and everything will be tops.

Everyone else come back now. No one brought me a coffee, did they? Jerks. Anyhow, moving right along, I brought you all back to tell you that I’ll write another article just for all of you that I said do need to know all about RAW. Possibly more than one as I think I really need to dedicate a few hundred words to storage and backup. Which leads me to yet another thing I’d like to discuss one of these days which is Iceberg Theory (curious yet? It’s not even my phrase, I’m borrowing it).

Until next time.

www.PrecariousPhotography.com

D7000 Official Announcment

Let's make this easy. It's exactly what it was suppose to be (see previous post) except it only records mono sound :( BUT it has a an audio input jack for a stereo mic. Win.

Price is set at about $1,200 to pre-order on amazon (American dollars).

Electronic Viewfinder Explained

Hand held with the 60mm VR on my D700 (I think?). That was a very rewarding hour of lying in wet grass.
 

We’re getting very close to a pair of big Nikon announcements (at least), one we know almost for certain is the D7000, which, while exciting, isn’t quite earth shattering. It will be a DSLR just like all of the other DSLRs, an upgrade rather than an entirely new product. The second announcement however could be quite a bit more exciting if the long-rumoured Nikon EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens) is finally announced. My money is on this type of camera being announced sometime this month, but it’s far from a sure thing (Nikon has cited historical precedents as the reason for their slow response to consumer demand for EVIL cameras, they’ve seen new camera concepts fail before). There have also been scattered rumours of a similar type of camera from Canon and Sony has already released two EVIL models that are selling like dolphin meat (to soon?) in Japan. Smaller players like Panasonic and Olympus have also had EVIL cameras out for quite some time now.

Sounds exciting, yah? Now if only the general public knew what the hell an EVIL camera was. So here’s the deal, I’m going to explain it to you and you are going to explain it to everyone you know between the ages of nine and ninety and we’ll see if it catches on. Deal? Deal.

There are actually two new classes of camera involved here because an EVIL camera is essentially a compromise between a point-and-shoot and a DSLR. First we’ll cover the stripped down DSLR models and then move on to the glorified P&S types, possibly finishing off with some wild speculation, incredibly inaccurate hearsay and a chaser of innuendo. Enough small talk, lets get to it.

So I’ll assume you know the basics of how a DSLR works: there’s a mirror and one of those sensor things and an optical viewfinder with that prism that flips everything right side up so you can see what’s going on without becoming disorienting and dying in an embarrassing manner.  The DSLR-style EVIL concept is really quite easy to grasp since the IL (Interchangeable Lens) part of the equation stays the same. The EV (Electronic Viewfinder) is what we have to get our collective minds around. Essentially what has happened is the removal of the entire mirror and prism assembly. They have replaced it with an electronic viewfinder, essentially a tiny live-view LCD inside of the camera, which allows you to focus and frame your photos in a traditional manner. The Panasonic GH1 is a great example of this and you can clearly see the benefits of such a design; you get the look and feel of a traditional SLR camera in a much, much smaller package. The GH1 is significantly more compact and lighter than a Nikon D90 or Canon 50D yet you still have the ability to change lenses, focus and frame in a manner you’re use too and best of all, you get a real sensor. In the case of the GH1 it’s a four thirds system, so it is a bit (roughly 33% in area) smaller than a Nikon or Canon DX/EF-S sensor, but it’s a heck of a step up from your camera phone or compact. Next paragraph, please.

The second class of EVIL camera is literally just a giant P&S that you can swap out the lenses on. If you gave Red Green a roll of duct tape, a compact camera, some old SLR lenses and a few minutes of alone time he could produce a reasonable approximation. These cameras (Olympus EP-1 for reference) have much larger sensors than your average compact and the ability to change lenses but other than those two things they are really no different than your typical point-and-shoot. Sure they have a few more high-end software features (re: marketing gags) that most compact cameras won’t have but they also have a much higher price point, not even taking into account the extra lenses a user may or may not purchase. All in all these are just big, bad, compact cameras that don’t suck. That pretty much sums up the compact EVIL side of things, so if at this point you are wondering what this all means… keep reading.

There are clear benefits and drawbacks to both of these new styles of camera. On the plus side, compared to a DSLR, is lower weight and mass which leads to better portability and the not to be overlooked advantage of cheaper lenses. On the downside we have lower image quality and less resilience (these things won’t take the pounding a D300s, or even a D90 or 50D will). Compared to compacts everything just turns around and goes in the opposite direction. Better image quality and much better toughness are the upside, while the downside becomes the size, weight and portability of the cameras along with cost and the fact that you even have to purchase lenses. So that’s the deal, everyone is clear? Let’s hurry up and get into the wild speculation portion of this shindig.

I speculate that EVIL cameras are the new point-and-shoots! There, I said it. That really is my honest, totally unprofessional, opinion. Traditional (ha, as if) compact digital cameras are under attack from not only these new compact EVIL cameras at the top but also from phone cameras in a huge way at the bottom of the giant camera food chain. With new technology like backside-illuminated sensors pushing camera phones into the 6 MP range, with totally decent ISO performance too boot, I really can’t see a niche for the pocket sized cameras anymore. I’m not sure they will cease to exist entirely anytime soon but the massive portion of the market they have occupied is under attack and the prognosis is not good. The average consumer who has a cell phone camera (most new cell phone cameras are in the 4 to 6 MP range) and wants something more out of his photographic experience is going to leap right over the compact camera market and head straight for an EVIL camera, especially as prices fall after this initial status-seeking ends and the EVIL cameras aren’t the new kid on the block anymore.

So there it is, everything you ever needed to know about this EVIL revolution. Now let’s just hope some of this actually comes to fruition, for my ego’s sake, at least. Oh and I’m sorry I never got to the innuendo, but it’s just so hard to fit it all in there when the subject is such a mouthful all by itself.  That’s what she said…

Later.

www.PrecariousPhotography.com

D7000 and SB-700 Are Here

It won't be *official* for another two or three hours but it's pretty much a done deal. Nikon is announcing the D7000, a new 'prosumer' camera that is slotted in between the D300s and the D90. Interesting projected features include:

• Magnesium-alloy Body (Like the D300s and other pro bodies)
• 100% viewfinder (wish my D700 had that...)
• Totally new 39 point AF system
• 1080p video at 24p (other video resolution and frame rate specs hazy)
• 20 minute video clips
• Stereo mic input (it's like Nikon read my mind)
• 6 fps
• Dual SD card slots
• A bunch of other stuff...

The SB-700 is just a baby SB-900. Nice but not mind blowing. Expect another post as soon as all of the official info is up for grabs (like prices perhaps).

I'll brb.

www.PrecariousPhotography.com

Buying Tips

This would be what my friend calls 'cloud porn'. Taken at my families ranch over the summer; it's about as close to abstraction as I get.

As promised, a basic guide too which camera/lens you should buy! I almost hate myself for writing this because there are millions of these articles all over the web but in my quest to bring photography knowledge goodness to those who crave it I suppose I have to start somewhere. So we shall begin right here, in your local camera store (I know everyone gets their gadgets on-line now, but play along).

There are three specific groups of people I’d like to address here in general terms, everyone’s needs and budgets are different but I think in broad strokes we can deal with the: soccer moms/dads, students and vacationers. Let’s start with the soccer parents shall we?

So a soccer parent walks into a camera store (there’s a joke here somewhere…) and asks the inevitable ‘what camera and lenses should I buy?’. Now assuming I am not trying to up sell, bamboozle, buffalo or otherwise con this minivan driving customer it’s really quite a simple question to answer. What they want is a family camera to do family things with and show all their friends and relatives endless photos of little Timmy and Jane playing sports, opening Christmas presents, Rover fetching sticks and other fun, family oriented things. Right now from Nikon that camera is the D3100. For a sub-$600 camera you can do all of those things and a lot more if you read the manual and a book or two. I would steer clear of the D3000 at this point because you loose quite a bit of low-light potential (1 too 1 ½ stops, maybe even 2 under certain conditions) and with the sort of lenses this customer will be buying that is a very important bit of light. The lenses are also quite simple, the D3100 and D5000 are the perfect for the 18-55mm VR and 55-200mm VR combo, which is what most people buy and so they should. Both are great kit lenses that cover 90% of the focal lengths you’d use for family photography and are by far the cheapest options. Now something that this customer would not usually buy is a prime lens. If I were advising this customer however I would press them to also purchase the $300 AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8, for the simple reason that even if they never take their camera off of an automatic exposure setting a fast prime will allow them to take much higher quality, more dramatic low-light photographs. Especially now as even the low-end consumer cameras like the D3100 and D5000 have impressive high-ISO performance. All totaled up that’s about $1600 if you throw in a $50 SD card (Canadian dollars).

The student option is a bit less cut and dry. When I say student I’m talking about someone with a keen interest in digital photography whom either sees it as a future career or life long hobby but doesn’t quite have the cash to match. I didn’t get into photography until after high school but if I had $1600 would have been hard to swing while I was working part-time at a gas station (lets assume we’re talking about money earned here, not birthday, Christmas or bar mitzvah cash or presents). The goal is to spend as little as possible while being able to do as much as you can. So if you’re a student walking into a camera store, turn around and walk right back out, there’s a better way to do this. Go home, get on Craigslist/Ebay and start looking for a used D80. I had no trouble finding several for around $400 and as an added bonus, no tax! So that saves you $300+ over buying a brand new D5000 and you get what is in my opinion a more capable camera (you lose a few pixels and a bit of low-light ability but you’re gonna need those extra $$$ for all the glass and other fun things you’re about too buy). So next you probably need a lens, grab a 50mm f/1.8 for $150 or less and search out a copy of the venerable AF-S DX 18-70mm for about $350 (usually less, I found one for $150). So we’re up too $950 give or take a bit depending on the used deals you managed to score and all we really need is a $50 memory card. So for under a grand (well under, hopefully) you’ve got everything you need to wow your friends, family and maybe even future employers. Mission accomplished? I think so.

I saved the best for last. The ‘vacationer’ is probably the broadest group, budgets are all over the place and so are levels of interest. Some of these people will just want a camera that will work (refer to the paragraph above on soccer parents if that is you), while others are verging on hobbyists. Let’s say that the ‘average’ customer in this group is a retirement aged individual with a good chunk of change and enough interest to want to purchase more than one lens (i.e. not the 18-200). This situation was one that was presented too me recently when a family friend who fits this description was looking for his first DSLR. I’ll tell you exactly what I told him. Get a D90, an AF-S DX 16-85mm VR II, an AF-S 70-300mm VR II and an AF-S DX 35mm and don’t look back. Sure you’re spending $2200 but man are those photos of random European buildings, Alaskan glaciers and that squirrel that steals all the food from your bird feeder going to look great.

Glad we took care of that. Now that everyone has their cameras we can get too the fun stuff (like actual photographic techniques and information).

Later dudes.

www.PrecariousPhotography.com

The Video Intrusion

Sunset in my Favoritest place. There's nothing I'd rather do than drive my 1976 Chevy pickup through Glen Valley in Langley, British Columbia with a coffee and my camera. Sadly I was driving a silver Pontiac that day and while it sort of ruined the ambiance it did provide a great reflecting pool for the sunset.

Alright, I lied. I said the next column would be about who should choose which type of camera, and it’s not. But the next-next one will be! I swear on an important book of your choice. This is a quick look at video in DSLR cameras, and why we as photographers and consumers can probably chill out about the specs.

At the moment the only cameras on the market from Canon/Nikon that I would consider top video players are the 5D Mk II and the 7D. The new Nikon D3100 is a step in the right direction for Nikon but I think we’ll likely be waiting about a year for truly pro level video/audio recording solutions from Nikon. Now when I say pro there are four specific things I’m looking for: 1080p or 720p, a choice of 24 or 30 fps, clips over ten minutes in length (the longer the better) and an audio solution that allows at minimum input and in a perfect world output. Currently only the 5D Mk II and 7D meets those requirements (and only after Canon released a firmware update to add 24 and 25 fps to the 5D).

Consumers have been focusing heavily on the ‘720 or 1080’ issue, or rather complaining if something ‘isn’t 1080’ which, like megapixels is really more a marketing gag. Most consumers have trouble explaining the difference between the two other than saying that 1080 > 720. I’d prefer to see the average buyer more concerned about audio capabilities and the usability of the video format (the format chosen for the D90 can be difficult to work with). When it comes down too it, for a family video or a school project would you rather have little Johnny rendered in a little extra detail, or be able to hear what he is saying in crisp stereo sound rather than a tinny monotone? I’d choose the latter. At this point it’s probably a forgone conclusion though because there won’t be any 720p cameras on the market 12-18 months from now. So shall we move on?

Now when I said ‘pro level’ video earlier, I was not talking about filming Jurassic Park. A DSLR is not the way too do that (although they did film the season finale of House using only 5D Mk II’s this year). I am talking about short films, documentaries, weddings and other things that don’t have a Spielberg sized budget. Something I have been noticing about advanced photographers who get their hands on a video-capable DSLR (and I certainly fit into this category) is that while we may know a fair bit about photography and cameras in general we tend too completely misunderstand video, both technically and visually. An acquaintance of mine, who spends his life working with video and his spare time taking photos, compared it too an artist trying to become an engineer overnight (to be fair he said the same in reverse about videographers trying to take photos). I think he is correct though, video is an order of magnitude more complex than photography from a technical perspective (more gear, more people, more complex editing, not to mention audio), while still retaining most of the artistic components and adding in several new ones. I suppose my point is that I think the video capabilities of our cameras have far outstripped the capabilities most of us posses as photographers.

So why worry about the technical stuff? You probably don’t know how to use it yet anyhow. I know I don’t.

Signing off.

www.PrecariousPhotography.com

Confirmation Of Sorts

A post just this evening on Nikon Rumors seems to confirm what I was saying earlier today as it has been stated by Nikon that the D90 will continue to be available until the end of the year. The soon-to-be D7000 seems to be either in the new middle position that I theorized or possibly even an interim replacement for the D300s until the D4 line launches. Personally I feel that it's much more likely the former than the latter, but we'll know soon enough.

Till next time.

www.PrecariousPhotography.com

Nikon and Canon Repositioning

Taken with my D300 and a 60mm macro lens during an early morning walk on Pender Island here in British Columbia from a distance of about 25 feet.

Two articles in two days, the stars must be aligning or something. Actually I’m hoping to punch out a bunch of columns over the next two weeks as the camera conglomerate ramps up for Photokina and right through to the end of the commotion in Cologne. Today I’m going to try and deal with the odd situation that has developed in the lower half of the camera market and address some of the questions I’ve been asked lately. So if you’re looking to buy a DSLR anytime soon, this may be a good place to start.

Traditionally (if four years constitutes a tradition) there have been three product positions below the ‘pro’ grade of DSLR: entry-level, mid-level and prosumer. With Nikon that has been the D3000, D5000 and D90 for about a year now, before that we had the D40, D40x/D60 and D80. As of this month it is likely to become D3000, D3100, D5000, and D7000 Wait, wait, wait… that’s four. I’m not great at math, it’s true, but I’m not that bad. We’ve got too many cameras on the ice here. A quick look at Canon's line up shows a similar issue.

Now what is happening is essentially a razzle-dazzle from Nikon and Canon as both companies roll out new products that don’t fit into the previously defined slots. Nikon is set to replace the D90 with the D7000 which it would seem is going to be a totally new ‘ultra-prosumer’ level camera with some really nifty D300s-level features like dual card slots, a 100% viewfinder and the amazing magnesium-alloy body. Canon is going in the opposite direction for the first half of this transition and has unveiled the 60D with a plastic body, flip LCD and a more consumer-friendly price. I suspect for the second half of this switch up Nikon will fill in the new hole they’ve created by releasing a new ‘transition’ camera which will be the true heir to the D80/D90 lineage (D6000 anyone?). With the release of the 60D Canon has products in all positions on the board, but the 50D is an aged model and really will need to be replaced to compete directly with the D7000.

So what does this mean for the consumer out there? More choices and more confusion. I get asked “which camera should I buy?” on a weekly basis and I can only imagine that it’s going to become more difficult for myself and other photography enthusiasts to answer this question over the next twelve months or so. To that end my next column will be all about buying a camera for the ‘low-intensity’ consumer like soccer moms/dads, students, grandparents and travelers.

See you on the flip side.

 

www.PrecariousPhotography.com