Randomrants

Magic hour, the hour around sunrise and sunset is called that for a reason.  The best light can be found when you have  a touch of luck and a lot of patience.  This shot was taken from what was a fairly average sunset.  But instead of putting the camera away and heading home, I stayed out for another 30 minutes, to grab the last touch of light.

In taking this shot, I wanted the whole sky, even with my 11-16mm Tokina, I still didn’t feel I had the whole sky.  Thus I went for the panorama.  When lining up the shot, the one thing I did notice, standing on the foreshore was the small waves lapping on the shore.  When trying to line up a panorama, waves are just a path to heart ache.  So I walked out till I was thigh deep in the water, passed the lapping waves.

This is a handheld panorama of about 10 shots, with a lot of overlap.  When shooting panorama’s always shoot in manual mode.  That way, when the shots merge, you will have consistent levels across each shot. Checking one shot that balances the light and dark will mean that your levels will be averaged out. The final image is 6335 x 4133 ( compared to 4288×2848 from the D90 )

Also this was one of my first sunset walks with the new GPS, but for some reason, my GPS decided I was 10 meters above sea level.

( Linked image is to lightboxed version as well, which looks much nicer )

And you can buy this as a print from RedBubble as well

Tags: gps, Missing from the Exif, Nikon D90, Photos, Redbubble by Me
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I finally got a GPS for my D90, so I thought I would write down a few first impressions, before I do a big review later once I am more settled into using the device.

I have been wanting a GPS for my Nikon D90 since the day I got my camera.  Why, I liked to geotag things.  My work flow has been go out take photos, remember to turn on GPS software on phone, make a track file on phone, remember to turn track file off, hope track file isn’t corrupted, export GPX file, open GeoSetter, plug phone into compimport GPX File, save files……. all rather tedious. Also with a number of fail points built in.

Now, work flow is, turn on camera, turn on my Solmeta Geotagger Pro, take photos, done.  Yes, it worked.  I do like when first impressions are, good.  No manual reading was required ( good for me, being male and all ), and away I went. A couple of quick tests for accuracy seem to be close, altitude seems to wander a bit up and down by a few meters, and took a while to get the first fix in Australia. Also the digital compass seems to wander a few degrees when taking shots.

As for the GPS itself. Wow, is it fast.  Almost aGPS fast actually. First time I fired it up, the display showed the lat and long for China, where the GPS was tested, less than a minute later after putting it on the window ledge at work, it had a fix for the new location.

I am glad I went to the extra expense and brought the Pro version as well, the display and extra functions are really coming in handy.

I love the extended GPS info I now get in my metadata as well.  The number of Satellites is great for giving a level of accuracy to the GPS data as well. And the compass headings, whilst take me a while to get used to working in digital format, will give me directions.

So far so good…

I was considering buying the N2 version, but am after less than a day, glad I went with the Pro version. The LCD, whilst small is still good enough to read, and I know I will use the data logging feature.  That way I still have a backup track as well.

So for first impressions, I am very happy, and already am using a feature set that goes way beyond what the Nikon GP1 model could ever do, and unlike the GP1 model, this thing works as well.  Still lots more testing to do, so that will be my excuse for heading to the beach to get some photos at least for while…

Tags: gps, Nikon D90 by Me
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They say being Nominated is an honour… well for me it is….

the below photo has been short listed in the Flickr Getty Images Grab Comp. ( See the other finalists here.. http://bit.ly/gO8d8R )

This one one of my evening wandering shots around Melbourne, whilst Mrs Wolfcat was in her art class.

Taking this shot was surprisingly hard.  The bridge that you stand on to get this view gets a very nice bounce when people walk on it.  So even an 8 second exposure means you have to check that people aren’t coming on the bridge at the same time.  I chose this shot over the others I took that night to put up as it managed to get its own story with the blue.  As the Ferris wheel moves it cycles through colours, so there was more than a touch of luck in this shot getting the last of the blue in the sky and the wheel at the same time.

For those that were wondering the EXIF behind the shot:

Camera:  Nikon D90
Exposure: 8 Seconds
Aperture: f/9.0
Focal Length: 15 mm
Lens: Tokina 11-16mm f2.8
ISO Speed: 250
Flash: No Flash
Exposure Program: Manual

I’m not sure of the opening times, but all twenty finalists, but it should be on display at the Challis Studios, 29 Challis Ave, Potts Point NSW 2010, from Dec 2.

And of course you can buy this image at Redbubble as well….

Tags: General, Missing from the Exif, Nikon D90, Redbubble by Me
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I’d love to work in main stream media, there are so many perks. The biggest these days seems to be that you can appropriate content from anyone with a glib line and not give them any recognition what-so-ever.

Melbourne had a very impressive line of thunderstorms move through on Friday (12 Nov. 2010) evening, so as a weather “nut”, I’ve got the radar on the computer, and the camera ready to go. When a squall hit at home, I switched from stills to a quick 1 minute video.

Perchance on Saturday night, (TV in the kitchen while cooking tea) I happen to catch the Melbourne 9 news story about the weather. And whilst still being grumpy about calling something a mini tornado, which there is no such thing as, I see a glimpse of a bit of footage, and think, hey that looks familiar…

Today, I checked the NineMSN website for the story, with that nagging feeling still present… and guess what… it WAS my footage. 2 seconds or 10 seconds doesn’t matter to me. It was my footage, I did not give permission, was not asked for consent, was given no recognition, and certainly I was not TOLD.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx?videoid=1cdb6005-75d8-4622-9ba0-c81aae430307 ( scroll to 1:22 )  ( Can someone identify the second piece of footage? )

If I had been asked, the chances are I would have said yes, but that really is beside the point. If someone from Channel 9 is surfing YouTube for content, how hard would it be to leave a comment saying, “great footage, can we use it”, or even, “great footage, we used a few seconds of it on the news”. It is about recognition, not theft!

Guessing what 3 seconds of footage on primetime news costs, I think if channel 9 buy me a new Nikon D7000, I’ll take that as payment for services rendered.

Really, come on media, lift your game.

My footage ( watch on youtube for the 720 version, video recorded on my Nikon D90)

and one of my still shots…

Update:

——–

COPYRIGHT ACT 1968 – SECT 42

Fair dealing for purpose of reporting news

(1)  A fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, or with an adaptation of a literary, dramatic or musical work, does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the work if:

(a)  it is for the purpose of, or is associated with, the reporting of news in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical and a sufficient acknowledgement of the work is made; or

(b)  it is for the purpose of, or is associated with, the reporting of news by means of a communication or in a cinematograph film.

——–

I’m guessing option b is what their defence would be, but still, my point of being TOLD, is not covered.  Someone from Channel 9 was on Youtube, took MY copyrighted content, for “news” value and couldn’t even be arsed to leave a comment saying that they had?

I guess it falls into the you wouldn’t steal a car, you wouldn’t steal a handbag, don’t steal a movie, unless it has news value, and you don’t want to even notify the owner of the video you have “stolen” it.

Unless as per Section 6 par C of the Youtube TOS http://www.youtube.com/t/terms Channel 9 have a licensing deal with Youtube for content.   Personally I’d like to know if Channel 9 do have a deal with YouTube, and certainly if they haven’t does the Copyright Act trump the TOS of Youtube and Google? ( I’ll leave the lawyers for the respective parties to argue that one )

Perhaps it is time the Copyright Act was dramatically updated to include fair use of social media.  A clause of attribution and notification on the source of the content seems reasonable to me.

Tags: Annoyances, Nikon D90, video by Me
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So you are out for an evening walk, watching the sunset and you think, wow that is pretty, I’ll get a photo.

This is the Nokia N8 camera shoot out for that situation. ( Please note, it wasn’t a spectacular sunset the evening I got the shots… )

First is shooting directly into the sun. This is one of those men from the boys tests.

Shooting into the Sun – Nokia N95-8gb Camera Nokia N95 8GB Exposure 0.003 sec (1/333) Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 5.6 mm ISO Speed 100 Flash Auto, Did not fire Orientation Horizontal (normal) X-Resolution 300 dpi Y-Resolution 300 dpi YCbCr Positioning Centered Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:25:34 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:25:34 Light Source Unknown Color Space sRGB Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control None Compression JPEG (old-style)	Shooting into the Sun – Nikon D90 Camera Nikon D90 Exposure 0.001 sec (1/800) Aperture f/16.0 Focal Length 18 mm ISO Speed 200 Exposure Bias 0 EV Flash Auto, Did not fire X-Resolution 240 dpi Y-Resolution 240 dpi Date and Time (Modified) 2010:10:24 21:24:20 Exposure Program Auto: No Flash Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:24:02.00+11:00 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:24:02 Max Aperture Value 3.5 Subject Distance 6.31 m Metering Mode Multi-segment Light Source Unknown Sub Sec Time Original 00 Sub Sec Time Digitized 00 Sensing Method One-chip color area CFAPattern [Green,Blue][Red,Green] Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Focal Length In35mm Format 27 mm Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control None Contrast Normal Saturation Normal Sharpness Normal Subject Distance Range Unknown Compression JPEG (old-style) Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type D50 Measurement Observer CIE 1931 Measurement Flare 0.999% Measurement Illuminant D65 Lens 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-6.3 Lens ID 38 Image Number 85557 Color Transform YCbCr Flash Return No return detection Flash Mode Auto
Shooting into the Sun – JVC GC-FM1 Camera JVC GC-FM1 Exposure 1/4029 sec Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 3.9 mm ISO Speed 100 Exposure Bias 0 EV Flash No flash function Orientation Horizontal (normal) X-Resolution 72 dpi Y-Resolution 72 dpi Date and Time (Modified) 2010:10:24 19:22:55 YCbCr Positioning Co-sited Exposure Program Program AE Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:22:55 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:22:55 Max Aperture Value 2.8 Metering Mode Center-weighted average Light Source Unknown Color Space sRGB Custom Rendered Normal Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Compression JPEG (old-style)	Shooting into the Sun – HTC Desire Camera HTC Desire ISO Speed 100 X-Resolution 72 dpi Y-Resolution 72 dpi YCbCr Positioning Centered Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:22:31 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:22:31 Color Space sRGB GPSVersion ID 2.2.0 GPS Latitude 37 deg 53′ 51.27″ S GPS Longitude 144 deg 59′ 8.24″ E GPSAltitude Ref Above Sea Level GPSAltitude 12 m GPSTime Stamp 19:22:31 GPSMap Datum WGS-84 GPSProcessing Method HYBRID-FIX GPSDate Stamp 2010:10:24 Compression JPEG (old-style)
Shooting into the Sun – Nokia X6 Camera Nokia X6-00 Exposure 1/1000000 sec Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 5.2 mm ISO Speed 123 Flash Auto, Did not fire Orientation Horizontal (normal) X-Resolution 300 dpi Y-Resolution 300 dpi YCbCr Positioning Centered Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:21:27 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:21:27 Light Source Unknown Color Space sRGB Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control Low gain up GPSVersion ID 2.2.0.0 GPS Latitude 37 deg 53′ 51.58″ S GPS Longitude 144 deg 59′ 7.84″ E GPSAltitude Ref Below Sea Level GPSAltitude 1.5 m Compression JPEG (old-style)	Shooting into the Sun – Nokia N8 Camera Nokia N8-00 Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1400) Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 5.9 mm ISO Speed 100 Flash Auto, Did not fire X-Resolution 240 dpi Y-Resolution 240 dpi Date and Time (Modified) 2010:10:24 21:11:30 Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:21:18.153+11:00 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:21:18 Light Source Unknown Sub Sec Time Original 153 Sub Sec Time Digitized 153 Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 0 Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control None GPSVersion ID 2.2.0.0 GPSAltitude Ref Above Sea Level GPSAltitude 5 m GPSMeasure Mode 3-Dimensional Measurement GPSDOP 0.9 GPSMap Datum WGS-84 Compression JPEG (old-style) Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type D50 Measurement Observer CIE 1931 Measurement Flare 0.999% Measurement Illuminant D65 Color Transform YCbCr GPSVersion ID 2.2.0.0 GPS Latitude 37 deg 53′ 51.34″ S GPS Longitude 144 deg 59′ 7.91″ E GPSAltitude Ref Above Sea Level GPSAltitude 5 m GPSMeasure Mode 3-Dimensional GPSDOP 0.9 GPSMap Datum WGS-84

Looking towards Melbourne CBD from Brighton.

Skyline – Nokia95-8gb Camera Nokia N95 8GB Exposure 0.009 sec (1/110) Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 5.6 mm ISO Speed 160 Flash Auto, Did not fire X-Resolution 240 dpi Y-Resolution 240 dpi Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:27:26+11:00 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:27:26 Light Source Unknown Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control Low gain up Compression JPEG (old-style) Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type D50 Measurement Observer CIE 1931 Measurement Flare 0.999% Measurement Illuminant D65 Color Transform YCbCr Flash Return No return detection Flash Mode Auto Flash Function False Flash Red Eye Mode False	Skyline – Nikon D90 Camera Nikon D90 Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200) Aperture f/7.1 Focal Length 18 mm ISO Speed 200 Exposure Bias 0 EV Flash Auto, Did not fire X-Resolution 240 dpi Y-Resolution 240 dpi Software Ver.1.00 Exposure Program Auto: No Flash Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:26:33.00+11:00 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:26:33 Max Aperture Value 3.5 Subject Distance 21.1 m Metering Mode Multi-segment Light Source Unknown Sub Sec Time Original 00 Sub Sec Time Digitized 00 Sensing Method One-chip color area CFAPattern [Green,Blue][Red,Green] Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Focal Length In35mm Format 27 mm Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control None Contrast Normal Saturation Normal Sharpness Normal Subject Distance Range Unknown Compression JPEG (old-style) Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type D50 Measurement Observer CIE 1931 Measurement Flare 0.999% Measurement Illuminant D65 Lens 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-6.3 Lens ID 38 Image Number 85559 Color Transform YCbCr
Skyline – JVC GC-FM1 Camera JVC GC-FM1 Exposure 0.003 sec (1/340) Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 3.9 mm ISO Speed 100 Exposure Bias 0 EV Flash No flash function X-Resolution 240 dpi Y-Resolution 240 dpi Date and Time (Modified) 2010:10:24 21:15:02 Exposure Program Program AE Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:26:52+11:00 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:26:52 Max Aperture Value 2.8 Metering Mode Center-weighted average Light Source Unknown Custom Rendered Normal Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Compression JPEG (old-style) Measurement Observer CIE 1931 Measurement Flare 0.999% Measurement Illuminant D65 Color Transform YCbCr Flash Return No return detection Flash Mode Unknown Flash Function True Flash Red Eye Mode False	Skyline – HTC Desire Camera HTC Desire ISO Speed 100 X-Resolution 240 dpi Y-Resolution 240 dpi Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:25:39+11:00 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:25:39 GPSVersion ID 2.2.0.0 GPSAltitude Ref Above Sea Level GPSAltitude 9 m GPSTime Stamp 19:25:39 GPSMap Datum WGS-84 GPSProcessing Method HYBRID-FIX GPSDate Stamp 2010:10:24 Compression JPEG (old-style) Measurement Observer CIE 1931 Measurement Flare 0.999% Measurement Illuminant D65 Color Transform YCbCr GPSVersion ID 2.2.0.0 GPS Latitude 37 deg 53′ 51.37″ S GPS Longitude 144 deg 59′ 8.08″ E GPSAltitude Ref Above Sea Level GPSAltitude 9 m GPSDate Time 2010:10:24 19:25:39Z GPSMap Datum WGS-84 GPSProcessing Method HYBRID-FIX
Skyline – Nokia X6 Camera Nokia X6-00 Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500) Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 5.2 mm ISO Speed 100 Flash Auto, Did not fire X-Resolution 240 dpi Y-Resolution 240 dpi Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:24:11+11:00 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:24:11 Light Source Unknown Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control None GPSVersion ID 2.2.0.0 GPSAltitude Ref Below Sea Level GPSAltitude 7 m Compression JPEG (old-style) Measurement Observer CIE 1931 Measurement Flare 0.999% Measurement Illuminant D65 Color Transform YCbCr GPSVersion ID 2.2.0.0 GPS Latitude 37 deg 53′ 51.83″ S GPS Longitude 144 deg 59′ 7.72″ E GPSAltitude Ref Below Sea Level GPSAltitude 7 m Flash Return No return detection Flash Mode Auto Flash Function False Flash Red Eye Mode False	Skyline – Nokia N8 Camera Nokia N8-00 Exposure 0.003 sec (1/310) Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 5.9 mm ISO Speed 103 Flash Auto, Did not fire X-Resolution 240 dpi Y-Resolution 240 dpi Date and Time (Original) 2010:10:24 19:24:21.534+11:00 Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:10:24 19:24:21 Light Source Unknown Sub Sec Time Original 534 Sub Sec Time Digitized 534 Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control Low gain up GPSVersion ID 2.2.0.0 GPSAltitude Ref Above Sea Level GPSAltitude 19.5 m GPSMeasure Mode 3-Dimensional Measurement GPSDOP 1.1 GPSMap Datum WGS-84 Compression JPEG (old-style) Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type D50 Measurement Observer CIE 1931 Measurement Flare 0.999% Measurement Illuminant D65 Color Transform YCbCr GPSVersion ID 2.2.0.0 GPS Latitude 37 deg 53′ 51.03″ S GPS Longitude 144 deg 59′ 7.94″ E GPSAltitude Ref Above Sea Level GPSAltitude 19.5 m GPSMeasure Mode 3-Dimensional GPSDOP 1.1 GPSMap Datum WGS-84 Flash Return No return detection Flash Mode Auto Flash Function False Flash Red Eye Mode False

Headline numbers on the Cameras are.

Nokia X6- 5megapixel
Nokia N95-8gb- 5megapixel
HTC Desire – 5megapixel
JVC FM1 – 8megapixel
Nikon D90 – 12megapixel
Nokia N8 – 12megapixel

Whilst I know that sensor size, aperture, glass etc are what makes a great camera, megapixels is what Joe Public know when they are after a camera.

One of the more interesting things that came out of the second test, was that 3 of the cameras that had GPS built into them had time to get a GPS fix. Compare the locations.

KML Google Map Showing, location of the Above Cameras. The HTC was the closest.

View Larger Map

All the EXIF data, is pulled from Flickr’s view EXIF info mode, more data would be available through other tools.

Once again, the Nokia N8 wins in the above tests. ( Well apart from the D90 ). I kept the D90 in the tests for showing what a DSLR can shoot compared to a mobile phone when on auto mode.

I can not believe just how bad the camera on the HTC Desire is, it fails on every comparison test I do. And fails by a long way.

To be fair to my Nikon D90…. this is what you can get, with a DSLR, Manual Mode and a 70-300mm Lens. This is the cheap old 70-300mm lens which costs less cost less than $200AUD.

( This shot is also available for purchase on Redbubble )

Tags: gps, HTC-Desire, Mobile, n78, N8, n95, Nikon D90, nokia by Me
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The following are Macro Shots from all the devices I could find lying around my house. I did set a minimum bench mark of  5 MegaPixels for the device that I would shot from.

All devices were on Automode, and the scene was in hard light at 5:40pm, of flowers in my front garden.

The shots were just lined up quickly by hand but all taken within a few min of each other.

(Click on each Image to link through for the full size shots)

Macro Shots – Nokia N95-8gb	Macro Shots – JVC FM1
Camera Nokia N95 8GB Exposure 0.009 sec (1/111) Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 5.6 mm ISO Speed 100 Flash Auto, Did not fire Orientation Horizontal (normal) X-Resolution 300 dpi Y-Resolution 300 dpi Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 1.04 Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control None Compression JPEG (old-style)	Camera JVC GC-FM1 Exposure 0.002 sec (1/599) Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 3.9 mm ISO Speed 100 Exposure Bias 0 EV Flash No flash function Orientation Horizontal (normal) X-Resolution 72 dpi Y-Resolution 72 dpi Date and Time (Modified) 2010:10:24 17:41:23 YCbCr Positioning Co-sited Exposure Program Program AE Metering Mode Center-weighted average Light Source Unknown Custom Rendered Normal Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Compression JPEG (old-style)
Macro Shots – Nokia X6	Macro Shots – Nokia N8
Camera Nokia X6-00 Exposure 0.003 sec (1/333) Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 5.2 mm ISO Speed 100 Flash Auto, Did not fire Orientation Horizontal (normal) X-Resolution 300 dpi Y-Resolution 300 dpi YCbCr Positioning Centered Light Source Unknown Color Space sRGB Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control None Compression JPEG (old-style)	Camera Nokia N8-00 Exposure 0.012 sec (1/85) Aperture f/2.8 Focal Length 5.9 mm ISO Speed 102 Flash Auto, Did not fire X-Resolution 240 dpi Y-Resolution 240 dpi Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 0 Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control Low gain up
Macro Shots – Nikon D90	Macro Shots – HTC Desire
Camera Nikon D90 Exposure 0.003 sec (1/400) Aperture f/10.0 Focal Length 18 mm ISO Speed 200 Exposure Bias 0 EV Flash Auto, Did not fire X-Resolution 240 dpi Y-Resolution 240 dpi Max Aperture Value 3.5 Subject Distance 0.45 m Metering Mode Multi-segment Light Source Unknown CFAPattern [Green,Blue][Red,Green] Custom Rendered Normal Exposure Mode Auto White Balance Auto Digital Zoom Ratio 1 Focal Length In35mm Format 27 mm Scene Capture Type Standard Compression JPEG (old-style) Color Transform YCbCr Flash Return No return detection Flash Mode Auto	Camera HTC Desire ISO Speed 100 X-Resolution 72 dpi Y-Resolution 72 dpi YCbCr Positioning Centered Compression JPEG (old-style)

The worst performer was the HTC Desire. Colour rendering is terrible, it is washed out and insipid. ( I’d like to see if the new HTC Desire HD camera is any better, but the current Desire’s camera is pathetic )

The N8, did a wonderful job. Colour rendition is very close, for what is a tricky shot, the depth of field is bang on as well.

The 3 year old Nokia N95-8gb, still stands up as a great camera, but it showing its age when compared to the Nokia N8

The D90, shot to dark in Automode. (But I don’t shot in Automode that often, and still have the RAW version to process)

I’ve yet to see a cameraphone that comes close to the Nokia N8. The new sensor, coupled with the Carl Zeiss F2.8 lens is simply stunning. 4000×3000 shots with real print DPI, give you a lot of wiggle room for cropping as well.

I have yet however to find a way to move the focus point on the N8. This makes playing with the depth of field very tricky. It comes down to lining up the focus point then moving the camera to get the out of focus elements you want. Which on the above camera phones is the only thing that the HTC Desire had going in its favour.  I’d like to see Nokia open up the camera app, to allow some real control over the image as well. Why, cause they could.  Sre I lug my Nikon D90 with me, but giving people some more fine control over the camera would help people get the most out of this device.

Whilst, in my big review, I pointed out there was a lot wrong with the N8, some of which I am sure will get ironed out with firmware updates and third party applications, Overall the camera is simply stunning. If you are a Nokia user, who likes to get photos on the run with their phone and not lug around a separate camera, get the N8.

For me, the USB as Host feature and its amazing Macro lens, means I will still be carrying around the N8 with me, because it does add to my overall set of tools.

Tags: HTC-Desire, n78, N8, n95, Nikon D90, nokia by Me
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These are basically the same shot, so I can get a two for one deal on this post.

Sometimes when you are out taking photos, it does pay to follow your heart. Or in this case, the car in front of you. Having driven up to the Upper Yarra Dam, to get shots of it filling up nicely, and to act as reference shots if the dam does reach the spill way, I got stuck behind a car coming back. And when the car in front of you slows down on the corners and speeds up on the straight stretches, you know you going to get frustrated.

This is what happened to me most of the way back. But being on the lookout for photos anyway when I saw an opportunity, I took it. Having never seen the sign for La La Falls before, I saw the sign and went… hmmm, water fall… hmmm, lots of rain, hmmm, waterfall will be working. Ironically, the slow car in front of me had the same destination in mind. So after stalking them through the back streets of Warburton, we ended up at the same car park.

At the carpark you are faced with a sign.. “3.5km return: Moderate”. So a quick phone call to Mrs Wolfcat, to inform her that I was traipsing off into the bush was in order (Always let people know where you are going). So camera in hand and my tripod over the shoulder into the bush I went. Of course a Moderate track after 70mm+ of rain, isn’t quite as easy as it would be in the dry. But I made it up. (Note to Self, must get fitter ).

So back to the photo, knowing I was going to photograph a waterfall, I had taken the tripod with me. If you are going to shoot waterfalls a tripod is always a must if you want water blur. The other thing that is a good part of your kit are some ND Filters so you can shoot longer exposures during the day. Lucky for me, as I don’t own any, was the fact it was very dull and overcast and the surrounds of the waterfall were in a deep gully.

A quick succession of test shots, 1/10th , ½, and 1 second exposures to get the right water effect and I was happy. I could shoot at F22 ( the minimum aperture on the Tokina 11-16mm lens ) at 1second and not over blow the shot. I tried about 50 shots whilst I was there, and walked away with two I was happy with.

One is a crop of a portrait shot, to create a vertical panorama. The other is the more typical landscape shot. The shots were geotagged with Geosetter when I got home and minimal post processing in Lightroom 3.

I was happy with both of them. So the moral of the story is, follow your instinct, or at least the car in front of you to get a good photo.

And the Landscape Version:

Of course both of these are on Redbubble as well

Click here for the Vertical Shot and Here for the Landscape Version

Tags: Missing from the Exif, Nikon D90, Redbubble by Me
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This is a cross post of a joint blog post from Neerav’s article…

RAW and JPG are different ways of creating photos in a digital camera. Each has advantages and disadvantages. In the Blue corner we have Wolfcat who argues in favour of the RAW file format and in the Red corner we have Neerav who argues in favour of the JPG file format.

Neerav Bhatt Photos Shown at Lumixlife Gallery Exhibition

Pro-JPG Argument

For some background so you understand where I’m coming from: I love to take photos, mostly of urban streets, wilderness and wildlife.

I take 99.9% of my photos in JPG format and have used these successfully to create A4 posters, a photo book, sold photos for use in technology websites and magazines to accompany my articles, and had some displayed in an art gallery on 32-50inch TV screens.

I understand that RAW has some technical benefits but for the vast majority of photographers out there JPG will be the best option because:

• for 99% of people JPG image quality is already far more than they need
• it’s convenient because images don’t require any post-processing
• the vast majority of keen amateur photographers don’t have the time or inclination to sit at a computer for hours after a day spent taking photos, post-processing RAW camera files into JPG photos manually one by one.
• RAW files cannot be immediately shared to the Internet because they require processing with a computer that is reasonably fast. When I take photographs at events I can share the best JPGs to Flickr within minutes using my cheap, underpowered netbook computer,
• the more affordable digital cameras used by keen amateur photographers are noticeably slower at taking RAW format photos than JPG’s. I guarantee “RAW only” hardliners have missed out on photo opportunities because their camera takes time recording each massive RAW file,
• JPG file sizes are far smaller and therefore take up less space on your camera card, in your photo archive, and when transferring them internally on your home network or on the internet.
• Arguments that storage space is getting cheaper are irrelevant. Try calculating how many camera cards you’d need to store 100 photos/day, every day for a month on holiday and you’ll see what I mean,
• JPG files can be viewed on any desktop or laptop computer as well as many electronic devices including smartphones, TV’s, dvd/bluray players etc,
• RAW encourages lazy “i can always do it properly on the computer” photography. I own Photoshop CS5 and find it useful, but much prefer to get the camera settings right first time in the camera and not have to spend time fiddling later

There are over a hundred different variations of RAW file formats needing special software to convert them to JPG. Often new cameras record in a RAW format that can’t be opened by older image processing applications like Adobe Photoshop.

If you must use RAW then DNG is the best RAW format for archival purposes. The US Library of Congress classified proprietary RAW files as “Less desirable file formats” suggesting that DNG be used instead.

The only times I would ever consider using a RAW format such as DNG are:

1. if I was being paid to do a commercial photography job. Even then I’d use DNG+JPG which takes each photo in both formats so I could use the JPG’s immediately and the DNG’s only if required.
2. If I was on holiday and paying lots of money for a unique one off experience eg: hot air balloon ride then I’d set my camera to DNG+JPG.

I leave the final word to respected amateur photographer and camera reviewer Ken Rockwell:

If you shoot hundreds or thousands of images in a day shoot JPG and don’t worry. The quality is the same for almost all intents and purposes as raw, and the raw files would take gigabytes or tens of gigabytes and resultant hours to download, convert, catalog and burn to backup CDs. In fact, if you shoot this much then JPG can give better quality since attempting to shoot this much raw will constipate your workflow and you could miss making some images entirely as your cards fill up. You’d always be running out of memory cards or time waiting for the access light to stop blinking.

If you love to tweak your images one-by one and shoot less than about a hundred shots at a time than raw could be for you. In fact, if you prefer the look you can get from raw (it may be different from JPG in some cases depending on software) you can let your computer batch process images and save the results as JPGs, too. I almost never shoot anything in raw, and when I do I never see any difference for all the effort I wasted anyway. (I can see differences if I blow things up to 100% or bigger on my computer, but not in prints.)

JPG vs RAW – Get it right the first time (Ken Rockwell)

Further reading

The RAW Flaw – Luminous Landscape

Are Raw Files Forever? – Luminous Landscape

DNG – Sustainability of Digital Formats – Planning for Library of Congress Collections

Still Image Preferences – Sustainability of Digital Formats – Planning for Library of Congress Collections

Raw as Archival Still Image Format: A Consideration (University of Connecticut Libraries)

Adobe TV – Advantages of DNG format

Pro-RAW Argument

First confession I shoot RAW and JPG. However 99% of the time I just ignore the JPG files, cause I never use them, never see them and they just end up taking up space on my harddrive.

I’m a keen landscape shooter. I like to document the world around me looking for that unique angle on this great country we live in. Whilst I shoot in colour.. I’m a huge fan on the black and white as well for real story telling.

1. There is only one kind of RAW. The kind your camera shoots. I shoot with a Nikon D90, so I get .NEF files. I really don’t care about other RAW formats. Why, because that is like saying I drive a Diesel powered car, but there are too many kinds of Petrol to confuse me.
2. Quality doesn’t matter. No of course it doesn’t, unless you care about the photo. Unless that photo is a touch under/over exposed, the white balance is out, the horizon line is a few degrees of centre, the lens you used has a certain type of distortion that throws out straight lines or the highlights are a bit over exposed. Any of these mean you are going to want to “fix” the photo.
3. Sure Ken Rockwell can shoot in full manual mode and get White Balance and everything perfect every time, never needing to touch Photoshop at all to fix any image…. But are you Ken Rockwell.
4. You’re are sure that you know what the correct colour temp for each setting is, because you shoot in a perfectly stable environment, with colour charts and controlled lighting every time. Nope didn’t think so. Guess what you are going to want to correct that photo.
5. Batch Processing is your friend. I use Lightroom3 to processes all my RAW images. If they are similar I can spend time on one image get the settings right and apply them to hundreds of photos in a few minutes.
6. Raw is non destructive, you aren’t dealing with a lossy compression like JPG you have all the information to play with. You don’t have to trust the camera to guess what you wanted, you have complete control. JPG is also 8bit colorur. The RAW files I shoot are 12bit colour.
7. Cost of storage is cheap. I have an offsite backup of my photos on a 1.5TB drive that I purchased for $98 dollars. I run a few 4gb cards and can shoot around 240 images per card. And I always take a harddrive with me on trips to backup the images anyway, that drive is a USB powered HD that is 880gb which cost me $120.
8. JPG is easier. Yes it is, but then so is buying a pizza from the supermarket compared to making one at home. The one you make at home will have all the toppings you want and be to your taste, not the cheapest food to make the pizza.
9. And finally how often do you need to “get” the shot up straight away. If you are really doing that, you are shooting from a mobile phone anyway. Most of the time you are going to have access to something to process the image regardless. ( I know I do )
10. If you only store the JPG’s in 6 months time or a years time when someone spots that great image and wants the full size image for print… what did you do with it, oh yes that is right, you compressed it put lots of effects in photoshop and compressed it again.

While I do agree that JPG is easier to use, just because it is easier doesn’t make it better. I like to ensure that the colours on my image are visually correct and that the tones reflect the mood of the image. Say I want a black and white image, shooting RAW gives me complete tonal control much more than JPG ever can. And all for very little work!

And I’ll leave the final word to these images….

The JPG VS the RAW.

JPG

This RAW took me a minute to tweak in Lightroom 3.

Further Reading

Why Shoot RAW – Photography Review

When to Shoot RAW – Macworld

Understanding Raw Files – Luminous Landscape

Photo Lightroom -Adobe

Open Source Raw Processing Win, Linux

How To Shoot RAW without Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt by Michael Tapes

Tags: General, Nikon D90, Photos by Me
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This photo comp ( Celebrate your City Photo Competition ) is based on votes… so here is the pimping.. each image goes through to the entry.

So please vote and add comments ( and yes you can vote for all the images 🙂 )

Voting is Open till 8th of October, so ignore that button that says the comp is now closed, it is only closed to new entries.

To Vote just click on the images below, then once the page loads, click on the stars to give the image an rating from 1 to 5… ( 5 being the best )

Tags: Nikon D90 by Me
1 Comment »

I just brought myself a new 1.5tb drive for backing up my photos today for $98. That goes with the 2Tb I have in my computer the 320gb USB drive and the 880gb USB powered HD’s that I have. 10 years ago a 1tb drive would have cost me around $15k.

I remember fondly my first Zip Drive. (I have about 1gb of zip disks floating around here in the office at home somewhere as well ) That 100meg of storage was a god send for backing up working files and those huge 2meg photo scans that I had.

Back in 1999, Nikon introduced the D1. Their first Digital SLR. It had an amazing 2.7megapixel sensor and cost around 12K AUD. 10 Years later their top prosumer camera has 16megapixels and a price under 1.5K.

Of course now I shoot 10meg Raw shots, and when I can afford the new D7000 they will be near 20meg per shot for raw. And I’m only shooting DX format shots.

Even the new Nokia N8 has a 12megapixel camera. That means a phone will be producing shots that chew up as much space as from my DSLR.

A top of line the Hasselblad H4D chews up 50MB raw files for each shot for a 40Mpixel camera. All in a camera that costs 30k USD. That size will in the next 10 years be what a lot of people have access to as their image sensors..

My Nikon D90 can shoot 720p, but I have a 1080p video recorder as well. Even my phone shoots at 720p.The D7000 is a 1080p camera. The replacement for 1080p is 4k. Having seen Blade Runner with a 4k projection all I can say is wow. So we don’t have home 4k systems yet, and very few cinemas have them. Yet already Youtube will support 4k Video. So there is a business case for using 4k video for say live streaming of a concert over IP and selling tickets. Or even like with the recent World Cup, selling tickets for the Cinema.

As more people can access the technology to create cheap high definition content that they wish to share they run into the limitations of ADSL. Try and upload a video and you will see how long that takes compared to downloading. The NBN whilst not truly symmetrical will offer speeds up to 1gpbs/400mbps compared to say ADSL 2 at 24000/2500 kbps (which is the theoretical best if you live next to the exchange ).

IMHO this ability to upload the content that we are creating is the killer app for the NBN for the general public. The rise of social media, the rise of YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and their increasing ability to serve the content that we produce are what we the public will use the NBN for.

All the doubters say the NBN is going to be too fast… tell me what you did 10 years ago on the net and tell me what you do now… then think about just what the Digital Camera has done in 10 years.

The amount of data we are creating and storing is going up by these volumes, the prices for storing and accessing the data is falling at the same rate, why do people suddenly think that the demand for transferring these files via the internet will suddenly stop?

Tags: Annoyances, General, Nikon D90 by Me
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