February 27, 2006
Army Men
Just created a stand alone category for my Army Men series here.
Spent a good part of the day making more and setting up shots. The outside ones are interesting but I think the black backgrounds have more impact. I can explore the shapes of the men more in those then the outdoor ones. But I do like those colors.
February 24, 2006
Canon 30D
"Canon today has unveiled the EOS 30D, a refined version of the EOS 20D that shares the same image sensor and numerous other core camera components but adds a 2.5-inch (diagonal) rear LCD, increased burst depth, Picture Styles, a shutter with a higher duty cycle rating and a long list of other camera usability changes"
Same file size, same chip, bigger LCD. A very minor upgrade in my opinion. Nice for people who still have not bought a DSLR, but nothing here worth upgrading for.
February 23, 2006
Phase One issues
I work a good amount with the Phase one P-25 back and I thought I'd post some thoughts about this 30k beast. First off I'll be nice and cover the good points. The glass on Hasselblad is above and beyond. The optical sharpness and clarity on these files is amazing. The only lens that compares on 35mm DSLRs is the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 L USM. I have not seen a zoom this clean. Sharpening in post does not count. Also, cleaning the sensor on the P-25 is a cake walk. Anyone could do it easily. The chip is right there front and center, very easy to access. This means much cleaner files then any DSLR where it takes nerves of steel to get to the sensor and clean.
That's the good, now on with the bad. This camera has some show stopping issues with it's CCD. Moire and aliasing will run rampant to such a degree that I make a point of doing a clothing test before setting up the shots. More than a few times I have had to stop a shoot to have the photographer either switch cameras to the Canon or have wardrobe switch out the clothes. Had this been missed all those images would have been scrapped AFTER editing of course and lost selects after editing is a very painful event. Shooting on high ASA's is a very dangerous idea with this camera as well. See Luminous Landscapes ASA tests' here. Scroll to about mid page to see the examples. But one of the most confusing problems I find is that shadows values tent to posterize horribly between the 10-15 value range. It just breaks up and falls apart in a very ugly manner.
No amount of tweaking in C-1 Pro will get rid of it. The only way to clean it up is to go in by hand and paint the color back in. Very time consuming and time equals money in retouching. This is a problem that has caused me much grief the past few months and not too many others seem to have documented it.
The final issue I have is that the RAW files themselves are locked up and only able to be processed with C-1 Pro. This concerns me. Would a company have made proprietary enlargers and film in the past? No way. But now everything is locked up and isolated. Let me give you a hypothetical. Lets say February 06 is horrible for Phase One and they shut down or stop production. Crazy you say? Remember the now discontinued Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n? Or how about Konica Minolta? So lets say Phase One shuts it's doors this month. Now fast forward a year and boot your computer into a Intel version of OS X or Windows Vista. Think your old version of C-1 Pro will still work? How does that thirty thousand dollar paper weight look right now? How about all those RAW files now lost to obsolescence. Maybe they will open up standards in the future or support Adobes DNG format. Maybe I'm paranoid but these are serious issues that need to be considered.
So to summarize:
Pros-
• Medium format glass is amazing. The lens quality really does make a noticeable difference over 35mm size cameras.
• The sensor itself is easily cleaned which saves a ton of post retouching time.
Cons-
• High ASA shooting is not recommended. 100 is the max one can shoot at safely without some fairly serious Photoshop chops.
• Odd posterization in the shadows of images.
• Locked up RAW files that can only be processed in C-1 Pro.
Addendum.
I just returned from a shoot in Costa Rica with Brian Bailey where we tried to use the P-20. While it may be a good camera to shoot with in a studio, in humid environments it has some serious voltage issues. Serious enough that it spent the majority of the shoot in its case. Here is one of the files below.
February 09, 2006
Mags
Head Magazine
This is not a magazine has gone time based with their issues and artworks. Interesting....
List of more mags here.
Some of which I am thinking about submitting my Army Men series too.
February 08, 2006
New Software Yellows Neglected Digital Photos Over Time
"ROCHESTER, NY—Eastman Kodak released an imaging software package that yellows, fades, and even loses digital photos over time Monday. "With the click of a mouse, Fotomatshop will make your digital photographs crease, develop fingerprint spots, and even stick together in their 'virtual shoebox,'" Kodak president Antonio Perez said. "It even has motion-blur and redden-eye features." The software takes a week to process 26 digital photos, and charges $9.95 per use."
Hehehehe