Editing, Editing, Editing!!!

Finally getting round to sorting out the huge backlog of images we have - to get them ready to upload to library websites.

Still with the freezing weather set to continue,

a nice glimpse of warmer days on the screen.

D & A

All change - again!

Anyone who has ever dropped in on this blog from time to time will notice that I change cameras often. This is partly to do with the nature of digital photography, in that the camera makes so much difference because it contains the sensor. Back in my film days I kept cameras for years and only occasionally bought new lenses.
The second reason is because I CAN change cameras. Being a working photographer means I get certain tax advantages, e.g. I can claim the VAT back, I get tax relief on the depreciation etc. This means that I can take advantage of new developments without loosing large sums of money.
By buying cameras new and selling them relatively quickly I can almost get my money back.
Its like hiring something really, though with the cost of hire the way it is its probably cheaper, and you also don't have to worry what the person who had it before you did to it!
Thirdly I'm fairly ruthless & non-forgiving about camera performance. If a piece of equipment doesn't do what I want then its on its way to ebay!

So whats gone/going?

The Pentax K-7. I was always unimpressed by the quality of the stills, but had decided to keep it because it functioned very well as a video camera. However last weekend at a wedding it demonstrated banding under certain kinds of lights. As I said I'm pretty unforgiving about camera performance. Since my nephews GH1 produced perfectly acceptable images, the K-7 has gone. Put on Ebay and sold within 1/2 hour.

The D3X is going, as is my Leica M8. To be replaced by a Leica M9, for which I am waiting impatiently. I love the D3X images, but hate the weight & bulk. Everything I've seen of the M9 impresses me. I love my M8, but once I saw that the sensor was similar on the M9 in terms of sharpness and colour AND added full frame & a few tweaks here and there, I knew it was for me.
My M8 images easily interpolate up to 48MB (The minimum size for high end picture libraries) so M9 images will easily match the D3X for resolution. I've downloaded a few images from the web & they do indeed look superb.

Also going are my Olympus E-420, which I really never use & a Canon 500D which is a lovely stills camera but truly horrible to use. Canon make this lovely sensor & then put it in a cheap plastic body & stick unwelcome curves all over it. It feels & looks like a toy & I am unable to "bond" with it at all.

Its also going to help pay for another GH1. I sold my first one to my nephew, who is my business partner in the event/wedding business we run & I've missed it. I really like micro four cameras & their ability to use my favourite Voigtlander & Nikon lenses. Its a great stills camera & an even better video camera. It performed wonderfully well at the wedding we shot recently & I can also use it as a light carry around camera. I am waiting to get my hands on the 20mm F/1.7 Panasonic are bringing out, which is getting rave reviews. In the meantime I'll use the 14-140 kit zoom lens which is a technological marvel plus my aforementioned Voigtlanders & Nikons.

So the plan is:- to work with 3 cameras.

Leica M9 with 15mm, 50mm F/1.1, & 75mm lenses plus my Zeiss Biogon 28mm F/2.8.
I'm looking forward to the wide angles in all their full-frame glory!

Panasonic GH1 with 14-140 & 20mm F/1.7 Panasonic lenses plus the M fit lenses plus some Nikons I'm keeping. 35mm F/2.8, 50mm F/1.2 MF, 85mm F1.8 & 135mm F/2.8 MF.

Canon 5D MkII with 28-135 IS zoom, 20mm F/2.8, 28mm F/1.8, 50mm F/1.8, 85mm F/1.8 & a 90-300 zoom. I can also use the Nikons with my Nikon F > Canon EOS adapters.

The Leica for my stock work with the Panasonic as a backup & the Panasonic & Canon for Events/Weddings/Commercial Work.

Finally a word of praise for my 5D MkII. I've not always been a great fan of Canon but this is a beauty. It worked flawlessly at the recent wedding. I shot jpgs only & every shot was on the money. It was fast & the low light performance was incredible. I used to think my Nikon D3 & D700 were good, but this is better & at 21MP too. Hope I haven't jinxed it. Its almost a record for me keeping a digital camera - 10 months & counting.

This won't be the end of my buying and selling but it clarifies what I want for the moment & gives me 3 cameras that I will use and more importantly enjoy using.

Pentax K7 - Take 2

The "only 5 frames" problem is now solved. I'm not sure how, as I couldn't track down the problem & decided to do a reset to all default settings. The camera now blasts away quite happily.
So "user error" on my part then, though I am at a loss to understand what I did.
I may well at some point start a discussion on the complexity of modern camera menus. I freely admit that I only know a fraction of what my D3X and GH1 will do. The latter is especially complicated and with its small design very prone to unintentional changes.
However back to the K7. My comment "Its very slow & a buffer that lets you take 5 pictures & then locks up for several seconds is unacceptable in a £1000 DSLR." was therefore wrong & I apologise unreservedly to Pentax & its engineers.
However that doesn't change my general feelings about the camera. Though, encouraged by Andy's comments I will be giving it a second chance. I was unable to secure my desired price on ebay so I've decided to keep it, at least until the end of the summer (what summer!) and see if I can bond with it.

My initial post on the K7 met with some hostility. In one regard its encouraging to know that someone is reading this but on the other its dispiriting to encounter the venom that emanates from certain sections of the photographic community. (I don't include the comments by Andy in this, who was polite & the person who led me to solve the fps problem. I will be responding to that in a while.)
I've published one of the comments, from Borea, which was reasonable, but have declined to give space to other offensive comments.
I read the results of a survey once which concluded that camera brand loyalty is second only to supporting a football team in terms of passion & commitment. Anyone who spends any time on photographic forums such as www.dpreview.com will have no doubt that this is true, but I have always been puzzled by it. I can understand how support for a team or club can become a cause for irrational emotion, (as a long-time, long-suffering Birmingham City fan more irrational than most!) but support for one camera manufacturer to the exclusion of all others, is something I am bewildered by.

I'm including a quote from a photographer who co-runs a flickr group with me:-

"as a large format photographer I find that the tidy little tied up thinking that the camera makers have managed to foster in Japan is quite astounding. People really need to see that a lens is a lens and all this proprietary stuff is just annoying and defeats advancement .. wait ... I just had a cynical thought ... of course ... makers want to lock out other makers from their little subscription base."

And from Andys comment below:-

"there seems to be a certain anti-Pentax bias from some 'Canikon' enthusiasts on the web, and I feel a certain obligation to stand up for Pentax as I have enjoyed their recent dslr's so much."

This latter comment is very reasonable & a nice succinct summing up of a response that we can all identify with in the face of unreasonable and unjustified attacks on our purchasing decisions.

Let me make it clear - I'm a fully paid-up Pentax Fanboy & have been for many years. I have a very soft spot for them, as an ME Super was my first SLR & the camera that started me off in photography. But I'm also a Nikon Fanboy, a Canon Fanboy, an Olympus Fanboy & a Leica Fanboy. And I can also be critical of all those companies and their products.
I posted some very enthusiastic comments about the Canon 500D but if you go back to one of the earliest posts in this blog you will see that I wrote about the Canon 350D:-

"8MP The best selling DSLR of its era. Bought as a backup for the 5D. Without any doubt the worst DSLR I have ever used. The images were so soft that I thought I had a lens problem! Washed out dull colours. Very cheap feel. Like most Canons this got rave reviews & I'm sure it made a lot of money for the company. Just shows you should never believe a review! Maybe I got a faulty one.
PROS - It was very light!
CONS - Everything else!"

See original comments here :- Digital Cameras I have owned & used.

My feelings about the K7 were genuine & tinged with a certain disappointment. As I said I am now re-assessing it. I 'm going to try the battery grip to see if I can get a better "feel" from it.

The problem is I'm constantly searching to get from a DSLR what I achieved with my last 35mm film camera. A Pentax MZ-5 with battery grip + 43mm F/1.9 limited lens was my "holy grail" Light, small, wonderful to handle & a delight to look at.

Lavender with Pentax K7 70mm F/2.4 limited

Some lavender pictures shot with a Pentax K7 fitted with a 70mm F/2.4 limited lens.
Just got the K7, mainly for its video capability combined with stills for some upcoming industrial/education seminars that we have been asked to video/photograph in September.

Initial impressions are that the K7 is very good, certainly the build quality is very robust.
The 70mm F/2.4 limited is very good indeed. Most of these images were shot at F/2.4 since the light was not wonderful & these were mostly shot under cloudy skies.

However I was very pleased with the pictures and particularly the colours.