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In a couple of weeks, we shall again depart north for our annual photography outing (i.e. no business, no family, no problems – just shooting). Though we initially planned Lofoten, for some reasons we ended up going to Iceland once more, this time in winter. So no wonder I go through my older work when planning the trip. I’ve posted some texts and images already here and some other, too. And a few more here and even Ota created a video. We simply love the place. I have many more photographs to share but one place was really special. Read on.
(Summer 2010)… After having spent few miserable rainy days in the fishermens village near Landmannalaugar, we lost patience and decided to cross the island to try our chances in the north. The journey itself turned into much more adventurous event than what we expected, with rough rocky roads, deep and wild river crossings and endless lava fields to go through.
Camera: Hasselblad H1, Lens: 80mm, Film: Fuji Velvia 50, Filters: Singh-Ray Warming Polarizer
The destination was surely worth the hassle, two beautiful and loud waterfalls Selfoss and Detifoss suddenly put us on a bright side of the hell. I felt like the first man on the Moon. Millions years back in time. We arrived just before the sunset (that’s around 11pm in Iceland during the summer), the place was of course deserted. We were stupid enough to underestimate the pace with which the natural powers change the stage we’re living on. Leaving our equipment behind, we missed perhaps the most spectacular light performance I witnessed there – the sun found its way through thick clouds to illuminate parts of the scene and to create the stunning rainbow.
Camera: Hasselblad H1, Lens: 80mm, Film: Fuji Velvia 50, Filters: Singh-Ray Warming Polarizer
We came back prepared the next night in hopes for something similar. No rainbow this time but luckily, we could enjoy our happy hour after so many days of rain. Our beloved sun did it somehow, again.
Posted by Marek | Feb 17, 2012 | Categories: Iceland, Photographs | Tags: Clouds, Colors, Film, Fuji Velvia, Hasselblad, Iceland, Landscape, Light, Photo of the Week, Selfoss, Singh-Ray, Waterfall | 2 Comments »
Last week I mentioned my plans to do a first test of my large format camera system in extreme cold weather conditions, which are currently dominating to most parts of Europe. Last Sunday I went to Lake Geneva shore close to small town called Anthy-sur-Leman in France. I got there just before sunrise and thermometer in my car was showing -12 degree Celsius, which would not be that bad, if there was not strong cold wind blowing from North-East. These two factors combined together created real feel temperature well below -20 degree Celsius. As every landscape photographer can tell you it’s not so much fun to be out there if you feel cold, so to protect myself in those conditions I recently purchased special winter jacket from Sirjoseph and I have to say that it did exceed all my expectation. I did not feel the cold at all and I was able to easily wait for my long exposures to finish and in total I spent couple of hours outside without feeling cold.
There was no problem with my cloths, but the camera system got some little tiny hiccups. First of all I have only one adaptor ring for the Lee filter holder and believe me or not it did freeze onto the lens, and could not remove it, therefore I was able to use the filters only with one lens. Second problem happened just little while after that, when water from the lake got onto the tripod legs, which of course frozen immediately so I could not lower the tripod for the rest of my photo session. But to be honest those problems are not related to particular camera system, it would have happened with any camera I would take with me that morning. Overall I have to say, that the Ebony proved to be very solid camera and it was not difficult to use it in cold and windy conditions and I am feeling more and more confident in using it. I am definitely taking it with me to Iceland in early March this year. It is really nice that you do not have to worry about buttery life and the total manual control over the camera is becoming advantage in those extreme weather conditions. There is one thing you have to pay extra attention during cold temperatures and that is the static electricity, which can impact the negatives in film holders or camera backs, therefore all film winding or dark slide movements have to be done very slowly. But again the fact that this system is fully mechanical gives me the comfort to control all those potential troubles.
Title: Frozen Tree, Camera: Ebony RSW 45, Lens: Rodenstock 45 mm, Filtr: Lee Big Stopper and Lee ND Grad 0.3, Film: Kodak T-Max 100, Exposure: 216", f 11
I have photographed this particular tree few times in the past and I had one particular image in my mind, where snow is covering the shore and low clouds together with fog are covering the lake and making otherwise quite busy scene more simple and abstract. It got almost perfect this time, but still the ideal picture is about to be taken in the future.
Posted by Ota | Feb 10, 2012 | Categories: Black and White, Camera, Lac Leman, Large Format, New Work, Photographs | Tags: Ebony RSW 45, Film, France, Kodak T-Max, Lake, Lake Geneva, Lee Big Stopper, Long Exposure, Snow, Trees, Winter | 5 Comments »
Last week, the interesting ruling of a court in the UK came to my attention. Actually, it caused quite a lot of buzz within landscape photographers community in social as well as serious media. In a nutshell, and very simply put, the judge looked at the two images linked here and decided that the second photograph was a copy of the first one. Looking at it from the landscape photography perspective and with no further details (as many people shared the news this way), it’s scary. Bloody scary (do I really need to know each and every photo made from a specific location to be on a safe side??). Here, even the compositions significantly differ (not to mention the ugly effect of partial desaturation that however, as I learnt later, might have had some ‘artistic’ intention to support sales of souvenirs but this is a different story). I got genuinely interested hence I read the copy of judge’s justification. Definitely interesting reading. And I’m glad to declare that the whole story makes the case significantly different.
First and foremost, the judge apparently looked at the intention. The defendant has never refused he had seen the claimant’s original work before and that he asked an agency to ‘create’ a similar one on the basis of the original in a strong belief that “claimant’s copyright did not prevent them from doing so”. Moreover, there was a dispute between the two parties in 2010, in which the defendant breached the copyright of the original creator by using his work on the boxes of tea produced by him. If my understanding was correct, the dispute was settled for the past use of the infringed image but the parties could not agree on royalty for the future. This is what most likely led the defendant to have his own picture created.
Although the composition of the copy is not precisely the same, everything else IS. It became clear that the idea of the red bus against the specific black and white landmarks of London (Big Ben and Houses of Parliament) with removed sky was exactly what the defendant wanted to achieve and as such, it’s no different whatsoever from the original work. This is exactly it became famous for when sold on various souvenirs since 2006. And for this reason, the judge decided such the second image of the same character infringes the claimant’s copyright. I think it has not been easy for the judge to decide on this one but the post-process (partial black-and-white conversion and the completely removed sky (!), which helps buildings and the bus to transcend) made him believe that the defendant was purely copying the original idea.
What’s in there for us, landscape photographers? I see two important things. Citing the judgment: “What … is the scope of photographic copyright? The question is answered by drawing attention to three aspects in which there is room for originality in photography: i) Residing in specialities of angle of shot, light and shade, exposure and effects achieved with filters, developing techniques and so on; ii) Residing in the creation of the scene to be photographed; iii) Deriving from being in the right place at the right time.” In other words, especially point number i) gives “enough room for originality” (and subsequent defense thereafter). But if you remove “light and shade” (i.e. sky in our case) and employ strange “developing techniques” that can’t be denoted as ‘common’ (partial desaturation combined with emphasizing the red bus is quite specific in our case) and then you put it on a souvenir that competes with the same one on the same marketplace, you might be in trouble. But you are safe if you (and that’s the second thing) “could have simply instructed an independent photographer to go to Westminster and take a picture which includes at least a London bus, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Whatever image was produced could then have been used on the tins of tea. Such an image would not infringe. It may or may not have the same appealing qualities as the claimant’s image. Even if it did they would be the result of independent skill and labour employed by the independent photographer. Again however that is not what happened.”
So unless we blindly and apparently copy somebody else’s work including the post-process and if our photographs are results of independent skill and labour whatever they might end up to be, we should never be alleged from infringing the copyright even after such a controversial trial and decision. And it should definitely not stop us looking for inspiration in other photographers’ pictures – but keeping our own uniqueness and freedom when creating our own stuff.
Camera: Mamiya 645 Pro TL, Lens: Sekor 80mm, Film: Fuji Velvia 50, Nothing Else Recorded
One of the advantages of landscape photographers is that we can respond to the what mother nature blessed us with, especially lighting, which is rarely repeating. In early 2008, I travelled to Scotland and spent lots of time studying places and photographs of these places so that I could plan my trip to as many details as possible. But at the end, I kept some of the images seen so deep in my mind that I could not create anything I would say was ‘my own’ at places like Elgol on the Isle of Skye. I too had similar feelings at Loch Tulla looking for a way to shoot the lake differently from a specific vista I had in mind. I struggled until I noticed an interesting cloud drama up in the hills and went after it leaving the lake behind. After a little walk, I made this photograph that I find very different from what I had seen before and for what I actually had planned for. I certainly employed “the independent skill and labour” to create it. Its originality also resides in a very special light, angle of shot (medium format) and the technique (transparency film). Hence I’m willing to bet my monthly salary there will be no other image similar to this although I was obviously unable to have known all of them shot in this place before I did mine. Because this is, sadly, what some of the people believe the above ruling has been all about…
Posted by Marek | Feb 06, 2012 | Categories: Inspiration, Legal, Photographs, Scotland | Tags: Clouds, Copyright Infringement, Film, Fuji Velvia, Hill, Judge, Landscape, Loch Tulla, London, Mamiya, Snow, Trees | Leave A Comment »
It has been more than four years since I moved to Geneva. I still remember my excitement from the fact that I had not been so closed to the mountains before and I was so convinced that I would spent all my free time hiking and photographing in the mountains. So that was the plan, however the reality was quite different. There was always something that stopped me from going up there or I was just so lazy and tired from my daily job that I was finding excuses why I should stay home. At the end I have not taken as many photographs in the mountains as I wished four years ago, but I still have a lot of great “mental” photographs in my mind, which I will have a chance to take next year or year after that or…
Title: Lake Signs, Camera: Ebony RSW 45, Lens: Rodenstock 45 mm, Filtr: Lee Big Stopper and Lee ND Grad 0.6, Film: Kodak Tri-x 400, Exposure: 320" , f 13
To be honest I also have to say that one significant reason why I have not spent enough time in the Alps is that I am really enjoying my little Lake Leman project, which I started two years ago. I found it to be very rewarding and relaxing to travel around the lake and discovering new places or returning to the same place under different circumstances. It has also some therapeutic effect on me since I can really relax and left all the daily troubles behind. I am slowly getting to know more and more places around the lake and due to the fact that I am now exclusively using my large format camera I am feeling more connected to my photographs and photographed locations. The whole process is now much slower and I do bring only few shots from each trip, which is in huge contrast to my digital times, where the memory card got full very often. I am not saying that the actual photographs are any better than the once from earlier years, but I just simply like the whole process of setting up the camera, focusing on the ground glass under the dark cloth, seeing the pictures upside down and at the end hoping that I did not forgot on something and everything will work out as expected. I am planing to go the the French side of the lake this upcoming weekend, when the temperatures should be quite low and the light clouds and early morning fog should create some interesting atmosphere. I hope I will be able to take some photographs, which I have on my mind for long time and also that I will be able to test the new camera system under severe winter conditions. I will let you know how it went in one of my next posts. Have a great weekend all of you.
Posted by Ota | Feb 02, 2012 | Categories: Black and White, Camera, Inspiration, Lac Leman, Large Format | Tags: Ebony RSW 45, Kodak Tri-x, Lake, Lake Geneva, Large Format, Lee Big Stopper, Long Exposure, Switzerland | 1 Comment »
Yet another tree from our always-differently-amazing Horehronie (the region in mid Slovakia for those who might not know) garden. I am actually incredibly grateful to couple of friends from lightharmony who have been showing me around for years now and my fascination of the place is endless ever since I first time took my way through marvelous little hills high above villages. However, I can’t say that I always connect to the subject I would wish to photograph for some reason, and this specific tree was not particularly chatty when it came to the communication between the two of us in the past. You sure know the feeling when you see something beautiful to shoot but somehow do not feel any way is the right way to do it.
Capture: Long Story Short, Camera: Linhof Techno, Lens: Rodenstock 90mm, Film: Fuji Velvia 50, Filters: Lee ND Graduated 0.6, Lee ND 0.9, Singh-Ray Warming Polarizer, Exposure & Aperture: Unrecorded
Now you can see why. I can hardly imagine any bigger cliche in landscape photography than a sole tree standing against the sky. Even if we omit that this sky possesses some interesting quality and even a “Z” shape as one of my friends noted. But, looking at the profile of the tree-top here in correlation with the land below, can it be shot differently? In any other angle or with a different lens, there was always something that stood in the way. Hence I returned to the most obvious position asking the question ‘to shoot or not to shoot’. Having had my new toy, Linhof Techno and having seen Ota trying hard with his gorgeous Ebony, I did what I thought would be just a technical exercise. Which is by the way always a lottery with Velvia. But honestly, and despite what I said above, I remained surprised that I quite liked the result. The chestnut tree is finally speaking to me the language I understand when I’m around. This is how I feel the place when I’m normally leaving it without an attempt, long after the last sun had set down…
And yes, without speaking to him, I love to see Ota has done it similar way but our means of communications are so different that we actually created two supplementing results.
Posted by Marek | Jan 30, 2012 | Categories: Large Format, Photographs, Slovakia | Tags: Film, Fuji Velvia, Horehronie, Landscape, Large Format, Linhof Techno, Long Exposure, Night, Photography, Singh-Ray, Sky, Slovakia, Trees | 2 Comments »
I took a long break from everything for the last 3-4 weeks hence the return to all the ordinary lives has been quite uneasy. I am now slowly getting back to all stuff I left behind in 2011. Before I happen to take any image this year, I thought it could be refreshing to look back and browse through my images for a while to see – what exactly? Don’t know, really. Not that I expected to find anything mind-blowing. I actually awaited nothing. And, for a wonder, I found nothing. But going through my archive I realized I had seen so many beautiful places on Earth (in Europe, more precisely, but Earth surely sounds more fatal) that I struggled to say, which of them was the best looking. My database is organized by places and I got stuck switching from one folder to another to identify my Place (Miss) World (okay, Europe). I finally sorted them down but apparently not by the final result in the form of a photograph, but by the appeal a place has been having on me. And while PJ Harvey is trying to Let England Shake with her gorgeous voice, I list 5 of them for you below:
1. High Tatras, Slovakia
It goes without saying that my most favorite spot to photograph is High Tatras near where I was born. The small but splendid mountains that I’m spending relatively plenty of time in but I have to say that with very few exceptions, it has yet been difficult to make a satisfying image. I know though that it will come one day – I just have to be patient and bring some more dedication. Up to now, I was slightly more successful when shooting Tatras from a foothill, which is actually how I used to see them when I was growing up.
High Tatras shot from Lesnicke sedlo
2. Landmannalaugar, Iceland
I have a special bias for nordic landscapes and sceneries. They are elementary and rough, and I believe this is how our world must have looked like millions years ago. Even more so in the region of Landmannalaugar, the place of colorful rhyolite hills and enormous lava fields covered by fresh-green moss. All of this threaded by hairs of rivers and eyes of lakes. Can’t wait for our March trip to there.
Lava fields in storm in Landmannalaugar
3. Lofoten, Norway
Travelling to Lofoten has been my dream ever since I first time read of expeditions of Roald Amundsen. As with many other things, some dreams outwear the others and here I was, landing in Tromso twice last winter; heading straight to Reine and Svolvaer. One can easily die there as a magnificence of landscape makes him stop breathing easily. Unlike rough Icelandic sceneries, massive and snowed rock formations rearing up high from the sea act much more romantic. The beauty has a vast number of versions.
Approaching Snow Storm
4. Isle of Skye, Scotland
Like plenty of others, few years ago I happily admired the taste of Tallisker whisky and configuration of landscape at Isle of Skye. What I found particularly amazing had been how peaceful and inspiring the place was despite it felt so close to a civilization like no other northern region in Europe I visited. Also, the ever-changing weather provided for lots of opportunities. I then wished badly to return there one day but I actually never did. Perhaps, because the Britain seems to be full of excellent landscape shooters who made Isle of Skye so over-photographed that I lost a hope to create anything different there. Not that I do elsewhere but I might have better chances and you kindly leave me with that hope.
Shore of Isle of Skye
5. Bokod, Hungary
Bokod is the lake in Hungary, some 80 kilometers west of Budapest. It’s an interesting spot – everything else but beautiful. Plenty of old fishing houses on the water look incredibly romantic but the most wooden bridges would not carry a cat and I bet majority of cottages remained empty and destroyed. The infrastructure round the lake brought lively memories of ancient communist times and I do not think I’m too wrong saying that nobody touched benches, party tables and small playgrounds for at least 20 years. And what’s more, there is a huge smoking and loud factory on the shore of the lake that destroys almost all views from every position. Nevertheless, I left with few photographs which show how even an ugly place can turn into a beauty when a right framing eliminates the sh*t. Pity the lighting could not turn better.
Tranquil Morning at Bokod
To conclude, I have no doubt that I’m somehow attracted by bold, cold and simple landscapes that makes mathematical sense. I appreciate a clear graphic designs of scenes in the North of Europe while keeping a tight connection to my homeland, which disposes with an absolutely different appeal. And to refresh myself, I guess I sometimes need to go to weird places… I just hope you enjoy my list but any comments and suggestions welcome!
Posted by Marek | Jan 17, 2012 | Categories: Inspiration, Photographs, Travel | Tags: Beautiful, Film, Fuji Velvia, Hungary, Iceland, Landscape, Norway, Photography, Places, Scotland, Slovakia | Leave A Comment »
Few months back I wrote first part of this black and white workflow tutorial and I really did not expect that it would take me so long to come up with part two. So here it is:) As I said last time I prefer to have just simple grey files as a starting point. It helps me to select only the strong photographs, which I really want to present. I can imagine that everybody has their own system how to mark and rate photographs so just only briefly about my way. All photographs, which I convert to black and white get red label (number 6 in Lightroom) and during the selection process I do rate individual pictures with stars and one star means that this picture is ready for further adjustments.
I use Adobe Lightroom for most of my work. I do all main global adjustments there and I use most of the available tools to achieve result I want. I usually start with overall exposure adjustments and move the exposure slider towards the desired final look (high key or low key). During this adjustment I always pay attention to highlights, they cannot touch the right side of histogram, so I do not lose any information. Secondly, I do adjust the black slider. In that case histogram is less important since I personally do not mind to have black without any structure in my photographs. Thirdly, I work with brightness, which is adjusting the mid tones and you can lighten your photograph significantly without blowing out highlights. Fourthly, I do balance the overall contrast with adjusting the curve. I usually do use the typical “S” shape curve, which works perfectly in most cases, but don’t be afraid to try different shapes. At the end I also work with the channel mixer, which is very powerful tool in case you have to lighten or darken particular tone in your photograph, but in the same time you have to be very careful with those adjustments since sometimes it can ruin your entire work. But the nice thing about working on raw files is that you can always go back and starts again, so do not be afraid to experiment with all tools included in your Lightroom.
I did not mention it before, but very powerful tool in Lightroom is the graduated filter. Sometimes it is even the first tool, which I use to darken the sky. When you click on the filter icon, you can see all the different adjustments you can apply to your file. The most obvious one is the exposure and after that brightness and contrast, with those three you can increase/decrease contrast in the sky quite easily. But remember to check overall histogram, since this tool can change it quite significantly. These filter can be used in many occasions, you can darken and lighten different parts of your photographs. It is possible to lighten dark corner or to darken light edge etc. There are many occasions where you can use this tool. If you are new to Lightroom, try it first with extreme adjustments (move the exposure slider to extreme ends) and see what it does to your picture. You can always delete it, by clicking on the filter and pressing the Del button.
There is also brush tool for local adjustments, but to be very honest I do not use it very much, since I found it very difficult to work with it. So I rather do local adjustments latter in Photoshop. Other slider, which I often use is Clarity, which increase the contrast on the edges and gives more “sharper” look to the picture. The problem with this slider is, that the effect of it is applied globally and I do not like the effect it has for example on clouds or water, so rather than using this slider I prefer to use new graduated filter and apply the Clarity effect only on part of my picture I really want.
The last thing I do in Lightroom before exporting to Photoshop is sharpening. I found the sharpening algorithm very powerful and I use it for 99.9 % of my work. There are four sliders in the sharpening tool, which you can adjust individually to achieve desired sharpening. Amount, Radius , Detail and Masking. First three are quite self explanatory, and masking is just great tool to avoid damaging clouds or water in your photographs. Pres and hold Alt button while moving the slider and you will see how the masking is applied. It is really very easy tool and I believe that after trying for couple of times you will be very confident with it. My usual sharpening settings are: Amount 40-60, 0.9-1, 10-20 and 0-80 depends on particular picture.
This is after global adjastements in Adobe Lightroom. Title: Rainy Landscape, Camera: Canon EOS 5D mark II, Lens: Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4, Filter: Lee Big Stopper and Lee ND Grad 0.6, Exposure: 30", f 13, ISO: 50
In that moment I do decide whether I will have to do further small local contrast adjustments (dodging and burning), for that I use Adobe Photoshop and I do create couple of adjustment layers where I use the curves to balance the local contrast. And that is it, it is not so difficult and sometimes I do work for couple of hours on one photograph, but sometimes it takes me only few minutes to get the result I want. All depends on individual files.
In the next and last part of this tutorial I will focus on the final print and presentation, which is why we all do this entire process. There is nothing more satisfactory than having a nice print in you hands.
Here is the final photograph. Title: Rainy Landscape, Camera: Canon EOS 5D mark II, Lens: Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4, Filter: Lee Big Stopper and Lee ND Grad 0.6, Exposure: 30", f 13, ISO: 50
Posted by Ota | Jan 08, 2012 | Categories: Black and White, Iceland, Technical, Tutorial | Tags: Black and white, Canon 5D mark II, Digital, Iceland, Landscape, Lightroom, Long Exposure, Workflow | 1 Comment »
It’s no surprise that the autumn is my favorite season to photograph Slovakia. I’m definitely not going to be the only one. Rich color palettes, foggy moods and (relatively) stable weather make chances of creating an interesting image higher. Every year I try my best to set apart couple of weekends for shooting in my home land and it was no different this autumn. I have been there two-three times and it’s over now, processed films are scanned and I enjoy going through them before choosing which may be worth to finalize. Comparing results over last few years, I have to say that the past years’ fall colors were much chunkier and richer probably for an extremely dry weather this year.
Caption: Tree Brothers, Camera: Linhof Techno, Lens: Rodenstock HR Digaron-W 5.6/90mm, Film: Fuji Velvia 50, Filters: Singh-Ray Warming Polarizer, Exposure: Unrecorded
Another thing to note is that I decided to spend more time off the hills than before. I wanted to get myself familiar with my Linhof Techno, which I could have done anywhere, and also, I somehow started to appreciate places that are less notorious thus require to be worked out precisely in order to stand out. I guess it has something to do with slowing down when using a technical camera as it requires me to devote plenty of time to any attempt to expose a frame. I hence compose very carefully paying a great deal of attention to explore and convey relationships amongst subjects that are often as subtle as a breeze. To catch them takes a lot of patience, screwing and unscrewing various knobs and drives of the camera. But the beauty is that with movements of standards, you can actually create and build connections between elements within a scene. I was blessed with some good light as the storm in the background passed, while playing to place these three brothers right.
Posted by Marek | Dec 19, 2011 | Categories: New Work, Photo of the Week, Photographs, Slovakia | Tags: Film, Fuji Velvia, Landscape, Linhof Techno, Lubietova, Singh-Ray, Sky, Slovakia, Trees | 1 Comment »
It has been few months since I bought the Ebony 4×5 camera and I have been quiet busy learning how to use it since then. For my personal education I borrowed the famous Jack Dykinga’s “Large Format Nature Photography” book from Marek, and I bought “View Camera Technique” by Leslie Stroebel on Amazon. Both of these books are proving great introduction to large format camera system, but the latter gives more technical details, to which I personally begun to understand just after I started to use my camera and be able to test all the tricks in real life. I am still quite far away from mastering the large format camera technique, but I am slowly discovering the amazing potential, which such camera can provide to landscape photographer. I am especially impressed by the possibility to get the ultimate control of the “Depth of Field” even with wide angle lenses, which is quiet difficult to achieve with any other camera system I have used yet. What I actually mean is that I am now able to get just very small area in focus, while the rest is remaining blurred or out of focus, something like the lonely bench in this photograph.
Title: View Point, Camera: Ebony RSW 45, Lens: Rodenstock 45 mm, Filtr: Cokin Red and 0.9 ND, Film: Kodak Tri-x 400, Exposure: 180" , f 8
This particular photograph is part of mine ongoing “Lac Leman” project and I took it near Preverenges in Switzerland. I have discovered this place just recently and it is already becoming to be one of my favorite spots on the lake. There is very nice sandy beach, small natural reserve with a variety of wild births and a really nice park with a lot of opportunities to sit down and relax. My intention with this photograph was to show you this very ordinary spot where thousands of people sit down and enjoyed the beautiful view on the lake and the Alps before me. I used long exposure together with selective focus on the bench to give kind of timeless meaning to the photograph and to me very rare opportunity to stay still, do nothing and just enjoy this spectacular view. I will be returning to this place from time to time during the upcoming winter to capture some other spots, which I have already in mine mind, and also to continue to learn how to use the large format camera, which I have to say is becoming a real fun for me these days.
Posted by Ota | Dec 13, 2011 | Categories: Black and White, Camera, Lac Leman, Large Format | Tags: Autumn, Ebony, Ebony RSW 45, Kodak Tri-x, Lac Leman, Lake Geneva, Landscape, Large Format, Lee Big Stopper, Long Exposure, Switzerland, Trees | Leave A Comment »
As I slowly climb my learning curve with the technical camera, I’m being introduced to its stumbling blocks of various kind. One of them, and quite major, is that I find difficult to compose and eventually focus with a wide angle lens in low light conditions. The converted reflection of a scene on the ground glass is simply too dark to work with it. Also, when I want to preview how the image might look like, there is no viewfinder for almost an instant feedback. It obviously takes considerable amount of time to set the system up, put a dark cloth over my head and see what the final result could look like. If I don’t like what I see, I need some 5 minutes to pack it back. For these reasons, I decided to look for a small camera to use for sketching designs and previewing scenes.
Source: www.engadget.com
It’s been some time since I last seriously researched digital cameras of any kind so I found myself heavily surprised what tremendous progress the segment did over recent years. Unlike smaller cameras, large DSLRs offer did not seem to move much and my good old D700 would still keep up but it’s far too big for what I was looking to use it for. In short, I needed a compact device with sizable display and relatively big sensor resolution that would be capable of making decent images in case I’m lazy or slow to pull Linhof off. This specification disqualified all classic compact cameras (though I was initially thinking of getting the best one from within this category) as well as DSLRs. I ended up searching through a very interesting and fast emerging segment – mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras. It promised high quality outputs from a compact body. There are several models from few brands to choose from and I looked at Panasonic G series, Olympus PEN and Sony NEX system. On top of these, my heart inclined to Fuji X-100 rangefinder but it was somewhat too bulky for my needs compared with the others. To cut the story short, I decided to go with Sony NEX-5n and two lenses – 16mm pancake and 18-55mm zoom that will mostly stay home. The main reasons were three: it was the smallest and lightest (vs top of the line Panasonic Lumix GF3 and Olympus E-P3), it possesses APS-C sized sensor (23.4 x 15.6mm compared to four thirds system of the other two (17.3 x 13.0mm)) with highest resolution of 16MPx (vs 12 and 12.2 respectively), which is supposed to perform better especially in low light conditions, and finally for the large display resolution of 920k dots. Also, the comparisons and reviews confirm that the NEX-5n sits on the top of the competition table across most indicators, including the image quality.
Capture: Just Testing 
, Camera: Sony NEX-5n, Lens: 18-55mm at 41mm, ISO: 400, Exposure: 1/100s, Aperture: f/4.5, No filters, Handheld
The body of NEX-5n is really small for APS-C sensor. It will easily fit any pocket with 16mm on. It’s gonna be harder with 18-55mm but I knew it. It’s still not too difficult to accommodate into my Linhof bag. I did not need much time to get familiar with controls, the two programmable buttons help greatly to set the camera on what you’re up to. I have preferred traditional way of controlling the camera but this one also offers a touch interface that I yet need to explore as I found it far less native than an iPhone touch screen (I realize we talk different devices and I seem to be more conservative when it comes to cameras). The display is large though (3.0″) with excellent resolution – important to assess focus when enlarged 1:1. From what I read, the video output is excellent hence I feel tempted to test it when the right opportunity comes. Other than that I did not bother to explore any features such as auto programs because the camera provides for a full control option and I’m going to use it in Aperture Priority mode with manual focus, shooting into RAW.
Capture: More Than Test, This One Was Post-Processed, Camera: Sony NEX-5n, Lens: 16mm, ISO: 400, Exposure: 1/25s, Aperture: f/11, No filters, Tripod
I took it for a walk the other day to the nearby park to see whether it can serve the way I intended. When turned on, the camera is ready for use within a second. The AF seems to be working significantly faster than when I manually focus my Linhof. That’s good. I won’t comment on its real speed as I do not plan to photograph sport or animals but for what I need it for, it’s bloody fast even in manual focus mode and on a tripod. I shot couple of dozens of testing photographs and I have to say I’m impressed by accuracy of exposure metering even in more difficult lighting conditions. It tends to underexpose rather than allowing burnt highlights, which is always much better of the two. Most importantly and lastly, I was not running any laboratory tests but final image quality after conversion from RAW was astounding when viewed at 100% and when realized what is the size of the camera. Could not see much difference from my Nikon D700 files and unlike the bulky DSLR that I’m uninspired to carry when I go for a scouting hike only, it was a real joy to experiment with this little toy. I have been incredibly skeptical to ‘non-traditional’ camera makers (i.e. other than Canon, Nikon, Pentax) and my old experience with one of early Panasonics only confirmed my view. However, I now have to say that over years I ignored them, Sony and Panasonic, and perhaps some other brands too, seem to have jumped so high that in some categories that Nikons and likes have a serious problem to keep up.
Capture: My Daughter Who Speaks a Lot, Camera: Sony NEX-5n, Lens: 18-55mm at 18mm, ISO: 400, Exposure: 1/125s, Aperture: f/8, No filters, Handheld
And yes, remember that the best camera is the one you have with you. Sony NEX-5n has the potential to be my best camera in many occasions. I guess I’m going to give it a chance to be much more than a scrapbook that I originally meant it for.
PS. This is not the thorough review, you can find plenty on the web. I more look at a specific use of the camera for my own needs in hopes that there might be some people around who were thinking of the same. What I missed but would like to give Sony credit for is absolutely excellent quality of full HD video that I might be tempted to do now, as well as the option to connect serious Zeiss A-mount lenses through a mount adaptor. Though this makes the system almost as bulky as DSLR, I like the idea of upgrading when needed.
Posted by Marek | Dec 11, 2011 | Categories: Camera, Czech, Technical | Tags: 16mm, 18-55mm, Autumn, Camera, Czech, Digital, Photograps, Prague, Review, Sony NEX-5n, Technical, Test, Trees | Leave A Comment »
