Category Archives: Photography

Exploring the Souks

Posted on 12 November 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google
Moroccan drummers in the Marrakech Medina
Camera: Panasonic DMC-GX7 | Date: 10-11-2013 17:41 | Resolution: 4592 x 3064 | ISO: 200 | Exp. bias: -66/100 EV | Exp. Time: 1/640s | Aperture: 7.1 | Focal Length: 264.0mm (~548.0mm) | Lens: LUMIX G VARIO 100-300/F4.0-5.6

A gentle first morning, waiting for the others to arrive, but by lunchtime we were assembled. It definitely works well for me arriving slightly early and having time to sort myself out.

After introductions and a leisurely lunch, we got straight into the trip, with a visit to the Medina, the old centre of Marrakech. This is built around a large central square, which fills through the afternoon with a variety of vendors and performers, and then south of this you get into the souks, the warren of tiny streets filled with market stalls and busy artisans.

Everywhere you point your eye or your camera is a feast of visual opportunities – beautiful displays, bright colours, fascinating produce. The majority of the vendors seem happy or at least tolerant with photographers, although you have to respect those who say “no photos”, and you do hear the odd grumble about people who just want to take photos and not buy.

The Panasonic GX7 is an excellent choice for this sort of photography – it’s largely ignored if I have it in silent mode and with the tiny 14-42mm zoom, especially standing next to my co-venturers who are all using big Nikons or Canons, the latter with big white lenses. I’m still pretty unobtrusive (at least on the camera front, you know me) with the jewel-like 45-175mm lens, but the new 100-300mm does attract more attention. To offset this it’s a great lens, sharp, quick to focus and with wonderful contrast. The shot of the two drummers, above, was taken right across the square.

Also on the kit front, I’m very pleased with another little invention. “Cerberus” is a gadget which takes one power input and presents three “figure of eight” plugs, ideal for charging camera batteries and my Samsung phones. If you don’t get the reference, Cerberus was a three headed dog in Greek mythology.

The hotel room does have that stupid system where the power goes off when you leave, which makes charging during the evening a challenge. This is maybe more forgivable than in an expensive Midlands “business” hotel, but still annoying. (Update – you can get round it here by leaving your Costa points card in the slot – solved!)

It seems to be impossible to take a shower without completely flooding the bathroom. I have tried varying the relative position of the shower head, the little glass door, and me, but so far to no avail.

Oh well. Looking forward to another intensive day in the centre tomorrow.

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Posted in Micro Four Thirds, Morocco Travel Blog, Photography, Travel | Leave a comment

What I Want In My Next DSLR – Progress Report

Posted on 13 October 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google
ISO performance in the Panasonic GX7 is excellent. Single shot at ISO6400 (no HDR, basic noise reduction)
Camera: Panasonic DMC-GX7 | Date: 29-09-2013 14:12 | Resolution: 4592 x 3064 | ISO: 6400 | Exp. bias: -66/100 EV | Exp. Time: 1/25s | Aperture: 5.6 | Focal Length: 9.0mm (~18.0mm) | Lens: OLYMPUS M.9-18mm F4.0-5.6

Have digital cameras advanced as picture-taking tools for serious photographers since 2010?

In 2010 I wrote an article assessing what I thought was then missing from the typical DSLR, in the hope that it might contribute to improving digital cameras as fully functional tools for photographers. Three years on, and having just got my hands on an absolutely brand new, state of the art enthusiast’s camera in the form of the Panasonic GX7, I thought it might be interesting to see how far we’ve got.

What I didn’t realise in May 2010 was that I would replace both my DSLRs within a couple of months. The Canon 550D and 7D were solid direct updates which gave me the Canon 18MP sensor but scored a round 0 against my other targets. Since then, I have not had the slightest temptation to invest in another DSLR. Compact cameras, yes. Mirrorless, yes. DSLR, no.

My latest “DSLR” has no “R” (reflex mirror) at all. However it is a proper enthusiast/professional camera which matches the basic features of my Canons very well, and I believe more accurately represents where cameras of this class are going.

So bearing in mind that this is now in the context of a “DSLM”, how are we doing?

1. Expose To The Right Metering. Nope. Unless I’ve missed something, most cameras still just offer evaluative or spot auto-exposure aiming for an overall mid grey. Manual metering (or manual compensation of auto-exposure) is easier with electronic viewfinders and real-time histograms, but you still have to “drive”. 1/10

2. Optimisation for RAW Capture. Not really. A lot of the GX7’s clever post shooting options are JPEG-only, and the histogram at replay is still JPEG-based. Highest shooting speed is similar. 0/10

3. Built-in HDR Support. Sort of, but they’ve got it wrong. The GX7 can do HDR, combining three exposures in camera, but it’s again JPEG-only with fixed settings. Many other new cameras are similar. To add insult to injury the GX7 supports my preferred 2-stop exposure bracket in the “HDR”  mode but I can’t set it manually! There are innovative ideas out there, like the 7D firmware hack which interpolates between alternative lines of the sensor captured at different ISOs, but nothing mainstream. 1/10

4. Bluetooth. Yes (makes a change :)). I got the technology slightly wrong – the camera world has gone for a WiFi based solution rather than Bluetooth. Otherwise what I wrote in 2010 could be the product description. I haven’t played with the solution for the GX7 yet, but it’s promising. 10/10?

5. Note Taking, Tagging and Content Enrichment. Limited. The GX7 has some annotation capabilities, but they are very limited, and, astonishingly, JPEG-only. Have these guys never heard of XMP files? I’m not aware of anything better in a dedicated camera, but the new Samsung Android-based one might move in the right direction. 1/10

6. Geotagging. Partial. Despite being a common feature on high-end “point and shoot” cameras, very few interchangeable lens models have GPS. The GX7 supports working with a phone as “teathered” GPS, much as per my 2010 concept, but it looks like it might be quite heavy on both phone and camera battery life. I really don’t understand why manufacturers don’t just build GPS in. Meanwhile I’ve got a good system which works for all my cameras using the phone to do a periodic log, and then tagging images using Geotag. 4/10

7. Focal Distance Read-out. No. 0/10

8. Hyperfocal Auto-Focus, and Automated Focus Bracketing. No. Newer cameras offer better support for manual focus, like focus peaking, and may be better at getting the maximum spread of subjects captured by auto focus,  but still extend little control over the auto focus. 2/10

9. Intelligent Panorama and Multishot Support. Disappointingly no. The GX7 has panorama support, but it’s JPEG-only. See above for criticisms of its HDR and bracketing features. It does have the ability to tag related shots together, but you have to do it manually after shooting. At the very least it should be possible to automatically tag a bracketed set together, but no. 1/10

10. Tripod Sensitivity and Mirror Lock-Up. No, but getting less necessary. Going mirrorless removes the need for mirror lock-up, and stabilisation mechanisms are getting progressively more tolerant. However the GX7 manual still recommends you manually switch stabilisation off when the camera is on a tripod. Why can’t this be automated? 3/10

11. Camera Plate Anti-Rotation Hole. Again no, but the necessity is reducing. The problem gets less with lighter cameras, and I’ve invented my own solution by adapting a long tripod plate with a strategically-placed screw. 10/10 to Andrew, 2/10 to the camera manufacturers.

12. Just Add Lightness. Yes, albeit in an unexpected direction. Like for like things have actually got worse. My Canon 7D and 15-85mm lens is significantly heavier than the 40D and 17-85 it replaced. However I have cheerfully embraced the micro four thirds standard, and the cameras and lenses are both dramatically smaller and lighter. The trade-off is rather more fiddly handling – in many ways my ideal would be the same weight but a size larger – but I’m getting used to the new paradigm. 8/10

So, a grand total of 33/120 (if my optimism about the wifi solution is borne out in practice), or about 27%. The three year report reads “could try harder”.

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Buttons Or Switches? Buttons Are Better!

Posted on 29 September 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google

My Canon 7D, like the 40D before it, has a feature I love and would find it hard to relinquish – three fully programmable custom modes, right on the mode dial. This makes it possible to sort out the myriad of settings in a flexible modern camera, and quickly get to a sensible starting point for a given type of shooting, and then, equally importantly, back to normal mode, without forgetting something important. My four main shooting modes are:

  • Normal: Aperture priority, default auto focus, single shot, auto white balance
  • C1: HDR / bracketing – like my normal mode, but with my standard two stop exposure bracketing and high frame rate multi shot on the shutter
  • C2: Action – shutter priority, tracking auto focus using the central zone, highest frame rate multi shot shutter control
  • C3: Panorama (manual everything) – manual exposure and white balance, defaulted to sensible “landscape” settings

This works brilliantly. Unfortunately in Canon’s marketing strategy it’s classified as a “professional” feature and not available (or only partially implemented) on their lower models. When I found myself a couple of weeks ago at the top of a mountain in Cortina D’Ampezzo with the 550D in “landscape” mode and then saw some interesting birds of prey I couldn’t set up quickly enough to get the shots.

Now I have two “enthusiast” cameras from Panasonic, the GH2 and the new GX7. To Panasonic’s credit, both have three custom modes. (The GX7 actually has five, but three main ones.) However, comparison of the cameras has thrown up an interesting issue. Like the Canon 7D the GX7 sets everything via buttons (and the general-purpose dials). Almost all settings are gathered up and remembered for the custom modes, and then presented back to the user via the very informative viewfinder displays.

The GH2 is different. Many of its settings are controlled on dedicated mechanical switches. While this may appeal to some photographers, it actually causes me two problems. Firstly on such a tiny camera the graphics for the switch positions are so small I can’t always read them accurately with my glasses on (my norm out of doors). Worse, it means they can’t participate in the custom modes. You end up with a situation where either the switches setting is just not memorised, or the physical position and the memorised one are in conflict. I think Panasonic default to the former, but it’s not 100% clear.

I’m not advocating putting a camera’s settings all on the menu – that doesn’t work well either except on very small or much simpler cameras. The 7D and GX7 both have enough buttons to dedicate to the main settings, and that’s correct.

So I think there are three important lessons in ergonomic design of enthusiast/professional cameras:

  1. Fully programmable custom modes are good, arguably essential,
  2. Dedicated controls for the main settings are also required, but:
  3. These should be buttons, not physical multi-position switches (see point 1)

And I suspect the GX7 is rapidly establishing itself as my preferred “carry round” camera. Now where’s the Capture One support?

Posted in Micro Four Thirds, Photography, Thoughts on the World | Leave a comment

Unexpected Support

Posted on 26 September 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google

Quick update on the support position for the Panasonic GX7. Phase One won’t commit themselves on Capture One support. It looks like the DNG converter is the best Adobe are going to do. I also haven’t yet managed to track down updates for some utilities like ExifTool, although they may exist.

Then last night as an idle thought I tried the RAW processing app I have on my Galaxy Note tablet, PhotoMate. It worked first time with the GX7 images! Nice.

Posted in Micro Four Thirds, Photography | Leave a comment

Getting Ahead of the Curve

Posted on 21 September 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google

The majority of my camera purchases have been somewhat “behind the curve”, to the extent that I’ve purchased some just before the announcement of their replacement. However for my latest purchase I’ve gone right to the other end of the spectrum.

I placed my order for the Panasonic GX7 the day it was announced, and have been waiting only moderately patiently for it to turn up, which finally happened on Friday. Why? I think mainly because I have been suffering “new gadget withdrawal”, especially after the disappointment of my Olympus TG2 in April, and the lack of anything appealing from Canon.

It will now be interesting to see how long I have to wait for effective software support. Neither Capture One nor Adobe Camera Raw support it yet. The camera comes with a copy of the ghastly SilkyPix, but personally I’d rather have my teeth drilled. Fortunately Adobe have released some support via their DNG converter, and the in camera JPEGs are pretty good, so if I do get any really wonderful shots in the next month or so I’m not completely stuck.

First impressions? It’s very small, a definite size down from the GH2. I hold my larger cameras gripped firmly by the right hand with the left for additional support and zooming. The GH2 is a bit small for this, but it just about works. However the GX7 is too small altogether, and in addition the lug for the strap pokes out in just the wrong place to dig into the soft part of my hand. I hold the diminutive Canon S95 pinched between thumb and forefinger of my right hand for shooting, with the middle finger of the right hand providing bracing and operating the zoom. The GX7 is a bit big for this, but it may be the right approach, especially when I can work two handed. I’ll have to experiment.

Otherwise all the controls fall to hand and work quite intuitively – the provision of a front control wheel allowing the rear one to be dedicated to exposure adjustment suits my shooting style well and is a dramatic improvement over the GH2.

Based on early reviews I expected the viewfinder to be both larger and clearer than the GH2. I can’t see any real size difference, and it’s still a notch down from a large DSLR like the Canon 7D, but it is almost as clear as a good OVF. Another definite improvement.

Dislikes? Another bloody proprietary USB connector, and it’s different to the GH2. This just gets worse, and any designer who thinks it might be vaguely acceptable should be taken out and shot. This one is so unique that I can’t currently source a spare cable anywhere obvious! However, as it is compatible with the also-new LF1, I hope that it does at least represent the new standard for Panasonic…

Auto ISO is a bit surprising, defaulting rapidly to ISO 6400. It remains to be seen whether this can be justified by the quality of the raw files at that level – the JPEGs are OK, but maybe not as good as I hoped. — CORRECTION — I’ve just had a look at some of the in-camera JPEGs on the PC, and at ISO 3200 they are superb, at ISO 6400 they are really perfectly usable for anything short of fine art, and I would not be ashamed of the ISO 25600 results for an important “memory shot”. It remains to be seen what can be done with the RAW files, but so far, so good.

It looks like the GX7 shares one of the GH2’s failings – the apparent quality when reviewing images in camera is very misleading, and usually pessimistic, something my Canon’s don’t suffer from.

Overall a promising start. I’ll keep you posted.

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Capturing the Setting Sun

Posted on 25 July 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google
Angel Peak, New Mexico. HDR panorama from 15 originals.
Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Lens: EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM | Date: 04-10-2012 18:48 | Resolution: 5184 x 3456 | ISO: 800 | Exp. bias: -4 EV | Exp. Time: 1/320s | Aperture: 10.0 | Focal Length: 28.0mm (~45.4mm) | Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM

I’ve been catching up with some of the outstanding shots from our USA trip in 2012. One of the most successful days of the whole trip in photographic terms started in the fascinating Bisti Badlands, and ended on a short rim drive opposite Angel Peak. The scenery there would be stunning in many conditions, but we were treated to a dramatic sunset, with the sky on fire in certain directions.

Unfortunately, however, the best sky colour was opposite to the most dramatic scenery, which raised a dilemma about what to capture, and how. Most of the shots of the sunset itself are very nice, but have a relatively boring foreground. I’ve ended up favouring a couple of compromises.

The top shot is composed from 15 original frames, processed first in Capture One, then converted in Photomatix to 5 HDR images which were in turn stitched together in Pano Tools Assembler. The dynamic range across the scene was very high, and unfortunately the most interesting areas of the scene, the sunset and Angel Peak itself, are quite widely separated with the intermediate area somewhat less interesting. Although I’ve gone for a fairly “natural” look I’m not sure it doesn’t still look a bit “processed”.

The other compromise is a more traditional one. I call the image below “Tree on Fire”. It’s lit by the setting sun, but there’s not much colour in the sky. My first attempt at this, immediately after the trip, wasn’t very satisfactory as I ended up with a very oversaturated image which had insufficient detail and areas of blank colour. Re-processing in Capture One with its excellent highlight recovery I’ve managed to keep the deep red colour but get the detail of the tree back. A tighter crop than my first go has also improved matters. I’m now quite fond of this one.


Let me know what you think.

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Posted in Photography, Travel, USA 2012 | Leave a comment

Canon EOS 70D: Cynical, Substantial or Stepping Stone?

Posted on 4 July 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google

I am trying to work out what to make of the announcement of Canon’s new 70D. For those of you who haven’t caught up yet, Canon have finally, after four years, upgraded their APS-C sensor technology, yesterday announcing their new “prosumer” model. This will have a 20.2 MP sensor, whose main achievement is innovative autofocus technology in live view or movie mode.

In optical viewfinder mode the camera will fall back to an autofocus scheme based on (but slightly downgraded from) the 7D, and the announcements have been oddly quiet on the topics of image quality and dynamic range, arguably weak spots of the current 18MP sensors.

Now part of me says that any improvement is welcome. I had started mentally drafting a blog post worrying about whether Canon had effectively abandoned the middle ground – at least I don’t have to complete that. I had been waiting for a real upgrade to my 7D and 550D for so long I almost ordered the new camera as a reflex action. And the combination of a feature set similar to the 7D in a smaller and lighter chassis might hit a sweet spot for me in practical terms.

But apart from being lighter and newer, I’m not convinced the camera has anything to offer me. In terms of feature set, it’s still definitely a downgrade from the 7D, and a poor successor to the 40D and 50D. The new autofocus will probably be brilliant for video, but of limited value in the types of photography for which I use the 7D.

I don’t do much video, and on the rare occasion that I might my tool of choice is probably the Panasonic GH2. I do use Live View, but only really to extend my reach (e.g. shooting over crowds), for “sneaky shots” and the occasional tricky manual focus task. 90% or more of my 7D shots are through the viewfinder, ensuring visibility in all lights, and stability down to very low shutter speeds. I suspect the vast majority of stills photographers using Canon DSLRs are similar.

The new generation of Canon cameras may therefore be at best a “stopgap” upgrade, particularly if image quality is no better than now. However, I’m not completely despondent. I think the camera is actually something else altogether – it’s actually a “stepping stone” to something completely different.

Canon have “form” in this area. The 50D was a similar “stepping stone” between the excellent but relatively low-res 40D and the 7D/60D (high resolution, split by functionality). The 70D looks suspiciously like enabling technology for a whole new generation of Canon cameras.

The cameras I think, and really hope, will emerge will look like this:

  • An electronic viewfinder fully replacing the optical one
  • Body shape and size similar to the 7D/70D (which works very well), but hopefully much lighter because of all the moving parts which can be dumped. There will also be at least an XXXD version with its familar control set
  • APS-C sensor, hopefully with a step up in image quality and dynamic range from the 7D’s sensor
  • EF-S lens mount, so we can carry on with all the existing Canon glass

It’s important that the “full size” version is “full functionality” with dual axis level, multiple custom settings, built-in GPS etc. (7D replacement). If necessary for marketing purposes there can be a “reduced functionality” version like the 60D as well.

In other words, I’m now really waiting for something which looks like an APS-C, EF-S mount GH2/OMD. If they’d announced that yesterday I would have bought it sight unseen.

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Iceland Album Now Online!

Full Article ------ Permalink and Comments
Posted on 19 June 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google
0811 7D 6859
Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Date: 21-08-2011 16:56 | ISO: 200 | Exp. Time: 1/160s | Aperture: 10.0 | Focal Length: 28.0mm (~45.4mm) | Latitude: N 64°19'34.82" | Longitude: W 20°7'28.19" | Altitude: 218 metres | Location: Gullfoss | See map | Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM

I’ve finally posted my complete album from the 2011 Iceland Trip! Please look inside and let me know what you think…

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Posted in Iceland Travel Blog, Photography, Travel | Leave a comment

A Delightful Little Surprise

Posted on 13 June 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google
Waterfalls at Veldivnathraun, Iceland
Camera: Canon PowerShot S95 | Date: 24-08-2011 19:02 | Resolution: 3648 x 2736 | ISO: 200 | Exp. bias: -1/3 EV | Exp. Time: 1/1000s | Aperture: 3.2 | Focal Length: 10.7mm | Location: Hrafntinnuhraun | State/Province: South | See map | Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

I’ve just finished processing the photographs from my 2011 trip to Iceland! I’ll get the best up on my site over the next week or so. At least I’ve avoided the second anniversary of the trip…

There was a wonderful little twist in the tail. I was processing the last few shots, most of which were taken on my Canon 7D, and the very last were a couple of shots taken walking away from one of our locations, when the sun suddenly hit the waterfalls just right. I assumed that these were also from the 7D, but the filename and data tell a different story. These were taken on my diminutive Canon S95. Not bad, huh?

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Posted in Iceland Travel Blog, Photography | 2 Comments

Improved Capture

Posted on 4 June 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google
Fisherman casting net on Gibb's Beach, Barbados. Developed with Capture One 7
Camera: Canon EOS 40D | Lens: EF-S17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM | Date: 23-04-2008 21:58 | Resolution: 3233 x 2155 | ISO: 200 | Exp. bias: -2 EV | Exp. Time: 1/40s | Aperture: 20.0 | Focal Length: 17.0mm (~27.6mm) | Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM

Following on from the last post, I thought I’d pop up an example to highlight the improvements possible through just the right choice and use of software. The picture above was taken back in 2008, on my old Canon 40D. As soon as I’d taken it I knew that I had a great latent image, but the very high dynamic range was a real struggle. The original in-camera JPEG is long gone, but the following version with no adjustments shows the problem: the sun and its reflections are completely blown out, and the automatic metering has substantially under-exposed the darker parts of the scene:

My original development using Bibble 4 was a partial success. I could recover some of the colour in the sky (although obviously not the sun itself), and I could reveal some of the shadow detail, although the fisherman himself was never much more than a very dark silhouette. However, this was at the cost of substantial colour noise in the mid-tones, such as the breaking waves, and some very odd banding around the sun:

Onscreen this image works fairly well, but I could never get a satisfactory print, and it was rejected for stock use because as a thumbnail it just looks like a dark splodge. Successive versions of Bibble didn’t do much better, so much so that I’ve kept the Bibble 4 version as the best compromise.

Enter Capture One, and with relatively little effort I get the results shown at the top. I much prefer this version: you can see some detail even in the darkest area of the fisherman’s body, and the overall feel is not so markedly “low key”. There’s also very little noise. I haven’t tried printing it yet, but I suspect there won’t be many problems.

Oddly when I showed these to Frances she still preferred the Bibble version, because she felt it portrayed the mood better. However, I’m definitely going for the Capture One version. Which do you prefer?

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Posted in Barbados, Photography, Thoughts on the World | Leave a comment

What’s More Important: Hardware or Software?

Posted on 20 May 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google
Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall - May 2013
Camera: Canon PowerShot S95 | Date: 17-05-2013 21:55 | Resolution: 2498 x 1405 | ISO: 800 | Exp. bias: 0 EV | Exp. Time: 1/50s | Aperture: 4.9 | Focal Length: 22.5mm | Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

We live, as some of you might have noticed, in a digital age. The displacement of older technologies by digital versions has been accompanied and largely enabled by rapid, substantial advances in technology. Yet a couple of recent experiences suggest to me that we may be reaching a point in many areas where further hardware change is of less importance than improvements to the supporting software.

This has most clearly been brought home to me in respect of cameras. My older, larger, cameras and lenses work by delivering high quality optics coupled with relatively straightforward processing of the captured image from the sensor. The newer, smaller cameras make some dramatic compromises on optical accuracy, and then correct the errors in software. This works surprisingly well, but introduces the challenge that if you want to shoot in RAW format and develop the shots yourself, you need RAW processing software capable of reproducing the same, or better, corrections.

That’s been a problem for me, as the software I was using (the former Bibble, now Aftershot Pro) didn’t have adequate support for my new Panasonic GH2 and its diminutive lenses. Also new owners Corel seem to be determined to kill the software through negligence, which makes the prospect of improvements unlikely. (That’s another story, to follow…)

This week I got a bit disheartened, fearing that I was becoming “locked out” of both new cameras and fully developing my work with the GH2, and finally bit the bullet. I didn’t buy a new camera, I started evaluating alternative RAW processors. After a couple of false starts I have settled on Capture One from Phase One. The results so far are very promising: it not only corrects the distortions of my Micro Four Thirds lenses, but it delivers silky smooth output from my larger Canons at ISO 3200, and does a remarkable job of highlight recovery. The shot above was taken at ISO 800 from the back of the Royal Albert Hall with my tiny Canon S95. (BTW, Eric Clapton was excellent!)

But the big surprise has been applying Capture One to some of my older images. The following was taken on our 2007 visit to the Southwest USA, using my original Canon 350D. I was never really happy with the Bibble version, which struggled both to recover the blown highlights and to pull some usable shadow detail without excessive noise. The difference using Capture One is dramatic. It’s almost like revisiting the scene with a new camera.

Getting back to the original topic of this post, I’ve also seen the same software-led effect elsewhere. Support for a proper stylus aside, there’s not much in hardware terms between an iPad and my 10″ Galaxy Note, and some might prefer the Apple hardware. However the dramatic differences in software capabilities are a real differentiator. (See my various reports for details.)

I don’t want to belittle the impressive work of digital hardware engineers, and we’ll continue to take the benefits of further advances, but we need to recognise that the efforts of frequently unsung software engineers may be just as, or sometimes even more key to the hardware’s exploitation.

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Review – Olympus TG2 “Tough” Camera

Posted on 29 April 2013 by Andrew - Please share: All Addthis servicesTweet thisFacebook thisLink thisYam thisShare on Google

There’s a salutory lesson here about not jumping to premature conclusions. Based on my first impressions of this camera I had mentally started drafting a review based on praising the hardware, but with some criticism of the software and firmware. I even had a great tag line: “A camera for adventurers who want a few pictures, rather than photographers who want adventures”. That was before the snorkelling trip…

For many years now if there’s been the prospect of either snorkelling or diving on holiday I’ve taken a Canon PowerShot S-series or G-series camera with its waterproof housing. I’ve had at least three generations of that solution, which have been utterly reliable and produced some good results. However they are a bulky solution in these days of reducing baggage allowances, and somewhat slow and clumsy in operation.

This year, therefore, I decided to try a different solution, and opted after some deliberation for one of the new “ultra tough compacts”. While Canon and Panasonic both have a comparable solution, after some deliberation I went for the Olympus TG2, based on a combination of its looks and spec.

This is supposedly a very tough piece of kit – waterproof to 15m, drop-proof to 2m, crush-proof to 100kg and with a large operating temperature range. The downside is that this is a market where the competition is intense but based on point for point feature matching, with a focus on improving things like nominal depth protection rather than the photographic features.

That meant that even before use in anger there were some compromises: none of the cameras in this class do RAW, even though Canon, for example, support this fully on their smaller high-end compacts like the S95. to make things worse the TG2 also lacks many of the some other fundamental tools to control exposure such as automatic bracketing (despite a very high frame rate which would support it well), or shutter priority.

The lack of these features is a complete mystery to me, when these cameras are allegedly designed to be used in conditions where the lighting as well as the environment will be challenging…

Early trials did suggested that the camera does have accurate, fast autofocus (which was something I particularly wanted), and makes a decent job of auto exposure in most cases. Picture quality is OK, but the noise levels rise rapidly at ISO 800 and above, the JPEGs have a somewhat “overprocessed” look, and there’s some noticeable pincushion distortion on underwater shots, even at medium zoom. These are presumably all the result of the tiny sensor, which is significantly smaller than in compacts like the Canon S95.

So, off to Barbados and into the water with the turtles. One immediate observation was that the display is very difficult to use at snorkelling depths (where there may be quite a lot of ambient light from above/behind you), and the tiny font becomes illegible for a user like me with ageing eyes. A “high contrast” option on the display, and a large-font “quick menu” option (like on all my Canon and Panasonic cameras) would be useful.

However, a few minutes into the snorkelling session I noticed a much more serious problem: the camera kept on switching itself off, and the battery level was dropping almost as I watched. I managed to snatch a couple of shots, but the camera was really misbehaving, and I had to give up.

Back on the boat the problem was immediately apparent – the camera had sprung a leak presumably through the cover for the USB port, as that had evidence of water inside it. However, instead of being limited just to the port section, the water had spread rapidly through the camera with the result that the lens was misting up and the electrical problems were getting rapidly worse. Although I tried drying the camera out and recharging it, it’s now completely dead. Fortunately I had invested in a waterproof SD card, so I managed to rescue a few decent shots, but otherwise it’s a write-off.

This is an extremely poor design. As you have to charge the battery in camera (using the proprietary USB cable – another peeve), there’s no option of just sealing the camera for a complete trip. You would also think that the camera would have some measure of “double sealing” so that in the event of a leak into the port or battery/card openings the water wouldn’t permeate quickly into the rest of the electronics, but this is clearly not the case.

This camera is completely inadequate for its intended use. Fortunately my suppliers (the excellent Wex Photographic) have promised me a full refund. I will not be spending it on Olympus equipment.

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