Bushman Panoramic Head

I oreded a panoramic head from Bushman Panoramic, and sadly I had to sent it back soon after I opened a box.

First, their "Manfrotto compatible" quick release plate wasn't compatible at alll with the Manfrotto quick release. The plate of Bushman Panoramic had a wider feet, which was preventing itself to fit onto my Manfrotto tripod as well as another tripod fitted with Mafrotto RC2 quick release.  

Second issue was that it (the model called,Gobi) had a questionable rotator. I adjusted the unit on a level using its spirit level (I also used a digital level on my camera). Then I started rotating the pano head 360 degree only to see a spirit level moving all over the place like a headless chicken.

The actual unit was beautifully machined in general, and I really wished if I didn't need to return it (I got a money back in the end, but I had to still wear the cost of shipping, which was rather disappointing).

Cokin and Hitech ND filter test

I have started using Cokin P size filter system for landscape shots. I like it because it is simple, light, and compact. A good set up to go on trails and fishing expeditions, I think.

Anyway, I did some testings to compare a few different ND filters today.

Here is a list of ND filters that I used for my test.

Graduated ND filters:

Cokin 121M  ND 4.  It is hard edged apparently, but it looks more like soft edged to me.

Cokin 121S  ND 6, 3 stop soft edged graduated filter. 

HITECH ND4 (0.6) Graduated.  2 stop soft edged filter. 

Solid ND filters:

Cokin 154.  A solid ND8 filter made of resin.

Kenko PRO ND8.  A circular screw in filter. 3 stop.

HOYA PRO1 Digital Filter ND64.  6 stop circular screw in filter.

First, I took shots using each individual graduated ND filters. You can see that both Cokin filters have changed the colour of the sky noticeably, whereas HITECH filter is quite neutral in terms of colour cast. 

Also, it looks to me that the HITECH filter has a smoother graduation than the Cokin filters do.  For example, my copy of Cokin 121s has some areas of inconsistent transition of shading around the top 1/3 of the filter. The filter appears to get darker much more evenly on the copy of HITECH filter that I have.

Here is a shot w/o filter as my control

Cokin 121M  ND4 Graduated

Cokin 121S  ND8 Graduated

HITECH ND4 (0.6) Graduated

The next testing that I did was a stacking test.  I stacked each graduated filter on top of Cokin ND8 filter (solid ND resin filter) to see what kind of colour cast that each filter combinations will cause.

As you can see, colour change is quite strong, and it is not so simple to fix on Lightroom. Well, this particular colouring may appeal to some people, but It is something I would rather avoid for landscape shots.

Cokin 154  ND8 + Cokin 121M  ND4 Grad

Cokin 154  ND8 + Cokin 121S ND8 Grad

Cokin 154  ND8 + HITECH ND4 (0.6) Grad

Here, I replaced Cokin 154 ND8 resin filter with a screw-in ND filter made by Kenko (Pro ND8).  Interestingly, a strange colour shifting was gone.

I must admit that screw-in filters are fiddly to use. Not like sliding a square filter into a filter holder. However, it has become clear to me that the screw-in glass ND filter has less problem of colour change than the combination of two square resin filters that I tested earlier.

shot with Kenko Pro ND8 only

Kenko Pro ND8 + Cokin 121M  ND4 Grad

Kenko Pro ND8 + Cokin 121M  ND4 Grad

Kenko Pro ND8 + HITECH ND4 (0.6) Grad

This time, I tried a different screw-in ND filter, HOYA ND64 (6 stop).

The results were similar to ones with Kenko screw-in ND8 filter.  Just each exposure time was longer (6 stop as opposed to 3 stop).

HOYA PRO1 ND64

HOYA PRO1 ND64 + Cokin 121M ND4 Grad

HOYA PRO1 ND64 + Cokin 121S ND8 Grad

HOYA PRO1 ND64 + HITECH ND4 (0.6) Grad

Finally, I screwed Kenko ND8 (3 stop) and Hoya ND64 (6 stop) together to make 9 stop ND filter.

On top of this combo, I put grad ND filters to see if everything would go wild.  Well, it didn't.  There wasn't any colour change I could notice.

The problem was that the two filters started causing vignetting on 24mm lens that I was using for the test.

So, I took off one screw-in filter, and slotted the Cokin ND8 square filter instead. The vignetting was gone, but the extra resin filter had created a new problem of colour casting.

Kenko Pro ND8 + HOYA PRO1 ND64

Kenko Pro ND8 + HOYA PRO1 ND64 + Cokin 121M ND4 Grad

Kenko Pro ND8 + HOYA PRO1 ND64 + HITECH ND4 (0.6) Grad

Cokin ND8 resin + HOYA PRO1 ND64 + HITECH ND4 (0.6) Grad

After these tests, here is my conclusion.

First, stacking resin filters will be more likely to cause a colouring problem, which is not so easy to fix on post processing, I thought. Adjusting WB didn't fix it, and it required too much fiddling and tweaking on Lightroom.

Second, stacking two glass screw-in filters doesn't seem to create a colouring issue.

Third, stacking two glass screw-in filters, however, does creates a problem of vignetting on a wide angle lens. One solution would be to get a single screw-in 10 stop filter.  A screw-in 10 stop filter is a half cost of a square filter like LEE Big Stopper.

Fourth, once a screw-in ND filter is in place, an optical view finder becomes so dark, and it becomes impossible to use it for composing.  The live view mode however works fine even the view finder becomes as dark as a blackhole. I actually find that adjusting a graduated ND filter is easier on the live view.

Canon Pro-1 printer

The new printer came to our house.

There is a few choices on the market in terms of good photo printers, and I finally settled for Canon Pro-1 for a few reasons.  Firstly, I am quite familiar with its operation as I have been using the same model for our Photography classes at school. Secondly, I have already seen some great prints coming out of this printer. Thirdly, comparable printers from EPSON are considerable more expensive than Pro-1 in Australia for some reason.

After setting it up, which took like an hour, I did a few test prints, and I noticed that the prints which came out were rather darker / underexposed than what I expected. I thought our printer at school (identical to mine) punches out images brighter.  Once the school holiday is over, I am going to print out the identical files to compare the results between two printers.

Anyway, I find the easiest way to fix the problem at this stage is to print out a pattern print using Canon's plug-in printing software called Canon Print Studio Pro, and pick one I like most from all those combinations of brightness and contrast.  It looks like I need to increase the brightness by 15 (whatever the number stands for) to get the image looks closer to what I see on my Mac monitor.

我が家にキャノンのPro-1がやって来ました。

写真用のプリンターとなると、キャノンかエプソンかのどちらかになると思いますが、去年から学校の写真のクラスで使っているのと同じ機種を買いました。エプソンの似た様なスペックのプリンターは、２００ドル以上高いし、プリントのサンプルを数枚見た事がある程度です。比べて、キャノンは、既に何枚もプリントしていて、綺麗な写真がプリント出来るのは承知済みです。すでに一度経験しているので、プリンターのセットアップ、Lightroomからのプリントのワークフロー、色々な種類の写真紙のプロファイルの設定や色の調整など、慣れている部分が多いのも、キャノンに決めた理由です。

写真を数枚テストプリントしてみましたが、プリントされた写真は、全体的に少々アンダーな感じです。学校でプリントした時には、もっと明るく出力されていた感じがします。全く同じファイルをプリントした訳では無く、数枚をプリントした上での印象です。夏休みが終わったら全く同じファイルをそのままプリントして比べてみます。

プリントの明るさの問題ですが、キャノンのPrint Studio ProというLightroomのプラグインを使って、パターン・プリントをプリントアウトして、好みの明るさとコントラストのコンビネーションを選ぶのが現時点での一番簡単な解決法かと思います。僕の作業環境では、明るさをプラス１５位に調整するとプリンターで見る絵に近い感じになるようです。

SONY a7

I went to a local camera store to get some photo paper yesterday, and I saw SONY a7 there.

I held it in my hand, and it was so light that I had to open a battery case to see if the battery was inside.  My 6D felt like a brick compared to a7.

The camera body was rather ugly, I thought.  It looked like as if SONY designers were tying to create another retro style Leica wannabe camera by sticking a view finder on an old black Sony Walkman laying around in their storage room.

Apart from its stylish issue, I felt that the electric view finder on a7 was terrible too. We were comparing it against the electric view finder on a new OM-D, and although I am not a fan of EVF in general, we all agreed that Olympus's view finder was much clearer and pleasant to look through.

It was hard to see details on a7's EVF because of aliasing especially on objects with straight lines.  I also noticed that the view finder image got frozen when I was using focus lock and re-framing. The time lag was quite annoying.

I love the view finder of my 6D.  It is a simple clean without having distracting over-lay info. I fell in love with this view finder, and that was a main reason for me to get 6D.  It is particularly marvelous for portraits with 85mm. People really stand out, and the view finder is very clear that I can see their subtle facial expressions. When they smile, they do look beautiful.  I don't think I can get the same feeling from looking through a7's or any electric viewfinder.

Lastly, the camera body is only useful with a good selection of lenses which SONY lacks right now.  Even for wide angle prime lenses alone, Canon has 8 lenses for users to choose. SONY only has one 35mm f/2.8 which is apparently good but very expensive for f/2.8 prime (I can almost buy my old 24mm f2/8, 50mm f/2.5, and 85mm f/1.8 put together for the price of Sony's 35mm).

Well, we played with the camera for while, and I left shop smiling with my Canon 6D hanging around my neck, I should say.

この前、カメラ屋でソニーの新型機を見せてもらいました。

軽さには驚きでした。僕の６Dの重さの半分位に感じました。ただ、 ファインダーを覗いて、テンションが一気に急降下。やっぱり電子ビューファインダーは好きになれませんでした。ただ単にフレーミングの道具だけと考えれば電子式でも光学ビューファインダーでも良いのでしょうが、ファインダーを覗いた時の、「綺麗だな」とか「良い絵だな」とかいう感覚が、どうも電子ビューファインダーからは感じられません。

それから、カメラのデザインですが、なんだか黒いウォークマンにグリップとペンタ部分を貼付けた感じでした。従来の一眼レフと比べて、ミラーボックスが無い分、ミラーレス・カメラは、デザインの面で余裕がある筈。わざわざ持ち易いとは言いがたい四角いレトロスタイルにする理由が分かりません。

 最後に、カメラのボティーは、レンズあっての物。キャノンのボディーなら広角単焦点レンズだけでも色々と選べますが、ソニーは、３５mmが一つ、しかも、これが結構な値段。僕の２４mm、５０mmマクロ、そして、２００ドルで買った中古の８５mmを合わせた値段と同じ位です。

３０分程遊ばしてもらいましたが、正直良いなあと感じたのは、軽さだけでした。

My new mobile photo tool

I was given a green iPod about a month ago.

 

As a camera, it is a poor device. It only has a puny image capturing sensor and a tiny lens, and this thing will never beat $50 camera even.

 

However, as a tool of photography, it has been quite handy so far with those different photo apps that I have installed including a remote shutter release, pocket light meter, and etc.

Cokin and Kenko Zeta filter

My friend, Chris lent me Cokin graduated ND filter to try.

I went out Sunday evening to take some shots with the filter, and I liked the job which the filter did. I can now shoot the sky and the land without compromising the exposure between the two.

I was using some blu-tack to hold the filter in place as I didn't have a filter holder. I was still able to take shots with the set up, but it was too fiddly to do especially when you were loosing light around you and mosquitoes were buzzing around my face.

So, I went to a local camera shop today and picked up Cokin P-series filter holder.  They let me try two filter holders, standard one and one for wider angle lens.  The standard one has three slots to hold different filters which is nice, but it appears that with my 24mm lens, a tiny amount of the image gets chopped off at each corner because of the thickness of the filter holder. 

So, in the end, I bought the wide angle filter holder (BPW400).  It only holds one filter, but it doesn't have the vignetting problem on 24mm.  It appears that I can even stack the square filter holder on top of a normal screw-in PL filter without causing light fall. This means that I can use either a combination of PL and ND grad filter or a set of a circular screw-in ND (like ones Kenko makes) and Square ND grad.  I think, having only one filter slot doesn't seem to be bad after all.

Here is a comparison between a shot without a filter and a shot with filters (Cokin 121S and Kenko circular PL) .

Speaking of screw-in filters, I have been using Kenko Zeta filters. I got circular PLs, clear protection filters, and ND8. The clear filters control flare better than my old cheap Kenko and Hoya filtesr do. I don't know what other tows are like compared against filters from B&W, Tiffen, etc, but I am happy with them since they are pretty thin and not causing vignetting on my wide angle lens. Also I got these filters from Japan and the prices over there are good.  Filters are very expensive in Australia, I find.

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8

I bought a second hand EF85mm f/1.8 today.

It is less than 12 months old, and it appears that it has been hardly used.  There is a tiny hair line mark on the front lens, which my friends could not spot when I pointed it out, and more importantly it doesn't appear to be affecting images at all, at least on my test shots. The rear element is perfectly clean which would be more critical, I guess. The price tag was very reasonable ($200) and a lens hood came with it for free.  

Auto focus on this lens is super fast and quiet.  I thought it was broken first as it didn't make much noise (compared to my 50mm f/2.5 macro which sounds like some sort of gears are missing inside when it is focusing).

I went out to pick up the lens, and went fishing straight after that, so I took some test shots on the river in the afternoon. I love the out of focus blur that I can get from this lens when I shot with wide aperture.  I think it is way too narrow for fishing use, but this would be a great lens for my portrait work that I want to do.

@ f/1.8

@ f/1.8

@ f/2.8

@ f/14

@ f/6.3

@ f/2.0

@ f/6.3

@ f/2.8

@ f/5.0

@ f/8.0

35mm full frame

My old Canon 350D is reaching its end.  It has served me well but it is time for me to replace it. So I got my new baby a week ago.

I have fallen in love with a bigger and brighter view finder on the new body. It feels like the world becomes bigger all of a sudden, and it has been a joy to take photos with it.  

Anyway, here are some shots I took on the weekend.

僕のキャノンのカメラは、 今年で８年目。スイッチが入らなくなったり、シャッターが切れなくる時があって、いよいよ買い替えの時期が来たようです。

キャノンから新しく出た最軽量一眼レフにしようと思っていたのですが、カメラ屋に行った際に、たまたも古いカメラに付けていた２４mmのレンズをフルサイズボディーで遊んだのがいけなかった。

ファインダーに広がるパースペクティブは新鮮で、世界が突然大きくなった様な感覚に一発でノックアウト。という事で、キャノンの３５mmフルサイズ ボディーが、今僕の机の上に座っています。

EOS6D  EF40mm f2.8, EF24mm f2.8, EF50mm f2.5