On Deciding . . . Better 3.0

I’m back from 2 weeks in New England, mostly staying in our favorite campground, Glen Ellis in Glen New Hampshire.

My single most important goal was to climb Mount Washington with my 15 1/2 year old son. It was a cool day and I took the Sigma DP1 as a light, landscape capable small camera. It performed well.

My photographic output wasn’t very prolific, but there are still about 800 images to sort and rate.

My eyes seem to need a break from these summer colors. So I went back into the archives. This was captured in Georgetown near Washington, DC.

The “micro 4/3rds” news is very exciting. Olympus and Panasonic announced that they are working together on a new specification for a lens mount which uses the same sensor size as the DSLR 4/3rds mount but does away with the mirror box for more compact cameras.

This opens up the possibility of a compact with interchangable lenses and a large sensor. Leica could use it for a rangefinder focusing camera, perhaps even with automated rangefinding. There’s the possibilty of autofocus based on infrared or other optical systems as the film Olympus Stylus Epic or Contax G2 used.

I would probably give up the Sigma DP1 for a new camera with a more responsive operating characteristic as long as the image quality was at least as good as the current crop of the 4/3rds DSLRs. Of course, I’d rather have a similar compact from Nikon that would slot into my current workflow and provide Nikon image quality.

I’ve been out a few more times capturing these local fields. They are visually interesting to me, but are hard to photograph since the forms and shapes are so organic and random.

When you’re standing in front of a sunset, it takes much more insensitivity than I have to just ignore it. And after all, the view is part of the process of going out to these suburban farms and sunset was the light source after all. Maybe I can think of this image as documentary rather than cliche. Maybe I want to show that I could take conventional images if I wanted to. It’s just that I’m more interested in this view of the field:

Just like Vincent Versace’s DVD, here’s a quick take on how rapidly Capture NX2 can transform an image by a working photographer:

Moose Peterson D3 Instructional Videos: “Take a quick look at what Moose thinks are the cool new features of NX2 that he uses everyday”

Of course, the passion and vision come first:

Functional Path Training: Seth Godin’s Post Today: “Does it matter? Hopefully this will make those of you that are still hung up on tools and exercises think!”

And my nomination for the best app for the iPhone 2.0 software: Pandora. Personalized internet radio in your pocket. It actually works over Edge most of the time. I began to see why some say that satellite radio has no future.

A break from the farms and hay. I grabbed this shot in my car while putting the 105mm f/2.8 VR on my Nikon D300. This image, focusing on the closer hand, not the face was the most interesting image that I captured. It works for me because the focus and light puts the hand at the visual center, but the face and expression creates a strong secondary focus for the eye.

The 105mm is so sharp and with the VR it’s possible to get a shot like this hand held, stopped down a bit to f/4.5 with a shutter speed of 1/30 sec. The specialty lens, put to an usual use here, is for me the primary reason why DSLRs are the most widely capable image makers, limited only by size and noise compared to compacts.

About 6 weeks ago I decided to take advantage of the longer days and less pressured schedule to do summer base training. I tried to put in as many hours on the bike per week as I could, sticking to the same two weeks high volume, one week rest and recovery.

Since it’s the end of my second recovery week, I tested my fitness with Chris Carmichael’s maximal effort method. I have a route that’s about 2.5 miles long (short of the recommended 3 miles). I ride it as fast as I can, ride slowly back to the beginning, then ride again the second time.

The last time I tested myself was May 2, when I had a few months of shorter, high intensity interval training completed. My best run was 17.7 mph with an average heart rate of 164. Two and half months later, I managed 17.2 mph at the same heart rate. My muscular endurance was worse, because I was much slower on the second run this time compared to last.

So I feel like I detuned myself riding at high intensity by upping the miles and dropping the intensity. However, the idea of periodization is to build an aerobic base with slower, longer rides and build on it with intervals. So once I start building again in September, it will be interesting to see whether I can beat the May times.

I have 4 cameras available and in use right now.

This image was captured with the Sigma DP1. It’s compact and provides stunning images from its Foveon sensor. Unfortunately, it is crippled by slow RAW write times so that images can’t be captured any more often than every 2 seconds or so. It takes 5 or 6 seconds after capture to adjust shooting parameters. Fortunately, autofocus and exposure are very well tuned, so most images are technically acceptable. Its useful for slow, deliberative shooting or for single grabbed shots. It has a fixed focal length lens that is pretty wide, making it useful when one is in the scene.

My second most used camera is the Nikon D300. It’s a relatively heavy DSLR with really good low light capability. It’s got all of the adjustability that comes with modern automation and interchangable lenses. I’ve got a good selection of lenses, so it’s a matter of bringing both the big camera and the lens selection. It’s worth transporting all of that camera and glass if I’m expecting to be shooting a situation where it’s needed: low light, changing light or changing focal length needs.

Next is my film camera, the Lecia M6ttl. In the last two years, I’ve only used it for my urban photography project, using C41 Black and White negative film through it. It’s my best way of getting a very specific look which at this point is a legacy materials one. It will probably remain a specific purpose project camera.

FInally, there’s my Nikon D80, a smaller, lighter DSLR. With the 24mm f/2.8 or the 50mm f/1.8 primes, its a great image maker. The problem is that I don’t agree with its idea of exposure in evaluative mode. That means that unless I use spot metering, I get too many poorly exposed shots. The D300 with active D-Lighting generally interprets the scene correctly. I’ve gone out with the D80 on a few occasions where I wanted something light but with some flexibility, like macro capability with the 105mm f/2.8 VR. I’ll shoot somewhat deliberately though, using spot metering. So it sits between the DP1- small but inflexible and the D300, the big guns and able to do anything.

This is another hay image from yesterday. Expect more over the next few days. This is technically a better image than yesterday’s and is a really nice print. Hay is interesting in that it picks up both specular highlights because of it’s hard reflective surface but also absorbs in a really warm range, especially in morning or evening light.

I should note that this is another Sigma DP1 image in which a straight RAW to TIFF conversion was done using Sigma PhotoPro. I only manipulate the conversion if I need to change exposure or work hard to recover shadows or highlights. In general, the DP1’s exposure is so good that it’ve very rare that I do that. I have a little more success using spot metering, but the evaluative mode generally gives ma a full range image to work with. I credit the excellent dynamic range of the Foveon sensor for that.

While I was glad to see the news about Panasonic’s latest iteration of the Serious Compact Camera, the LX3, I’m generally unimpressed with the image quality of the JPGs posted to the net so far. They look like typical small sensor images, with noise showing up even at base ISO and cramped dynamic range.The improvements seem aimed at low light shooting- f/2.0 lens, better capture efficiency.  The sensor in the DP1 has lousy low light capability; I’ve come to accept that ISO 800 isn’t generally usable and the lens is only f/4. There’s no stabilization. But when ISO 400 permits at least 1/30th at f/4, I can get photos of outstanding quality. I wouldn’t trade it for usable photos at 3 stops less light but loss of quality in the range that the DP1 performs in.

My enjoyment of photography is largely derived from the transformational process of image creation. I see certain aspects of the world with my own visual system, capture images, and through the photographic process they are transformed into something that is both evocative of what I saw but also something entirely new.

When it comes to getting hooked on photography, you see the same story again and again. It is magic first time you slip that print into developer from the enlarger and see the emergence of a photograph. When I load the images into Aperture, I get some of the same feeling in the digital realm. I’ve brought a perception back into the world, transformed by the photographic process.

Hay Bales, originally uploaded by jjvornov.

Somehow I’ve become interested visually in the Baltimore County countryside that I’ve been cycling through for years. This image was captured this morning at about 8 am.

It’s an 8.5 x 11 inch crop because my shadow was in the lower left corner. The light was coming directly over my shoulder and I could barely see the LCD on the Sigma DP1. It’s one of the worst faults of the DP1. But then again I was holding the camera well up above my head which would have been difficult with the Nikon D300 without going into live view mode.

Post processing was Image Ingester Pro-> Sigma Pro Photo -> Aperture –> Capture NX2 (with Nik Color Efex) -> Aperture.