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October 20, 2005
[ THE DIGITAL ROAD TO RUIN! ]
It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a man -- or a woman for that matter --in possession of a good digital camera has only made the first payment on an expensive hobby.
After the camera comes the memory medium, the editing software, the printer, the portable image storage and the additional lenses for digital single lens reflex cameras.
Let’s start with the lenses. Imaging has just been in a distant city with some fine old buildings and was pleased to be carrying in the kit the new Tamron SPAF 11–18mm F4.5–5.6 DI II LD zoom lens. Most kit lenses with digital SLRs have a range around 18 to 70 mm, which allowing for the multiplying factor because a camera sensor is smaller than a film frame, translates into 28mm to 105mm film equivalent. That is not quite wide enough for architectural shots in narrow streets and not long enough to frame the tiger’s eye at the zoo.
The Tamron SPAF 11–18 solved the problem at the wide angle end of the range. This excellent lens comes in mounts for Nikon, Canon and Minolta cameras and is a bargain at $1100. Not cheap, but definitely a bargain for what it does.
This lens is specifically designed for digital SLRs with APS size sensors. It is not for full frame cameras, either film or digital. The optics are optimised for the particular demands of digital and the results are remarkable.
One of the problems with extreme wide angle lenses is a tendency to barrel distortion which renders vertical lines as bowed rather than straight. The Tamron exhibits little such distortion and, except where a vertical line is near the edge of the frame will never be seen.
Contrast is a little low with this lens which makes for subjective softness, easily fixed with a dab of Unsharp Mask in Photoshop. The lens sometimes hunts for focus even on reasonably contrast subjects. Apart from those quibbles this is an excellent lens.
We carried two Compact Flash memory cards with a total of 1.5 gigabytes capacity. That is enough for 450 images from a 6 megapixel camera with minimum jpeg compression. You think that should be enough? You reckon without the profligacy of shooting in Burst mode. With no-cost snapping there is no reason not to emulate the professionals -- take 20 shots in rapid succession and one is bound to be a masterpiece.
For fastidious types who prefer to record images in RAW format a 1 gig memory card can handle about 160 photos, storing in the RAW plus JPEG basic pairing.
With so many photos filling up the memory cards portable storage was called for and it was supplied by Epson in the form of their PhotoFine 2000 unit (RRP $800) that stores images on a 40 gig hard drive, reading direct from either a Compact Flash or Secure Digital memory card. Transfer is fast and the 95mm TFT viewing screen is a thing of beauty with resolution of 212 ppi -- more than double that of a typical computer monitor.
The PhotoFine also stores and displays RAW files from some popular cameras as well as movies in MPEG4 and MP3 audio files. Direct print from the PhotoFine and direct connection to a TV for slide shows of stored images is also catered for.
A new model, the PhotoFine 4000 with an 80 gig hard drive and additional replay features has just been released in some markets but is not being sold in Australia.
The only complaint we had about this wonderful device is that the battery drained fairly quickly and when files are being transferred to or from a computer via the USB connector a warning pops up to say that it must be attached to the power supply because if the battery runs flat during the process the PhotoFine could be damaged.
The viewing screen on the PhotoFine is so good that it is a reliable way to assess images on the run and to delete those that don’t make the masterpiece grade. Like the Tamron lens the Epson PhotoFine is an expensive bargain and a lot more portable (415 grams) than a laptop computer, its only real competitor. Money might not buy happiness but it certainly can make it easier to photograph and reproduce it.
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Posted by terry at October 20, 2005 04:09 PM
