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July 26, 2007
[ SIGMA 70mm DG Macro lens ]
Price: $800
Highly Recommended
The low-down: This new 70mm f2.8 macro lens is suitable for both digital and film cameras. The macro function is excellent, taking photographs down to 1:1 magnification. At its closest focus the lens barrel extends about 5.5cm but it doesn’t rotate which means that a polarising filter can be used in macro mode. Construction quality is good. There is a Limit/Full switch to reduce the hunting for focus. In closeup it restricts the focus range to a few centimetres and otherwise to 1.5m to infinity. The manual focus ring works smoothly, although a little more damping would be preferred. The designation “macro” doesn’t mean that it can only be used for closeups – it is, in fact, an ideal portrait lens having a 105mm focal length (in 35mm film terms) on a digital SLR.
Like: The optical qualities of this lens are superb. It is sharp with no distortion and contrast and colour are excellent.
Dislike: The focus motor is noisy and autofocus is slow. In close-up mode we preferred to use the manual focus ring because it was faster and more accurate. Compared with a Nikon or Canon prime the Sigma is mechanically a bit uncouth.
Verdict: The thing to keep in mind here is the price and what you get for it. Optically the Sigma is excellent, and not just in value-for-money terms. It feels and looks good. A good prime lens of this focal length and with macro ability is a joy to use because it is so versatile and is completely free of the pesky compromises inevitable in zoom lenses that cover this range. On top of that it is reasonably fast, at f2.8 So for anyone interested in photographing bees knees or flattering portraits this lens is a winner.
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Posted by terry at 05:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
[ THE TRULY PORTABLE COMPUTER ]
BEING RICH IS NOT A BED OF ROSES, YOU KNOW. Our pal D is a true plutocrat with multiple houses and he shares his week between two of them. He has a desktop computer at both and he also has a notebook. But still cyber happiness eludes him.
His problem is synchronisation. He receives an email at home A from a new contact. He enters the contact address and details onto the A computer and updates his appointment calendar. Then what? Does he copy the address book to his notebook, carry it all the way to home B, hook up said notebook with computer B and transfer all the new emails, addresses, bookmarks from Firefox, images he is editing, documents he is writing and so on?
dpexpert has been playing around with the latest doodad from Sandisk, the people who made digital photography possible by inventing “digital film” in the form of tiny solid state memory cards. This new embodiment of solid state memory is the Cruzer USB 2.0 Flash Drive and it is the solution to all D’s problems. It’s no bigger than any USB memory dongle but it packs in 8 gigabytes of memory.
The Cruzer doesn’t behave in the same way as the generic USB stick. When it is first plugged into a computer it goes through an initialisation routine that puts it into the My Computer drive list. On our Vista PC, for some reason, it shows up as CD Drive P.
The stick comes preloaded with some portable software, including the brain dead Hewlett Packard Photosmart editor. Ignore it! There are better portable photo editors.
Portable applications run from the USB stick and don’t need to be installed on any of D’s several PCs. He carries in his pocket everything he needs for email, web browsing, photo editing, video viewing and word processing. The portable versions of the open source photo editing program Gimp, and the viewer and editor Xnview, take care of all the basic photo manipulation routines, including cropping, brightness/contrast, colour balance and sharpening. Xnview even uses Photoshop 8bf filter plug-ins.
Portable applications are now big business with commercial and freeware programs for download. One of the most comprehensive freeware sites is PortableFreeware. There are portable versions of Firefox, and the companion email client Thunderbird. The free open source office suite, OpenOffice Portable which will do just about anything that Microsoft Office will do except max out your credit card.
Our favourite all-formats media player, VLC, is available in portable form, as is the excellent audio editor, Audacity.
Some devotees of portable applications just like the idea of having their software in a stripped down, no frills form that doesn’t clog up the registry or the hard drive.
The Cruzer creates its own attractive user interface and Sandisk have a web site devoted to portable applications. The unit is well designed with a retractable connector. The Sandisk Cruzer costs $245 for 8gb or $145 for 4gb and there are alternatives to look at. The key to portability is the U3 hardware/software standards that have been agreed to in order to guarantee compatibility. A number of USB memory key manufacturers are offering U3 enabled dongles and for plutocrats like D they offer a new way of using a computer.
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Posted by terry at 05:09 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 19, 2007
[ GETTING RID OF THE NOISE ]
Last week we considered the nature and causes of image noise – this week we look at some ways of getting rid of it.
Let’s take the most annoying example of picture noise. You have taken a terrific landscape picture of the fabled hills of Tuscany, following the two thirds rule of composition. In this case two thirds sky and one third foreground. And the sky is a rich blue, full of fluffy clouds.
The sky is a rich blue because it is slightly underexposed, one of the conditions guaranteed to produce picture noise even in the best cameras. Instead of being a smooth blue it is mottled with what looks like film grain. Is it possible to be rid of the mottling?
When it comes to technology we know that every problem has a solution because that’s how clever people spot a business opening. It comes as no surprise that there are a number of computer software solutions to the noise problem.
Photo editing programs like PaintShop Pro and Photoshop, as well as RAW converters like Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Camera RAW and Bibble have noise reduction functions built in. Bibble Pro (U$130) uses the Noise Ninja engine for noise reduction.
Noise Ninja (U$35) is an impressive application that gives the user a great measure of control over the way in which the noise is removed. The challenge in the process is to get rid of the objectionable grain without at the same time simply smoothing away all the fine detail. In reality it is not possible to both despeckle and keep detail, but the best of these tools give the user choices in balancing one against the other. Noise Ninja is the standard against which other programs must be measured because it is the most comprehensive, stand alone, single purpose application for the job.
The “Remove Digital Camera Noise” operation in PaintShop Pro Photo XI shows side by side preview images of the original picture alongside the treated image and the preview is interactive. As the smoothing and sharpening controls change the preview image changes to show the effect. This works well because it gives an instant assessment of the trade-off between noise elimination and preserved detail. The only drawback with the PaintShop Pro function is that it is unbelievably slow in its processing, even on a fast computer.
The Adobe approach to noise reduction in Lightroom, Camera RAW and Photoshop is conservative, staying on the side of preserved detail at the expense of noise reduction. This is a purist approach that will appeal to those prepared to live with a degree of graininess.
Of all the noise reduction software we tried we were most impressed with Noiseware . In its most elaborate form (U$50) it comes as a Photoshop plug-in, but here’s the truly wonderful news, there is a Noiseware Community Edition which is free. It’s stand alone and not a plug-in, so it’s not as convenient as the integrated version, but it does the job, is really intuitive and easy to use and costs nothing. The drop-down Settings menu makes the job easy – just choose Landscape or Portrait or select the degree of noise and click on the Go button and the processing is done in a nonce. This little application makes all the others look under-nourished and over-priced.
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Posted by terry at 07:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
[ REVIEW—SIGMA SD14 digital SLR ]
Price: $2695 body only
Recommended
The low-down: This camera’s unique feature is its Foveon sensor. All other digital cameras use a two dimensional CMOS or CCD sensor with an overlaid Bayer RGB filter. The Foveon is a three layer chip with 4.7 megapixels on each layer and separation into RGB is achieved by utilising a characteristic of the way in which red, blue and green light passes through silicon to different depths. The SD14 is the latest development of the Foveon technology and it is incorporated into a body that is also eccentric in its control layout and ergonomics. Controls and menus are limited and rough compared with the competition. Where the Nikon/Canon cameras have four or more layers of menus this has just one, which is indicative of its scarcity of features.
Like: The image quality. (See below) There is a dust protection screen in front of the sensor that is easy to clean.
Dislike: The LCD screen is poor. It has low resolution and crude image rendering. We reviewed pictures and concluded that exposure, focus and white balance were all unacceptable and then found that when the images were opened on the computer they were perfect.
Verdict: The price of the Sigma is the problem. It is more expensive than the Nikon D200 and the Canon 30D. Happy Sigma owners argue that the image quality from the Foveon sensor is so superior to the conventional CCD/CMOS that the price is justified. We did a crude subjective comparison with a Nikon D80 (10 megapixels) and concluded that the Sigma has better edge definition without any nasty sharpening artefacts and therefore has more apparent resolved detail. The Nikon colour was more accurate, although inclining to cold. The Sigma was warm, which is an attractive distortion, but a distortion nonetheless. We shot in RAW mode so it was easy to adjust the colour balance before opening in Photoshop. The Sigma has better apparent dynamic range. While the differences between the cameras are small they can be seen. The Sigma feels rough compared with the Nikon and it costs $1000 more and it produces slightly better images. Decisions decisions!
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Posted by terry at 07:05 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
July 14, 2007
[ CANON EOS-1D Mark III ]
Price: $6500 (body only)
Highly Recommended
The low-down: This is one of Canon’s professional digital SLRs, designed for photo journalists who demand good image quality and very fast shooting. The 10 megapixel sensor delivers fine images and the 10 frames per second burst speed keeps up with the action. Holding the shutter release button down in burst mode records up to 110 images to the memory buffer before writing to the memory card, both CF and SD. The massive battery pack keeps the power coming for this continuous shooting. For studio work there is a function called “live view” in which the mirror is raised and the LCD screen is used as a viewfinder. Also the camera can be tethered to a television and the image previewed on the screen. The down side is that the autofocus system is disabled in live view mode.
Like: The speed of operation of this camera is breathtaking. For action shots – football, wildlife or war – this is the camera to carry. There is both automatic and manual sensor dust removal.
Dislike: The weight! However the weight is the price that has to be paid for the huge batteries and the tank-like construction. This camera, with its magnesium alloy body and 70 or so dust and water seals, is designed to take a battering in wet and dirty conditions and still remain operable.
Verdict: The EOS-1D Mark III is a professional tool for photojournalists. For well-heeled amateurs who want top quality images the Canon 5D ($5000 for the body) will do the job with its 12 megapixels on a full 35 mm frame size sensor. The extra $1600 for the 1D buys extra battery power delivering 2200 shots between charges and the blazing capture speed but not necessarily better images. One of the difficulties in assessing the 1D is that it has so many user-selectable shooting parameters that it would take some weeks of constant use to customise the camera to a tester’s satisfaction. Do not lose the instruction manual! Even to an experienced digital camera user this is not an intuitive camera.
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Posted by terry at 02:39 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
[ KEEP THE NOISE DOWN, CHAPS! ]
DPEXPERT HAS BEEN RABBITING ON LATELY about image noise in the cameras we have been testing. And readers have been writing to us, perplexed by the concept of visible noise. Isn’t noise something that you hear, and not something that you see?
Image noise looks like film grain. It shows up as a speckling or mottling of flat surfaces, such as the sky. It can be a particular problem in slightly underexposed areas, as in the shadows on the side of a nose. When it is really evident it can obscure fine detail, such as individual hairs.
A number of factors affect the noisiness of a picture. Long exposures are more prone to noise than short ones. The higher the ISO setting on the camera the more noise there will be. The higher the density of photoreceptors on the sensor chip the more noise is likely to be intrusive, even at relatively low ISO speeds.
As manufacturers fit their compact cameras with tiny sensors sporting 10 million pixels noise is becoming more of an issue. Why should this be so?
A camera sensor is made up of millions of light sensitive diodes which convert the light into an electrical signal that will be interpreted by the camera’s processor as a colour – red, blue or green. The receptors generate some signal even when there is no light falling on them and that is noise. And, unlike film grain which is black, digital noise is coloured. Camera makers must make sure that their pixels generate enough charge to render the underlying noise invisible.
The bigger the pixel the easier it is to get a good signal to noise ratio. So professional cameras, like the Canon 1D Mark III reviewed here, have 10 million big pixels on an area of 28 by 19 mm. The Canon G7, the company’s top compact, also has 10 million pixels, but on an area 7.2 by 5.3 mm. Not only are the pixels smaller, the space between them is also decreased and minimising noise is more difficult.
Some cameras have inbuilt noise reduction but this also creates problems. If the effect is too aggressive skin will have all its detail smoothed out and will look like plastic.
Most cameras produce acceptable prints up to the standard 10 by 15 cm size, and image noise is not an issue. But for photographers with A4 or A3 ambitions noise may be a problem, particularly if the final print is a cropped part of the original.
Not only is more not better where noise is concerned, ten megapixels in a compact camera may not even give better image detail than a six megapixel sensor because of the limits on the resolving power of the lens.
There are noise reduction programs that do an excellent job of removing the grain from pictures, but most users of compact cameras are not going to edit images in the computer. It is better to resist the sales person who promises more pixels for fewer dollars and to insist on seeing the best six or seven megapixel camera on offer. While we’re talking about Canon product we love the Ixus 800is ($600). It has a six megapixel sensor and an image stabilised lens, plus an optical viewfinder. Very sensible.
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Posted by terry at 02:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 08, 2007
[REVIEW—CANON POWERSHOT S5 IS]
Price: $700
Highly Recommended
The low-down: This is the latest version of Canon’s all-in-one long zoom (36–432 mm film equivalent) camera. The lens is impressively fast at f2.7 wide and f3.5 long. Focus is reasonably quick, except at the longest extension. Overall construction quality is superb and the swivelling LCD screen is a wonderful feature which is disappearing from other cameras. All controls are well placed and intuitive to use. As always Canon’s Function and Menu displays are clear and easy to follow. Controls are similar to those on an SLR, with the choice of automatic or user controls. There is an external flash shoe and tele and wide lens extenders are available as options. There is true optical image stabilisation that is effective and necessary when the lens is at its longest. Power is supplied from AA batteries and it will work with good quality alkalines. This means you should factor into the price a set of rechargeable NiMH batteries and charger.
Like: The super macro function is outstanding. Anyone with a passion for small flowers or insects should consider this camera. And the camera is responsive with only the slightest suggestion of shutter lag compared with an SLR. The swivelling LCD screen is a boon that allows the camera to be held on the ground, if necessary, and the viewfinder viewed from above.
Dislike: Once again we deplore the electronic viewfinder, as boring as the repetition may be. What is amazing is that these things never get any better. After several years of application in digital cameras we might expect to see an improvement in the resolution and contrast in these horrible things, but the EVF is not getting any development attention.
Verdict: The Canon S5 IS is one of the best of the pseudo SLR super zooms. The lens is outstanding and the company has kept the pixel count to 8 million. That’s about a million more than we consider ideal and images are a bit noisy at ISO speeds above 200, but not so much so that the picture is degraded. This is a good all-purpose camera with a standout macro ability.
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Posted by terry at 08:52 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
[ THE TRAVELLER'S CAMERA ]
THIS IS THE TIME OF YEAR when the fortunate few forsake these frozen latitudes and head north in pursuit of sun and culture. Which means it is the time of year when Imaging is asked for advice on the best camera for recording sights and sites on the travellers’ itineraries.
The answer is simple: take a digital single lens reflex with a lens or two, covering the range (in film terms) of 24mm to about 200mm and you have all the gear you need. This is excellent advice that practically no one takes, for a number of reasons.
First, there is an assumption – erroneous, as it happens – that SLRs are fantastically complex and difficult cameras to use. Rubbish! Of all camera types the digital SLR is the easiest to use and takes the best pictures.
Second objection, SLRs are too bulky. True. There is a lot to be said for a compact camera that retracts its lens and which fits in a coat or shirt pocket. But portability and miniaturisation comes at a cost of versatility and quality. However, as the purpose of the overseas trip is to visit and see, and not to take photographs of professional standard, the compromise is usually acceptable.
But third, the killer argument against the SLR that Imaging has heard more times than he cares to remember: “I don’t want to look like an American tourist!”
If the destination is Europe there is a greater need for a wide angle lens than for telephoto. There are not many compact digitals that come with a good wide angle zoom, but one of the best is the Canon 850is ($700) that has a zoom range from 28 to 105mm (film equivalent). This 7 megapixel camera has an optically image stabilised lens system.
The Canon is ideal for Europe. Wide enough to take buildings in narrow streets and just long enough for a shot of the Matterhorn from Gornergrat. And it has an optical viewfinder. Even in bright sunlight you can compose the image in the viewfinder when it is invisible on the LCD screen.
After Europe, if you intend to come home via Africa and a bit of photographic big game hunting on the Serengeti, 105mm won’t let you get the close-up of the lioness and her cubs without becoming their lunch. You need more at the telephoto end of the lens.
The camera with both wide and long is the Panasonic Lumix DMC–TZ2 ($660) or TZ3 ($770). These have 28 to 280 mm zooms. The lens “folds” in the camera, making for a slightly bulkier unit than most compacts but it is a small trade-off for a versatile digicam. And the Panasonics have effective image stabilisation for when the bull elephant charges and you tremble with terror.
The Panasonic only has an LCD viewfinder which is invisible in equatorial sunlight, but help is at hand. Delkin Devices makes a range of LCD hoods () for this type of camera. The hoods shade the screen from overhead and side light. Local distributor C R Kennedy plan to have the Delkin hoods in the shops later this month.
Bon voyage.
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