The Decisive Moment

Looks like this year is shaping up to be the year of the Sony Alpha mount. In a bold and aggressive move Sony released three new DSLRs in about a month’s time. The first one, the A200, was released at CES 2008, Las Vegas in January. It was the first time a DSLR was ever released at CES. Aggressively priced and featuring a few updates including quicker autofocus over the A100 which it replaces the camera signaled the intent of Sony in capturing the beginner DSLR market.

A little more than a month later at PMA 2008, Las Vegas Sony surprised everyone by announcing two more new DSLRs, the A300 and the A350. While they feature the usual bells and whistles that make a DLSR what is particularly unique about these two cameras is the innovative implementation of ‘Quick Auto Focus Live View’. Sony came up with a system wherein there is no lag in autofocus when using live view unlike the other implementations on the market where there is a discernible lag in auto focus when live view is used. While this has obvious practical advantages the one downside of Sony’s implementation is a slightly darker viewfinder.

Another feature that sets these cameras apart from the majority of the DLSR pack is their swivel LCD screens which are an obvious advantage when it comes to shooting from unusual angles.

All in all with three DLSRs in the entry level market offering (slightly) different features and the price increasing by about $100 at each step as one goes from the A200 to A350 Sony is offering an interesting choice to folks wanting to upgrade from digital compacts and who are used to having live view on their cameras. It remains to be seen how well these cameras perform IQ wise and also how well they will help Sony into eating into Canon/Nikon’s dominant market share. But at least feature wise and from the early reviews appearing on the net the cameras seem to be performing quite well.

If the above 3 cameras were not enough Sony also announced the release of two premium grade zooms for the alpha mount. The first is the Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T* 24-70mm f/2.8 ZA priced at about $1,750.

The second is the Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G priced at about $800.

And finally, as icing on the cake, Sony announced the development of a 35mm full size CMOS sensor. If speculation is to be believed this sensor will find its way into the forthcoming Sony ‘flagship’ DSLR (perhaps a Photokina unveiling later this year?) which was shown in the form of a prototype at PMA 2008. With a resolution of 24.81 effective megapixel and a 6.3 fps output coupled with Sony’s announcement that the flagship would have built in image stabilization it looks as if the year has begun in the right spirit for alpha mount users.

How much of history do we remember? As a philosopher once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. But we keep forgetting and thereby keep repeating the same mistakes. Our collective history is littered with examples of the vilest of deeds that have repeated themselves through the ages. From Germany to Gujarat and from Rwanda to Cambodia millions have been murdered and massacred just because they were the ‘other’. A group of ‘others’ who could conveniently be blamed for whatever imaginary wrongs those in power could propagate about them. And people would believe them for it is easier to blame someone else rather than confront a problem.

Therefore, it is important to create symbols and to build special places where memories of the past are kept alive and remembered. For it is necessary to remember even if memories seem futile. For in remembering we make a promise even if we do not always keep it. A promise to do whatever it takes to prevent what we are seeing of the past from repeating itself in the present or in the future.

One such place is the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Among the museums I’ve seen it alone makes brilliant use of light and space to evoke a feeling of great loss and sadness. Each facet of the architecture and arrangement is meant to mean something and that meaning is conveyed using the simplest of means: stark unadorned walls, huge empty rooms, select photos and belongings, uneven ground, all meant to reproduce at least in part the unbelievable horrors experienced by the victims of the holocaust.

The above photo is from an art installation called ‘Fallen Leaves’ inside the haunting Memory Void section of the museum by an Israeli artist. The artist actually requests visitors to walk on the faces made of metal. But somehow it was very very tough for me to do that. It felt as if I was walking on real people, as if I was stepping on the faces of actual people lying dead. And perhaps that was the artist’s intention all along.

Over the past few years I’ve had the opportunity to use a fair amount of cameras, lenses and other equipment. Most of them were a pleasure to use and therefore are still around, while some left me wanting in many aspects and were sold immediately. So sometime back I made a page where I could give a fair opinion of how I found a particular photographic tool in practical use. Of course, there is nothing scientific about my opinions. All of them are based on practical use rather than rigorous testing. But to me everyday practical use is more important than for example how brilliant the MTF curves of a particular lens are. I hope you find the page useful even if it mostly deals with Minolta equipment. Later, when I find the time, I’ll go into greater detail about a particular piece of equipment. You can read the reviews here.

…and you better listen or rather read. If you have ever wondered about what it takes to become a ‘pro’ photographer then go read this equal parts hilarious as well as sober piece here. From taking the right courses in college to dropping acid (yes, I’m not joking) to being a proper assistant Old Geezer offers great advice on how to be successful and more importantly earn money in photography. All of you with a DSLR who think you have what it takes to crack the ‘pro’ market make it a point to read the complete list. Do read the comments too, some great tips there.

The digital era is yet to enter its middle age and therefore doesn’t quite have the rich history of the film era. But you must have wondered at some point how exactly it all started. Who came up with the first digital camera? For what reason? These questions and more will be answered if you read this illustrated history of the digital camera. Did you know that first digital camera had a resolution of 0.01 megapixels and that it took 23 seconds to record the first digital image?

For all you art aficionado’s Da Vinci’s famous mural painting ‘The Last Supper’ can now be viewed online in extremely high resolution. The version put online has a resolution of 16 billion pixels! This resolution is 1600 times that of a typical 10 million pixel camera. Unlike Da Vinci’s other more famous painting the ‘Mona Lisa’ at the Louvre, The Last Supper is not easily accessible. The refectory in Milan where it is displayed is climate controlled and allows only 25 visitors at a time for 15 minutes of viewing time (or 320,000 visitors per year) with visitors having to pass through an air filtration system to protect the painting from dust and pollution. The high resolution copy put online makes for easier and more comfortable viewing as you can now zoom in to observe fine details in the painting, something that would not obviously be possible at the actual location.

The painting also has a long and controversial history of restoration that often did more harm than good. You can view the high resolution copy of the painting put online and also read all about its history and restoration effort here.

Update: You can also view a ‘making of’ video on how the painting was photographed using a Nikon D2Xs camera and a Nikkor 600mm f/4D IF-ED II lens on a motorized panoramic head here.

• Ok, not quite serious photography news but here is a story about how a couple received their wedding photos in time for their 27th anniversary.
• So do you like photography as well as comic books? Do you want to combine them both? No, I’ve not gone crazy. If you have secretly wanted to dress up your camera in your favorite superhero’s colors but did not know what to do your prayers are finally answered! Go here to check out how a camera can be pimped up in superhero colors. As of now it seems to be limited only to Nikon’s D3. I liked the Batman version the most.
• Old news but which I missed. Google continues to advance on new fronts. Now, Google will host photos (and stories) of four wire services including AP and AFP. More here.
• New to Flickr? Want to know how to be on your best behavior in that place? Well, don’t worry, someone out there is ready to help you with a neat set of guidelines on proper Flickr etiquette. Read more here. Now you have no excuse to be not a good boy!

For some time now I’ve been searching for a general use black and white film whose look and mood I like. And perhaps my search has come to an end now. Before I settled on Neopan 400 I tried in no particular order Ilford’s HP5 Plus 400, FP4 125, PanF Plus 50, Kodak’s TMax 400 as well as a few generic films. Of all these I liked the tones and mood of PanF Plus the most but it is not really a general use film as you need plenty of light for it. But for versatility, fine grain, decent tones and a high contrasty look the Neopan 400 took the cake. The film is also not very expensive for the quality it offers so in my case it makes economic sense as well. As a bonus, Neopan 400 can apparently be pushed all the way to a whopping 6400 and still yield good results! But I haven’t tried this.

While dedicated film photographers may frown at this approach, due to several constraints I cannot develop my own film so I’m dependent on an outside lab for film development and there is not much I can do to control their processing method. This way I’ve no way of controlling my photographic workflow accurately but I’ve to live with it for the moment. I haven’t made any prints from the film either but so far the scanned results on my screen look great and I hope they will produce similar results when printed.

If you spend enough time in photography forums one thing you will notice even if you are as unobservant as a grasshopper is the intense camera loyalty exhibited by many brand name loyalists. The passion and energy with which such people defend their cameras and the companies that make them makes me want to applaud the way these corporations have managed to generate such loyalty. Apart from these camera fanatics or shall we call them ‘camfans’ I have not seen this behavior exhibited by anyone else (except for Apple fan boys and their story is quite well known). These camfans will go to such lengths to defend their cameras that I often wonder if there isn’t some kind of secret mind control program run by the major camera companies to instill such loyalty. The major debate is of course between Canon and Nikon users due to their greater market share but there are many many Leica, Minolta/Sony, Oly and Pentax camfans too.

It is often quite difficult to have a rational argument with such people because they are incapable of taking constructive criticism. Gloves come off the moment you point out something you think is not right or not properly implemented in a particular camera in comparision to another camera from a rival company. Personal insults are hurled ranging from the insane to the asinine. You are labeled a troll, idiot, blind, paid employee of a rival company or, if someone is being charitable, someone who has not experienced the zen of that particular camera. Camfans spend an inordinate amount of time detailing the goodness of the camera they use and how anyone else who does not use that camera is an unenlightened fool. Thankfully, I’ve never gotten involved in such a spaghetti slinging contest but it is fun to sit on the bleachers and observe when one such contest is in progress.

It might seem as if I’m exaggerating or painting a broad swathe of such camera fundamentalism on every photographer but this is a well documented phenomenon. Of course that is not to say that every one who uses a camera will be a camfan. There are still many sane people left with whom you can have a civilized discussion about cameras without feeling as if you are committing high treason or an act of terror!

In parting here is a link to an interesting article by Rob Sheppard on the Rashomon effect in photographers. It goes into greater detail about why we choose the equipment we do and why most of us spend so much time defending that choice.

Let us go back a few years, October 2001 to be exact, for an interview of the Canadian photographer Freeman Patterson by Chris Maher and Larry Berman, which you can read here. Make yourself a coffee, turn off your cell phone and settle down to read a really nice discussion on how visual design plays a big role in photography, use of photoshop and the role of workshops among other things. Parts of the interview might seem a bit dated from today’s perspective but the interview still makes for fascinating reading.

Oh, if you don’t finish your coffee by the end of the above interview there are links to interviews of other photographers at the end of the page. Do check them out.