Refined Color

by David English on December 28th, 2009

Digital photos give us a great deal of control with our image processing. The problem for most of us? We don’t know how to make the color, contrast, detail, or shadow adjustments that can transform a lackluster snapshot into a professional-quality image. Even if we know how to access the tools in Photoshop, Lightroom, or Aperture, we’re not sure how to isolate the effects to a specific part of the image.

If that sounds all-too familiar, you might give Nik Software’s Viveza 2 a test drive. You can install it in Photoshop, Lightroom, or Aperture for simple, yet precise, color adjustments. The product began shipping last week, though I’ve been using a beta version for the past two months. Where similar plug-ins or standalone programs tend to give a unnatural look to your processed images, Vivena 2 can be subtle, as well as powerful.

You can use the built-in filter controls to apply the tools throughout the image. Or you can use the control point system to target the tools to a specific region or range of colors. Need to darken the blue sky, without darkening the green grass below? You can do that easily in just a few seconds. Need to brighten the bride’s face and add detail to her hair, without altering either the groom or the background? You can do that, too.

I now apply Viveza 2 to almost all my color photos. Sometimes I end up keeping the previous version, but more times than not, it’s the Viveza 2 enhanced version that ends up being the keeper.

More Oh, Wow Photography

by David English on September 9th, 2009

I’m a big fan of the Leica M8.2 digital camera. So for me, the big news for today isn’t the announcement of the new Apple iPods or the remastered Beatles CDs — though both of those developments are important. For me, the place to be was the Leica press conference held in New York this morning for the unveiling of the new Leica M9 digital camera.

Rumors have been flying for weeks now about the M9′s imminent arrival. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a 9:00 a.m. press conference on 09/09/09 might indicate something to do with a “9″ designated product.

With a list price of $6,995 for just the camera body, the M9 clearly isn’t for everyone. However, based on my experience with the previous models, Leica has taken an incredible camera and made it even better. As good as the M8 and M8.2 are, they have two significant limitations. They don’t have a full frame sensor, and you have place an IR filter on each lens to prevent a color aberration from appearing in certain circumstances. The M9 solves both issues.

The M9 has a full frame sensor, which means a 28mm lens will function as a true 28mm lens (because of the 1.33 crop factor, a 28mm lens on an M8 or M8.2 has a field of view that’s closer to a 37mm lens). Equally important, there’s a significant increase in resolution because of the larger sensor size.

For the M9, Leica has brought the IR filter into the camera, so owners won’t have to add an IR filter to each lens. The IR issue might seem to be a flaw, but it’s actually a result of Leica’s obsession with delivering the sharpest possible image (it’s a long story — search Google for details).

The bottom line? The M9 is currently the smallest full-frame digital camera system. And it accepts the finest lenses in the world, which just happen to be manufactured by Leica. As you may have guessed, they aren’t cheap either, though there is a healthy market for used Leica lens. Essentially, any M-mount Leica lens going back to 1954 will be compatible. And third-party companies, including Zeiss and Cosina, manufacture new M-mount lenses that can be nearly as good as the Leica lenses, but cost far less.

Along with the M9, Leica introduced the X1 digital camera ($1,995 list price). Like the Sigma DP1 and DP2, it combines a sharp non-interchangeable fixed lens, DSLR-size sensor, and compact-size body. The X1 will produce terrific photos, though you won’t be able to change the focal length, as you can with any zoom lens. The DP1, DP2, and X1 have automatic focus, so they’re a better match than the M9 for camera buffs who aren’t quite ready to go mostly manual.

The Leica M9 doesn’t have automatic focus, but has what many regard to be the finest manual focus system available. Once you become acquainted with the M-series’ bright-line viewfinder, you may not want to go back to an automatic system where the camera always determines where to place the focus.

I’m only an amateur camera buff with limited talent, but I’ve been able to capture some of my best photos with a Leica M8.2, including this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.

Oh, Wow Photography

by David English on September 5th, 2009

It’s all too easy to become caught up in the numbers. With digital cameras, we fixate on the highest ISO numbers, largest megapixel numbers, and widest zoom numbers. The problem is these specifications don’t exist in a vacuum.

As you increase the ISO and megapixels, you also boost the amount of noise in the image. And as you increase the range of the zoom, the sharpness can suffer, as well as the ability of the camera to perform well in low light. Camera manufacturers have developed impressive workarounds for the accompanying drawbacks, but my point is you can’t just go by the numbers and assume that better specs are the end-all and be-all when choosing a product.

Case is point is Sigma’s DP1 and DP2 cameras. On paper, they seem very limited. In fact, they are limited — because they aren’t trying to be versatile cameras that take good, though unexceptional pictures in a wide variety of settings. The DP1 and DP2 don’t have a zoom lens, and you shouldn’t expect stellar performance from them at higher ISO settings.

Their strengths? They have a large DSLR-size sensor in a small point-and-shoot-size body, an extremely sharp fixed lens (a 28mm equivalent with the DP1, and a 41mm equivalent with the DP2), and a Foveon sensor that gives your photos a different look from the Bayer sensor found in almost every other digital camera.

I could go on and on about the situations where the DP1 and DP2 wouldn’t be the best choice. In those situations, you would probably be better off with a camera that’s more versatile, because it makes various compromises to even out its strengths. All I know is that during the year I’ve owned a DP1 (and more recently, a DP2), I’ve used it to snap some of my best photos. Yet if I had gone purely by industry specifications, I might never have considered it.

Keeping in mind that the DP1 measures just 4.5 inches by 2.3 inches by 2.0 inches, if I had been carrying a similar-sized, more-versatile camera instead of a DP1, would I have been able to capture this, this, or this?

What sold me on the DP1 was the quality of the images I saw posted just after it became available. It was a potent reminder that specifications have to take a back seat to the actual results you receive from a product. The specifications are guidelines that too often give you an imperfect, narrow view of the product’s performance.

Sometimes you have to go with your gut instinct and support those manufacturers who are willing to buck the trend and create a product that isn’t focused simply on gaming the specs or appealing to as wide an audience as possible. With cameras, as well as many other products, it may make sense to choose a more specialized model, as long as you understand the limitations and trade-offs.

Next Billion Cameras

by David English on August 23rd, 2009

One of the most interesting sessions at the recent SIGGRAPH 2009 conference was titled “Next Billion Cameras.”

More than a billion image sensors are manufactured each year with the majority going to digital cameras and mobile phone cameras. What are the implications of a billion cameras snapping photos around the world? Have the millions of online photos become a new data source that could be used in instructive or creative ways?

Alexei (Alyosha) Efros, assistant professor at the Robotics Institute and computer science department at Carnegie Mellon University, demonstrated how photos stored on Flickr and the other hosting services could be used to construct three-dimensional models of well-known tourist attractions, such as the Pantheon in Rome.

He also showed how an obstructed view, such as a landscape blocked by a building, could be repaired automatically using fill-in sections from a context-matched shot available online. The result becomes a seamless, idealized version of the original photo.

Relight Your Photos

by David English on July 29th, 2009

Talk about frustration. You snap a photo with your digital camera, and when you look at it later, you notice the subject is darker than it should be. Everything else is perfectly lit, except for the face or object that’s supposed to be the focus of the shot.

You could try to fix it with an image-editing program, such as Photoshop, Lightroom, or Aperture, but where would you begin? How do you lighten the darkened elements without causing the rest of the image to become washed-out or too bright? What you need is an automated fix that allows for your creative input.

Light Craft’s Aurora may be the answer. It combines a powerful relight tool with an intuitive interface. You can click the Auto Relight button and let the software decide, or move your cursor over bracketed variations of the tool’s results, and select the image you think is best.

Aurora can help you recover photos you might otherwise have chosen to discard, though it can’t perform miracles. It works best with shots where you can still see the subject — if only barely. It can’t draw details out of complete darkness.

This latest version of Aurora (version 1.1) brings Retouch and Punch tools to the mix. This version also expands Aurora’s integrated support for popular photo-sharing sites, adding Shutterfly to a list that includes Flickr, Facebook, SmugMug, Picasa, and TwentyThree.

I still prefer to use Lightroom for editing my photos. However, when I encounter a problem photo that needs a relight tool, I’ll try exporting it to Aurora. Previously, I did the same thing with Light Craft’s LightZone, which I reviewed last year for Computer Shopper.

Aurora currently sells for $19.95 (that’s 50-percent off the regular price). There’s a seven-day trial version, so you can try it on some of your own worst-case photos.

Quantum Leap

by David English on January 7th, 2009

Get ready for massively larger SD cards.

Today, the SD Association announced a new SD card specification: the SDXC. The XC stands for eXtended Capacity. SDXC cards promise capacities as large as 2 terabytes, as well as a faster bus speed.

According to the SD Association, SDXC cards are expected to reach “read/write speeds to 104 megabytes per second this year, with a road map to 300 megabytes per second.” They will have the same physical dimensions as the current generation of SD and SDHC cards.

Tapping into SDXC’s higher capacities and faster speeds, digital cameras would be able to save full-resolution images continuously onto the card (no longer be limited by the size of the memory buffer). Flash-based camcorders could save continuous ultra-high-speed video, similar to the video generated by the Casio EX-FH20, directly to the card. And handheld audio recorders could potentially store 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound to a card in real time.

Look for SDXC cards to possibly trickle in by the end of the year, with a full launch set for 2010.

As you might expect, your devices would need to be compatible with this new format. That means you’ll have to buy a whole new round of gadgets to take advantage of these new capabilities. SDXC is backwardly compatible, so your current SD and SDHC cards should work in your new SDXC-compatible devices.

Fit for a Cartier-Bresson?

by David English on February 6th, 2008

Of all the cameras I saw at the recent PMA tradeshow, the most impressive was Leica’s M8.

It’s the first digital camera from Leica that’s built from the ground up to resemble the famous M-series 35mm rangefinder cameras. The M-series cameras are renowned for their small size, precise engineering, and razor-sharp lenses. They’re ideal for street photography. Henri Cartier-Bresson used a Leica with a 50mm lens throughout his career.

The M8 doesn’t come cheap. The body would set you back roughly $5,500, while the 50mm f/1.4 Summilux-M manual focus lens would add another $3,000 to the tab.

What happens when it becomes out-of-date? Would you have to trade up to a newer, more expensive model? I spoke with Christian Erhardt, Leica’s director of marketing, about this. He said Leica will offer hardware upgrades for a flat-rate of 1,200 euros. Leica picks up the camera at your home or business, sends it to the factory in Germany, replaces or adds new parts, and delivers it back to your door. The two-year warranty starts over again after each upgrade.

I asked if an upgrade might someday replace the 10.3-megapixel sensor with an improved sensor? Erhardt didn’t answer directly, but he did say that potentially any part could be replaced. There are no plans for an M9.

Is the Leica M8 and 50mm f/1.4 lens worth $8,500? If you want the best quality photos in the smallest possible configuration — and can afford the high price tag — you won’t find a better camera for discreet street photography.

If price isn’t an issue, you might consider opting for the Leica 50mm f/1.0 Noctilux-M manual focus lens. The lens is about $5,500, but you’ll be able to capture incredible photos from the light of a single candle. An F/1.0 lens sees the world approximately the same as a human eye in terms of illumination and perspective.

I had a chance to play around with the camera at the booth. Though the focusing system takes some getting used to, the M8 is clearly a big step up from other digital cameras. It really does have the remarkable feel of a Leica 35mm rangefinder.

Hold the Jitters

by David English on October 9th, 2006

More digital cameras are including image stabilizer technology, even when the lens is just a 3x or 4x optical zoom. As the zoom becomes longer, camera shake becomes more noticeable. So why add this technology to relatively short zoom lenses where camera shake is less of a problem?

An often overlooked benefit of this technology is improved low light photography. As the light level decreases, the lens opens up and the shutter speed slows in order to let in more light. That can cause blurring — not because you’re moving the camera too much, but because the longer exposure captures those movements over a longer period of time. With a stabilized image, the subject will shift around less, and you’ll be able to take better pictures in less-than-optimal lighting conditions.