17 November 2008
TWIP Podcast #56 - And RED All Over
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Scott under:
Audio Podcast
Episode 56 is in the feed or you can download the MP3 at Pixelcorps.TV.
Hosts: Alex Lindsay & Scott Bourne
Contributors: Steve Simon, Ron Brinkmann
Locations: San Francisco, Gig Harbor, New York, and Seattle
Intro Music by Scott Cannizzaro
Producer: Aaron Mahler - Twitter: halfpress
Show Notes Author: Tom Newman- Twitter: fogview
Bandwidth for This Week in Photography is provided by Cachefly.
TWIP is sponsored by Drobo
HOUSEKEEPING
New 3 month contest begins now. Prize is a one year training subscription to Lynda.com (extended version). a $375 value and three of Scott’s “88 Secrets” books. All you have to do is be 18 years of age or older and link back to TWIPPHOTO.com from your blog or web site.
The Aperture Nature Photography Contest is offering $3,500 worth of prizes to each photographer who wins a trip to one of four U.S. National Parks. More information at F64.com
NEWS & DISCUSSION
Scott shot his first video using the Nikon D90 and will have a full review next week on TWIP. Shooting in manual focus is challenging. It’s not like Scott’s LX3 camera for shooting video (point and shoot). Using the camera requires you to think about your focus. More to come next week.
Sigma used the X3 (sensor) in their DSLR. Not sure this is a big deal because now a days most people would not be able to tell the difference using the Foveon sensor.
Downloadable CS4 Trials are now available
The Photoshop CS4 download is the Extended version and is fully-functional for 30 day. Alex feels it’s a great upgrade and everyone should kick the tires on this version but be aware that the download time may be long.
Digital Railroad purchase falls through
Two successive letters-of-intent… both collapsed. This is a warning to everyone about having redundant backups.
“Market conditions” lead to price jump for EOS 5D Mark II, says Canon Canada
The Canadian Dollar has dropped most likely leading the the price jump.
Scott tried out Apple’s Aperture book printing service which he had heard has improved quality with the new version of Aperture. He ordered a 32 page hard-bound book and was very impressed and pleased with the improvements from the “old days.” The book cost $50 and included a dusk cover and shipping (8 day turn-around). This is a great way to show off your stuff and create an impressive portfolio.
DISCUSSION — Red, Red, Red
Alex attended the news conference where the new cameras were announced: Red has gone crazy. Camera prices ranging from $2,500 to $55,000. Resolution ranging from 3K to 28K (261 megapixel). This is a direct assault not just on video but video and stills.
This is not shipping yet. From Red’s website: Prices and specifications subjected to drastic changes.
This gives a modular approach to configuring cameras. You can configure the camera for how you shoot today and in the future.
Scott is very skeptical about this camera making it to market. Alex said that was the concern he had about the original Red camera and they surprised him.
Concern about the company always being secretive about their products. They have the iPhone-like hype around their cameras.
Alex asked if this is the end of film (because of the Red)? Scott claims the end of film came when Nikon shipped the D3. Film is now more of an art form.
SITE OF THE WEEK
Hiroshima: The Lost Photographs
Fascinating story of a man finding a suitcase out on the curb with trash - inside were 701 photos documenting the damage of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. These photos are especially important because:
On September 18, 1945, just over a month after Japan had surrendered, the U.S. Government imposed a strict code of censorship on the newly defeated nation. It read, in part: ìnothing shall be printed which might, directly or by inference, disturb public tranquility.î Well written, nicely illustrated site.
Another lesson from this site: A picture is worth a thousands words, but a few words along with the picture goes a long way in helping to tell the story and identify people and places.
If you have a Site of the Week, you can send it to TwipPhoto.com
FLICKR CHALLENGE & POLL
Photo assignment topic: Straightlines
Winner for this month receives a copy of Adobe CS4. More than 7,030 members on the Flickr group.
Last Poll Results: Do you visits exhibitions at museum and/or galleries? 16% whenever possible; 60.2% not as much as I like too; 23.8% never. You need to go out an look at photography to get better.
New Poll: Have you ever purchased another photographer’s work?
LISTENER QUESTIONS
Q: Listener William writes: A friend of mine decided to buy an AE-1 recently, and noticed that it has something called a laser matte screen, as I’m sure you know it helps when manually focusing the lens for the best image overall. Why isnt there something like this in current DSLRs?
A:Scott answers: Because most of them are auto focus and don’t need that. Some of the Canon cameras have interchangeable screens but mostly they are not needed.
Q: Listener Joao Bustolin (www.FrozenEmotions.com) writes: Hi there guys. As I’ve seen so many people ask you about so many issues, I thought I could have my share. I’m a landscape/night time photographer mostly, but I’ve just been hired to do a wedding 7 days from now. It’ll be my first, so I need help, I mean tips, and I know you guys can deliver it! The bride-to-be told me the ceremony will be held at her house, so indoors, and there’ll be no more than 35 guests. Also, she won’t wear a wedding dress. I have my ideas on paper already, I’m sure more will come to mind, but I still need a piece of advice, a few tips on what to shoot, how to… aperture, ISO. I shoot with a Canon 5D and two zoom primes, 16-35 and 70-200. I appreciate your help and thank all of you for the amazing podcast and the daily tips on the blog. Keep rocking!!!
A: Shoot wide open and put the bride in every shot. Try to photography things to document and not stage the shots. Look for natural light. Put light behind you so it points at the subject. If there is light coming from a window, stand in front of the window so the subject is not back lite. The Canon shoots great at ASA 800 so shoot wide open and maybe invest in a flash (since you’re shooting indoors). Another tip is to not try something new at the wedding (practice before). Alex would go with a 50mm prime lens.
Q: Listener Doug Norris writes: With the upcoming winter season taking pictures outside can be tough on the equipment. Once you are out in the cold for awhile the temperature of the camera will drop significantly. My question would be, What would you recommend (if any) to protect your camera from condensation build up after you bring a cold camera into a warm humid environment? This happened to me on a old film camera of mine and shorted out the camera. One method I have heard of is to place the camera in a zip lock bag while outside so that when you bring it inside the condensation builds up on the bag instead of the camera. Did not know it there is an alternative way or should I just carry around a lot of zip lock bags? Thanks and love the show. Doug - D300
A: A Ziplock bag works because the condensation builds up on the outside of the bag and not the camera.
Q: Listener Dave writes: Hi Scott, I’ve just finished listening to this week’s podcast and as always really enjoyed it! Seeing as next week is Q&A, I wondered if you could discuss and recommend a travel tripod. I’m etching towards a Gitzo carbon fibre model, but need to ensure that it is small enough when folded to carry around easily; preferable in hand luggage on short haul flights, yet sturdy enough to support the likes of a 300mm lens on a DSLR body. My real problem is that I can’t find anywhere local (Dublin, Ireland) that stocks Gitzo, making it a difficult decision based on online reviews and measurements. I already have a tripod which I am very happy with, but it is a bit bulky for travel and I almost always have to pay overweight baggage charges when flying in Europe. Cost is not so much an issue here, I figure it’s something I’ll only have to buy once unless I ‘pull an Alex’ and leave it behind me somewhere. One more note, I’d like to mount a Gitzo GH3780QR ball head (or similar). I know you must get thousands of similar questions every day, apologies if this is repetitive! Kind Regards and Thanks, Dave
A:Scott feels the Gitzo is the way to go because it’s carbon fiber. The problem is trying to find one that is small enough for hand luggage. Scott packs his tripod in his hard-side luggage and checks it.
Q: Listener Tom MacNeil writes: Hi Scott, I have boxes upon boxes of 35mm Kodachrome slides i need to copy. I was going to purchase a Nikon super coolscan 5000 ED, But B&H said it wouldn’t work. I called Nikon and they said it would work ok. What scanner would you recommend? I need HELP! Thanks, Tom
A: Ron uses Scan Cafe — you ship them off in a box and someone else does it for you. Scott feels the Super Coolscan 5000 will work.
Q: Listener Jack Label writes: Hello, love your podcast, I would like to ask you if is it better to use center spot auto focusing or non center, like focusing and recomposing instead of chosing offcenter point, since I heard that offcenter focus points do not have the same horizontal-vertical recognition which can make you miss the focus on moving subjects?
A: Some cameras have the ability to move the focus point around and that’s how Steve and Scott do it. Steve also uses auto tracking. Alex is old fashion and uses center focus and than recomposes his shot.
Drobo uses a technology called ìthin provisioningî ñ this is a fancy name for technology that costs over$100,000. in enterprise-class storage systems. ìThin provisioningî means that you can start small and add in drives while your computer sees it as a single pool of storage. If you donít like having to remember on which disk you stored something, just format Drobo to its maximum capacity of 16TB when you set it up.
If you want to buy a Drobo, you can get $25 off the USB or Firewire 800 models by visiting . http://www.drobo.com/twip.
NEXT WEEK ON TWIP
Scott’s review of the Nikon D90 as a still camera and as a convergence (still/video) camera.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Listener’s tip: Rutger Smit. When you shoot in very humid area and you’re afraid of that damaging your gear, collect the little sachets of silica gel that comes with a lot of things you buy (and normally throw away).
Latest episode of The Dog Files podcast - topic this week is doing better photography of your dog.
WRAP UP
Scott can be found at http://www.f64.com/ and via Twitter: ScottBourne
Ron can be found at http://digitalcomposting.wordpress.com and via Twitter: RonBrinkmann
Steve can be found at http://stevesimonphoto.com and via Twitter: SteveSimon
Alex can be found at http://www.pixelcorps.com and via Twitter: AlexLindsay
Send your thoughts, suggestions and questions to: twip at pixelcorps.com
Story ideas and other items of webly interest can be submitted via the TWiP Ideas Del.icio.us bookmarks
Share photos with your fellow TWiP listeners through the TWiP Flickr Feed
Submit your photos for “ruthless compassion” through our TWiP critiques forum. 
Show notes provide by Tom Newman of the Fogview Podcast and via Twitter: Fogview
21 Comments so far...
Ken Elliott Says:
18 November 2008 at 1:16 pm.
Alex,
I’ve hear you say several times that the split-prism focus screens attach to your mirror. It’s actually part of the focus screen, positioned well above the mirror. I use the Katz Eye screens on my Nikons. A must-have for manual focus and macro. You remove the lens and look above the mirror to see the focus screen. Remove it and install the new screen. Focus joy will come your way.
ken
[Reply]
Chris Ferebee Says:
18 November 2008 at 2:31 pm.
Hey everybody,
What Ken said. I bought a no-name 3rd-party split-prism screen for my Canon 400D and am very happy with it. It was a pain to install due to inadequate instructions, but it works great now and focus is accurate. The autofocus LEDs no longer show up properly in the viewfinder, but I usually use the center focus point anyway.
One major benefit of the split-prism screen is that it has a “ground glass” surface and therefore shows an accurate depth-of-field preview with fast lenses, whereas the stock screen has a “microlens” surface that is brighter with slow lenses like the kit zooms, but can’t preview apertures wider than about f/3.2 accurately. I was thrilled when I could suddenly judge depth-of-field correctly through the viewfinder with my 50/1.4 and 85/1.2. Here’s a very lucid explanation of this phenomenon:
BTW, optical quality of the no-name 3rd-party screens is usually excellent. It’s the consumer-level DSLRs whose screens are not officially user-replaceable. Since they’re not full-frame, the 3rd-party vendors simply buy full-frame replacement screens from Canon or Nikon and cut them down to size. As long as the screen fits the camera, it should work great.
Best,
Chris
[Reply]
Chris Ferebee Says:
18 November 2008 at 2:37 pm.
Oops, my link to the explanation in the forums at dpreview.com got vacuumed. Maybe this will work: snipurl.com/focusingscreens
Sorry,
Chris
[Reply]
Mike Smith Says:
18 November 2008 at 3:07 pm.
To help clarify something for Tom McNeil on the slide scanner. The Coolscan 5000 has Digital ICE. Digital ICE (from what I have heard and read) will not work on Kodachromes. It has something to do with the way the film is layered. It also will not work on traditional B&W films. It works great on E-6 and C-41 films though. If you can turn the Digital ICE feature off, you shouldn’t have any problems scanning Kodachromes.
I am going through the same thing right now with a couple boxes of my grandmothers old slides. I can’t justify the cost of a Coolscan 5000 so I’m looking at a used LS2000. One thing that I have noticed in my searching at that the Coolscan 5000 has a pretty good resale value. Most of the used ones I have seen are selling for a just a couple hundred dollars less than a new one. So if you can afford the scanner, you could resell it once you had all your scanning done and not loose a lot of money on the deal.
[Reply]
Roger Says:
18 November 2008 at 6:27 pm.
I can’t believe Alex said that the focus screen goes on the mirror several times and nobody corrected him (palms forehead). First of all, anything on the mirror will be out of focus and secondly the focus screen attaches to the bottom side of the prism/mirror box.
There are reasons not to want to use AF but most camera makes make such small dim viewfinders they’ve made it darn near impossible. I love to MF mainly because: one, you can remove focusing from other functions of the camera; two, your focus subject if it is a small eye may be too small for the AF sensor to accurately focus on; three, there may be no focus point over your intended point of focus and the only way to do that with AF is to focus and recompose which my create focus problems in and of itself and if you have a moving subject it is not feasible to focus and recompose while they are moving.
[Reply]
miguel Says:
18 November 2008 at 7:20 pm.
the rapid “-ocular” jokes made me laugh a lot harder than i think i’d like to admit.
great show!
[Reply]
Brian Reynolds Says:
18 November 2008 at 9:49 pm.
Film is not dead. I have a lot more fun, and get better photos, with my manual focus mechanical film cameras than I do with my DSLR. Fuji and Kodak are both doing R&D and releasing new films. At Photo Expo Plus Kodak was giving out the new Ektar 100, and Fujifilm (USA) was answering questions about their instant films. Fuji in Japan has been showing their new 6×7 folding camera that they plan to start selling at the end of this year.
There are several companies producing photo paper. Kodak, Fuji, and Ilford make color paper. Ilford, Bergger, and others make B&W paper.
People have been shootings stereo stills as long as there has been photography. Today people use both film and digital. So long as your subject doesn’t move you don’t need a stereo camera to make stereo photos. There are also people making movies with both film and digital set ups. I use an old Soviet era Sputnik Medium Format camera. Recently a company in China has been making new Medium Format stereo cameras, and Fuji showed a digital stereo camera at this year’s Photokina.
The acceptable interocular for comfortable stereo depends on the scene. With both far and near visible in the scene you want to be close to 65mm (average eye spacing).
Katz Eye also makes focus screens for Pentax DSLRs. The Katz Eye screens have split image and micro prism rings that the Pentax replacement focus screens do not have. I like split image focus aids, but have not replaced the screen on my K20D.
Compared to the screens from manual focus cameras, I’ve always been disappointed with the screens in autofocus cameras. They are neither bright nor easy to focus with.
[Reply]
Scott Says:
18 November 2008 at 9:57 pm.
@Brian thanks. Without pedantic responses like yours - it wouldn’t be the Internet!
[Reply]
Karl Says:
18 November 2008 at 11:19 pm.
Great podcast.
@Chris thanks for the info!
The Canon AE-1 Program auto focus prism is very easy to use and give excellent results.
I just got a Nikon D60 with a F1.8 50mm AF lens.
I knew the lens would not autofocus on the entry level Nikons since they do not have the focus cog on the body.
Using the autofocus indicator in the Nikon viewfinder is pretty much un-usable.
So i’m stuck with 3 options now.
1) Buy a Chinese prism (eBay $25) or Katz Eye ($105)
2) Sell the f1.8 50mm AF lens and get a f1.4 50mm AF-S lens if I can find one.
3) Just live with it.
With a baby due in December, i’m leaning towards the Chinese prism.
Why does the replacement prism not affect the autofocus points? I my case, I only have 3 on the D60.
Again, great podcast!
[Reply]
Karl Says:
18 November 2008 at 11:34 pm.
Oh yea, there seems to be a couple of youtube video’s about replacing the focus screens.
One German video noted that the autofocus on his Pentax takes a while and make a lot of noise.
Again, thanks for taking the time to make the podcast!
[Reply]
Deke Kincaid Says:
19 November 2008 at 1:18 am.
quick couple notes about Red. 1. no they do not make their own sensor, some company in Isreal designed/manufactured the Red one sensor, the next gen Scarlet/Epic sensorsare supposedly made by Dalsa. 2. autofocus on these cameras is only limited to a select few of their own lenses. All the lenses they currently make are cinema lenses which are manual focus only.
[Reply]
Dave Says:
19 November 2008 at 5:39 am.
Thanks Guys for discussing my tripod dilemma. I guess there always has to be a compromise so in this case I will have to sacrifice the smaller size for stability and light weight. I’ll be working in the UK the week after next, I’ll take the time to visit a Gitzo dealer there and post any worthwhile findings/recommendations here afterwards. Loved the show!
[Reply]
Bruce Horn Says:
19 November 2008 at 11:28 am.
Some notes for Dave about the tripod dilemma.
You can usually find the closed length of any tripod listed on its manufacturer’s web site. If it is not on the site itself, downloading the owner’s manual and spec sheet might help. Usually review sites like dpreview.com will have those stats listed.
I imagine since Gitzo lists the legs separately from the head you could find the length of the legs themselves and break the tripod down before you put it in your luggage.
If it were me, I would find that length and buy a suitcase whose inside diagonal measurement matched it.
Yes, it does seem unlikely to me that a tripod that would hold a heavy 300mm lens would fit in a carry-on. I have one of the Velbon Maxi series traveling tripods and it just barely fits. I imagine the Gitzo Traveller series would fit but it looks like that has 4 or 5 segment legs which might not be rigid enough for a 300mm.
Good Luck!
Bruce Horn
[Reply]
Joao Paulo Nabais Says:
19 November 2008 at 10:40 pm.
Hi everybody, great show as usual. By any chance does any of you (podcasters or readers) know of a service like scancafe that works internationally? I think they send the negatives to some company in India, perhaps I could do it myself, since they don’t work outside the USA.
Thanks
JPN
[Reply]
Ron Brinkmann Says:
20 November 2008 at 12:07 am.
@deke - Ah, I hadn’t heard that bit of gossip - I bought into the ‘mysteriousiolosium’ PR a bit too much :-).
@Joao - I’d try getting in touch w/ ScanCafe, just to see if they’ll give you any info on where it goes in India but I suspect they want to control the QA part of the process that happens in San Francisco.
[Reply]
Dave Says:
20 November 2008 at 4:56 am.
@Bruce thanks for the help. I really want to see and feel the tripod though, rather than using measurements. There is always something missing in translation. I know that wanting to fit something in hand luggage that will safely hold 300mm glass is optimistic, so I’ll probably get something that will comfortably fit in checked luggage without adding too much weight. Thanks again.
[Reply]
kay Says:
20 November 2008 at 10:48 am.
@Karl: “Why does the replacement prism not affect the autofocus points?”
The camera’s AF system doesn’t look through the AF screen, only you do. If you google for “autofocus sensor diagram” the third of the featured pictures is a diagram of how things are positioned in the camera.
http://www.katzeyeoptics.com is about the most popular manufacturer of split/micro prism focus screens, but I have not heard anything bad about the cheaper ebay ones.
[Reply]
kada Says:
20 November 2008 at 1:11 pm.
Does anyone has experience buying a split/micro prism focus screen in China? I will be going there next month and figured they’d be cheaper there than over eBay.
My Pentax often misses when it’s dark (eventhough it says it has focus), plus it takes for ever to focus. So I’ve started manually focussing, and it works pretty well. I zoom in, focus, zoom out, shoot, and the photos are also in daylight sharper than when I trust the AF. Also it’s nice to have a manual focussing screen when using MF lenses…
And yes, especially cheaper DSLRs have tiny viewfinders (Nikon D40 anyone?), but Pentax is an exception, they usually have rather decent viewfinders, although of course they are no match to old MF SLRs.
[Reply]
JohnD Says:
24 November 2008 at 3:27 am.
Thank all of you for the show.
A less known brand for split image focusing screen is Haoda (http://haodascreen.com/sifs.aspx). They recently add to their line a full frame focusing screen for the Canon 5D.
For people who read french, you may look at this article on the NikonPassion website: http://www.nikonpassion.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=106. They compare Katz Eye and Haoda.
[Reply]
AndrewI Says:
6 December 2008 at 1:51 pm.
“Scott tried out Apple’s Aperture book printing service”
I’m curious what style and size you went with, was it one of the standard templates or did you do a custom one?
[Reply]
