And back to Nikon again...

So I took my Canon 5D swimming with me at the end of the last post. Bad idea.

It's been sent away to Canon for an assessment, but I can tell you now, it's one dead unit. And not only the body, but the battery grip that was attached to it, together with the 28-135mm IS lens. All kabloey!

The insurance company has already forewarned me that I'm only likely to get $2000NZ for everything, since it wasn't itemized out on our content policy (there's a trap for the uninitiated). So, of course, now my mind starts mulling over what I can actually get for 2k.

Never one to shy away from a complete system re-think, I'm now actually favoring a move back to Nikon. More specifically, the Nikon D2x.

Sexy, sexy, sexy...  :-)

Why the D2x, and not the D3x? Well yeah, the D3x would be nice - but it's also way over my price range. We are talking about twice the price, and I just can't justify that kind of expense on a body.

As it is, to make the switch I will have to sell all my accumulated Canon gear - and not necessarily replace it all with equivalent Nikon gear. I'll win some, and loose some in the process.

The money I get for the insurance claim, together with selling my 70-200mm f4L, 20-35mm, 50mm f1.8, 20D body with grip, 18-55mm EF-S, 70-300mm, 580EX flash and 420EX flash, should give me about $4500NZ to 'play' with.

A mint cond. D2x body will hit the $1.5k mark (or thereabouts), and if I add to that a Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 (for about the same price) - together with an SB700 flash and Nikkor 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR, then that will about do it. Not a bad kit really.

Not bad from the back either!

What will I do for a back-up when I shoot weddings? The same thing when I owned the Nikon D300 - I'll take my wife's D70.

Why the D2x over a D300 or newer D7000? Well, that's a great question, and one that I'm still struggling with. Having already owned the D300, I know what a fantastic camera it is. I'd be more than happy with another one. And the new D7000 is getting good raps from reviewers and users alike - with outstanding high ISO performance, great handling, and a lot of 'pro' features borrowed from the D3. Sounds like the obvious choice, does it not?

Well maybe. But for me, the allure of a 'real' pro camera has its appeal. At 12.4MP it's exactly where I want to be in the megapixel race and, needless to say, it's built like the proverbial brick .....house! It's questionable at high ISO's over 800 - but I don't shoot over 800 with any camera (even when I owned the D300), and having NO video at all suits me right down to the ground. And just look at it... it's gorgeous!

When I wrote reviews for D-Photo, I had a pretty good relationship with the boss at Nikon NZ, and he loaned me a D1x (I think it was) for a few months. It was only 4MP (from memory), but the images were gorgeous, and I fell in lust with that camera. I didn't want to give it back to Nikon, but in the end they had another use for it, and we parted company. I expect the same lust for the D2x - even if it is 'old' technology - and am pretty excited about the prospect of owning such a beast!

Of course the other alternative is to look out for a Canon 1D MkII for probably around the same price and just stick with all the lenses I already have. It's a possibility, I suppose. But where's the fun in that?

Trash the Dress (Camera!)

'Trash the Dress' shoots with brides have been popular in America for a few years now - but they haven't really taken off here in New Zealand. Maybe it's the hard sell of getting a bride to 'trash' her wedding dress (although there are certainly different levels of what constitutes 'trashed'). Maybe we wedding photographers aren't pushing it enough? Or maybe it's just a gimmick?

I've always wanted to do a 'trash the dress' shoot, but have never had any takers. And then, a year ago, I was approached by a woman (Danice) out of the blue, who said she wanted to do a 'trash' sessions with me - even though she isn't getting married! She had seen some images from a shoot done in America, loved the photos, and wanted some of her done in a similar way - just cause it looked 'cool'. She had bought a cheap dress on-line, and was ready to go whenever I was.

Unfortunately, due to a full season last year, the shoot never happened. I lost touch with Danice, and figured that was my chance gone. Recently, however, I met up with her again, and the shoot was back on! A year late - but better late than never, right?!

I had scouted out a forest near where I live (only 10 minutes away), that has a very relaxed walk to an amazing waterfall - everything you could want on a 'trash the dress' shoot. We choose a day that looked clear and sunny on the long range forecast, and the shoot was all go!

The day did indeed dawn clear and bright, and we met in the car park before the walk at 9.30am. I had to collect me kids from school at 3.00pm, which left about 5 hours - including walking time - to get the job done. Plenty of time, with no need to rush.

Danice had a friend do her hair and make-up, and she tagged along with us for the first couple of hours. I had my assistant, Nicky, with me to help carry gear, and position the lighting or reflectors whenever they were needed. I find it's always helpful to have a couple of others along on the shoot - not only as extra hands, but to make everyone feel more 'safe'. I didn't really know Danice - and she didn't know me - so I think it would have been very uncomfortable for us to have been alone in a forest taking photographs. Common sense really.

For a lot of the 'Trash the Dress' shoots, water features quite prominently. Which is why I chose a walk that ended in a waterfall. But you need to build up to getting in the water, not least of all for your models comfort. So I planned on using the forest for the first couple of hours, making our way slowly to our final destination - the waterfall.

Since you've spent quite a bit of time with the bride by then (and presumably prior to the shoot on her wedding day), there should be a great amount of trust between you, so that when you do say "ok, now I want you to jump into the water in your wedding dress", she trusts you enough to actually do it!  :-)

And anyway, using the forest as a setting in which to take amazing images is by no means the poorer option. Even if we'd never made it to the waterfall I would have been happy with the images from the day.

Eventually, though, we did make it to the waterfall - and this is where the real fun began.

We reached the falls around noon, where the position of the sun was less than ideal. Most of the waterfall itself was in brilliant sunlight, and was blowing out on the histogram something crazy! Positioning Danice where I wanted to, meant either shooting her in silhouette, or using flash, reflectors etc. I had bought both flash and reflectors, but it was tricky using them in the middle of a waterfall - so I went to plan 'B' and stuck mainly to the shady spots by the side of the bank. I was still able to get a hint of the falls in the background, but couldn't really use them as the kind of main feature I though I would. But then that's the challenge with any photo shoot. Plans change.

All of the shots from the session have a moody, dark quality to them, which is exactly what I was going for based on the images that I liked from similar shoots overseas. I had a blast, and so did Danice - and we are both very happy with the final result. She's got some photos of herself that she really likes, and I've got some images I can use to promote these types of shoots with prospective clients. Brides who are game enough to create these kinds of images  - because let me tell you, that water was COLD!

And dangerous. The title for this post is 'Trash the Dress', with 'Camera' in brackets. Yep, you guessed it - these 'free' promotional images are going to end up costing me a new camera! The rocks beneath the surface were very slippery, but I had managed to maneuver my way to where I needed to be all day, right up to the end of the shoot. We were getting ready for the final, all-in, immersion style shots, when - on queue, I did. Camera and all. My 5D with battery grip and lens were completely drowned (as was I), and are now totally buggered!

Fortunately (if I'm looking for some kind of silver lining), I had just changed to a new card - although I suspect the card could have taken a dunking and still be alright anyway.

Unfortunately - and here we have a word of warning - my house and contents insurance doesn't cover me for the full cost of replacement because the gear was not listed separately on our insurance policy. The insurance will only pay out a maximum of $2000NZ on camera equipment if it isn't listed separately! It's going to cost me a lot more than that to replace the 5D, with lens and grip - so I guess I won't?

Will this facilitate a move back to Nikon (I do miss the D300)?  Or do I simply get a 40D/50D style body and new lens? What about a 1D mk II for roughly the same price? Or a Nikon D2x and use my wife's 70D as a backup when I shoot weddings? These are all possibilities I suppose? Got to get 2k from the insurance company first though...

More sports shooting

OK, just to prove that I've still got a long way to go with this sports shooting malarkey - below are some images I shot today at my kids school swimming sports.

Joshua's backstroke action. Canon 20D , 70-200mm f2.8L

The swimming sports is held at the aquatic centre - an indoor stadium that isn't exactly set up for great lighting. There aren't that many lights, and what are there are miles away in the roof. No 'natural' lighting whatsoever, so pretty low-light conditions with which to shoot reasonably fast-moving sports.

I shot with the 20D again to give me 5fps, and kept the camera in jpeg mode to give me a good series of bursts (see last post on Reefton Rodeo). Bumping the ISO to 800, and opening up to f2.8, I was still only getting 100th sec shutter speeds! Not really enough to 'freeze' the action in the way I would have liked.

Emily's freestyle action. 20D and 70-200mm f2.8L

Consequently, all the images have a slight blur to them - simply because I couldn't get the shutter speeds up fast enough. A newer camera would have allowed me to boost the ISO another stop, up to 1600, but that would still be cutting it fine with the shutter speed at around 200/250th. Ideally I would have liked a 500th to a1000th, but I just don't think it was going to happen with the lighting I had. Hands and water are blurred, although I've gotten away with it if the faces are 'reasonably' sharp.

Josh going for gold. Canon 20D with 70-200mm f2.8

All-in-all, within the limitations that I had to work with, I got a couple of 'okay' images. Good enough for the family album - but nowhere near good enough to use as portfolio shots - they're just not 'quite' sharp enough. Maybe I'll rob a bank and get myself a new 1DX that I can shoot at 6400 and still get noise-free images! :-)

Ah well. Dreams are free.

Reefton Rodeo

Yesterday I went on the first photography field trip of the year with my local camera club - to the Reefton Rodeo. I was really looking forward to it, since it would give me a chance to shoot in a fast, action sports style that I don't often get to shoot in.

Bull Riding. Canon 20D with 70-200mm f2.8

I decided to use the 20D, since it shoots at 5 frames per second, and would add a 1.6x cropping factor to any lens I used. I own a Canon 70-200mm f4L, but for the Rodeo I knew there would be quite a lot of background distractions, so wanted to blur the background as much as possible. So I borrowed a friends 70-200mm f2.8, as well as a Canon 1.4x extender, just in case I needed extra reach (I generally didn't).

What goes up...

I also shot using a monopod to keep everything steady, and to save my arms from having to support the f2.8 lens all day. Even if I had been using a lighter lens, the monopod would still have been a great idea, as it keeps everything stable.

... must come Down!

I shot in jpeg, since it meant that I could shoot 26 frames continuously before the buffer was full - whereas if I'd shot in RAW it would have only allowed me 5 frames before locking up. As it was, shooting in jpeg meant that the camera never locked up and I could shoot at the top frame rate without missing any shots. It also helped that I was using a fast (200x) Lexar CF card to speed up file transfer times.

Ropin' and Ridin'

This set up allowed me to shoot all day, wide open on f2.8, at about a 2000th of a shutter speed. But during the roping demonstration, I wanted to pan with the riders and get some blur into the image to indicate the sense of speed that the riders are moving. So I set the camera to ISO 100, and closed the aperture to f11. This gave me a 60th of a second shutter speed, allowing me to blur the background, but the front horse that the camera auto focus locked on to is in pretty sharp focus.

Over the course of the day I shot around 600 photos. Later that evening I whittled this down to about 100, and of that 100 I probably have 20 that I would consider as 'keepers'. Why did I get rid of 580 shots from the day? Well, about half were slightly out of focus, and many of the others had a background that I wasn't happy with. Given the way the rodeo was set up, there wasn't much i could do about the backgrounds. I just had to wait to see if the cowboy was going to stay on long enough to clear the gates and the clutter. Many did, and they were the shots that counted. And then I just had to hope that the camera nailed the auto focus - which it did about half the time. I would expect a better hit rate with a newer camera, since the D20 is a fairly old body.

So next year, my haul of great images should be bigger? We'll wait and see.

Filtered or Unfiltered?

No, this isn't a blog post on how you prefer your cigarettes  :-)

The more I shoot with the Olympus EP-3, the more I find myself using an Art Filter (or two). My favourite has to be the Dramatic Tone Filter, because the images are, well, so darn dramatic! In fact, I'm so used to shooting with this filter now, that I've begun to use the 'filter bracketing' feature of the EP-3. Long story short - enable 'filter bracketing' in the bracketing menu, choose which filters to include in the bracket sequence (as many as you want!), and then take a 'normal' picture in the mode of your choice (that would be A for me). The camera takes a normal image, and then applies any of the art filters that you've checked to the image to create a new, art filter file. Brilliant!

The 'normal' jpeg image in vs the Dramatic Tone filter shot. Which do you prefer?

Up until now I've been fiddling about with the art filters and applying them whenever I felt like it - or remembered to. But with the ability to 'bracket' the filters so they are applied to each and every shot, I now get the best of both worlds. Because quite often it's not a matter of one or the other - I actually end up liking all of them.

Side by side comparison again. 

I only have the 'dramatic tone' filter added to my bracketing sequence, so I still have to go into the Art Filter mode if I want to apply any others. I could add Grainy Black and White, Pop Art, and Diorama to the bracketing sequence ( the other art filters I use a lot), but this adds time to the processing of the image - each takes a second or two to apply. The great thing about applying the filters as a bracket though, is that you also get an 'original' normal file - something you don't get when you shoot specifically in the Art Filter Mode. So bracketing of art filters, even if it's just your favourite one, is worth it.

The Price we Pay. Olympus EP-3, Dramatic Tone filter.

And finally - above is a shot I've been meaning to get for quite a while. I had heard about this little petrol (gas) station that had a sign up stating that petrol was an 'Arm and a Leg'. It's in a tiny town about 40 minutes drive from where I live, but I don't really get out there all that often. I had also heard that they had taken the sign down, so I presumed I had missed the opportunity.

Fortunately, we had to take a drive out that way last weekend, and I took the camera just on the off chance there would be some good images to be had (all the images from this post were taken on the same day). Couldn't believe my luck when we passed the station and my wife told me the sign was back up! Always great to find someone with the same warped sense of humor as me!?

Landscapes with the Olympus EP-3

Up until a couple of nights ago, I'd really only use the Pen Ep-3 as a family, snap-shot camera. My 'carry around for fun' compact camera. And it's great for such a purpose. But is that all it's good for? Or can I start using it as my really 'serious' camera for professional work?

Te Kinga Sunset. Olympus EP-3, Dramatic Tone filter

Just before the new year, a friend invited me to go out with him to shoot the sunset. We had been having amazing sunsets, night after night, so I jumped at the chance to go out with him - even though this particular night didn't look that promising.

We headed out to Moana, a town about half an hours travel from Greymouth, that has stunning lake views if the light is right (and we were hoping it would be).

Sunset was late - around 9.30pm, so we travelled around a bit in the early evening, looking to find the right spot to set up and catch the sunset. We finally settled on the tiny settlement of Te Kinga, nestled next to the lake (Lake Brunner), since it offered a range of possibilities for varied shots.

The above image was taken reasonably early on in the evening, around 8.00pm, just as the sun was starting to sink and colour was appearing on the horizon. As soon as we saw this happen, we knew we were going to be lucky enough to witness another stunning sunset - and even more lucky to catch it on camera!

Pink Sky's at Night. Olympus EP-3,  Pop Art filter

At the beginning of the evening I set the camera to the 'Dramatic Tone' filter, hoping that it would really amp up the drama and the colours appearing in the sky. The results were ok, but not really what I was after.

Then I switched to the 'Pop Art' filter, and bingo - success! The colours that were already happening in the sky were intensified 100%, and immediately I knew this was what I was after.

The Pop Art filter has two saturation settings - the first is totally crazy psychedelic, the second a bit more subtle, and it was the second setting that I went for. Enough to make you go 'wow', but not too much to make you go 'aarrghh'.

Funnily enough, the Pop Art filter was one of the filter sets I dismissed as pointless when I initially looked through the menu, but in reality I've started using it quite a bit. And for sunsets, it rocks!

Te Kinga Silhouette. Olympus EP-3, Pop Art filter

Shooting in Art Filter mode allowed me to keep the ISO on 'Auto' and have the camera range from between 200 to 1600 (my specified limits). This, combined with a very good image stabilisation system, allowed me to hand hold the camera for all of these images. Using the attached electronic viewfinder also helps keep things steady with a point of contact when the camera is up to your eye. I was walking from one location to the next when I looked up and saw these two mighty trees silhouetted against the sunset. I 'grabbed' this shot, and moved on to the next location. This 'grab' shot - a single frame - turned out to be one of my favorite shots of the evening.

In the Fiery Glow. Olympus EP-3, Pop Art filter set to mode II

Almost no matter where we pointed our cameras, the view, and the light, was stunning! And even though I was using the slightly more subtle mode of the Pap Art filter, occasionally the colours still over saturated. I have toned down the saturation in the above image (believe it or not) by dialing in -10 saturation in photoshop. I still love the full-on colour, but the yellow was getting a bit too 'hot' straight out of the camera, even for me.

Could I have gotten the same result by switching the colour mode on the camera to 'Vivid' (instead on Neutral)? I don't know, because I didn't try it. I suspect even at 'Vivid', the colours wouldn't be as vibrant as they are when you use the Pop Art filter - but I'll actually have to test that out next time. In fact, for a guy who likes punchy colours (Velvia is my all-time favorite film), what am I doing shooting in 'Nuetral' colour space anyway? Maybe I really should investigate further!?

Te Kinga by Moonlight. EP-3, Pop Art filter, 20sec exposure at f11

Anyway, I digress. Getting back to the evening... as the sun went down almost completely, the moon made an appearance and it was time to break out the tripods.

I love long exposure images, so I was very keen to see how the EP-3 handled under these conditions. To get the best out of the sensor  I switched to ISO 200, to keep the noise as low as possible. But I stayed on 'Pop Art' to keep the intensity in the colours that I was seeing on the lcd screen. With an aperture of f11 to get good depth of field, shutter speeds ranged between 15 to 30 seconds, depending on where I pointed the camera. After the exposure, the camera also applied its own noise reduction process, doubling the exposure time (a 15 second exposure was followed by a 15 second noise-reduction exposure by the camera).

The resulting images are OK - but not completely noise free. To get the above image looking how I wanted, I did have to put the image through Noise Ninja. Having said that though, it cleaned up very well, and these are all jpegs remember. I probably could have gotten an even better result had I switched to RAW? That's an experiment for next time as well.

So what's the verdict? Would I use the Pen EP-3 for 'serious' professional landscape work? Yes, I would. In fact I'm sure that some of these Te Kinga sunset images will appear in future calendars. I wouldn't hesitate to print them up to 8x12 as is - and easily 11x16 with some added noise reduction.

Has it made my Canon gear obsolete? No, of course not. If anything, the limiting factor for me at the moment is lenses. 28mm isn't quite wide enough for me at time on the EP-3. I'd love to go to 24mm, or maybe even 20mm.

Hang on... isn't there a conversion lens that lets you do that to the standard lens on the Pen? Might have to look into that I reckon.

Merry Christmas to all...

Olympus EP-3, Pop Art with Starburst filter

Yes, I know, it's a bit late for 'Merry Christmas', and even too late for 'Happy New Year', but it's the thought that counts - isn't it?

Nevertheless, the holiday season is upon us (here in New Zealand at least), and most people have two weeks off over christmas and new year to recharge the batteries (so to speak) before 2012 starts in earnest again.

Having just bought the EP-3, there's only been one thing on my mind (other than reading some good books), and that's to get out and shoot with it as much as possible.

My first real opportunity came when we decided to head out a few nights before christmas the check out a local christmas tree display, and some houses decked out in lights.

EP-3 with Grainy Black and White filter

The Christmas three display was held in our local theatre, so the lighting was fairly low. I have the EP-3 set to 'Auto' ISO, within a range of 200 to 1600 when I'm using the P, A, S, M modes, and not surprisingly the camera set itself on 1600 and stayed there all night.

The more I use the EP-3, the more I 'play' with the built-in art filters - starting out with 'pop art' to really add some punch to the colours, and then adding a starburst to see what sort of effect this would give me.

There was colour, colour everywhere, so I had fun shooting with the camera set to pop art for a while, until some little voice in the back of my mind (listen to that little voice) told me to try going the exact opposite and shoot in black and white.

EP-3 with Grainy Black and White filter

I really liked the resulting images - the black and white lending itself more to shapes and shadows than the punchy, in-your-face pop art filter. Look closely in the photo above and you can make out me taking the photo with the EP-3 in the gold ball. There's some great bokeh in this image as well, with a nice sharp ball falling away very quickly to some creamy out-of-focus background. Very nice.

Christmas Lights. EP-3 in standard colour mode

When we left the tree display and headed outside to shoot some of the houses, I went for a more 'traditional' approach - switching the camera back to 'standard' colour mode. I've been shooting jpegs straight out of the camera, even though I know the EP-3 shoots in RAW. Most photographers who have used the Pen series (and other Olympus DSLR's) agree that Olympus do an amazing job of nailing jpegs, and I would have to agree. I haven't really had to do amy 'tweaking' of the files so far, especially when you take the art filters into consideration. It's pretty much all done for you in-camera.

I had a blast shooting the christmas light with the EP-3, especially taking it up to ISO1600. The resulting files are pretty clean, even though the lcd screen gives you the feeling that it's going to be pretty noisy.

My only gripe on the night isn't with the camera itself, but with a third-party battery I purchased for it. The Olympus battery died on me not long after taking this image above, but I had prepared for this by bringing along a freshly charged battery I bought off of trademe (a NZ internet auction site). Popped it in the camera, pushed the 'on' button, and nothing happened! Nothing! Bugger. Seems like I got a dud. Very disappointing - and it will be going back to be replaced. Hopefully I'll have more luck with the 'new' one?