·Others

I have to apologize for a short downtime today. It came when trying to upgrade the WordPress engine powering the web site. Supposedly, this should help in making the web site more stable in the future, but I obviously was unable to maintain this during the transition (the main source of instability was not in the program but in the human operator).

A long post from Instructables (Simple Variable Neutral Density Filter) invites us to build easily a Neutral Density (ND) filter whose density can be adjusted (using only two polarizing filters).

The simple and neat idea is to flip back one of the filters in front of the other. Correctly aligned, they become nearly totally black (a very very dense neutral grey color); In opposition, they give a light grey filter. It can be set continuously between these extremes with a slight rotation.

The key point is to unmount tidily one of the filters to flip it, then to screw one onto the other.

After some years of people trying to hook big lenses onto an iPhone (like above), there is now somebody trying to make this a serious affair: Here is the prototype of something that could become a real product from Vid-Atlantic, a way to solidly attach a Nikon DSLR lens to your iPhone.

Little cameras like the ones from Sony, Nikon (soon) or Samsung, should watch this.

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After that, don’t tell me that the iPhone 3GS is not really a camera.

Of course, the final photos have been edited in Photoshop afterwards, but isn’t it the case for all studio work?

In the last few days, we heard quite good news from both Nikon and Canon (the obvious leading companies of the Digital SLR camera market).

Nikon boasted about its first place in Japan sales of SLR cameras in the first half of 2010 (January to June). What is interesting is that they exchanged positions in the list (compared to 2009) and, also, that Panasonic is still in the third position with more than 10% of market share.

Canon moving down by 8% is a major setback. Sony being far from the third spot is also quite a surprise, but it probably reflects the aging of its SLR line of cameras. Both companies still have some work to do here.

However, Canon had also very good news to announce: Their profits tripled over a year. And this comes mostly from photo cameras and laser printers. It means that the market is here. The crisis is over in the photography world (Canon sales are up 15%).

This is the best way to prepare the end of the year 2010: Plenty of product stacking up to grab the renewed interest of avid photographers! Photokina will be interesting.

Could you use such a photo camera? Have a look at Lexar’s latest photo competition, ‘Take the Next Shot’ sweepstake competition on their Facebook page. You could win a Nikon D300s with 16-85mm VR zoom lens or a Canon EOS 7D with an EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens.

photo credit: davidgsteadman

When buying a photo camera, we often research in order to decide if this is the best camera, if its features will be goo enough, but will it be robust enough? Will it be useful or necessary to purchase a warranty contract extension? Will it fail very soon?

When somebody asks me these questions (and it happens quite often since I consider myself some kind of photography expert), I am usually without good answers; Nobody really speaks about this dirty little secret: Reliability of photo cameras is a taboo issue. In most cases, talking only happens for very extreme situations (I will not mention any pro camera events in the past few years). But on a daily basis, will my camera follow me everywhere? will it survive the bad treatment I will apply? Or will it fail at the sight of the first cloud (of dust or rain)? Preferably just a couple of days after the end of the warranty period?

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It’s been years that I fell in love with the excellent Dark Roasted Blend web site. Today, I found a nice post showing some of the most beautiful vintage photo cameras they could find.

Recommended visit if you have a couple of minutes to spend.

You have been told so repeatedly (I even wrote in 2007 an article about the weaknesses of CD/DVD, a few years ago already), it is mentioned again in an article about backups for the photographers, but there are still some people to believe that the CD or the DVD is a good solution to the archival problem of digital photographic pictures.

This is all wrong: CD and DVD are optical devices whose shelf life has nothing to do with the century some would believe is the credible target. Even in the best storage conditions.

You don’t believe me? The French Laboratoire national de métrologie et d’essais (LNE) just presented to the French Académie des Sciences a very detailed report about this issue. They worked on the recordable optical media and their conclusion is strong:

The storage or the the short-term backup do not bring any significant question, but building decade-long or century-long archives this way is an altogether different issue, understanding that these digital media have no more than a lifetime of 5 or 10 years.

Then:

If this problem is correctly handled in some specialized public organizations, it is widely ignored by the public and most of the institutions or enterprises. A large quantity of personal, medical, scientific, technical, administrative data is thus in really endangered.

So you still doubt it? Your photos are still on a DVD?

See also: Backup solutions for the photographers.

IrfanView v4.27

The excellent images handling software program, IrfanView, has just been upgraded to version 4.27.

• Command line options to handle images with scripts (actions) or filters.
• Addition of a border or a frame.
• Addition of new filters and file formats.
• The screen copies options now allow to handle larger objects like a full web page (auto-scroll is included).

Even better, it stays free.

photo credit: Don Hankins

It appears that -at least in some cases- many ads from Google (like the ones I display on my web sites) are presenting fraudulent business proposals. Usually they are recognizable by the fact that they makes too-good-to-be-true offers (half-price photo cameras or basement-sale prices for pro equipment).

But it is not always easy to recognize this kind of situation. This is where Exposed Scammers comes handy. This is a small web site that is browsing the ads and tries to identify the scammers from our photo-related ads.

One useful thing is that they also provide factual data to support their verdict (it’s not only a way to blindly flog a web site).

Recommended reading. Not only because you may recognize an ad you noticed, but also because it shows how to detect your own scammers.

If you want to avoid those scammers, you can also go directly to those companies that I directly partner with:

• Buy it from B&H (The Professional’s Source)
• Buy from Amazon.com
• Acheter sur Carrefour online

Sony just made a round of announcements that should attract a lot of attention in the photography market (but in relation with video).

First and foremost, here are the first samples of the new range of point-and-shoot photo cameras using an APS-C digital sensor. With the NEX3 and the NEX5, they intend to bring a top-quality photo digital sensor (as found in the digital SLR cameras) in a very compact form factor: LetsGoDigital noticed that the NEX5 is still smaller than an Olympus €-PL1 (even if it is based upon a smaller sensor) or the very recent Samsung NX10.

Watch the vidéo on the web site of Engadget.

At this point, it may even be useful to notice that this is the first (and long-promised) appearance of video capture technology (using AVCHD file format) exploiting an APS-C-size sensor at Sony. This will certainly open the opportunity to demonstrate the technology expected on the upcoming successor to the Alpha 700 (presented in February with another D-SLR camera from the Alpha range and expected to be at a lower price point).

This issue is going to be very interesting to track in the coming weeks (and do not draw conclusions like the Sony Alpha 750 would appear before the end of May).

But this is only the beginning here: Sony also just presented a video camcorder which is still in development, whose launch is expected this Fall. Let’s stop at some of the most striking characteristics:

• It has an APS-C digital sensor (again, like on most of the Digital SLR photo cameras of the Japanese brand)
• It grabs 1080p HD videos
• It receives interchangeable lenses taken from the Alpha series (of digital SLR cameras from Sony)

Didn’t we say that Sony had decided to break ground in video capture using a photo digital sensor?

Ars Technica has a nice little post comparing three image online hosting and sharing options:

• Flickr
• Picasa
• Photobucket

They do not conclude which one is better, merely provide a view about the differences.

Good reading.

Copyright (C) Peter Shah

At first, Peter Shah seems to be the usual astronomy photographer. He goes out at night to look at the sky with a photo camera and a very big lens on a tripod. This is actually wrong. Peter Shah is actually a perfectionist. Where most amateur astronomers learned to grind a mirror by themselves in order to build a bigger, better astro lens, Peter has perfected the art of improving the little details that make a difference between a good lens and a near perfect photo.

For example, covering the concrete pier, where the 8 inch lens is affixed, with a gold mylar sheet was a step into reducing unwelcome heat radiation that was impairing his pictures. [Peter Shah's equipment]

You should absolutely go and check his wonderful stars and nebulae’s images. Peter authorized me to copy here a photo I would love to be able to do (any time I start shooting stars, of course): A full color photo of the Horse Head Nebula (in my eyes, one of the most marvelous sight in our skies).

Now, as we are on YLovePhoto and I am always tempted to help my readers improve their photos, I also found a useful article by Jason Anderson (from Canon Blogger) posted on the excellent DIY Photography web site. You will learn how he built a DIY star tracker (very much what astro-photographers would do). But you will start by the excellent basic advice of 5 tips:

1. Use a tripod
2. Turn on the in-camera noise reduction
3. Drop your ISO to its lowest setting
4. Make sure you are working with fully charged batteries and have some spares!
5. Try to shoot in a remote area where there is not much stray light

The Create Wonderful Astrophotography Images With A DIY Star Tracker article will have you brain working. Maybe, you will try your photo camera at night, too.

photo credit: Tanozzo

This is the surprising advice given by Bruce Schneier about how you could protect your photo luggage when traveling: Pack a starter gun in your luggage. This is definitely considered as a weapon by the TSA and other flight authorities (but it is not dangerous and you don’t need a license to have this “toy gun” normally used to start an athletic race), it has to be formally declared and then it receives extra care from the airline and the law enforcement authorities.

However simple and clean, I never tried such an approach to be sure that photo bags (sturdy ones for sure) can travel correctly by plane.

Last minute thought: Of course, this is to protect checked-in luggage. No airline will ever accept a weapon in the cabin…

Mark Twain, detail of photo by Mathew Brady

“You cannot depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus� – Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[3] well-known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Twain is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), which has been called “the Great American Novel”,[4] and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). He is extensively quoted.[5][6] Twain was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.

(from Wikipedia)

Once again, LifeHacker offers us an interesting list of tools recommended by its visitors (from the comments found in a previous article). This time, it can also interest a photographer (like our previous advice about photographer’s backups) since this is a list of the 5 best off-line backup tools.

• SyncBack (Windows, Basic: Free/Pro: $50)
• Windows Home Server (Windows, $99)
• Acronis True Image Home (Windows, $50)
• Time Machine (Mac, Free)
• Rsync (Windows/Mac/Linux, Free)

This list is not perfect, but the explanations make a good complement.