PhotographyBanzai.com

I’ve been doing research to figure out what type of process I will need to use when I change camera systems. Sadly, Nikon and others like Canon are fixated on using their own proprietary RAW formats, so that means any new cameras that use a special format will not work with my current post processing steps. Even to the point in the past where some of the companies encrypted parts of the data in their RAW file formats. Talk about not being consumer/user orientated… Adobe’s policy is to only support the current version of Photoshop when it comes to proprietary RAW formats, so that means my license of Photoshop CS5 will be useless when it comes to RAW files from something like a Nikon D600 that I am considering. I haven’t had that problem since the Pentax K-7 days because they offered DNG RAW output. I don’t think I’ve ever (intentionally) used PEF in my K-7/K-5 cameras. My potential idea is to use the free Adobe DNG RAW conversion application once that is updated, so I can avoid using...

I went to a convention in Indiana called Ramencon. I was planning on staying two nights, but decided to check out on Saturday morning instead. I was still able to get a good deal of images on Saturday afternoon, which was nice. Facebook (“like” the main page so you can tag yourself): General Photos Lollipop Chainsaw Photos Magi Photos A few highlight photos:  You can see my related cvfta.blogspot.com article here for a different discussion about Ramencon and convention photography in general. As I’m trying to sell of my equipment, I only took a minimal kit. I brought the K-5 and K-01 with the 31mm and 24mm lenses along with my Sigma flash. I ended up only using the K-5, 31mm lens, and flash for the whole convention. Using that combination isn’t new to me, but I feel that I was able to get a lot more variety than I’ve normally been able to achieve with it. I first started off with just the camera and lens, but eventually decided that flash would be safer from a quality standp...

Canon announced their new 6D full-frame camera body. You can see all of the detailed specifications here . You can see my article on the Nikon D600 here where I basically gave it a very positive outlook. While compromises were made with the D600, it still has enough from a value standpoint to be really appealing. The Canon 6D on the other hand has a suggested retail price of $2099 US, which is the same as the Nikon, however… Viewfinder coverage of 97% (D600 = 100%) Shutter speed maximum of 1/4000th (D600 is the same) Flash sync maximum of 1/180th (D600 = 1/200th max) While not an issue in practice, the 6D sensor has around 4 mega-pixels less than the D600. The 6D has a single SD card slot and the D600 has two. The 6D has wifi and GPS internally (nice, but this is a camera. I’d rather see the money go into a better viewfinder or something) AF system: 11 points Center: cross-type at f/5.6; vertical line-sensitive at f/2.8. Upper and lower AF points: vertical line-sensitive AF at f/5.6...

As I’m sure most of the people who read this site know, the Nikon D600 was announced recently. The simple fact you need to know is that it is an enthusiast level full-frame camera. Not only that, but the starting price of $2099 in the USA is the lowest a full-frame (FF) camera has been offered for from release (technically, the Sony A850 that bombed was $2000?). This camera is interesting enough to me that I felt compelled to write an opinion article on it. (stock image from nikonusa.com) What can we expect from a low cost full frame? We can expect a change in the entire game. The other companies will most likely follow suit and that should really change the landscape of digital photography. While there are, of course, used full-frame DSLR cameras below that price point, it still doesn’t open the gate like a new product can. I think 2013 will be the year that we see a wider audience have access to FF sized imaging sensor cameras, which I think is a great step. We are moving ba...

The decision to use JPEG format or RAW is a never ending debate and there truly isn’t a right answer. However, I thought I’d add my 2 cents to the topic. There are situations where one format works better, which I go into a bit in the linked Youtube video. I’ll also include a summary below. RAW: Lossless format (all data from the sensor is stored in the file. Ability to store 16-bits per channel (usually 12 or 14 bits of actual sensor data) for around 280 trillion colors. White balance is easily modified in post processing. (of course, if there are multiple light sources with different color temperatures neither format can easily be “fixed”) General level of post control is high, and in turn some features in the camera are not available in RAW. That means for photos you intend to send directly to a final place, JPEG might be better. Larger files than JPEGs. Dynamic range due to more bits per channel and recovery potential is higher. JPEG: Lossey format that discards data to compres...

Pentax USA just recently offered a few rebates on their cameras and lenses. While I won’t go into the issues regarding fluctuating lens prices here (making the rebates utterly pointless), I will say a few of the camera bodies did see some decent price reductions. The Pentax 645D is only $8,799.95 now, a $1200 price reduction (It just so happens the 55mm f2.8 lens is $1200…). My guess is that they will be announcing a replacement this month at Photokina. 645D I had the pleasure of using one for a short time a few years ago. I was generally impressed with the camera, but even at that time saw a few issues that should have been better considering the level that camera is at. The thing was slow and didn’t have all of the features a normal 35mm SLR would have. Keep in mind the 645D was more targeted to this side of the market than it was to those ludicrously expensive medium format back and systems. While I’m not currently financially capable of owning one of these, it would be a gre...

I had checked the forecast a day or two before and noticed a moderate chance of showers. My decision was to use only the K-5 and DA* 55mm f1.4 lens. We ended up having some light showers once or twice while at the garden, so that decision worked out. I just kept using the camera as normal without any issues while the rain was coming down. The nice thing about meetups like this is that I can just focus on the basics, but I’m also inclined to do a more experimental style of framing my subjects. This leads to images that might receive some critical comments on first view, but when examining them further, they might see the intent involved. For example: Multiple times I noticed scenes where the foreground let in just a bit of something interesting. A visual hint of interest lies in the middle of the frame that you put a little extra time into trying to distinguish. On first glance, it might have an amateurish feel, but I don’t believe that is the case when my true intent realized. As...

I was recently given the task to digitize transparent slides from the 1960s. The color transparency slides posed an interesting problem. Conventional scanning was difficult because the slides are small and are designed to be back-lit by a projector. There are dedicated devices available that can scan film negatives, but they are expensive and difficult to find. The standard scanner that I had wasn’t sufficient for the task because it couldn’t resolve enough detail in such a small area (it was 1200 dots per inch maximum).  You can find many of the items used here: Kit.co product collection I created a DIY digitizer with: LED lamp to act as a backlight. The color of light from this lamp is close to daylight. I don’t know what color of light these slides are designed for, but this was my best bet. Cardboard and tape for the slide holding structure and various simple tools to form that. Two camera flash diffusers to even out the light coming from the LED lamp. A DLSR camera at 14 mega-pixe...

What is Chicago Comic Con? It is a large multi-day Comic/Science Fiction/pop-culture convention held at the Donald E. Stephens convention center in Rosemont, Illinois. It consists of an extremely large dealers room, a vast number of artists showing and selling their work, a large number of famous people, various scheduled events, and a lot more. This year I felt that they stepped things up to another level with a nice flow to the convention layout. I found that navigating the main convention was much easier than in 2011 because they moved some of the large booths like the Delorean car, Batmobile, and Ghost Busters vehicle to a nice bright location in the convention center’s entrance hall. A wise decision that made the convention even more exciting to explore because it used more floor space. You can learn more about Wizard World Chicago Comic Con here: Why I attended this convention? I was there to cover what I call hallway cosplay, which are costumers that attend the convention as cha...

Usually I write a summary at the bottom of my articles that are primarily meant to update viewers about new photographs. This time I’m separating the technical into its own article so that I can go into a bit more detail. On Friday I had attended a small photo session at Cantigny Garden in the morning and afternoon. Once that was finished, I had around 1.5 hours to spend at Chicago Comic Con. I made the most of it and ended up with around 100 photos of cosplayers and costumers. Friday at the convention: Pentax K-5 camera Pentax FA* 24mm f2 lens Sigma flash, diffuser, green flash gel placed in the diffuser. Time was limited, so I used one camera and lens with a focus on covering what cosplay I ran into. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of activity so late in the day. There were plenty of people cosplaying, even more so than I remember seeing on the Sunday of Comic Con 2011. My intention with the flash gel was to equalize the color of the flash light to ambient. The gel ...