First and foremost I want to apologize for my inactivity, it’s been 2 crazy months and I’m still not finished. I’ve been busy with the college and things, and also I have started to work part time, so my time is pretty limited.

Anyways, this couple of months were a lot of releases and news in the photographic world like:

• the release of the Canon 500D / Digital Rebel T1i DSLR camera
• the release of Nikon D5000 DSLR camera
• the release of Phase One P40+ camera system
• three new entry-level DSLR from Sony: A230, A330 and A380
• the release of Pentax K-7 DSLR camera

Although I wasn’t able to talk about these I promise that from now on I will struggle to be very prompt in talking about any news.

Also, I am planning to show some photo retouching techniques and maybe I will start a video podcast so you are able to understand much easier the steps of the future tutorials. I am also planning to integrate Twitter, so stay tuned for some changes in the interface.

Last but not least, I would like to proudly announce that I recently became a member of AAFR ( the translation: Association of the Romanian Artist Photographers ), hope I got right the translation. This is very important to me, because only best and most active photographers can take part . If you wish to see the photographs that helped me join AAFR, then you can go here.

Thank you for reading.

So to get out of the confusion the MiniTT1 it’s a transmitter and the FlexTT5 is a transceiver (meaning that it can act as transmitter and receiver).

Here’s what new PocketWizards can do:

• You can control your strobes in TTL mode. You can use  20 channels in TTL photography or 32 standard channels in manual flash photography.
• When using multiple strobes you can use HyperSync™ Technology to push your shutter speed up to 1/500th.
• You can even push your ControlTL system to get flash sync with shutter speeds beyond 1/500 and and even up to 1/8000. To do this you will automatically get into FP/High-Speed sync mode.
• You can connect your PocketWizars to your PC via USB and configure it or update it’s firmware.
• FlexTT5 has an Auto-Sensing Transceiver Technology that enables it to switch back and forth between Transmitter and Receiver modes as needed for greater flexibility on the job.
• The new system of PocketWizards can still be used with older ones like PlusII or MultiMAX but you will need a FlexTT5 as transmitter.

If you want to know more you can go to their website and watch the video below:

And some last info, the PocketWizards will be available by 1st of March for Canon and Q2 2009 for Nikon.

I cant’ wait to test them to see if it worths the money.

Full frame notion. A full frame sensor has an area of 36 x 24 mm and it’s close to the area of a 35mm film camera, back in the film days.

Crop factor. Well many of the digital cameras, from compact to DSLR cameras, have different image sensors with different dimensions. Most of the sensors have sizes equal or smaller than 36 x 24 mm. Because of the smaller sensor, the camera tends to capture less than an image giving the effect of cropping. There are a lot of crop factors starting from 1x (the Full Frame) and going all the way to 2x (Olympus), for DSLR’s and going even further than 6x for compact cameras. A 2x crop factor refers to a sensor size 2 times smaller than the full frame meaning a roughly 18 x 12 mm sensor size.

Now let’s see how this translates in the actual size of the image:

Here’s an image with different crop sizes from the whole crop factor range from Canon and Nikon (Canon has Full Frame, 1.3x and 1.6x sensors and Nikon has Full Frame and 1.5x sensors) marked with rectangles with different colours:

• Full Frame
• 1.3x Crop Factor
• 1.5x Crop Factor
• 1.6x Crop Factor

This factors translates into the focal lengths as well. For example, this photograph was taken with a full frame camera with a focal length of 40mm, but if you put the same lens on a camera with 1.3x crop factor and adjust it to the same focal length value, you will obtain an image similar to an image taken with a full frame camera with a lens having a 50mm focal length (40 * 1.3 = 52).

Now that you understand these notions, keep in mind that this it’s an important factor in choosing cameras.

Full frame (FF) vs Crop cameras (CF):

• FF with the same lens gives an wider view that CF. So FF cameras are better in landscapes, architecture, and situations where you don’t have a lot of space to move around to fill the frame with the subject. But, CF cameras are better in sports, bird photography, etc. because of that crop factor which gives a little extra zoom (increasing a 400mm focal length to 640mm 0n 1.6x).
• FF have better control on the noise at high ISO. This is because of the large sensor on which the photo sensitive cells aren’t as crowded as on the smaller sensor of the crop camera.
• CF are less expensive than FF
• Many manufacturers designed special glass for the CF that are lighter and can’t be used by FF because it causes massive vignetting.

Choosing which is right for you. Taking into considerantion all the information above, landscape, arhitecture and wedding photographers might find a Full Frame camera very usefull. On the other side, nature, wildlife, sports and even war photographers will choose a crop camera due to extra boost in zooming in without loosing details.

Here are the supposed specifications:

• New 14.8 megapixel DX format CMOS sensor effective 14.3 megapixel
• Self-cleaning sensor unit (low-pass filter vibration)
• ISO 100 – 6400 (with boost up to ISO 25600 and down to ISO 50)
• 14-bit A/D conversion
• Movie capture at up to 1080p 24 fps with stereo sound
• Nikon EXPEED Plus image processor 30% faster than previous EXPEED image processor
• Super fast operation (power-up 13 ms, shutter lag 40 ms, black-out 90 ms)
• Kevlar / carbon fibre composite shutter with 200,000 exposure durability
• Multi-CAM3500DX Auto Focus sensor (51-point, 15 cross-type, more vertical coverage)
• Auto-focus tracking by color (using information from 1005-pixel AE sensor)
• Auto-focus calibration (fine-tuning) now available (fixed body or up to 20 separate lens settings)
• Vignetting control in-camera
• Automatic chromatic aberration correction
• Custom image parameters now support brightness as well as contrast
• Seven frames per second continuous shooting (nine frames per second with battery pack)
• 3.0″ 922,000 pixel LCD monitor
• Live View with either phase detect (mirror up/down) or contrast-detect AF, face detection
• ‘Active D-Lighting’ (adjusts metering as well as applying D-Lighting curve)
• Detailed ‘Control Panel’ type display on LCD monitor, changes color in darkness
• Buttons sealed against moisture
• Same ultra-fast startup and shutter lag as D700
• Scene Recognition System (uses AE sensor, AF sensor)
• Picture Control image parameter presets
• UDMA compatible single CF card slot
• Virtual horizon indicates if camera is level (like an aircraft cockpit display)
• Extensive in-camera retouching
• HDMI HD video output
• Magnesium alloy body with connections and buttons sealed against moisture

Beside the fact that it isn’t Full Frame, with a lot of specs aproaches to the soon to be released Canon 5D Mark II. It’s rumored that the Nikon D400 will have a price tag of $2000.  It’s also said that this will be release in February 2009. Since this is a rumor don’t take all of this as granted. Stay tuned for more info.

Wrong focusing. The most common cause for blurry photos is not focusing right. Often happens to focus on the wrong part of the image, or using a very narrow depth of field, or taking the photo quick without checking if it is in focus, and all of this helps in throwing your subject out of focus and obtaining blurry photographs.

Low value of the shutter speed. This causes 2 sets pf problems: Camera shake and Subject movement. This two makes blurry photos because your shutter speed is too low to freeze the action.

Noise. Sometimes using high ISO values might get you results with lack of sharpness. Although since cameras evolve so quickly these days, higher ISO values might still get you very sharp images.

Here are 9 ways of improving your photographs sharpness:

1. Hold your camera still or be careful of your shutter speed.

A lot of blur in the photos is cause by camera movement and/or subject movement combined with low shutter speeds. So one solution it’s to use higher shutter speeds. The rule of thumbs is to use a shutter speed value higher then the focal length used, so if you use a 50mm focal length you shouldn’t use a shutter speed lower than 1/60 (the value on your camera is 60), or when using a focal length of 300mm you shouldn’t use a shutter speed lower than 1/320 (the value on your camera is 320). But there are times when you can’t use this high values due to poor light and in this case try holding your camera still, by using both hands, keeping the camera close to your body, supporting yourself with a wall, tree or some other solid object or the most important thing is using a tripod, but be careful that holding you camera still won’t  freeze a high speed moving subject.

2. Know how to use the aperture and depth of field.

The aperture size controls your depth of field (the distance where your subject is in focus). The size of the depth of field (DOF) is controlled by the aperture size, focal length and distance from the camera to the subject. The reason you should be careful of the depth of field size, is that you can have the size of the DOF of a few centimeters and a slight movement of your camera or subject might through your subject out of focus. So using a large aperture size of let’s say f/2.8 give you a small DOF but a small aperture size of let’s say f/20 give you a huge DOF.

3. ISO.

For getting pin sharp images use as low as possible ISO settings. Using high ISO values fills up you details with noise giving your image low sharpness. You can get away with ISO values of less then 400 or the value might be higher depending of your camera.

4. Focus right.

More than often the cause of the blurriness in the photographs is the fact that your subject is out of focus. There are times where you camera doesn’t focus right so the unique solution is to check your image is in focus after taking the shot. There isn’t a way of improving the automatic camera focus. But, you can focus manually and this is very helpful for macro photography since there is a very small depth of field, and getting your subject in focus it’s very challenging for you and almost impossible for the camera to do it right.

5. Image Stabilisation.

Nowadays a lot of lenses and cameras have different forms of Image Stabilisation. This counteracts the camera shake but be careful that it won’t eliminate it. This can enable you to use  slower shutter speed up to 2-3 stops (so for a 50mm in stead of using 1/60 you can use 1/25). Keep in mind that this only helps you with camera movement not with subject movement.

6. Invest in good lenses.

DSLR owners, if you have the budget for it invest in good quality lenses as they can have a major impact upon the sharpness of your images. For example I have a 28-135mm lens for everyday use. It is a good lens (and reasonably priced) but it isn’t as sharp as I expect to. I have borrowed a lot “L series” (the professional series of lenses from Canon) lens for different jobs and I was amazed by the difference in sharpness between the lenses. I have learned my lesson and now I am putting money in my piggy bank for some “L” lenses.

7. Clean your equipment.

Dust on you lenses or you image processor can impact you image sharpness. So remember to often check if your equipemnt is clean.

8. Lens Sweet spot.

Every lens has a “sweet spot” where has the maximum sharpness. This usually is 2-3 stops from the maximum aperture (the lowest value) of the lens. So if you have  maximum aperture of f/3.5, the maximum sharpness can be found somewhere between f/5.6 and f/9. Experiment with your lenses, take the same photograph from the lowest aperture value to the highest. A rule in photography is: “Know your equipment.”

9. Use Photoshop to increase your sharpness.

You can use Photoshop to increase the sharpness of your photographs, by using “Unsharp mask” or by using High Pass Filter (a better sharpening method) which I talked about it in a previous post.

What is exactly a Prime lens?

Well, a prime lens is a lens that has a fixed focal lengths. Some examples of prime lenses: 14mm, 15mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm, 200mm, 300mm, 400mm, 600mm, etc. (There are a lot more that i have missed). So bottom line there is no zooming involved. These are similar to our eyes, you cannot zoom with your eyes, you can only distinguish things at a relative close distance and depending on the size. And if you want to see something more clearly, you get close, exactly what you have to do with your camera that has a prime lens mounted on it.

What about Zoom lens?

The zoom lens it’s a different story. It has a range of focal lengths available in one lens. So you can have a wide and telephoto lens in just one lens. So you have the ability to zoom and take a shot. Some examples of zoom lenses: 18-55mm, 17-40mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, 18-200mm, etc (There are hundreds of lenses with different combinations).

Now I will try to put a ruff list of the advantages and disadvantages of these 2 types of lenses. Some people might disagree with me since this is more of a personal choice and you can see a lot of contradictory discussions around the web about how one outperforms the other (like Canon VS Nikon “wars”).

Prime Lens.

Advantages:

• Are very light weighted, since there are fewer component elements than the zoom lens
• Relative lower prices than zooms (depends of the lens, there are cheap and expensive prime lenses) since there having a simpler construction
• Are faster (in terms of aperture) and allow you to shoot in low light without the need of a flash. So you’ll encounter prime lenses with the biggest aperture opening of f/1.2
• Some important fact is that the primes are sharper and have superior image quality than zooms. (Nowadays appears zooms that are as sharp as primes , especially Canon’s “L” lenses)

Disadvantages:

• Obliges you to move a lot (but this might be considered as an advantage since you might find the perfect spot for that subject. so it boosts creativity)
• No ability to zoom. there are situation where there’s no time to change the lens.
• Less exposure for the image processor. Since you will change a lot the primes, it increases the chances that dust enters to your image processor.

Zoom lens.

Advantages:

• Zoom ability. This can be useful in situations where you have to go from wide to telephoto and vice versa
• Portability. You can buy 2-3 lenses and you can cover a focal range from 17 to 300mm
• Flexibility. It offers you a lot of space “to move” and shoot whatever pops up without thinking what lens you have on

Disadvantages:

• Can be quite pricey since their construction it’s a lot complicated.
• There a lot heavier since there are a lot of moving part in their construction.
• Creativity. Can make a photographer lazy and miss composition occasions because they tend to stay in one place and only zoom in an out.
• Are slower since the biggest aperture opening is f/2.8

Now you might ask which is a better lens? Well this comes down to you personal choice and style. Personally I use both of them. I have used combinations of 85mm f/1.8 (borrowed, and on my “to buy” list) , 50mm f/1.8 (i love this lens and it’s extremely cheap, around 70-80$, for the results it gives), 24-135mm f/3.5-f/5.6, 24-70mm L f/2.8 (borrowed), etc. As you can see you can work with both types depending on the situation.

As a side note: there are a lot of zoom lenses that compete with the prime ones in terms of sharpness and quality. For Canon users there are the “L” type (Luxury) lenses that have pretty amazing sharpness, but are quite expensive. For Nikon users, well from what I now the only thing that Nikon marks a good quality lens is that golden ring. Usually what Canon has in “L” class Nikon had it too in the quality bag.

You  can check it out here.

The new Nikon D3x is a full-frame DSLR camera with a 24.5 megapixel 16-bit EXPEED image processor. Here are some more specifications:

• 24.5 megapixel the highest resolution seen in a Nikon DSLR to date
• 16 bit EXPEED image processor (35.9 x 24mm)
• 51 point autofocus system
• 5fps continuous shooting (or 7fps at 10 megapixel)
• ISO range 50-6200
• Extra High Active D-Lighting
• Live preview shooting mode
• 3 inch LCD screen with 922000 dots
• Extremely durable magnesium construction with economically optimized and weather-sealed
• Dual CF slots

According to cameraworld.co.uk the price of the D3X camera is expected to be around £5500 (they even take pre-order deposits of £20). And it is said that will be released  in December.

I wonder if it’s worth buying it. Beside the high megapixel number there is not much improvement compared to D3. I guess that this D3X it will be a relief for fashion/portrait/product/etc. photographer , but a disappointment for wedding and sports photographers photographers where they need speed and god image quality at very high ISO.  But we will wait and see how it will present itself.

You can read more here or here.