Canon 1D X – It’s not the gear it’s your creativity behind it. What would you use the Canon 1D X for?
Here are the features that caught my eye in order of interest:
In-camera image composite
Up to 9 images with 4 different compositing methods are provided for maximum creative control, including Additive, Average, Bright and Dark. Compositing results can be viewed in real time on the camera’s LCD monitor, and there is a one-step Undo command that allows photographers to delete an image and try again if desired.
Low light capabilities with super high ISO
ISO range is 100 to 51,200, but the EOS-1D X offers ISO 50 and 102,400 at H1 and 204,800 at H2
Lower megapixel sensor with larger pixels
The camera sensor sports pixel size of 6.95 microns, 1.25 microns larger than those in the EOS-1D Mark IV sensor and .55 microns larger than those in the EOS 5D Mark II sensor
Video improvements
New compression formats, improvements to reduce moire and the following frame rates of 24p (23.976), 25p, or 30p (29.97); and 720p HD or SD video recording at either 50p or 60p (59.94)
Plopping down $7K for a camera is not for the light hearted so its not something I would do unless I felt I could produce something truly unique. (see my take below the image)
I would love to create in camera composites and the creative options there really have piqued my interest. I can think of several subjects that would make this a killer feature.
Low light capabilities with reduced digital noise would be fantastic. Astrophotography would be a subject I’d like to revisit and I’m wondering how the High ISO values might translate to video as well. The 5D Mark II sucks in this area.
While everyone is bent out of shape on the lower megapixel sensor I’m not so hung up on it. It certainly is an eye catcher though. What is the real indicator of image quality with a sensor is pixel size and density that impacts noise characteristics. If the sensor creates higher quality images with far less noise at a lower megapixel count then I don’t care if its 18, 20 or 36 (the rumored Nikon MP count). Any subject is going to be improved with less noise. The key will be to see if the reduction in noise with this configuration impacts perceived resolution. I doubt that will be the case. I’m looking forward to seeing example images from the camera.
Additional video recording options with recording time codes and the possibility of lower light shooting with better ISO/Noise performance has caught my eye the most. The 1 series has never been the flagship for video so I’m wondering if the 5D Mark III might one up the 1D X on this front. Either way these improvements are nothing to scoff at. I’d love to experiment with lower light video work.
So in the end I’d still be doing the same type of landscape, nature and travel photography, but I’d be looking for openings to push the envelope given the new technology. What more could I get out of a scene in low light scenes such as during the blue hour. Will video be usable in such lighting conditions? Are astrophotography photos going to be that much more impressive with the low light capabilities of the 1D X? What cool things can I do with the in-camera image composite? I’d super eager to experiment with a 1D X to find out.
What would you do with the new capabilities of the Canon 1D X?
Ever see an odd pixelated square graphic like this one on a web page, print magazine or as someone’s social media site avatar? If you haven’t yet I guarantee you will now. This type of graphic is called a QR Code and something you’ll want to take note of and to creatively use in the future.
What is a QR Code & Why Use It?
QR stands for Quick Response and essentially are bar codes, a different variation to what you find on grocery labels in the store. In essence QR codes are a visual representation of a web URL. They’re used in print and on web pages to help people load a web page from their camera enabled mobile phone. This is particularly helpful to transition viewers quickly from the world of print to the web.
How Does One Use A QR Code?
The simplest use-case of utilizing a QR code is as follows:
Viewer sees a QR Code on a print ad or a web page
Viewer loads a QR Code scanning application on your mobile phone
Viewer photographs the QR Code with your mobile phone
The QR Code scanning application then provides the viewer with a URL and the option to load it on your phone’s web browser.
The aforementioned use case is the basic way to use a QR code, but there are many creative applications in using a QR Code. Case in point is the C.A.O.S Living book (see below) where QR Codes were used to create a book that never grows old. There are several interesting ways to use QR Codes as they can be included on business cards, online avatars, promotional mailers, guerrilla marketing, tattoos…. OK maybe you shouldn’t use it as a tattoo. Recently I made use of a Wordpress plug-in that auto generates QR codes for every blog post on my blog. If you look on the right side of my blog I now have a section titled “QR Code To Go”. The purpose of this is to allow people to transition reading my blog from their computer to their phone if they’re on the go and need to be mobile.
As for what QR Code app to use… there are numerous QR Code readers now available in the iTunes and Android marketplaces. Take a look to find one that will work on your phone. It’s a great app to have on hand.
How Do I Make A QR Code?
The simplest way to create a QR Code is to access one of the many online QR Code generator web sites now available. I personally use the Kaywa QR Code generator. From this site and equivalents you can enter a URL and download an image file of your QR Code in various sizes. You can then use the image as you see fit to direct people to the URL entered into the generator.
Final Thoughts
QR Codes are definitely growing in popularity and they’re worth exploring if you haven’t already begun to do so. They’re big in Japan and they’re growing in popularity across the globe. If you come up with a creative use of a QR Code or know of a great example be sure to let me know in the comments. It’d be great to share some inspirational uses with others. If QR Codes are new to you then definitely take a look at the videos and resource links below.
Demo Videos
How QR Codes Work – Scanning QR Codes Found on NY Streets
Cell phone photography is exploding in use these days. As our ability to take photographs becomes easier, so too does the inadvertent spread of our personal information. Devices such as the iPhone automatically embed GPS data into EXIF data of its photos. Uninformed use of certain social media sites / image hosting services can result in the inadvertent spread of personal information such as your approximate home address or daily routine.
It’s important to note that I’m a firm believer in embedding EXIF data into professional images from a dSLR so that you can be found for future work, image licensing or print sales. In this instance I’m focused on images that originate from mobile / cell phones and other mobile devices. For a complete list of what social media web sites preserve metadata refer to David Rieck’s Controlled Vocabulary Social Media survey.
As it relates to mobile / cell phone photography and privacy I was tipped off to the following news report by Michael E. Gordon. Ever aware of metadata and my online activity with my iPhone photography I felt comfortable I was in good shape on the privacy front, but I decided to check sites that I disiplay my iPhone photos just in case. What I learned was that my settings on some sites were not 100% correct. Below the following video I’ve outlined what sites did or did not include GPS data and what I had to do to adjust my settings to hide personal GPS data.
Mobile App Communities (ex. Best Camera, Instagr.am, etc.)
A general rule of thumb is that anytime a mobile app applies a visual change to your photos there is a good chance, as of this post date, the metadata of your photo is not being preserved. Apps such as Best Camera and Instagr.am that apply pre-set filters to alter the look of your photographs do not carry over metadata to the final version of your image. As it relates to privacy this is great, but if you’re sharing dSLR photos that are being made available commercially this is not such a great thing.
Facebook – Mobile Uploads & Places
Facebook has never preserved image metadata to the best of my knowledge. Once again this is great if you’re concerned about location related metadata in your mobile / cell phone photographs, but horrible if you’re uploading dSLR images for business purposes.
Flickr
Flickr has long been at the forefront of geotagging photographs. They’ve implemented an elegant solution to read GPS data in a photographs metadata on import and show the location via Google maps on each photo page. I have (2) two Flickr accounts. One account is for my professional work and the other highlights photos taken from my cell phone. Checking my cell phone Flickr account I found that personal location data was being revealed on numerous photos and I had to remove it. The fastest way to do this was to batch remove GPS data. Here is how I did it….
Batch Delete GPS data on Flickr
Navigate to “Organize & Create”
At the bottom of the browser window just above the row of image thumbnails click “Select All” and drag them to where it says “Drag items here to edit them as a batch”
Select the “Location” menu and choose “Change geoprivacy”
Select remove Map information
To stop Flickr from importing GPS data from your photos (highly recommended for mobile phone images if privacy is a concern)
Navigate to “You” > “Your Account” or click on your account name in the upper right of the browser window
Select “Privacy & Permissions”
Click on “edit” for “Import EXIF location data”
Uncheck “Yes, please, that would be lovely.” and click Save under “Shall we import that information when a photo or video is uploaded or replaced?”
FourSquare & Gowalla
These applications are a fun way to share your whereabouts and activity with your social network. While shared images do not contain EXIF data the application is capturing / providing information on your location you voluntarily share with others via location services.
GPS Settings on your iPhone To be 100% certain what applications are providing location based information about you via GPS you should check your iPhone settings. To do this follow these easy steps:
Click on the Settings app
Choose “General”
Select “Location Services”
Turn on or off the ability to relay GPS data to the list of apps found on your phone
Final Thoughts
I hope this information helps you get the most out of your online / mobile experience while preserving the level of privacy you prefer. I do not have access to an Android phone so if you have privacy tips please feel free to share them in the comments.
I’ve been itching to test out the Canon 17mm f/4 tilt-shift lens for a long time and thanks to BorrowLenses as a courtesy this lens was made available to me for testing. I am far from being a camera gear tech-head, so if you want to get MTF chart info and other technical minutia I have provided links below to other reviews of this lens that I think are great & include greater tech info. The purpose of my time with this lens was to write up a practical review… in other words share with you how this lens held up in real-world conditions. Read more…
2009 offered up some great developments on the technical side of the photography industry, while the down economy has squeezed many photographers. In this regard 2009 was certainly a year to both love and hate. What might be around the corner in 2010? Here are my 10 Photography Predictions for 2010:
Computational Photography will hit a new landmark
Expect a variety of announcements in regard to computational photography in 2010. Cameras will certainly be taking a new path in their evolution as we got a glimpse of in 2009 with the open-source camera. Beyond 2010 we might see some of this technology in a more traditional commercial camera.
Digital Noise Vanishes, but Faux Film Grain Comes Into Fashion
I think it’s fair to say the latest cameras that have come out from Nikon and Canon have nearly done away with digital noise even at traditionally ultra high ISO settings. Ironically I predict that as people get use to noise free photos faux film grain will come into style.
Film makes a comeback… a small one
Counter to my earlier writing Film is Dead. No Really! film will catch on even more with photographers who have caught the digital photography bug. The population of film photographers will grow a bit in 2010 (beyond photo schools & fine art photographers), but the big question is, “Will this growth sway film manufacturers from discontinuing more film stocks?”
Orphan Works Legislation Rears Its Ugly Head in Washington, but only Briefly Orphan Works Legislation will reappear on Capital Hill, but only late in 2010. Even then the legislation will be put off until 2011 due to continued partisanship on larger economic and other social issues/legislation. Even though I’m making this prediction I’m making plans to watch for any movement on this legislation through out the year. Photographers cannot afford to remain idle on this issue. John Harrington’s Photo Business News & Forum does a great job on relaying updates & editorial to this legislation and an official site to monitor status of legislation moving through the U.S. Congress is govtrack.us.
More Virtual Trade Shows
In order to maximize cost savings photographers and photo companies alike who are reeling from the down economy will opt to attend more virtual trade shows versus traditional trade shows. PDN hosted a couple of the more popular virtual trade shows this year. I’m expecting to see this trend continue through out 2010 until the economy improves.
Camera Sensor Megapixel Wars Plateau
Camera manufacturers will focus on camera enhancements other than increased sensor resolution for new dSLR models. As the economy continues to struggle the broadest segment of the camera consumer market will accept the 20 megapixel sensor resolution as the norm. This will be driven by a slow down in sensor resolution research and a standardization of manufacturing for such resolutions. Even the biggest camera manufacturers hit hard by the economic melt down of 2008/9 are going to be looking for new ways to meet demand, remain competitive and most importantly cut costs. Expect to see marketing that reflects this shift in the near future. That being said the medium format digital photography market will see continued activity to optimize sensors falling in the 40-80 megapixel range. Even in this market attention will fall on improving ISO sensitivity and digital noise after the dust settles.
Crowdsourcing of Photo Content Formally Threatens Microstock
The low end of the stock photography market will start to be squeezed in 2010 as crowdsourcing photo sites/services emerge. The early exploration of this trend has been happening with photo contest rights grabs (see How The Rights To Your Photo Are Being Hijacked Through Photo Contests & Social Media circa 2008), but will take on a more formal legitimate front this year. Why would I possibly imagine such a thing? Perception of the value of photography continues to plummet and its bound to get worse before it gets better. The only thing worse than photos that cost a few dollars to license are photos that can be used for free.
Well Known/Famous Photographers File for Bankruptcy
Annie Leibovitz isn’t the only well known photographer facing tough times due to personal problems and an economy in free fall (see Agreement Reached on a Reprieve for Leibovitz Loan Repayment), she just may be the most visible. Photographers who have not embraced new marketing and revenue models will face the hardest of times. Those who have been slowest to adapt and have been over extended will suffer the worst fate. In 2010 it’s only a matter of time before news of bankruptcy hitting well known photographers comes to light.
Self-publishing forces the transformation of traditional photo publications
The last 4-5 years have been a boon for photographers in publishing content online on their own terms via blogs, YouTube, etc. The last 2 years have provided even further opportunity to photographers as print on-demand services (Blurb, LuLu, MagCloud, and an infinite number of other printers) have established themselves. Photographer generated content as reached a tipping point at the close of 2009 and more traditional publishing outlets will begin to leverage this content for their own purposes. Whether content is integrated to a magazine web site or to the magazine itself editors will have an easier time picking and choosing content. The big question is will they opt to have this content in print or republish it online or both?
dSLR Video Leans Toward Niche Adoption vs. Broad Consumer Adoption
I’m inclined to think that dSLR video will be wildly popular with a narrow audience and remain as an unused feature by the vast majority of the consumer market. Film & Television cinematographers will flock to dSLR video at a higher percentage than still photographers. The reason for this is cinematographers are already used to the extra cost of video production while most still photographers are not. Shooting production quality video with a dSLR requires a large outlay of cash for accessories, well beyond the budget of most still photographers. Thom Hogan’s recent observation (Dec. 29, 2009) highlights how low video enabled dSLRs fall on the top sellers list for camera manufacturers. Perhaps this is a sign of the tough economy limiting the number of upgrades photographers make, but in combination with random observation of friends & colleagues I’m finding that those with dSLRs that shoot video often never use the feature. If video is your thing be sure to check out Vincent Laforet’s predictions.
Almost 5 years ago I wrote an article on the pros and cons of using RAW versus JPEG and why I was shooting in RAW (see RAW vs JPEG: Is Shooting RAW Format For Me?). These days the argument of using RAW versus JPEG is well… not an argument at all. Most photographers realize that shooting in RAW provides a great number of benefits and many if not all the reasons to avoid using RAW have been nullified thanks to a variety of technical innovations including larger capacity compact flash drives & hard drives, maturation of RAW converters, development of photo specific editing/management software and faster more powerful computers. Now the question that faces photographers is should I convert my RAW files to DNG? Read more…
It seems like only yesterday that I first reviewed the camera in the original iPhone “Apple iPhone Camera Review: The One Thing Apple Isn’t Hyping“. At the time of the iPhone release 3 years ago I was not terribly impressed with the quality of the digital camera with in the phone and my opinion didn’t change with the lack of camera upgrade in the iPhone 3G. As part of the iPhone 3G S release the camera with in the phone has been upgraded and the difference between this generation and past generations is quite an improvement. Unfortunately not every short coming of the original iPhone camera has been addressed, but the vast majority of improvements warrant sharing another review. Read more…
These days its hard not to hear about doom and gloom news with the economy and for many photographers part of the “fix” they get with photography is picking up gear. While it may not make sense to pick a couple thousand dollars in gear in this economic climate there are things you can buy for under $30 that will certainly help you when in the field or studio. Here are 5 products that fit the bill and will keep you swimming in biodegradable foam peanuts.
invisibleSHIELD Camera LCD Screen Protector For the sake of truth in advertising if you have a cell phone, digital camera or even a laptop I would recommend the invisibleSHIELD product for it. I’ve had a screen protector on my camera LCD screen from the first day I got it and it was the best thing I ever did. It cost me $12. When compared to other screen protectors my friends have purchased, mine is the only one that hasn’t been messed up by some weird age related effect. My screen isn’t dimmed by it, there’s no fogging and its virtually indestructible keeping my screen from getting chipped or scratched. I liked their product enough I forked out $55 for their MacBook Pro 17″ product. Definitely money well spent.
Lens Cloth A good microfiber lens cloth is so cheap its worth getting two. Keep one in your camera bag and one in your jacket or wallet. This should be your first line of defense to keep dust specs from polluting your digital photos. Clean the front and rear element of your lenses to be sure that you’re not picking up clearly defined dust specs when shooting at f/22 or beyond.
Giottos Rocket Air Blower The large version is under $20 at B&H, Amazon.com, etc. and its the fastest and least invasive way to rid your sensor of dust particles. I’ve owned one since 2004 and it’s never let me down. I should also add its my dogs favorite camera accessory. No matter where my dog is when I’m using it he runs over thinking its a toy. Dog owners beware.
Bubble Level If you’re looking for a quick way to determine if your camera is level this is the way to do it. A hot shoe two axis or three axis bubble level is easy cheap and effective. It’s not uncommon to find these on sale so keep your eye open.
Multi-blade Screwdriver This is the latest addition to my camera bag. I recently noticed that one of my lenses was working loose from the camera mount ring near the rear element. I was lucky that I didn’t break or lose my lens. Using a key or fingernail is no way to tune up camera equipment. In short order I got one of these multi-blade screwdrivers and now use it on my lenses and tripod.
Have any other must have accessories that you can pick up for under $30? If so share’m here.
For the sake of truth in advertising if you have a cell phone, digital camera or even a laptop I would recommend the invisibleSHIELD product for it. I’ve had a screen protector on my camera LCD screen from the first day I got it and it was the best thing I ever did. It cost me $12. When compared to other screen protectors my friends have purchased, mine is the only one that hasn’t been messed up by some weird age related effect. My screen isn’t dimmed by it, there’s no fogging and its virtually indestructible keeping my screen from getting chipped or scratched. I liked their product enough I forked out $55 for their MacBook Pro 17″ product. Definitely money well spent.
A good microfiber lens cloth is so cheap its worth getting two. Keep one in your camera bag and one in your jacket or wallet. This should be your first line of defense to keep dust specs from polluting your digital photos. Clean the front and rear element of your lenses to be sure that you’re not picking up clearly defined dust specs when shooting at f/22 or beyond.
The large version is under $20 at B&H, Amazon.com, etc. and its the fastest and least invasive way to rid your sensor of dust particles. I’ve owned one since 2004 and it’s never let me down. I should also add its my dogs favorite camera accessory. No matter where my dog is when I’m using it he runs over thinking its a toy. Dog owners beware.
If you’re looking for a quick way to determine if your camera is level this is the way to do it. A hot shoe two axis or three axis bubble level is easy cheap and effective. It’s not uncommon to find these on sale so keep your eye open.
This is the latest addition to my camera bag. I recently noticed that one of my lenses was working loose from the camera mount ring near the rear element. I was lucky that I didn’t break or lose my lens. Using a key or fingernail is no way to tune up camera equipment. In short order I got one of these multi-blade screwdrivers and now use it on my lenses and tripod.
