Decisive Moments for the Small Sensor

[stnami]

Scott that's where it sits with other photographic areas as well.
my year exhibiting
1st show..... photographs and installation
2nd ........... photographs
3rd ........... slide show
4th ........... photographs and installation
5th ........... photographs, slide show, internet

next show photographs, slide show(internet) and video
.......................and probably video and one photo in the show after

 

[Hypnohare]

This is a very thought provoking thread.

I think photography can be many things to many people. To some it is simply a recording for the sake of posterity, to others it is a commercial product and sometimes it is a fine art (and often it is a combination).

The photos themselves are to an extent a reflection of a constantly evolving technology and it is the state of this technology that often dictates the techniques that are used by a majority of photographer. For instance all Matthew Brady had was a view camera and a horse drawn darkroom and he used them brilliantly (I do however suspect that if he was given a choice, he might have chosen a Nikon D-3 and an Epson printer).

That said some will choose the latest image acquisition devices and others will use an older technology. Sometimes the older tools are used because of sentimentality and quite often they are used because the artist feels that a certain technology, however old it might be, is the best tool to fulfill one’s artistic vision.

Furthermore, I can see that it is only a matter of time before the average person will be able to go to ‘Best Buy’ and purchase a compact camera that has the dynamic range and 4K resolution of the “Red Digital Cinema” camera (Indeed Red is currently working on a profession pocket version of their impressive camera that will probably cost a bundle of money).

If this comes to pass, I can imagine a time when the so-called “machine-gun” approach becomes a very popular photographic technique.

But as for me, even if I had access to such a device, I would still prefer the more contemplative process of taking one picture at a time.

I cannot say for certain that one technique is better than another.

I can only say that my technique works for me personally and it feels like the correct process for taking the kind of photos that I wish to make.

 

[stnami]

I was never too keen in going down the video/internet path but if my work is to remain relevant to needs of society around me I had no choice. Photographic prints alone just don't cut it anymore and isolates one from a huge audience
As a Photography teacher I now teach digital, animation, video.......... as a Visual Arts teacher just about anything visual, conceptual or written and on and omn......o

 

[Sean_Reid]

Sean, how about AF on a likely spot followed by holding the half press until the shot develops as you foresee it? I know the GR-family has tools for this, but I find I can hold a half-press quite a long time. I'm also starting to get some reasonable results during a basketball game with the Leica by prefocusing on the floor, and that doesn't feel any different.

As for the inevitable changes in the journalism profession (I was a print journalist for a while, never did photography), consider the positive response that Dirck Halstead has gotten to his Platypus courses. A Platypus is a print still photo-journalist taking an accelerated course in video production. Planning, shooting, editing, and producing a short segment with equipment that used to be Canon GL-2's and is now hand-held HDTV gear and quality sound -- all in a week. He now gives the course twice a year, on both coasts. His assumption that agencies and networks will expect their people to handle both modes (or only care about the video) seems to be accepted.

scott

Hi Scott,

I was just writing about the half-press/full-press method in the G9 review (because that's the only way to make that camera responsive). For some people, under some conditions, with some subjects, I know that it can work well. So much depends on one's working method and upon how one normally proceeds in the time leading up to the shutter being released.

But, for me, that half press/full press method is often much too slow. I often don't tend to keep the camera at my eye for long, sometimes just a second. When I'm working quickly I build most of the picture before the camera comes to eye and only have it at my eye to finish the process.

Even my Graphlex could respond instantly when brought to my eye. So I only keep cameras that can be made to respond instantly when brought to my eye (though I sometimes test cameras that can't). If a camera can't do that, it's essentially useless to me for fast work. The R-D1 and M8 are the fastest digital cameras I've ever worked with. The Ricoh cameras can be pretty fast if they're zone focused.

About the Platypus courses...it makes sense.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[stnami]

Sounds like you need a pocket film camera, Sean..........

 

[Sean_Reid]

Scott that's where it sits with other photographic areas as well.
my year exhibiting
1st show..... photographs and installation
2nd ........... photographs
3rd ........... slide show
4th ........... photographs and installation
5th ........... photographs, slide show, internet

next show photographs, slide show(internet) and video
.......................and probably video and one photo in the show after

It goes way back, too. Helen Levitt made an incredibly beautiful little film with Janice Loeb and James Agee called "In the Street". That must have been in the 1930s but I can't recall. And of course, Robert Frank turned to film for quite awhile after "The Americans" was published.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[Sean_Reid]

Sounds like you need a pocket film camera, Sean..........

No, the Ricohs do the trick with manual focus. They're fast enough. I think the D-Lux 3 was as well but I can't remember. I'd have to reread my own review -- all these cameras - the information can start to blur.

If I still shot film, and I don't and won't, I'd have a Rollei 35.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[Sean_Reid]

I was never too keen in going down the video/internet path but if my work is to remain relevant to needs of society around me I had no choice. Photographic prints alone just don't cut it anymore and isolates one from a huge audience
As a Photography teacher I now teach digital, animation, video.......... as a Visual Arts teacher just about anything visual, conceptual or written and on and omn......o

So how about now? Do you like to make moving pictures?

Cheers,

Sean

 

[stnami]

...now the films/video thing is the norm...even the coffee shops that used to have prints on the wall show short videos just as the Dada boys and girls did in selected bars in the 1930's

 

[stnami]

Yea I making moving pictures now and slide shows supplemented by the occassional printed image........
My current project consists of a 6 minute video intsallation made up of still images, text, etc. It takes a long time to get this stuff together .. once I started using the video, it sorta got interesting as long as one is not just filming for the sake of it ...once again a heap of pp work

 

[Maggie O]

No, the Ricohs do the trick with manual focus. They're fast enough. I think the D-Lux 3 was as well but I can't remember. I'd have to reread my own review -- all these cameras - the information can start to blur.

Yep, the D-Lux 3 responds instantly in manual focus mode.

 

[tt113]

Hi Scott,

I was just writing about the half-press/full-press method in the G9 review (because that's the only way to make that camera responsive). For some people, under some conditions, with some subjects, I know that it can work well. So much depends on one's working method and upon how one normally proceeds in the time leading up to the shutter being released.
Sean

Hi Sean:
I notice that if you use exposure lock when using aperture priority, you can reduce the shutter lag further to almost that of the half-to-full press lag. However, such method only work in aperture priority but not work in the manual exposure mode. Another strange thing about the canon is that if you turn off the lcd, the camera return back to auto focus (which is very slow). According the www.imaging-resource.com, the manual focus speed of the G9 is slower than the G7. I don't know if the data is telling the truth or just test variation. Do you have anyway of finding it out?
Also, I am a subsriber of your review and I have to say your review is among the best in the internet.

 

[Arch]

Not worrying too much about the focus is exactly the small sensor advantage with its huge depth of field. The Ricohs have their settings for prefocus/manual focus/fixed focus. On my GX100 I have the electronic viewfinder, which I find handy in many situations, especially when accurate framing is necessary at a close distance. It is, however, unusable for continuous mode, because of the process lag/blackout (the LCD is slightly better, but not really good).

An optical viefinder is, of course, the solution and lets you concentrate 100% on the subject, with or without the continuous mode. Continuous mode is something that has not really existed for small viewfinder cameras in the film era. This opens, for me at least, completely new creative possibilities.

My memory seems to be doing its tricks. Going through my archives I find that my example photo for this thread was not, as I remembered, taken with continuous mode. It's an old-fashioned pick of a series of six or so. I seem to have trashed a few, but here's the series. But the point remains: It could have been...

Thanks for all the interesting responses in this thread. I find the multimedia branch discussion extremely fascinating.

 

[Arch]

...and here's the chosen one, once more. A slightly better version. The colors are striking, but they sort of focus the attention to all the wrong things. Thus the BW.

 

[Sean_Reid]

Yep, the D-Lux 3 responds instantly in manual focus mode.

I thought so. I usually remember when a camera *does* get in my way.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[Sean_Reid]

Hi Sean:
I notice that if you use exposure lock when using aperture priority, you can reduce the shutter lag further to almost that of the half-to-full press lag. However, such method only work in aperture priority but not work in the manual exposure mode. Another strange thing about the canon is that if you turn off the lcd, the camera return back to auto focus (which is very slow). According the www.imaging-resource.com, the manual focus speed of the G9 is slower than the G7. I don't know if the data is telling the truth or just test variation. Do you have anyway of finding it out?
Also, I am a subsriber of your review and I have to say your review is among the best in the internet.

The LCD off - MF problem is one thing I'm writing about. I've actually written for I-R in the past and the numbers Dave and his crew got for the shutter lag in MF are right in line with my own. I don't know how this compares with the G7 but the camera is slow in that mode and it will be a problem for some photographers.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[jonoslack]

Hi Jono,

The only way to work quickly with the current small sensor cameras, frame after frame, is to abandon AF all together. Some of them respond almost instantly to the shutter when in MF and some don't. I myself have no interest in the latter. If I can't lift the camera to my eye and immediately trip the shutter, I don't want it. Others, of course, may not need that kind of responsiveness.

Well, that's my feeling.

Similarly, using an accessory optical finder rather than an LCD or EVF removes another obstacle to responsiveness.

Ah - but here we come to the nub of the problem - if I put an external optical finder on one of these little beauties . . . . . then they're as inconvenient to carry around as an M8 with a little lens (like the 28mm f2.8). . . . . . . . . and I'd always rather use that.

Maybe I'm just not cut out to get on with one!

 

[Maggie O]

Ah - but here we come to the nub of the problem - if I put an external optical finder on one of these little beauties . . . . . then they're as inconvenient to carry around as an M8 with a little lens (like the 28mm f2.8). . . . . . . . . and I'd always rather use that.

I don't know about that. The GRD II, with a CV minifinder, is still quite a bit smaller than an M8 and looks to be still easily pocketable. Scott posted a photo with both cameras over in another thread and a photo of the GRD with the mini VFs and it looks pretty portable to me.

 

[Sean_Reid]

Well, that's my feeling.


Ah - but here we come to the nub of the problem - if I put an external optical finder on one of these little beauties . . . . . then they're as inconvenient to carry around as an M8 with a little lens (like the 28mm f2.8). . . . . . . . . and I'd always rather use that.

Maybe I'm just not cut out to get on with one!

Oh Contraire....<G>

Take a look at the GR2 with the GV2 finder - its still very pocket sized and I carry that combination in my pocket all the time. The finder stays on the camera and both fit into a wonderful little leather pocket case that Ricoh makes for this exact purpose.

Take a look at my GR2 review again. I still love the M8 too but it isn't a pocket camera.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[cam]

Ah - but here we come to the nub of the problem - if I put an external optical finder on one of these little beauties . . . . . then they're as inconvenient to carry around as an M8 with a little lens (like the 28mm f2.8). . . . . . . . . and I'd always rather use that.

Maybe I'm just not cut out to get on with one!

i second Sean's opinion on this. the original one is too big and bulky for that, but the new mini-finder is glorious! since i do mostly shooting from the hip, when it comes time that i actually have the luxury of framing a shot -- i forget it's on there and start to use the screen. LOL. it really is that unobtrusive...