A photo gallery of Ecuador has just been added to Neoluminance. Although Ecuador is small on the world map, it is a country of incredible diversity and choosing which pictures to show was quite challenging. Even so, this latest gallery is now the largest one at Neoluminance. Ecuador is truly an amazing place for the landscape photographer. Natural subjects include sun-drench islands, misty cloudforest, mountains, ice-capped volcanoes, jungle and much more.
Archive for September, 2007
Ecuador Gallery @ Neoluminance
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
Blog Spam – Comments Are On Again
Sunday, September 9th, 2007As some people noticed, comments on posts were recently blocked and most were removed. There were thousands of spam comments submitted and the approval queue got too big to handle. I see that spammers do not have anything better to do than submit their URL, but I have much better things to do than deal with that. So here the blog starts clean again. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Most readers send their comments by email anyways, which is still the best way to get a response.
Is 12 the new 10?
Thursday, September 6th, 2007
Just as predicted, Sony announced their 12 megapixels cropped-sensor DSLR. This is now the second consumer-grade 12 megapixels DSLR, after the recently announced Nikon D300. Note that there are already several professional 12 megapixels DSLRs: the Canon EOS 5D, the Nikon D3, the Nikon D2Xs and the Nikon D2X. All these professional models are significantly more expensive than the not-yet-available Sony A700 and Nikon D300.
Last year we saw five 10 megapixels DSLRs, followed by four additional models earlier this year. Among those, Nikon was first in the race with its D200 and Sony was second with the Alpha A100. Between this year and next, we are likely to see a similar sequence among 12 megapixels DSLR cameras. Nikon already made the first announcement with their D300 and Sony the second with their Alpha A700. In all likelyhood, Pentax will announce a 12 megapixels DSLR before the year’s end. It will probably share the same sensor as the Sony A700 and the Nikon D300, since Pentax usually uses Sony sensors.
Pentax being third would certainly give them an edge compared to last year. Among 10 megapixels DSLR cameras, only Panasonic announced later than Pentax. In fact, Panasonic has yet to ship a 10 megapixels DSLR. That means that Panasonic may be last again. Since Canon just announced a 10 megapixels DSLR, the EOS 40D, it is likely Canon will take the place of Pentax in the race for 12 megapixels. Of course, nothing stops them from announcing a 12 megapixels Rebel soon. Also Canon has the habit of shipping products shortly after announcing them, so they may not be last to ship, even if they announce later.
Although going to 12 megapixels is important for marketing, the most significant advancement this years is continuous drive speed. All recently announced DSLRs shoot continuously at 5 FPS or faster. The 12 megapixels models also sport larger 3″ LCD screens with 922K pixels. Although the Nikon D300 and Sony Alpha A700 have a lot in common, these two cameras are sophisticated in very different ways, thus making choosing between them quite dilemma for those without an existing investment in lenses. Since Pentax is about to bring its own variation into the mix, I predict that we will need a 12 megapixels DSLR comparison article soon!
Live-View Advancement
Monday, September 3rd, 2007After the Olympus E-10 and E-20 were long forgotten, the preview display on the rear LCD of DSLR cameras is continuing its comeback. Although, the Fuji Finepix S3 Pro’s black-and-white 30 second preview was wisely ignored, it was Olympus which revived the trend with its E-330 DSLR. Now Canon, Nikon, Olympus and Panasonic are all working to improve the preview capabilities of digital SLR cameras.
Olympus called this feature live-view and the term is being reused by other DSLR manufacturers. The ideal live-view would be a true WYSIWYG representation of the image about to be captured. Specifically, the ideal live-view would:
Among advanced fixed-lens digital cameras, the above points have all been met before, staring a few years ago with the Konica-Minolta Dimage A2 which was the first fixed-lens camera with a DOF-Preview function. Now, with the exception of DOF-preview, most fixed-lens digital cameras have such previews. That is commonly referred as having an exposure-priority preview. Some cameras such as the Sony Cybershot DSC-R1 allow switching between exposure-priority and display-priority previews. |
Among DSLR cameras, the situation is quite different. First, most DSLR cameras do not feature any preview at all. The Olympus E-330 has two previews, each satisfying some of the above points. One preview mode shows 100% frame coverage but disables autofocus, while the other shows 92% of the frame but allows normal autofocus. It turned out that having two modes was confusing and not showing 100% coverage destroyed one of the main advantages of having a preview display. The result is that all other DSLR cameras with live-view only have a single mode which shows 100% coverage.
The latest DSLR cameras from Nikon, the not-yet-available D3 and D300, are the first ones to feature a live-view with autofocus using the camera’s imaging sensor. At the time of their availability, these cameras are expected to satisfy more of the above points than any other DSLR. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 was also announced to allow live-view with autofocus but will not have a DOF-preview function. Since neither of these cameras are currently available, it will be some time before we know how usable their live-view is.
Obviously, having a true exposure-priority display is a desirable feature to have on a DSLR and progress is being made in that direction. Succeeding at correctly implementing this would make DSLR cameras as easy to use as most prosumer fixed-lens digital cameras. This would accelerate the adoption of DSLR cameras among users of fixed-lens cameras.
Note that because there is no total solution, no one has tried to produce a DSLR without a reflex viewfinder. Actually that is an oxymoron because a DSLR is defined by its reflex viewfinder. A DSLR without a reflex viewfinder would simply be a large-sensor digital camera with interchangeable lenses. There are probably many consumers who would be satisfied with having the flexibility of interchangeable lenses in a lighter and quieter camera. Removing the pentaprism and mirror would achieve both these goals at once. Hopefully such a camera would be equipped with a high-resolution EVF so that it can be held more steadily and discreetly at eye-level rather than at arms-length.
Nikon D300 – 100% Coverage Viewfinder
Saturday, September 1st, 2007Of all the announcements which were made while I was on vacations, the Nikon D300 deserves a special mention. Not only does the D300 improve upon its predecessor with 20% more megapixels and speed, the Nikon D300 is now the cheapest DSLR model ever to offer a viewfinder with 100% coverage.This professional feature is also found on all Canon 1D and 1Ds cameras which cost considerably more than the $1800 USD introductory-price of the Nikon D300. Well done Nikon! I truly hope other good DSLR manufacturers will provide this in their similar models shortly.
