Erik Persson Photography

Archive for the ‘Hardware’ Category

ISO 50 Is A Lie

I just took delivery of an EOS-1Ds Mark III and wanted ask a question about ISO to ensure I’m optimizing the quality of images from this fantastic camera. I’ve been doing studio work with my EOS-1D Mark II and II N on the extended ISO 50. Is there any quality compromise when using this lower ISO? I was using it thinking I would be getting better quality with the lower ISO, but I read something to the effect that it actually increases noise and that extending the range is only a method of light- not quality-management. Am I better off shooting at ISO 100?

The standard ISO range for the EOS-1Ds Mark III camera is 100 to 1600. Optional settings for ISO 50 and ISO 3200 are enabled via menu command, and are indicated on the camera’s LCD data panel as “L” for Low and “H” for High, respectively. Part of the reason behind this is that these settings are not truly ISO 50 or ISO 3200. Instead, in the case of “L,” you’re looking at ISO 100 processed by the camera to achieve an effective rating of ISO 50. Similarly, “H” means that the camera is processing an ISO 1600 image to achieve an effective rating of ISO 3200. “L” images have about the same level of noise as ISO 100 images, but they have less “headroom” in their tone curves to recover overexposed highlights than do ISO 100 images captured with the 1Ds Mark III. This is typically not a problem with evenly lit scenes, but it may become an issue with scenes that have a lot of dynamic range to them, such as sunsets, backlit flash photos, etc.

ISO 50 can be helpful when you are trying to achieve a creative effect, such as a wide aperture to blur the background behind the main subject, for instance in portraiture. It can also be helpful when you are using studio strobes and you don’t want to stop down the lens excessively, or in outdoor situations when you want a longer shutter speed to blur subject movement like the water in a waterfall. But if none of these situations apply, you are better off to use ISO settings in the 100 to 200 range in terms of overall image quality and maximum dynamic range.

© Chuck Westfall

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0804/tech-tips.html

Words do not express how much this annoys me…

Tags: canon, iso 50, Photography
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Ceramic Pinhole Camera

Check out this awesome ceramic pinhole camera created by Steve Irvine.

“It is made of stoneware, fired to 1,300 degrees C. (2,350 F.) It has a matte black glaze on the inside. Overall, it measures h 22.5 x w 20 x 20.5 cm. on the outside. It’s designed to take a 4 x 5 inch piece of photo paper. The negative holder on the inside is made from three strips of black weather stripping.”

Heres the example shot.

Source F295 Via Boing Boing

Pictures From iPhone Launch at Bellevue Square

If you weren’t one of the first 50 Apple faithful to arrive they stuck you in one of the side tunnels.

The Leica Rifle

Yes, that’s a Leica gun camera. Looks like a blunderbuss to me. No idea when these were produced though I’d guess early 60’s at the latest.
This actually isn’t the first camera gun I’ve seen, though its the first with such a large stock. From what I’ve read they actually worked rather well to prevent shake but the idea never caught on. Probably a bugger to do street photography with this thing…
Anywho, Tamarkin is auctioning off this beauty late January 07 on ebay.

Source via BoingBoing

Luminescent Shirts: Go Forth And Glow

In case you didn’t notice the shirt is glowing. Rather spiffy, no?

They’re made by the aptly named Lumigram and they sell pillows, purses, and hair extensions as well as the aforementioned shirts. The hair extensions average approximately 180 € which roughly translates to 237.58$. So the shirts probably aren’t cheap. Yet they’re so shiny…

The Lumigram catalog says the shirts should average 10 hours on a full charge so at least your luminescence would persevere throughout the cold dark night.
Via CrunchGear

The Solar Powered Day For Night Dress

It’s the fashionable solar powered Day For Night dress! It’s made out of interconnected white circuit boards and RGB LEDs, plus its powered by the sun! Here is a closeup view of each of the tiles…

It looks a bit… scratchy. Anywho, the cool thing is you can program it to display different colors and symbols and anything else you can think of.

Source Via We Make Money Not Art

Oh No No No I’m A Roller Man

Now this would be entertaining…

I wonder what the lights above his elbows are for though. Plus if you get bored rolling on your stomach you can roll over on your back!

Theoretically you can find out more on his site, Buggy Rollin, but the site design is an excellent example of why you don’t create your entire website in Flash.

Via Gizoo Via Gizmodo

A Camera Made Of Wood

It’s a camera with a crunchy wooden shell and a gooey digital filling! I like the unique look, though I wish the camera looked less like a planchette. Either way it’d be pretty cool to see a larger SLR camera with a wood shell. I wonder how much more this weighs with the wood.

Anywho, Olympus just announced the camera today and they’re tightlipped about a release date.
Source Via Gizmodo