The week after the annual Photo Plus everyone was asking “Where was Sony?” Kevin Ames has the answer. Next up, Scott Wyden Kivowitz talks about a wedding photographer’s fail and professionalism. Michèle Grenier takes us into the Zeiss look, then Bob Coates explains the wisdom of having a backup of your computer’s start-up drive. Julie Powell goes outside with her macro lens aimed at the colorful fall leaves. The new Skydio 2 drone is put through its paces by Chris Anson. Happy photography!
PhotoPlus New York: Where was Sony? - PhotoPlus 2019 wrapped up at the Javits Center in New York yesterday. All of the camera manufacturers — Canon, Fuji, Nikon, Olympus and Panasonic — had big booths in the hall. Sony was conspicuously missing. Down 37th Street Sony, for reasons rumored to be the high cost of exhibiting at the event to a dispute over the cost of an Internet connection, was not showing at the Javits Center this year. Instead, the mirrorless pioneer put on a show of their own at Sony Creative Space a mere block from the Javits Center and PhotoPlus. And what a show it was. Sony had displays of its wares from lenses to high-end video cameras along with sets where attendees could shoot models. When I checked it out, the offerings included an Edward Hopper-esque diner, a boxing gym and a projected window on a background where and actor was lit dramatically. Education Sony had its visionaries presenting photographic education and inspiration on a stage opposite the sets. A seating area was provided. The presentation by wildlife photographer Colby Brown that I saw was standing room only. Nineteen speakers presented and there were over 30 presentations and photowalks. Parties A participant I spoke with said that after the “show” closed, food and drinks were brought in and nightly parties ensued. Permanent breakup? Sony’s Creative Space NYC was the quiet buzz on the floor at PhotoPlus this year. Everyone was talking about the breakup and what it might mean for the future of PhotoPlus. PhotoPlus seemed to be smaller this year, taking into consideration Sony’s absence. The aisles were noticeably wider. The traditional classes that were the original plus in PhotoPlus Expo (the original name of the event) were gone. The thinking seemed to be that the vendors on the floor would provide the education that, formerly, was held in the downstairs class halls. The photo industry continues to contract with camera sales down 25% this year. Camera stores are closing across the country and now a major camera maker chose to mount its own show a block from the traditional, long-standing photo trade show on the east coast of the U.S. Is this a harbinger of things to come? Or is it only a reaction to the changes in the photographic market brought on by the smartphone? Time will tell and Photofocus will be telling time’s story.
Wedding photography fail, or how to be a professional - There is a Facebook post from a photographer that has gone viral. With 1,300 comments and 208,000 shares, I think this post is just getting started. The post actually made international news as well. The photographer shared a photo from a wedding she photographed. In it is a guest’s hand, holding a phone, capturing his or her own photo. Unfortunately, the photo is ruined. She went on Facebook sharing her thoughts on the issue and blamed the guest for the ruined photo. “Not only did you ruin my shot,” (use the word photo, not the word shot please) “but you took this moment away from the groom, father of the bride and the bride.” Immediately she attacked the guest for making the couple miss a photo. She then goes on to say: “What exactly do you plan on doing with that photo? Honestly, are you going to print it out, save it, look at it every day? No, you’re not. But my bride would have printed this photo, looked at it often and reminisced over this moment as her dad walked her down the aisle on her wedding day. But instead you wanted to take a photo with your phone and blocking my view and taking a photo that you will not use. Guests. Please stop viewing weddings. You attend their screen, but instead turn off your phone and enjoy the ceremony. You are important to the bride and groom. You would not be attending the wedding otherwise. So please let me do my job and just sit back, relax and enjoy this once in a lifetime moment. Sincerely, wedding photographers.” Yes, she signed it from all wedding photographers. But here is the thing … not all photographers agree with her. You see, professional photographers have to act professional both in-camera and post-camera. Meaning, even on social media. At the wedding, this photographer could have worked her way in front of the guest. She could have said something to the guest. She could have gotten the photo she and the couple wanted. That’s the professional thing to do. At the same time, she should not have gone on a rant through her Facebook page blaming a guest. Sure, her post went viral and got a lot of press. So her page likely gained a lot of new “Likes” since then. But will it get her clients? Because sometimes going viral does nothing for your business. Or will it scare potential clients away knowing that she will talk about them and their guests in public afterward? We want to hear from you, and what you think about this. Could she have handled it different in-camera or post-camera? Who do you think ruined the photo, the photographer or the guest?
Diving into the ZEISS look at PhotoPlus - A couple of days ago, I made an interview at PhotoPlus with Tony Wisniewski from ZEISS. He introduced me to their line of lenses, and I’ve learned very interesting information about their technology. Here’s what he shared with me. ZEISS has been around for 140 years, offering scientific expertise on everything optics: From microscopes to ophthalmology equipment to planetariums. They made their entrance in the world of photography lenses about 125 years ago (I wasn’t very old back then…). The ZEISS company has always been very selective on the lenses they manufacture. They deliver high-quality optics with high-quality standards and they’re also widely known for their “ZEISS Look.” What’s the ZEISS Look? It’s a combination of three top-class technology elements. True colors The ZEISS *T multi-layer coating allows photographers to capture true, clear and natural colors. Sharpness A high level of definition that gives crisp images and high micro contrast up to the edges. 3D pop A wide-open aperture provides a harmonious bokeh to separate the areas in focus from the rest of the image. What’s available? The brand offers three lines for both DSLR and mirrorless technologies. On the mirrorless side: ZEISS Batis Lenses (autofocus lenses for full-frame Sony cameras) ZEISS Loxia Lenses (manual focus lenses for full-frame Sony cameras) ZEISS Touit Lenses (autofocus lenses for APS-C Sony and Fuji cameras) On the SLR side: ZEISS Otus Lenses (medium format look, manual focus lenses for full-frame Canon and Nikon) ZEISS Milvus Lenses (high-resolution look, manual focus lenses for full-frame Canon and Nikon) ZEISS Classic Lenses (manual focus lenses for full-frame Canon and Nikon) More on the Batis lenses line Because I am a Sony full-frame photographer, the Batis line got all my attention. With no surprise, I learned it was indeed their preferred line amongst amateur and professional photographers. The line offers five lenses, all prime focal length: 18mm, 25mm, 40mm, 85mm and 135mm. This line is made to suit a wide variety of photography, from street to portrait to landscape and more. Every lens provides super-fast and quiet autofocus (yes please!) and works with all the technology Sony has put into their camera. A unique focal length Perhaps you’ve already noticed it: ZEISS the only company offering the 40mm as a general-purpose photography lens. I’ve often heard that a 50mm was the closest from what the eye can see (you can read more about “normal lenses” on this great article written by my colleague Mike Hagen). With this unique focal length, the 40mm falls into a sweet spot between the 35mm and the 50mm, offering a very versatile product. It’s also known for its close focus and for being very comfortable and cost-effective. That gives food for thought when you are considering adding a new lens to your bag. Leaving the booth, my curiosity has definitely been triggered. I ever have the opportunity to shoot sports with one of the Batis lenses, I’ll make sure to share my experience, thoughts and images on a new article. If you own yourself a ZEISS lens, please share your thoughts right under this article. I’d love to read your comments on it. See you next time!
Clone your master hard drive - When you clone the hard drive that contains your operating system and applications you could save yourself from some serious heartache. When your master hard drive goes down so does all of your settings, preferences, software application keys and more. To get yourself back in action if you have a current clone drive you remove the downed hard drive. Replace it and clone your drive information in to the new hard drive. May take an hour or so verses literally months without it if you have to start from scratch. You’ll need software and hard drives to create a clone drive. Here’s a blog post with more detailed how-to information. Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
Skydio 2: Why this drone is important - As most of you know, DJI pretty much dominates the drone market. Forbes stated earlier this year that “DJI has soared to take two-thirds of the drone market globally.” If the Skydio 2 is really capable of what they claim, and the videos showing those capabilities look to support that, we may finally have a made in the USA drone that can give DJI some competition. Why I’m personally excited about this, is that I’ve been flying a DJI Inspire 2 for more than two years. In that time I have had a lot of problems with the drone. Things like firmware updates not working, taking two years to fix a gimbal problem on a $1,600 camera/gimbal, warranty repair issues as well as problems with the flight restrictions that DJI decided to impose, even on FAA certified Part 107 licensed pilots. I’ve been on jobs where I’ve gotten FAA approval to fly and when I get there, DJI restricts me. Often there were workarounds, but often it has taken a couple of hours to get the restriction lifted. So that being said, I’d love to see some serious competition to DJI drones so I could buy one and use it for my projects instead. Maybe this is one of them! Currently, there is nothing that DJI sells that has the obstacle avoidance/navigation/autonomous flight abilities of the Skydio 2. Even as a practiced and experienced drone pilot flying many and varied projects, the examples you’ll see in the videos below can be very difficult and potentially hazardous for your drone. On one project I missed seeing a tree branch, even after walking the site first, hit it and it cost me $2,000 damage to my Inspire 2 drone. It would appear that the Skydio 2 drone has a significant ability to navigate/avoid complex obstacles like tree branches and other complex objects at a level that DJI drones don’t have. According to Skydio: “[The Skydio 2 has] 45 megapixels of visual sensing from six 200 degree color cameras, Skydio 2 can see everything in every direction with unprecedented resolution and clarity. This is the foundation of trustworthy autonomous flight.” Compare this with 4.9 megapixels for the Mavic Pro. Check out this video to see how it navigates through obstacles. It’s pretty impressive. Skydio 2 vs. DJI Mavic Pro So how does DJI stack up? Check out this video from Skydio’s website on how the DJI Mavic 2 stacks up against the Skydio 2. As I stated above, 45 megapixels of visual sensing from six 200-degree color cameras versus 4.9 megapixels for the Mavic Pro. It’s a big difference. Check out how the Skydio 2 is able to navigate autonomously in an area that stops the Mavic Pro cold. What about tracking me? For those of you who are one-person crews or want videos of you on your mountain bike, hiking, surfing or skiing, Skydio has a Skydio Beacon to track you autonomously. You use this to control the drone’s height and position as it tracks you as well as other functions. Here’s a video from their site that shows how well it works. Does it have a controller? Finally for me, having the ability to fly with a controller is really important. Then you add the level of obstacle avoidance and navigation to that and you got a real winner. Check out this video from their website on how it works with their controller. What about the camera? The camera specs in the Skydio 2 are a little disappointing. It uses a 1-2.3” 12.3 megapixel CMOS, compared to a 1″ sensor on the Mavic Pro 2. But the new sensor, and the processors it uses, make it capable of 4K video at up to 60fps. Plus it has HDR, and they claim for it to have 13 stops of dynamic range. If you’re wondering what the HDR looks like here is a sample for their website. Notice the grassy area and sky are not blown out in the HDR version. Again, I’ll need hands-on experience to see how capable the camera is for my needs, but it looks promising. In addition, the camera produces 12 megapixel HDR photos. So my verdict is still out on this. For YouTube videos, it should be fine, but I’ll need hands-on to edit and grade real footage to know what other projects I can use it on. The level of obstacle avoidance/navigation should allow pilots to produce footage that would be difficult to impossible to produce with just manual flight. This could be a game-changer for many people and small productions. The Skydio 2 has an all-new camera that uses Sony’s IMX577 sensor and the Qualcomm RedDragon QCS605. Does Skydio stand behind their technology? Here’s the warranty from their website: “Skydio 2 is the easiest to fly, least likely to crash drone on the planet and we’re proud to be building it right here in America. Our customer support team sits in the same building with the engineering team that designed the product. We manufacture and repair Skydio 2 across the street. If you have any issue, we’re here to help. And we stand behind Skydio 2 with a simple promise: if you’re operating your Skydio 2 within our Safe Flight guidelines, and it crashes, we’ll repair or replace it for free. It’s that simple.” Final thoughts I’m really hopeful that this drone can really do all it claims (since I haven’t flown one yet). I would really like to see DJI get some competition and maybe have U.S. drone manufacturers take a lead in innovation in this field. If it is capable of what it claims then this will be a drone worth buying. Its ability to navigate around obstacles when being flow with a controller will reduce the change of crashes and the autonomous flying modes will give users the ability to create footage that currently is very difficult or impossible right now.
Photographing fall leaves with your macro lens outdoors - I talked in another article about ways to photograph macro fall leaves indoors. This time I’d like to go outside and play with the macro lens and leaves. You can’t replace the feeling of actually heading out with your camera on a crisp, blue sky fall day. Here are a few tips and things to be on the lookout for when you’re hiking your favorite trail. Pay attention to the details Watch where the light falls on the leaves you see. Backlit fall leaves are like little shards of stained glass all lit up. Check your background, move a step to the left or right to create a clean background for the leaf you are photographing. Look up. Especially on blue sky days, you have an amazing background and contrasting colors many times. Get low. Put your camera on the ground. Shoot at the same level as the leaf you find if it’s already in the perfect spot. Also, get your camera wet (not too wet though). Set your camera along the edge of the creek or pond to capture those leaves swimming in the water. A few other notes on fall macro outside Fall is not only about the color, but it’s also about the change of seasons. The moving on of life. Look for dried-up and crunchy leaves as well. Just because they’re brown doesn’t mean they won’t make for interesting images. Pine trees also can be something a little different to add to your leaf collection. It’s not too late to get out and find some fall color if you’re living in an area of the world where that happens. Go out and play. Fall macro images can be colorful and quite interesting.
