Leica releases “Safari Edition” M8.2

Leica recently sent out a press release describing a new special edition version of the M8.2. Dubbed the “Safari Edition” it features an olive green paint job and matte silver colored ELMARIT-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH.lens with a matching Billingham bag. A tribute to the 1960 M3 “Safari Edition”, only 500 of these babies are going to be made. I myself would be more interested in the “Panda Edition” M8.2 (black with silver trim), but the Safari Edition is a collector’s item so there will be the usually over-inflated prices associated with the collector’s market. Don’t be shocked to pay over $10K for this model. Some pundits have decided to pass on this model stating that they prefer to wait for one covered in “reticulated Ostrich testicles”.

PlanetAMD64 Server back online!

Server is up and operational. One table was corrupted in the database, but a quick Repair Table command cleared that up.

Allon-sy!

PlanetAMD64 Server offline

The server that hosts PlanetAMD64/PlanetX64 is currently offline due to a concussed RAID controller. In spite of the fact that I have that server backed up to Mozy Pro, with a RAID 5 plus a hot-spare drive, the one real hardware failure that could kill us happened: RAID controller failure. Technically it's not dead, it just lost the RAID configuration. A call to Adaptec support + $80 USD and the server is back and rebuilding the array. Whew! The server will be operational by noon tomorrow (1/27/2009).

Unfortunately, that server also hosts the primary DNS for all of my domains outside of the Planets (including this one), so I was out of commission for a few days. I have switched DNS hosts for this domain to DynDNS.org and now at least I can get the word out.

I have to see about getting a cluster for the sites to avoid this nonsense in the future.

While I'm on the subject of technical cameras...

I would be remiss if I failed to talk about other medium format systems that offer an extensive solution for landscape and architectural photography. Case in point: Hasselblad. Long time purveyor of medium format cameras, Hasselblad has gone digital in a very big way. Their H-System is currently on its fifth generation with the H3D-II, and with it Hasselblad has decided to take a systems approach to medium format. Think of them as the Apple of medium format.

The H-System also include a set of matched lenses that, like lenses on 35mm systems, transmit a wealth of information back to the camera for use in adjusting and correcting the image in post production. There are 5 HC/HCD lenses available currently ranging from HCD 28mm (equivalent to 14mm in 35mm format) to the HC 100mm.

So how is this a technical camera, there are no tilt/shift lenses?

Funny you should ask. Hasselblad elected to create an accessory that converts all five HC/HCD lenses into tilt/shift lenses: the HTS 1.5. So in one fell swoop, Hasselblad has trumped the other general purpose medium format camera makers by introducing five tilt/shift lenses.

Front of the HTS 1.5

Rear of the HTS 1.5

As you can see above, the HTS has passthrough contacts that allow the full functionality of the HC/HCD lenses to be maintained. This is vitally important as the shutter on a Hasselblad H-System camera is located in the lenses. This also means that autofocus and data reporting to the camera is also maintained. This is huge. To my knowledge, this is a Hasselblad exclusive.

Now that I have you salivating over this comes the reality check. The price of admission to this gear is very high. Hasselblad has a special promotion going on now until March 31, 2009 for architectural and landscape photographers: A Pro Kit that includes the following:

• Hasselblad H3DII-50 camera w/viewfinder
• HCD 28mm f/4 lens
• HTS 1.5 Tilt/Shift Adapter
• Hasselblad GIL GPS Unit
• HVM waist level finder (free with registration)
• Pelican 1510 Mobile Gear Case (free with registration)

All this can be yours for a mere $36,164 USD.

Ouch.

Considering the images I have seen these systems produce, if you can get the customers, the kit is worth the price. Add this one to my wish list too.

PAW Week #3

OK, this is not exactly a picture taken by me, but I did design the wallpaper. This is an Alpa 12 SWA technical camera with a Leaf Aptus-II digital back. It is used for architectural and landscape images because of its shift capabilities and the extremely high pixel count (up to 60 megapixels depending on the back). Strangely enough, the camera itself is extremely simple in design with no electronics (other than the stuff on the digital back) and a scale focus design (you have to guesstimate the distance to the subject and dial it into the lens). However, it uses some of the most spectacular lenses in the industry and once mastered, captures breathtaking images. I want one. The problem: the rig pictured above starts out at about $20,000 USD (for the 28 MP model).

Ouch.

The Russians Are Coming!

Hartblei is a name that is not very well know on this side of the pond. This Ukrainian lens maker recently moved it headquarters to Munich, Germany. And struck a major deal with Medium Format Digital Back giant, Phase One, producing the tilt-shift lens for their Phase One Medium Format camera. I recently acquired one of their older models, the Hartblei 45 mm f/3.5 Super Rotator in a Nikon mount. I am now learning the ins and outs of this fascinating lens.

Tilt/Shift lenses are used to control perspective, allowing a photographer to prevent parallax error when photographing tall buildings for instance, control Depth of Field, allowing the photographer to shoot close-ups at odd angles and still maintain proper focus, and to shoot panoramic images that are very easy to stitch together as they have no barrel or pincushion distortion due to lens panning: the lens shifts (horizontally or vertically) and multiple images are gathered without rotating the camera.

Here is a quickie panorama I made of my desk:

Over the next few weeks I will be taking this big fellow out and trying it's various functions. I will post follow-ups when I have them ready.

Hartblei has released a new set of T/S lenses in many different mounts. T/S lenses are completely manual (the front half and back half of the lens is not directly connected to allow the tilt/shift/swing movements) so the camera will have to be operated manually. More info about Hartblei's new lenses can be found here.

PAW Week #2 - Jedi Knight

Jedi Knight Originally uploaded by Carlos Echenique

This week's image required the use of my tripod (Manfrotto 190XDB + Gitzo 1278M + RRS B2 Pro Clamp), RRS L-Plate on my D300, Nikon ML-3 Wireless Remote Trigger, Nikon D300 + Nikkor 35mm f/2 and my Parks Lightsaber (Volition Grip + Blue Phase Blade). Image was captured RAW and processed in Aperture 2 + Viveza (for contrast tweaks).

Macworld and the lack of Steve

Wow. Just got through possibly the worst coverage of Macworld I have ever seen. One can see that Steve Jobs is truly the dynamic force behind the scenes in Cupertino. To wit: No Steve = No live video feed No Steve = No Snow Leopard update No Steve = No Blu-ray support announcement No Steve = No Mac Mini refresh No Steve = No netbook sized MacBook (MacBook Mini? MacNote?) No Steve = No vid card refresh for Mac Pro No Steve = No Cinema Display refresh Top that all off with MacRumors' live coverage getting hacked ("STEVE JOBS JUST DIED" was inserted into their comment stream by person(s) unknown) and then their site went down. Now, don't get me wrong, I know better than most people how dangerous anything happening to the pancreas is (I am a survivor of necrotizing pancreatitis - which has a 2% survival rate in 1 month vs, pancreatic cancer's 20% the first year), and I do not begrudge Mr. Jobs looking after his health. It just without Steve, Apple loses quite a bit of its zing. On a positive note, two new MacBook Pro models were introduced and the 17-inch unit looks amazing. I am going to have to head over to my favorite Apple store to get a gander at one. The thinness and high-gamut display bode well for photographers in the field, especially with photographer-centric Windows laptops already on the market (expect my review of the Lenovo W700 this week). The new iLife and iWork are worthy upgrades considering the amount of utility people get for the price and I am glad to see that Apple finally realizes that there is more to the net than MobileMe.

BRNO baLens White Balance Lens Cap

I met Jim Lee at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City last October. Jim was demonstrating his invention, the BRNO baLens Lens Cap. This clever gadget combines a custom white balance tool with a lens cap. The practical offshoot of this combo is that you have one less bit of kit to have to haul around in your camera bag. White balance refers to the color of the light being used to illuminate the subject. Even though the light may look white to our eyes, it may have a color cast to it ranging across the entire visible spectrum (and a little bit beyond depending on the camera used). The color of the light is referred to as the color temperature and is expressed as a numeric value in degrees Kelvin. In the world of film, this is handled by the chemistry of the film used - daylight film for general use, tungsten film for studio lights, IR/UV film for special purposes. In the digital world, a special sensor in the camera tries to determine the color of the light being used. Modern DSLRs have vastly improved Auto White Balance (AWB) sensors but they are not perfect and can be fooled by mixed lighting environments. Modern DSLRs also provide several preset white balance settings as well as a method to input color temperatures (in degrees Kelvin) directly or to take a custom measurement before shooting. However, if one is shooting in RAW mode (and you should be), RAW conversion software will allow to make white balance corrections easily afterwards. The only time this does not work is if the target has no white/gray/black on them for the software to get a reading. In this case, one must take a custom white balance reading by using a white/gray card and taking a test shot. So now we have two schools of thought on this matter: * Shoot AWB and fix in post. * Shoot with custom white balance and get it right in the camera (mostly). On the surface, the "Fix it in post" school of thought seems to be the logical choice except in those cases where there is no white/gray/black to take a reading off of. Or is it?

Above you see three photos. Actually, there are two photos, the middle photo is a copy of the left one. Shot Specs: * Nikon D300 * CV Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL II lens * 1/13s * f/2.8 * ISO 1600 * Recorded as lossless compressed NEFs * Illumination provided by two (2) Ikea Kvart reading lamps w/R-25 warm fluorescent bulbs Post Processing * Mac Pro 2.8 GHz w/12GB RAM used for post processing. * Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6 * Nvidia 8800GT + Dell WFP3007 30" Display * Calibrated using Spyder3Studio * Processed with Apple Aperture 2.1.2 64-bit * Default Sharpening/NR The photo on the left was shot using the D300's AWB sensor. The center photo is the same shot with WB adjusted in Aperture 2. The photo on the right was shot with a custom white balance calculated by pointing the camera with baLENS cap mounted on the lens directly at the light source and taking a reading. The image below shows you what the camera saw when it took the reading.

The following table summarizes the final white balance temperatures calculated by each method:

Method	Temperature	Tint
Auto White Balance	3099K	8
Post WB Adjust	2954K	27
baLens Custom WB	3024K	20

* As you can see from the data, the D300's AWB sensor leaned towards the cooler temps with tint slightly favoring magenta. * Adjusting the image in post using Aperture's WB selector tool yields temps about 150K warmer with tint more heavily leaning towards magenta - cooling the image overall. * The baLens shot is only 75K warmer that the AWB shot, but it too, favored a heavier magenta tint cooling the overall image but not as much as Aperture did. [EDITOR'S NOTE: The terms "cooler" and "warmer" can be a little confusing with regards to color temperature. "Cool" light tends to have more blue in it and thus has a higher color temperature - blue being physically hotter. "Warm" light leans towards the red end of the spectrum and has a lower color temperature - red-hot is cooler than blue-hot.] So which method is best? That is entirely up to you and what you are trying to accomplish. Based on my little unscientific test above, the baLens will deliver a result that falls between the reading given by the camera's AWB sensor and the RAW converter's WB algorithms. Factors that can affect this result include: clouds, lens used, RAW converter used, and camera's AWB sensor. YMMV. I found the output from the baLens to most closely resemble the scene I shot. I personally favor the cooler lighting of the Post AWB shot, but in this case the baLens shot was most accurate. For event photographers, that means dozens, if not hundreds of hours saved in front of the computer. From a convenience standpoint, the BRNO baLens is brilliant. Snap it on instead of your regular lens cap and you never have to worry about bringing the white balance tool or the gray card again. The baLens ships with two inserts: the standard one used here and a warmer one if you prefer to shoot that way. The BRNO baLens is available at the usual suspects (B&H, Adorama, etc...) and prices range from $44.95 - $64.95. Sizes range from 52-77mm. If you wish to purchase one or more, please support this site by clicking on the B&H link to the right and order from there.

PAW Week #1

On Ur Wallz
Originally uploaded by Carlos Echenique

I have decided as a photographic exercise to blog about one of my photos every week. The photos have to be taken that week and I will post 52 of them during the course of the year. This first image is a tribute to Lolcats, a unique brand of internet humor.