tripod

2510 - in black and white



setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f11.0 | ISO100 | 1s | lightroom 4.2

there is no more time for me to waste - i have to blacken a lot of paper during the next years again. my study is finally on-going. dozens of lecture notes have to be read and dozens of scripts have to be implemented. i wonder how i'll manage all the stuff.

i want to apologise in advance for shorter texts with the daily posting - i've to shift my focus to the really important things. besides the most important points like the family the study will occupy the most of my time (besides work, of course). and instead of text i'll understandably concentrate on the photograph.

in today's pic you can see three sheets of paper on the reflecting cover of my laptop, illuminated by my desk lamp. they still gleam completely white but be sure - the blackening is not far off!

cu, trshptr

1810 - anticyclic acting


setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 3.2s | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

anticyclic acting is a way to escape from the daily routine.

after i hadn't managed to be the first on the roads yesterday, my today's alarm rang already at half past six in the morning. with an eye to the great weather forecast for today and hopefully a great sunrise at the lakeside i ate my breakfast in less than 15 minutes and left home still in complete darkness. equipped with my ultra bright led headlamp and red blinking lights on the back pack i started my journey into the dark.

having the knowledge of being the sole human in a dark forest and withal riding a bicycle with a visibility range of not more than 20 metres is a very special experience. i spotted the sparkling, sometimes white, sometimes yellow incandescent eyes of the forest animals a few times through the undergrowth of the woods. at last i felt like a real man again.

getting up early paid off today.

cu, trshptr

1209 - in the nex jungle

1209 - in the nex jungle

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO1600 | 1/15 | tripod | lightroom 4.1

september, the 12th. wednesday. new product announcement day of apple, err sony. how shall one think about the event, the vast number of add-on discussions and the announced products itself?

well, the huge excitement of the masses is no accident and definitely part of a well planned sales strategy. the announcement date shortly before the photokina as well as the associated proceedings form a coherent circle. all the rumors that went public during the last weeks were preplanned leaks and not more than feeding for the (very) interested people. special campaigns like luca rossini's adventure to alaska that was sponsored by sony itself and used for shooting a promotion video about the brandnew sony nex 6 show the enthusiasts that also their works are observed, principally simply everybody is able to reach the masses. such campaigns motivate the enthusiasts to make their works still more public in the future and contribute to sony's great products. additionally all the already prepared reviews, that are mushrooming up at the moment, shall immediately put the new gadgets in place on the market.

but mind, these facts affect an almost negligible number of prospects. i'm referring to a small number of internet affine photographers whose opinions are of course very important for a brand like sony while launching new products: without any further effort by sony they act as remote-controlled multipliers. photographers like steve huff are the best salesmen ever, because they convince - no, they have already convinced - the enthusiast amateurs and they again convince the main part of the prospects, the main target audience, by pushing the products in the charts, by reviewing and by also retelling the shiny image of the new must-haves. i'm spotting a perfect textbook pyramid scheme that is currently brought up by sony. so much for marketing theory, but which information can we derive from these quite ordinary processes?

in my opinion first and foremost there is the right to exist for every new (nex) camera body. believe me, they all, the f3, 5r, 6, 7 and maybe also a fullframe option will sell like hot cakes. for each of them there is a market that only has to be developed. additionally the development effort for sony to modify an existing model to a new, modest one is manageable and definitely worth the try. all the models use the same software kernel, what simplifies the statement of the problem many times over. and the hardware section is structured modularised for sure. at the moment the market of very capable and small mirrorless cameras is still desaturated and as a company like sony you have to try to reach every corner of it. so in place of sony i also wouldn't be above launching so many bodies like a few clever clogs are.

let's get around to the several announcements:

i'll pass the a99 plus the new a-mount lenses because i'm not up to date in this sector.

like many others have already said the announced rx1 is a first try to make a market for a fullframe compact. like fuji had done with the x100 and the x-pro1 and aps-c sensors sony will (maybe) do with the rx1 and a nex fullframe option: if the fixed-lens camera sells well and the people request for a changeable lens model sony will deliver. at the latest next year.

the nex 6 seems to be the better nex 7 for low light situations. an improved autofocus system, the less mp sensor, app support and the wifi feature form a good and capable package. solely the pasm dial distracts me, it isn't suitable for an enthusiast dslr replacement.

the very compact 16-50 f3.5-5.6, stabilised, retractable powerzoom (kit) lens will be by far the most sold lens in the future. it compensates the biggest contradiction in the whole nex system till now: besides the sel 16 f2.8 there wasn't any really pocketable (sony) lens - nex combination. till today. if the iq of the lens is more than average maybe also some actually fixed focal length lenses using photographers are going to buy this tiny little zoom lens.

the 35 f1.8 is the long-awaited standard lens for the nex system. stabilised, relative compact and lightweight and with a bright maximum aperture of f1.8 it is a must-have lens for everybody who hasn't covered this focal length yet. and if it is only almost as good as the 50 f1.8 it will also sell like hot cakes.

when the 35 f1.8 is the long-awaited standard lens, the 10-18 f4 must be the longest-awaited lens for the entire nex system. the sole wide angle option so far, the sel 16 f2.8, could never satisfy the high standards of the community, especially mounted to the nex 7 and its incredible 24mp sensor. i'm pretty sure that sony has developed a great ultra wide angle zoom with good iq. the killer feature stabilisation is much more than only a compensation for the maximum aperture of "only" f4, it gives you an equivalent of a non stabilised uwa lens with f2. thereby at 10mm shutter speeds of 1/4 or maybe even 1/2 could be possible with a steady hand! i'm beginning to save up money for the 10-18 f4 quite now.

some minor criticism at the sidelines: in my opinion all the nex owners may calculate on firmware updates for one big reason: firstly also sony should have recognised that their update policy is far below the policies of their competitors. although there aren't huge bugs in the firmware of the nex 5 and 7, an update especially regarding the autofocus system, auto bracketing and a few points more would be more than appropriate. again fuji has already shown how to do it. we are waiting! the product lifecycle has not ended with delivering an item!


probably in today's posting there are far too many technical points for the most of my readers and highly probable i'll never write that much text about equipment anymore, but today it was definitely apposite. i for one will keep my beloved nex 7, turn my back on the 35 f1.8 for now (because of the sigma 30 f2.8) and go for the 10-18 f4. and yes, i will be still focused on the images.

please feel free to comment my posting with your thoughts.


so let's finally come up to the daily pic, that i've shot besides the reading of plenty of websites of (useless) technical information today, of course (time that i could have used for shooting and improving my skills...):

unfortunately the poor sideshow bob is trapped in the jungle of nex equipment. nex here, nex there. he's a bit confused. what should he do? should he follow the people who stay on discussions about equipment? i think we have already helped and furnished him a fit occasion.

thx for reading and cu, trshptr

btw: furthermore as you may have recognised, a minor update of the blog layout took place, too. i hope the current rendering pleases.

1408 - firefighting operations

1408 - firefighting operations

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO200 | 1/800 | lightroom 4.1

during the last week a very special issue has caused topics for discussions in germany: highly probable germany's biggest poultry company wiesenhof will sponsor the bundesliga football club werder bremen. wiesenhof hit the headlines with information about antibiotics in the animal food, bunions, corroded lungs and absolutely disastrous living conditions for their animals plus killing in childhood.

as a result many club members are threatening werder bremen with their resignation if werder is really going into the contract. in my opinion the current discussion is bringing temporary awareness concerning the products we eat in our daily lives and how they are formed into the light of day again. no more, no less. probably rogue firms like wiesenhof are in the majority. everybody has to decide for himself how he manages the situation. and in a few weeks nobody will talk about this topic anymore.

i for one buy poultry and other meat only at the butcher of trust. if tina had her way we wouldn't eat meat anymore, but for me it's essential. fortunately today i didn't have to be behind the 8-ball: we had rib of beef of very good quality, and anyway the cows are reared completely species-appropriate.

cu, trshptr

2706 - illuminated reception

2706 - illuminated reception

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 15s | tripod | lightroom 4.1

since today was a long business day with joint dinner afterwards, some sports had to been done, too, and the football match between portugal and spain seemed to have no end, i want to show you a part of our proximity with my daily posting. in the break between normal and extra time i've shot a couple of long-time exposed images of the entrance to our flat.

the entrance area is directly attached to the courtyard. we live downstairs: the illuminated window gives you an insight into our kitchen. it's truly a lovely place to live.

cu, trshptr

2105 - hot potato

hot potato

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO1600 | 1/20 | lightroom 4

the time has come, the borrowed eos 400d makes way for my new nex 7. don't be afraid - otherwise everything will remain unchanged.

i'm geared up to start respectively to resume my work. as a start my new sony nex 7 will be matched with the sigma 30 f2.8, the manual (toy lens) fujian 35 f1.7 - i'm aware of the peculiarities of this cheap cctv lens - or the sony 50 f1.8. additionally in the near future i'll be on the look-out for a wide-angel lens. i read some rumours about a native e-mount 10-18 f4.0 wide-angel zoom which would fit in with my kit very well. and last but not least i think about the purchase of the sony sel 55-210 f4.5-6.3 but before i get myself a telephoto lens i'll wait for the occurrence where i absolutely need such a thing.

what more need to be said? among other things i'm going to use two 16gb sdhc memory cards, a crumpler camera bag, a second battery and a gorillapod. in some cases - if i'm satisfied with the camera's results - i'll also publish "out of camera" (ooc) jpegs because i want to show the entire capabilities of the nex 7. for that reason i'm going to use the special modes like dynamic range optimisation (dro) and high dynamic range (hdr), too. tips and criticism or simple statements are very welcome!

cu, trshptr

1304 - upright

upright

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 22mm | f4.5 | ISO400 | 25s | manual mode | manual focus | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

while i was cruising around by bike this evening i saw different places and objects that were worthy of detailed examination. in so doing my short ride was extended to a two hour trip. as a result i have really struggled with choosing a candidate for today's posting. finally i decided to apply the upright photography that you can review above to animate my blog today. some other samples are listed at my tumblr webpage dated today.

the pic of the building site was shot in markdorf again. the light conditions were really very, very bad, the usage of the automatic focus wasn't possible. so i had my first attempts with complete manual shooting: both focus and exposure were manually controlled by me. to accomplish a suitable exposure i had to raise iso speed to 400 and aperture to the almost fastest configuration at this focal length - although i exposed for a long time... i think you can reconstruct how dark it was there.

why this composition? for a variety of reasons... the pillars seemed to have an infinite depth, the lights were playfully reflected by them. the streamers that were hanging from the ceiling breezed in the wind. the silence was impressive. only every now and then a car went past. fortunately i caught one by shooting the pic above.

btw: i have raised the local contrast of the pic while postprocessing to create a hdr-like effect. accenting the size of the builing site i renounced to remove distortion caused by wide-angel.

all being well my project will finally start next week. officially.

cu, trshptr

1104 - moonless night

moonless night

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 25mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 15s | aperture priority | multiple triggered with android application dslrcontroller | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

urban abandoned places at night have a great appeal with me. see that i had to cater anything for dinner this evening, an urban self-shot was obvious.

while i was driving around the town i was on the look-out for a moody place where i could capture a frozen long-time exposed, depressed shot of a small being in the middle of impressive architecture. really no easy statement of task in the middle of nowhere but i'm not going to lower my sights until i hit the wall. satisfaction implies stagnation.

in my opinion except a little light scattering in the lower middle the picture turned out very well. it shows the educational center of markdorf that was built in 1972. i love the architecture of the 70s with its straight lines, strict symmetry, the plain facades and the primary structures made of metal. it is simple and timeless. and if you put an outlined, shadowed person in the center of attention and illumination, your composition becomes clearer and more consistent. a picture turns into a story.

cu, trshptr

0504 - whereto? gone astray

gone astray

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 24mm | f7.1 | ISO100 | 30s | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

after my boss had permitted the whole team to take a half day off before easter i left business for my free afternoon already at 1pm. concerning my photography project today different techniques should be being tested. beside correction of structure distortion of a straight-line architecture by post-processing in lightroom a first long-time exposure session should be checked out.

subsequent to lunch with tina in my canteen i had to chauffeur her to the hospital for work - she is currently on call, i´m with you, babe. the architectural test object for the first half my today´s agenda is located directly next to the hospital. the psychiatric ward is eyecatcher and contradiction concurrently, of which more later. anyhow as you can see above i decided to choose the pic of the second half of my agenda although different pictures of the ward had turned out well. but today the sun lost the day against the clouds wherefore only dim light was available. i will shoot a photograph of the this year newly constructed psychiatric ward on a moodier day again.

the photography above is really far away from being a masterpiece, it is not more than a first attempt. the location wasn´t perfect, the shooting position was maybe a little bit too low, the tree is located in the line of sight and the illumination at the lower end of the roundabout traffic is not completely coherent. but even if these facts are excuses, this is not so bad. to get a feel for the situation both while shooting and post-processing was decisive for me. and i achieved this aim. 

to reach a higher position for the shooting i had to burgle an external staircase by climbing a scaffolding - hopefully nobody had seen me. one of the biggest challenges of the shooting was the waiting. in a rural region the passing of five cars in half a minute at 11pm is the exception rather than the rule, ten cars are almost a miracle. but finally i got some stripes on my pics and this is what i wanted.

cu, trshptr

0204 - partial chromatic patch day

patch day

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 31mm | f4.5 | ISO100 | 1.3s | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

although today was not the second tuesday of the month but the first monday, for me it was patch day. my beloved galaxy nexus received an update to android 4.0.4 aka build imm76d. the patch fixes some problems with the built-in camera app, improves the performance of the operating system and resolves more than 100 minor issues.

as a result of the android update i had to perform the root process again, because the device looses the root feature while bringing an official software update into coincidence. however root access is mandatory if you want to use apps that need in-depth system control.

by way of example the application dslr controller requires this feature. with this tiny little piece of software you are allowed to control your canon eos dslr from your android device, with nothing more than an usb cable. mainly i use dslr controller to review my captured pics on my tablet pc or compile exposure latitudes by the help of my galaxy nexus when i´m on the way.

therefore i spent my evening with numb, cold hard- and software - as if i hadn´t had enough time with bits and bytes all day long. but are technics really deadhearted? i don´t think so. look over the picture. as you can see android, the little robot that lives in my smartphone, is in maintenance mode, quasi at the doctor´s. feel reassured - it was only a routine check and he is well again!

cu, trshptr