Infrared Photos As Promised

I have had a chance to take my Fuji A900 that I bought pre-converted to Infrared Only out for a day of photo taking. Here are some of the shots I took. Overall I feel the camera does a nice job. It is lacking some of the features I would like to have in an Infrared only camera, but all of those features are easy to take care of in post processing. The biggest missing feature is manual white balance control so that I have a better control over the picture at the time of photographing it.

My one big complaint about the Fuji A900 is that it has no viewfinder, just the LCD screen on the back. Because this can’t be seen in sunlight it is very hard to frame, zoom and make sure that you are getting the picture you want. This problem however is not limited to the Fuji A900, it will be a problem with any camera that doesn’t have an optical viewfinder.

I purchased the camera pre-converted from http://www.maxmax.com and I am quite happy with not only the camera, but their conversion. I chose the Fuji A900 because it was the cheapest Infrared only camera that they had. I am now looking to convert one of my old dSLR’s which should give me more control and even better quality pictures.

I chose Infrared only instead of Infrared and Visible for several reasons.

1. I didn’t want to have to fool with lens mounted filters.
2. I had no intentions of ever wanting to use this camera for visible light (regular) photography.
3. It allows you to see on screen what your actual image will look like.

The big problem with the lens mounted filters that is not only throws off the cameras metering (by about 2 stops for an R72 Infrared filter), it can throw of the camera focusing and you can’t see anything on the LCD screen or the viewfinder (in the case of dSLR’s). However, if you have the camera converter internally (they remove some of the stock filters in front of the sensor and replace them with an Infrared filter) these problems go away.

Well any ways here are the photos. You can click on them to see the full size images. These were all taken in Tiburon and San Rafael (North of the Golden Gate Bridge, Northern California).

Infrared Photography

A dear friend of mine has peaked my interested in digital infrared photography. Since none of my dSLR’s can be converted (they are Pentax, every place I have checked only does Canon and Nikon and a few other brands) I decided to buy a converted Fuji A900 point and shoot to start with. It should be here next week. In the mean time I have been looking around the photo sites at what other people are doing. One photographer that blows me away is Niek Haak of the Netherlands. You can view his infrared gallery at:

http://www.pbase.com/nh/infrared

His work is just amazing. I love black and white photography especially the high contrast images. That is probably the biggest thing that draws me to infrared photography the fact that the black and white images (you can do color infrared, but I am not a big fan of it) are very high contrast, moody and impactful.

If you don’t want to buy a converted digital camera for IR and provided that your camera is sensative to IR you can try something like a Hoya R72 Infrared filter that you screw on to the front of your camera or lens. Saddly the new Pentax dSLR’s like the K10D and K20D that I have are far to well sheilded from infrared light. While you can take infrared shots with them the exposure time is measured in minutes and if you have any movement of any kind you will get a blurred shot. Another drawback is the infrared filter is dark enough that you will not be able to see anything through your view finder, this makes framing and zooming a real problem.

A camera that has been converted for IR has had several protective layers/filters removed from the CCD and an IR filter added. You can then see what you are getting on the cameras LCD or through the view finder (dSLR) as well as zoom, etc. The Fuji that I bought was the least expensive IR only camera I could find that has a 4X optical zoom. Since I generally only like IR landscape shots more zoom isn’t really something I feel a need for. I bought the camera from http://www.maxmax.com for $375.00 plus shipping if your interested, it is the Fuji A900. I bought the IR-Only version so it can only be used for IR photography which is all I plan to use it for since I have two dSLR’s. However, you can also buy it as an IR+Visible which means you can put a filter on the front of the lens and use it for regular color photography as well. The IR+Visible model of the Fuji A900 is $300 plus shipping.

Once I get the camera I will be posting more on it and infrared photography.

Pentax K20D Demo Video

While surfing some Pentax forums I came across a cool Pentax K20D Demonstration video.

Pentax Announces New K20D dSLR!

I have been a Pentax K10D dSLR owner since the camera was released. I actually pre-ordered it with only having seen a couple of sample images. I have had my fair share of issues with Pentax, including…

Pentax’s habit of announcing ship dates for products only to have those dates pass and then not make any type of announcement about a new ship date or why there is a delay.

I have had issues with their choice of in camera sharpening (detail, instead of edge sharpening like nearly all other cameras) and their decision to not offer the second more useful form of sharpening in a firmware update.

I have always felt that Pentax had a lot to offer the digital camera world but with the whole shipping date issue leaving the door open for rampant speculation, rumors and other such customer scaring things that only server to keep people unsure of Pentax’s future and their ability to compete with the two main players in dSLR cameras one has to wonder about the people that control such things.

Pentax’s market share is rather small compared to Canon and Nikon and with these kinds of marketing issues I fear that it could stay that way. It could ultimately kill Pentax. Pentax needs to be more up front with their customers show their customers that they are going to keep you informed. It isn’t like suggesting they preannounce all of their new technology, I am talking about keep people in formed when an announced ship date has been missed. Explain why and when they think it will ship. Ship dates are missed all of the time, but to keep silent or give vague worthless answers only serves to hurt a company. This customer communication is even more important when a company like Pentax is expecting people for hand over $1000 dollar or more in a camera body and lenses and lock them selves in to a long term investment with the company.

The K10D is an incredible camera and offers a lot of advanced features for a camera in its price range. However, Pentax has just announced the new Pentax K20D dSLR camera and it not only blows the K10D out of the water in most respects it is perhaps the most innovative camera to come out in nearly a decade.

Many professional photographers swear by Canon and Nikon however if you look at what these two companies have released in new cameras over the last 10 years you will see that Canon has been the only one to offer something innovative and that was simply because they released the Canon Digital Rebel, the first dSLR camera for under $1000. Beyond that the rest of the releases have been less than stellar. Both companies seem to care more about more resolution than offering features and technology that is truly innovative.

To be fare most people stick with the brand they started with because you have a large investment in lenses and other brand specific accessories like flash units and the like. The only time it makes financial sense to switch brands is when the lenses and other accessories you have will no longer work on the new camera you want to buy. Even in this regard Pentax is better. You can use Pentax lenses going back to 1960’s or earlier with their new dSLR cameras. Not so with Canon and Nikon. Resolution is nice, it enables you to do extreme cropping while still having enough image data for a good size quality print, but resolution is not the be all and end all and it looks like Pentax more than any other company understands that.

Pentax right now may have the smaller market share but they are the innovators and the new Pentax K20D proves it. What you got for $1000 with the K10D was remarkable and still is. However, what you get with the K20D for $1299 is nothing short of amazing. A new sensor designed exclusively for the K20D that gives you ISO 6400 (through a custom setting) that is as clean as the K10D’s ISO 1600. ISO 1600 and 3200 that look like an ISO 400 and 800 shot from the K10D. Improved shake reduction, improved dust reduction system, better noise reduction and image processing engine. All of this with a massive resolution increase from 10.1 (K10D) to 14.6 (K20D) that is a whopping 4.5 more MP a rather large jump and given that for probably the first time in digital camera history this resolution increase has come with an improvement in image quality and less noise instead of a decrease in image quality and an increase in image noise is nothing short of astounding.

I am not going to list all of the new stuff here. There is a lot. Instead I have compiled a list of sites that have information and even sample shots from the K20D. Also, if the K20D is out of your price range you might want to consider the K200D the K20D’s new little brother.

Pentax Imaging Press Release

http://www.pentaximaging.com/footer/news_media_article?ArticleId=10507458

Popular Photography Coverage

http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/5049/first-look-pentax-k20d.html

If you click on the photo of the camera you will get a popup with sample photos including some high ISO shots.

Pentax 18-250 Lens Finally Came In…

Well, I decided that I wanted a lens for my Pentax K10D that spanned the 18 to 200 or better range and I wanted good quality. Having been told that Pentax was releasing the 18-250 at the end of October I placed my order for it Mid-October. Well as usually Pentax wasn’t close to shipping on time, but finally they got it out and Amazon.com got it shipped and I got it today. I have taken a couple of test run shots with it and I can say like with my other Pentax lenses (I only own Pentax brand lenses as I have had too much trouble with other brands and their Q.C. issues) it is a winner. Surprisingly good for a lens that covers this range. It looks like my 18-55 kit lens and 50-200 will be going in to semi-retirement.

Here is one shot. They are full sized from DNG files, Saved as JPG using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.3.

Pentax 18-250 Macro Test

Yep More IPod Touch… Apple Guided Tour… Very Cool!

Apple has posted on their site a very nice and informative Guided Tour of the new Apple iPod Touch. You can view it at:

http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/guidedtour/

I have to say the interface and feature set is quite impressive and just makes me want one even more. Since the iPod touch is only available in 8GB or 16GB versions storage space can become an issue. However, a nifty program called ShrinkMyTunes (Windows Only!) can compress (usually with very little loss of quality) your music files to half their original size or smaller. I have not tried this program but it sounds interesting and I have read at least one article on the program.

The Software: http://www.shrinkmytunes.com/en_gb/
The Article: http://www.wired.com/software/softwarereviews/news/2007/09/shrinkmytunes

Apple iPod touch Announced! Yes!

Well the Apple iPod touch has been announced and will ship by the end of September 2007 and I have to say I can’t wait. I bought my first iPod last year a 5th generation model and quickly fell in love with it. Not only is it like the ultimate juke box but with the video playback feature it is actually a portable entertainment system.

The new iPod touch besides having a larger screen is going to be able to handle widescreen videos better because when you turn it on its side the picture on the screen rotates just like it does on the iPhone.

With the new wi-fi capabilities getting music and video to the iPod touch is going to be a snap and with the new iTunes wi-fi update they just released iTunes 7.4 you can now shop, buy and download music and videos right from the iPod touch, this is going to be so cool (iPhone supported too.)

My only disappointment is the capacity of the two models of iPod touch. 8GB and 16GB are pretty good, but not nearly as nice as the larger capacities of the 5th generation of iPods. However we must understand a couple of things that help explains why Apple ended up with these capacities.

1. The new larger screen on the iPod touch takes more power. LCD screens be they on a digital camera, cell phone, laptop, etc. are probably one of if not the largest power consumers on the device. So this had to be considered.
2. A mini-hard drive like the 5th generation iPods have also consume considerably more power than the flash ram that the iPod touch uses. This power consumption coupled with that of the larger screen would have meant an iPod touch with very poor battery life and an iPod touch that was thicker and heavier too.
3. To keep the iPod touch small, thin and light plus the need to address the power consumption issues meant that flash ram was a must. Otherwise we would have had a large device with poor battery life.
4. Oh and lets not forget about the new wi-fi capabilities. This too consumes power and the hardware to pull this off also takes space in the unit. BTW a new version of iTunes is now available 7.4 adds wi-fi online shopping support for the iPhone and iPod touch. You can download it here:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

In the end Apple went the only route they could to offer the features and capabilities that they did with the size, weight and battery life they did. I for one think they made the best choices possible. Not perfect choices but the best they could with the technology we currently have. What we have to hope for now is that flash memory continues to grow in capacity, the prices keep dropping and that by the time the second generation of iPod touch comes out we will have 40GB and 80GB versions to choose from for less money than we are paying for the first generation. I think this could happen. I hope it does happen. Oh, there is one more advantage to the flash memory and that is no moving parts. This should mean the iPod touch is more reliable and impervious to storage damage and skipping if it is jarred hard, this was not the case with the hard drive based ones.

However, none of this is going to stop me from getting my hands on a iPod touch. I love my current iPod and fully expect to love the iPod touch even more.