Waiting for the sun

Another grey day here in Bordeaux, another black 'n white day. Shot in RAW, conversion to bw done in Darktable.

Shades of sunday

A grey sunday afternoon, almost flat light, springtime colours still not there, so I shot BW:

Smart phone camera photos

As promised, some photos shot with the Galaxy S3!

Old tech, new tech

I think I have already said that the day I re-started with photography, I was more than surprised by the lack of invention and really new cameras on the market.

Don’t understand me wrong, I stopped photography for a couple of reasons in 1995 and almost every camera was an analogue camera, I used film every day. The next time I started to look again into photography was two years ago when I got my Galaxy S3.

Oh I can hear you: Wtf! A smart phone camera is not really a camera! Well, let me put it this way, it is a real camera! It is not a DSLR for sure, but it is at least a point and shoot camera. I used and still use «A Better Camera» instead of the stock app and can’t imagine anything else because of its features and ease of use.

You can have a grid on the screen to help composing your photo, can have a horizon to keep it level, see the histogram and ... and ... and ... Lots of great features to help you make (technically) better photos. Took hundreds of photos with it, and honestly, I have created more crap with a «real» camera. I may post some of them sometime.

So when I looked for a DSLR I was baffled by the lack of such features all over the market. I mean, guys, it is twenty years later, and the only real difference is, the film is replaced by a sensor! I exaggerate, of course there is more than that, but the cameras still look like a bloody «last century camera». There is a sensor in it, why do they still use a shutter, mirror and prism? Where is the cool SF stuff like remote control over a second screen from 10 m distance, where is the connection to a Wifi hotspot or network?

I could see hundreds of things that could have been done to make a camera to a real 21st century tool. Not because I have a fertile fantasy, no, because I have had it already in my smart phone! And there are people out there with 10 000$ equipment with outdated features and techniques, telling me I don’t use a real camera?!

Lately there are some new cameras coming out, mirror-less, connected, with a new approach. Namely the Samsung NX 1 and NX 30 (there are others of course, but my eyes got caught by these). And when I look on the web, the usual suspects (aka the camera testing sites) compare a 1500$ body to 5000$ DSLR bodies, new tech to old tech. They test them in the same way as they would test any other DSLR, of course you need to see how fast the AF works, but I have yet to see a test of the remote control possibility via an app on smart phone or tablet.

Well, as soon as money allows, the NX 1 will be mine, the camera who does almost everything I have dreamed of!

Bordeaux photo walk

While waiting for the sun to show up I took a walk in Bordeaux:

Changing the OS

So here are some thoughts about changing OS:

I have been using different versions of Windows for ages (twenty years or more), the worst have been Windows Millennium and Vista, the best Windows XP and Windows 7 (my last version). But there have always been moments when updates broke some functions or programs I rely on. Very bad and not good for the peace of mind!

So when it happened again after installing a new hard disk, it was the straw that broke the donkey’s back. I have been looking at Ubuntu for a while, found the look of it pleasing (don’t laugh, that is something important for me!) and heard nothing but good things from serious sources. I was just too lazy to search for replacements for my Windows apps and to dive into a new OS and so I jumped on the occasion when I had to re-install 7 to change completely.

I downloaded Ubuntu 14.04, created a bootable USB stick and off I went. Windows installation have often been a long and boring procedure, taking more than an hour, so I was positively surprised when it only took less than 15 minutes and I was up and running.

The biggest problem was finding the Linux equivalent of the Windows programs I have been using, even in the Software Centre there are hundreds of apps, often more than 3 for the (supposedly) same task! I spent hours on the web, reading tests for the apps to choose the right one and when I thought I had nailed it I often found after installation that the UI was just not to my liking (to put it politely).

So after two weeks I had almost everything, the only thing missing are the Adobe Creative Cloud apps, Adobe does not have a Linux version of it and as it goes, will never do one and it does not work in WINE, the Windows environment for Linux. No more Photoshop or Lightroom!

For importing RAW files from my camera I use Shotwell, to work them there is Darktable, almost better than Lightroom for the developing, far less good when it comes to cataloguing and managing the photos. I can go with that.

Replacing Photoshop is different, in Linux you seem to have The Gimp or ... The Gimp!

And I don’t like the UI, it just don’t click with me!

So my big work of the next weeks: Learn to love and use The Gimp! 

The mobile photographer

The Mobile Photographer: An Unofficial Guide to Using Android Phones, Tablets, and Apps in a Photography Workflow

I bought this book from Amazon (the Kindle version) and was really impressed, for once a book about my mobile OS of choice (I can't hear it any longer, all this books and articles saying in one way or another that real creatif people have to use Apple devices and apps.) and Robert Fisher, the author, writes about apps that I actually use in my photography.

Just to make it clear, it is not 256th book about how to use your smartphone or tablet to take better photos, far from that, it is how Android devices can help to take photos with your DSLR, develop RAW on the go, manage photos, creating mobile (always at hand) portfolios ...

It starts with some points on how to choose a phone or tablet, what to look for, if you need to root it or not, locked or unlocked. If you don't know Android or are "just" a user, here is some good information, especially if you have never thought about rooting your device.

Next comes a chapter about accessories. Here you'll find information about keyboards (external or software), cases, USB connectivity, storage and mounts. 

There are some tips on how to create portfolios for use with your phone or tablet, what to look for, how to handle it. Again some very good points here.

Mobile camera control is next (with my favourite DSLR Controller) with a good overview of the existing apps, followed by the mobile digital darkroom (again you'll find my favourite Photo Mate R2 in the list). Fisher is giving a lot of advice here with some examples of his work.

In the following chapter he explains why and how you can use your device even in a studio.

The book ends with a chapter of other useful apps for photography like for example The Photographer's Ephemeris, utility for planning shoots outdoor and tracking the sunlight throughout the day or Google Skymap for night shoots.

In the whole, this book contains tons of information and ideas to create a mobile workflow for professionals and enthusiasts, examples and product infos. Sometimes it is a bit dry, but never boring, I think it is worth the money.

You must be kidding!

Ok, I have been quiet for a while, two reasons for that:

1. One of my harddisks died suddenly, the one with the OS partition and we had other, more important things to do than buying a new one.

2. When I got the new one (1tb) I reinstalled Windows 7, all my software and wanted to start working on the Martinique photos when a Windows update broke some stuff and I had to start anew. And this happened twice!

So I was boiling! Ready to kick my computer out of the window (no pun intended).

I took a long walk, calmed down and decided to take another route. I dl'ed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64bit and installed it using an USB stick, which worked just great, took about 20 minutes.

There was a time to get used to the new OS, hunting down Linux software to replace my Windows stuff. The bad news Adobe's CC does not work under Linux, nor using Wine!

Well, I found Shotwell and Darktable to replace Lightroom, no sweat here. Especially Darktable is a great app to work and develop RAW files, really!

And to replace Photoshop? Well there really is only The Gimp! And I can't say that I like it, it will take a long time before I get used to the UI (hoping that some day before that Adobe may decide to make a Linux version of Photoshop and Lightroom, and yes I know, hell will freeze over before).

To make it short, I am up and running again and there will be more stuff in the next days and weeks, especially photos from Martinique, my experience with Ubuntu and the apps I use, new photos and so on.

So hang in, the blog will go on!