Equipment
What a polarizing filter is for
I’m sitting here at a German train, digging trough my unread mails and found one stating that I misunderstood what a polarizing filter is for. Well, I don’t think so 
And instead of just telling him so, I thought I’d share it here.
I think he was referring to my post about too much polarization. In that post I said, that I always adjusted the angle of the polfilter to get the strongest effect in the skies. By saying that I of course didn’t mean that you can only use a polfilter to darken the sky in landscape shots. To understand what you can use a polarizing filter for, you need to know that all a polarizing filter does is cutting reflections. The earth’s atmosphere is full of small particles which do all reflect the light of the sun. By cutting these reflections the sky gets darker because there are less reflections which would make the sky look brighter… But I’m still stuck to that polfilter = nicer sky thing.
I for example often use a polfilter when shooting trough windows, because things do reflect in windows and by using the polfilter I can cut these reflections.
Another example is shooting water. If you shoot water without a polfilter chances are good that all you see is the sky or whatever is above that water. But with a polfilter set to the right angle, you might be able to see down to the ground. Depending on the depth of the water of course.
But the reason I usually just keep the polfilter on all the time when shooting landscapes (even if there is not a single piece of sky in the shot) is because IT DOES CUT REFLECTIONS! It cuts reflections from the grass, making it more vibrant. It cuts reflections from leaves, making them more vibrant…
Just two other things you should keep in mind: A polfilter sucks light! Your shutter speed will be about one to two stops slower. Make sure you can hand hold that speed! And the other thing is don’t overdo it or you might get an over-saturated candy look… or as in my case an almost dark sky.
P.S. sorry for the lack of example pictures, but as I said I’m on a train
Lightroom 3: Second Thoughts
Since everybody is talking about how great he thinks Lightroom 3 is, I thought I’d talk about what I miss in Lightroom 3 
First off… I’ve been using Lightroom 3 Beta exclusively since the beginning of this year and I also think it’s new features are great, BUT:
- Tethering! I don’t really need Live View, but I at least want to be able to change basic settings like aperture, iso and shutter speed from Lightroom! I only use this feature when my camera is on a tripod, so I don’t want to run back and forth!
- Remote Tethering or whatever you call it… I want to be able to tether my Camera from my iPhone, just as with the OnOne solution, but from within Lightroom. Oh… don’t tell me it’s useless. Again… handy when on a tripod. Think about shooting still lives in the studio… no more running from the object to the laptop or even to the camera! Or Startrails in the cold, or, or, or…
- Publishing Service … O.K. Lightroom 3 now has Social Media, especially Flickr integration. Awesome! But why does this only work for images I upload trough this new feature? I want to be able to link my existing images back into Lightroom! Or did I miss something about that feature?
- Video, though not a killer feature for me some basic editing features would be nice. (Just as Aperture does)
Benro A-169 Review
I am a big fan of the Joby Gorillapod SLR-Zoom and the world often really is my tripod, but I also love long-exposures and night photography, which isn’t really feasible without a real tripod. That’s why I wanted a tripod for my travels for a long time now, but never found one that is light, small, still sturdy but also affordable. Then I came across Induro…
Benro TravelAngel A-169
Uh? You said Induro, what’s Benro, you ask?
I did a lot of research on the Internet about several Induro tripods and it turned our that Induro tripods are just re-labeled Benro tripods and are then sold for a higher price, mostly to the US. In fact I haven’t even found any reseller for Induro here in Germany. Look at the Carbon series of Induro and Benro for example: Induro & Benro (click Select Products). The specs and the look are the same, just the names changed. And the price of course
Benro also has the Travel Angel series, which I found just awesome, because they are very small, but still sturdy. And with that I already start my review of the Benro A-169…
First of all the Benro is an aluminum tripod that comes in a nice bag:
And as I already said, the A-169 is very small when collapsed (just 38cm):
The lowest possible height is also just 38cm, but it won’t hold your heavy camera well at this position. Nevertheless all the connections and locks feel very sturdy (click to enlarge):
Then I went out to field test it (see result at the top)…
My heaviest Camera/Lens combination currently is the Nikon D90 with Nikon MB-D80 Battery Grip and my heaviest lens, the Nikon 70-300 VR attached, totaling at 1850g. The Tripod legs themselves can hold that load easily. You might need to attach your bag to the tripod in windy situations to get the sharpest result. The legs sometimes twist a little bit, but still it’s a stable tripod for it’s weight and size! Benro says it’s capable of up to 8kg of load. I was also evaluating the A-268, because it only has 4 leg sections (A-169 has 5), but the additional weight wasn’t worth it in my eyes. Also I am usually using Exposure delay mode and the self-timer to give the tripod time to stabilize. And don’t forget to turn VR off
I could only order mine in a set with one of the Benro ballheads. And from what I’ve heard in the forums, they aren’t the best ones, which is why I went with the cheap BH-0 head and the intention of upgrading to a better head later… And yes, the BH-0 head isn’t great. It’s almost impossible to do small adjustments, because you directly loose all directions! But it does at least have a bubble level and an attachment ring (for my BlackRapid RS-4).
It’s not Gitzo, but it’s worth it’s money! I think I’ll get some very sharp images from it as long as I remember that it can’t do wonders and keep some techniques in mind (exposure delay mode, self-timer, use bag for stabilization…)
Take care & enjoy the great weather.
Blackrapid RS-4 Quick Review
Today I unboxed the newest gadget I got from enjoyyourcamera.com. It’s a BlackRapid RS-4 camera strap. It also came with the FastenR-2. You simply screw the FastenR-2 in your tripod mount. You can tighten it much further than you might think. And you should do so! I am still kinda feared that it might come off. :/
The belt itself feels very sturdy, although I found it hard to adjust to my size. The RS-4 comes without any manual, but once I adjusted it to fit my body it feels OK so far. I’ll try it out during the next few weeks and will post my final thoughts here on the blog.
Grad ND – Why you DON’T need one!
Earlier this year I was about to buy a graduated neutral density filter. These filters are mostly being used to darken the sky in landscape shots. I did a lot of research and in the end wanted at least two filters in the expensive glass 100x100mm version which I would then simply hold and move in front of my lens to have some flexibility.
In the end I didn’t buy anything for three simple reasons: (1) About 100€ for two good filters is just too much for those rare scenes I would really use them (at least in my eyes), (2) It’s pretty inconvenient to carry around when traveling light and (3) I would need an additional (and expensive) filter holder for long exposures.
My solution (to at least some degree) is to use the Graduated Filter tool in Lightroom. I used this technique a lot on my recent B&W Photos. The good thing is, that you have full control about the intensity, the height, the strength and the position of the effect.
I don’t know if that’s common practice, but at least I wasn’t aware of it and didn’t do it before. Matt Kloskowski at lightroomkillertips.com did a great video about it: link.
The downside is that this doesn’t help in extreme situations. Most people say you have about 1 f-stop backup if you’re shooting RAW. You can go lower, but you will loose quality. So in very extreme situations you will still need a dedicated Grad ND, or you can do HDR or exposure fusing. But for me this technique works well enough.
Below I attached a before and after (-2 Stops) screenshot of the Graduated Filter effect in Lightroom.
What’s in the new camerabag?
I recently wanted a new Camerabag, because my old Lowepro Inverse 200 AW just got to heavy and wasn’t a good carry around bag. I wanted something that fits all my stuff when I’m on a train or plane. Well, I actually thought that bag has more space, but it hardly fits all my current gear.
So, what’s in the bag?
- Nikon D90 + Nikon MB-D80
- Nikon 50mm f/1.8
- Nikon 70-300 VR
- Tamron 17-50 f/2.8
- Nikon SB-600
- Nikon MB-18a
- Hoya HD Polarizer
- Lumiquest SoftBox III
- Joby GorillaPod SLR-Zoom
- 15″ MacBook Pro
- 120Gb Backup HDD
- Lee Sample Filter Pack
- Some cut gels (CTO, CTB, CTG)
- Eneloop AA Batteries
- Technoline BC700
- Hama Optic Paper
- Hama Dust-Ex
- Microfiber Cloth
- Ethanol
- Velcro Stripes
- Screwdrivers
- Some cables
- iPhone charger
It does fit, but I was actually looking to buy a macro and a wide-angle lens.
Edit: Forgot to mention the new bag is a Tamrac Aero Speed Pack 85.
Edit2: Just discovered that there are three more small pockets on the side access. Lol.
How-To: Clean Your Camera Gear
Inspired by a conversation on Twitter I thought I’d tell you how I clean my gear. I read many posts by professional photographers out there that suggest to use commercial and expensive stuff like Lens Clens, Eclipse and so on, but most of them are just re-labeled alcohols. I also read through several forums about alternatives, but it often becomes a question of faith.
I used to use Methanol, but it can be hard to purchase here in Germany because it’s highly toxic. Now I use Ethanol, it’s non-toxic (in fact it’s drinking alcohol). You can get it inexpensively in most pharmacies and it works almost as good as Methanol. Don’t use Isopropyl. It’s hygroscopic and leaves a lot of residue after evaporation.
My cleaning procedure is pretty simple and inexpensive. Except the (M)Ethanol you need a Rocket Blower, a Microfiber Cloth, Lens Tissues and some Q-Tips.
The very first thing I clean is the Camera body and the lenses. To do so dismount the lens from the Camera body and put all the caps on. Then use a dampish microfiber cloth and wipe off all dirt from your body and lenses. If you have a zoom-lens that extends when zooming, zoom it all the way out.
The next thing I clean are the front element of my lenses and my filters. Take off your front-cap and use the Rocket Blower to blow away any dust because it might scratch the glass. If you have fingerprints or spots on the front element, put one drop of Ethanol on a wadded lens tissue and wipe it with very little pressure in circulating movements from the inside to the outside. Don’t do this on the rear element of your lens because they are very damageable! Just use the Rocket Blower to blow away any dust!
From time to time I also clean the contacts of the lens and the lens mount. To do so, put some Ethanol on a Q-Tip and twist it along the contacts.
The last thing I clean is the sensor. I don’t do wet cleanings myself, but I usually don’t even need to. Just don’t change your lenses in dusty environments. If I ever get visible dust on my sensor (which only happened once after shooting in the desert and on the beach on my Trip to Egypt) I bring my camera to a local camera store and let them clean it.
All I do myself is blowing the dust off. To do so you need to lock the mirror up in your camera’s menu (full batteries required). Then use the Rocket Blower and throw some hard blows on the sensor from a short distance. But take care to not touch the sensor.
How often should you clean your gear? Well… as less as possible and as often as you need to. I have cleaned my coated lenses with Ethanol for a year now, and I don’t see any damage to the coatings, nor have I found any serious reports on the Internet about it. But you should be careful and don’t overdo it. I usually clean the body and lens after each shoot and the front element only if it’s dirty.
Also have a look at the YouTube videos of Lilkiwiguy87.
My Photographic Journey
This is a totally personal – almost non-technical post. Skip it if you don’t care.
During New Year I was thinking back to my first contact with photography, my current photography and what I’d like to improve in 2010.Sadly the post got a bit too gear related and I don’t have any chance to show you some of my old pictures, but I hope you get my intention.
Past
I’ve been told that I had my first contact with a camera when I was 4yo: I played with my dad’s Canon EOS 650.
About a year later (I think when I became 5yo) I got my first own camera: A Fisherprice “toy” camera that took 110 pocket film. When I look at the prints of that camera today: they just suck. Quality and composition wise. But my mom always told me how much fun I had with that thing. Well… I think it just looked funny to see a boy looking through a blue camera with two “viewfinders”, but hey! It’s important to have fun, especially as a child
Another two years later I got an APS-C Camera with a 35/50mm “zoom” built-in. The image quality of these pictures is better and my composition also got better (at least I persuade that to myself). I already took pictures of animals in the zoo and my family. I think I lost that camera when I was 9yo and didn’t have a replacement for years… 
Not having a photo camera doesn’t mean I didn’t take pictures. Well no still pictures, but videos. I had a Sony analog 8mm video camera and annoyed my family by filming everything from holidays to motorsport and family events …
Then came digital. I got a used Fujifilm Finepix 4700 Zoom in 2004. That beast has 2.4Mpixels and a 36-108mm (35mm equiv) lens. The “good” thing about that camera is that it uses SmartMedia cards with just 64Mb of space for 30 images. Also the display sucked so much power that I couldn’t really turn it on to check the results and had to think before pressing the shutter just as with analog. I mostly shot landscapes with that camera (You can see some of the pictures in my blog post about my Trip to Tenerife) and I think I fell in love with photography with that camera.
I used the Fuji for 3 years, but then wanted something better because the low-light performance was actually non-existent – even at the lowest ISO setting the camera showed visible noise so I bought a Canon Powershot A590 in mid-2008 and started playing around in manual mode… figured with aperture, shutter speed, ISO and so on… but didn’t take many (good) pictures with the A590.
Current
Then, in the early 2009‘s, I bought a DSLR – a Nikon D90 and a Nikon 50mm f/1.8. The high ISO performance plus that f/1.8 just rock. But on the D90′s crop sensor the 50mm are too long for what I liked to shoot… so I also got a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8. In June 2009 I also bought a Nikon 70-300 VR, a Hoya HD circular polarizer and a Nikon MB-D10 for my Trip to Egypt and just one month later a Joby Gorllapod SLR for long-exposure shots at night on the London & South East England trip. By the end of the year I also had a Nikon SB-600 and a Lumiquest SoftBox III… Let’s just say with the buying of that DSLR I became kind of a gear guy.
I learned a lot about the technique by simply trying, but also by reading blogs of famous photographers like Joe McNally, Moose Peterson, Scott Kelby, Chris Marquardt, David Hobby’s Strobist and even Ken Rockwell. Another good thing was to follow them on Twitter and listen to podcasts like HappyShooting, Daily Photo Tips With Chris, DTownTV …
With the buying of the Canon Powershot A590 I started shooting many many frames, and my folder based organization soon started to show it’s weak points. I downloaded the Lightroom 2 Beta and directly bought the full version as soon as it was available and never wanted anything else. Lightroom just fits my workflow perfectly because I’m not a Photoshop guy… I only crop, adjust color, exposure, denoise and sharpen.
Future Goals
Having said that much about the gear I used, let’s get back to photography: I’d say I’m a landscape photographer and I also love to shoot at night… especially cityscapes. I mostly shoot when travelling, but that’s more because my surrounding is rather boring.
My resolution for 2010 is to get creative with lighting and improve my composition. I think still-lifes are a good way to do so. The next things I want to do are portraits, wildlife and maybe street photography. And I want to become more active on the Social Networks to get a bigger audience of viewers.
Gear wise (Note to myself: It’s not the gear. It’s you that takes the pictures… blah ) I plan to buy a wide-angle zoom or a macro for my D90 and a lightweight tripod. Maybe also a Nikon equiv. to the Canon PowerShot G11, because I’ve had so many moments where I missed a possibly good shot just because I didn’t want to carry my DSLR.
Trip wise I am planning my next real photo trip: A 3-week USA Road trip through Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah or a Safari through Namibia or Kenya depending on my budget.
Conclusion
One thing that really helps me is to set goals. My goals really come down to learning to light, improve composition and maybe shoot more frequently. Projects like Flickr’s 365 or Boris Nienke’s Area52 are some really interesting ideas to force you to shoot more often…
You can see my favorite shots on my Flickr stream: Favs, Night, Landscape
My first Flash
I got my first off-camera flash – a Nikon SB-600 – for christmas. I also got a small, portable softbox – the Lumiquest SoftBox III. You can see both attached to a Joby Gorillapod SLR in the picture on the right.
The reason I bought a flash is to get more into lighting and lighting techniques. A small flash seemed to be the cheapest way to get started. I also want to start shooting portraits in 2010, so I bought a small softbox to create (guess what?) soft light.
The SB-600 with Nikon’s CLS has remote flash capabilities built-in so I think I’ll play around with all kinds of off-camera lighting, bouncing, reflecting and all that stuff.
My girlfriend’s cat already had to serve a lot
A quick review of my new Camera accessories
I just received some photo toys for my trip to Egypt next week:
The Nikon MB-D80 battery grip: Though it adds better handling (especially with big lenses), the battery grip feels pretty cheap and the shutter release on the grip is just crap. There is no “half-press-point”! I bought some AA rechargeables, though I would recommend you to just get another EN-EL3e battery, because that’s easier to handle and recharge.
The Nikon 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 VR tele-zoom: This really is a great lens. I got mine new for 350€. It may not be as fast or sharp as the 70-200 f/2.8, but it’s very sharp even at f/4.5 or f/5.3 at 200mm. With f/5.6 at 300mm image quality still seems pretty good, although it’s no longer as sharp as in the 70-200mm range.
A Hoya HD circular polarizer: This one is very well built. I actually wanted to buy a cheaper one (the HD goes for 80€ in Germany), but it’s definately worth it! They are so easy to clean. Though I don’t have any comparisation, this one only costs about one full f-stop, whereas I’ve heard that the ceaper ones cost about two full f-stops.
The Hama DustEx: just blow your dust away… I think I’ll need this in the desert.
Some Sanyo Eneloop reachargeable batterys: Wanted to use these in the MB-D80, but I think I’ll get another EN-EL3e for better handling. But these rechareables really rock! I already owned four for about a year or so, charged a couple four months ago, and my new battery charger tells me they are still at 1.39V (e.g. FULL!).
Some SanDisk Extreme SDHC cards: I buy SanDisk since almost 5 years… never had any problems. My D90 almost never stops shooting with these fast cards!
A Technoline BC-700: I is just a re-labled ELV BC-700, and so far it works perfectly well with the Eneloops.
The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally: Well, for more than 35€ this book didn’t answer my expectations. Joe McNally is a great photographer and I really like his work, but i think the book is more about McNally’s career (a bit like an autobiography) and about being a photographer, with great images but very few explanations about the setup. Nevertheless Joe McNally has a great writing style and I got some inspirations. I think I’ll sell it on eBay when I read it again.
The Digital Photography Book Vol.2 by Scott Kelby: I didn’t read this one so far, but from a quick look at it, it’s a more technical book (what is what I wanted). I’ll read it in my holidays.
Ah hell! I still need a camera bag!!!!!
… 10 hours later … I’ve just bought a LowePro Inverse 200 AW, which is a pretty small bag. It hardly fits all my gear. I could store a flash at one of the sides, but it won’t fit the wide-angle I wanted to buy next damn!
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Hi, my name is Chris. I am a wannabe photog, traveler & geek that is again a student and lives in Hesse, Germany. more about me...
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