The Online Photographer

Olympus to End Development of 4/3rds Lenses

In an interview at Photokina, reports quesabesde.com (relayed to us via 4/3 Rumors), Miguel Garcia , Marketing Managing Director of Olympus Europe, has confirmed that Olympus has stopped development of future lenses for reflex 4/3 cameras. Although the E-5 will not be the last 4/3 body, according to Garcia, Olympus will concentrate its future development on Micro 4/3. There will be a professional Micro 4/3 body in 2011, and the lower-end Micro 4/3 camera will be updated as well.

He mentioned that in Japan, mirrorless cameras have already captured 40% of the market, and he emphasized that Olympus has a big lead over some of its competitors in the development of these systems.

About Micro 4/3 lenses for the future, he said Olympus has lenses in development that will be "spectacular for all levels [of photographers], not just consumers."

Mike
(Thanks to Archer Sully)

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FLOVE (Or, Speaking Selfishly...)

A commenter named Andrew suggested that the new Fuji X100 should have its own category: it's a FLOVE camera, which stands for "Fixed Lens Optical Viewfinder (or) Electronic"—a bit of a back-formation, but not too bad. And, he adds, it could also stand for "Fuji Love."

Love it.

The early interest in this camera is something we haven't seen for years. For those of you who don't remember, or weren't in the hobby back then, this is the way it was in 1998–2004 when really exciting breakthrough new digital cameras were coming down the pike one after another. Remember the excitement over the Canon D30? [sic—not 30D.] The X100 intro has some of that same excitement.

Another commenter said he'd pass seeing as how the X100 doesn't have a zoom lens. Speaking selfishly, I'm so glad zoom fans are the ones who get to complain this time. They've got plenty of other options to choose from. Let those of us who like fixed 35mm-e ƒ/2 primes be happy for once.

Some people say they wish it had interchangeable lenses. In my original 2005 article about the DMD, you'll notice I specified a fixed lens. That's so it can have a dedicated optical viewfinder built into the camera. Fuji did me one better, but I'll take the fixed lens to get the fixed viewfinder. Oh, and one more point along those lines: If the early interest in this camera pans out, Fuji should just make more variants with different lenses. The company will sell a lot of cameras that way. In order: 85mm-e ƒ/2, 50mm-e ƒ/1.7, 24mm-e ƒ/2.8. And bring a mop to pick up all the money.

Speaking of money, lots of people are saying they hope it'll be inexpensive. Not me. I don't want it to be reasonably priced. I want it to be as expensive as possible. Why? Because I want Fuji to make this camera as nice as they possibly can make it. Go ahead, take my money. Just make it worth the cost. I'll be happy.

Mike

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Featured [partial] Comment by Eamon Hickey: "This is clearly intended to be a boutique product, and also clearly tailored to the Japanese home market (even if, as appears to be the case, Fuji will also market it abroad). Retro high-end cameras do well in Japan, and whiz-bang technology does well in Japan, and this camera is a uniquely charming combination of both qualities (the Olympus Pen series walks in a partially similar landscape). All that adds up to an easy prediction that the reports out of Japan of pricing in the $1,400–1,700 range are perfectly accurate."

Featured [partial] Comment by Edd Fuller: "As far as the cost goes, I understand the enthusiasm behind 'I want it to be as expensive as possible' but what I want is for it to be fairly priced for a top quality item. By that I mean that Fuji should make a good profit on a price that reflects fair value."

Featured Comment by Michael Farrell: "Just to toot my horn. It was me calling for a 23mm (along with 34 and a 57) for APS-C a few threads back. I thought I was being facetious."

Beautiful Fuji

This is certainly the most enjoyable camera news I've gotten in a long while. Fujifilm has made a "development announcement" at Photokina for a camera to be called the X100: a high-quality, fixed-lens, 12-MP, viewfinder-window compact digital camera with an APS-C sensor. The lens is a 23mm ƒ/2 Fujinon...exactly equivalent, in 35mm terms, to a 35mm ƒ/2.

The executive summary is that this camera was built from the ground up to optimize image quality as much as possible.

Here are the major points:

Viewfinder: What will undoubtedly get the most press and be the subject of the most talk in the days and weeks to come is the all-new viewfinder concept. You say you want an optical viewfinder (OVF)? You say you sometimes prefer an electronic viewfinder (EVF)? Well, how about both? Together? In the same viewfinder?

In the picture of the front of the camera, above, see that little lever at the upper left of the lens? That lever allows you to switch instantly between an OVF and an EVF.

Here's how it works. In a normal rangefinder OVF, extra light is gathered from a separate window and used to project the framelines into the prism, which has a splitter in it to allow the two images to superimpose for your eye. What Fuji has done here—a really rather brilliant idea—is to simply dispense with the optical framelines and project a 1.4 MP LCD screen on top of the optical view. This allows them to put bright lines and full information (even a little histogram) into the optical viewfinder; or, you can flip the switch and see exactly what the lens sees as an EVF. Your choice. You can change at will depending on conditions. Oh, and the brightness of the superimposed information in the OVF changes with the intensity of the light, so it never washes out or becomes hard to see. Brilliant. I hope it works as well as it sounds like it does.

(Click on this image to see a larger version)

The lens: Fuji, of course, has been a lensmaker for a long time. Its Fujinon lenses have graced many of its cameras for many decades, and its view camera lenses were highly thought of and sought after for years. Fuji says its 23mm (35mm-e) ƒ/2 in the X100 was developed in tandem with the all-new sensor to optimize image quality...in fact, the company says the X100 will have the highest image quality ever offered in any FinePix. And the new lens is a big part of that.

The lens has a design of 8 elements in 6 groups, with one really radically-shaped press-molded (all glass) aspherical element (check it out, below). It functions as a near-macro lens in that it focuses to 10 centimeters (less than 4 inches), and it is said to achieve its highest contrast at only 1–2 stops down (the MTF diagrams at the Fuji site give graphs for ƒ/2 and ƒ/4, which usually means ƒ/4 would be the optimum aperture).

Cross section. Objective on the left, exit pupil on the right.
Note the extreme aspheric (element 6) and the huge
"follower" (a field-flattening element) on the right.

And get this—it's got a built-in (but of course optional) –3 neutral density filter, for when you want to shoot wide open and get lots of bokeh in bright light!

Crazy, man, crazy.

Classic Olympus 35 SP of 1969. Photo by D. Scott Young.

Finally, Fuji says the lens was designed to be as physically short as possible, in keeping with the compact-camera ethos, but it was deliberately made not to collapse in or telescope back out so that the camera will be ready to shoot the instant it's turned on.

Top view—note the real aperture ring, with finger grips. All the dials are metal. Fuji says the camera was designed so that the basic settings could be set with the camera off and confirmed visually at a glance with the camera off or on—
old-fashioned functionality to go with the old-fashioned styling.

The sensor and processor: The X100 "features a custom CMOS high-performance sensor, internally optimized and developed exclusively for this model." The lenses over the photosites are shifted incrementally more towards the edges of the sensor, à la the M9, to maximize sharpness at the edges and corners and minimize falloff. The newly-designed EXR processor. Fuji says, "Throughout development of the processor, Fujifilm has re-examined every aspect from response to the circuit structure, and achieved a significant leap in signal processing performance."

Design: Obviously a retro design that conjures rangefinders of days gone by (engadget calls the X100 "rangefinderesque"). The main point to be made about the design is that, like the Digital Pen before it, the X100 seeks to give photography enthusiasts what many of us want—a digital camera with some distinctiveness and object-quality, one that isn't just another rounded lump of black polycarbonate or yet another magnesium frame with a rubbery covering.

Incidentally, there's a video at engadget.

I'll of course have more about this as we learn more—the official introduction isn't until Tuesday. Meanwhile, a last thought: Fuji says in its press release that "Fujifilm has closely studied the current line-up of professional cameras and feels that there is a strong need for a compact high-quality (APS-C based) camera as a counterpoint to an SLR." Here's what I said five years ago, when I first called for the type of camera we've finally been getting lately: "It would be a second camera, in the way that a two-seater sports car is a second car. It would be neither a do-everything camera nor a replacement for a DSLR, but rather a complement to a DSLR." Looks like our choices in the two-seater category just got that much richer.

—Mike

ADDENDA:
1. I heard from "our man in Japan" (he's not really our man, just a friend) who says that the prevailing rumor there (I should emphasize the word rumor) puts the X100 at ¥120,000 to ¥150,000 (that's $1,399 to $1,749). I.e., undercutting only the Leica X1. So those of you hoping for a "friendly" price might have to wait more like two or three years.

2. While the camera is remarkably close to "the DMD" from what we know so far, don't forget that a crucial part of the DMD spec is, "Has to be—must be—razor quick. As good as the best pro DSLRs," with fast AF that works positively in low light. That aspect of the X100 will have to await actual testing, but, on the evidence of cameras like the DP1 and DP2, E-P1 and E-P2, and X-1, it's not something that cameramakers are finding easy to implement in compacts.

3. Fuji is calling for release in "early 2011." Total coincidence: my birthday is in late February. Might be looking to buy myself a birthday present. I'm just sayin'.

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Featured Comment by Kent: "I'd really like to be able to make an intelligent comment about this, but I'm finding it difficult to be intelligent and pick my jaw up off the floor at the same time. One thing I can say with certainty: the many confused thoughts going through my currently overwhelmed mental apparatus are dominated by the word 'want.'"

Featured Comment by nacho: "This looks wonderful. I'll sell my body to get one (my second Canon body, that is)."

Featured Comment by Nick: "Wow guys, hold on before you all start writing blank checks to Fuji and put your picture taking life in the freezer until the Holy Grail arrives. I'm hoping you're all right of course, but what if it takes another couple of years to arrive (remember Sigma?). And what if there is a cool second between pressing the button and the actual picture taking like the last Fuji compact I handled.... They're claiming exceptional picture quality, but no word about exceptional responsiveness. Still, I almost missed my station when I read the news on my way to work!"

Featured Comment by Len Salem: "Two days ago I bought a Canonet G-III QL17 on Ebay because I had given up expecting something of that simplicity, size, and image quality to ever appear in a digital format...."

Featured Comment by Paul: "Dear Fuji, Thank you/Domo arigato."

Featured [partial] Comment by Chris: "Funny you included a photo of the Olympus 35SP, as that is the film rangefinder I just have not been able to let go of, and wished there was a digital equivalent to!"

Featured [partial] Comment by psu: "The ultimate tease would be releasing this thing only in Japan."

Featured [partial] Comment by Andrew: "I was thinking this was an EVIL camera but it is neither EV nor IL—OVFL does not quite work. Perhaps FLOVE—for 'Fuji Love' or 'Fixed Lens Optical Viewfinder (or) Electronic."

Mike replies: FLOVE! I flove it.

Featured Comment by Svein-Frode: "Ever seen a dog chasing it's tail around the livingroom...? That's me right now! Just can't help feel extremely exited about this camera."

I'm Serious, I Want the Maltese Falcon

Jim Marshall (print by Ctein), Mick Jagger—Palace Laundry

I would never in a million years have seen this Guernsey's auction, but for the fact that my friend Ctein is selling off a portion of his collection of signed Jim Marshall photographs. But there's a lot of really cool stuff in this auction. Including, but not limited to, the pictures. I'm really curious as to who the John Lennon photographer is (lot 61) [It's David Spindel—thanks to Jeff and John Krill for pointing that out —Ed.], and I want the Maltese Falcon (lot 44).

Sam Spade: [impatiently] Now, let's talk about the black bird.

Kasper Gutman: Let's. Mr. Spade, have you any conception of how much money can be got for that black bird?

Sam Spade: No.

Kasper Gutman: Well, sir, if I told you...If I told you half...you'd call me a liar.

Some fun stuff there. Ctein's Marshalls, too.

Mike

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Featured Comment by Archer Sully: "With the mention of the Maltese Falcon, I couldn't help but think of this bit from Adam Savage of Mythbusters. He starts talking about his quest for the perfect Falcon at ~6:45."

Mike replies: That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! Great. Thanks.

Selling Snow to Eskimos, Dept.

Why spend hundreds of dollars on a digital camera that's complicated and confusing?

Seems like a final exam for a marketing program, doesn't it? "Right, then, you've got a client with a warehouse filled to the rafters with a product that has become, though no fault of his own, essentially valueless. Find a way to pitch 'em at an advantage so you the client can squeeze a few remaining bucks out of his property...."

Can't blame 'em for trying. And it's a game try, you've got to admit, old people stereotyping and all.

Mike
(Thanks to several tipsters)

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What Your Clients Want

Commenter #1: "12 MP should be enough for any pro assignment...."

Commenter #2: "Don't think so! Over on a Nikon mailing list I'm on there are several pros who say 21 MP is the minimum the market will even look at in their part of the industry...."

Commenter #1 again: "Market requests can be silly...."

Commenter #3: "The alleged silliness of the market is irrelevant when the job is on the line."

I tend to agree with Commenter #3 on this subject. I knew a studio advertising photographer back in the '80s who said he would have shot Mamiya (because, he explained, he was a cheapskate—he really was, too) but "Hasselblad is the only camera brand all the art directors have heard of." So he shot Hasselblad because that was what all the art directors—his immediate clients, that would be—expected him to have. And paid a fortune for annual maintenance on his five bodies, 15 backs, and so forth.

I bought my old K-M 7D specifically because it was big and impressive-looking and because it was a brand that potential portrait clients would be unlikely to have in their own camera bags. (Never mind that I ended up doing almost no portrait commissions with it...I had planned to. You know the famous quote: "The best-laid plans o' Mikes an' men...."*) It might be silly, but if it helps, it helps. People compete for jobs.

These days if I were doing work for clients I would buy a D3[something] (possible 12 MP and all). Despite disliking the chubby, gravitationally-challenged form-factor myself, it is a camera that very few amateurs own—and that impresses almost anyone, from the rank tyro to the seasoned account exec. I never got more comments about a camera than when I was borrowing John C.'s D3 for a couple of weeks. People even stopped me in the supermarket. (Although maybe they were alarmed because I was stooping from the weight on my neck.)

When it comes to which camera to buy, it's not just results that count...when you're getting paid. What your clients want and expect is just as important.

Mike
(Illustration photo by Brady O'Brien)

*The Robert Burns quote, from a 1785 poem called "To a Mouse, On Turning Up in Her Nest with the Plow," is actually "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley," "gang aft a-gley" being Scots dialect for "Often go screwy." The famous couplet is usually "translated" into "The best-laid plans of mice and men / oft go awry."

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Featured Comment by Kurt Holter: "Unfortunately, commenter #3 is correct. During the dozen years I shot Hasselblads, I have zero doubt that their mere presence on commercial shoots brought me a lot of street cred. I also had more trouble with that stuff than I've ever had in 34 years of shooting with Nikons. Way more. Up until two years ago I'd always owned and shot multiple highest end Nikon bodies. Then, at age 54, I just stopped giving a damn, since I flipped my DSLR bodies for new ones every 24 to 30 months anyway. So I went to D300 bodies and they're the best cameras I've ever owned, bar none. I'll replace those with (smaller, less visually impressive) D7000 bodies toward the end of this year, and will delight in lightening my load even more."

Featured Comment by Mike O'Donoghue: "I think it was David Bailey who shot in 35mm and had his negatives copied onto 4x5 film because his clients insisted on large format. He got his shots and his clients got their LF negatives. Everyone happy."

35mm and 40mm Lens Size Comparisons

One of the commenters to the previous post asked for some size comparisons between 35mm lenses, so, just for fun, I gathered together some of the 35mm and 40mm lenses I have around the house and headed down to the as-yet unfinished new TOP studio complex (a.k.a. the end of the darkroom counter) to do a few quick snaps. Of course, I don't have any of the new 35mm ƒ/1.4's—the Nikkor, the Zeiss, or the Samyang.

You can clik the pix to see slightly larger versions. By the way, not all of these lenses are mine.

From left to right: Mamiya 80mm ƒ/4 for the Mamiya 7II (40mm-e on 6x7 cm); Minolta AF 35mm ƒ/2 RS; Konica M-Hexanon 35mm ƒ/2; Panasonic Lumix 20mm ƒ/1.7 (40mm-e on Micro 4/3); Olympus OM Zuiko 40mm ƒ/2 pancake; Leica 35mm Summilux-ASPH (next-to-newest version, whatever they're calling that now); and Canon EF 35mm ƒ/1.4 L.

Maybe not apples and oranges here, but a lot of very different kinds of apples.

The smallest and the biggest lenses next to each other.

The two ƒ/1.4's next to each other. Same coverage, too.

The two autofocus lenses next to each other. This is a decent illustration showing why I tend to prefer ƒ/2 lenses to faster ones in this general focal-length region.

Just for fun, the Canon's hood (right) next to the hood for the medium-format lens.

Also just for fun, the big Canon next to the two pancake lenses, old and new, stacked on top of each other.

Here are the actual weights of each lens, without caps, filters, or hoods (oz./g):

Mamiya: 10.8/291

Minolta: 8.1/230

Konica: 9.1/259

Panasonic: 3.5/100

Olympus: 5.1/144

Leica: 10.8/306

Canon: 20.5/580

The new Nikkor is listed at B&H as 21.2 oz. / 600g, and 3.27" (8.3 cm) x 3.52" (8.95 cm) diameter x length, vs. 3.1" (7.87 cm) x 3.4" (8.64) for the Canon shown here. So the new Nikkor is bigger than the Canon, in every parameter, albeit not by much.

Finally, the three rangefinder lenses together. Note maximum apertures.

Mike

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Featured Comment by jfm460:

The Lumix 20mm ƒ/1.7 (love it) and the Cosina-Voigtländer M-mount 40mm ƒ/1.4 Nokton (single coated).

Featured Comment by Paul Bailey: "While I agree, Mike, I must tell you I just traded my Micro Four Thirds gear, including the brilliant 20mm pancake, for a big old Canon 24–105mm lens. The reason is simple: I occasionally make BIG prints. Your next comparison should be the very best print you can make with each camera/lens. I think the big Canon will shine bigger in that department too. If you don't need big prints, fine, but if you do...I'm just sayin'."

Mike replies: I hear what you're sayin'. Also...I recently shot an event with my little Panasonic GF1 and I have to say the camera let me down rather badly. I really needed a large DSLR for that job. Little cameras are great for walking around and taking visual notes, but for more concerted, difficult work you often need a more capable camera. Horses for coures, as the British say.

New AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4

Nikon at Photokina has filled a longstanding gap in its modern AF-Nikkor lineup by introducing a premium fast 35mm that incorporates all of the company's current lens technologies (although it's also a "G" lens, which eliminates the aperture ring). This is a lens a lot of pros have been waiting for for a long time.

The full-frame AF-S Nikkor 35mm ƒ/1.4G is a 10-element lens with one aspherical element. It rear focuses (i.e., no rotating front element, no changes in length with focus setting) using a "Silent Wave" ultrasonic motor, and has on-demand manual focus override. It takes 67mm filters, weighs 21.2 ounces (600g), and is weatherproof. (Which raises the question—does this mean the coming "D700x" or "D800" will also be weatherproof?)

U.S. cost: $1800.

Also announced: a refreshed "II" version of the 200mm ƒ/2.

Mike

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Featured Comment by Chad: "I wish Nikon would provide its less wealthy hobbyists with a decent 24mm ƒ/2.8 or a similar 28mm lens. The impression I get is that they plan to sell these pricy primes to the professionals and more affluent amateurs, and let the mere mortals use zooms for everything. It's just plain sad one can't get a decent prime wider than 50mm without selling an organ, or at the very least, sacrificing autofocus."

Featured Comment by John Scott: "It seems F-mount 35mm ƒ/1.4 lenses are like buses...you wait forever, and then three come along at once."

How To Make A Chapbook (Part II)

Part I is here

By Ctein

This is somewhat off-topic, but since most of you don't get my regular newsletter...

I'll be having a major show of dye transfer prints in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from October 8th through the 30th. The show emphasizes my Hawaii work.

I'd love to have you come to the opening on Friday, Oct 8 if you live in the Greater Twin Cities area (which extends from Winnipeg to Chicago). This is the first major public show of my dye transfer work in 25 years. Might not be another one until 2035. We now resume our regularly scheduled programming.

Last week I planned out a chapbook. I chose the format, medium, topic and photographs. Once I had work prints of those photos it was time to address some layout matters. The Epson printer driver is most uncooperative about centering printing on a sheet and printing with less than a half-inch margin. It kept begrudging me a few silly millimeters of image at the trailing edge. Finally, I simply told the printer it was printing on legal size paper. Of course, I ignored the nonexistent three inches of length, but it faked out the driver so that I wasn't butting up against its permitted print margins.

When you center-staple and fold the chapbook, the inside sheets are wound tighter than the outside ones. Going from the innermost sheet to the outermost sheets, the fold eats up about half a millimeter more paper on each successive page. Adjust the position of the photographs on the pages so that the pairs on the inside sheets are slightly closer together than those on the outer sheets. That compensates for the fold so that the assembled book has centered photos on every page and improves the look of the book.

Don't try to hurry the printing. Printing on the second side of a sheet before the first side has dried is asking for paper feed trouble, due to the sheets being floppier and more wrinkled. Print a batch of sheets for side one of sheet one, spread them out on a table to dry, and go on to print side one of sheet two. By the time you've printed all the side ones, the first sheets will be dry. Even so, you may need to hand-feed them through the printer to avoid them sticking to each other. Definitely don't load more than a few sheets at a time. Even so, about one in three times my printer whined that it couldn't successfully feed a sheet and I had to go aid it.

Consequently, printing is not a "set it and forget it" affair. It's best done as a background task when you have other computer work to do. I always have some—editing photographs, answering e-mail, writing these columns. Printing pages for chapbooks does not consume a lot of my time, as long as I'm not just babysitting the printer.

Once all the pages are printed and dried, collate and center-staple them (above). Fold the books along the staple line and burnish down the edge of the fold to tighten it. A horn or bone folder is ideal. (If some of the terms and tools in this article are unfamiliar to you, Google remains your friend.) I can't seem to find mine, so I've been using the rounded end of a Sharpie marker (below). It seems to serve.

At this point, you should have a nice-looking little booklet, but the edges opposite the fold will not be neatly aligned like the top and bottom ones (assuming you were careful collating your pages when you stapled them, which of course you were). That's partly because it's hard to precisely fold a book by hand, but mainly it's because the inner pages stick out more than the outer ones due to the fold (below). It's only a few millimeters, but to me it looks sloppy , though some artists like to have all three of the unbound edges ragged, to enhance the hand-made look.

Trimming the edge is tricky. A proper guillotine cutter is expensive and won't work well unless there is enough paper outside the cut line to clamp. I'm trimming only a few millimeters. I could print on oversized paper but that would substantially increase the cost of each book, not counting the cost of the guillotine cutter.

I tried conventional paper cutters. In fact I just spent over $100 on a heavy-duty rotary blade model that's designed for precise work. It didn't, well, um, cut it. Wasted money. I couldn't manage a straight and precise enough cut on 8 thick pages. (Anyone wanna buy a Swingline 9615A cutter?) After expending much time, thought, effort, and money, I returned to the traditional tried and true method. A solid metal straight edge and a box cutter or similarly sturdy and sharp hobby knife.

Lay your chapbook down on appropriate cutting surface. Place the steel rule on it a millimeter or so in from the edge of the cover page. Put your weight on the steel rule so that nothing will shift. Use that nice, fresh knife blade to trim off the pages flush with the rule. It's easier than it sounds. Don't try to cut all eight pages at once, you'll get worse results. Just make repeated passes along the edge of the rule, cutting off two or three sheets with each pass. Don't force it. Voilà, you have a finished chapbook with neatly trimmed edges.

Sign and number them and start sending them out. Wasn't that fun? Well, I think it's fun. I love making books. I can't wait to get started on my next one.

Ctein

Ctein's regular weekly column appears on TOP every Thursday morning, for some value of "morning."

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Featured Comment by John: "I make poetry chapbooks and hand sew the binding. Pretty simple and much nicer than staples.

"Once a book is folded, punch three tiny holds in the fold, thread them, and tie off the thread inside at the center hole. Pretty easy once you figure out the threading sequence. Dick Blick sells the right thread and needles.

"For trimming the right-side excess, Kinkos (now Fedex Office) does that very cheaply and accurately. I like my cover to overhang the pages a bit, so I add that after the trim. Just finish all the inside pages, fold them into completed books sans covers, and stack them. Kinkos will slice the whole stack in one cut on their high-end cutter."

Featured Comment by Terry Crooker: "Some tips for you. I am not a professional photographer, but I am a professional printer and now you are talking my business.

"First fold each sheet separately, then collate them. You will get tighter folds. Second take these to a small print shop and have them saddle stitch the books (if staples are OK with you) and face trim the books for you. Face trim is what trimming the push-out is called. The important part is to be sure you keep photos and text well inside the outside margins on the center sheets so nothing get trimmed off. Note: a real saddle stitcher doesn’t use staples but a continuous wire that it forms a staple from. These 'staples' tend to be neater and much tighter."

Nikon's D7000, Counterpunch to Canon's 7D

Not quite the D90s replacement that was expected—Nikon insists the D90s will remain in its lineup—the new Nikon D7000 just announced today will nestle in between the D90s and the D300s in Nikon's range. More tweaking of the lines from the big two....

Still no body-integral image stabilization. Dominant cameramakers Nikon and Canon make more money adding this feature to individual lenses, even though that strategy is more expensive and less flexible for photographers. (In-lens IS is widely believed to be more effective for long pro telephotos, however, and long, fast teles are a lens type basically only comprehensively provided by the two big industry players. Of course there's no reason both types couldn't be usable with the same body.)

The D7000 has 16.2 megapixels, similar to the 18-MP of the Canon 7D and 60D, and the second-best resolution that Nikon offers, period, after only the mighty D3x. After testing the 24-MP Sony A900 in 2009 and using the 14.6-MP Pentax 20D extensively, I decided that 14–18 MP is going to be the sweet spot as far as I'm concerned. (Until the world changes yet again.) The new D7000's 4928 x 3264-pixel file size allows for nearly 16.5"-wide prints with full 300ppi resolution. Plenty.

Dual SD card slots

The new camera betters the D90's already good viewfinder by upping the coverage from 96% to 100%. And sorry to talk about something so mundane as a mechanical camera feature, but the D7000 shutter will go to 150k actuations. Shutter durability is one of the hidden difference between higher-model cameras and entry-level ones; 150k used to be the standard for the film F flagships.

And speaking of old film flagships, Ken Rockwell says that the D7000 will meter with manual-focus AI and AIS lenses. (Thanks to Dustin for pointing this out.)

In a field littered with fine and capable cameras, the D90 has stood out as an especially successful model, with a particularly excellent sensor, fine all-around ergonomics and performance, and a nice price. The D7000 appears to be a worthy step up. It's very competitively priced at $1200, and B&H Photo is already accepting pre-orders for both the body and a kit with the 18–105mm VR lens.

Also announced is the new SB-700 Speedlight flash unit, which was written up yesterday over at Strobist.

Mike

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Featured Comment by Gordon Lewis: "Hmm...Methinks this camera could be well-positioned to compete with the EOS 60D, not just the 7D. After all, with the exception of a swivel screen, it's more feature-packed than the 60D but at a similar price. On the other hand, it has almost as many attractive features as the EOS 7D but at a lower price. It's a bit smaller and lighter too, which is attractive to a lot of photographers. Let the comparisons and gnashing of teeth begin!"

Featured Comment by Stephen Best: "The D7000 looks like a very capable camera (and more than most amateurs/enthusiasts need). It's a pity Nikon doesn't have the lens lineup to support it. Their FX cameras are well served with both primes and zooms at useful lengths. Big, heavy, expensive (and great performers alike) but if you're a pro you can make good use of these. Nikon seems to think that DX shooters want crappy zooms or will make do from the FX line. Where's the small, modern, mid-priced and lust-worthy 24mm, 30mm and 60mm DX lenses to go with the D7000? I think camera makers underestimate the market for a quality camera+lens package coming in at around 1kg."

Mike adds: I agree.

 

A Leica for Your Year?

Just to give you an idea how crazy the world of Leica collecting can be, the hammer price on this baby at the Westlicht auctions is expected to be 150,000 to 180,000 euros. It's a just-discovered pristine example of a very rare black MP2 with experimental motor drive, from the late 1950s. One of only six made.

I'll bet with a good hard year's shooting you could scrub a good €50k off the thing!

 

 

 

Mike
(Thanks to Ernst)

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Featured Comment by Nicholas Condon: "That camera is...interesting. It's like an MG roadster towing a flatbed trailer full of lawn care equipment."

Featured Comment by Paul "I don't think the rules allow motor drive."

Some Things Are Just...Sad

We noted his passing in October of 2007.

But the other day, when Stan Banos sent me this stark little notice from Democracy Now!, I was shocked. Ernest Withers, who was an important photographer of the Civil Rights Movement in America, might also have been a traitor to that cause. Clerical errors in FBI documents released to the public have indicated that Withers was a paid FBI informant from at least 1968 (and possibly earlier) to 1970.

Ernest Withers in 1999. Photo by Claude Jones / The Commercial Appeal

Withers had insider status and close access to the movement and its leaders. One of his pictures shows Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reclining on a bed at the Lorraine Motel with a newspaper.

Withers (right) in 1966 with Rev. James Lawson (center), who said Withers "abused our friendship." Photo by Fred Griffith.

The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tennessee did the original reporting, the culmination of a 2-year investigation. This morning The New York Times published an article summarizing the situation.

The importance of Withers' pictures won't diminish. But his reputation might well be tarnished by this.

Mike
(Thanks to Stan)

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Featured Comment by robert landrigan: "I still don't know how to feel about this—as a middle-class white kid with no real concept of hardship, I was lucky to get a chance to work with Mr. Withers on two jobs. I also was privileged to stand in his darkroom, and on finding a negative from the Sanitation marches in Memphis, he spoke at length about the marches, Dr. King, that horrible day at the Lorraine motel. Over two or three afternoons I got more instruction in photography (he used a set of battered Minoltas for 35, and Mamiya TLRs for weddings, etc.—i.e., gear ain't important) and in how to be a man than I got from four years of high school. Every one of his kids went to college. He took care of his family, never left his neighborhood or roots, and loved his wife and treated her like the Queen she was.

"He was a good man, and a I learned a great deal from him. I don't think I wanted to learn this."

Sale a Great Success So Far

The Turnley print sale, still ongoing, has been an astounding success so far. We've sold more prints than most full-time photography galleries sell in a year. If not two years. Astonishing.

Just to let people know, I haven't been sending out acknowledgements of orders received, but I have been sending out acknowledgements of completed orders once payment is complete. So if you've mailed a check, you'll hear from me once I receive it.

We're truly bowled over at the response. We've gotten far more orders than expected. It has kept me very busy dealing with the bookkeeping and the many issues that come up, so much so that I almost haven't had time for anything else since Sunday. Not complaining.

We've heard some lovely comments from people, too. The young couple who have never bought original artwork of any kind before; the gentleman from Australia planning a birthday surprise for his wife; the small college buying for its art museum; the newlyweds in Tel Aviv who bought a print as a wedding present to themselves; the reader who's just starting a collection.

A big thanks to everyone. Two days yet to go.

Mike

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Film News at Photokina

Two items of news for film shooters from Photokina.

Portra 400
First, Kodak is replacing two films with one. Portra 400NC and Portra 400VC will be replaced by a single film called simply Portra 400. The charts on this page show a well-chosen balance for a compromise single product: color saturation and sharpness right between the two old films, and contrast that matches the old NC. Granularity, already excellent, is further improved.

Portra has been an important film, having become the de facto standard for many art photographers like the old VPS 100 was in its day. One unfortunate casualty seems to be 8x10 availability—Portra 400 will be available in 35mm, 120, and 220 ProPacks, and 10-sheet boxes of 4x5, but no 8x10. This is unlikely to be of much import to the large majority of photographers, but a small disaster to a devoted few. Kodak estimates that current stocks of the old films will last until the end of 2010, and the new film will be here in October.

Fuji GF670W
Meanwhile, it appears that Fuji is at least close to going ahead with a wide version of its beautiful medium-format folder. The GF670W is being shown as a "reference exhibit" at Photokina, although what that really means for production we have no idea. The wide version of the camera will have a 10-element, 8-group Fujinon EBC 55mm lens.

Good news for landscape shooters and backpackers, assuming the camera makes it to market; chances look good.

Mike
(Thanks to Oren)

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New Camera Introductions: Olympus, Canon, Samsung

Olympus E-5

It hardly seems like it's been three years since the E-3 replaced the then-ancient E-1. Today Olympus has announced the E-5, the E-3's successor as the top-of-the-line 4/3rds system camera. As is the case with Pentax, Oly's top camera competes with mid-line cameras from the bigs, such as the Nikon D300s and Canon 7D.

It's not competing on price, at $1,700. A number which might hamper its career in the world.

However, it's got a lot going for it in other ways. Many of the tasty features of the E-3 carry on, such as live view, an articulated viewing screen, excellent body-integral image stabilization, weatherproofing (Olympus has a number of weatherproof lenses to match, too), and a good-for-4/3 1.15X, 100% viewfinder. The new refresh gets a new 12.3-MP sensor and the now-inevitable video mode, 720p for up to 7 minutes, and has dual Compact Flash and SDXC card slots.

The Pentax is the only competitor that has weatherproofing and body-integral IS. Nikon's and Canon's offerings have neither.

Olympus is known for luscious, industry-leading color (especially with skin tones, a minor weakness of many digital cameras), but high-ISO performance that is a step behind its APS-C competitors. We'll have to wait till October to see if those stereotypes continue to hold true. Also, Olympus makes what we consider the best digital lenses in the business, although the lineup is limited—basically, you have to like really good, fast, pricey zooms to be happy in the system. But if you do, you'll be very happy.

The new E-5 is also the perfect big-rig conterpart for the lovely, petite E-P1 and E-P2.

Go to the E-5 page on Olympus Global for the whole story. I also recommend Simon Joinson's commentary about what the E-5 says about the 4/3 system, over on dpreview.

-

Canon G12

Hot on the heels of Nikon's nice me-too camera, the P7000, Canon has evolved the popular and category-leading G11 with the (what else?) PowerShot G12. (It was leaked on Cnet Asia last month, which kind of takes the shine off the surprise. You know what they say: oh well.) The differences are few: apart from a new front control dial and SDXC card compatibility, the major refresh is in the video capability, which (can you tell?) we don't care about all that much around here. (Your mileage may vary, as they say out on the forums.) 720p HD and "stereo sound."

Nifty as ever, except of course for the becoming-obsolescent fingernail-sized sensor.

Here's Canon USA's PowerShot G12 page.

-

Samsung NX100

Meanwhile, Samsung has announced another entry into its "mirrorless" NX range which does not have a fingernail-sized sensor. It doesn't even have a 4/3 sensor—it has a full DSLR-sized APS-C sensor. The same 14.6-MP CMOS sensor that can be found in the NX10, to be precise. The new NX100 is more compact than the NX10, paralleling the Olympus E-P[x] cameras and the Panasonic GF1 in the Micro 4/3 world. Samsung says that "all [the NX100's] key components are 100% produced by Samsung" (Samsung being the world's largest conglomerate by revenue; they made my refrigerator). That's going to be good for competition, if it isn't already, and it's got to be making for some sweaty palms over in the Land of the Rising Sun. Introduced with the NX100 are an electronic viewfinder (EVF10), flash (SEF15A) and GPS tracker (GPS10).

However, the press release also announces "a completely new way of controlling your camera" based on "detailed and extensive program of consumer research"—which right off the bat makes us wary wary suspicious. The "i-Function" lens supposedly "allows" you to set basic camera functions such as shutter speed, aperture, white balance, and ISO by first selecting the parameter in a menu and then spinning the dial on the lens. That sounds convenient. (Not to be catty—well, okay, to be catty—it looks like maybe the same electronics engineers who were responsible for BMW's iDrive were turned loose to create Samsung's i-Function. They could all go together to a photo shoot, we suppose, except how would they get there, and what would they shoot with once they arrived? Me-yow.) Our feeling is that cameras are best designed by individuals who understand photographing (the Maitani paradigm), not by committees of engineers and certainly not by consumer research. But we'll wait and see.

You're not supposed to be negative when reporting introductions. We'll go sit in the corner for a while.

...And we're back. Lens news for the NX system (here, we perk up and start behaving): Samsung already has a lovely 30mm ƒ/2 pancake lens for its NX10. The i-Function lens is a 20–50mm ƒ/3.5–5.6. A 20mm ƒ/2.8 (remember, it's wider than the Panasonic 20mm because the sensor's bigger) will be along shortly, and planned for the not-too-distant future are an 18–200mm ƒ/3.5–6.3 Super Zoom lens (April 2011) and a 60mm ƒ/2.8 Macro (July 2011). Three more as-yet-unspecified lenses are promised for the later months of 2011.

The camera pictured is brown. It will also come in black.

Mike

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Featured Comment by Ed Gaillard: "Well, I enjoy reading you being snarky, but the NX100 'i-Function' lens thing actually sounds good. It seems to be like the control ring on the Canon S-90—you want it to be an aperture ring, it's an aperture ring; rather have it be a shutter speed dial or ISO or exposure compensation, you can make it be that instead. That means that using those lenses you have a very small camera with three control dials. Put it in manual and you can change aperture, shutter, and ISO all without pushing a button. And I think it's an awfully pretty camera."

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/1.4 for Nikon and Canon

Carl Zeiss has announced a new fast 35mm for the first quarter of 2011. The Distagon T* 35mm ƒ/1.4 is a premium manual-focus 11-element lens. It will be available in ZE (Canon EF) mount and ZF.2 (Nikon F mount, chipped). The new lens weighs 29/30 oz. and is 4.7/4.8 inches long (variances depend on mount—the ZF.2 has an aperture ring, the ZE version does not). The new lens is intended to "perfectly complement" the 85mm ƒ/1.4.

At this Photokina Zeiss has also announced its own lines of camera straps and filters, nice for those who like to keep brand consistency between their lenses and filters (as some do), and those who would rather show the brand of their lenses on their shoulder as opposed to the brand of their cameras.

Mike

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Featured Comment by Chuck Albertson: "How premium?"

Mike replies: Sorry, forgot to put that in: "recommended retail price" $1,843.

Fall Print Offer: Peter Turnley's Paris

More people visit Paris each year than any other city in the world. It has long been celebrated for its beauty, culture, history and romance—and it has long been an inspiration to photographers. For our Fall Print Offer, our last one before Christmas, we're pleased and proud to offer for sale three original signed prints of the most famous and popular pictures of Paris by Peter Turnley, who has made Paris his subject as much as any photographer of his generation.

Our friend Peter needs no introduction to regular readers of TOP. A leading photojournalist for nearly 40 years, his lengthy c.v. includes 42 Newsweek covers and a feature profile on "60 Minutes," among many other accomplishments and honors.

For two and a half decades, Peter made Paris his base. Between assignments covering news events in hotspots all over the world, he would come home to Paris to recover and relax. There, he would use a Leica loaded with black-and-white film, wandering the byways of Paris and photographing life as he lived it and Paris as he found it. The result is a large body of work in the tradition of Doisneau, Boubat, Ronis, Cartier-Bresson, Izis, and the other great visual chroniclers of Paris. Some of the best of it was collected in Peter's 2000 Abbeville Press book Parisians, for which Robert Doisneau and Edouard Boubat both wrote forewords.

Although priced at less than one-third of their usual cost, these are in every way fine original collector prints. The archival fiber-based silver-gelatin prints will be handmade in Paris by master printer Voja Mitrovic, who for many years was the primary printer for Henri Cartier-Bresson, Josef Koudelka, and a number of other world-renowned photographers. (Peter wrote about Voja here on TOP a few weeks ago). Voja still prints, but only for a small, select group of his friends among the world's most accomplished photographers. He has agreed to make these prints for you as a special favor to Peter.

The prints will be signed on the front by Peter, and on the back by both Peter and Voja.

These are among the best-loved and most popular of the pictures from Parisians. The first is the book's cover; the third a romantic and high-spirited scene of night life in a typical Paris bistro. The second picture is especially remarkable—in poster form, it is an evergreen bestseller, one of the most popular Paris photographs ever. But few people own an original.

For a limited time only (as per our usual practice, TOP will collect orders for only five days—until Friday, the 17th of September) you can purchase any one of these prints for $395, the second for $375, and the third for only $225. The prints are the standard European print size of 30 x 40 centimeters (~12x16 inches) (image area slightly smaller). The usual price for these prints is $1,200 each for 16x20-inch prints, the standard American collector print size.

[Ordering information removed—Sale ended 7:00 p.m. CT 9/17/10. Many thanks to all those who participated!]

Part of the proceeds of this sale help support TOP. We hope you like this, our fourth and final print sale for 2010. Many thanks to all of you reading this for your support of TOP, and my thanks to Peter and Voja as well.

Mike

ADDENDUM: Several readers have asked why, if the prints are being made in Paris, the shipping cost is higher to Europe. The reason is that the fulfillment is being done from New York City. Unfortunately, it's not possible for us to deliver to European customers from Europe.

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Request for Information: Divided D-76

I'm researching divided D-76 and I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has actual hands-on experience using any of these formulas, especially with any kind of dip-and-dunk methodology, and especially in regard to agitation protocols, issues, and problems. Can anyone contribute?

Mike

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Quote o' the Day

"Photography has always been my textbook, my encyclopedia, my bible. I didn’t read Shakespeare, but I’ve photographed kings. It’s a way of life, and a way to life, also."

—Bruce Davidson
    (Quoted this morning in the Times)

 

Mike
(Thanks to Rob Atkins)

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Meeting Shimon & Lindemann

J. Shimon and J. Lindemann. Photo by Art Elkon.

Last night there was an Open House for all the galleries in the Marshall building in downtown Milwaukee (on the corner of Water and Buffalo Streets, which has got to count for something), and I got to meet Shimon & Lindemann at the Portrait Society Gallery. On view was their Real Photo Postcard Survey, a generous subset of several hundred postcard-sized platinum/palladium portraits they've made over the past three years or so that actually get mailed out as postcards (although I'm not entirely clear to whom they're sent).

Julie and John charge to make the portraits—most of them, anyway—although it's not a straight fee but rather more in the nature of a request for help in subsidizing the art project. They also make an effort to neutralize the troublesome subject/photographer relationship by making the portraits collaborative—the subjects come the way they wish to be seen and stand the way they want, but then they cede the final picture selection to the artists. Each "side" relinquishes a little power and control. It was interesting seeing many of the subjects of the portraits there at the Open House. I had an interesting talk with Drew V.

I also got to see Vanessa Winship's first American show—she's one of my favorite contemporary photographers, on the basis of her Black Sea work—in a small room at the Portrait Society. Most rewarding was hearing gallery owner Debra Brehmer talk about how her relationship with Vanessa's pictures grew over the month they've been on her walls. She has a large and humane take on them, and hearing her insights distilled into a few sentences opened my eyes to things I hadn't seen myself.

I was most charmed by a wall of modern Shimon & Lindemann portraits juxaposed with actual antique full-body portrait postcards (on the left wall, above). Julie and John—who, between them, share a single teaching position at Lawrence University in Appleton—have a highly developed curatorial sense in their art, and I loved the side-by-side old and new portraits—the echoes, resemblances, variations and differences the artists discovered between two photographs taken many decades apart. The idea didn't grab some people I talked to, but fascinated me.

Two of the lifesize portraits.
(Both installation photos courtesy Shimon & Lindemann.)

In another room were a series of large color portraits from the same portrait sessions. On their blog they write that "A series of lifesize portraits from 8x10 transparencies made with an 11x14 Deardorff studio view camera came out of the project. The scale (72x28") emphasized the physicality of the body and the presentation of self. Scanned at high resolution and output on an Epson 9800 wide format inkjet printer on canvas, the portraits reference Rembrandt and Van Dyke paintings whose subjects were royals and the petite bourgeoisie."

I've written about it before, but another plug here for a recent favorite—Unmasked & Anonymous: Shimon & Lindemann Consider Portraiture, the only one of Shimon & Lindemann's five books I've seen. A description of the exhibition on which the book was based: it "juxtaposes 43 of their original photographs...with 54 portraits from the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Collection, including daguerreotypes, as well as photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, Diane Arbus, Sally Mann, and Larry Clark, among others, to present new perspectives on one of the oldest artistic genres—portraiture."

It's a modest book but it encapsulates an enormous amount of work. It took them two years to go through all of the portraits in the Milwaukee Art Museum's holdings to make their selections for the show and book—they believe they saw virtually every photographic portrait the museum has. I have friends who are disc jockeys and film directors who make expert mixes to share music, and my take is that Unmasked & Anonymous is like a well-made mixed tape or CD—a tasty program. Lots of enjoyment here, in this small book.

Home is where the pictures are
Photographers have to go where their pictures are. John Shimon and Julie Lindemann met in college, moved to New York City to be artists, and promptly moved back when they realized they had to photograph what they knew best. One way or another they've been photographing Midwesterners ever since.

Mike
(Thanks to Art, Kate, and Deb)

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Featured Comment by Chris Norris: "I had my portrait taken by Julie and Jonnie. I woke up god-awfully early on a Saturday morning, kissed my girlfriend (now-fiancee) goodbye and drove from Madison to Manitowoc. I got there early and walked around for a while, making the occasional picture. When my time rolled around, I made my way to their studio. They are two incredibly nice and engaging people and I really enjoyed my time there. For me, it was a big transitional period in my life and I'm glad to have a portrait that represents that time. The money spent was well worth it, as I now have a bunch of postcards and two platinum/palladium prints. I had never seen a Pt/Pd print before this.

"So to answer an earlier question, the postcards go out to whomever the sitter wants to send them to. I sent one to J&J at their request and have been musing about what to do with the rest. While I was at their studio Julie showed me a number of old postcards they had collected, with writing on the back. People marking important times in their lives, letting their families know how they were doing, etc. It's interesting to see how people will use their postcards in this digital age."