So, I have been playing with Aperture 3 for over two weeks now. I haven’t explored fully its 200 ‘new’ features yet, but I have played enough to make up my mind about it.
I am not going to go over every new features since a lot of people have already done it. Instead, I am going to talk about the stuff that matters to photographers.
Speed
I am very sorry to say that but the current version of Aperture is slow. Browsing from one picture to the next is slow unless you are in quick preview mode (Press P to toggle). Once you get into the habit of switching between modes, it is not that much of a burden but remember that you can only edit pictures in normal mode.
Before some fan boys reply that it isnt slow, know that I did everything I could to speed it up: rebuild library, use a fast machine with RAID-0 drives, etc… With the same setup LightRoom runs circles around A3. That is sad.
Adjustments
Noise
Aperture 3 noise reduction is good and would stand well on its own if it was not of the spectacular results one can get in LightRoom 3 or with Neat Image. If shooting in low light is important to you and you want to use A3, get Neat Image.
The Presets
I have a love/hate relationship with presets. Amateurs see them as the be all end all of image editing, thinking they can get pro results with a click of the mouse without even understanding what is going on. A3 surfs on the preset wave started with LR to get pretty much the same results (given the same adjustment panels). Actually, I prefer the way A3 handles presets than LR: you can either combine presets by picking them one after the other, or replacing them by option clicking the new preset.
Curve
A3 has a nice curves adjustment tool. You can select a color from the image and it will place an adjustment point at corresponding position on the curve. Quite useful to clean up background or changing cloths color. Remembers me of the way Capture One 4 handle curves.
Brushes
There are a lot of talk about the new non destructive adjustment brushes. Here again, the A3 team fell a bit short. While the brushes work very well, you cannot use the same brush with two different adjustment level. I correct myself, if you click on the option gear, you can add as many distinct adjustment brushes as you want. Cool!
The missing adjustments
Where the hell is the grad filter? It has to be one of the most important filter one can use, yet it is not there. It really makes me wonder if the Aperture dev team actually use the software!
The other missing adjustment is the tone splitting. While I think LR user overuse this tool (especially in presets), it has proven time and again to be a key feature to quickly set a mood on a batch of pictures. Here again, the adjustment isn’t there.
The vignette tool has not evolved at all. I was hoping to at least get the choice of going toward white instead of black as in LR or to select the desired affected corners but we got nothing new.
Import
I love the new import screen and its link to Places. If you have a mix of geolocated pictures and non geolocated ones, once you start to import, the software will ask you if you want to associate the locations. Brilliant!
Conclusion
Unfortunately, A3 is not what I would call a release ready product. While it has some incredible features that I havent covered (slideshows & hybrid stuff) it fails to cover the basic by giving photographers what they need the most: speed and controls. The dev team spent too much time working on ‘new’ features instead of working the app core.
Hopefully, a software update will come in a few months to correct these issues but right now I can only recommend A3 as a slide show editing platform. Actually, pro photographers might want to get it for that feature alone. It is really that great!
If there is one thing no one was expecting this week, it has to be the release of a new HDSLR camera. Yet, that is exactly what Canon did. The new Rebel T2i is, on paper, an incredible package priced ridiculously low.
For the photographer
18mp on a 1.6x crop factor, I will have to see some real life sample shots to judge image quality but it is interesting to see the ISO going to 6400 (extendable to 12k) for an entry level toy. That is quite good if image quality is at the rendez-vous.
It also benefits from a lot of features that used to be restricted to the double prosumer bodies like improved auto focus and light metering. From a photographer perspective, it should be considered a decent upgrade for any 50D or older camera owner (if you dont need the burst rate). At least, from a specs sheet perspective.
For the videographer
Remember how 5DMrkII owners felt when the 7D was released? Well, 7D owners are now feeling the same! The new rebel can shoot video full manual and has variable frame rate (24p, 25p, 30, 50p and 60p), something to make 5DMrkII owners jealous. I know because I am!
Of course, the camera will probably not have the same low light image quality as the 5DMrkII (and maybe the 7D) and it is not full frame so it does have its limitations. Yet, it is a fraction of the cost of its ‘better’ alternatives. Read the rest of this entry »
Finally out! It was about time.
I will not list all the new features (over 200), if that is the kind of stuff you like reading about, head over the official Apple page. Instead, I will list the features that mean the most for us.
First, facial recognition. I already talked about it in my Aperture 3 prediction about 8 months ago. This is a big thing if you are often shooting the same people. I am just worried about how long it is going to take to pass over my 192 gigs of pictures…
Next on the line is Places. Another feature that most travel photographers will love. I know because I had to geotag over 2000 pictures when I came back from Vietnam. Not a fun experience! At the local scale, it is also going to be useful to organize pictures when doing on a location scouting day. I used to import them in iPhoto just for that and it was a real pain.
Video import and playback directly in Aperture! I love this one for two reasons: first because it is going to be useful to do everything in a single operation and also because it shows how Apple recognize HDSLR as a trend and not a novelty. As soon as I finish the download, I will see if it if possible to batch process video files automatically for conversion to ProRes.
Slideshows. I never used these in Aperture. I preferred working within either Lightroom, Animoto or Motion. But, with the new slideshows, I just have one thing to say: wow! I am impressed. 95% of the work I used to do in Motion is doable in Aperture and it looks even easier!
Finally, Brushes. It was about time Aperture got these! None destructive editing at the pixel level has been the reason why I moved to Lightroom (ok, also because it was faster!). I am glad the feature is now in Aperture since it saves a round trip to Photoshop for 95% of the image corrections.
While waiting for my review, you can read what Chase has to say about it. He was on the beta list so he probably knows more than me!
Note: You can upgrade to Aperture 3 from the Academic version of Aperture 2!
Note2: I havent found an electronic version for the full product, so I had to place an order and download the demo.
With all the talks about the 7D, it might be a good time to step back and look at one of the most useful feature of the 5D Mark II: its high megapixel count. While the 7D is very close to the 5D in terms of pixels, the 5D still has about 20% more and, for someone like me, it matters.
Most people will tell you megapixel are just a marketing trick to lure less knowledgeable photographers toward “newer camera models”. While this claim is true for Joe Average trying to buy a new camera, for the serious photographer, megapixels are important. Even if you are not planning to print anything larger than 8×12, the more you have, the more comfortable you will be in your edit.
Since I got my random flipping shutter issue, I have done a lot of Googling to see if other people have had the same issue. During this process, I discovered a few other issues 5D Mark II owners might have and thought it would be a good idea to list them.
While looking at this list, remember that Canon has sold tons of these camera and most of them have no problems. The web is a big ecochamber where one person complaining can generate more noise than a thousand happy customer.
Random flipping shutter
In live view mode (while not recording) the shutter randomly start flipping. I already talked about it here. My camera is still at Canon for repairs. I will write back on this once I receive their incident report.
Burned sensor
This issue has been identified by extraordinaire photographer Sam Hassas. The guy is well known for framing the sun with his subjects to create big and nice sun flares. Go look at his stuff and see how cool it is. The downside of this technique is that it seems like he burned the sensor in four spot. Since he has been doing this for a while and probably shot thousand of stills framing the sun, there are probably no reason to panic but it is better to be aware of this.
We are still waiting for details but you can follow the thread here.
Black dot
While still present after the 1.1.0 firmware update, this issue is not getting a lot of press anymore. I guess people accepted the limitation and moved on to complain about the lack of 24p. You can read about it here.
24P
Some user have reported that they cannot shoot in 24p, citing this as a major issue. We are still waiting for an update from Canon to see if they aknowledge the problem.
I have always been a big fan of Chase Jarvis. The guy has style, shoot cool things (like Ninjas!) and is really engaged with the community.
So, as soon as I read about him releasing an iPhone app I knew it would be something cool and different. Basically, it replaces your ‘normal’ camera with a twist. Actually, two twists!
First it gives you a few (12) filters to apply to your picture, some classics (B&W) and some others more creative. While the effects are cool, this is not the first camera app to have these so lets move to the other cool feature: the social dimension.
With a single tap you can share your picture on various networks (Facebook, Twitter, email and thebestcamera.com). Actually, you can spam all these network with your pictures with a single tap. If you have nothing to do or need some inspiration, you can tap on the globe icon to see pictures taken by others. I just wasted a few minutes doing so and found a few very creative ones that made me feel like a very bad photographer… I think this is the most interesting part of the app. You can leave it open and pictures are going to fade/fade out in turns.
My only complain is that it does not use the geo location service. Since I use my iPhone camera mostly when doing recon for shoots, if I want to edit a picture before sending it to someone, I have to shoot it with the standard camera, then load it in The Best Camera.
I think the message Chase is getting is message across: the best camera is the one you have with you.
Chase back his claim by releasing a book displaying pictures he has taken with his iPhone. I guess he got the idea of this when he was tired of carrying his Hasselblad around…
By the way, anyone knows about a good camera app for taking recon shots? Something with geotagging, maps and voice notes would be perfect!
It has not been 24 hours since the announcement of the Canon 7D and we are already seeing some very strong reactions in the blogosphere. Those who did not purchase a 5D are happy like kids at Christmas while 5D Mark II owners feel betrayed and frustrated to various degrees.
First, if you own a 5D Mark II, it is as good today as it was two days ago. You can still take great pictures and video with it, the release of this newer model did not affect your capabilities to take great shots and make money out of them. If you were pleased with your camera, you should still be. I know this sounds obvious but that is something people tend to forget when a newer model is released.
Now some of my observations… Read the rest of this entry »
Seems like I was wront again or the Canon crew really like to contradict me! Yesterday Canon announced the 7D.
Is it better than the 5dMRKII? Well, it does have what everyone missed from the 5d Mark II: variable frame rate (23.976, 24, 29.97, 30, 50 and 59.94), higher burst rate (8fps) and, most important for all for photographer: a better AF system and 100% viewfinder. Only back draw? It is not full frame, only 1.6 crop so you can expect some noise.
For a detailed full review, go visit DPReview. There is no need for me to go in the details and repeat the same thing over and over.
What I want to point out in this article is that I don’t know what the hell Canon has in mind with this camera. By releasing a product perceived to be better than the 5d Mark II for most videographers and photographers, they are going to kill a big chunk of the 5dMrkII demands and move it toward a less profitable product. While I understand why Canon wants to go that way (to crush Nikon in the mid level camera market), it makes the 5d Mark II looks like the cousin nobody wants to invite to the family party and leave a hole in the product list. The 5d Mark II was already taking sales from the 1D, imagine now!
So, what is going to happen with the 5D Mark II? I think we are either going to see a firmware update very soon with variable frame rate control or nothing at all for the rest of the camera life cycle. I must be a positive man because I foresee an update soon. I just can’t believe Canon would pull the kill switch on such a successful product.
I must confess, I have a serious case of gear lust over this camera but the 1.6x sensor (and my bank account) is the show stopper. Once you get used to a full frame view finder and wide lenses, it is hard to turn your back on these. Still, this would be an incredible camera for sport and wildlife cinephotography. Hell, if you need to go wide, you could always put a 10-22
Want one? You can preorder it from Amazon US Store here
This post is not specifically related the the Canon 5dMRkII. I wrote it as a complement to a blog post on the DPS about urban exploration. This is a collection of all the tips/tricks I have learned during my various explorations. I tried to regroup the ideas by subject as much as I could. Hope you enjoy this. And yes, next time I visit a plant, I will shoot some clips!
What to bring
When going out for an urban exploration run, I try to be as light as possible. You never know when you will have to squeeze in a small hole in a wall or climb over an obstacle. So, the less gear you have, the easier these task will be.
With the exception of the tripod, all of my gear fits in my Lowepro Slingshot 200
Read the rest of this entry »
As regular visitors, I am sure you have noticed how much I try to always come up with original content. I try to minimize linkage to other people blog posts unless I can add some value to it. I think twitter does a better job at this than a blog post, this is why I created a twitter account for the site. I will try to keep it low volume and on subject.
Anyways, today two posts convinced me to do an exception.
First, Stu wrote a great post on the custom settings he is using to film with the 5D. I used to shoot with the neutral setting but I might give this configuration a try. It is technically sound, I just wonder how it would perform in a low light environment? I will have to do some testing!
Link 2: this ‘review‘ by Rick Sammon of the Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and Flex TT5. He does not say if he actually tested (used) them or not but if he did (after all, this is supposed to be a mini review), I will investigate to learn the Speedlite models he used.
Speaking of Pocket Wizards, I experienced some strange behavior with my Plus II on a 580EXII last weekend. We had a very weird setup (D3 using PC cord to PW + on camera flash to trigger the 580) and we could not get a 100% fire rate on the 580. Once we switched the 580 for a Nikon flash (SB something), it flashed every single time. Weird. I think the issue is with the 580 itself, even more so since my friend said that he smelled something burning…
Finally, dont forget about the contest to win my eBay Cactus remote triggers! When was the last time someone offered you something for nothing? Even if it was something that did not worth much…
