Kodak: End-of-Life'd

I cant believe that one of the most traditional or historical photography equipment and film companies (Kodak on Wikipedia) is going down the drain (link) and filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The company made photography accesible to the masses in the early years and introduced or invented a couple of fantastic things. To name a few:

• 1900: The Brownie Camera
• 1935: Kodachrome
• 1963: Instamatic Camera
• 1975: The digital camera (Engineer Steven Sasson)
• 1986: First Megapixel Sensor

More than a few time Kodak missed the train with their products and the competitors happily overtook.

They just announced the Kodak Polaroid SC1630: A camera based on Android, something I was waiting for. Instead of having a phone with an inferior camera build-in, we would have a (bit) more serious camera based on Android, allowing to use all kind of camera applications, almost unlimited possibilities, not being restricted by a manufacturer's firmware updates.

Let's see who gonna grab the leftovers and patents...

Canon Angle View Finder

Quite a few times I wished I had screen to tilt or an angle finder for the Canon 5D MKII, but I am not willing to spend 200 U$ on an accessory that I will use only once in the blue moon. Luckily there is some cheap alternative from Seagull, a Chinese company selling a variety of photo equipment (inclusive of a range of large format cameras!). You find the angle view finder with a range of adapters for Canon, Nikon, Sony,.. cameras on ebay for about 50U$. There are different models for 2 to 3x magnification, you can switch from 1x to an alternative magnification factor with a mechanical switch, useful to check focus.

My first impression:

• It works.
• The adapter is a bit flimsy, you cant easily slide in and out the view finder.
• If you dont use an angle view finder permanently you can work with this one.

The items in the box

On a Canon 5D MK II

 I dont know about any shop in Singapore selling it off the shelf.

Canon TS-E 17mm shift and tilt lens

I fancied TS lenses for a long time, even bought a 4x5 to experiment some years back, but thats not exactly the kind of camera you carry around with 2 to 6 exposures. Yes, we can use Photoshop and tilt and warp images, fake miniature scenes, etc. but is not the same as using a TS lens. There are only few in the market and they are all expensive (though you can try a shift adapter for MF lenses on Canon or Nikon DSLR). Finally I got one from DDElectronics in Singapore (almost 400 SGD cheaper than other shops in town !), and just start to enjoy this new lens and learn to create images again in a completely new way. I spare you with technical details, as the web has quite a number of reports, tests and comparisons about this:

• http://guytal.com/wordpress/2011/03/review-canon-ts-e-17mm-f4l/
• http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=371
• http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/cameras/lenses/ts-e_17_f4_l.html
• http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-TS-E-17mm-f-4-L-Tilt-Shift-Lens-Review.aspx
• http://www.ronscheffler.com/blog/?page_id=309

I highly recommend to read Peter Hills' introduction about tilt and shift here:

• http://www.redbubble.com/people/peterh111/journal/5713153-an-introduction-to-tilt-shift-photography

Drop by the TS-E 17mm Flickr group with plenty of real-life sample images:

• http://www.flickr.com/groups/canontse17mmf4l/

My first personal impression:

• Its a fantastic lens, a prime lens worth every cent. 
• Crisp sharp.
• You can shoot handheld, its a myth a shift lens always requires a tripod and a big screen.
• Lot of glass without protection, you will take care of this lens !

A quick comparison to get an idea what it means to shift:

1. Shifted 10mm, camera levelled
2. Not shifted but camera tilted up to capture rooftops
3. Not shifted but camera levelled

Stitching Software 2012

Some 1.5 years back I visited last time this topic. What are the current stitching software products in the market ?

There is not much movement in terms of new players (rather some disappearing), but the leading (2) existing companies keep their software updated and it is fantastic to see how much they still can improve (at least that ones I use).

From my point of view the important ones remain in 2012:

• PTGUI (curr. Version 9.1.2)
• Autopano by Kolor (curr. Version 2.6)
• Hugin (active opensource project, stable version 2011.4.0 from December 2011)
• Microsoft ICE (curr. Version 1.4.4 May 2011)
  I am not sure about their strategy, the tool is free as part of their research but the proprietary display software like HDView and Photosynth is based on Silverlight which is shelved by Microsoft for further development)

Others:

• Photoshop Panorama Merge Feature
• Panorama Factory (Jan 2011, ?)
• Easypano (still selling at a unreasonable high price, no further comment)
• Realviz (acquired by Autodesk, also expensive)
• iSeemMedia (?)
• Panavue (?)
• Some OEM software bundled with cameras
• A list of panoramic software apps for iPhone and Android
  (Personally I dont believe in phones making serious panoramic images)

Sideline: Seems, since the history of patent wars (creation of fisheye based panoramas) around IPIX (defunc since 2006) is closed, even the patent is owned by Sony now.

My recommendation: Stick to Hugin and ICE if you want to use something for free, otherwise PTGui and Autopano are great products at a reasonable price, up to you to decide which one you prefer, both offer trial versions.

Gigapan: View from Pinnacles @ Duxton 2

Another viewpoint.

Gigapan: View from Pinnacles @ Duxton

Gigapan: Pearl Bank Apartments

Seen from Pinnacle@Duxton rooftop garden.

Thoughts on Photo Communities

Photo Communities (flickr, 500px, smugmug,.. just to name a few from 1000's in the web) are always a good way to find inspiration, ideas and exchange with other photographers experiences. I saw dozens of this portals coming and going over the years and the broad market is dominated by a few big ones, the rest are all kind of special and small communities (certain camera brand or topics).

What almost all communities have in common is the noise-factor, it is incredible high. I am not talking about bad images, anyone learning and picking up photographic skills should post his work to get feedback. I am talking about the comments !

Of course, everyone is happy about positive feedback or gets his work praised, but either photographers get dozens of one-liner comments ('perfect, well done, super, great') or NO feedback at all. Just drop by popular images in Flickr and you know what I mean. How can anyone learn or advance in his knowledge and style ? We (human) don't like to be criticized and also are shy or hesitant to tell someone that we dont like his image of (better) how to improve it or maybe just some feedback which is more than "Awesome".

That what I like on 500px.com, you can click the LIKE button and if you don't have anything useful to say, don't do it !

Something that disturbs me at large on Flickr are the groups for 'masterpieces', the comment section of some images are filled up with invitations to join or submit the image to this and that master group (on invitation only).