Our idea of contemporary image quality depends on mis-remembering how good we already had it just a few years ago...

I'm as big a sucker for faulty memory syndrome as the next photographer. What is FMS? It's a condition that makes us remember the past as being worse, by far, than what we are living with right now. This condition rarely presents itself when thinking about general social history but does make itself felt when comparing different technologies. It is most prevalent when the victim is pondering things like cameras, cellphones and cars. 

In short the condition causes otherwise rational people to start remembering things they bought in the past in a worse way than reality would show was really true. Just as a random example let's look at FMS as it relates to buying and using digital cameras. If one had purchased a Panasonic GH5 camera in 2016 with the idea of using it for both still photography and video production, and had been satisfied with the performance of the camera at the time, that would establish a neutral baseline for effectively evaluating the results of the camera. If no enormous breakthroughs in technology occur (and history shows us that most camera improvements are incremental....very incremental)  then the satisfaction with a unit's performance should be a straight and continuous line. No change in satisfaction as long as the equipment continues to produce results that are equal to, or actually outperform, the limitations of the media for which the gear is intended. In people without FMS the gear in question, if found to be satisfactory (not the weak link in the imaging chain) would continue being used until such a time as it became non-functional. Or unrepairable. 

After all, the cost of the gear has already been amortized and if it continues to produce exactly the same results then nothing in the process of use or evaluation needs to change. In short, it is usually the performance boundaries of the media that are the limiting factor in most photographic situations and not the imaging prowess or lack thereof of the camera or lens.

But in the minds of victims of FMS a different sort of process takes place. When new gear is introduced to replace previous models the "patient" makes a flawed presumption that any newer model is obviously  superior to the old model and (this is where the disconnection takes place...) that the new "improvements" are so spectacular and so obvious that the new camera (or lens) will make visually obvious improvements that will be discernible in all images created for the same use case/media that the previous model was already ably fulfilling. The mind of an FMS victim makes an immediate assumption that any lost "potential" by way of not having immediate access to the new unit's improvements (however incremental; if they exist at all) will degrade the overall quality of their experience. Even if the potential is never realized in actual practice. The victim will "know" that the work "could be better." 

A good example would be the compulsion to replace a 24 megapixel camera with a 48 megapixel camera when the output from either camera is presented as a 6 megapixel image on a 6 bit viewing screen. If the viewing screen isn't capable of at least 25 megapixels of resolution then both cameras would be equally  capable of meeting or exceeding the limitations of the medium. A fact-based evaluation which is lost on the logic circuits of FMS victims. They invariably presume that any specification improvement will add to the potential improvement of the final image. 

This misguided assumption triggers a hormone release that floods certain areas of the brain which in turn compels the victim to immediately pull whatever credit card still has an available credit limit attached and rush to acquire the new model. With the new model in hand a process begins in which the memories stored in the camera comparison area (CCA) of the brain begin to mis-remember the performance of the previous camera as being worse and more "impaired" than it was. This leads to comparison differential enhancement in which the victim is hyper-sensitized to any change or perceived change in imaging capabilities between the models. Like "monsters under the bed" each parameter of the older camera that can be called into question will be, even if there is no objective discrepancy between the old and new model in the determined use cases. 

There is even a law called the imagined emphasis of disappointment which comes into play. Stated simply the law of IED says that the lower the skill set of the victim the more emphatically he or she will blame the difference between the old and new camera when comparing contemporaneous images with images taken in the past. Even if, to all other viewers, the images are identical. The idea of past camera disappointment (PCT) grows as the hormones trigger a buy-or-cry response which drives the victim to make the purchase in order to temporarily stave off feelings of depression and photographic inadequacy. 

For a GH5 user this might mean getting a newer GH6. Or, in the case of someone with a severe case of FMS it could even mean having to buy the interim upgraded model, say ---- a GH5ii ---- as a holding strategy until they are able to buy the aforementioned GH6. There is always a linear drive toward the newest or most fully specced model. 

The only cure is to go back and carefully reexamine work done previously with the older cameras or older lenses to evaluate whether or not the new model rises above the limitations of the existing media (a website? An Instagram post?) and yields observable improvements. If there is no visible change in the quality of presentation in the "target" media then no change really needs to be made. 

In most cases, however, the victim remains in denial even after many observations are made by objective and expert third party investigators. At this point one of two things happen. If the victim is financially able they are consigned to having to buy each new product release or even each new camera system, the marketing of which has even the smallest promise of technical improvement. The other solution is to buy in the same way until the victim is either bankrupted, or both bankrupted and institutionalized...  It's generally incurable by logic or argument. 

With all this laid out in front of me I happened to start looking at images taken back in 2015-2016 with an ancient and primitive Panasonic GH5 camera. FMS victims today would tell you quickly that those cameras had "very limited dynamic range" and "were impossible to use with any sort of autofocusing." 

Since I had recently sold off some GH5s and more recently replaced them with, first a GH5ii and then a GH6, I thought I owed it to my last gasp of rationality to go back and see if the files in the older camera were really as poor and woeful as my brain was trying to convince me was the case. Did the potential improvements justify the buying imperative?

First things first. I was shocked, SHOCKED to find that both images presented here were focused automatically by the ancient camera. Diving into 100% magnification revealed that they were, indeed, in focus!!! Then I looked at dynamic range and tried to see the huge impediments to visual excellence that the now obsolete camera must have certainly introduced. I found that the files were at least the equal of the media we used in order to promote the show we were photographing for. The files had ample DR for web use and, remarkably, they could be well printed at sizes up to 11x17 on a four color press without losing highlight or shadow detail. 

Is the GH6 that much better? Not in those two uses. Not at all. I was shocked. I had to take a tranquilizer and lie down with a cold washrag across my forehead. The shock of objectivity was almost too much to bear.

Sadly, slowly, and with great resignation, I had to admit that I'd been infected with FMS and had been remembering older camera performance in an inaccurate way. Through the smudged and dirty eyeglasses  of self delusion. 

Just a cautionary note to those of us who are constantly on the search for "new and improved" gear. We might be suffering from FMS, as it relates camera tech. The cure? Unknown. A preventative? A strong spouse with control over the credit cards. The damage? Still to be determined. 

I am starting a foundation to help photographers afflicted with FMS. We'll be accepting contributions as soon as the website is set up. Please, though, don't send in cameras as contributions --- it just makes the syndrome worse...

Both images were taken using a GH5 camera and an Olympus 12-100mm lens. Long since made "obsolete" to victims of FMS by the introduction of two newer camera models in that line. But still usable and competitive to non-victims.

( just a note for the obdurate: I am not starting a foundation. The mention of it was an attempt at humor).
 

From the Summer Archives.

 

Still looking through boxes and files. Finding little treasures.

Staying out of the heat today.

OT: The comfortable routine of morning swim practice. From a long time member of the USMS. (United States Masters Swimming).

 

Sara.

Got up early this morning to do some yard maintenance before it got too hot. I hit the pool at 7:55, ready to swim. The staff at the club is doing a good job keeping the water temperature low during a string of 100°+ days and even though 82° water temperature isn't optimal keeping it in that zone is pretty amazing. 

We have a coach who has decided that our Thursday 8 a.m. workouts will be Individual Medley workout days. Instead of concentrating on long distance freestyle or race-paced freestyle swims we're going to  concentrate on all four strokes. Butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle. This focus on all the strokes always brings out the moans, groans and bitching from the triathletes who only want to work on their freestyle for tri competition. But all of us former high school and college swimmers welcome the once familiar stroke assortment as a prime example of good cross training. 

We had about 30 people at this morning's workout. There is an earlier workout that goes from 7:00 till 8:00 and it attracts a dedicated following of the most driven of the swimmers, and also a lot of people who have to show up somewhere for work by 8:30 or 9:00. The early people sometimes disparagingly refer to the later workout as "The Executive Workout" on the premise that we have more control over our personal schedules. Or no schedules at all. We prefer to call it "The Varsity Practice..." 

We had the usual 1,000 yard warm-up today but then the fun began. We starting doing dolphin kick drills and that was the precursor to a butterfly-heavy slog.

The set was complex. It went like this:

1 x 25 yards butterfly

1x50 yards backstroke/breaststroke

1 x 25 yards freestyle

1 x 100 yards I.M. (all four strokes).

2 x 25 yards butterfly

2 x 50 yards backstroke/breaststroke

2 x 25 yards freestyle

2 x 100 I.M. yards (descending times = ascending effort)

3 x 25 yards butterfly

3 x 50 yards backstroke/breaststroke

3 x 25 yards sprint freestyle

3 x 100 yards I.M. 

4 x 25 yards butterfly (descending times = each one faster than the one before)

4 x 50 yards backstroke/breaststroke (descending)

4 x 25 yards freestyle sprints

4 x100 yards I.M. ( also descending ).

Followed by a warm down. 

The butterfly got harder and harder. I can see I've got a lot of work ahead of me....

It's fun to do this against a pace clock, on set intervals, with lots of like-minded people bent on going fast and touching the wall before everyone else. I never get tired of the competition... or the thrill of just being in the water. My sense of gratitude was just off the charts this morning.

Thinking of heading up to to Richmond, Virginia in the first week of August to swim two or three events at the USMS National Championships. We'll see what the schedule looks like....

A nice Summer to stay wet.

Updating firmware on the GH6. Just in time for protracted dive into the camera's video. Why? A request for an estimate for a very "action oriented corporate" video. Oxymoronic? Quite likely.

 New firmware landed yesterday for the Panasonic GH6 camera. No. It doesn't make the C-AF focusing any different. At least that's not in the upgrade notes. But what it does bring to the party is the ability to record ProRes Raw video to a Ninja V+ device fitted with a fast SSD drive. You can shoot full gate (the width and height of the sensor) at up to 60 fps at 5.8K. 

If you don't need Raw video files you'll want to look at what you can do in Apple ProRes. Because you can shoot that to an internal card in up to the 5728 by 3024 (17:9) format at 29.97p. Make sure you have a fast CFexpress card installed because those ProRes HQ files are 1.9 Gigabits per second. A bit faster than the 400 Mbps in a camera that's....less capable. You can shoot ProRes 422 at lower rates and at a straight ahead 4K setting and you'll actually end up with files that are fast and fun to edit. But.... it takes a bit of mental adjustment to reconfigure your brain for bigger data deposits.

I really like the color and tonality the GH6 video files deliver. I think it's an amazing camera even though it may have a few quirks. I also like the lenses I've put together for the system although most are long while most video projects seem to lean into the wide angles.

And once again the timing is weird.

I got an e-mail from a client last week asking about a video project. I'm on the fence about whether I want to bid the project or not. It would require a bunch of pre-production, script supervision,  the casting of one talent and the negotiating for a wide package of national or international usage for the talent, several full days of shooting, the services of a sound person, enough freelance assisting staff to cover a typical on location corporate shoot, and a ton of editing on the backend. Which I would happiest farming out. 

The problem for me is that the project is in an industry that's not exciting. The client is....careful and aesthetically conservative. The samples they've shared are not challenging or especially exciting and I'm not even sure I want to work in Austin during August. Seems like a better time of year to escape to somewhere cooler and more laid back (which in itself is a wry statement about the directions in which Austin has grown. We used to be the capitol of "Laid Back"). 

One of my peers and I discussed all this over the phone this afternoon and his advice, as usual, was that I should bid the project so high that I'd be delighted to get to do it. And I understand the financial appeal but I'm still not all that interested. It's a lot of work. And responsibility. And missed swims...

My plan for the near future is to work with the GH6 everyday and in every way until I am intimately familiar with every video menu setting, every switch and every capability of the camera. If I decide to do the project (and am actually awarded the bid) I don't want to start the learning curve at that juncture, I want to be ready to go. I want to be completely confident that I can deliver.

It's pretty much the perfect system to use on a gimbal and this project would be shot on a gimbal 100% of the time.

Of course the idea of bidding the price delightfully high --- and then getting the project --- opens up my mind to the idea of also snagging a Leica SL2-S and testing that camera side by side with the GH6. Now that actually sounds like fun.... Low light champ versus in-depth video monster. It never stops.

I have to decide just how much I want to keep my hand in the video game in the next couple of days. Compared to tradtional photography it's quite a bit more work. Maybe I'm just getting lazy.

Yeah. Sure. The Panasonic 20-60mm is pretty good. But what else do you use on the Leica CL? If I want a wide prime I sometimes look to the TTArtisan 17mm....

TTArtisan 17mm f1.4 for the L mount.

I've actually purchased two of these lenses. One is for the L mount cameras and the second is for the m4:3 cameras (like the Panasonic G9, etc.). The one I shot with today was the one that fits on various L mount bodies, including my Leica CLs. This particular unit is sharp and contrasty and not even all that bad when used wide open. The one for the m4:3 camera is a whole different story. It's okay sharp in the center of the frame and then quickly falls apart as you look further and further from that center zone. By the time you hit the edges the image is toast. And this is not just an effect when shooting wide open. It sucks at f5.6 as well. All of which is to say: be sure you buy your unit from a store with a no hassle return policy and, as important, get that sucker out of the box and test it as soon as the delivery people drop it at your front door. Seriously, don't fool around and then have to whine that you waited for 60 days and now can't return it. At that point the blame is squarely on  you. You have been warned. 

The 17mm f1.4 TTArtisan lens is made up of nine elements in five groups. It's totally manual in every sense of the word and conveys absolutely no information to whatever camera it is attached to. The aperture ring is at the front of the lens and is nicely click-stopped. The focusing on both my lenses is smooth and nice. So far, the one for the L mount has been really good and I've had no mechanical or optical issues with it. Lately I've been using it on the Leica CL (APS-C format) but in my initial testing I used it one two different full frame cameras, both set to APS-C format. Those cameras were the Leica SL and the Leica SL2. In any camera using the APS-C crop the lens is more or less a 25.5mm equivalent full frame angle of view. 

On Sunday I worked with the 20-60mm Panasonic lens and then I made the mistake of watching a video about photographer, Allan Schaller, and I became overly interested in wide angle primes. Hence the TTArtisan 17mm on the Leica CL today. If I really dive into that look (and it's probably ephemeral for me at this time) I would no doubt pick up the Sigma 16mm Contemporary lens in an L mount or, if I win the lottery, I'll source the Leica TL 11-23mm zoom for that range. But for right now I'm happy playing around with the TTArtisan 17. 

While the 17mm is a fast lens (aperture, of course) one rarely finds a use for the f1.4 aperture in conjunction with a wide angle lens and a smaller format. It seems that if one is working with those parameters one is already on board with getting a deep depth of field. That being the case I set the lens to f8.0 today and did all of my shooting there. I'll get around to playing with the wide open performance when I've got a good reason to do so but in the middle of the day, in the middle of the Summer, in the great outdoors, shooting at f1.4 or even f2.0 is contraindicated. And I'm in no mood to apply ND filters with sweaty hands for no good reason.

What did I find? At f8.0 the lens is a very good performer. The images are sharp, contrasty, have low levels of distortion and nice color saturation. Since the lens retails for about $120 I think I'll sum up and say that this is a nice "beater" lens that you can take with you to a volcano eruption and not suffer too much angsty loss if it happens to get whacked by lava, debris or falling pumice. You just suck it up, be glad you are alive and buy another one. But....if you want to work at the highest levels of performance and deliver really great work you might want to invest a few thousand dollars and get the best. There's very little in between except, in the cropped formats, the Sigma lens I mentioned earlier. If it's half as good as  the Sigma 56mm f1.4 it's a keeper. 

Basic Humanism. I was walking through the very hot streets today, sacrificing my safety to bring you this vital lens review... Halfway through the walk, as I was photographing a big, white,  illegally parked truck, I was approached by an older black man who wanted to talk. By his appearance he was living on the streets and having a tough time of it. He'd lost a bunch of teeth and was,  in general,  looking rough. I stopped and put my camera down, motioned him into the shade and tried to listen closely. My biggest pet peeve is when people don't at least take a moment to see what someone's story is. He carried a bucket with him that had some window cleaning supplies. He had a story about his wife being at some shelter and was looking for a ride to the shelter. My car was miles away. He was weaving a bit on his feet and I suggested he get out of the heat. He told me no one would give him water. 

I saw that he had a water bottle in his bucket. It was empty. I asked him if I could refill it for him. I pulled my water bottle out of my shoulder bag and dumped the contents into his. He drank it right away. When he told me his story he told me he was 61 years old. He look much older. I asked him if he knew where the shelter was and he did. I reached in my pocket and found ten bucks and handed it to him. I asked him to please get out of the heat and he said he would. We bumped fists. He didn't thank me for the water or the money. He thanked me for listening to him. For acknowledging his existence. When I turned the next corner I had to stop for a moment to wipe a tear from my eye. And when I got home I made a point to send a check to one of the non-profits that supports the homeless here in Austin. 

It's tough when luxury goods get expensive. It's a lot tougher when food and water get priced out of your reach. Then it's all very real. Just another day on the streets.

P.S. I don't photograph people in distress. They have enough to deal with.

Yeah. That's the truck.

A colorful day on Sixth St.

When you get out of your car and walk around without that isolation you really do see the world differently.

clever cynicism. 

Gotta small disturbance. We'll send four patrol cars...

The promise of the near future.

That's all I've got for today.

 

A very workable alternative zoom lens for the Leica CL. If you bought a Panasonic S5 kit you might already own this one! But how is that full frame lens on a "cropped" sensor camera?

 

Today we're looking at the Panasonic S 20-60mm f3.5 - 5.6 zoom lens. 

It was nasty hot when I went out for a walk and a lens test this past Sunday. I wanted the exercise and I was curious about how well a lens that was designed for full frame Panasonic L series cameras might work on my APS-C Leica CL. I've found that the best way to uncover the potential of a lens/camera combination is to... put the lens on the camera and take some photographs with it. What a revelation!

I set the lens for f5.6 and left it there for the majority of my time tromping around on the downtown sidewalks. Seemed like a reasonable parameter to me. The lens is made of some modern composite material so it's much lighter than bigger pro lenses. It's also slow (aperture-wise) in comparison to the f2.8 Pro Zooms everyone seems to crave. That helps make it much smaller, and it's much easier to rationalize putting on the front of a small camera like the Leica CL. On that camera it becomes the equivalent of a 30-90mm lens, as far as full frame angle of view is concerned.

The lens is totally electronically integrated with the CL;  the camera applies the lens profile, the distortion correction, the exif info and all the rest. It's the same as using one of the Leica TL or SL lenses on the body but at a fraction of the cost. It also focuses very quickly and locks on accurately. At least it does in all the scenarios I encountered. 

So, how is the quality? 

Having been designed for full frame the lens sidesteps the usual gotchas people seem to find in zooms like this. There is no apparent vignetting and if you look at the foliage in the image below you can see that the corners are quite sharp and detailed. If anything I find the lens a bit flat or lower contrast. That's not to be considered a problem since it might be a helpful boost to dynamic range and it's also one of the easiest things to "fix" in post production. A tweak to the "clarity" slider in Lightroom is just the thing to make the lens come into its own for sharpness, apparent detail and a bit of snap. 

In this image the lens is actually focused on the clouds at infinity but the depth of field covers the trees which are somewhere between 50 and 70 feet away. >

While it's not a low light, complex designed, high speed lens it does well in so many other ways that I would consider it a replacement for the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 for those who prefer a longer reach at the long end and don't mind losing the ultra-wide angle capability at the short end. It's not much heavier and since the lens came packaged with thousands and thousands of S5 bodies there have been an endless supply of like new 20-60mm lenses which have been separated from their kits and sold on the used markets for about $300; or half the retail/selling price of the lens. It's benefit over the Sigma is the extra reach but also a much lower amount of vignetting.

Please consider looking at the images here in a web browser on a decent monitor so you can see what I'm trying to describe. My writing isn't always clear and there's always the off chance that a bit of hyperbole might have made it past the censors. See it for yourself. 

These images were from a handheld camera. Neither the camera nor the lens feature image stabilization. The ambient temperature during the shooting period was around 103° which might be high enough to introduce some incidental electronic noise. The camera operator had already consumed 2.5 cups of full strength (but not overly strong) coffee prior to the production of the photographs on location. 

Why so many lenses? (memory triggered by the Spidermen above....).

Since bloggers seem to enjoy telling sad stories about their past I'll try my hand as a blogger at one particularly horrific memory of my own (who else's would it be?). I collected comic books and started doing so at a young age. I was a sloppy curator. My mom told me over and over again to keep them off the floor of my room. I had the first ten editions of Spiderman. The Marvel comic series. From the 1960s. The very first Spiderman story was in "Amazing Stories" which subsequently became "The Amazing Spiderman." The copies I had were well read and not "mint" but they were intact and in very good shape. I was rebellious and left my comics strewn all over my room when I left for college Uni. 

When I came home for the break between semesters my comics were no where to be found. My mom had donated them to the Bexar County jail. 

The current value of the first Spiderman comic, a single copy, as was recently sold at auction, is $3.6 million dollars. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/arts/spider-man-comic-auction-record.html

Now, mine wasn't in "mint" condition. But I did have the first 122 comic books in the series, in sequence. I was devastated at the loss. I eventually got over it. But my only thought now is that the inmates at the jail got to use some very, very precious toilet paper. Makes Cottonelle look free. 

I've gotten over the trauma and have long since forgiven my mom. But I can imagine that my compulsion to hoard my favorite cameras must have something to do with this early pre-adult experience of stinging financial loss. And the loss of a treasured collection of what I always considered to be the very best of modern art. Even today I sometimes ponder the thought that if I still had the comics I could sell off a few at a time and I would never have to fly commercial again...

I'll be sobbing over here in the corner from the memory of my tragic comic book disaster/loss. You just go ahead and look at the photos in their large form and see what you think about the lens. I'll be okay. I just need to find my handkerchief...

Portrait of Afradet. Finding a style by looking backward.

Afradet Z.

Sometimes I feel lost or untethered from my career in photography. I wonder what the heck I'm doing with all these cameras and all these lenses. As I age there are fewer jobs I want to do. Fewer times I want to torture test my patience at the hands of an unfocused but well panicked client. And sometimes I lose the strings that bind together what I've come to consider as my personal style of photography. 

Usually this cognitive haze is swept away by some new and challenging assignment that keeps my mind occupied and distracted but sometimes the clutch of indifference and malaise linger for days or weeks. When I feel most adrift I take time to go through old files and old boxes of work I enjoyed doing, and images I enjoyed making. I almost always come to the same conclusion: I love making portraits of interesting people.

The recent arrival of the second Leica CL was a pleasant distraction for a day or so. But I still felt unsettled. So I went back to my source of re-inspiration and started pulling images out of the nooks and crannies of the digital library on my desk and really examining them. Trying to divine what it was about each image that moved me to revisit it. And to find joy in it. What I came away with is the realization that I love the process of sitting quietly with people and waiting for them to reveal something both special and at the same time universal about themselves that shapes an expression in a moment. To freeze an emotion, a feeling, a glance, a gaze and a shared moment of mutual recognition that can never reoccur in the same way again. To suspend the slow decay of time and existential stability that is such an illusion. 

I first met Afradet when we casted for an advertising campaign. She was just right for one of the parts the ad agency and I envisioned. She had an energy that made images with her in them both realistic and at the same time distinctly a step up from routine documentation. She supplied a spark in the construction of what would otherwise be a routine corporate photograph meant to show off the kinds of people a company aspired to have in real life. An aspirational image for H.R.

After the project was over and time passed I reached out to her to see if she would come into the studio and sit for a portrait. She came by one evening, after dinner.  Once again there was that energy but also a sense that her life contained uncertainty and no little quotient of angst. I think it comes across in this photograph. 

We talked and photographed for hours. 

And then, as in so many other encounters in life, we moved back to our separate existences and whatever brought us together to share our non-commercial portrait session was over. But the images remain for me as both a reminder of the person but also a reminder that those people are constantly changing and coming into and out of our orbits. 

The best portraits come from momentary infatuations. Glancing affection. Admiration. But that's why so many commercial portraits can't help but fail. There's no bridge.