Polaroid Flash Testing

I thought it would be helpful to the Polaroid shooters out there to see a comparison of the flashes available. All images were shot with a Sonar SX-70, all on the Impossible Project's PX70 Color Protection film (the old edition) with the wheel set 1 click dark. This is the setting I've found works best with the light meter in my camera. There was white butcher paper behind and under the object, a creepy Jack in the Box toy from my childhood because there just aren't enough shots of creepy Jack in the Boxes on film. There were no lights turned on in the room, but there was a little window light and they were shot around 2 in the afternoon.

I recently picked up an ITT Magic Flash off of eBay, along with another Sonar SX-70 for $75.00. It was a steal. The Magic Flash runs off of 4 AA batteries. The camera clips into the base once it is unfolded and you pop the flash head in just like you would a flash bar. The cord does not disconnect from the base, so be careful. It's obviously the largest and bulkiest of the options. I'd say the flash is about 3 flash bulbs big when compared to the flash bar. The unit charges quickly and recycles fast. I was using Energizer Lithium batteries.

The Mint Flash, which is sold by the Impossible Project runs off of 2 AAA batteries. This is my second Mint Flash. The first one I purchased was not syncing properly with the shutter of my camera. It would fire as the shot was ejecting from the camera. I wrote the Impossible Project and without question, they sent me a new Mint Flash and I sent them the malfunctioning one back. The second Mint Flash fires perfectly. I have noticed that it eats up batteries and it takes longer to fire up and recycle. It is about the same size as a flash bar.

The old reliable GE Flash Bar. This is my trusted flash, but as you know, they won't be around forever. Every now and then, you get a dead bulb that won't fire and they are hot as all heck after you shoot them.

The shots:

 ITT Magic Flash

The ITT flash was a little blown out at this setting. I'm still getting to know how this flash reacts with my camera. I think another click dark would have given it just enough contrast.

 MINT Flash

The Mint Flash was slightly underexposed. I would have left the wheel at neutral to get the proper exposure, but this was a test at the same levels. You will notice that the Mint Flash is much cooler than the ITT Magic Flash and the GE Flash Bar. I'd say that the colors are more true to what I was seeing.

GE Flash Bar

The GE flash bar is dead on in my opinion. Again, the colors are a bit warmer in this shot.

Honestly, you can go with any of these flashes. Personally, I'm leaning towards the ITT Magic Flash. I have plenty of rechargeable AA batteries and once I get the levels down, I think it will be just as good as the flash bar. I just don't like the recycle time of the Mint Flash and that I have to bust out a new set of AAA batteries every time I want to use it. I also don't tend to have AAAs on hand. If you're looking to pack light, the Mint and flash bar are space savers.

Note: the pack of film I was using was a bit older and all the shots from the pack have that dark patch on the right hand side.

James is 6

My incredible nephew celebrated his sixth birthday over the weekend. I brought along my new camera, the Canon EOS M, to test it out. Family members, enjoy the pictures. Camera enthusiasts, I've included some of the settings for the pictures.

Shot on program mode, ISO 400, 22mm lens, 1/60th, f 4, flash

The tiny flash included with the kit has impressed me. I shot this across the room and both these kids have ridiculously blue eyes that normally turn red. It hit them with plenty of light to stop that from happening.

Shot on program mode, ISO 400, 100mm macro lens, 1/60th, f 4, flash

I also purchased the lens converter, which allows the point and shoot sized camera work with all of my bigger lenses. I wanted to see if the flash would reach past a longer lens with a lens hood on. To my surprise, it did.

Shot on manual mode, ISO 3200, 40mm pancake lens, 1/60th, f 4, no flash

Typical portrait of James these days. The 40mm lens is also new, because I wanted another tiny lens to go along with the camera. Loving the results so far; it's crisp and fast.

Shot on program mode, ISO 400, 40mm pancake lens, 1/200th, f 11, flash

My brother decided to photobomb this picture. Thanks, bro.

Shot on manual mode, ISO 800, 40mm pancake lens, 1/80th, f 2.8 no flash, window light

I was blown away by these shots; beautiful results that I would've gotten with my DSLR. Having super cute kids to photograph doesn't hurt either.

Overall, my first impression of the Canon EOS M is that I'm liking it. It's nice to get sharp pictures from a smaller camera. I'm still going to use my DSLR for important shoots, but this is a great alternative to my point and shoot camera. The battery life on the camera is a little short. I've used it 3 times and it needs to be recharged. Granted, this camera only has the LCD display for a viewfinder, so that is eating up the juice pretty quickly. I'm used to having multiple batteries for each of my cameras, so this isn't going to bug me much. The focus is a bit slow at times. I'm still playing with the auto assist beam on it and I'm not sure if that will help it focus better. The good thing is that with my other lenses, I can flip on the manual focus to get around it. I'm still undecided on the touch screen LCD. While it's nice to be able to touch the screen to tell the camera where to focus and to take a picture, I've noticed that I accidentally hit it often. It's a minor annoyance which can be disabled, so again, not a big deal.

Can I enjoy a concert without a camera?

I thought it would be a fun experiment to see if I could attend a concert without a camera in tow. This year, I've been very fortunate to have my DSLR with me at most shows. Even when I don't get press access, I usually bring my point and shoot along. When my friend Joe offered me a couple of tickets to see Courtney Love at The Capitol Theatre last week, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to test this experiment. I'm not particularly fond of Courtney Love, I don't really know her music and I wouldn't have bought tickets for this show.

It took all of about 5 minutes before I pulled out my cell phone out and started taking pictures. The Cap is such a gorgeous music venue and the lighting this night was really good. Trust me, I was kicking myself for not bringing the point and shoot. Even though Courtney Love was running late and didn't exactly know where she was, calling it Long Island and Rhode Island several times, she was a great performer. She engaged with the small crowd, walked out to the front of the stage and reached out to her fans. It was a lot of fun to be able to experience that, but I won't deny that I missed my camera.

This experiment also allowed me to really test out the Galaxy S4's. I know, I sort of cheated by having my cell phone with me, but I don't consider those to be real cameras. I set it to night mode on all of them, so there was no flash. I didn't edit these pictures except for converting a couple to black and white. I have to say, while the quality isn't what I like, for a cell phone, it is pretty darn impressive. I was only a couple people back from the front, but the camera locked on focus and did a pretty good job at exposing the shots properly.

A final word to fellow concert goers. I've had a couple of unfortunate experiences this year while attending shows. Being nearly trampled at Andrew WK was something I expected and planned for. The guy that bum rushed the stage at the Eels Webster Hall show then proceeded to shout at Vanessa and myself that he was going to physically harm us still gets my blood rushing when I think about it. Perhaps it was that memory that caused me to react the way I did at this show. A girl pushed her way in front of me at Courtney Love, then turned to say she only wanted to take a picture. I, of all people, wasn't about to argue with that. I told her to take her pictures and then kindly move away so I could see. She took a couple of shots, then started to elbow my friend. I watched her take her beer and pour half of it out on my friend.

Now listen, everyone. I know that this was a bit of a moshing crowd. That's fine, enjoy yourselves. But have some respect. There is no excuse for being flat out rude to another concert goer. I caught her hand that was spilling the beer and tilted it back towards herself. I might have said a few choice words and then took back my original spot in the crowd. General admission shows are not my favorite. If you want a good spot, get there early. If you didn't, don't push your way through the crowd and by all means, don't insult someone that allowed you into their spot by spilling half your beer on another person on purpose. We're all there to enjoy the music and have a good time.

Ok, rant over. Sorry.

The answer to my post title? It's pretty clear to me that no, I can't. It doesn't even have to do anything with the band that I'm seeing, I want to have my camera there to capture it. I've covered several bands this year that I had no idea who they were. They each have something to offer and something that sets them apart. When I know and like the band, that desire is ten times stronger. You should have seen how twitchy I was without a camera at this show.

Samsung Galaxy S4 camera tests

One of my favorite parts about purchasing a new cell phone is when the sales reps try to talk up the camera. I try to interrupt their pitch as politely as possible, explaining that I'm a photographer, but they go on anyway. The truth of the matter is, a cell phone camera is not going to do what I want it to do. I've been testing out this highly talked about 13 megapixel cell phone camera and I wanted to share the results with you. I'll also be showing you comparisons shot on my Canon 5D Mark III. You can tell the difference by the watermarks I use. The photo above is from the cell phone and just has my logo. The shots from my Canon will have my logo with my name.

The top photo was the first one I took on the S4. I was fairly close to the tulip to test out the macro settings. It's a nice shot. I like the shallow depth of field in this case and the yellow tulip is pretty darn sharp and it looks even better on the AMOLED screen of the phone. The first issue I have with the S4 camera, and I will admit I haven't played around with the settings enough to see if I can turn this off, is how it wants to focus. It's trying to center focus, which for most people is probably what they're going to want. I purposefully placed my subject off center and had to fight with the phone to get it to focus where I want. You tap the screen and it focuses, but as soon as you recompose the shot, it reverts back to what's in the center of the shot. In this case, the trees in the background. You can double tap the screen and if you're quick enough, it will take a picture or you can try to hit the shutter button. The S4 is a big phone, I'm not going to lie, it's a little ridiculous. At 5.4 inches, it's not the easiest camera to hold steady one handed while trying to tap the shutter button. And at the price I paid for it, you better believe I'm not going to drop this thing!

I returned to the tulips the next morning and saw all the dew drops on them. I once again fought with the focus. After a few shots, I pulled out the DSLR because I was getting frustrated. I know it's only a cell phone, but I can't stand not being able to control the settings. Below is what I was seeing, and unable to capture with a simple camera phone.

Cropped in at 100%

I was seeing the beautiful reflections in the water droplet and there was no way that the camera phone was going to focus on that.

Again, cropped in.

Am I expecting too much of a cell phone camera? Absolutely, but this is my argument with the sales people.

I will give credit where it's due. The shot of Grace was taken indoors with the flash. Grace has striking blue eyes, that will more often than not turn to red when taken with a point and shoot camera. The LED flash on the S4 sits below the lens. It sends out a focus assist beam before the picture is taken which might have helped remove the red eye. I was shocked when I saw the result.

But...this isn't always a good thing. Enter Addy, my favorite test subject. The flash not only gave her ridiculous pet eye, the animal equivalent to red eye, it really annoyed her. This is also an example of the refocus issue with the camera. Addy was in focus when I tried to take the picture, but by the time the S4 was done with the flash focus assist, it returned to center focus, the spider plant behind the cat. I should point out this was taken at night with little light in the room.

Just to prove that Addy doesn't always give me stink eye, a shot with the DSLR

How could I not test the S4 in a concert setting? This was taken at Cafe 9, which has absolutely miserable light. I put the camera on night mode and made sure the flash was turned off. Again, I'm pretty impressed with this shot. There's a good amount of motion blur from the performers, but I can deal with that. It's a decent exposure from a cell phone. I have no doubt that if I were at a well lit venue, it would take solid pictures. Here's a quick comparison shot from the DSLR.

I still have to do a lot more testing. The S4's camera surprised me in a couple of instances, but I'm far from sold on it. I'd still choose my point and shoot camera, even though it's only 10.1 megapixels, over the cell phone; it's much more comfortable to hold and I can control what I want to control. Don't get me wrong, I'm being very critical here, the S4 has a decent camera. For the average person, they will be impressed and the automatic sync up to dropbox is a great feature. You get 50 gigs for free on dropbox for two years just for purchasing the phone, which I am thrilled about for business purposes. I'll be sure to share more thoughts on this the more I shoot with it.

New Toy!

My new macro lens just arrived, so I had to take pictures of some of my stupid office decorations to test it out. I can't wait to use it for real.

Acrobots from ThinkGeek

I'm hoping to get to a concert tonight after work at The Outer Space in Hamden to test out the new lens in a low light setting. Shan Ren is an indie folk band from China and I think they're going to be fun. How can you go wrong with a $3.00 cover???