G11blog

death and rebirth

2010-07-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

While covering the elections in Burundi this months I have to declare, as sad as it is, that my G11 plus a lot of other equipment was stolen from my hotel room. The bad new is, that the G11 is gone now so are my backup disk with 6 months of work ( I know, I know, I should have never ever taken my backup drive with me... ).

On the bright side, after battling a almost two week long battle, I got the material damage refunded. With that money I did, what I was planning for some time now and started my switch from Nikon to Canon also on the DSLR side. So now I'm a proud owner of a Canon 7D and i have to admit it is a kick-ass camera for photojournalists. Videomode is excellent, photo quality is superb and even if it is "only" a APS-C sensor the ISO quality is just a little bit behind the 5D Mark II, even on 6400.

So, what I'm going to do now, is to convert the G11 blog to a 7D blog. Bear with me until I find some time to do the changes...

first G11 only assignment

2010-06-08T03:31:00.000-07:00

This assignment, as small as it was, for the NYT I shot completely on my G11. I wouldn't have been confident enough to shoot something bigger, so I wanted to test the first steps on a smaller, on day thing. And viola, I'm not too disappointed.

The story is about the new Rwandan health care system that enables every Rwandan a basic health care for free, for 2 U$ per year.

dynamic range on its knees

2010-06-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

Last week I was on a UN assignment in the wild north-west of Uganda. While the Karimojong are widely believed to be a fierce warrior tribe and caused quite some problems with cattle raids in the past, they are mostly beaten into line by the Ugandan Peoples Defense Forces.

But the photographic challenge here is the extreme light during the day ( starting at 9: 00 and ending at around 17:00 ). Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to leave the UN compound out of security reasons before 8 nor did we come back after 5. So I was forced to shoot in atrocious light. And here the G11 showed its ugly face. The RAW file still had some details in the highlights, but you can see clearly, that the chip was just overwhelmed by the amount of light it had to balance out. I already underexposed for one whole stop but its hard to hit the middle.

Not a killer, because people have done great stuff with cams that were much much much worse then this 21century toys, but a thing you should keep in mind, when switching from a DSLR.

Sony introduced a new small rangefinder

2010-05-13T01:42:00.000-07:00

with interchangeable lenses: http://www.photography-news.com/2010/05/announcing-new-sony-nex-3-nex-5-worlds.html

For all of those people who need a little bit more "bang" for their buck and are not satisfied with cameras like
the G11. Haven't tested this one yet, but maybe I get a chance some time.

I just wonder where Nikon is??? Those guys seem to slowly loose the touch. After pretty much missing out on the Canon 5D Mark II and even the Canon 7D Video hype ( the D300s and D90's video mode is just a disgrace ) the Nikon people seem so stoically aim for the D3 product line that they don't look left or right. If I'm willing of spending 4500 Euro for a body, ok, but as a photojournalist you just don't make enough money. So, no thanks ( and it is heavy and bulky and just not really suitable for moving fast...I struggled with my D2Xs, which is the same size ).
They announced a G11 "Killer" some time ago, but nothing new from there for now.

But apart from that, now I have to wait a whole week before I can get to DRC. Brilliant!

and there goes...

2010-05-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

the congo trip. Thanks to MONUC and the brilliant planning and timing of the UN World Food Program I'm stuck again for another 5 days in beautiful Kampala. Sometimes you need a lot of restrain and inhuman amount of patience when working as a journalist.

to the test

2010-05-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

Finally a assignment came up which sounds like a excellent opportunity for testing the G11.

A trip in the north eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo for a followup Story on the notorious rebel-bandits of the Lords Resistance Army, orginally a import from Uganda, the LRA terrorizes since a couple of years the inhabitants of the remote and hard to control border area between the DRC, Central African Republic and South Sudan.

A highly difficult congolese army to dodge, traumatized subjects and difficult to access area makes it an ideal project for a small, non intrusive and discreet camera.

still my favourite

2010-04-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

photojournalist..before all the Bells and Wistles with photoshop and the "new school" came in.

I'd like to see more stuff like that .

side note

2010-04-26T22:42:00.001-07:00

if someone is interested in all the technical details of the G11 go here.

G11 and speed

2010-04-25T04:40:00.000-07:00

Well now I want to introduce one issue I'm still having my problems with: speed!

I'm so used to DSLR's that I really have to find a new approach to deal with the still existing ( even if 1000 times better then before ) shutter and focus lag of the point and shooters.

Alex Majoli was suggesting pre-focus and also working with the general strong depth of field of small image sensors but im still having my problems. Especially if you are used to fast focus on things happening in front of you it gets a little messy if you have to rely on the autofocus of a point and shoot ( which is based on contrast analysis ). Especially in low light situations it is a pain.

Sorry Canon, here you have to improve still. I know there are ways to get around it and I throw all my efforts into it, but apart from that I still wish the technicans would work on that issue next time with more motivation.

Canon has given the S90 this magnificant focus ring, like on a traditional DSLR lens. What a brilliant idea...why did Canon not give the G11 such a thing. That would have made manual focusing so much faster and easier.

digitalgraphy != photography

2010-04-25T04:35:00.001-07:00

I just came across a nice new expression: digitalgraphy!

I think its a very nice introduction to the world, that digital technology didn't actually push photography forward but created a whole new branch. Not more, not less important...just a new approach to imaging. Hope we discuss along this lines and people not mix things up anymore :).

black and white / canon G11 Raw

2010-04-25T04:26:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken at an Island at Lake Victoria somewhere in the nice morning hours. I wanted to check how well the Canon RAW files work for Black and White conversion and as I thought, the G11 is making a pretty good impression as a B/W camera. I convert the files in photoshop though, because I think that gives me the most tweaking abbilities.

That the G11 because of its smaller chip size makes everything more sharp makes it a very very nice reportage camera. The image was shot on ISO 200 and the noise is barely visible, working it over as a B/W image you can even reduce the effect of the nasty digital noise even more.

There was enough detail for the sky so I could burn it quite a lot to get more detail. I'm planning to continue my photoessay about Heroin abuse on the Zanzibar islands with this camera. The B/W abilities really convinced me.

on another note

2010-04-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

here is a story I want to share with everyone...it actually causes quite a stir in the photojournalism world right now. I recommend you invest some time and read the blog entries and forum contributions I linked below. Its a story about the high competition in the photojournalism world, skewed ethics and how far are we in the end as photojouranlists are really want to go to get that award, to get published, to get noticed...and how to we should deal with career pigs who are of course in every business but might take the whole scene down in the end.

here, here and here .

I hope the discussion coming out of it cuts down some of the lately rampant malpractices in the photojournalism world.

still testing ...holiday setting

2010-04-10T22:31:00.002-07:00

My much valued roomate Malcolm during one of his far to rare excercise sessions on the shores of Lake Victoria around early evening.

Notes:

Sun, shadows, incoming light...what used to be a tough lighting situation becomes with modern cameras like the G11 no problem at all. I shot this image with Aperture-Automatic, f set on 2.8, ISO 100.

The camera really got it right from the beginning. I almost had nothing to do in PS. The dynamic range of the chip is actually quite impressive. In such lighting situations, the focus is also fast enough. At least the G11 has proven that it is a nice holiday camera and as long as it is put into action in predictable settings it performs extraordinary well. So for all you postcard-image snappers...don't look any further, this is your cam.

for the tech freaks

2010-04-10T00:06:00.000-07:00

Normally I don't care for all the details of cam technology that much, in the end its the picture that makes the difference not your knowledge about all the tech-details. But now I just want to rant real quick over a couple of issues with the G11:

Raw - The G11 provides raw files. One element I really, really like. Although I guess soon its going to be standard. And being able to shoot on raw just makes the white-balance issues not important.

Controls - Well, to be honest, I think the G11's controls are better then most of what I have seen on compacts so far. The baby version of the Canon-Typical back dial makes the handling really nice. The only thing I miss is a second dial for the exposure time and/or a focus ring for manual focus. Man-Focus on the back dial !? No thanks. I know there are technical limitations but to be honest: "don't give me excuses, give me answers".

Lens - I think the lens is good enough. Of course I'd like to have it exchangeable, but what comes for the camera is pretty good for photojournalism. 28mm is wide enough for me. The only thing that I really complain about is the f2.8.

Shutter lag - Well, its going to be problem for the next couple of generations of compacts I think. Nothing I can change, so have to find ways to work around it. But its much better then it was with my Olympus C8080.

Size - nice. I would say its perfect for me. Not too big, but also not too small ( so I just don't lose it by accident ). I taped all the white typo on the chasis with black tape, so it doesn't draw any attention at all. Now give me the speed and accuracy of a DSLR and Im completely sold :).

Viewfinder - well the built in viewfinder is not great. It somehow does the job, but at least they could have put the aperture on viewfinder-display. I think i will go for a seperate viewfinder and then shoot with a fixed 28mm...its like shooting on prime lenses.

All in all not a perfect camera, but if you get used to things and push yourself a little, it seems like it can be a very useful tool.

very close up

2010-04-09T23:29:00.000-07:00

I was never a real Macro-Photographer and I don't own such a lense for my DSLR's. So this feature is quite new to me and I enjoy trying it out, once in a while. With a point and shoot I guess its more fun than usefull in a professional sense, but maybe the day will come where i need it.

Note:

I had to do a couple of tries to get it right, but to be honest, the G11 made it easy and once in a while I love the help of the little computer algorithms in the cameras to help you out ( which I normally disable as fast as I can ).

Preaching for passports

2010-04-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

In a evangelical church in Kampala, Uganda, a preacher collects every saturday passports to bless them, giving their owners the devine advantage of traveling more easily to foreign countries ( mainly US or Europe, where it is kind a hard to get a visa to if you are from the african continent ).

Notes:

That was my first "self chosen" assignment to work with my G11. Shooting in house in Africa can be a real pain. The sun light outside is super bright and houses are super dark ( to keep the cold in ). Good ISO performance and a fast lense is prime. So lets see how the G11 is doing its job:

I shot on ISO 1600 and f-stop of 2.8 with a exposure time of 1/60.

The small chip in the G11 of course is pretty prone to noise, but to be honest its not as bad as I first thought. Im no purist and I actually think the images are quiet usable till ISO 800, and sometimes even 1600. 3200 is wild, I admit.

The 2.8f is not mind blowing. A little bit wider would have helped the whole thing, especially with the naturally high depth of field of point and shoots in the first place. I can live with it, but you get in trouble in really dark settings.

The integrated Image Stabilization ( IS ) actually worked wonder on this image, shooting with a quiet low 1/60. Nothing to complain about here.

Im still not really impressed with the autofocus. Thats still an issue. Alex Majoli recommends pre-focusing. I'll try that next time. Im just already a little bit rusty and trusted the excellent autofocus of the D90 and the D2Xs for far too long.

First steps...

2010-04-09T23:11:00.001-07:00

I usually shoot with Nikon D2Xs and a Nikon D90. Im alright with this setup and I still haven't really moved on to the full-frame craze ( although I know at some point I migh thave to ). So, changing to a Canon, even only a point and shoot, is a novelty to me.

What always disturbed me about the DSLR's ( and big SLR's ) is, that I always have the feeling that I can't really get close enough, that I have to work much harder until people ease in front of the camera. And I can imagine its a threatening situation if a guy comes running along, shoving his big wide angle lens in your private space.

So after admiring Alex Majoli's work for some time, I felt maybe scaling down in my gear could be the answer to some of the problems that I encounter during work. Especially after many semi-pro point and shoots are getting really good, I figured, now its the time start to work in a different way.