Dynamic Range & Colour Depth of Current Sensors

Downtown Toronto in the evening -- NEX-5N & Olympus OM 35mm f2

Couple days ago I was driving towards downtown Toronto on Eastern Avenue, and I commented to my wife on how beautiful and interesting the sun was behind the buildings. I stopped the car (no car was coming behind me) and took a couple of shots.  The picture above is one of the two, but it is not even close to the actual scene.  It was far more brilliant and colourful.  The sensor in the Sony NEX-5N is pretty good, but despite turning on the D-Range, the bright and dark range was still not captured large enough.  I think current technology is already there to increase the dynamic range and colour depth, but manufacturers are not willing to give it to us, at least not as much as we want.  The Canon 1DX sensor should be an indication of the trend that sensor makers are starting to make dynamic range and colour depth as new features, rather than high pixel count, which is encouraging.  I am sure in a few years time, sensors in digital cameras will be able to capture scenes closer to what human eyes can see.

Dillon on Guitar

Dillon on Guitar -- NEX-5N & Astro-Kino Color IV 65mm f1.5.

Dillon has been learning to play the guitar on his own.  He did ask for an acoustic-electric guitar for Christmas and guitar lessons.  Well, he got the guitar, but not lessons, so he is learning by himself.  I must say I am quite impressed with his progress.  His rendition of Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven was very good indeed (with a few mistakes here and there).

Rest In Peace, Mr. Yamaki

I am saddened to learn the passing of Mr. Michihiro Yamaki, founder and CEO of Sigma Corporation.  Sigma is one of the largest third party lens maker and I am a big fan of many of their lenses, old and new.  Sigma provides alternative lenses for the photographers with more affordable prices, and sometimes unique focal lengths that OEM lens manufacturers don't make.

Little known to most people, is their YS mount lenses (similar to the Tamron Adaptall mount).  The Y in YS stands for Yamaki, as in Yamaki System.  Though the mount was short-lived and not particularly successful, it was one of the few interchangeable mounts that competed with Tamron interchangeable mount.

Of course, Sigma was the only manufacturer who tirelessly pushes (and most likely not making much money from) the X3 Foveon (now Sigma) sensor, and was the first to introduced a pocketable digital camera with an APS-C sized sensor. They have my respect for trying so hard to make a difference in the camera business where everyone else uses a Bayer sensor.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Yamaki.  Thank you for all the nice lenses and cameras you have made (and will make).

Sigma YS Mount 55mm f2.8 Macro & Canon T2i. Click for larger size.

Streetcar on Queen & John Sts.

Streetcar -- NEX-5N & Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.8 Exaktar Mount

The intersection of Queen & John streets are one of the busiest around the area, especially in the afternoon or evening.  I also like to come by this area on my lunch break as there always seems to be something to shoot here. CityTV (now CTV) is located on the south east corner and once in a while, you may see a celebrity making an appearance there. Lots of eateries everywhere surrounding this intersection.

Will Cell Phones Replace Entry Level Digital Cameras?

Megan -- Canon 1D Mark III & EF 85mm f1.2L II @ f1.6, ISO 1600

I have been going to my kid's school concerts for about 10 years.  At first, there were mostly film point & shoot cameras brought to the concerts by the parents.  Gradually, more and more digital point & shoots, and in the last couple of years, there are quite a few digital SLRs.  Today, I saw many parents were using their cell phones to photograph/video their kids.  Come to think of it, it's not surprising.  Cameras in cell phones are getting better and better, and some actually rival that of the dedicated entry level digital point & shoots.  The only advantage I can see for the digital cameras, are longer optical zoom ranges on the lenses.

In a few years, entry level point & shoot digital will mostly disappear and be replaced by cell phones.  This may not be a bad thing, as it will force the camera manufacturers to innovate and create better cameras to compete with cell phones.  Even more, Compact System Cameras (EVIL) will become much more popular with parents, as I have already seen at least three of them today, where a year ago, I didn't see any.

Over Joy

Joy Squared -- NEX-5N & Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.8 Exakta Mount

My experience with East German lenses is that most of them are optically pretty good, but their build quality leaves much to be desired; they don't age very well.  I have gone through many of them and majority of them have some problems.  Most common problem is very rough focusing, and the other is aperture issues.  The rough focusing is due to the grease drying up.  If you handle a Takumar lens, at about the same age, the difference is like, day and night.

This particular Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.8 (zebra verison) is no exception.  The focusing is rough, and the aperture is starting to lose control.  It's a very good lens, especially its amazing close focus capability, right down to 0.18 meters!
 

Reflections

Reflection -- NEX-5N & Tokina RMC 17mm f3.5 FD mount

Walking by a store on King street and saw these hanging things inside.  From a certain angle, the reflection of a tree on the outside makes for an interesting picture.  Two bad the power lines kinda destroyed it.  Perhaps I should do clean version with them removed in Photoshop :)

Window Washing

Window Washing -- NEX-5N & Leica-R Summicron 90mm f2

Was driving to work today since it was raining pretty badly.  Stopped at the red light outside the Canadian Opera Company and saw these two men on the hoist cleaning the glass.  I was ready!  The camera was by my side and was able to take a few shots before the light turned green.  It's not a good picture by any means, but it captured a moment of the city that I love.

Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Curgagon 28mm f4 Revisited

Out Shooting -- NEX-5N & Schneider Curtagon 28mm f4.

Last time I wrote bout the Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Curtagon 28mm f4 when I used it on the Panasonic G1, and I didn't have much nice thing to say about it.  I decided to try it again on the NEX-5N and see if it fares better.  Well, indeed it seems to be slightly better at the corners, even on a larger sensor.  Still it's not a very sharp lens, but definitely good enough for a lot of people. I like the colours out of the Schneider DKL lenses.

Gooderham Flateron -- NEX-5N & Curtagon 28mm f4 @ f8.

Minolta MC W.Rokkor-SG 28mm f3.5

Most lens makers have at least two versions of a same focal length.  One priced as entry level, and the other as a premium model.  The common example is the 50mm lens.  We have the f1.8 version, which is much cheaper than the f1.4.  In the olden days, the most common focal lengths are 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 135mm.  Of the wide angles, 28mm is most popular.  For Minolta, it has at least four versions: 28mm f2, 28mm f2.5 and 28mm f2.8 and 28mm f3.5.  I posted some sample pictures of the MC W.Rokkor 28mm f2.5 a while back here, and here.  I like it a lot.  The f3.5 is of course the cheapest of them all.  It can be had for a very low price even today.

Crane -- NEX-5N & Minolta MC W.Rokkor-SG 28mm f3.5

The MC W.Rokkor 28mm f3.5 reminds me of the Takumar 28mm f3.5. Both are extremely well made, and feels great in the hand.  The Takumar is smaller and looks better in my opinion, not that the look matters much.  In normal use, the f3.5 and f2.5 version of the W.Rokkor is almost identical, since one would normally stop it down.  Both are very sharp lenses and frankly, at around f8, the difference is practically nil.  The f2.5 version is a full stop faster, so if do shoot wide open often, it may be worthwhile to get the faster one.  For most occasions where this lens is intended to be used, they don't make much difference. If weight is an important issue, you may like the f3.5 version better.

Walk in the snow -- NEX-5N & Minolta MC W.Rokkor-SG 28mm f3.5