Oh carp!

There are days when, despite your best efforts to appear competent and professional with a camera in your hand, you realise that life has cast you in the role of the blundering dolt. Today was one of those days.

A few times a year, I have the privilege of being the official photographer when the Hurunui Mayor welcomes new New Zealanders into citizenship. This morning I picked up the camera bag with the DSLR and flash and left home. The ceremony was late afternoon so I had plenty of time the check over the camera settings and make sure everything was hunky-dory. No, I hadn’t left anything behind, but halfway through the morning I got an unexpected call to come quickly and take a picture of an entirely different presentation. I grabbed the camera and flash and checked the ISO and aperture as I rushed to the meeting.

Just as the all important handshake took place I pressed the shutter … and absolutely nothing happened. What? I tried again ... nothing. Oh carp! Then I realised that it was still set to trigger from the remote that I was using last time. By the time I had sorted it out, the moment had passed and those present had moved on to other business. Blundering dolt.

I was darn sure I wasn’t going to let that happen in the evening and so, as originally intended, I checked through every dial and menu item that I would need. All was good. Test shots. Yes, ready to roll.

The ceremony was proceeding well and the pictures were looking good when the flash unit failed to light. Batteries? But I was carrying a spare set in my pocket (clever me). I dropped the old ones out and quickly stuffed the new ones in - the wrong way around. Blundering dolt! But what if I was wrong, what if it wasn’t the batteries?

TIL-LIE! Yes, Tillie was there, sitting on  my hip. So I cast the DSLR aside and pulled out little Tillie to finish the shoot. I missed a few shots during the battery mess up and the camera change over. but fortunately the session wasn’t a complete disaster even if I did feel like the Blundering Dolt.

I end today wishing that, like the child in the back row, I had someone older and wiser to hold me tight and whisper that everything is going to be alright.

"Even I could do better than that." - Picture by Tillie - the Sony RX100 m3.

Tillie's first book

It’s been nearly three months since Tillie, the Sony RX100m3, came into my possession. In that time my large Nikon DSLR hasn’t had a lot to do. There are specialist jobs that the Nikon comes out for (macro, fisheye and events requiring flash) but, other than that, little Tillie has been doing most of the heavy lifting. Not once have I felt disappointed in Tillie’s image quality; so much so that my last photo book project included all ‘Tillie’ shots.

Most of the pictures in the book were 11”x16” plates and the quality of the printed pictures was indistinguishable from those produced by my full-frame D600. Part of me still finds it difficult to believe that such a small camera can produce results as good as this.

While I am on the question of quality, a shout-out to Artisan State who have produced my last two books.The quality is absolutely amazing; as soon as you pick up one of their books you are surprised by the substantial heft - this is a real BOOK. from the printing to the binding, everything is absolutely perfect. Each page is printed on Fuji photographic paper and mounted on a substantial core which gives the pages a rigid, thick feel and when opened you get a wonderful two-page flat surface - ideal for panoramas.

Pictures can't do the books justice, but last week I handed an Artisan State book to someone and they were so impressed that they were asking if they could buy it when they were still on the first page. I’m a terrible salesman and spent the next five minutes asking them if they were sure, all to no avail. Artisan State makes it that easy.

Hokitika dreamin'

Just back from a few days in Hokitika. I had forgotten how lovely this West Coast town is; especially in the glorious sun. Plenty of places to go, things to see and great food.

The Otira Viaduct from Death's Corner. The old road (behind the ridge to the right) was a driver's nightmare and this corner was well named. Fortunately the viaduct (finished in 1999) cuts out the worst section of the road - a magnificent feat of engineering dwarfed by the landscape.

View over Lake Mahinapua from "Swimmers Beach" - a 2m wide sliver of sand in an otherwise bush edged lake :-).

Swimming from the jetty at at Lake Mahinapua.

The Carnnegie Library at Hokitika - now used as a museum.

Sunset (nearly) on Hokitika foreshore with one of the art installations.

The only camera I took on this trip was Tillie, the RX100 m3. It was very freeing not having to tote around my DSLR kit and while Tillie's reach at the long end is not enough for wild life shooting, in all other respects she was quite up to the task and produced some wonderful quality files.

Tillie at the Botanic Gardens

Yesterday, Annette, myself and Tillie went to the Botanic Gardens. It was good to see the conservatory open again (it was closed after the earthquakes in 2011) and to see the new Visitor Centre. This was Tillie’s first real world outing and I was very impressed as to how she handled herself.

The 24mm wide end provides a satisfyingly wide field of view in tight situations allowing this shot of the two-story interior of the main conservatory. While the ambient light shot in a dimly lit exhibit below was no problem, with Tillie deciding that 1/30sec, f2.2 and ISO 125 was the way to go.

Inside the cafeteria Tillie demonstrated her high dynamic range chops by including everything from the brightly lit exterior through to the goodies in the cabinet in a single RAW file, with no fancy post-processing (just Lightroom). Love the ceiling shades and the dappled light they produce - like being under a tree.

On another shot I got Tillie to take 5 bracketed shots for an HDR, which I later merged in Photoshop. However, the results were not as tonally pleasing as the single RAW shot that I also took of the same scene. It would seem that, like the D600, Tillie can manage most high dynamic range shots without any external help.

One of the things I am beginning to appreciate, is Tillie’s ability to get the shot right, it leaves me free to make a grab shot or to concentrate on the aesthetics of the picture and not get distracted by constantly having to worry about camera settings. Of course, if I want a special effect or Tillie isn’t reading the scene correctly then I can intervene with my own settings but why reinvent the wheel every shot?

Why Tillie? Well, there was an English adaptation of “The Little Engine That Could” in which the engine was called Tillie. I think the Sony RX100iii is the ‘little camera that could’, so that’s what I called her.

The Last Camera

The last camera I brought was not a rip-roaring success. It was a Panasonic LF1 - I wanted it as a go anywhere accompaniment to my full-frame DSLR. It seemed to tick the right boxes (very small, RAW shooter, EVF) and the reviews were quite good too. But, in use, it never met my expectations for image quality.

Of course I knew that the LF1 wouldn’t produce full-frame quality (or even close) but I soon found that the RAW files just seemed to lack spunk. Whenever I went to develop one, it felt like I was having to give it CPR with Lightroom, just to get it looking average. It wasn’t just the sensor noise (evident even at the lowest ISO) but a general flatness and lack of detail that no reasonable amount of sharpening or clarity seemed able to overcome.

I don’t think I ever had a frame out of that camera that made me whoop for joy. In the end I just didn’t want to pick it up - it was like having a friend who always turned up at your house feeling miserable; guaranteed to lower the spirit of any occasion. Who needs a camera like that? The LF1 did, however, prove that a camera of this size is a useful thing to have - if only it could produce better images! So my search continued for a compact camera that I would be happy to use when not toting a DSLR. And I am now confident that I have found it.

In the last couple of days, I have processed well over a hundred RAW files from this compact and I am in awe of its capabilities in both general, low light and high dynamic range situations. Perhaps that is why all the reviews unanimously rate it as the very best camera in its class. It’s also almost the same size as the LF1 (just a little thicker).

So, after weeks of research and waiting for the mail man, my Sony RX100 iii is now firmly in my hot little hands (thank you wifey)- this one could be the elusive Last Camera for this aging photographer. Play time!

Taken with the Sony RX100 iii, 1/125sec, f4.0, ISO 125 - RAW file processed in Lightroom.