Fujifilm X100 Infrared Gallery

(click on image to view gallery)

I wandered around after work, giving the X100 a real workout with an IR filter (Hoya R72). Note that even at ISO 6400, the X100 is not all that grainy. The vast majority of the graininess you will see has been added by me. Personally I love the look of grainy and "glowy" IR film, however some might prefer less grain. Heck, maybe even I will too at some point, but for now, I am personally liking the look. Admittedly, when downsized the grain looks more like noise and less like "film grain", but at the full image size the grain is a little more clumpy and "realistic" looking.

More info on how the images were shot and processed is at the start of the gallery and also see my previous posting on IR with the X100 here...

Lastly, you'll note some new links on the thumbnails in the image gallery, in the form of little "globe" icons. Clicking there will take you to an overview map of where the photo was shot, then clicking on the GPS coordinates below the overview map will open a new Google Maps page where you can zoom in, poan around etc. The tracklog was recorded with a Qstarz BT-Q1000XT recorder and GPS metadata was added in Adobe Lightroom as per a previous article. The accuracy seems good to a radius of about 10-50 feet I'd say.

Hasselblad H4D-60 Gallery

(click on image to open gallery)

As a followup to my posting from March 27th, after the Hasselblad Event, I have finally had time to edit the 20 or so photos I wanted to put in a gallery. There are 100% crops available so you can see the amazing resolution of the 60 megapixel H4D-60, coupled with Hasselblad's excellent lenses. Please read the notes in the gallery for further shooting info.

Infrared with the Fujifilm X100

Ever since the X100 was announced, I was curious about its ability to possibly shoot infrared. With a large, highly sensitive APS-C sized sensor promising clean high ISO, a contrast-detect AF system that should allow for focusing in IR light without any manual focus offset or camera recalibration, and its hybrid viewfinder that should allow one to either see "through" a near-opaque IR filter with the EVF, or use its OVF for direct viewing, I figured it had a chance.

I even emailed Fujifilm and mentioned how cool it would be if they made a special edition IR-enabled X100 since they are pretty much the only company that has ever made specialty IR/UV enabled digital cameras. They could leave the standard IR-blocking filter off the sensor and then replace the internal switchable ND filter with an IR blocking filter instead, similar to a Tiffen Hot-Mirror filter.  Then one could shoot standard colour images with the "ND" filter in place, now actually an IR blocking filter.  Then to shoot digital IR, just turn off the "ND" and attach the visible light blocking filter of choice, such as a Hoya R72 or a B+W 093. One could then even do even more exotic UV photography with an appropriate filter... presuming that the Fujinon lens will "sort of" focus UV light... not an easy task actually. For sharply focused UV images, one needs very exotic glass, rare and expensive.

Fearless Road Warriors...

Our fearless band of road warriors (Ken "The Killer" Shymka, Simon "Shrapnel" Burford and Carol "The Crusader" Polloni) are off to the Banff PPOC Convention in their battlewagon... a white Dodge Caravan rental. They are armed to the teeth with lethal camera equipment, ready to battle psychotic drivers, zombies and other nefarious camera stores. Well okay, maybe not zombies... and I'm exaggerating about the other stores too. In any case, I wish them well on their journey!

Finally... time with a production Fujifilm X100!

(Click on image to visit gallery)

I have finally been able to shoot with a full production level X100 and now I can post images without any restrictions from Fujifilm. This production camera does have noticeably better image quality than the prototype I used before. Amazingly enough, its lens is even sharper (edge-to-edge) and low-light/high-ISO shooting seems substantially improved too. While still visible, I feel that the somewhat unusual (for a pro-level camera anyway) off-axis "bright light source flare", that can occasionally show up in night photos, is definitely reduced on the production camera as well.

Remembering...

Portrait - 2002
Ingrid Katharina Mander 

May 17, 1929 - April 7, 2008

My mother passed away three years ago today, after her seven year long struggle with cancer. In some ways it feels like a lot longer ago, in other ways, it's as though it just happened last week. This blog posting is in remembrance of her. I won't say much other than give you a link to the memorial page on my website and a link to my blog entry where her sister Elisabeth, my father and I scattered her ashes off the coast of Hawaii near Milolii.

If you look at the image gallery on the Hawaii blog page, the images you see near the end are of the white coral memorial we made for her in the lava near Milolii.  Through the wizardry of Google, you can see exactly where that lava memorial is...

Coral on Lava Memorial: Google Maps Link  or  Google Earth Link (KMZ File download)

I will finish with this: one of the things I miss most about my mother, something that still occurs on a regular basis, happens when I come back after a successful day of photography. My mother used to love photography and was especially enthusiastic about my own work in later years. I would come back from a trip, or just from taking some photos around town here, and I would look forward to sending her a link to an image gallery like this, or years earlier, going over for a visit with my slides and a slide projector. She would always look at my work and praise it when she thought it was good, or critique it honestly when she didn't.

Anyway, it still happens to me that I come back from a day of shooting, and suddenly realize I am subconsciously looking forward to showing her the photos I took.

Oh.

Unfortunately, I can't do that anymore...

Geotagging inside Adobe Lightroom...

Lightroom Geotagging plugin in action (click image for larger view)

One thing I am personally surprised at, is how few camera manufacturers put built-in GPS modules in their cameras.  There are a handful of P&S models from a few companies, but the only DSLR I can think of is a recent Sony model. Nowadays, I expect a GPS chipset would likely cost a company $10 or less to include in their camera - heck, just about every cellphone made in recent years has one, even inexpensive ones and not just high end smart-phones. Some companies, such as Nikon with their GP-1 and Hasselblad with their GIL GPS receiver have some reasonably convenient add on modules for their cameras that will automatically geotag your images, but why not include these in all cameras?!

Phase One Workshops: April 13th

For more information see:
Phase One Event Details - April 13th (85KB PDF)
Food and Fashion Shoot Details - April 13th (410KB PDF)