Street season is out – and no winter so far!

So December is passing by outside my window. I have been very busy working the last couple of months and I am really in the need of some vacation time. The stock market is usually quite unstable around Christmas and New Year so it is a good time to take some time off. But the big question of the month is; where is the winter?? It is autumn here in Stockholm with temperatures being around 5-7 degrees Celsius most of the time. The forecast tells us that it will continue to be warm weather here in Stockholm for at least the coming ten days. So if we finally get some winter, it will be very short.

But I am not complaining, I love the summer (and even spring and autumn), but my favourite winter is the short one (even if the last years 5 months of winter had its charm). Sure you can get some very nice photos during the winter time, but after you have gotten these shots it’s just a waiting game for the spring to arrive. I am not a big fan of doing street shooting during the winter, it is cold, and handling the camera with gloves is not really something I want to do. If I do street work during the winter it will be done with a DSLR or a bigger camera with a decent grip. So don’t expect allot of street photos in the blog until the end of February. Instead I will put up some of my recent landscape work from where I live, Farsta strand.

I will do a proper summary of the year in my next post, but 2013 was the year when I found my way back to shooting with a film camera again, after 9 years of pure digital work. Hopefully I can present some of this work on the blog in a future post; I need to find a solution to scan the images though, as I haven’t been able to get my scanner to work with my latest computer (driver compatibility issue).

I have some subjects that I will discuss on the blog in the coming posts, stuff that was planned for last summer, but that I did not have the time to go through. Some of these topics are:

• Techniques
• Where and when to shoot?
• What to shoot?
• Ethics
• Gear (Leica, Fuji, DSLR, digital or film)

Please leave your comments below! What do you want to see on the blog in 2014. 

So finally I just want to wish you all

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Sunset at lake Magelungen, Farsta strand, Sweden (200 meters from my house), Fujifilm X-100

View towards southeast. Fujifilm X-100

Ice on reed, lake Magelungen, Sweden. Fujifilm X-100

Ice on reed #2, lake Magelungen, Sweden. Fujifilm X-100

The Pentax Q project - and where is the winter?

November is over and out. Normally it should be winter here in Stockholm around this time. Last year we had 50 cm of snow here in Stockholm in the beginning of December. Today we had 7 degrees Celsius and no snow so far; well I guess it’s just fair after last year’s winter, which was one of the hardest in the last 40 years. I live just 100 meters from Lake Magelungen, and there was ice on the lake until the 24^th of April this year. The lake was covered with ice for about 5 months, and that is very unusual.

Well enough about weather and ice, well it was quite cold shooting with the Pentax Q during November (even though I only did about 30 minutes of total shooting). It is time to conclude the Pentax Q project and try to figure out what this camera is all about and if it is something for street photography. Well for starters I could say that it is very stealthy, except for the shutter, that is audible, something I am not used to as a Fuji X100 shooter. Compared to other cameras it is still quiet, but definitely louder than the ninja shutter of the X100.

It is not fair to draw any big conclusions after only this short time of use and only 33 frames in the project so far. I have decided to continue with the Pentax Q project as a side project until next summer and then come back and give a more proper review of the Q as a street camera. But I can at least give you a first report about my findings.

Pentax Q speaks the same language as any other professional Pentax cameras out there (such as the K-5-series and the new K-3) and that is the language of “take me seriously, I am serious”. The menus are straight forward and informative, the physical buttons on the camera body makes the essential controls easy to handle, there is no need to dig into the menu system now and then. When the camera is set up and ready to go – everything is at the top of your fingertips. The camera is very comfortable in the hand, even after extensive period of shooting; so in this way it is a perfect companion for street work. There is one setting I would have liked to see on the outside though, and that is the AF/MF control; that setting is in the menu, but just one level down and very fast to access.

The lack of a viewfinder was probably the biggest challenge for me so far. I usually shoot almost exclusively through the viewfinder while using the X100, so not having this possibility was a bit of a challenge for me. But I am doing some street shooting with my Canon S100 from time to time so it didn’t really feel awkward. The Canon S100 I mostly use at the wide end (24-35 mm equivalent), which make the framing a bit more natural for me. With the 01 standard prime, which is equivalent to about 47 mm, I had to be more careful when I framed the shot.

At first I struggled with the slow auto focus of the Q, and was using pre-focus. Later on I did some testing with manual focus with the assistance of focus peaking, but I can’t really draw any conclusions from this training so far. I found the Q to be more a camera for non- or slow moving subjects. But with better training with the focus I can see it be useful even for other situations too.

What about image quality? That 1/2.3 inch sensor must be limiting? Well, not really! Sure there are limitations in the dynamic range and color depth. The noise handling at higher ISO should be a disaster? Yes and No – yes, you do lose some fine details when going above ISO 800, but you gain a beautiful film like grain structure. I LOVE the “noise” the Q puts out between ISO 800-3200, it’s one of the most organic “grain like” noise I have ever seen on a digital camera, and I am used to the X100 excellent noise at high ISO. It somehow reminds me of the noise that comes out of the X100, but again, not really. The Q has a rawer feel to it, it’s hard to explain. But I hope it comes through in some of the photos I put up on the blog.

This post is getting long, but I will come back and discuss more about “Mr Q” in the future. It is for sure an interesting camera for street photography, that is able to produce a very unique style of images, that has a certain feel to them, and I really like it!

Finally, here are some more photos made with the Pentax Q during November. 

The Pentax Q project - first days of shooting

So finally, I had a few minutes to spare on the street, yes minutes, not hours of searching and wandering the streets. I have made two training sweeps so far, yesterday (sunday) my wife and the kids went to Farsta centrum (the shopping center of Farsta, where I live). This day I only had some walk by shootings to try to figure out the camera, settings etc. I was shooting for maybe 5-10 minutes in total and found out that Mr Q is a tricky one to handle. The auto focus is quite slow and so far manual focus is not to think about because there is no viewfinder (I might try focus peaking later on), so I was stuck with pre-focus shooting style, so it was a bit difficult to nail the focus. It is only good shooting light between 10 am to about 2:30 pm (4,5 hours) right now here in Stockholm, so one really have to be efficient on the streets. The golden hour (or golden 30 minutes) sets in around 2 o'clock, and just forget about any light after 3 o'clock. I was out shooting between 1 and 1:30 and the light was still quite hard, and I clearly notice the 1.3 difference in exposure value of dynamic range (Pentax Q vs X100). The Q frequently clipped the whites and the blacks, where my X100 would have managed the light situation. 

Today I also had some errands in the center so I did a 10-15 minutes training sweep, this time alone. For today's session I turned off the sensor image stabilization, since I am shooting above 1/125 most of the time. I am shooting at f/2.8 most of the time, because this is where the 01 standard prime peaks. I was shooting in TAv mode (full manual + auto ISO), with the auto ISO set to 125-800. This set up seems to work ok, and I found that ISO 800 is more or less the maximum I want to go with the Q, beyond this there is loss of fine details. I must say I love the noise that the Q produces at ISO 800, it's very organic and "almost film like".

So here are the first 10 shots (from yesterday) from the Pentax Q experiment or the Pentax Q project as I now call it.

Note: my wife and our two kids in the background ;-)

The Pentax Q street shooter

So finally it is November and it is time to use my Pentax Q as my main street camera. This will be an interesting challenge. Unfortunately I will be quite busy with work the coming weeks, but I hope to get a few hours of street shooting done this month. October was also a very busy month and I didn't shoot many street photos. After Christmas I will have allot more time to hit the streets more frequently. Here are some photos from September and October.

Busy gear week in the camera industry

So finally the rumors ended and Sony delivered! The resulting A7 and A7R are truly landmarks in the history of digital cameras. For the first time we have a small full frame (35mm) auto focusing system camera without a mirror. Does this mean that the DSLR as we know it is dead? My answer is: no, but the market will start to segregate into more specific types of cameras. DSLRs will still be around, at least another ten years or so, they still have the advantage in action sport and wildlife photography, sure the compact systems are getting closer every day, but they are not there yet.

Panasonic also revealed the new GM1, a micro 4/3 camera that is similar in size as the Pentax Q system. Mount a 20/1.7 lens onto this camera and it could be an interesting set up for street shooting, I would miss the viewfinder though, but there is an approach for street photography with small cameras lacking a viewfinder that I find interesting, and this includes hip shots and low angle shots.

And then finally Fujifilm had to show some muscles. The X-E2 has now been presented along with a new compact XQ1. The X-E2 continues the tradition of the X-E1 with a few improvements, such as a new sensor X-Trans CMOS II (the same as in X100s), along with the new image processor (EXR II). The focus speed is now vastly improved (according to Fujifilm) and they even claim the title “world’s fastest auto focus speed of 0.08 sec”, well we just have to wait and see. Moving forward to the XQ1 compact; this is a neat gem, something I can see replacing my Canon S100 in the near future. It sports the same sensor and technology as the X20 using the 2/3” X-Trans CMOS II sensor and a very fast auto focus with a hybrid contrast AF and phase detection AF. 

I wish you all a very nice weekend, and don't forget to go out on the streets and shoot!

Say hello to Mr Q (The Q experiment, part 1)

I have decided to challenge myself in my street photography (as if it wasn’t hard enough). For the next month (November) I will only do street shooting with my Pentax Q together with the Pentax-01 standard prime, which is a 8.5 mm, f/1.9 lens. In 35mm equivalent terms this is translated to about 47,6 mm (5,6x crop factor). So in terms of aperture equivalent, this translates to about f/10.6 (f/1.9x5.6) which means there are plenty of resources in the depth of field department. This is a good thing as the lens peak performance is at f/2.8, and this is the aperture I will be at most of the time when I am using Mr Q. The Pentax Q is equipped with a 12 Mpixel (4000x3000 px) sensor-shift stabilized 1/2.3” back illuminated sensor.

    The Pentax Q on top of the Fujifilm X100.

The Pentax Q is the world’s smallest and lightest system camera and it weighs only 180 grams; add to that the 01 standard prime lens at 36 grams and this combo weighs in at only 216 grams. This is less than half the weight of my Fuji X100. The Q is a fantastic build, sturdy and tough, with a magnesium alloy body and separate battery and SD-card slots on each site of the camera (not the cheap way Fuji has chosen where the card sits together with the battery on the bottom of the camera). This camera is built like a professional tool, you notice that the instant you pick it up and hold it in your hand. The rubberized grip is surprisingly good for a camera of this size.

The 36 grams light Pentax 01 standard prime (8,5mm f/1.9) In 35mm equivalent terms about 47 mm.

The camera lacks a viewfinder but sports a quite good 3 inch LCD screen. The ISO ranges from 125 to 6400, but ISO above 1600 is not really usable. I rarely go above ISO 400 with this camera, but this should be enough for daytime street shooting, considering that I can shoot at f/1.9-2.8.

Here are some street photos from the last weeks.

Moulin rouge

[untitled]

Red walkers

B&W or colour in street photograpy?

My Internet connection has been dead for the last two weeks (due to a cable fire here in Stockholm) but here is finally a post. I will try to be more frequent in my updates of the blog from now on. The last year has been kind of busy and I will be in a bit of transition the coming six months or so, but I will do my best to update the blog every week.

There are many opinions about black and white vs colour in street photography. My current opinion and my personal editing style is that each photo is unique and deserves a solitary decision if the photo should end up as b&w or in colour. There are street photographers that seriously mean that a “real street photograph” should be in black and white and shot with film. The film vs digital discussion I will leave for a later post, but I will strongly argue against the first statement. Real street photography is not defined by b&w or colour that is just nonsense. Some “purists” (that of course shoots with a vintage Leica loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400 speed film) mean that because some guys that “defined” street photography back in the 40’s and 50’s were using b&w film for creating their street photos, it must be the norm in this style of photography. For starters, street photography is not defined by some old street shooters of the past, it’s not static, it’s alive and kicking, still developing and the definition is still open for interpretation. Nothing is carved in stone when it comes to street photography. Find your style, find your way and find the gear that works for you, don’t limit yourself if you don’t want to be limited.

I tend to bring most of my street photos into black and white, but not because it has to be that way, most of my work just feels right in black and white. But some 20-25% of my work will end up in colour. If the colour adds to the feeling or the interpretation of the photograph I will leave it in colour, but if it just distracts and don’t fill a function I will go for b&w.  

Camera gear – part 3 - Camera phones and more

You can shoot street photography with any camera ever made, which is one of the great things about street photography. I prefer to shoot with small black cameras that are stealthy because I want to be as invisible as possible. A black shirt also helps to make the camera even more hidden. The most important thing when it comes to gear when shooting street photography is to know your camera. Street photography is nothing different from anything else, you have to practice shooting with your camera and know how to use it. I have used my Fujifilm X100 for about a year now, and I still don’t fully master it.

As of today camera phones have become more popular and the cameras in the phones are now something we take for granted and something we always have with us. The quality of the camera phones are not much to write home about, the fact is they are quite useless. The only time you might pull it off is if the scene is very well lit.

But the fact is that there is only one camera phone worth talking about when it comes to a quality camera phone and that is Nokia’s pureview technology with the 41 mega pixel sensor. No other camera phone come close to this technology, Samsung, Apple, HTC, LG, Sony and others are years behind in this respect. Nokia's latest output with this technology is the Lumia 1020, that sports a 41 Mega pixel 1/1.5” (2/3”) sensor. The sensor size in modern ultra-compact cameras range from 1/2.3” to 1” and my Canon Power Shot S100 has a smaller sensor with its 1/1.7” sized sensor. Nokia’s sensor is the same size as the one found in the Fujifilm X20. The only one that is bigger is Sony’s RX100 cameras that have the 1” sensor. Nokia’s first pure view camera phone, the Nokia 808 had an even bigger sensor at 1/1.2”, not much smaller than the one found in Sony’s RX100 lineup.

Even if the Lumia 1020 is taking the camera phone technology to new levels it still has a long way to go to real compact cameras with larger sensors and better optics (such as the Sony RX100, Micro 4/3 systems and the Fujifilm X-series).  The biggest problem for me with camera phones and other ultra-compact cameras is the lack of a raw shooting mode. The cameras are simply processing and saving your images into the JPEG file format, and the most cameras are NOT doing this job very well. The fact is that the JPEG’s from many cameras are really bad, the lack of detail is obvious when you zoom into your pictures, the JPEG file is just a smear and your fine details are gone forever.

The solution to this problem is to always shoot in raw format. I always shoot in raw format, except when I am using my Samsung Galaxy Note, because it only saves images in JPEG format. So the next big step for camera phone makers must be to incorporate the ability to shoot in raw format. The JPEG image format is a destructive one, every time you save a JPEG it will throw away data from your image and you will lose image quality for each time you save your picture. So if you do any editing to your image you will end up losing quality. Some people may add some effect or filter to their image and then it is saved to a new JPEG file and your image is again degraded.  After you are done editing your JPEG you might want to upload it to a photo sharing site on the Internet.  When you upload your image to the image sharing site it will be saved as a JPEG using different algorithms at the specific site, and the result is an even more degraded image. Now there is different quality loss at different Internet sites. The worst of all is Facebook, your pictures are literary killed when you upload them to Facebook. There are artifacts all over the place and the image is almost completely destroyed, I rarely upload images to Facebook, I rather link to other photo sharing sites that let you display your images at higher quality.

The best photo sharing site in my opinion is flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/koxa74/), which allows you to show your images with acceptable image quality. I would like a photo sharing site where you can show your image as you saved it (only saved one time to JPEG straight from the raw file).  Google + is somewhat in between flickr and Facebook in image quality, so I prefer flickr as my main photo site on the net. 

This image was made with my Samsung Galaxy Note. Street photography with a camera phone is possible, but you will need a well lit scene to pull it off. 

Camera gear – part 2 – It’s not about the gear!

In photography it is allot of talk about the gear and how important it is. There are tons of Internet forums, blogs and You tube videos telling you to buy this or that gear, and what is good and what is bad. I will tell you my conclusion after using digital cameras for almost ten years now, and that is:

It’s not about the gear; it’s about how you use it.

So what do I mean with this statement? I mean that for most photographers the gear isn’t the limiting factor of how good your photos are. The limiting factor is the photographer holding the camera. Of course there are situations where good gear will help you capture something special, I am not telling you to sell all your gear and shoot with a $100 point and shoot, it’s just that gear is not that important in photography.

The transition to smaller cameras from DSLRs is already happening, more and more people are moving toward this new generation of cameras; smaller, smarter and more competent than the old DSLRs.  Today there are alternatives for APS-C mirror cameras (DSLRs).  Fujifilm, Sony, and Samsung have several cameras out on the market with interchangeable lens systems that can replace your old DSLR with an APS-C sized sensor. So far there are no full frame alternatives out without the old mirror technology but my guess is that it’s just a matter of time before they enter the market. The fact is that the sensors developed by Fujifilm perform very similar to a full frame sensor from Canon or Sony.

So in which situations are the DSLRs still the “go to camera”? My answer is simply; sports and nature photography. For using big long lenses (300mm and longer) the most convenient camera to use is still the DSLR. The benefit is better continuous autofocus and handling (balance) with longer and heavier lenses. I am using both DSLRs and the new generation cameras but I haven’t got into any APS-C system like the Fujifilm X-series or the NEX from Sony. I don’t see the need for my own photography to buy into any of these systems at the moment, but I love the freedom of traveling light and I am keeping an eye on what is happening with the micro four thirds and the Fujifilm X-series.

My messenger bag is right now inhabited by my Canon 600D, Pentax K-5 and the Fuji X-100. I have three great cameras and no room for any newcomer at the moment. A new camera would not help me making better photos, only training and getting to know my current cameras will let me make better photos.  To be continued…

This photo was made with my Canon Powershot S100. The S100 is so small that I can take it with me everywhere I go. The best camera for you is the one you actually use and not the one that collects dust on your shelf at home.

Phone company #20 (playground version) http://www.flickr.com/photos/koxa74/9539465349/lightbox/

Camera gear

When it comes to camera gear or any digital items there is often allot of feelings involved. Many people grow a personal relation to their “things” and put them or even the company that makes the product on a pedestal. There is a word for this kind of obsessiveness; a “fanboy” or “fangirl”. I find it remarkable how people get devoted for a brand to that extent that even if a better technology is developed and used by a competitor, the user still fight for his/her brand as it was a matter of life and death. Even though I like most of my cameras and some other technical stuff I use in my daily life, I don’t have to defend why brand “a” is better than “b”, in the sense that it matters to me personally. Cameras are just tools to be used for capturing the images we see with our eyes; a tool no matter what the brand name written on the camera, it is built to create an image onto an analogue film or a digital sensor. I am currently using cameras from three different camera makers, Canon, Pentax and Fujifilm, and I enjoy each of the cameras for their unique style of performance. There is always coming out new and better cameras, all the time, but the thing is your old camera doesn’t get worse just because a new and better one is being released. It is still the same great camera as yesterday.

My Canon 40D broke down a while ago, it got the famous shutter button disease, where the shutter is not firing when the button is pressed or there is a huge delay. I got too many missed shots, so I decided to upgrade to a similar camera. Because I am heavily invested into the Canon lens system I wanted a Canon body to replace the 40D. I looked around on the web to check out what was similar in performance regarding colour depth, dynamic range and ISO performance, and I found that the 600D was about the same as the 40D in this respect. It also had a low price and a rotatable screen and a movie mode, which my 40D was lacking, so I got some new features with my new buy. Sure I missed out of some specs too, like the aperture wheel, the penta prism and a slower burst mode, but these were things I was willing to work around, because I wasn’t impressed what I saw in the higher line of the Canon cameras so I decided to settle down with the 600D for now.

I also got into the Pentax DSLR system recently. I picked up the K-5 just before it was put off the shelves and I got it for a very nice price. I got into the Pentax system because it offered very much value for the money, with specs that Canon users only can dream of. Some of these specs were the weather sealing and 100% viewfinder, and the compact sturdy build quality. If you then add some small Limited lenses to the system you have a very competent and compact system that is the same in size as a Canon Rebel (xxxD series) but performs like a Canon 5D MkII (or even MkIII in some regards).

This is how I use my seven cameras in my current lineup:

Canon 30D: this one is almost retired but I still use it sometimes and usually together with my Sigma 150/2.8 macro.

Canon 40D: this camera I exclusively use with portrait lenses like the 85/1.8 or 70-200/4. I have the battery grip mounted permanently on the 40D, since the main shutter button is dead, so I only use it in portrait mode.

Canon 600D: my new Canon all-around camera that I use mostly together with my longer tele lenses but also together with my latest Canon lens (the 40mm/2.8 SDM).

Pentax K-5: this is my choice when I want to bring a compact DSLR to catch high dynamic range scenes or just want to bring a small and competent DSLR in my messenger bag.

Pentax Q: my fun time camera, when I just want to grab something and go out shooting for fun, or when I want a small camera that delivers good enough b/w images of my children playing etc.

Canon PS S100: well it creates for most parts good enough images for a camera that I always can bring with me wherever I go, but of course there are better alternatives out there today (like the Sony RX 100).

Fujifilm X100: for my street photography but I also use it for some landscape shooting and other stuff, my most used camera in my bag.

My most used cameras at the moment.

Back row from the left: Canon 600D+40/2.8 STM, Canon 40D+85/1.8, Canon 30D+Sigma 150/2.8 macro.

Middle row: Pentax K-5+40/2.8 Limited.
Front row: Canon PS S100, Pentax Q+01 standard prime, Fujifilm X100 (Black limited ed)

What is street photography?

To answer this we must break down the question to the level of the elements. Street photography, so we have street and photography, well it should be easy then, it’s about photography on the streets. Wrong! Street photography is a broad label of any photography done in the public space or more specific the urban public space. So to further define street photography, we can say it’s the opposite pole to landscape photography (although there is sometimes an urban view even in landscape photography, so it’s complicated). Well I guess one shouldn’t define a genre by what it’s not, but I hope the message is clear. To summarize:

1. Photography in an urban environment (not up on an unpopulated mountain peak). But! If you make a photograph in the small village down in the valley from that same mountain peak, it could be considered as street photography.

2. People don’t have to be the main subject of a street photograph or even present in the frame, but for many street photographers people ARE the main interest.

3. A street photograph is showing a public space (or is made from a position that is on public space, hence a photograph of your children created in your living room is not considered a street photograph, because it is not a public space).

Some other topics I will write about this summer is:

• B&W vs colour
• Techniques 
• Where and when to shoot?
• What to shoot?
• Ethics
• Gear for the job

Here are some photos from my last sessions in Stockholm city.