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More Fun With Photography

Paparazzi (by kind permission of Colleen Fletcher)

Last week, I posted a handful of photography sites that are always good for a laugh. It got me thinking, though. It’s easy enough to laugh at someone’s mistakes, but really, when’s the last time you laughed at your own photography? And for that matter, when’s the last time you allowed yourself to be silly behind the camera? I’m not talking about the times you’ve made faces at your kids to get them to laugh or smile; I mean, when’s the last time you really let yourself go for your own photos?

I bring this up because I think a lot of us get into a frame of mind that says, “Photography is Art. I’m serious about my Art, and my photography.” And at that point, we forget to just get over ourselves and have fun. Now, I’ll admit that I’m slightly biased when it comes to the intersection of humor and creativity. Maybe it’s a personality quirk, or maybe just some kind of genetic predisposition, but I have a hard time being too serious for too long. As a result, some of my photography circles back to humor, and I’m also drawn to photographers whose sense of humor informs their work. As you’ll see in the examples that follow, you can still make some seriously good photos from a lighthearted place.

Let's go find some rebel scum! (by kind permission of Christian Cantrell)

Consider Colleen Fletcher of duckshow.com. What started as a way of decorating the bathroom became something close to an obsession. She now has ducks for every occasion, holiday, and even location. Her ducks have seen Vegas, Jersey, and Europe, and have been photographed with sailors and celebrities alike. Christian Cantrell’s Microkosmic would be a favorite even if I weren’t already obsessed with both Legos and photography.

Jedi Chipmunk (by kind permission of Chris McVeigh)

And some photographers have turned funny into serious business. Brian McCarty (McCarty Photoworks) has combined a love of art toys with some serious composition and lighting skills and parlayed it into a client list that includes the likes of MTV, Rockstar Games, Cartoon Network and Southwest Airlines. Chris McVeigh’s unique vision (a vision that frequently includes Lego, Star Wars figures and a couple of semi-professional chipmunks) has led to gigs with Gizmodo and MacWorld.

It doesn’t stop there, of course. You don’t even need to be that funny that often, though a bit of humor in the right place goes a long way. “Straight” photographers have also found a dash of humor to be one of the most potent tools in their kit. Philippe Halsman’s collaboration with Salvador Dali, Dali Atomicus, comes to mind, as does much of David LaChapelle’s oft-imitated work. In other words, there’s a time-honored place for this. The photography police aren’t going to confiscate your equipment because you weren’t sufficiently intense, I promise (though your local police department may be a different story).

Untitled (by kind permission of Brian McCarty)

Let’s go out on a limb for a moment, and assume that if you’re reading this, you take your photography pretty seriously. You’re willing to take the time to learn your gear, technique, and anything else you have to get the hang of, in order to get better photos, and you’re aware that this isn’t a day trip you’ve embarked upon, but rather something that’s likely to be a lifelong journey. So far, so good. But if you’re taking yourself, and not your craft, seriously  (because really, it’s more about you than your “art” at that point), that verges on fatal. It’s bad enough that your photos won’t be much fun; it’s much worse that you become dull at that point. Besides, as Robert Benchley once astutely pointed out, if you don’t put humor in the right places, you risk people laughing at the wrong times, or for the wrong reasons. You don’t want that, do you? Lighten up!

Postscript: A heartfelt “Thank you” to each of the photographers whose work you see here.

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Nikon 1: Two Bodies + Four Lenses + Accessories = One Confused Product

The Nikon V1 (image courtesy of nikonrumors.com)

After what seems like years’ worth of indecision and speculation, Nikon finally got around to releasing its mirrorless “1” series of cameras. This makes them the second-to-last entrant into the mirrorless interchangeable lens compact segment, having been beaten there by Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, Ricoh, and Pentax; Canon remains the last stubborn holdout.*

The line consists of the J1 and V1 cameras, both of which have utilitarian designs (very basic, right down to the lack of even a rudimentary grip) differentiated mostly by the V1’s EVF (electronic viewfinder). Both cameras have the same hybrid focusing system that switches between phase and contrast detect autofocus depending on the shooting situation, the same 3″ LCD, and the same 10 megapixel sensor. The four lenses announced with the camera are the 10mm f/2.8, 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6, 30-110mm f/3.8-f/5, and 10-100mm f/4.5-5.5 (each with a 2.7x crop factor).

Nikon promises improved video performance, and at least on paper, the 1 series outperforms the different Dx-Dxxxx cameras currently available. The CX-format CMOS sensor captures Full HD movies at 1080p/30fps, but switches to 1080i for a frame rate of 60fps; no word yet on resolution at the higher available speeds of 400 and 1200fps. Given Nikon’s inexperience with video (at least vis-a-vis competitors like Canon and Sony), the results — as with their higher-end cameras — should be acceptable, but far from the revolutionary leap the company has touted.

Why, then, is this product a bit of a puzzlement? The sensor is smaller than those used on most other ILC’s — smaller than the Micro 4/3 chips used by Olympus and Pentax, smaller than the APS-C used not only in entry-level and prosumer SLRs but also in Sony’s NEX series, smaller than Samsung’s NX sensor. It’s bigger than the sensors found in your typical point-and-shoot, but really, that isn’t saying much. And since sensor size is directly related to pixel pitch (10mp on this sensor is 10 million much smaller pixels than you’ll find on, say, your typical Canon EOS), you’re looking at poorer depth of field, and low light performance that’s going to have to rely very heavily on noise reduction algorithms to get decent results. It’s telling that the sample low-light images taken with this camera weren’t taken in very low-light situations (it was dark out, but the subjects were in areas that were reasonably well lit), and even at that there’s a just-noticeable loss of image quality.

Then there’s the cost factor. The V1 kit (with 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6) is slated to retail at $899, with the J1 scheduled to sell for $649. That puts the former in the same ballpark — pricewise, anyway — as a D5100, and the latter at about the same price as the D3100… both with larger sensors that will afford better low-light performance and DOF, and both with the ability to use most Nikon F-mount lenses without an adapter. Granted, for some people size might be an issue; for some of them, however, a system with a proven track record (and more lens options) may seem a more attractive option. Casual shooters — who would appear to be this camera’s target market — may find it just enough of a step up from their camera phones or point-and-shoots, while those accustomed to the image quality from even a low-end SLR may well be disappointed (and from the talk on the web, a good many of them already are).

Specs and full press release (courtesy of Nikon USA) here.

Sample images from Nikon Europe’s Flickr page here.

*You could also arguably lump Fuji and Leica in with Canon. However,  rangefinders — already compact, mirrorless cameras — are Leica’s mainstay, so you could argue that they were there before everyone else; all that’s missing is the EVF. Fuji, in the meantime, hasn’t produced a credible “mirrored” (SLR) camera since the Nikon-mount S series was allowed to fade away, so in a sense, they get a pass. My money’s still on them making it to market with some kind of compact system camera before Canon does.

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Photo News Roundup, 9/17/11

Milk, bread, eggs, paper towels…

We’ve got your photo news right here. As usual, the links go to the sources’ websites, and the original articles.

Ricoh unveils the GR Digital IV compact, with image stabilization and a 28mm f/1.9 lens. The company says the AF performance has been improved over the previous model. Kodak, meantime, has introduced two new cameras, the Easyshare Touch M5370 — which records on Micro SD cards — and the Z5010, a bridge camera with 21x zoom. As with everything else Kodak, they’ll probably be perfectly competent, and will probably do very little to help the company’s sagging fortunes. (Adorama)

Canon replaces one respected camera (the SX30) with a new model, the Powershot SX40 HS, and replaces a beloved camera (the S95 is many serious photographers’ “go-to” compact) with the S100. The coming weeks should also be interesting, including an “Historic” (their words, not mine) announcement in Hollywood on November 3. It should be noted that the last time Canon hyped something like this, it turned out to be a printer, so a bit of caution may be in order before getting your hopes up. The same caveat should probably be applied to the product announcement that’s coming on September 22 (right on the heels of Nikon’s upcoming announcement) that promises a “pro product launch.” (Canon Rumors)

According to a Panasonic press release found on the dpreview website, a recent firmware update effectively upgrades several Micro 4/3 lenses to HD standards.

In case you thought fake and pirated gear was limited to “Rollex,” “Thommy Hillfiger” and other “fashion” knockoffs, FStoppers has a story about a fake MB-D11 battery grip that one particularly shady online seller was passing off as the genuine article. To be clear, the grip wasn’t just a piece of non-functioning plastic; it’s actually an aftermarket grip for the D7000 made by Neewer, but this d-bag individual was passing them off as the real thing. Let me say it again: BUY LOCAL.

 Leica news: Panasonic announces FZ-150 camera (which replaces the FZ-100). In case you’re wondering what one has to do with the other, the two companies have traded technologies in the past. Lenses built to Leica specs appear on Pentax cameras, and Pentax bodies have been rebadged as Leicas, including the V-Lux 2 (a re-badged FZ-100). The appearance of an FZ-150 makes a V-Lux 3 extremely likely. (Leica Rumors)

PetaPixel tells of a German television program’s social experiment that shows the state of photographers’ rights in Germany, by sending a photographer to photograph “sensitive” locations. The catch? The first time, he was dressed like a local, and the second time as a Middle Eastern-looking individual. Wanna guess which time he got stopped?

 Slow news week, eh? Stay tuned, though; by this time next week, there should be some interesting tidbits to report on Nikon’s mirrorless system, and perhaps some hints about whatever cat Canon’s got in the bag.

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On a Lighter Note: Photography Humor

Easy on the Photoshop, please.

Once upon a time, Frank Zappa asked, “Does humor belong in music?” We could easily ask the same of photography. After all, people take photography seriously. Maybe a little too seriously. But there’s plenty of humor had — albeit sometimes at someone else’s expense. There are thousands of sites out there with funny photos of dogs, cats, kids, and everything else; what the sites listed below have in common is that they’re not only funny, you can also learn a fair amount about what not to do as a photographer. Enjoy them, and if you can think of any to add to the list, comment or drop a line.

Awkward Family Photos is one bad judgment piled on top of another, on another… or maybe it’s like those Russian dolls, with a whole lot of nested awful. Many of the photos were done by professional photographers, and while you can blame some of the results on changing tastes and times, some of these families could clearly have used an intervention before stepping in front of the camera.

There’s still money in stock photography, with some photographers even making a living in the diluted, low-profit world of microstock. Awkward Stock Photos is a case study in what happens when people keep adding more crap to an already oversaturated market

Anyone whose attitude is “Fix it in post!” really should check out Photoshop Disasters. It’s a compendium of misplaced limbs, displaced hips, clones upon clones, and every other sin someone’s committed in photo editing and either didn’t catch, or figured nobody’d notice.

Uncle Bob Photography deserves a little explanation: “Uncle Bob” is a name you’ll see a lot on websites and forums frequented by pro photographers. He’s that uncle who’ll volunteer to capture your engagement/wedding/bat mitzvah because he’s got an expensive camera. Generally gives professional photographers conniptions by getting in the middle of their shots to get his shots, or because his flash has ruined several exposures. I’m not sure who this “Uncle Bob” is, but as Facebook satirists go, he’s good.

Aaron Johnson’s What the Duck is a long-running (five years is practically an eternity on the internet) webcomic following the adventures of an intrepid photographer duck.

A recent discovery, and a favorite not just because of the truly awful photos, but also the site owners’ snarky commentary on each, is You Are Not a Photographer. “Fauxtographers” of all stripes get called on the carpet here, and their work pretty mercilessly cut down to size. It’s not quite mean-spirited, though; the ladies (who go by Ginger and Mary Anne) often solicit feedback on how the images could be made better.

This time next week, we’ll be looking over the work of some photographers who are funny on purpose. In the meantime, have a look over these sites, and in between the laughs, take some notes, ’cause there are some Grade-A examples of what you don’t want to do with your photography, no matter how trendy it may be, or how good an idea it may seem at the time.

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Photo News Roundup, 9/10/11

Grille No. 1

The ACLU has released a guide to photographers’ rights. I would suggest that anyone reading this in the United States who photographs in public to read this, keep a printout in your camera bag, and pass it along to any friends who are photographers (even if they’re just casual shooters). I know the ACLU can be a pretty broad target, but in the decade since 9/11, photographers have also increasingly become targets in the name of security. It helps to know your rights, and it also helps that someone out there is trying to safeguard ’em.

Panasonic is said to have a “GX” camera in the works, according to 4/3 Rumors. It’s the same Micro 4/3 mount, with the design supposedly optimized for video, which would go some way toward explaining the just-announced X series lenses. If you look at the photos, you have to wonder at what point “micro” 4/3 isn’t so micro anymore; the Panasonics already had a somewhat larger and more SLR-like form factor than the Olympus m4/3, but this one makes them seem positively tiny. Using the hotshoe in the photo as a point of reference, the dimensions don’t look that far from your average entry-level SLR.

Bloomberg notes the slow shift in the camera market, as companies that have moved toward mirrorless technology (Sony, Samsung, Panasonic) are gaining market share at the expense of the Big Two, Canon and Nikon. Canon, at least publically, insists this is a passing phase, while Nikon should soon be releasing its first mirrorless compact; however, you can’t help but wonder if they’ve already missed the boat.

The Economist, bless their souls, just discovered this HDR thing. Actually, the linked article discusses the increased processing power in current digital cameras and some of the innovations made possible by it (like the upcoming Lytro).

EOS HD has the first test images I’ve seen anywhere from the Fuji X10. They’re enthusiastic about it, going so far as to say that it’s a serious rival to Canon’s G12… no small claim to make, since the G series has been regarded as the benchmark for compacts for quite a while now.

Swedish English-language website The Local says that award-winning photographer Terje Hellesö has been reported to Swedish authorities for fraud after doctoring wildlife photos. Apparently, Mr. Hellesö had taken a bit of artistic license, pasting additional lynx into his pictures. This would just be one more guy overusing Photoshop if not for the fact that the photographer in question was the recipient of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s Nature Photographer of the Year award — which, incidentally, he’s thus far been allowed to keep. Additional coverage is available on Fotosidan (via Google Translate) here.

The web’s all abuzz over an Apple product. Nothing new there. What’s different this time is that the buzz is building on the basis of a leaked photo taken with an iPhone 4, but whose EXIF data not only doesn’t match the iPhone 4, but suggests the iPhone 5 could seriously up the ante for cameraphones. (Mac Rumors)

Facepalm department: A terse, testy, and altogether perplexing press release from Nikon, which deserves to be quoted in its entirety:

Comments on Media Reports about Nikon’s imaging product September 9, 2011

Nikon understands that some article appeared in the media regarding Nikon’s imaging product. Please note that Nikon has made no announcement in this regards.

Nobody seems quite sure what to make of this; perhaps they’re miffed at the innumerable leaks over their upcoming mirrorless camera? Or maybe they’re unhappy that word about their red D3100 slipped out in advance of the official announcement? Odd, no matter how you look at it.

PDN reports that Adobe is releasing a client-side photo app for Apple devices soon, with a Windows-based version expected to follow in early 2012.

Per Photo Business News & Forum, Gannett, the newspaper behemoth that owns the Asbury Park Press, USA Today, and scads of other properties, has bought out US Presswire. The terms of the deal, detailed in PBN&F’s original post, show that Gannett apparently holds photographers in the same low regard that US Presswire did, which is hardly encouraging news.

First Fuji hit unexpected pay dirt with the X100; now Samsung may be targeting the same demographic with a rangefinder-styled interchangeable lens camera, possibly called the R1. (Photo Rumors) 

Photography Bay reports that Ritz Interactive (which handles the e-commerce for Ritz, Wolf,  and Camera World brands, among others) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a scarce two years after its brick-and-mortar counterpart did the same. No word yet on whether David Ritz will set up another holding company to buy back his own company for pennies on the dollar.

Reviews are coming in from all quarters on the new Sony gear, and the feedback thus far is very positive. Sony Alpha Rumors has the skinny on the lot of it.

TechRadar reports that Nikon has admitted, and tried to rectify, some of the mistakes it made with the P7000 with the release of the upcoming P7100. Many who bought the P7000 would be perfectly happy if they’d just fixed the stuck lens cover issue that plagues those cameras, but a few of the other bugaboos (shutter lag and a sluggish processor) are also promised fixes. Time will tell.

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Found Photography

Image courtesy Ron Slattery/ Bighappyfunhouse.com (Creative Commons)

In July of last year, the Internet briefly flared up over what, for a photographer at least, was the ne plus ultra of garage sale finds: a set of photographic plates purchased by some guy at a garage sale in California for 45 bucks turned out to be long-lost negatives taken by none other than Ansel Adams. Having long ago resigned myself to the fact that I’m not likely to have that kind of luck, I content myself with browsing ephemera at antique shops and auctions, looking at other people’s photos from days, and years, gone by.

There are several reasons I do this, not least of which is the simple fact that I’m drawn to old stuff. It’s also quite literally a snapshot of another time; you can learn quite a bit about history, modes of dress, and mores, all from a simple 4×6 (or smaller). There can be an unexpected power to these faded and yellowed images.

As with pretty much anything else you can think of, there’s a home — several of them, actually — for this stuff online. I’ve culled a few of my favorites for anyone else who might be interested.

  • AtypicalArt’s Flickr photostream combines Ambrotypes, tintypes, photobooth finds, and the photographer’s own work, which manages not to seem out of place next to the older items he collects.
  • Ron Slattery’s Bighappyfunhouse is a dizzying ride through some gently warped vernacular photography.
  • Found Photographs is a self-described “a gallery of inadvertent art,” and lives up to its billing. The photos on exhibit range across time, geography, and subject, at some points whimsical, at others poignant.
  • Foundphotos is an open LiveJournal account. Many of the images are from the UK (with plenty of exceptions), and date to the late 19th-early 20th century.
  • Is This You combines found photos with other found ephemera (notes, et cetera).
  • The About page of  Look at Me comments that the photos they’ve showcased, some 600+ of them, are “stories with only an introduction.” That nicely sums up this collection, which features images spanning several decades.
  • The Museum of Vernacular Photography has one of the most headache-inducing layouts I’ve seen since about 1998. If you can get past that, you’ll be rewarded with what’s probably the most eclectic collection on this list, with everything from military and news photography to movie stills, erotica and photography books amply represented.
  • Rollfilm is only tangentially about found photography. The now apparently defunct (but still live) site is actually a celebration of photography in all its forms.
  • The Thanatos Archive presents an extensive collection of postmortem and mourning photography — a genre which, I have to admit, I hadn’t known existed ’til I came across this site. Many of the images are (and I say this with no trace of a pun intended) haunting, some remaining in your memory long after the monitor’s turned off.
  • Vintange Pixels is a mixed bag of images, some found, others appearing to be the uploaders’ family snapshots.

The photos contained on these sites, besides being a reminder of forgotten times, places, and people, serve as a reminder to us, as well. Presumably these images, and the people in them, were once cherished; now, they, and the photographers who took them, are unknown… not a bad thing to remember the next time you think you’ve got your photography all figured out.

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Photo News Roundup, 9/3/11

Keep your eyes peeled…

Yup. It’s Saturday. Time for your weekly photo fishwrap. Links go to full articles at sources’ websites.

Something interesting: a low-definition wearable video recorder that transmits to your smartphone or tablet via BlueTooth. So if you felt you didn’t look sufficiently silly walking around all day with a phone earpiece dangling off your ear, you can now proudly sport a miniaturized video camera instead. (Adorama)

Rumors abound — and please, let’s underscore rumors — that Panasonic is interested in Olympus’s imaging division. On one hand, it doesn’t seem far-fetched (the two companies are already part of the Four Thirds consortium); on the other, it also doesn’t seem like a good thing, necessarily, as there’s at least some semblance of competition between the companies now, which tends to spur innovation and keep everybody on their toes. (4/3 Rumors)

Possible new Canon products in the offing; press events are scheduled for the 16th, 27th, and 28th. These may be announcements for more printers and compacts, so if you’re salivating over the prospects of a new Canon SLR, you may not want to hold your breath. Also, the folks at Canon Rumors have a giveaway for one of the Canon fans among you: a Canon lens mug. Click through for details. (Canon Rumors)

Fuji announces the X10, which has similar styling to the popular, retrofied, X-100. Reportedly, it will sell for half the price, have a 28-112 f/2-f2.8 fixed zoom, and have a larger sensor than other cameras (like Canon’s G12 and Nikon’s P7100) in its class. No image samples posted yet, but if quality’s on par with the X100, this camera will be worth a second look. Specs, product photos, and more are available on the Fuji X10 microsite.

Well, now we know why all those Leicas are having problems all of a sudden: Leica’s supposed to announce an M10 at the 2012 Photokina. And that expensive Leica gear is about to get still more expensive. (Leica Rumors)

Panasonic announces power zoom lenses, releases firmware update for some of its cameras. (Micro 4/3 Users’ Group)

Samsung announces NX-200; a pile of press releases in several languages is available on Mirrorless Rumors.

Under market pressure from Korean and Chinese manufacturers, Japanese companies Toshiba, Sony, and Hitachi are spinning off, then merging, their LCD units in a move they hope will make them more competitive, especially in the smartphone and camera manufacture segments. (New York Times)

Press events in Germany and Austria coming September 21-23. It’s entirely possible that the upcoming mirrorless camera from Nikon will be announced in Vienna on the 21st. The camera is also rumored to have a new processor that’s supposed to dramatically improve video performance. (Nikon Rumors)

JVC introduces its second hybrid camera, the GC-PX10, while Pentax France coyly announces that there’s… well, something new coming from Pentax, to be announced in October. And the RED EPIC, a video camera whose hype has heretofore only been surpassed by its delays, is finally going into production. (Photo Rumors)

PopPhoto has a list of 9/11 exhibits — some temporary, others permanent — just days ahead of the tenth anniversary of the attacks.

Sony Alpha Rumors has links by the ton this week, both to sample images from the new round of Sony products, and also to product documentation.

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Primes vs. Zooms

In this case, zoom (70-300mm at 300mm, 1/800, ISO 400, f/13)

If you decide to move beyond the kit lens that came with your camera, the inevitable question then becomes which lens to get. There’s an insane number of options out there, since your camera’s manufacturer is likely to have a substantial stable of lenses, and there are also aftermarket alternatives (of varying degrees of cost and quality) available to you. From time to time, I’ll be explaining some of these options, starting today with a question that’s as old as the zoom lens itself: are you better off with another zoom, or with a prime?

Let’s address primes first. A prime lens is a lens that has only one focal length. Most manufacturers make primes at several different focal lengths, from the very wide (like an 8mm fisheye) to a traditional wide-angle lens (a 24 or 35mm, for instance), “normal” lenses (40-50mm, so called because they approximate the average human field of vision), and telephoto lenses, which start around 85mm and can go to 500mm or more. On the positive side, the relative simplicity of their optics, coupled with the fact that they have fewer moving parts, makes these lenses cheaper, lighter, and sharper than their zoom counterparts. They’re also faster and brighter (the common maximum aperture is f/1.4 or f/1.8, though lenses with f/1.0 and even f/.95 have been manufactured). On the negative side, you can’t zoom with a prime. You want a shot that’s either tighter, or wider? Take two steps (or more) forward or back. Also, where a single zoom might cover 18-55mm, it can take two or more primes to cover the same range (20mm, 35mm, and 50mm, for instance), meaning more space taken up in your camera bag, and more weight to lug around.

What about zoom lenses? When they were first mass-marketed, in the late 1950’s, the initial enthusiasm for their versatility and convenience was tempered by the realization that there were significant tradeoffs in optical quality. It’s a perception that’s stuck with zooms to this day, even though a modern zoom provides much higher image quality than would have been possible fifty years ago. The biggest advantage of a zoom lens is convenience; one zoom, as mentioned above, can replace two or more primes, and some zooms – like the 18-200 and 28-300 variants that are currently available – can substitute for far more than that.** There’s also a cost factor involved once you start comparing the cost of one zoom versus its equivalent set of primes. And there are times when taking steps forward or back just isn’t practical or safe, so it’s better to have a zoom at your disposal. On the negative side, faster, brighter zooms typically max out at a 2.8 aperture (and the consumer zooms typically start at an f/3.5 or f/4 maximum aperture), won’t have the same lovely bokeh*** as a prime, and can be very large and heavy. Also, because of their optical formulae, they can tend to have a variety of distortion issues; where a prime will typically show some barrel distortion, a zoom can show barrel distortion, pincushion distortion, and complex distortion, all in the same lens, at varying focal lengths and apertures, which can give you conniptions if you’re trying to keep straight what parts of the range are doing what.

So, zoom or prime? The short answer, I think, would be that there’s room in your kit for both. Some photographers will shoot only with one or the other type of lens; a more rational approach is to find which generally works for you, but keep one or two of the other type in your kit as well. If you shoot mostly with primes, this might mean having a long (say, 70-200 or 70-300) lens in your arsenal. If you are shooting with zooms (and especially if you’ve only ever shot with zoom lenses), having even one fast prime in your kit opens up opportunities you didn’t even realize you were missing.

Obviously, regardless of which category you fall into, there are tradeoffs you need to be aware of. These will impact not only your wallet, but also your photography; it’s helpful, therefore, to do your homework, not only by researching the wealth of reviews and information that’s available on nearly every lens, but also by getting to a camera shop and trying the lens(es) on your camera.

*Before someone takes me to task for my terminology: a telephoto, strictly speaking, is a lens whose length is shorter than its focal length. So a 500mm lens wouldn’t necessarily be a telephoto if it were 500mm long, it would be a “long focus” lens. It would also be quite the pain in the neck to carry. At any rate, since “telephoto” is the going parlance for pretty much anything over 85mm, that’s the sense in which I’m using it here.

**Albeit with significantly compromised quality. An 18-200 has become the only lens for some shooters, and a convenient walkabout lens for many others who don’t always want to schlep their whole kit. Problem is, image quality at the ends – the widest and longest parts of the lens – tends to be a bit on the mushy side, especially in the corners (among other issues). You may decide that’s an acceptable tradeoff, but here again, it’s important that you try before you buy.

***Bokeh is a term referring to the little rounded bits of light that are out of focus in your photos. Some photographers, especially if they specialize in portraiture, pay closer attention to the bokeh than they do to the sharpness of a lens. It’s a purely individual decision and creative choice.

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Photo News Roundup, 8/27/11

This photo could get you arrested in Long Beach.

Quite the busy week this week. Links go to sources’ websites, as usual.

Chalk one up for common sense: a judge has not so much dismissed as smacked down Janine Gordon’s copyright infringement case against fellow photographer Ryan McGinley, stopping just short of saying the grounds for the complaint (she essentially claimed he stole her subject matter, style, and lighting techniques, none of which were all that unique to begin with) had no basis in reality. (ARTINFO)

Canon announces three compacts, the PowerShot SX150 IS, the PowerShot ELPH 510 HS, and the PowerShot ELPH 310 HS. They also announce two printers, PIXMA MG8220 and MG6220 All-in-Ones. The compacts, according to the Canon press release, have improved image stabilization, flash, and optics; the 510 HS, they say, has an improved form factor. You can read more about the cameras here, and more about the printers here. (Canon USA)

Professional photographer Jennifer McKendrick shows her principles, calls off senior portrait shoots with four clients because she discovered they were bullying classmates. She says she won’t photograph “ugly people.” (Huffington Post)

Might Fuji have another winner on its hands? There’s an image all over the web of a page from the current Promaster catalog showing the Fuji X-10/X-50 (the designation will be different depending on the market), with price and specs, which break down as follows: for six hundred bucks, you get a 12MP CMOS sensor, 28-112 equivalent manual zoom, OVF , HD movie function, RAW/JPG shooting, and the looks of a classic rangefinder. No word on whether it’d have the hybrid VF featured on the X-100; assume not, or the catalog would likely have mentioned that. If image quality equals what Fuji delivered on the X-100, and manages to ship in sufficient volume to avoid the shortages that have plagued that camera up to now, this has potential. (Mirrorless Rumors)

As expected, Nikon announced eight additions to its Coolpix lineup, including the S100, S4150, S6150, and S6200. The Nikon Coolpix S1200pj will hopefully improve on the projector feature first introduced with the S1000. It allows easier sharing to YouTube, and allows you to shoot tethered to an iPhone or iPad. The S8200 will have 16MP and 14x wide-angle zoom, plus the ability to do JPG capture during video recording. Nikon Coolpix AW100 is designed to be waterproof (up to 33′), survive low temperatures (to 14 degrees Farenheit), and even falls (up to 5′). The buttons are chunky — just in case you’re wearing gloves or have pudgy fingers. GPS is included for geotagging, and the video will record slow motion at 720p. The Coolpix P7100 replaces the P7000 barely a year after the latter’s introduction, but introduces a handful of improvements, including quicker AF speed and lowered shooting time lag. Hopefully it will also avoid the problems with the lens protector that dogged its predecessor. In an interesting development, Nikon have stuck with a 10mp sensor, which is actually a good thing given the 2.0 crop factor. Will also include a tilt screen (missing from Nikon’s SLRs, save for the D5100), HDR, a built-in ND filter, and an expanded series of “art filters” like those found on iPhones. Nikon users will still complain that it’s not the G12. Press releases, photos, and other goodies available on Nikon Imaging and Nikon Rumors.

Speaking of Nikon Rumors, two more announcements are said to be due in September.

According to Photo Rumors, there’s a new, “lighter” photo file format, “JPEG Mini,” that claims to make your files up to five times smaller with no loss in image quality. Went to http://www.jpegmini.com/, and it seems to work as advertised. It trimmed my 9.01MB test photo to 2.2MB (4.1x, by their reckoning), with no visible loss of image quality. Caveat emptor: while the terms and conditions state that you retain ownership of your images, they do go on to state:

You hereby grant ICVT and our designees a worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicenseable (through multiple tiers), assignable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable right to use, host, store, index, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works of, and display and perform your Content on the web and on mobile devices, solely in connection with our provision of the Service
Caveat on the caveat: This may just be legalese that allows them to provide the service (you could argue that resizing the photo is, in a sense, a “derivative work”); if you’re concerned, don’t use the service.

Another argument in favor of point-and-shoot cameras: Japanese photographer Kazuma Obara snuck his past tight security to get the first photos from inside the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. (PopPhoto)

Not to be left out, Sony likewise announced several products, many of which have been circulating in the rumor mill for weeks, including the 24mp A77 and A65 SLTs*, the 24mp NEX-7 and 16mp NEX-5N a battery grip for the A77, a 16-50mm f/2.8 lens, the NEX-VG20 camcorder, and three new E mount lenses (Sony-made 50mm f/1.8 and 55-210mm, plus a 24mm 1.8 from Zeiss). Additional press releases and information on Sony Alpha Rumors.

Your weekly dose of WTF: The arrest of a photographer is, sadly, hardly unique. This one… well, Sander Roscoe Wolff was detained in Long Beach, California for taking photos with “no apparent aesthetic value.” The photographer was taking photos around an oil refinery and a regular tourist, apparently, doesn’t take those kinds of pictures; however, the reason given wasn’t one of security, but rather of taste. I’m sorry, but I don’t know a single soul in law enforcement who double-majored in Art History… this reminds me a bit too much of the Entartete Kunst (“Degenerate Art”) seizures/exhibits in Berlin some 70-odd years ago for comfort. (TechDirt, with a hat tip to alert reader Norman)

Just for fun: A photographer spent nearly a year building a working medium format camera out of Legos. As someone who loves both photography and Legos, I found this too cool not to share. (DIYPhotography)

*SLT=Single Lens Translucent Mirror; the mirror allows light to pass through to the sensor, rather than reflecting it the way an SLR does. A more in-depth explanation may be found here.