dirtystylus

Pentax Q

You have to hand it to Pentax: they always seem to be thinking on a different wavelength, finding niches in the camera marketplace instead of following the lead of Canon and Nikon. This new Q system looks like a really interesting camera—small as a point-and-shoot, but with interchangeable lenses.

The Online Photographer has a good writeup on it, comparing it to a Pentax cult classic: the Pentax Auto 110 system. They’re also right about the philosophy behind the system: it’s supposed to be fun, a word that offends some gear-obsessed “serious” photographers. I do think $800 is a little high for such a quirky camera. I think it eventually needs to get within spitting distance of compacts like the Olympus XZ-1, Panasonic LX-5, and Canon G12, which are all around $500.

I also think that camera makers should be focusing (pun intended) more on the social sphere. It’s one thing to make a camera that you can take anywhere, but shouldn’t it allow you to post to Facebook/Flickr/Twitter? People are ditching their point-and-shoots and just using their phones, and I would argue that’s largely driven by convenience as opposed to object image quality.

Fuji X100

Officially announced today. $1200 dollars, incidentally, is what I paid six years ago for a Bessa R2A and a Zeiss 35/2.0 lens.

Converting Canon T1i Video for the PS3

Joseph and Kristen have been experimenting with their Canon T1i’s video lately. The MOV files don’t have native support on the PS3, so Joseph and I went digging for a way to convert them. The default PS3 setting in Handbrake resulted in unreadable files, so we experimented with a variety of things: custom recipes for the Handbrake CLI, ffmpeg (that’s technical quicksand, right there). It turns out the solution was pretty simple. I’ll summarize what this thread revealed. The thread was focused on the 5D mk II, but it appears that both cameras use the same file format.

The primary issue appears to be the dimensions of the files: when loaded into Handbrake the size is interpreted as 1920 x 1088, not 1920 x 1080. It turns out that cropping those 8 pixels makes all the difference.

So, based off the suggestions in that thread I created a new preset in Handbrake, starting with the default PS3 setting. I clicked 2-pass encoding, bumped the bitrate to 17000, and in the Picture Settings did this:

Crop set to 8 on the bottom setting, and in Size set Anamorphic to Strict:

That’s it. 8 pixels. Not sure why the size is reported differently to begin with, but at least there’s a workaround.

When I first created my preset I forgot to save the Picture Settings from the current encode, so I lost the crop info. So remember to set Use Picture Size to Current when making your preset:

Ricoh GR-D II

The new GR Digital II was announced yesterday, finally replacing the two year-old GRD. Not much different here — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Ricoh claims that a new processing engine has “dramatically reduced noise” but every camera maker says that. I’m doubly skeptical since they jammed in an extra 2 megapixels, which can’t help noise. Not that I care too much about noise levels anyway — the original GRD had a very unique visual signature at high ISOs, especially in B+W. If anything, I’m worried that the noise reduction will be too severe (like certain Panasonic compacts); thankfully you can switch the NR off.

The decreased RAW write times are nice, from 11 (!) seconds to around 3. Apparently there’s also a one-shot buffer so that a second RAW image can be taken right after the first. That’s a feature I wish my GX100 had. The in-camera stabilization included in the GX-100 is absent.

The other additions are a 1:1 mode (with RAW, not just JPG like the GX100) and a new 40mm-equivalent conversion lens. The conversion lens could be interesting if it doesn’t add too much bulk, especially because 40mm is closer to my preferred focal length. I’ll be waiting to see some results once the camera makes its way into users’ hands. As much as I’ve enjoyed the GX-100, the results have been a bit soft (perhaps it’s unfair to compare it to my rangefinder/lenses, but still).

That Sigma DP-1 is still out there in vaporland, too. I’m really hoping that when (if?) it gets released the camera proves that there’s a viable market for larger sensors in a compact camera. Maybe more camera makers can look up from the DSLR dogfight long enough to crank one out.

A Leica Kiss

The New Yorker takes a look at the Leica mystique. I think that using a Leica (I’m fortunate enough to have come by an M4 through fortunate circumstance) is very tightly wedded to the romance of photography. In that light, the article’s description of the cloth shutter’s whisper as a “kiss” makes absolute sense.

I’ve been using a Ricoh GX-100 for just over a month now, and in some ways it represents the sort of camera Leica should be making — small, silent, with a premium placed on quick operation. Even then, however, it cannot compare to my M4 in terms of “seeing” the moment that I want to capture. The article is right to wax poetic about the Leica viewfinder. Everyone who has looked through the viewfinder of my M4 (or even my Bessa) always remarks on how bright it is in contrast to your standard dim (d)SLR finder. The framelines subtly frame the space, instead of sharply cutting you off.

It is interesting that Leica is trapped by the success of the M and its “perfection”, because any change from that template is greeted with suspicion or outright hostility by the Leica faithful. I wish that the company would find a way to distill the M hallmarks — small size, discreet shutter, and that viewfinder! — into a new camera line that is unburdened by the need to hew so tightly to the M-series legacy. Unfortunately, it appears that unless someone visionary like Barnack comes along again, Leica will continue to crank out ever-more-polished versions of the same masterpiece.

A footnote to this is the rumor that Nikon might be introducing a digital rangefinder, an heir to their classic SP. If Leica can’t innovate outside of the M-series box, then maybe Nikon can do it.