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In this episode F1.4 vs. f1.2 lenses...does it really matter? HDR moves to video...and a discussion with Seal photographer Joseph Linaschke.

Hosts: Frederick Van Johnson, Alex Lindsay,, Ron Brinkmann

Producer: Aaron Mahler - Twitter: halfpress

Show notes by Tom Newman at fogviewphotos.com and on Twitter: fogview

Bandwidth provided by Cachefly
Intro Music by Scott Cannizzaro

HOUSEKEEPING

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NEWS & DISCUSSION

* Panasonic GF1 Micro 4/3 Body and Lenses Spotted
This is a mini SLR with mini lenses. A small high quality "spy" pocket camera. Frederick asks Ron if an iPhone (or something like that) would be better so you don't carry all this stuff around. Ron said you won't get the quality that you would get from this 4/3rd sensor. Frederick: the reason for a cropped-sensor camera is to make a smaller camera and not for cost? Ron: It's everything. You can make a smaller camera that costs less. Frederick: We had this discussion before about cropped-sensor (CS) cameras being better or okay compared with full sensor cameras. Ron: It's acceptable if you have a CS camera to buy CS lenses. I think it's stupid to buy lenses that are compatible with a camera that I will never own. Alex: Don't we think that all these cameras are going to a 35 mm foot print (full sensor)? Frederick: That was my point ... buy the decent lens now. Ron: I don't buy it that everything is going to full frame. (Editor's note: Alex continued the "rat hole" ... ).

Also see: http://gizmodo.com/5331641/cool-panasonic-lumix-gf1-43-may-end-up-being-my-next-camera/gallery/

* HDR Video
The Camera is officially launched and the first camera is sold, the specs are:

+ HDR video capture
+ 20 f stops of dynamic range
+ full HD resolution 1920 x 1080
+ 30 frames per second
+ fiber coupled storage unit
+ It records 5 hours of uncompressed video data

Alex: We want to make sure we make a distinction between HDR and tone mapping. Tone mapping is just choosing what color ranges or brightness ranges get boosted or pushed down in the image. I would even throw out that term and just call it post processing on an image with a lot of dynamic range. (HDR) takes a high dynamic range images and tries to balance the details in the highlights and the shadows. Alex: Aren't we moving to a point we are not talking about quantify of light, but quality. Ron: I think that is the case. Capturing as much as you can with the sensor and handling it in post. It's not much difference to what we do today with RAW files. HDR is higher dynamic range of a RAW file. You could make the case that a RAW file is a HDR format vs. shooting JPEG. Frederick: If you shoot RAW, can you go into the RAW file and extract (an image) one f-stop below and one f-stop above and bring that into a HDR program? Ron: Yes. Frederick: So you don't have to do bracketed shots? Ron: The differences is the number of f-stops. Frederick: What you recommend (RAW file or bracketed shot on a tripod)? Ron: It depends on what you are shooting. Alex: I think you should put the camera on a tripod and shoot nine exposures. Ron: The reason you do this is in a high dynamic range shot.

* Tethered shooting now possible with Epson P-6000, P-7000
These are photo storage devices used in the field. This change is made possible via firmware update and includes remote shutter tripping. This would take the place of having to use SD or CF memory cards.
Ron: I'm frustrated because this whole thing could be done with an iPhone and I'm waiting for that to come.

PHOTO ASSIGNMENT & POLL

Last week's poll: Do you use more than one CF card? Absolutely: 89%; Nope, I go commando with just the one in the camera: 11%

New Poll: Do ask permission to photograph a stranger?

INTERVIEW -- Joseph Linaschke

Frederick: Joseph used to work at Apple and now has gone out on his own. Joseph has outgrown Apple and has become the official photographer for the musical group, Seal.

Frederick: I don't want to talk to Joseph about photography, but about the business side of photography since you just went through it all. We want to find out what the pitfalls were and how you did it since you are now a corporation. So how did you start?

Joseph: A lot of it is the "chicken and egg thing." I wanted to get insurance but I needed to have the business license first. It took the better part of a month.

Frederick: You are a corporation so can you collect electronic payments; credit cards?

Joseph: Yes, the payment part was the first thing I set up. I went with B of A for Small Business because they had electronic payment. This allows me to get paid while I'm on the road and not have the check sit in my mailbox for a month.

Frederick: That's a merchant account?

Joseph: No, it's a small business account. It doesn't accept credit cards but that's something I could add to it. The clients I deal with don't generally pay by credit card. If I was dealing with individuals they would pay with credit cards but my clients pay out of their bank accounts.

Frederick: What about business name, website, etc. I know you have been working on this for two years with different things like Wordpress, so what did you settle on and why?

Joseph: My web present has been a bit scattered. They have now merged into one site, ConfessionsofATravelJunkie.com. I have a separate website with just my portfolio, JosephLinaschke.com. You will notice that I made both sites look the same with a common banner at the top. There are two different URLs.

Frederick: I noticed that photographers don't do that. They will have a photo site with one theme and then you click on the blog link and you are now in a different theme. Was it a conscious decision to do that?

Joseph: I definitely did but it evolved to that. At one point they looked like totally different sites. I think the point that I knew that I was truly bringing them together was when I turned off the "open link in a new window" feature. Now when you click on portfolio or blog, it seems you are opening a new page on the same site. It no longer feels like you are browsing two different sites so I had to make them look the same. They are two different domains, hosted in two different places. My gallery and portfolio is handled by SmugMug and my blog is handled by SquareSpace. It took some work but they are now seamless.

Frederick: How is SmugMug? How is the experience and are you offering your works for sale?

Joseph: I love SmugMug and love the customer service. I have the plugin for Aperture. I can create the gallery on SmugMug and upload from Aperture. SmugMug works well with my blog site. I can upload say 20 photos to my SmugMug gallery and in SquareSpace write a blog post and link to one of the photos. When the user clicks on the photo it opens my SmugMug gallery. SmugMug handles the watermarking automatically so I don't have to think about it. I have multiple watermarks depending on whether it was for a client or for my own fun. The watermarks filter through to my blog.

Frederick: When you formed the business are you a LLC?

Joseph: Yes, I'm a LLC. You have two choices, a S Corporation or a LLC. I chose the LLC because it was easier. I did everything through BizFillings.com and it was pretty easy. One of the reason I was thinking of a S Corp was because of the tax advantages but I found out that you can register as a LLC and be taxed like an S Corp. So you get the best of both worlds.

Frederick: What are the benefits of forming a LLC business verse a sole proprietor?

Joseph: You want to get away from a sole proprietor to separate your liability from the company. If you are a full corporation, a LLC or S Corp, and someone sues the company, they can go after the company's assets but not yours personally.

Frederick: If you are a LLC and at some point you hire lots of photographers around the world, can you step up to a full corporation?

Joseph: Sure, there are steps to do it but may be a little more work then if you had done that way in the first place. At least for now I don't have any employees. I could hire contractors or have salaried employees (under the LLC) and you have to grow pretty big to go to a full corporation.

Frederick: What about insurance?

Joseph: You mentioned PPA and that's where I went. This is business liability insurance that protects you if someone trips over your camera bag on a shoot or you mess up a shoot and they want to sue you for it. I went and got some quotes from standard liability insurance places and also when through PPA. PPA turns out to be the best rate and they understand my business (photography). They don't offer the insurance but introduce you to the right people.

Frederick: Back to LLC which gives you a level of protection. Why have a LLC and then buy protection?

Joseph: Because if I don't have the insurance, any lawsuit can take the company down.

Frederick: So what about health insurance?

Joseph: Medical insurance is critical. There are two things. You can go online a get a quote but you really need to talk to a agent. To insure a family is very expensive. The policy you get through a corporation is very good compared to what you can buy yourself (levels of coverage, number of visits, etc.). What I ended up for now, since I just left Apple, was a Cobra plan. I know when that expires in 9 months I won't be able to get as good as a plan.

Frederick: What are you plans for social media?

Joseph: On more thing we haven't talked about and that's equipment insurance. You have your home insurance and car insurance and now you have to have equipment insurance. I went through PPA for the insurance. It's very affordable.

Frederick: So on to social media.

Joseph: I'm keeping myself pretty busy but I do use Twitter and I have my blog. I use Facebook but I only for personal use (friends and family). I consider Twitter a mico blog. If I have something short to say, I will put it on Twitter. If I have a new blog post, I will put a summary and a link on Twitter.

Frederick: I'm looking at a website for one of your clients, Seal, can you tell me what you are going to be doing when he's on tour?

Joseph: This is a going to be a great experience. Someone at Apple introduced me to him years ago and it turns out that he is a avid photographer. When I decided to go out on my own (leave Apple) I was joking around with him about going out on tour with him. So he just finished his US tour. As a test I went and shot his New York tour and his tour in Los Angles. Both of those came out great. Everyone got along great. We started talking about the European tour. We will be six weeks on the road. There is a crew bus and a band bus, and I'll be on the band bus. I will be shooting behind the scenes. I'll be shooting stills and shooting video. I have a 5D MkII coming so I'll be doing a lot of video with that. I'll be writing about it on my blog. The photos will be sent to Seal.com and to my blog.

Frederick: When you did these last two shows, how was that?

Joseph: I think the All Access badge was bigger than my camera. The first show I shot over 1,000 frames because I didn't know what I was getting. The second show I shot less than half that number and I know as I move on I will be shooting less and less because I will know what I want to get. Shooting the same shows over and over lets you think outside the box.

Fredrick: Thanks and good luck. Please tell us where people can find you.

Joseph: JosephLinaschke.com and ConfessionsofATravelJunkie.com and Twitter.com/travel_junkie

LISTENER QUESTIONS

Q: Listener Nick Grisafe writes: I am experimenting with the video capability on my 5D Mark II and I was wondering if you have a software suggestion on what to use to edit the video? Right now I shoot the video and don't know what to do with it. I suggestion on a starter book on video would be helpful too. I know this is this is, 'This week in Photography' so if you want to forward me to a video site that would be helpful also.

A: Alex answers: What we use is Final Cut. We haven't really tested the 5D in iMovie but the 5D shoots in 30p and iMovie works in 30p so they should get along. I should test it in iMovie. As far as shooting video, there are lots of great books. The Five Cs of Cinematography is a great book. You are going to find that you shoot video like you shoot stills except you are going to let things move. What you want to do is sit and hold and let everything occur in front of it. I don't carry around a handy cam any more and just carry the 5D. It's that good.

Q: Listener matt searles writes: I'm shooting with a Canon 40D, which is fast enough that.. with the help of some of the final cut retiming stuff.. I can kinda make video that looks better then a hell of a lot of the video I see. What I'm wondering about is how to stream line the process.. Guess this might be an Alex question?

I'm using Final Cut Studio, Aperture, and Photoshop. What's the fastest way to get a sequence of images into Final Cut? Motion? Would it make more sense to use Color instead of Aperture to color correct?

A: Alex answers: He's not shooting video but doing some time lapsed photography. We render it in Image Sequences which is more stable than QuickTime. The easiest way to recompile them is to open them in QuickTimePro. That's the easiest way if you plan to open it in Final Cut later.

Q: Listener Daniel Bird writes: I'm thinking of setting up a NAS box, that will have store a copy of my photos (also have a copy of them on my main desktop PC) and my Lightroom catalogue, and I'm considering using cloud storage for an external backup source, so just in case the worst was to happen to our house, everything else can be replaced but photos/memories can't... Does this sound like a good strategy? (2 copies locally, and one copy in the cloud) Do you have any experience with any of the cloud backup providers? Carbonite? Would you trust putting you photos up there?

A: Ron answers: That is what I do. I have my Drobo that is my secondary local backup. I have everything backed up to the cloud. Some charge you by the megabyte. I tried a few of them and the one I settled on is BackBlaze.com. It's always running in the background and automatically backs up your files. The cost is $5 a month or $50 a year. Alex mentions that he has multiple terabytes to back up and Comcast as a 250 GB/month cap so he's concerned about that. Frederick said he had a problem with BackBlaze because his main computer is a laptop and it's not on all the time and could only get a few megabytes of data backed up at a time. Ron said it took him multiple weeks to back up his desktop machine. (Editor's note: I use BackBlaze and it took over a month to back up 225 GBs of data.) This would be the problem with any of these cloud backup solutions unless you could physically send them your data to get the initial backup started.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

* Alex - My pick is my bag: Kata DR467. It will hold a laptop (up to 17"). The great thing about it is the three front pockets. I would also pick Eagle Creek bags that I use to organize my stuff.

* Frederick - Sony Party-Shot. A robotic face-detecting tilt/swivel tripod head for Sony's Powershot P/S cams. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10303993-1.html
* Ron - Somewhat photography related - motion detection on webcam via website: http://www.highlightcam.com/

NEXT WEEK ON TWIP

An interview by Steve Simon with one of Colorado's most highly regarded location corporate photographers, David X Tejada

WRAP UP

Ron can be found at http://digitalcomposting.wordpress.com and via Twitter: RonBrinkmann

Frederick can be found at http://www.frederickvan.com and via Twitter: Frederickvan

Alex can be found at http://www.pixelcorps.com and via Twitter: AlexLindsay

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Show notes provide by Tom Newman of Fogview Photos and via Twitter: Fogview