The Show is in the feed or you can download it at Pixelcorps.TV

This week: Should you jump to the 7D or open source, Don’t forget to clone out the birds, your questions, and an interview with Katrin Eismann.

Hosts: Alex Lindsay, Aaron Mahler, Ron Brinkmann, Andy Ihnatko

Bandwidth provided by Cachefly. Intro Music by Scott Cannizzaro

Show producer Aaron Mahler at www.halfpress.com or www.twitter.com/halfpress

Show notes by Bruce Clarke at www.momentsindigital.com or www.twitter.com/bruceclarke

TWiP is brought to you by Audible. Visit www.audiblepodcast.com/twip for a free downloadable book.

NEWS & DISCUSSION

Canon Officially Announces the 7D
Same specs as we included a few weeks ago including slightly better video than the 5D Mark II but using a crop sensor. It puts it in an interesting position between the 50D and the 5D Mark II. Alex really likes the improved frame rate and thinks Canon has been listening to the feedback regarding the video. Ron is in the market for an upgrade soon and this might fit the bill but he’s going to wait for a little while to see if the D700 gets an upgrade with video capabilities. For Andy, $1700 would be better spent travelling the world looking for amazing photography opportunities and he also lucked into a Nikon D200 since he was last on the show. Alex thinks that if the 7D had come out before the 5D Mark II he may have been tempted to buy it instead.

Canon Launches New Lenses
Along with the 7D announcement, Canon also announced three new lenses including the 15-85mm EF-S, the18-135mm EF-S, and the 100mm f2.8 macro with Canon’s new hybrid IS system. The hybrid system can provide up to 2 additional stops at 1X magnification.

SPONSOR – AUDIBLE
Just a reminder that TWiP is brought to you by Audible. Visit www.audiblepodcast.com/twip for a free downloadable book. Andy’s book recommendation is “The Beatles: A Biography” by Bob Spitz.

Leica Announces the M9 and Compact X1
Leica announces the world’s smallest full-frame range finder camera. When Steve comes back we’ll see if he’s had a chance to check one out.

Using a Vacuum Cleaner to Clean Your Lens
The article on Lifehacker.com shows you how to clean your lens with a vacuum cleaner. Ron thinks that for a non SLR camera without a mirror it might work. To be fair, this was listed as a last gasp effort to clean the camera but Andy suggests sending it to a repair centre might be a better last resort.

Annie Leibovitz being Sued for Copyright Infringement
An Italian photographer claims that a 2009 calendar that she released for a copy company includes some of his photos from Venice and Rome. He was sent to scout the location and then they were going to have people go out later and do the shoot but what ended up happening was that people were comped into his photos but they didn’t remove the birds & clouds from the photo which were unique to his images so that set him off. Lesson 1 is to not steal other people’s photos and lesson 2 is that if you do; don’t forget to take out the clouds and the birds.

Open Source Camera
Referred to as the Frankencamera, this camera is being built in Stanford and the software to run the camera will be open source. If this comes to pass, the idea would be that you’d buy a generic body and instead of it coming with proprietary software from a company like Canon or Nikon, the software will be open source enabling anyone in the world to update, customize or modify it. As a result they are working on things like in-camera HDR. Ron doesn’t think that this will necessarily take over the camera world but what it does is pushes the guys like Canon and Nikon to continue to improve their products and add in new features. The first big manufacturer who opens it up will expand things dramatically and the more we will see creative people coming up with things we haven’t even thought of yet. Andy thinks that these open source devices generally do all that well in the consumer market because people generally want something that is easy to use and reliable without having to spend a lot of time configuring it and only a small percentage of users really enjoy getting in there and messing around with these things. Alex agrees with Andy that something like this would be great for those in the visual effects world but probably not something that a lot of consumers would be interested in.

POLL RESULTS & CURRENT POLL

Last week’s poll was: Have you ever had a memory card fail on you? A) No – 79% B) Yes and I lost everything – 7% C) Yes but I managed to recover all or some of my images - 12%. This week’s poll: As a DSLR owner do you use a point and shoot? A) Yes, I carry one everywhere and use it when I’m not using my DSLR B) Yes, but I only use it occasionally C) No, my P&S has only been gathering dust since I got my DSLR D) No, I went straight to a DSLR and never owned a point and shoot. Head on over to www.twiplog.com and let us know what you think.

INTERVIEW WITH KATRIN EISMANN

Fred: So Katrin Eismann is our special guest this week and she is also known as the Photoshop Diva. She has been involved in one way or another with digital image tools since 1989 she regularly teaches about the latest tools and techniques of the digital imaging trade. She’s the author of several books on digital imaging such as “The Digital Imaging  Darkroom” and “Photoshop Restoration & Retouching” as well as several online titles on Kelbytraining.com. Thanks for coming on the show today and I also want to thank you for introducing me to the Canon G9. Are you still shooting with that camera?

Katrin: Thanks Fred and I’m happy to be here and happy to help you spend money. I now have the G10 and I’m eyeing the G11 as well as the new Canon 7D as well.

Fred: What’s new with the 7D?

Katrin: I think they have improved the sensor so I’m looking forward to see what it will be capable of but I don’t always go after the top of the line gear. I’m quite happy with gear suited towards the amateur or advanced amateur photographer.

Fred: The bulk of our audience are advanced amateurs but a lot of people get caught up in getting the latest gear and what we say on the show a lot is that it’s not always about the equipment but more about you.

Katrin: I think we use that as a crutch sometimes and get caught up in chasing the latest and greatest. I see examples of great photography being done with relatively inexpensive gear. For example, a recent cover photo on the New Yorker was shot with an iPhone.

Fred: I remember back in my military days with started with the Kodak DC100 series with the spinning hard drive in them and those things were $12,000 each for 1.0 megapixel and it would hold around 50 images.

Katrin: We had one of those and recently donated it to the Smithsonian. What was great about them back in the day is that they showed what was possible. It’s interesting to see how quickly tings have progressed and it’s still about the image. More and more people are getting involved in it and I really enjoy seeing people’s photos on blogs, etc.

Fred: We really are at the point of citizen journalism where people can document anything and everything that is going on in their lives and it’s really quite amazing. I mentioned in the intro that you’re nickname is the Photoshop Diva. How did you get that name?

Katrin: I wanted a unique URL and was doing a presentation in Boston and Andrew Rodney the Digital Dog was standing watching my presentation and turned to the person next to him and said “That is the Photoshop Diva” and I heard it and thought it was perfect. I’m trying to be the Lightroom Mistress but it doesn’t have the same ring.

Fred: Rewinding back to when you first got bit by the digital imaging and creative bug, what led you into digital imaging overall?

Katrin: I went back into photography was I was older. I started getting into it when I was 30 and when you’re older and go back to school you really appreciate the opportunity and how much it costs. Digital was just starting and I decided that was the direction I wanted to go in. Computers were slow and there were no online forums or things to look stuff up but I had a hunch digital moving forward was the future. It was a good hunch to get in early. I spent hours in the darkroom trying out techniques and discovered others were doing it on the computer without having to spend hours in the dark and it looked a lot more comfortable.

Fred: Remember those days stuck in the darkroom trying to get the perfect print and now fast forward to today where you can be sitting in a restaurant and take a cool picture with your iPhone, digitally manipulate it, post it online and by the time you’ve left the restaurant hundreds of people may have commented on it.

Katrin: The traditional darkroom certainly has it’s validity in terms of it’s romanticism and learning how to see but one of the biggest challenges in the darkroom was not making one print but making 10 prints. We face similar challenges because printers change, papers change and inks change but it has become somewhat easier in some regards.

Fred: That was Katrin Eismann and if you’d like to hear the remainder of the interview, head over to Frederickvan.com and you can hear the complete interview in it’s entirety.

LISTENER QUESTIONS

Q: Trevor H writes: In episode #105 you briefly touched on the subject of APS-C vs Full Frame but you neglected one of the advantages IS the crop factor, which I feel is of huge benefit for a wildlife photographer. Is there any reason why you guys feel so strongly for 35mm FF?

A: Aaron: Wildlife photographers definitely could benefit from the crop sensor and the extended reach they can get with their lenses. Also, something we failed to mention was that a lot of these crop sensor cameras tend to have a faster frame rate. That may just be a resolution issue which allows a lot more images to be processed through the buffer. Also the crop-frame sensors tend to use the sweetest part of the lens so a lot of lenses that you start off with on a crop-frame sensor can look wonderful and sharp but then look softer when you use them on a full-frame sensor. That said, check out Stu Mashiwit’s article. It really depends on your needs. For the stuff I shoot more often I need the wider angle rather than the extended reach that a crop sensor provides but sometimes I need both so the ideal shooting situation for me is to carry one of each. Ron adds there really is no difference between cropping a full-frame image in post vs. shooting the image with a crop-sensor in camera but that depends upon resolution. If you have  a high resolution camera that will work but not if your camera is a lower resolution than a crop-sensor.

Q: Kevin Snider writes: I’m interested in buying my first DSLR and the lens that appeals to me is the 28-200mm, however I notice that you guys haven’t mentioned using these type of lenses. What are the disadvantages?

Ron: As with anything related to lens design, you have to make compromises. There is nothing inherently wrong with these super zoom lenses with a broad range but typically if you look at them, you’ll find that it’s hard to find one that’s really fast. The 28-200mm is a 4.5 or 5.6 which is a fairly slow lens. It’s just harder to make a really high quality lens with that kind of range. Alex used to have a bunch of lenses like the 70-200mm and the 24-70mm but the problem was they were so expensive. There is a convenience factor of just having one lens that can adapt to a variety of situations. If you’re going somewhere dusty and are terrified of having to switch lenses then it’s useful to just have one multi-purpose lens that you don’t have to take off the body and expose your sensor to dust. Andy thinks that if you are buying your first DSLR, a 28-200 would be great first lens so that you have the greatest opportunity to capture a wide range of shots and then you can always upgrade you lenses as you progress and can afford better glass. Alex always suggests the 50mm as a first lens because it takes such great images and it’s not that expensive but he just borrowed a 70-300mm from a friend and I forgot how much I really love having a really long zoom.

Q: Jeremy Elderfield writes: My question is about time lapse photography which seems to be rarely covered. Can you offer any technical tips on how to achieve some stunning results?

Alex: I’ve done a lot of time-lapse and there are couple of ways to do it. You can do it with an SLR  and with a point and shoot The advantage of the SLR is that you can get full-frame and a very high resolution. What you tend to do is use an external timer that connects to your camera and sometimes you can get these to connect to your P&S or SLR and you can set them to take a shot at a predetermined interval. One thing to be careful of is that your SLR is rated for around 150,000 shutter actuations or 300,000 actuation which is a lot for a still photographer. However if you start doing time-lapse photos of 3000 & 5000 images, you are going to start pushing the mechanical process of your camera to the outside edge. The one camera that shoots full-frame with a built in timer is the Ricoh R10. Another thing that is a great accessory is a Gorillapod. Ron also recommends turning off most of the automatic stuff that your camera can do. Andy adds that you should turn off the beep after each image and the autofocus as that is going to drain the battery. Hook it up to AC power or you’ll be disappointed with the results and also look for a big suction cup that you can use to attach your camera to a window in a moving vehicle or on a train to capture a cool time-lapse image.

Q: Megan Harald asks: Dear guys, I listen to your podcast a lot and, there is vibrant discussion about the latest gear and technology being used in the photography world. I just wanted to pose a fun little question for the photographers on the show to think about. The scenario goes something like this, Hypothetically if your digital cameras and gear were to be taken away and all you were left with was one plastic single one element lens camera such as a Holga. Would you still feel compelled to shoot photographs or would the downgrade sour the photographic experience? In other words would you still be a photographer even without the cool toys?

Andy: Photography is photography. I would not trade my digital stuff for the world because it allows me financially to experiment however I do have a Holga and sometimes shooting when you know you only have 12 or 14 shots in the camera changes the way you think about taking pictures. When I was in Beijing, I spent the day with a street photographer who shoots film and we got talking about the spray and prey approach that is common now with digital whereas he was talking about the more contemplative or meditative act of waiting for that moment to take that one frame that actually summarizes this moment best. In the end it all comes down to that one image that you put on Flickr or on the wall. If you get it through digital great. If you get it through film then great. I will enjoy both kinds of photography.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

Ron – lens cloth that is neutral gray which can also double as a White Balance card

Aaron – the new Flickr application for the iPhone

Andy – Tenergy battery cases for carrying and storing batteries

Alex – Eye-Fi Pro wireless SD Card

WRAP UP

Andy Ihnatko – www.cwob.com or www.twitter.com/ihnatko

Aaron Mahler - www.twitter.com/halfpress or www.halfpress.com

Ron Brinkmann – www.digitalcompositing.com or www.twitter.com/ronbrinkmann

Alex Lindsay - www.twitter.com/alexlindsay or www.pixelcorps.tv

Frederick Van Johnson - www.twitter.com/frederickvan or www.frederickvan.com

Show notes by Bruce Clarke at www.momentsindigital.com or www.twitter.com/bruceclarke

Visit the blog at www.twiplog.com and the Flickr critique group.