Tag: sony

Ruins, marketing, and megapixels

Posted in Consumer Culture, Gear Talk, Other Thoughts and Reflections, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , 6 Comments

In the quest to sell cameras, companies convince us that the latest features are things we need to have. Have you ever heard that more megapixels are better, for example? You may think that the latest 42 megapixel beast is better in every way than your trusty old 12 megapixel compact, but this isn’t telling the whole story.

Ruins of the old school in Wirrabara Forest – Sony RX100

My old Nikon D70 only features a 6.1 megapixel sensor, but that’s more than enough for web viewing. It’s overkill for viewing on a phone screen. It can be printed at 4×6 inches, 7×5, and even 8×10 (possibly a little more too) if cropping hasn’t happened and you don’t use a magnifying glass to examine details.

This is where more megapixels has advantages: recording finer detail and the ability to crop the photo without losing too much of that detail when viewing at larger sizes. Six megapixels can stretch over a forest scene and pick up plenty of detail for small sized prints, but 24 megapixels can be halved in cropping and still print quite large without significant loss of detail across the image.

Sony RX100 output
Nikon D70 output

Consider the two photos above. The first is from my Sony RX100 – a 20.2 megapixel compact camera from 2012; edited from Raw. And the second photo is a straight JPG from my Nikon D70 – a 6.1 megapixel DSLR from 2004.

Ignoring the different white balance settings and the aggressive sharpening on the D70 photo, both images look quite detailed don’t they? But the RX100 file contains a lot more tonality and detail, and this can be seen when zooming during the editing process.

When output to compressed JPG – where finer details are lost and pixels discarded – and resized to the same dimensions, the two photos aren’t noticeably different. At small print and viewing sizes, 6.1 versus 20.2 megapixels is not significantly different to the eye. Print large, and all of a sudden, the detail of the 20.2 megapixel image will become apparent, as the D70’s admirable but comparatively humble resolution struggles to stretch to these sizes and details look blurry.

Rusting out in the green field – Sony RX100

Buckets of photons

Even though it’s best to be careful when framing photos with a low megapixel camera like the Nikon D70, it allows one to slow down and consider the scene. There is another variable at play here too – largish digital sensors with a low megapixel count have bigger pixels, and will usually produce less digital noise. Packing 20 or 40 million pixels onto the same sized sensor will produce more digital noise.

I remember my first digital camera – a grey plastic Kodak with an awfully tiny LCD screen, 1 megapixel, and batteries that barely lasted 12 shots. I did enjoy it though, as the colour profile over-saturated the colours and the JPGs looked nice to my eyes. It made some decent looking 6×4 inch prints, but anything larger and you’d easily see the pixelation on any lines that weren’t straight.

Every pixel on a sensor captures photons. The best analogy I’ve heard is to think of each pixel as a bucket, and each photon as a drop of water. You can put more buckets onto a large sensor but the more you cram on there, the smaller the buckets have to be. You can’t fill those small buckets with too much water without spilling it over to neighbouring buckets. And if you put 40 million buckets on a small sensor, those are going to be tiny buckets that can’t hold much water at all!

This is partly why smartphones with small sensors and 100 megapixels aren’t so good at making finely detailed photos. The light spills from tiny buckets and causes loss of detail, blown highlights, and noisy interference with neighbouring buckets. A larger camera sensor with less megapixels and bigger pixels can produce less noisy images with good detail. It’s also part of the reason why my Nikon D70, with an APS-C sized sensor and only 6.1 megapixels, produces practically noise free images up to ISO 400. That, and the fact that those CCD sensors seemed to produce a finer grained digital noise pattern that lends itself well to black and white conversion.

If only old walls could talk – Sony RX100

Glass, perceived sharpness, print size, and viewing distance

The quality of a lens also impacts the perceived detail in images. A sharp lens at the optimal F-stop, with good camera technique, can make even an old sensor with single digit megapixel counts shine. Likewise, poor optics can cause even 24 megapixel images to look mushy.

What constitutes a sharp photo? Lots of fine detail is important. But what about contrast? How about focus and blur? Big megapixel count cameras will punish average lenses and bad technique at the pixel level, as they’ll look less sharp than expected.

Here’s another thing to consider: viewing distance. The further away you are from a printed image, the less fine detail you’ll see. For example, I could print a photo from my D70 at 8×10 inches, 300 dpi, and while it would appear less sharp close-up, it could hang on my wall and look sharp enough at a normal viewing distance. I could even print at twice that size and as long as the viewer wasn’t close, the photo would look OK and certainly be recognisable. Up close, the edges would look blurry and other digital artifacts would show up. But it’s also wise to remember that there’s more to a good photo than whether you can see edge blurriness or not. An arresting image will always trump some loss of detail.

For optimally sharp prints at 8×10 inches and 300dpi, 7.2 megapixels is the minimum requirement. But remember, these are numbers for optimal sharpness, and 6.1 megapixels will still look OK when printed a bit larger because our normal viewing distance isn’t pixel peeping up close. The same applies to other megapixel counts: optimal sharpness versus actual viewing habits.

Lovely rust on blue – Sony RX100

So, what does it all mean?

If you’re looking to buy a camera, ask yourself this: what am I going to use it for? If you’re only going to share photos on the web, any digital camera since 2003 will serve you well. If you want to print the occasional photo, but you’re not looking to go much bigger than 8×10 inches, then look at cameras of at least 8 megapixels. Want the sharpest photos possible, with the most detail recorded, and you also have access to the best printers available that can actually print all that detail at poster sizes? Then you’ll be looking at cameras with at least 24 megapixels. You’ll probably need even more if you really want images with as much fine detail as possible. And that’s not to mention the cost of top quality glass!

Forgotten towns of the Flinders with the Nikon D70

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The Flinders Ranges in South Australia is an incredibly ancient place. Fossil evidence of some of the earth’s earliest life has been found in this area. The Nikon D70 might be old, having been released in 2004, but the rocks in the Flinders could tell impossibly old stories about the formation of life! That’s some perspective!

All that’s left of the Bangor township

The Flinders Ranges is also home to many ruins and old towns that are mostly abandoned. There was once a time when settlers in the area thought that the heavy rains of the time signified that the area would be prime farming land, but they were mistaken. The rains were unusual, and the area soon returned to dryness and low annual rainfall. Disaster befell the towns and the people who had tried to carve out a life. Today, old weathered shop signs are barely readable, dust blows down quiet streets, windows reveal the dark innards of abandoned buildings, and rusty padlocks prevent entry through old doorways.

The Nikon D70

The Nikon D70 was released in 2004 and represented great opposition to the Canon 300D. It has a 6.1 megapixel CCD sensor and features a top LCD, and dedicated buttons for Bracketing, WB, Exposure Compensation, and ISO. As with most Nikon cameras, the D70 has great ergonomics and feels good in the hand.

My D70 is a recent purchase from eBay, and though I don’t know how many shutter activations it’s had, the price I paid doesn’t make it especially crucial. It came with three Compact Flash cards, a charger and battery.

Upon arrival, I noticed that it was showing the dreaded CHA error on the top LCD. After some online research, this could mean a range of things, but most often relates to a communications issue with the Compact Flash card. In my case, I’m pretty sure that the copper pins have lost much of their gold plating. As the copper oxidizes, connectivity between the camera and the Compact Flash card degrades.

I found that wiggling and pressing firmly on the inserted card fixed the error, but it may return at any time. I’ll deal with it if it happens, but the camera worked without a hitch when day-tripping around the Flinders Ranges.

Nikon D70 settings

The D70 can record Raw files, but I decided to set it to the Fine/Large JPG output only. I wanted to see what kind of processing the camera applies and how the out-of-camera JPGs look. The day was cloudy, so I left the Nikon on the Cloudy White Balance setting all day. Old user reports suggest that the AWB setting tends to be a bit inaccurate and the D70 also underexposes to protect highlights. To offset this, I set the camera to +0.3 Exposure Compensation much of the time.

I used a custom picture setting for most of the day: +1 Sharpness, 0 Tone, Adobe colours, and Enhanced Saturation. Even at a sharpening level of +1, I find that the D70 applies it too aggressively. Better to leave it at zero and then sharpen in post with a lot more control. Late in the afternoon, I chose the Vivid setting and this seemed to produce less aggressively sharpened results, but was a bit dull in terms of colour output, apart from over-saturated reds. I’ll chalk that up to the overcast day and even lighting conditions at this point.

Long-forgotten and disused – Yacka, SA

The photo above was made using the Vivid setting with Cloudy White Balance. I sharpened only a little in post, with some added contrast. I think it looks pretty good for a 6.1 megapixel sensor from 2004, and as long as you don’t crop too much, good clear prints up to 8×10 inches, and possibly 11×14, could reasonably be expected at 300 dpi.

I used a Tamron 17-55m 2.8 lens, which is a pretty good match for the old sensor. I’ve often had issues with this lens on higher resolution camera bodies, but on the D70 it does an admirable job. There were no auto-focus misses and sharpness is pretty decent across the frame at most focal lengths.

Wirrabara Forest

I took along my trusty little Sony RX100 as a back-up camera, just in case the D70 presented with the CHA error again. I’ll process the Raw files from it and post some examples. Needless to say, there’s a big difference between the 20 megapixel output from the Sony versus the 6.1 megapixel output of the Nikon. That said, having minimal megapixels to work with does encourage better framing and composition, since there’s not much room for cropping.

Botanicals and the Biophilia Hypothesis – Sony RX100

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In my current, seemingly endless and potentially dull, blogging about the little Sony RX100 Mark 1 camera, I’ve realised that I really enjoy using old cameras. Not exclusively old cameras, mind, but just older cameras when the mood strikes. The very idea that I’d upgrade as soon as the latest fancy-glitter-megapixel thing hits the shelves is tedious. The whole thing is exhausting, really. It’s also why I’m excited to receive an old Nikon D70 in the post.

The sunny edges we miss

There’s some science behind the nurturing properties of spending time in nature, with reports that subjective well-being is elevated, even for people with depression and anxiety. Many people report feeling recharged when they spend time in nature, be it walking through the local forest or walking along the beach. The Biophilia Hypothesis posits that humans are innately attracted to natural places and living areas filled with biodiversity. By seeking out this connection, we truly get back to who we are as living beings.

A world of green

Have you ever wondered why stress levels are so high in urban environments? The further away we are from nature and our natural selves, the greater our risk of developing a wide range of physical and mental health problems. Even something as simple as exposure to natural light each day can promote better sleep and improved subjective well-being. And the addition of green spaces to urban areas is linked with lower levels of stress.

Bamboo in the sun

We all need connection

What would it be like to see our planet from the deep cold of space? Some astronauts report their lives being significantly changed and their views transformed after seeing earth from this unique angle. The Overview Effect is a transformative state of mind that affects some astronauts. They report that after viewing our planet suspended in the depths of space, they develop not just a new appreciation for beauty, but a deep connection to all life.

Our small blue planet, from this point of view, is incredibly fragile and special – an oasis in a cold, black vacuum. There may indeed be billions of planetary star systems out there, but we’ll likely never reach them as even the closest is impossibly distant, and beyond the reach of the best rocket science, unless there’s a sudden shift in our understanding of time and space. So, rather than pollute the sea and soil beneath our feet, we should imagine our planet as a tiny blue speck, teeming with life, finite and fragile.

Tin, wood, and rust

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There are dozens of old pictures on the SD card from my Sony RX100, many of them textures and abstracts. With these subjects, I prefer a photo that’s sharp enough to show the small details. Apart from some softness in the corners, the RX100 Mark 1 is possibly sharpest at an f-stop of 5.6. The combination of sensor and multi-coated Zeiss optics is a good match.

A nice arrangement of textures, shapes, and colours

There’s something distinctly Australian about rusty sheets of corrugated metal. In wandering around the streets looking for interesting scenes to record, a rather annoyed man asked what I was doing on his property. Though he was behind a fence, it seems that his property extended to what looked like public space. He insisted on this, despite my questions about how the area seemed to be arranged and how one could easily wander onto what he claimed was his turf. In the end, he permitted me to wander a little further as I assured him that I was uninterested in doing anything underhanded. It wasn’t worth the quarrel in the end, and certainly not worth the risk of harm.

The Australian summer can be very harsh. Though winters here are generally quite mild, climate change and extreme weather events notwithstanding, summers can be cruel to humans, animals, and building materials. Still, the combination of rust, metal, wood, and peeling paint is an eye-catcher, even on a cloudy day.

Speaking of clouds: not the greatest days in terms of golden light, but heavy clouds reduce harsh contrasts so that more detail is recorded in photos. Strong cloud-cover also means lower dynamic range, making it easier for the digital sensor to handle the highlights.

All photos were processed from Raw, though I’m keen to cut down on editing time and use a few custom JPG presets. In this context, I’ve set the RX100 to record both Raw and JPG files. This allows me to mess around with picture settings without relying on JPG output alone.

Public and private space

Whilst confrontation is often not worthwhile for photographers, there are certainly times when questioning laws and perceptions of those laws is applicable and useful. Being aware of where public space ends and where private space begins is important for photographers, especially if commercial intent is involved. And sometimes, it’s not clear where the private and public zones are.

Street photography has a long and rich history, but there’s a current cultural climate in which people are sensitive about someone pointing a camera in their direction. I can obstinately pronounce that the law and public space permits me to use my camera in this way, but laws versus people’s feelings is different. It’s also worth considering that there’s a difference between photographing a stranger in public space and being in that public space and photographing the texture of a brick. There’s far greater potential for confrontation in the former example.

I may quote my legal right to photograph strangers on the street, but often the risk of personal harm is not worth the effort to defend one’s rights. There’s also a question around ethics and recording the lives of some of the most vulnerable in society. Where does documentation end and voyeurism begin? The most vulnerable on our streets, dispossessed and struggling, are easily exploited. And is it ethical to exploit the most vulnerable for personal gain? Or should we take the longer view – that all such recording of people’s circumstances contribute to an important historical record?

Waterways and constructions – more pictures from the Sony RX100

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Having scoured the SD card for older photos, I note my preference for framing textures, patterns, and abstracts with the little Sony RX. I expect the imminent arrival of a metal hand-grip to improve handling, as I’m always a little concerned that the sleek black metal body will one day slip from my fingers. It’s already a small camera, and since current second-hand prices for this model are not exactly cheap, replacing it would likely not be worthwhile.

Submerged in lovely green

There’s a small sea vessel beneath the floating seaweed and greenish water. It was one of those days where sun penetrated the water and highlighted submerged structures. I think this photo was made at an aperture of 5.6 and an ISO of 125 – the base ISO of the RX100. Noise is not even really an issue until you get to ISO 400 and above. Even then, modern denoising tools are great at what they do.

A rocky world of sand and seaweed

I especially like the blue in the picture above. Some people suggest that the RX100 biases towards blue/green on Automatic White Balance, but so far I’ve yet to find the AWB setting not to my liking. Of course, seaside photos like this are perfect if settings bias to cooler tones. Nikon cameras traditionally have a cooler bias, but that’s only ever an issue if JPG output is the goal.

Beams and struts

Rarely do I convert a colour image to black and white. Lightroom does provide some nice colour filter options, and I do recognise that black and white images can be powerful. In the photo above, black and white conversion has enhanced the beams, surfaces, and light and shadow.

RX edits

All of the photos in this post are from the RX100’s Raw files. My editing is fairly minimal, and includes some Contrast and Clarity boosts, as well as Vibrance. My sharpening is actually quite spartan, as the diminutive Sony applies some baked-in pre-processing. I believe that some sharpening is already applied, including chromatic aberration reduction, and distortion correction. Consequently, the RX100’s Raw files already look pretty good.

In terms of noise reduction, I don’t do extra at all at base ISO for any camera, as the noise pattern is already so low as to be invisible if print is the goal. I do like Lightroom’s AI-based noise reduction though. It makes pictures at 3200 ISO and above practically noise-free.

Abstracts, reflections, and textures – Sony RX100 Mark 1

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Trawling through old pictures from my RX100, I see a few that catch my eye. For some reason, I make many more contemplative and abstract photos with this camera. I think the form factor has a lot to do with it. Being able to put it in a pocket and pull it out whenever I see something interesting, without fanfare or too much technical preparation, results in a sense of ease. Consequently, I find my mind more open to the world and the image.

Reflections in glass and water are always interesting to me. The world is reflected and abstracted, turning into shards and odd shapes – a separate dimension. People walk by, unaware that their doppelgangers exist inside the glass.

I’ve always been drawn to graffiti. Humans have been engaging in the act of scrawling names, messages, and sexual innuendo for as long as we’ve been able to make a mark. The green door above, surrounded by opportunist scrawls made by urban rogues and cocksure teens, caught my eye. I also like the play of light and shadow.

Things to love about the RX100

Originally, I purchased the RX100 as a way to make great photos with a minimum of fuss. At the time, it was either the RX or the slightly older Canon Powershot S110. I’d used an older and less well-featured Powershot in the past, and I’m sure I’d also have been happy with the S110 had I decided on it at the time.

Still, the RX100 is a classic digital camera for very good reasons. The 20.2 megapixel Sony-made CMOS sensor is excellent, even now. Combined with the Zeiss-made lens, detail is superb for such a small camera. The detail in shadow areas is also well-preserved and the Raw files have plenty of latitude. The body is robust, and mine is certainly in great condition, as I’ve not used it regularly in the last ten years.

I daresay that a camera like this would suit many people who think that a larger camera is best for what they do. It’s a pity that Sony have discontinued the RX line, even if they have replaced it with the vlogger-friendly ZV line. The RX100 proves that Sony knows how to make feature-rich groundbreaking cameras. I know that I’ll be using it a lot more. Next time, I hope to try out some of my custom JPG picture settings.

Possible picture settings for the Sony RX100

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When I wanted to transition from a small Canon Powershot point & shoot to a more sophisticated camera, I had two in mind: The Canon Powershot S110 or the Sony RX100. I opted for the Sony partly because it was newer than the Canon and partly because it seemed a powerful camera in a tiny and well-built body. I wasn’t disappointed.

At the time, the pocketable, all-black RX100 was considered an amazing compact camera. Even today, over a decade later, the original RX100 holds up amazingly well. The Raw files are malleable and provide plenty of editing latitude. In many ways, the Rx100 is like a DSLR in a small body, and I guess that was the point behind it.

Photo settings

I’ve not used the Rx100 too much over the years, mostly because I purchased a DSLR not too long after and moved up from there. The RX sat around for a long time but lately, I’ve fostered a new appreciation for small cameras with great output. Though I normally edit Raw files and eschew JPG output, my time is limited these days and I find myself looking much more at JPG output and useful camera settings to make my life easier.

Diving into the needlessly verbose Sony menu, I’ve added the Creative Picture modes to the Function button for easy access, alongside ISO, Metering, and Exposure Compensation. This makes it fast and easy to switch to another picture mode when out and about.

Here are my picture mode settings for the next outing:

Black & White:

  • Contrast +1
  • Sharpening +1

Standard:

  • Saturation +1
  • Sharpening +1
  • Contrast -2

Vivid:

  • Saturation -1
  • Sharpening +1
Fiery sunset – Sony DSC RX100

There’s no optimum setting, just a wide range of possible photographic looks. Old internet wisdom from users at the time suggest that the RX100’s JPG output requires a touch more sharpening. DRO and High ISO Noise Reduction are both turned off. Whilst DRO does effectively tackle high dynamic range situations and tames highlights and shadows, it can add more noise to shadow areas at higher ISOs, making it not so awesome for low light photography. I’m also experimenting with White Balance and have it set to AWB and +1 to Amber, so photos should look a little warmer. Some users report that there’s a tendency for the AWB to bias towards blue/green. Being able to tweak this deeply on such a small camera is still amazing, even today!

Of course, Raw is always the preferred option, so I’ve left the Sony at RAW + JPG and the 20 Megapixel image setting. This gives me the option to use the JPG if I like the output or dive into editing the Raw file if I have the time and the photo is a real keeper. We’ll see how these settings work out !

Abstracts & macros with the Finepix S7000

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When the clouds are heavy and the weather inclement, I like to look for interesting patterns and textures in the environment. It’s also a good way to test out the macro abilities of the Fujifilm Finepix S7000. On these old fixed lens digicams, there was usually a dedicated Macro mode button. The S7000 has two modes – Macro and Super-Macro, making it possible to get as close as one centimetre away from the subject.

The details are crunchy enough in the close-up photo above, even before any Lightroom tweaking. I’m not going overboard with the editing, as these are only 8 bit JPGs and don’t contain a lot of information to work with. Small boosts to contrast and clarity, with a minimal increase in vibrance is enough to make it shine. Other settings are my usual on this camera: 12 MP Fine* JPG.

Since we were at the seaside, it made sense to photograph the lovely colours and patterns of the shallows. And in good light, the Finepix is a fine camera even 20 years after it debuted. Just a slight decrease to highlights and a slight boost to contrast and the photo comes alive I think.

Lastly, the photo above intrigues me. The seabed is distorted by the water and there’s something red lying on the sand below. One might almost think there are strange creatures inhabiting the salty depths, throwing out exploratory tentacles.

Next outing, I’ll probably take another camera. Perhaps the Sony RX100 – a camera I’ve had in my possession for a decade and have barely explored. Certainly a nice camera that was once King in the world of compacts – when compact cameras were still a going market concern.

Watch the shutter speed – a hike with the Finepix S7000

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OK, I pushed it today. I really did. And it didn’t really work. I should have known better, but I like to risk it sometimes. What am I risking? A blurry photo in conditions that should attract higher ISO/wider apertures.

The S7000 came with us for a hike today. The weather wasn’t great for old cameras with visible noise at what would be considered only moderate ISO ranges these days. The S7000 operates at a base ISO of 200, which is already a touch noisy. Add in a few rain drizzles and heavily overcast skies, and the problems become apparent.

I managed a few decent macro shots at lower than ideal shutter speeds, one of which is pictured above. What I noticed was that even on the F-chrome picture setting, the JPG output was decidedly dull. It lacked any punch or saturation, even in the greens. I’ll put that down to the overcast day and the even lighting conditions. At the very least, the clouds enabled some nice detail in macro photos.

Admittedly, I did add some Clarity, Vibrance, and Texture in Lightroom for these photos, but nothing overboard. I’m fortunate that the teeny 1/1.7 inch sensor is fairly forgiving of movement, as my shutter speeds just weren’t fast enough for most of the hike. This is because I really didn’t want to push to ISO 400 for fear of noise. Still, I should have widened the aperture more often. Perhaps I’m just too used to any form of stabilisation in my cameras.

Overall, a bit of a down day with the Finepix S7000. Today was as disappointing as last time was surprising. I’m pleased enough with the three photos that worked though. Looking at them now, they’re quite pleasant. My favourite is the arrangement of tree branches. I should certainly know better, of course, and I didn’t adapt. I was stubborn about my approach.

I suppose today just wasn’t the day for it. Next time I may take out the Sony RX100 and flip that to Vivid picture mode. No doubt, Sony’s sensor would handle a day like today with sufficient aplomb. I did also have my Olympus OMD EM5II with me, but it was the Finepix that I wanted to use, given the success I had the first time.

What did I learn today?

  • Older cameras like this love a lot more light,
  • Always watch shutter speed,
  • Even when I think I can hold steady, watch the shutter speed!
  • Be more flexible in my photographic approach,
  • Don’t be too hard on myself because there’s nothing wrong with learning and experimenting.