Having used several cameras for a lot of night photography lately, I think the Canon 5Dmark2 is quite likely the best camera on the market for night photography right now. Here are some of the highlights:

6400 ISO for testing
Being able to take photos at 6400 ISO has huge benefits for the night photographer. Night photographers tend to waste a bunch of time taking long exposures only to discover they need to reshoot with a better exposure. Testing exposures at high ISOs can save huge amounts of time but doing so has been clunky as it requires complicated math when using a camera that has a ISO ceiling of 1600. Now that that ceiling has been lifted to include 6400 ISO we can make a direct translation from ISO 6400 exposures in seconds to ISO 100 exposures in minutes. For example, a 15 second exposure at ISO 6400 is the same as a 15 minute exposure at ISO 100 (Canon’s native ISO). Nikon users can figure that a 15 second exposure at 12,800 ISO is the same as a 15 minute exposure at ISO 200 (Nikon’s native ISO).

Either way, this means a night photographer can quickly determine the optimal exposure at a high ISO before committing to a long, final exposure at the native ISO. This has provided me with significant time savings and more optimal exposures on the 5Dmark2.

Low noise
To make a long story short, the noise levels are shockingly low, even during very long exposures (like 30+ minutes at ISO 100). Even 6400 ISO images are less noisy than one would expect, (more…)

The new Apple Cinema Display and MacBooks complete Apple’s all-glass, glossy screen approach and signals the end of the matte surface, glare resistant displays that creative professionals have come to know and love over the years. 

When asked about the choice to move to all-glossy displays Phil Schiller responded “You offset the reflection by the brightness, and consumers love it” at today’s announcement event. I find this comment disappointing and it shows a disconnect with creative professionals. Consumers *do* love bright, glossy screens. Creative professionals, however, (more…)

Having just lead a workshop in Arches National Park last December, I’m particularly saddened to hear that Wall Arch collapsed last week. At 33 feet tall and 71 feet across, Wall arch was the 12th largest in the park and took millions of years to form. When humans first inhabited the park 10,000 years ago they gazed upon the same, albeit slightly younger, arch.

As a side note, Balancing Rock (pictured below) is likely to collapse within the next 75 years. This is kind of a nice reminder that, no matter how “frozen in time” any natural formations are, they are part of a timeline far, far longer than our own lives, and are constantly evolving. Although initially saddened by this loss, I feel glad to be alive and to be able to see the things that are here during my own short sliver of a larger timeline. More importantly, it makes me want to get out there and see even more while I’m here.

I see the new iPhone 3G display has a warmer and more reasonable color temperature of ~6900 Kelvin (K) instead of the original iPhone’s ~8300K.  Thank goodness. The original device was way too cool, and much cooler than any natural or common artificial lighting. Daylight averages 5000K and interior lighting averages somewhere around 3500K. I wish all digital devices were in the 4000-5000K range. If they were, the viewing experience across devices would be easier on the eye and color matching would be improved.

I think the reports of the firmware update changing the color temp are misinformed as it is unlikely that such an update would make that change. The new color temp is surely due to the new backlite light source hardware which, in an industry-wide trend, are moving to warmer color temps to get closer to natural daylight. The super cool, blueish LCDs that have been so prevalent over the past 5 years will hopefully become a thing of the past. Warmer displays are critical for print-to-screen matching and more accurate color viewing

Here’s a quick test: compare the whites on your iPhone (or any other phone) and compare that to a white piece of paper. It’s important that they be reasonably close for fairly accurate color viewing and print to screen matching. The iPhone 3G does this better than the devices before it and when combined with Safari’s color managed browser, (more…)

Those of you that have visited the Onsight studio might recognize these photos of Chateau Miraval that have graced the studio walls for the last 10 years. You may also recognize these scenes from the likes of Vanity Fair, People, Us and other magazines and newspapers this week because Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt just leased the place and the paparazzi are typically all over it. My wife’s aunt and uncle have owned Miraval for a couple decades and enjoy the rustic setting where they make organic wine and have been restoring the ancient structures and terraces. Miraval is also home to an exceptional recording studio in a medieval structure where the likes of AC/DC, The Cranberries, The Gypsy Kings and Pink Floyd (yep, thy recorded “The Wall” there) have come to get away, enjoy nature and record albums. (more…)

G7 is a proof-to-print process developed by the IDEAlliance that uses spectrophotometry to calibrate presses by the numbers to specifications like SWOP, GRACoL or FOGRA. Previous press calibration methods relied upon basic densitometry, dot gain and visual analysis and could take days of press runs and tweaking (more…)

I have searched high and low for an excellent inkjet paper for offset press proofing. Most inkjet papers are designed for maximum gamut and black Dmax rendering. In comparison to what we typically see on press these papers have a much brighter white, a much larger color gamut and a higher, richer, darker DMax. What’s worse is that these papers don’t feel like offset stock and are typically too glossy or too matte. (more…)