just a few days after i wrote, “i suspect my camera bag in the near future will be filled with lenses that compliment and extend the capabilities of my smartphone,” i ran across this wonderful photo shot by grant hutchinson with a qx100 which retails for about $500. and then i find this incredible kickstarter project for “moment” lenses with, “..optimized multi-element designs using the same recipe in designing professional cinema glass for HD film…” which will retail for $99. project out 3 years and the full body “prosumer” dslr is getting devoured on both the high and low end.
Tag Archives: photography
DPR Connect: Smartphones versus DSLRs versus film – A look at how far we’ve come.
i was just talking to someone about digital cameras and said i was thinking about not replacing my aging d70 with another dslr and they looked at me like i was crazy. but using my lumia 928 – which is a remarkable camera ( with a stellar “pro” camera app ) saddled with an unremarkable operating system – you can see clearly the author’s conclusion that smartphones are rapidly evolving into premium, prime-lens compact cameras that rival dslrs in many respects and that “…many of their limitations will disappear in a few short years with zippier processing. Only their fixed lens remains as an Achilles’ heel…” ( the gap will close faster than the authors conclude ) and that’s why i think i’ll probably hold out a bit longer for smart lenses like the Sony QX10 and QX100. i suspect my camera bag in the near future will be filled with lenses that compliment and extend the capabilities of my smartphone. i hope nikon is there because i still love, love, love nikon glass. update: now that i think of it, why not a “smart” box with a sensor in it like the sony QX10 that works with existing nikon glass like the wonderful nikon 50mm f/1.8? [ via ] update coincidental post from kottke, “Goodbye cameras, hello networked lenses”
day 3255: beta testing the kite aerial photography rig!
i mentioned i was interested in getting into kite aerial photography with odin so first things first, we needed to build a rig and test it out. as i mentioned in previous post “kite aerial photography 101” rig seemed about my speed – not too complicated and not too expensive and looks like it takes great pictures.
so we built a simple rig out of an 18″ bookshelf bracket, some large clips, a few key rings and string and decided to beta test the setup to see if the kite could generate enough lift with a test camera that didn’t actually work so we wouldn’t feel too bad if we crashed the kite.
but first, we wanted to test the kite with the bracket attached to the kite via about 50 feet of string but without a camera attached.
much to my surprise even with out little 4 foot delta kite – it worked !
i highlighted the bracket with a red rectangle to make it a little easier to see.
here’s another view of the maiden flight sans camera. letting the bracket swing 50 feet from the kite ( highlighted in red ) i think helps dampen the vibration down the string which is how you’re able to get such good images without complicated set-up but it does make it a little more difficult to get the camera really high up the air when you only have 150 feet of kite string! clearly we need more kite string 🙂
then we attached the non-functional camera and shortened the distance between the kite and the camera to around 30 feet to see if the camera/bracket swayed any more erratically than with 50 feet ( it didn’t ). i’m sure when we start taking photos we’ll need to do some experimentation to get the an optimal distance for clear images.
even with the added weight of the camera, the little delta kite generated enough lift to take the camera up in a relatively tame wind. i think the rig we have will be fine for similar sized point and shoot cameras but we’d definitely want a larger kite if we were going to send up a dslr.
we used a simple key ring to attach the rig to the kite. easy peasy to put on and take off!
the other end of the string that is connected to the kite is attached to a simple hanger fashioned from metal wire with another key ring.
and here’s the business end of the rig which is attached to the hanger. it’s simply a bookshelf bracket with oversized clips attached with a some metal wire twisted through the bracket slots and a few key rings. very, very easy to put together and quite affordable for a test rig.
the camera is attached via the tripod mount on the bottom of most cameras with an appropriately sized screw. as you can see, the nice think about the book shelf bracket is that it already comes with slots or attached more cameras 🙂
as i mentioned the beta test was with a non-functional camera so we wouldn’t feel too badly if we crashed the kite and ruined the camera. next, i need to find a functioning camera that cheap enough that i still won’t feel too bad about wrecking if we have a crash but that has the ability to take interval shots ( e.g. take a shot every 30 seconds ) which is normally a feature reserved for higher end cameras.
it turns out the canon hack development kit lets you add that feature to just about any canon camera, even an aging point and shoot.
so who has and old canon point and shoot sitting around gathering dust that they’d like to donate to our kite aerial photography adventures?
some of you might be asking why on earth we’re doing this? here’s a great gallery of spectacular kite aerial photos that gives a good flavor of the types of images we’re hoping to capture.
thinking about getting into kite aerial photography with odin.
as if i didn’t have enough to do with building The World’s Most Awesome Treehouse(s), i’m thinking of starting Adventures in kite aerial photography (kap) with odin and trekking around wisconsin and beyond to take awesome photographs.
right now i’m looking for a relatively simple rig to get started. something like this “kite aerial photography 101” seems right up my speed. not too complicated and not too expensive and looks like it takes great pictures.
anyone have any experience with kap and have suggestions for rigs? even better, anyone have a spare rig sitting around?
Chris Hadfield’s Snapshots from Space
commander hadfield shares how he takes those amazing photos from the international space station. he’s got an impressive rig.
The Photographer Series: Bryce Kanights
i recently ran across this photographer series interview with bryce kanights who, over the past 20 years, has witnessed and photographed many of skateboarding’s legends doing legendary things. i had a subscription to thrasher magazine when the infamous “gonz at alcatraz” photo was published in 1986 and remember flipping through the pages and seeing it for the first time.
the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the masses that camera phone photos would hold up over time
none other than marco arment laments the realization that the photos he’s taken over the past two years with his iphone look like junk when viewed on screens larger that 3.5″ and really don’t hold up on large, high-density screens like the retina display. when compared to how his dlsr photos have held up, the difference is so pronounced that he’s switching back, or at least attempting to be more conscious about using his big rig to future proof his photos. good choice, since optics/physics fundamentals dictate that camera phone photos will always be limited to looking good on smaller, lower density screens. there’s just no away around it. an interesting conundrum for handheld hardware manufacturers who are simultaneously pushing larger, higher density displays.