Jon Roemer - Photographer - Blog

Live View is My Friend

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Live View is My Friend

Back in Matte

A huge sigh of relief will be heard round the world today from photographers, videographers, and others who rely on Apple's MacBook Pro on location. This morning Apple re-introduced the antiglare "matte" option on the 15" MacBook Pro.

Down the Rabbit Hole with Canon's AF Microadjustment

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Down the Rabbit Hole with Canon’s AF Microadjustment

Closet Light

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Closet Light

Neil vs. the G10

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Neil vs. the G10

But What I Really Want to Do is Direct

The coming convergence is on our doorstep with announcements of the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D Mark II, both still cameras, dslrs, offering flavors of high definition video.  The photo Internet online world seems to have gotten itself into a tizzy with buzz and noise on how great this is.  I find myself though shaking my head a bit.

It's not that I don't think this is cool.  It is.  To see the stunning quality of the high def video, to see the ability to work in little to no light, to see the control over the image with the lenses we all already use - it is very cool.  But where were we two weeks ago?  Where we all doing our work in a funk because what we really wanted to do was direct?  Did we all have a moviemaker trapped inside of us because the equipment limited us?

As professional photographers, with the switch to digital, the stories about clients who purchase their own digital cameras and then think they can do our jobs are a dime a dozen.  After Nikon's and Canon's recent announcements I have to think there's a bar somewhere filled with filmmakers all huddled around the glow of a laptop, reading the various forums and blogs, and having a great laugh.  "Look at the still photographers, they think they can do our job!"

Don't get me wrong, I want to try the high def video on the 5D Mark II. I am curious to see its capabilities and its usefulness but if I'm smart I'll remind myself of my current camcorder (a standard def mini-dv model) and my Mac.  I, like many, had grand plans.  I would edit my video in iMovie, make small movies and post them online for family and friends.  I did do this initially, a half-dozen times or so, but then it ended.  It's time consuming to edit and I'm already chained to my computer for my still photography so I balked at even more computer time. Now when I videotape something I plug the camcorder directly into the tv to watch the footage.  It's simple and easy and adds no extra time to the process. Maybe I'm just a still photographer at heart.  Are you?

Quadupodular

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Quadupodular

The Wide You Know

Back in July I posted on the search for the holy grail, wide angle lenses for the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III.  I ended with some hope about the new Zeiss 18mm f/3.5 lens coming this summer.  This morning there is news on that front.

First:  Zeiss announced today that they will be releasing lenses in the Canon Mount.  They are starting with the 50mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.4.  One can assume that the other Zeiss lenses already available in the Nikon mount will follow.

Second:  There are now Zeiss 18mm f/3.5 reviews online:

Andi Dietrich

SLR Lens Review

Diglloyd.com

What I am seeing, especially in Andi's review, is that the Zeiss 18mm might be a touch sharper overall but that it suffers barrel distortion and corner softness.  If you don't go wider than 20mm on the Canon 16-35 II, you calibrate your Canon 16-35 II and you are shooting stopped down (e.g. f/8~f/11) then the Canon may be in the running.  I know that's a lot of "ifs" but if it's an architecture shoot then the only real if is not going wider than 20mm on the Canon lens.  Also, factor in that we don't know if Andi's 16-35 II is calibrated and I'm going to sit tight and revisit this down the line when the Zeiss lens comes out in the Canon mount.

Update 9/17/08:  Zeiss will be coming out with a 21mm f2.8 Distagon T* in the Canon mount.  Very exciting.  This could be the lens and especially useful for architecture.

Having Fun on Set

Princeton, NJ 08/04/08
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 35mm f/1.4 Lens

Photographing multiple executives is never easy.  You're trying to get  good expressions from everyone, ideally in the same frame, and there may be politics or other issues lurking beneath the surface. With a single subject portrait you can pick an environment that will work for any subject and then finesse it once you see the subject's body language.  Four subjects multiplies the issues, well, four-fold.

The above is an outtake but it's nice to catch a moment like this where everyone relaxes, laughs and lets their guard down.  It means the subsequent images, even if they are more formal, will not be too stiff.

This image is a continuation of the Game Changers post from August 10th. Here, I'm again taking advantage of those Profoto AcuteB 600r battery-powered packs and using all three.  One with a grid spot to rake down across the stone; one right next to it with a Profoto Softlight, grid and a 1/4 cut orange gel to be the main light on the subjects; and one to camera right bouncing off of the white underside of the exterior entryway awning to add some fill.

From Magic to Science

My kids have been completely ensconced within Harry Potter for some time now.  They read and re-read each book multiple times.  I have not read the books, much to their dismay, but I have enjoyed watching the movies with them.  As a photographer, one detail in the movies (and I assume the books as well) can't escape your eye.  Whenever a print image is shown (newspaper, flyer, framed print or poster on a wall) the image within it moves.  It's not meant to be full video.  The motion is jerky and just like a radar loop on a weather map it constantly repeats itself.  In photos loved ones can wave, in the paper it can give a bit more information than a still image.  It's a very striking effect and one that would seem to be confined to the author's imagination. Well...

This fall Esquire magazine will be producing electronic covers using technology from E-Ink.  The covers will be black and white, just like Harry Potter.  The basic elements of the page are the same as traditional print with the addition of a thin film, I assume a chip of some sort and an extremely thin battery.

Recently, in the photo world there has been talk of convergence.  The convergence of cameras already here or soon to come, ones that will shoot high quality video and still imagery simultaneously.  The inferred belief that in the future commercial still photographers will have to learn video.  If this Esquire cover technology takes off, goes beyond being a novelty, what will that mean? Are we slated to have a moving image for all commercial work whether we like it or not?  Somehow that's doubtful.  A magazine filled with only movable images will probably come off as too busy and too noisy (not sound noise but visual overload noise.)  But then again, if the norm is a movable image, will the client insist on both? "Just in case." There's also the green factor.  Is print embedded with moving images created via additional materials moving in the right direction?  

As photographers do we want to go through another transition?  Can't we rest, at least for a bit, having made the transition to digital?  In the end, we'll probably have no choice in the matter.  The market and tools will determine how things progress.  No matter what happens though, having two infant technologies point in the same direction at the same time is interesting indeed...

NPR story on E-Ink and Esquire's upcoming covers