Sony RX-100 II (M2) available NOW

This camera now has a hands-on review on this blog. Check it out here.

It isn't due out until tomorrow, but B&H has already been selling the new Sony RX100II since yesterday, both on line and in the store. Check it out here.

I will be posting my hands-on review of the camera over the weekend, after I have had an opportunity to put it through its paces. One of the things I'll be checking out is the new WiFi capability of the camera.

Below is a quick test I did by connecting it to my Samsung Gallaxy III and using the available APP to connect the camera to the phone. The top photo is an actual image taken by the camera from the smart phone. The bottom image shows what you see on your smart phone when taking a photo with the RX-100. I already have some plans on mounting the light weight camera on a quadcopter drone and controlling the camera from my phone. We shall see.

Photographic Composition - Using light as the subject

The meaning of the word, "photography", is derived from the Greek words for "light" and "writing". Without light there would be no photograph. It would be like attempting to do a painting without paint. Black and white photography is probably a closer form of working with pure light and shadow, but color photography also adds the physical color spectrum of warm and cool tones.

I have always looked upon light itself as the chief compositional element a photographer can use to control meaning in an image. Below are a few images that derive their meaning from the compositional use of light.

Here the composition is all about the juxtaposition of geometric forms, with the most dominant form caused by the shaft of sunlight coming through the window. The models shoes were placed at the highest point of contrast on the edge of light and shadow.

Strong sunlight pouring in from a window caused the hard shadow of the glass on the table, which was used as part of the subject in the photograph. The glass itself is sharply defined against the dark wall background, which was in shadow.

Even with the main subject jammed against the lower part of the frame, it pops our due to the shaft of light hitting it and causing a high point of contrast.

The apple is lit by a very late window light. Placing a black card behind it created a deep shadow behind the apple and sharply defined its outline.

This photo was taken in a hotel room. The front of the door was lit by artificial light in the bedroom, which the light coming under the door was from bright sunlight coming from a window in the bathroom. Since tungsten light is warm and sunlight is cool, the color of the two light sources is in contrast. Balancing the overall scene for the tungsten illumination caused the daylight coming though the door to go a very eerie blue. Where you choose to color balance in an image can make all the difference in its meaning.

The main subject of this photograph, the rower, was already in shadow when I took this picture, and our attention shifted to the pattern of his wake harshly lit by the rising sun.

I grabbed this shot from a car window just as the setting sun hit the sign. The bright contrast centered over the two arrows forms the center of the composition.

This photo derives its meaning from the only illumination in this photograph, a desk lamp placed above the blank legal pad.

The bright setting sun sharply outlines the leaves in the foreground. Placing the right leaf over a brighter background shape further clarifies its outline. The leaf on the right is beginning to get lost in the darker background shadows, which is the main reason I kept the sharp focus on the more important leaf to the left. 

An overcast evening light in winter created this moody silhouette of the tree outlined against the cloudy sky. The blue tint in the scene is caused by the cool temperature of dark, overcast evening clouds. The color temperature of this image is completely opposite to the warm tones of the sunset-leaf photo above it.

New Fuji firmware available for X-Pro1, X-E1, X100s, and lenses

A new firmware version for the Fuji X-series cameras and lenses is available today.  You can download it directly from Fujifilm here: FIRMWARE UPDATE. 

Pressing and holding the command dial (red arrow) activates the focus peaking. A quick press activates the magnification mode, which can then be changed from 3x to 10x by turning the dial

The new firmware offers an increase in autofocus speed with most of the Fuji lenses. Autofocus has also been improved in low contrast scenes and scenes with horizontal stripes.

The update also introduces focus peaking on the X-Pro1 and X-E1 cameras when using manual focus. A new dual image magnification feature  is incorporated into the command dial and aids manual focus by showing either 3x or 10x magnification of the image area.

An upgrade of the lens firmware on the following lenses is also necessary for a complete to take full advantage of the new camera software:

- 14mm
- 18mm
- 18-55mm
- 35mm
- 60mm Macro

You need to match the firmware version of camera and lens to take advantage of the full upgrade package. For an X-Pro1 for instance, that would mean upgrading all elements to Version 3.0.

Using the Leica M (240) for close-up and macro photography

The advent of live view in the new Leica M camera opens up shooting possibilities that were not previously available on a rangefinder camera. Because the lens and viewfinder were in two different places close focus was limited due to the problem of parallax. Most M-lenses to not focus very close on purpose to avoid the parallax problem. All that has changed. Now the photographer can see directly through the taking lens allowing for absolute accuracy in composing the shot, just like on an SLR camera.

I use my Leica M camera primarily for travel photography where it is often handy to have an option of getting in close on a subject to show local details. So naturally I wanted to explore some of the close-up options available to me.

The first, most obvious solution was to mount a true SLR macro lens, like the Leica 60mm Macro-R, on the M. Leica has an adapter (unavailable as of this writing) specifically for this purpose. There are also plenty of third party adapters available on eBay. If you prefer,  you could mount a Nikon or Canon macro lens on your M Leica. Due to their ability to continuously focus from infinity to 1:1, they may even be preferable to using the Leica 60mm macro, which needs a macro adapter to get really close.

This photo was taken using a 90mm Elmarit-M combined with a +2 close-up filter.

Of course one of the main reasons I use a Leica M for travel is because it is a light weight, compact system, and I do not want to necessarily bog it down by adding a large macro lens to my camera bag. A second close-up solution, that of using close-up filters, is a much more compact solution. The two lenses I use for close-up photography are the Leica 50mm Summilux f/1.4, and the Leica 90mm Elmarit-M f/2.8. Fortunately, both have the same 46mm filter size. So all I needed was one set of close-up filters.

This is my preferred carry along close-up system for the Leica M: a set of three close-up filters, +1, +2, and +4 in a 46mm size. Stacking them together and using a pair of filter caps for protection makes for a very tiny package.

While close-up filters will not focus as close as a true macro lens, I rarely need to get that close in travel photography. And in situations where I would need a real macro 1:1 option, I probably would not be using a Leica M camera anyway. So for me, the close-up filters work fine.  I find the +2 filter to be the most versatile range for covering most subjects, and could probably get by carrying just it in my camera bag. I try to stay away from the +4 because it does add noticeable softening to the image, although stopping the lens down to f/5.6 or f/8 helps.

You can usually purchase close-up filters in a set of three, a +1, +2, and +4. They can also be stacked together to increase magnification, but doing so usually results in lowering the quality considerably, particularly when used in conjunction with a high quality Leica lens.

Below is a table that shows how each of the close-up options compares. The distances given in the table reflect the closest widths possible with each lens/filter combo.

The distances given in the table are the shortest widths available with each lens/filter combination.  Note that a 90mm lens with +4 filter is equal in width to the Leica 60mm macro lens when used without its adapter. From this you can see you can pretty much cover the gamut with just three filters added to the two Leica lenses I usually have with me anyway.

This is the Leica 60mm Macro Elmarit-R mounted on the M body. It is a much larger and heavier option than using an M lens with close-up filter, however the quality of its macro results are much better. Close-up filters tend to diminish the optical quality of a lens.

Using close-up filters will always take something away from the optical quality of a lens. Limiting yourself to the lower powers of +1 and +2 and purchasing the filters from a reputable company will help, but some quality will always be lost. Where quality is an issue a true macro lens or extension rings are better options. For the type of occasion travel shot I will do, filters work just fine. They have an added benefit of being able to be used with a very wide open aperture for better soft focus bokeh effects.

For this shot I used the pinpoint focus and narrow depth of field of an f/1.4 aperture that was available to me with the 50mm Summilux lens. True macro lenses cannot do this.

Using an extension ring with a lens is a third option that does not add anything detrimental in the optical path. I usually prefer it to using close-up filters, but finding an extension ring for a Leica M lens is very difficult. There was one made by Leica from 1959-83 called OUFRO by Leica, but it is 10cm long and provide a close up focusing range roughly equivalent to what can be obtained with a +4 closeup filter. Mounted on my 50mm Summilux-M lens, for instance, it focused from 4 5/8"-6 3/4" wide. This ring is a very difficult item to find used, although they do occasionally turn up on eBay, which is where I picked up mine. Since the +4 close-up filter is the poorest optically, using an OUFRO instead is a better option for achieving a quality image.

Here are three options currently available for close-up and macro photography with a Leica M. On the left is a 60mm Macro-Elmarit-R lens. In the middle is a 90mm Elmarit-M, 50mm Summilux, plus a set of three close-up filters. On the right is a hard to find Leica OUFRO extension ring for M mount.

This shot was taken was the minimum focusing range of the Leica 50mm Summilux lens. Sometimes I prefer to get in closer than this to show more specific detail in my travel subjects. The photos below was taken with a +2 close-up filter mounted on the 50mm lens.

This comparison shows the 90mm lens with +2 close-up filter used on the left, and same lens with +4 filter used on the right.

Here a 50mm lens with +4 was used for the left images and 90mm with +4 filter on the right image. Using a combination of three close-up filters in conjunction with a 50mm and 90mm lens offers more that enough options for the majority of my close-up work.

For this image I used the +2 filter on a 90mm lens wide open at f/2.8 for shallow focus.

For this view I switched to a +1 filter on the 50mm lens with aperture stopped down to f/8 in order to pick up detail in the foreground and background.

Adding a simple set of three 46mm close-up filters to my Leica M travel kit adds considerable versatility to the system with very little extra to carry. Live view aided by an EVF finder on the new Leica M has extended the versatility of this excellent rangefinder system..

Assembling photos in Photoshop

I had an over-exposed image from my trip to Walden Pond caused by lens flare, and it gave me the idea of creating a stock shot by combining it with a photo I had of a model photographed outdoors with her arms outstretched.

This is the original flared-out, over-exposed image.  I did add some extra warmth to the color of the RAW original before converting it.

Here is the final result with the model laid over the top background photo.

Combining photos like this is not too difficult if they are planned in advance and each one photographed in a manner that accommodates the other.  In this case, the model had been photographed on a dull, over-cast day against a dark background. So she had to be lightened considerably and toned to match the background. In addition the dark background behind the original model image left a dark cast along the edges of her silhouette. This also had to be removed and brightened.  I did this partially by adding several sunburst images behind her and changing them to "Hardlight" layers in Photoshop. I create these layers, like the one below, by making a 50% gray layer and rendering a star burst in it. Afterwards, I tone it to match the color of the background photo.

This is the flare layer I created in Photoshop with the "Render" option, and used as a"Hardlight" layer to create the brightness on the upper right of the background image. I removed most of the circular flare patterns from the lower left area. 

I made four backgrounds similar to the one above but with different flares in different areas. I used them to brighten areas behind the model. A final overall warm toned filter layer enhanced the yellow-amber tone of  the scene and merged the colors of the model with those of the background.

Central Park - monochrome prints

I added some images to the limited edition monochrome book I am doing on New York's Central Park. The technique I use simulates the darkroom style I used to make selenium prints of my images when I shot negative black and white film.

Nikon Lens Firmware Update - 1.009

Nikon has a new firmware update, version 1.009, that performs in-camera correction for barrel and pincushion lens distortion during shooting and editing.  The update applies to these cameras: D4, D90. D600, D800, D800E, D3100, D5000, D5100, D5200, D7000, and D7100.

I just updated my cameras. It was the easiest, quickest update ever, with very clear instructions from the Nikon installation site.

You can download the update here for MAC and for WINDOWS

You can read the instructions for this firmware here: for MAC and for WINDOWS.