TWiP #180 – I Am Ironman

On this episode of TWiP, Copyright or Copy wrong, Iron Man body armor for your dSLR, and Borrowlenses.com marketing guy Josh Norem talks 3rd party lenses.

Hosts: Frederick Van Johnson, Derrick Story, Ron Brinkmann, and Steve Simon

NEWS & DISCUSSION

Court Upholds Photograper's Copyright Claim Against MGN
The High Court has upheld a ruling in favor of photographer Alan Grisbrook, who initiated legal action against Mirror Group Newspapers after he discovered they were selling back issues of their title online including the Daily Mirror. Mr Grisbrook felt that they did not have a license to display his images in this format and therefore they were infringing upon his copyright. The general consensus on the panel is for photographers to try as much as possible to retain their copyright when signing contracts and negotiating usage.

Derrick Reviews the Olympus E5
Derrick has been reviewing the Olympus E5 which is their new flagship model and goes for around $1500. He finds that it is very well built and is very rugged. It has the swing out LCD and an increased pixel count on the LCD. It features a 4/3 sensor with 12 mp and includes a movie mode and external mic jack. Derrick shot some sports in a gym at high ISO and thinks they have made some strong strides in that area as well.

Sigma Reponds to TWiP 176
Back on TWiP 176, Frederick referred to some of the third party lenses as “the blind dates” of photography. In response, Sigma has sent Frederick three lenses to play with for a few weeks so that he can try them out for himself and see if his opinion of them still holds. Frederick plans to do some test shots with these lenses and post his results so stay tuned to TWiP in the coming weeks for that update. Derrick and Ron have used some of the specialty lenses from Sigma and found them to be quite good. Frederick called up his friend Josh Norem from Borrowlenses.com to get his opinion on 3rd party lenses. In general, he finds that the build quality and reliability is higher in the Nikon and Canon lenses compared to those from 3rd party manufacturers like Tamron and Sigma. However, those lenses are 3-4 times more expensive so there is a trade-off between price and build quality in general. Josh has used the Sigma lenses and has found them to be quite good when they work but they've had problems with long-term reliability. Ron would love to see some data on long-term reliability of these lenses.

Protect Your dSLR With Body Armor
Since we have all kinds of choices when it comes to protection for our cell phones, why shouldn't the same thing exist for our dSLR cameras? Well, the good news is that it does. You can check out Camera Armor which is a protective case for your dSLR, designed to fit a variety of camera bodies. Ron thinks it's a valid product but thinks being careful with his gear is more important. Derrick does think that for shooters who really need it, it's a great idea. Derrick really likes the way his camera feels and doesn't care for the way it feels when it's encased. The one advantage is that it does obscure the nameplates which can help if you're trying to not draw attention to your gear.

Canon Rumors – 5D Mark III and a 1D Mark IV Replacement
Rumors are swirling of a new 5D Mark III and a 1D Mark IV replacement. In terms of the rumors, Derrick would love to see Canon work on the focusing. Ron thinks we'll just see incremental increases but they also need to work on their focus issues and low light capabilities. Ron would really like to see Canon come out with a micro 4/3 EVO camera. In terms of Nikon rumors, Steve would like to see improvements when locking focus and recomposing – similar to the system that Hassleblad has added to their cameras recently.

LISTENER QUESTIONS

Every week our producers scour the TWiP forums to find the best questions for us to answer on the show. Here are this week's questions:

Question #1: Bookshelf from North West Florida: I just got a newer digital camera. Thus far I've been making do with SD cards I already had.My new camera will now shoot HD video. It expect that certain new SD cards will record video better then the old cards.Aside from that obvious difference (such are record speed) are then any real advantages to high end cards? If some one else was paying I'd buy the best. However…. I expect I can burn through a dozen cards on a trip so the price is not trivial. Since this is coming out of my pocket I'm thinking twice about paying a huge amount for “special” high quality cards.What are the pros and cons of each?

Derrick: Make sure that the specs of your card match up with the specs of the camera that you're putting the card in. You want to make sure that you're not going to have any dropped frames. Beyond that I think it's a matter of durability and long term reliability. Steve also adds that where you'll see performance is actually when you are shooting RAW or RAW plus JPEG and not as much on the video side. On the video side the camera is actually supplying a steady stream of smaller files so the main reason for larger cards would mainly be capacity.

Question #2: Henrik from Nurnberg, Germany: I have a question about manual white balance (shooting Canon D500). When shooting jpg I often use the manual white balance which works fine. According to the manual; you need not think about how the reference shot was made, except one should not use the mono chrome setting (which I think is quite obvious). Still I wonder if this is all you need to consider, is it OK to shoot a jpg reference picture, as this will be corrected by the white balance setting at the time of the shot? My understanding is that a RAW reference should give the best results.

Ron: I don't think it should. The camera is looking at the original data when you shot the reference image and then applying it's adjustments after that. If you're going to be shooting JPEG, it's a good idea to shoot a gray reference shot and set a custom white balance. If you're shooting RAW it almost becomes a non-issue as you can color correct after the fact. If you're shooting JPEG, you can adjust color after the fact too but you may start to see artifacts or banding appear.

Question #3: Mixer1 from Way Up North: I live in Alaska and, although I don't live in the coldest part of the state, I have to deal with extreme temperatures on a regular basis. I just started shooting with a Canon 60D and I have always been pleased with the way most DSLR batteries handle the cold and maintain their charge.  I'm a computer tech by day and familiar with the tendency for moisture to build up on equipment when brought out of the cold, not to mention fog on the lens. Beside the obvious need to allow equipment to adjust to temps, is there any suggestions you can give or any tips that will just ensure as normal operation as possible given the conditions.

Derrick: I actually just wrote about this on my blog the other day about using a Ziploc bag to help keep the condensation from forming on the camera. Steve used to shoot a lot of hockey games in Edmonton and often they would keep a 2nd camera in the locker room so that it wouldn't fog up when they went out into the arena.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

• Ron: Moo.com – cool varied business cards
• Steve: CostcoPhotoCenter.com – $2.99 for a 12×18!! Order online, pickup locally in 1hr!
• Derrick: SizzlPix – prints infused on to aluminum that really are different than anything I've seen before.
• Frederick: Squareup.com – Take credit card payments for anything from your mobile device.

WRAP UP

Follow us on www.twitter.com/ThisWeekInPhoto

Join the Flickr critique group. You can also join our Facebook group.

Frederick Van Johnson – www.frederickvan.com and www.twitter.com/frederickvan

Ron Brinkmann – www.digitalcomposting.com and www.twitter.com/ronbrinkmann

Steve Simon – www.stevesimonphoto.com and www.twitter.com/stevesimon or www.nikoniansacademy.com

Derrick Story – www.thedigitalstory.com and www.twitter.com/derrick_story

CREDITS

TWiP is brought to you by the following sponsors:

The 2011 Hyundai Equus. We're surveying our podcast audience to learn about your photography preferences, favorite accessories, and more. Please go to www.podcastinsidersurvey.com to tell us what you think, and we'll let you know what other listeners of this podcast say in an upcoming episode. And while you're there, be sure to check out the new 2011 Hyundai Equus featuring first class amenities, and advanced technology such as forward-view cornering camera and smart cruise control with collision warning system, and an iPad Equus owners manual.

SquareSpace – the fast and easy way to publish a high-quality web site or blog. For a free trial and 10% off your new account, go to – Squarespace.com/twip, offer code TWiP. Be sure to check out the brand new Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter widgets that are now available. Check out www.squarespace.com/examples to see some great sites created with SquareSpace.

Producer: Suzanne Llewellyn

Show notes by Bruce Clarke at www.momentsindigital.com or www.twitter.com/bruceclarke

Bandwidth provided by Cachefly. Intro Music by Scott Cannizzaro