TWiP #178 – Airport Insecurity

On this episode of TWiP, is taking photos of the security lines in airports a good idea? Canon offers to modify your camera, and a follow-up on Topaz Labs InFocus software.

Hosts: Frederick Van Johnson, Derrick Story, Nicole Young

NEWS & DISCUSSION

Traveler Detained for Photographing Airport Security Checkpoint
Traveler Robert Graham was detained by TSA agents after taking some photographs of the new X-ray scanners while waiting to go through security screening even though TSA policy clearly states that photography is allowed at security checkpoints. He blogged about the situation on his website which added more fuel to the fire over the recent increased security and pat-down measures put into effect for those passengers who opt of of going through the new body scanners at airports throughout the country. Derrick prefers to take a low profile approach when going through security and just tries to get through it so that he can get to where he needs to go. Nicole doesn't feel comfortable with the new scanners and pat down measures but as far as photography goes she thinks that we'd need to have more information about the circumstances surrounding this event before we go blaming the TSA. Frederick wonders how far the TSA measures will go as they have evolved over the past few years.

Canon Offers Service to Add a Locking Mode Dial to 5D Mark II and 7D Cameras
Owners of the Canon 5D Mark II or 7D cameras can now pay $100 to send their cameras into Canon and have their mode dial replaced with a new locking mode dial which will prevent it from moving unless you depress a button in the center of the dial. Nicole has the 60D which has the lock and the 7D which doesn't but doesn't really see it being a big issue for her as she's never run into an issue with accidentally changing it. Derrick also has the 60D and isn't a big fan of the locking mode dial as he often finds it gets in the way when trying to quickly switch to video.

Follow-up on Topaz Adjust InFocus
On TWiP #176, Frederick mentioned a new product from TopazLabs called InFocus which appeared to be able to bring out-of-focus images back into focus. The examples on their website made it appear to be a magical solution to fix out-of-focus images however Frederick did his own field testing and posted a video of his test results on TWiP and was not impressed with the results. In defense of Topaz Labs, many of their other products including DeNoise work great.

During the discussions, Derrick also mentioned a recent article he posted that talks about how he's using his old Apple TV as a media server to view photos and watch movies.

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: Blair from Auckland, New Zealand writes: I am doing a series of time-lapse around my city, as were heading into Summer in New Zealand. I have a new Canon 60D and after 3 successful shoots I have decided to stop doing time lapse and shoot HD video instead and speed that up. My reason is I am worried about shortening the life of my shutter as after 3 sessions I have 8000 images already. At this rate I will hit 100,000 within 2 months of owning the camera. So my question is Will the shutter last past 100,000 if not what is the cost involved in replacing the shutter. Apart from huge files & lots more pixels whats the negative side of shooting HD footage a speeding it up over shooting a frame every second?

Nicole: I haven't spoken to too many photographers who have actually worn out their shutters but if you do have to replace it then you're probably looking at a few hundred dollars. If you can afford it, you could have one camera to use as just your time lapse camera. I shot a lot of time lapse with my old Nikon camera and still use it for time lapse photography.

Derrick: I shoot a lot to and have yet to wear out a shutter. I typically replace my body or do other damage to the camera before that happens.

Question #2: Kyle Stay from Wisconsin: I am looking for a higher end point and shoot for this Christmas. I specifically been eying the Canon PowerShot S-95, Panasonic DMC-LX5, and Panasonic DMC-LX3. I like these cameras because of their better low light performance, HD video, and Wide Angle lenses. Which of the three would you choose? Obviously cheaper is better, but what added features do you get for the extra cash and are they worth it. Also, am I missing some models that I should be looking at?

Derrick: I think for the high-end shooter, these are the two cameras that I like. I think the LX5 would be a better choice than the LX3 which is now a few years old. It is a bit bigger than the S-95 and has a wider lens. I lean a bit more towards the S-95 because it's a bit smaller. Try them both, see which one feels better, and go from there.

Nicole really likes the S95 because when she's played with it in the store she's found it to be a really fun camera with some fun features.

Question #3: Bill Dreitlein writes: I own a Nikon D50 and have been happy shooting with it for the past 5 years or so, but I think I am ready to upgrade my gear. In the past year I upgraded my lenses with a Nikon 35mm f/1.8 and a Nikon 18 – 70mm f.3.5-4.5 – I chose them for the metal mount which I like because I've busted a few plastic mounts in the past. My question is, at what point should I consider upgrading the camera body? Would it make sense to step up to the next level of lenses if I'm still using an older DSLR like the D50, or would that be like putting high performance tires on a Yugo? Thinking about the new D7000 (Frederick were you happy with your trial?) or grabbing a D90 while they are still available.

Frederick: As we've said for years on the show, it's not about the gear. You can do a lot of great things with older bodies. If you have the money and want to play around with the latest and greatest then go for it.  If you want that durability then upgrade for that purpose but not for the purpose of thinking your photography will be better. Frederick really liked the D7000 and how easy it was to shoot video with it.

Derrick thinks the D7000 is a terrific camera and would be a fairly significant upgrade from the D50 and could get him more excited about going out and shooting. Personally he would go with both but thinks that some of the newer cameras actually show some of the imperfections in the lenses more so than the older bodies.

Nicole does think that you will eventually get to a point where you've outgrown a camera as they are changing so fast and adding great features compared to years ago when film cameras didn't change as rapidly. She also thinks that you can never go wrong with buying good glass.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

• Derrick – Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blaster
• Nicole – Mpix for all kinds of great print products
• Frederick – Photographer SEO Book and Syl Arena's Speedliter's Handbook

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

Nicole Young – www.nicolesyblog.com and www.twitter.com/nicloesy

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.

TWiP is also sponsored by Audible.com. The leading provider of audiobooks with over 75,000 title to chose from. To receive your free audio book, visit www.audiblepodcast.com/twip. Frederick is currently reading a great business book which could be valuable to photographers trying to sell their services. The book is called Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing by Harry Beckwith. Derrick recently re-listened to one of his favorite books Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

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