Category: News

I hate getting a new camera

Posted on by John

Since 2015 I have been shooting primarily with a Canon EOS 6D. Before that, I had a Canon EOS 60D.  Although these two cameras were VERY similar in terms of ergonomics, I remember a period of frustrations when I switched.

Most of all the frustration came from the small differences in button layout and the extra time I had to spend “just” to take a simple picture, but also from a more diffuse issue, the way I composed, the field of view I got from a specific lens and the differences in “quirks” between the two cameras. Most of this were because of the fact that the 6D were full frame.

After a while it were all forgotten and the 6D became my new favorite camera.
And what a camera. It was sharp, amazing in low light and built solid. I loved and used it for years, even though it were somewhat limited in some respects, like the fact that it only had 11 focus points and only one, the center point were really usable.

But these limitations made it a simple, no nonsense camera. I taught myself to get the most out of this camera and I love what I have been able to do with that camera.

Time to move on

The years passed and the camera tech developed at a fast pace. Several times I were tempted to switch to a Fuji X-Pro or X-T2/X-T3, but I wasn’t sure it would be able to replace my amazing 6D and it still served me well, so I kept fighting my GAS.

Then Canon released the EOS R. The temptation… I fought it for a while, but deep inside I knew I would buy one at some point. It seemed like the next logical and technological step for me to take.

A couple of weeks ago I finally took that step and bought the EOS R. And what a camera. It is extremely good at focusing, perhaps even better than that famous center point on the 6D, but on the entire screen. The image quality is amazing too, even at high ISO and it is packed with fancy features. 
I am certain that this is a camera that is going to serve me well for the next many years.

And yet, I am frustrated. All my muscle memory needs to be updated. The configuration of the camera needs to be tried and tested, to figure out which features I need and which button it should be assigned to. I no longer need to focus/recompose, I can just set the focus point where I want. But this is a new workflow for me and it is frustrating. The electronic viewfinder is really good, but in some situations it makes me feel a bit “detached” from the scene I am photographing. I don’t like that the EOS R is not always on like my 6D.

But still I like the EOS R and I know it is going to take me to a new level. I just hate the transition period.

The picture of Eddie at the top of this post were taken with my new EOS R.

What now?

Posted on by John

Once again, I have ended up in this frustrating situation where I feel like I am going nowhere.

I feel like I haven’t taken a decent picture in ages. Hell, to be honest it feels like I haven’t had time to pick up the camera in ages.

Obviously this leads to a situation where I am picking my weekly pictures from my backlog, to keep up the “Post 1 picture each week” tradition that I have been practicing for close to eight years now.

As I strive to be better and better it feels frustrating having to use some of the older pictures that has been postponed because I (at the time) had better pictures to choose from.

What now? Where do I go from here?

I guess I’ll have to try to free up time to create time slots where I can take the camera for a walk. Sadly this means something else needs to be pushed back…

What do you do to free up time to do the things you want to do? Write me back in the comments below…

War stories

Posted on by John

I went to a lecture yesterday, where the amazing war/conflict photographer Jan Grarup talked about the stories behind the horrifying, beautiful and emotional photographs from his impressive 5kg heavy book “And Then There Was Silence”.

His work has taken him to almost every armed conflict we have seen in the last 20+ years, and personally I am impressed he can keep on doing what he does. The displays of human cruelty that he has seen through the years is unbelievable. I am sure it would be enough to make most men crack.

Instead, Jan has been able to keep shooting, but not just the cruel things. No, what impresses me the most is the beautiful heartwarming pictures of beautiful children in the most shitty situations, still smiling, caring and keeping up the spirit.

I were fortunate enough to have a brief conversation with a Jan during the break. I told him that I thought that his work were important and that I really think is photography makes a difference in the world.

Even though there were so much pain and suffering in some of Jan Grarup pictures, the feeling I had when I left the lecture was hope. Because Jan’s pictures tells me that even though bad things happen to innocent people every day, there is still far more good people in the world than bad people.

If you want to learn more about Jan Grarup, you can visit his website or buy the book “And Then There Was Silence”

Another Autumn

Posted on by John

From time to time I like to do something other than the work I usually do.

I like to keep it simple, not simple as in easy to do, but simple as in without a lot of expensive, advanced equipment.

This time I set out to document the beauty of my favorite season: Autumn. To add further constraints, I added a deadline, a requirement for exactly 16 images that HAD to be in square format, taken with my iPhone and processed in Snapseed. Each image had to be treated in a similar way, so that they would fit together when done.

It was very fun to do this collection and I love each of these little imperfections. Hopefully you will too.
Ladies and gentlemen: Another Autumn

What is this?

Posted on by John

Two months ago I announced that this would be less of a blog and more of a photography showcase.

Now I have followed through and changed the website from a site that were most af all centered around a blog to a site where the blog is a bit secondary.

I have said goodbye to BlogEngine.net and hello to WordPress.

Not everything is in place yet, but it will be and I already like the way i am able to show my pictures as galleries and collections in a beautiful way.

I still need to figure out exactly what the point is with this site, but at least now it can look pretty while I consider my options.

Going nowhere no more

Posted on by John

This blog has existed since 2004 in various incarnations. I actually started blogging a couple of years earlier, from a sub domain provided by my Internet Provider back then, but d-noc.dk started back in 2004.
In the beginning I wrote in danish, and about all kinds of topics but over time it turned into a photography blog.

I had trouble making the site grow, and decided that I would be able to reach a bigger audience if I wrote in English. Now, some years later, I must admit that it did little difference, if any.
It has been very frustrating to try so many things and still end up feeling like I were going nowhere. I ended up thinking about the big “why?” and came to the conclusion that in order to make this blog really shine, I would have to put a lot more work into it than I am willing to do. When you do something, you must consider the effort, and the reward. What is the reward for me?

I don’t want to be a blogger, so no reward there.
I don’t want to make a living of my photos, so no reward there.
So.. all work, no reward. Why bother then?

Until now, for the fun of it. But now, things have changed. I do not have unlimited time in my spare time, so I have to consider if wasting time on this blog is really worth it. To be honest, it is not. Not right now at least.

So the blogging will be turned down to an absolute minimum. It will be a place for me to post my photos every week, and most likely that will be it.
But judging by the limited audience on this blog, I don’t think it will be a big loss.

Sometimes you just have to admit defeat and get on with better things…

Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 DI VC USD G2 rumoured to be announced this week

Posted on by John

Oh my.. The competition in the 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens segment seems to be extremely busy at the moment. Sigma should have an 24-70mm ART lens announced any day now, and now Tamron is rumoured to announce a new 24-70mm G2 this week too, according to canonrumours.com. (also here);
Interesting enough, both are rumoured to start shipping with an initial price tag of 1299 USD.
I guess I will have to wait for some real life test and reviews before deciding then. I used the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC a lot on my 60D, and it was an excellent lens. If the new Tamron proves to live up to this, I might be interested.
Additionally, Sigma released some MTF charts that people “wise” in such things seems a bit disappointed about. I never decide on lenses based on MTF charts, so my advice: Wait for some real reviews by trusted sources.

A new tool: Lightroom

Posted on by John

For a really long time I have bee trying to find an application that could handle my entire editing workflow, all the way from when I put an SD card in my computer and to when I am ready to publish or print a finished image.
Up until now I have mainly been using Canon DPP, which is an excellent application, but a bit limited in some places. So I have been using Paint Shop Pro as a supplement, along with some plugins from Topaz Labs.

In my search for a better tool, I have tried Corels Aftershot Pro which I think have a lot of potential but also a lot of weaknesses.
It doesn’t help much that Corel seems to have doubts about what they want to do with it.

I also tried Lightzone, and even though it seems like a powerful tool, it isn’t really intuitive to use.

Finally we have the “big player”: Adobe Lightroom. My problem with Lightroom has always been the price, but the reviews has been excellent, so I have been weighting for or against for a while.
Now if have decided and bought a license at a favorable price.

Until now I have only started configuring and learning the basics but already I am convinced that it is a good and well thought out application.
In some ways it is a lot like Aftershot Pro (or is it the other way around) but the user interface is much more intuitive.
Using an application with a lot of users also makes it easier to get help from forums or tutorials.

I al looking forward to digging deeper into the finer details of Lightroom and hopefully it won’t be long before I can publish my first picture edited in Lightroom.

(This post was originally written in Danish)