Its about the setup ....

Somehow I am lapsed on this journal, not that I got nothing to say, just for the fact that real life matters more. But today I yet encounter something I would like to share ... I was at a local shopping mall and shooting the X'mas Decor. The mood was great, the setting and decor is wonderful, and its indoor so nobody really need to brave the elements.

Now for the part I was shooting with my trusty old Fed-2, mated to one of my favorite lens, the Cosina / Voigtlander 25mm/4.0 Snapshot Skopar, with a roll of ISO 400 B&W, a Yellow Green filter, a converted Pentax square hood and oh yes, that View finder that come with the lens too. OK nothing particular about this one, and I was shooting away alright.

But, oh well, obviously the many other fellow hobbyist who were there also shooting away do not think so. I would not rely what they've been muttering behind me, but needless to say, it seems for a number of fellow hobbyist, if one is not using the latest digital with a mega power high speed zoom, then all is but not right for it ....

The motto of all this is, work up the setup that work for you, not one that delight the gearheads since you aien't going to satisfy them anyway !!

The maiming of the Mfrs

What with the big show now running up to its introduction. We have now News of the Olympus E-400, Canon G-7 and now the Fuji S5-PRO. What do all of them have in common other than being new.

Well what they do all have in common is they disappoint their fanatics and to a degree generate more negative than positives though I simply do not see how this can materialize in any business manner.

This goes to show the mass market is now so diverge from the Hobby / Pro gang that we can safely say there exist actually several facet of the digital photogrphic market in the Consumer Digital Photogrphic equipment realm. The implication is Mfr will now ever more focused in trying to get the product to sell instead of having the product to serve. What a grip right, but I guess the breakdown of the DC market had teach the Mfr something. That is where the money goes, that's where the effort should be, and unfortunately that might not be where the truly knowing want. We can see this in Canon & Olympus offerings. Instead of trying to serve the customers and general active photogrphic community. These two are clearly more intend to protetct their already present siblings and care about extracting the most revenue in the shortest duration. Can't fault their business sense right ..

On the other hand, Fuji had a totally different approach. Instead of satisfying the ever zealous measurbaters, it looks like Fuji insisit on incremental, and viable improvements. Both camp do in some case ignore the already present community of their own customers. Which to a certain degree is unheard of in past eons. But what that infer is a reflection of the over rebellious way the brand fanatics been generating; what they conceive as how a product should be made while ignoring reality in most cases. The down side to that of course is there would exist less and less brand loyalty as people do not seek to build a long term sysyetm approach to their equipment sysytem / setup and would jump fromn one to another pending whatever is the one in preference at that time period.

The Sour Grape

Guys, if you have the time, go hop over to the online forums and check out the posts. Now that almost every site had some info regarding the leaded Pentax K10D info. But that is not what I am going to talk about. What I am most interested is response from other make's user. Notably the one from Sigma, Fuji, and Olympus. Between the 4 of them, they may just regard themselves as the minority among DSLR users.

But what made the observation interesting is that while Pentax user are rejoicing ( of course ). Fuji and Sigma user alike seems to be just as excited with equal amount of positiveness towards the launch. On the otherhand I am seeing a lot of negative comment from the Olympus users picking bones out of an egg style. What does it tell really is kind of the classic sour grape teaching from the old fables. Those that one cannot have is always not the good ones. Real or not ! Well that will have to wazit till Pentax had some solid in fo forthcoming and the product hit real world. But what the scenario tells is really not anything to do wqith Pentax nor the K10D, but everything to do with the 4/3 and Olympus in general. Olympus had been marketing agressively on part of the 4/3 and really put a lot of the 4/3 user into a hypnotized state of superiority; that their chosen system is the best one and surely would beat others. real world result do not however proven that colrrect and when the Die hard Olympus 4/3 zealots see even a known underdog like Pentax outperform and out do Olympus. The obvious reaction is negativeness, and this manefest in all the nickpicking post I've seen this last 24 hours or so. In truth they are probably more annoyed with Olympus inability to furnish than anything but their pride would not allow such and their sub-concious feeling is to downplay anything that might prove Olympus' inability and Pentax just happen to be the nail in the coffin ( after the Sony, Nikon and Canon's offering )

I think its about time the 4/3 user tell Oly to stop trying to be evrything, and instead concentrate on provding reasonable package and system instead !!

The dilemma of Setup vs System

No matter what thier fan might have to say; Sigma & 4/3 is not a System. Not enough to made one. And by extension Pentax also. What's solely missing here is not only the variety of accessories and Lens as most System SLR/DSLR do. But the capbility and future a system hold for any level of customers. A customers of Nikon or Canon know that they have the option to go up market / downmarket with the body and equally so with lens. On top of that they could expect a decent amount of independent Mfr support.

This is simply not the case with 4/3, & Sigma/Foveon. To a certain extent Sigma will always be a niche setup only as there does not look like being any significant change that will come around. That leave us with the 4/3, which in itself is very interesting case. While Oly had been and are pushing hard for major market share. The critical question here is not that people do not belive in their sincerity, nor they do not believe in the quality. But rather the market lack confidence in Oly's capability to provide a full spectrum of system, and worst still there is little to offer in term of future expansion.

Yeah, I like the 4/3 for its concept, but as of now it made a great setup, but hardly a system. ditto with Sigma/Foveon

The Brand , oh, the brand

- A not so scientific, purely subjective & biased view of the DSLr market as it is -

So After Sony, Nikon going to chunk out yet another 10MP body which is not quite entry level, but not quite the semi-Pro. Well I suppose people got to realize that the market now is mature and large enough for Mfr to diversify and provide both horizontal and vertical variation on the product line up. Photokina is about 2 months away before another announcement made. Let me say what I think about what the DSLR Mfr are as they are today adn what they should do

• Canon - If there's anything that's wrong with Canon, its not their DSLR, its their lens & printers. Ok I won't go inot the printer part, but for real, how many 1Ds range customer are suffering from the nightmare of finding the one lens that actually work. Almost all the lens under 85mm focal length do not exactly perform enough to warrant much exploration in the 1Ds Mk-II, and speaking of this, I guess Canon's marketing / product marketing team got to be having a hard time recently. What's next for the Mfr now that they have pretty much everything covered. What say you ........... but I guess the answer is actually quite simple - stop trying to overdo yourself and the market, lets concentrate on making those DSLR and Lens work. What Canon needs right now, is not innovation, but improvemetn and refinement
  

• Fuji - Classic case of great technology but lousy market implementation. The S3 is 9 months late already when it was finally going retail, and the S4 is still a myth or at best a rumor, although a strong one at that. What Fuji need now is something in physical to show and a concrete ( and adhered to ) timetable. On top of that, isn't it time Fuji stop trying to give us half a camera + a full set of imager. Adn then there's the issue of 1 model only policy. I am sure S4 with the next generation Super-CDD SR would be great, but I equally belive a more down to earth user friendly down market version of the S4 with a VR type super-CCD employing the great performance in high ISO as demonstrated by their DC, with a compact package ( optional vertical grip ) would made sense also.

• Nikon - 2 letters to be exact - FF - Nikon's doing fine, the Mfr just need to face up to the customer's demand
  

• Panasonic / Leica - Priceing, is there anything else, well might be Panasonic & Leica can come up with some decent lens for the 4/3 mount but as of now, they are new, and simply put need to convince us the customers firsta dn foremost. Well what did you say, oh the Leica DMR, but that's a digital back, not a DSLR
  

• Pentax - Do we see a real DSLR niche Mfr of some sort here .. well yes and no .. I suppose the only thing one need to say about the Pentax range is - please do not keep being a late comer always - where's that 10 MP body, & where's the suppose to be 1Ds beater Medium format DSLR 645D .... And for real, Pentax need to check their world wide stocking. If people keep hearing new models and lens but continously fail to be able even to locate or purchase one, its not going to help either right ....
  

• Olympus - Until I see the actual up market E-XX and the top end E-X and then some. what mroer can we say about the Olympus range ... sure it work, but no better or worse than others. And where's the lens, accessories etc .... I will talk to the Olympus Sales if and when those materialize. In the mean time, my 4/3 body might benefit from all those new lens from Sigma indeed
  

• Sigma - or rather Foveon , BTW what foven, move on, there's nothing to be noted here .....................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZ
  

• Sony - Come next year this day and I will tell you about how I feel about the brand and the DSLR mfr. for now, I will just have to find one those body first ..

A widened gap

And this is exactly what it is between the DC and DSLR. Back in film days, there were a niche product that were commonly refered to as the high end compact or POSH compacts. Namely typified by the Contax T range. Those were compact with decent manual control so a photographer can have a reasonable degree of control over the exposure; but equally so the camera also offer the same type of P&S automation in typical consumer compacts. They all have a killer lens and most are fast fix focals in fact.

With film, the media is not part of the camera and any photographer can choose to put in whatever they want and be expecting a decent result from these kind of cameras. Come digital age, this category of nice synergy product which is likely to work very well with DSLR as complementary pair simply do not exist.

IMHO it is this category of compact in a DC that the next generation of high end / prosumer DC need to be marketed. It was used to be a problem when DC need to field its own media and recording. But with todays knowhow, its simply inconceiviable that this cannot be done. Not withstanding this fact, though, it seems the DC product marketing either go besek over miniaturization, or ultra zoom, but fail to see how one can actually made a decent photographic tools. With every advance in DSLR and every advance in DC, it seems this gap is ever widening. I am looking at today's DC and DSLR and I simply see no real stop gap / synergy product in between bar a very few individual example ( that while taking quality image, just do not field good enouugh feature performance to be able to qualify ). You know it just go about again the saying that those guys in the Mfr R&D probably are not photographers themselves.

How do I love thee, let me count the way

and unfortunately there is not many of them ..... Isn't it a dilemma when one examine the now DSLR or rather SYSTEM DSLR scene when people start talking about getting quality lens for their system to made up a SYSTEM. Well in particular the fix focals, and fast fix focal at that.

So why fast fix focal, FOA, why made it slow when Zoom is already serving the mid range speed. The whole principle of using a fix focal is for the superior image and optical quality and in many case the control offered by the speed advantage. In a nutshell, a system DSLR is about building up a system so one can deploy the best tool for the job. One would want to use a Macro for that tiny little flower, and the digital equivalent of that 85/1.4 for portrait. Zoom is convenient, but never quality driven, or rather it will never match a like of like vintage fix focal.

The sad part though, is where is those equivalents. The very nature of the fast pace among the DSLR market had driven Mfr to forget about the system. They cannot or rather will not want to be bothered with fast fix focals ( or any fix focal at all ). They simply do not sell fast enough. But yet as the DSLR scene enter maturity, the same thing that happen with film SLR back in the 80's is now happening among the DSLR populance. Now the market demand that berth of variety and depth of performance from their lens lineup and this can only be satisfied by the introduction of new performing lens. While many Mfr can hope to deal with the situation with a few brand new design and a pool of their old film lens. Its not looking good for those looking for the Wide angle to short tele ( after the infamous crop-factor )

So, let me count the way

• Olympus - 50/2.0 and the 150/2.0 , 300/2.8 well, that's about it
• Canon - EF-S 60 Macro, 85/1.2 L-II, what, just these 2 ??
• Nikon - 10.5 mm Fisheye, 105 VR-Macro, 200/2.0G, 300/2.8G
• Pentax - DA 14/2.8, DA-limited 21, DA-Limited 40
• Sony - 85/1.4 Planar, 135/1.8 Sonnar

Aien't that a bit disappointing considering how much DSLR market is expanding ... read this Mfr. Its about time you get to do what you got to do ... we need system , not just a setup. We don't invest in that kind of money so to burden ourselves with a compromise. We want to be able to take the picture, and a quality one at that also, and we need the fast speed so we might use that slow ISO and have us back our DOF control. Where's that 14, 18, 24, & 28mm in 2.0 speed. Where's our fast equivalent of the short tele. How about a 55 or 58/1.2. How about a decent fast standard, and the list go on and on

Alpha Attack

Its a week or so, and the community is still talking about it. Many were predicting it this way or that way. Tauting that Sony will take the lead or kill the other made , so and so ... with their Alpha DSLR range.

Well I wonder if they realize what the Alpha really mean. Or rather what does the Sony effort really mean. No, its not going to kill anybody, at least not in the near to mid term future. But what it does really mean is a drastic shaking of the market. A rude awakening to many including the big names. That simply put this market is no longer the way it was and rules and norms are mean to be broken.

With the Olympus E-330, and now the Alpha A-100. ITs clearly likely that DSLR can be pushed way further down market which possibly spell the end of then prosumers DC. Not to say that prosumer will end as a species, but they will have to evolve and had to be different. Different from the way the down market DSLR can be.

On the otherhand, DSLR is no longer just your typical entry, mid range and then top end models. Even Nikon and Canon know about it, and recent month's entry clearly shown that the delimination would be far more in between with more variety, and uniqueness to each and every Mfr.

By that account alone, the Alpha deserve a part in the market ......... !!

Retro or ......

Do you see a new trend coming ... Is it true that people are feeling their pain , sort of come of age for their digital photography, and rediscovering Film. Unlikely I say, its more like people finally waking up after the Honeymoon. People have high expectation for this new media and unfortunately most of those expectation is based on unfound reasoning.

What I see is a school of photographer that want to use digital but want the digital to work as film. It do not, and likely will not, simply put. So while people crying for one or the other, justr reflect that these opinion are just plain grunting. Photography can be easy and carefree for those who don't want to hassel with the techical aspect of it, but for quality work and dedicated imagery, there is no subsitution for such.

QA engineer at work

Do you find it annoying these days when you show your photo to someone, especially online communities. It seems of all the hype, what the gang want to know is which body do you use to take the pic; what is the lens used; what kind of setting do you dial into the software .... etc etc ...

I wonder if those guys are photographer or engineer at work ??

Can I just have a moment to enjoy the photos, please !!

Fullframe - a beautiful myth

As Canon start to delive their 5D, and yet the rumor of another wave of FF fanatics claim the future of all small format DSLR rest with FF. I wonder if those guys actually work decently with FF for times and get to know the fact from fantasy.

The main reason behind the FF seems to be the ever-lasting wanting to frulfill the need to utilize the wide angles, and notably the extra wides in the 24mm and wider range. Fatc is even back with the original 1Ds, the extra small pixel pitch together with the need for optimal optical performance at extreme perimeters had proven that the old lens, while performing well within their design goal, was simply not well corrected for digital capture.

That of course, can be corrected by adopting a more tolerant sensor, say one with much less photosite and a far larger pixel pitch, but then of course this defeat the purpose of using a FF in most cases. Or it can be corrected with a new school of lens. While this certainly will work, it again defeat the main reason for having the FF as of now. In fact even if the Mfrs gather to produce such lens, they might prove to be too much for the need. For the lens to perform within the need of performance at this level, they would be hugh and weighted like a truck. Not exactly working for its intended markets.

Then there's the issue of electronics, power, etc .... In the end, FF is exciting, and certainly desirable but expecting it to be mainstream for now ( and the near to mid term future ) is simply a wishful thinking ....