Tag Archives: Mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera

The demographics of camera users

The author, at the link below, notes that those under 30 predominately use their smart phone to take photos.

Older travelers use compact point and shoot cameras, and middle aged and older often shoot with higher end DSLRs.

One thing I noticed on my trip to the UK , specifically London, was the abundance of cameras.

Source: Cameras, Cameras, Everywhere | Garden Walk Garden Talk

A recent Nikon item said that 55% of their DSLR sales are now going to consumers upgrading from smart phones.

My observations are in line with those of the linked article. I noticed this summer an increase in the number of travelers using an actual camera, rather than a smart phone. “Bridge cameras” – which look a bit like DSLRs but have a built-in, non-interchangeable lens, are popular.

The market is shifting a bit back towards real cameras. My hunch is many consumers will start out with larger cameras but eventually retreat to smaller cameras as they find the size and weight becomes cumbersome.

I suspect the 1″ cameras, with excellent image quality and good low light performance, may be the sweet spot for size, quality and convenience.

As the next blog post notes, post processing software is enabling small cameras to begin to rival their big cousins’ features. Software tools today provide high quality noise reduction, enabling small sensor cameras to work more like big sensors, and software tricks can even simulate bokeh.

Using 2 cameras to create fake narrow depth of field images

Small sensor cameras – such as smart phones and point and shoot cameras – are unable to create significant blurring of the background or foreground. Narrow depth of field is mostly limited to large sensor cameras – or to long telephoto shots.

But, two camera sensors may be used to measure depth in the scene. One camera is used for the actual photo and the second for depth. Parallax, or the difference between the two camera images, varies by distance to the subject. This information is used to blur the original image based on distance to the subject. (Blurring is done by averaging local pixels together using a simple average or a weighted average.)

This means that software creates the narrow depth of field effect, rather than large sensors and expensive lenses.

The HTC One M8 smart phone has this feature today. The linked article gives examples of how this works, in practice. Take a look at their sample photos!

We compare the HTC One M8 camera with a Fuji X-M1 to see what its bokeh-style effects are really like.

Source: HTC One M8 Camera vs A Proper Camera: Fake Bokeh On Trial

Note that if the cameras are very close together, as is typical on a smart phone, the ability to accurate measure distance a long ways from the camera is greatly diminished. Image resolution and interaxial spacing both impact the capability of this feature.

Rumors are that the iPhone 7 will feature dual cameras for the same reason – to create narrow depth of field photos using tiny sensor cameras built in to the phone.

Currently, the best narrow depth of field comes from DSLR full frame cameras and expensive, large aperture lenses.

But post processing software is eliminating many advantages of the full size cameras. Modern post processing noise reduction enables many small sensor cameras to perform more like their big cousins in low light. And now, with dual cameras and depth processing, little cameras may soon deliver narrow depth of field at lower cost than the big guns.

This should be worrisome to the DSLR makers. Particularly as increasing numbers of shooters would prefer to travel light – and not have to carry big camera bodies and heavy lenses.

Using the Olympus TCON 17 1.7x teleconverter with a Nikon 1

These three photos were taken with a Nikon 1 V2, the 1 Nikkor 30-110mm zoom, and an Olympus TCON-17 1.7x teleconverter. I am extremely pleased with the results using the teleconverter.

On the Nikon 1, I use a 55 to 52mm adapter ring, and then a 52mm to 40.5mm adapter ring to mount on the Nikon 1. (I could not find a 55 to 40.5 mm adapter).

I bought the TCON17, used, on Ebay, for $15. That is not the normal price – prices are usually closer to $80 to $110 U.S. I think the person who sold this one did not know what they had.

Olympus had made 4 teleconverter lenses that appear to be essentially identical – the B300, the unlabeled TCON17, the TCON-17, and the TCON-17x. I have what I believe is the “unlabeled” version. I understand the early models did not include the TCON-17 model # on the lens.

I also did tests on a micro four thirds camera using the TCON17 with the Olympus f/1.8 45mm lens – works great (makes a 150mm FF equivalent). I tried the Lumix 45-200mm, but the TCON17 made the images soft and with much chromatic aberration.

DSC_3148

DSC_3161

The shot below was to test for chromatic aberration, by having the high contrast areas of the branches against the gray background. DSC_3160

Not surprisingly, contrast is a little soft with the teleconverter, but that is easily corrected either in camera or using Lightroom.

I will post more photos in the future, but it is hard to get out taking photos right now as we live in a rainy climate.