Olympus E-P1 resolution PERMALINK

I’ve just published an update in DAP to my review of the Olympus E-P1. A new page shows the incredible detail possible with the Olympus 14-35mm f/2 SWD zoom. A RAW file amd original camera JPEG are also included, along with crops and analysis. It’s clear to me that 20 megapixels in the micro-4/3 format is quite viable.

The only hitch? The 14-35mm f/2 costs about $1900, and it dwarfs the E-P1. I borrowed on from LensRentals.com.

Direct link for subscribers: Resolution that will blow your socks off.

      

Click for TOC

Refurbished Macs — a great deal PERMALINK

A nice variety of refurbished Apple Mac Pros showed up in the Apple Store today, including a dual 2.93GHz for $4999, a dual 2.66GHz for $3999, the prior-model 3.2GHz eight-core for $3299, and several other configurations (single and dual core). See my review of the Mac Pro Nehalem.

For refurbished Macs, go here, then click on “Mac Pro” under the Shop Refurbished area at left. Not only that, there is free shipping. Read why a refurbished Mac is a good idea.

If you want help configuring the Mac Pro for optimal performance and reliability + RAID + backup, my consulting services can nail it down quickly for you.

      

Apple Mac Pro — click to view refurbished area

Lens adapters — many brands on one camera body PERMALINK

I’ve added a new question and answer to Ask Lloyd Chambers where I discuss lens adapters for Canon and Nikon. I shoot the entire Zeiss ZF line on both Nikon and Canon.

Lens adapters

Panasonic G1 reviewed PERMALINK

I’ve posted my review to DAP of the Panasonic G1, focusing on how it compares to the Olympus E-P1, previously reviewed in DAP. The review includes a RAW file and in-camera JPEG of the same for analysis on your own, as well as some useful findings for RAW vs in-camera JPEG that every G1 owner should be aware of.

I like the G1 in a number of ways, but like the Olympus E-P1 it has some shortcomings. But at about $640 it’s a great choice, and it shoots like a real camera.

I did not buy the G1, but instead got it from LenRentals.com. Give them a try for a variety of equipment, it’s a very cost effective way to try before you buy.

Direct link to the Panasonic G1 review for subscribers.

Panasonic G-1

Some memory prices might be heading up PERMALINK

Memory prices might be on the upswing up in the next few weeks. Lots of memory manufacturers are still bleeding money, and as production lines are shut, memory prices next year could rocket up. But that's a medium-term issue.

For nowm prices on DDR2, especially 2GB modules are likely to move up in the next month or so. That’s memory for the older MacBook/Pro and Mac Pro 2006-2008.

Prices on 2GB DDR3 modules are very likely to head up by 10-20%, possibly more (MacBook Pro or Mac Pro Nehalem). For Mac Pro Nehalem owners [review] with the dual-CPU model, it’s a no-brainer: go straight to 12GB or 16GB, it’s a fraction of the system price. MacBook Pro owners [review] can go to 6GB or 8GB, and should, if you’re using it for digital photography.

Prices on 4G DDR3 for the newest Mac Pro should remain stable, perhaps even trending down over the next several months. It’s the 2GB parts that are at issue.

OWC is a good place to get memory for any model of Mac.

Memory modules (FB-DIMMS for 2008 Mac Pro)

Panasonic G-1 PERMALINK

I shot the Panasonic G-1 yesterday at dusk, and I have to say I was rather pleased with it as a camera, in spite of its confusing menu system. I’m working on a review for DAP, and of course the question to be answered is how it compares to the E-P1, for which my review has already been posted.

Succulent somethin' or other
Panasonic G-1

Faster, cheaper Intel X25-M solid state drive (SSD) PERMALINK

Today Intel announced a huge price drop and speed increase in the already terrific X25-M, which I described in How to Make Your Mac Feel Lightning-Fast, and reviewed here and here and here and here.

The new models (still at 80GB and 160GB) move to 34nm lithography from 50nm, thus increasing yields and decreasing cost. The newer model doubles random-write speed (sustained speed is not stated).

But the kicker is that the price is 60% less than the original price of the older models, which will likely mean reductions in the ~25% range over current street prices. Slightly disappointing is the absence of a 256GB or 320GB model, which is a more realistic threshold for notebook users who need reasonable capacity for photos and other big files.

For more information, see the Intel SSD web page. The Intel X25-M and other SSD drives are available at OWC, though the new models might not actually be available immediately.

This announcement is particularly interesting because it foreshadows what are likely to be a slew of announcements in the SSD area for 2009, which will result in lower prices along with higher performance and capacity. I expect hard disk drives to be obsoleted in many usage scenarios by SSD drives within a year or two.

Very interesting are 1.8" solid state drives, having the same capacity as the 2.5" models, portending really small external storage devices (dual or quad SSD drive anyone?). It’s a pity to see Apple’s bone-headed elimination of the ExpressCard/34 slot in the new 13" and 15" MacBook Pro, which precludes fast extermal storage of any kind via eSATA eg SSD.

Intel X25-M

Olympus E-P1 review posted PERMALINK

I’ve posted my Olympus E-P1 review to DAP. Direct link for subscribers.

Walnut
Olympus E-P1 14-42mm zoom @ 42mm, 1/100 @ f/5.6, ISO 500

Optimizing Adobe Lightroom PERMALINK

I’m pleased as punch to be mentioned in this CNET article on Adobe Lightroom and this one at Photoshop Insider. Both referring to my Optimizing Lightroom article.

Click to read Optimizing Lightroom

Adobe’s comments imply that it’s a tradeoff in system responsiveness. When 2-3 cores of 16 are being used, why do I need 80% of the machine idling? A good implementation could detect (on the fly) that the user is trying to do other things, and dial itself back when that happens. Even so, it’s so unlikely to see a 16-virtual-core Mac Pro fully utilized. Show me that “problem”, and I’ll be content, assuming it scales properly.

The reality is that neither Lightroom nor Photoshop is written to use today’s hardware efficiently. Actually, I can’t find anything in Lightroom or Photoshop that exploits the 16 virtual cores of the Mac Pro Nehalem. Worse, see When More is Less. I do hope this will all change with a CS 5 update.

The behavior I want is what I see with programs like Photozoom Pro 3.

What’s funny is that the majority of reader comments clearly are at odds with Adobe’s claim (essentially) that most Lightroom users don’t care much about export speed. By definitiion, it would be faster if enough users cared. I’m sure that’s true. Maybe more users will now care when they realize their fancy Mac Pro is hardly used by Lightroom.

Today is not 2006, Adobe. I have 32GB and 16 virtual cores in my Mac Pro Nehalem, I paid a ton of money for that potential, and I did so to save my valuable time, not to watch the machine idling (which is mostly what it does in Lightroom and Photoshop).

Photo tour to California’s White Mountains PERMALINK

Sign up for my photo tour to California’s White Mountains.

Read the details.

California’s White Mountains from Patriarch Grove

Choosing a Windows PC for photographers PERMALINK

I’ve posted a new question/answer to Ask Lloyd Chambers regarding the choice of a Windows PC for photographers.

Leica 19mm Elmarit-R vs Zeiss ZF 21/2.8 Distagon PERMALINK

I’ve posted a new question/answer to Ask Lloyd Chambers regarding the Leica 19mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R versus the Zeiss ZF 21mm f/2.8 Distagon.

Nikon D3x + Zeiss ZF 21/2.8 Distagon

Olympus E-P1 review PERMALINK

I’m more or less done with my overall E-P1 review, having written most of it. But I might wait to post it in DAP until I have a chance to shoot the amazing Olympus 14-35mm f/2 SHG using the MMF-1 adapter, which is arriving soon.

An odd combination (big lens, small camera), but image quality is reported to be outstanding with the 14-35. The sensor in the E-P1 is also impressive, so the combo should be revealing of the E-P1’s ultimate potential, and the future potential of the 4/3 and micro-4/3 format.

Olympus E-P1 + 14-42mm zoom

Olympus E-P1 in stock at B&H PERMALINK

If you’re hot to trot with the E-P1, it’s in stock .

Olympus E-P1 12 megapixel micro-4/3 camera with 14-42mm zoom

Photozoom Pro 3 — poster child for CPU core utilization PERMALINK

With version 2, Photozoom Pro ran more or less single threaded (see CPU Cores Explained). With the recently released version 3, Photozoom Pro 3 is the poster child for the ideal scenario: all available CPU cores being used to their maximum. It is a great example of where a dual-CPU machine kicks butt over a single-CPU machine.

The green area represents CPU usage, and black is idle (the black area at left is prior to the start of the scaling operation). See Monitoring System Performance for more on understanding performance. Here we see 1536% CPU usage out of a maximum of 1600% (for 16 virtual CPU cores). It doesn’t get much better than that.

Photozoom Pro 3 CPU usage

But using CPU cores is more than just using them. They need to scale: twice as many cores should ideally be twice as fast. What’s amazing about Photozoom Pro 3 is that it scales perfectly, an amazing feat compared to what is more typical or even unexpected. We could realistically expect a dual CPU Mac Pro to be about 75% faster than a single CPU system for a well-written program (most programs have some kind of internal bottleneck like memory contention).

I tested scalability by sizing up a Nikon D3x image to 200% of original size, generating a 558.4MB 16-bit TIF. I ran the test with all 16 virtual cores enabled (both CPUs) and with one of the CPUs disabled (using Apple’s CHUD tools), leaving 8 virtual cores active. Here are the times for S-Spline Max:

Dual CPU:    6:17
Single CPU: 12:35

Scalability doesn’t get any more ideal than that. I could’t even credibly make it up.

I tested version 2 against version 3 and saw these results using S-Spline XL (much faster but slightly lower quality than S-Spline Max):

PZP version 2: 80 sec
PZP version 3: 21 sec

For whatever reason, S-Spline XL uses only about half the CPU cores. Still, there is a 4X speedup from version 2 to version 3. What a great upgrade!

Olympus Studio 2.3 — impressed PERMALINK

Olympus Studio 2.3 is the offering from Olympus for working with RAW files. Sorting, organizing, processing, etc. Analogous to Nikon Capture NX2 (see review) or Canon Digital Photo Professional (see optimizing).

When I say I’m impressed with Olympus Studio 2.3 for Mac, I mean it. It is clearly the biggest piece of shit RAW processing program yet foisted on photographers, making Nikon Capture NX2 (with all its problems) look darn good. I’m talking dozens of big and small problems, some serious, many irritating, there is literally nothing positive I can say about it except that it does a credible job processing ORF files when it’s not busy crashing.

Olympus ought to be red-faced embarrassed to have shipped this nugget to unsuspecting customers. Wait— they didn’t ship it, you have to pay for the privilege— I’m using a 30-day trial, and hell will freeze over before I willingly buy it. Heck, it’s so bad that I wouldn't even agree to use it even if Olympus paid me.

Except that I’m working hard on my review of the Olympus E-P1 for DAP and I don’t know what else will process ORF files from the E-P1 (yet).

Stay way for at least a year, if not two, from Olympus Studio (and consider software support very carefully when buying any camera system).

Red on White
Olympus E-P1 14-42mm zoom @ 34mm, 1/30 sec handheld @ f/5.6, ISO 1600

Olympus E-P1 PERMALINK

I’ll be launching my DAP review of the Olympus E-P1 with an Examples page. The main question I addressed with my first evening shoot of random snaps around the yard: can it function at ISO ~1000 and produce high quality images?

I’ll also be focusing on its ergonomics and usability as a photographer’s camera: how it shoots in practice, what problems it solves for me (or doesn’t), and whether and why I’ll be keeping it (or not).

At the long end of the 14-42mm zoom range (42mm), the E-P1 offers good macro capability.

Walnut
Olympus E-P1 14-42mm zoom @ 42mm, 1/100 @ f/5.6, ISO 500

Site overhaul PERMALINK

A site overhaul is now in place. It’s been a big job, and it’s not done (including some planned style and other improvements). If you spot any bad links or problems of any kind, please advise—thank you. I know there are some areas to improve, but send along any ideas you have. Site coding and design by Martin Doudoroff.

A key change is the integration of a top-level navigation bar at page top— check it out. While the enormous amount of past free content does not incorporate this change, future content will take it and similar ideas into account.

Clicking on the diglloyd logo at the upper left of the nav bar will take you to an overview page which links to most everything, including the free articles.

The blog pages have been revamped and overhauled. It turns out that my Mac Pro had been displaying pages a little oddly due to Mac OS X font smoothing, hopefully the new look will improve the readability for most users. Of course, if you’re using Microsoft IE 7, please treat yourself to a better experience with Safari or Firefox.

Changes include new subscription pages for Zeiss ZF Lenses, the diglloyd Guide to Digital Infrared Photography and diglloyd’s Advanced Photography. Your support of those offerings is very much appreciated.

The search page is improved but will be customized further. And the Gear Pages are revised to offer a more targeted experience (more work coming there).

Finally, there is now a photo tours and consulting page.

Handheld fireworks PERMALINK

It’s not easy shooting fireworks amongst a crowd of people, and it’s sure not easy anticipating, so a rapid frame rate helps, and I found the buffer of the 5D Mark II somewhat lacking for the task (using RAW).

A 1/320 shutter speed gave me reasonably good results, but 1/500 probably would have been better. I didn’t use the D3x because I was sure they’d prohibit it at the venue, indeed I was hassled over the 5D Mark II, but eventually given the go-ahead. The guy behind me was using a Canon DSLR with a tripod to video the symphony performance, precisely why they give legitimate people a hassle. What a boring video, that guy must have time on his hands.

I used my favorite lens for night shooting, the Leica 90mm f/2 APO-Summicron-R. Whoah, buy one of those while you still can—they’re discontinued, so very hard to find new at this point. The 90/2 APO produces beautiful sunstars even a f/2.8, though in this case the motion blur even at 1/320 sec diminishes the effect a bit (smoke too).

Actual pixels: stars at f/2.8

I tried to capture some decently interesting blast of motion. Being closer would have helped. Maybe next time I’ll try the 180/2.8 APO.

Canon 5D Mark II + Leica 90/2 APO @ f/2.8

Canon 5D Mark II + Leica 90/2 APO @ f/2.8

Canon 5D Mark II + Leica 90/2 APO @ f/2.8

Canon 5D Mark II + Leica 90/2 APO @ f/2.8

Olympus E-P1 image quality PERMALINK

My New York pro friend provided me with an Olympus RAW file (ORF) from the new E-P1 (see yesterday’s entry).

I processed the ORF into 16-bit TIF. Color rendition and overall image quality look to be excellent. It’s exciting to see high quality in a compact camera, though at 335 grams (without lens), it’s no lightweight (a Nikon D40 is 475g).

And at about $799 , it’s more expensive than many of today’s starter DSLRs, so it has to prove itself in terms of image quality, usability, and unique features. Its form factor and Live View screen might just do the trick.

The main thing I’ll note as irritating with the E-P1: there is no built-in flash! I like at least a wimpy flash for fill-light in the 1-6 foot range; I’m not excited about spending another $199 for a flash and having to carry it. Makes no sense to me on a small form factor camera, where I’m using it because it’s small.

Olympus Studio software on Mac Pro PERMALINK

It’s rare see a dual-cpu Mac Pro Nehalem fully utilized, but version 2.3 of Olympus Studio uses all 16 virtual cores during preview.

That’s not to say it’s fast, in fact it’s godawful slow, given that all cores are being used (using them all does not mean using them efficiently). I’m seeing ~7 seconds to preview a raw file, and another ~6 seconds to render it at actual pixels— on a dual CPU 2.93GHz Mac Pro Nehalem (see my review). It doesn’t get any faster than that in July 2009. Maybe Olympus hired some Nikon software engineers? On the MacBook Pro it takes 21 seconds to render at actual pixels— that's worse than Nikon Capture NX2 with a 24MP D3x file!

For more on CPU utilization, see CPU Cores Explained.

Strangely, using Save As a 16-bit TIF uses only a single core (single threaded), but is about the same speed. Weird.

CPU usage of Olympus Studio 2.3

Olympus E-P1 12.3MP Micro 4/3 camera PERMALINK

I just ordered an Olympus E-P1, a new compact interchangeable-lens micro 4/3 camera (specs), which seems to be all the rage. Olympus makes some outstanding lenses, and reports from a New York pro that I trust indicate that image quality even with the 14-42mm zoom is superb.

At about $800, it’s hardly a cheap camera, so it had better offer near-DSLR quality in a compact package.

It’s available at B&H Photo and amazon.com, though it’s likely to go in and out of stock as initial demand is high. As usual, your use of my links is greatly appreciated.

Olympus PEN E-P1 12.3MP camera

Will the E-P1 be the answer to DSLR quality in a compact package? We shall see here in this blog, and so shall DAP readers in detail when I post a review within a few weeks. At about $800, it had better be darn good.

For that matter, how would the E-P1 fare as an infrared camera? Hmmm......

Price drop on eSATA for MacBook Pro PERMALINK

Sonnet just dropped the price on the Tempo SATA Pro ExpressCard/34 for the MacBook Pro (see my review).

This only way to achieve high external disk performance on a MacBook Pro is with eSATA by means of an eSATA card inserted into the ExpressCard/34 slot. I just advised a consulting client on this very topic, saving him the huge expense of buying a Mac Pro, allowing him to move his external eSATA enclosure from his PowerMac G5 to his new MacBook Pro.

Sonnet Tempo SATA Pro for ExpressCard/34 for MacBook Pro

While less expensive eSATA cards easily outperform sluggish Firewire 800, only the Tempo SATA Pro with its Marvell chipset offers the highest performance for a dual-drive RAID stripe as used in Optimizing Photoshop.

Apple’s ill-advised elimination of the ExpressCard/34 slot in the latest 13" and 15" MacBook Pro means you can’t use eSATA in those models (and nudges those models towards consumer-grade status, unsuitable for a desktop replacement). See my June 9 comments. Stick with the previous generation models (refurbished) or the current 17" model, all of which have the ExpressCard/34 slot.

Canon EOS JPEG quality PERMALINK

Yesterday I commented that “Canon EOS JPEGs are crap”, which really miffed one reader, who interpreted my factual comment as a thoughtless insult:

Don't you think that rating anything non Nikon D3x as crap is a little bit thoughtless on your part? Very few could afford the price of a Mercedes with the latest technology, while a common GM product served the purpose at a more realistic price - and eventually GM ended up with head rests, four wheel disc brakes, fuel injection etc. It was not so long ago that guys were cussing at their D2x while I was shooting with my Mark 3 bodies, leaving the Nikons in the dust. Who knows, will you be insulting the D3x users after the Mark 4 comes out - you know that they are constantly leapfrogging each other. Aside from that, why insult the majority of your readers who don't even dare to dream about a Nikon D3x, or as far as that goes either of my two Mark 3 bodies?

Even though I've been in photography one way or another for over 40 years, and must say I actually learned a bit from the odd article of yours, this thoughtless ranting of yours turns me off - and I doubt it that I am the only one.

(Didn’t GM eventually end up with bankruptcy and handouts from the Feds?)

Dare to dream. Why the hell not? It’s free. I can’t afford a PhaseOne P65, but I can dream about one.

I’m not sure why people get worked up over facts and consider them insults. I take it to heart though, not everything written is always explained clearly.

Back in March, I tested both Nikon and Canon in-camera JPEGs at max quality and compared both to JPEGs from their respective RAW converters. The Canon EOS max-quality JPEGs (5DM2, 1DsM3) were mediocre— visibly smearing fine detail versus the JPEG from RAW. This was not the case with Nikon. Test it yourself and see, using a lens capable of delivering to 21MP.

The take-away point is this: the Canon 5D Mark II is a superb value, but shooting in-camera JPEGs does not deliver the quality the camera is capable of. Rejoice in a 21MP camera at a reasonable price, and shoot RAW.

And last time I checked, the Nikon D700 was about the same price as the Canon 5D Mark II, and the 1Ds Mark III differs trivially in price from the D3x at B&H Photo.

Update: here’s what reader James N has to say about his experience with Canon JPEG vs RAW:

I'm still shooting with my Canon 20D after 5 years and the pictures that I get today shooting everything in RAW and processing with DXO software with exactly the same equipment that I started with are an order of magnitude better than what I got several years ago when I still shot everything in JPEG as processed by the camera.

"Visibly smearing the detail" is a correct statement. I've gone back to several of these earlier jpegs and run them through the latest version of DXO and noticed a remarkable improvement in quality and properly rendered detail on the resulting photos, but nothing can restore the missing extra f stop of latitude that shooting in RAW gives as opposed to shooting as JPEGs, and nothing can add back the detail that might have been visible in the original capture but lost during in-camera processing. — James N