sensors and such.

S E N S O R S   A N D   S U C H .

'We all know how to play the piano: you just press the keys and step on the pedals now and then. The ability to play it, much less the ability to stir emotion in those who hear your playing, is an entirely different matter.'

~ Ken Rockwell

It seems opinions are polarized over this guy Ken Rockwell. As in you either love the guy or hate him. For me I guess it's easy. He talks from an old school perspective. Is quick to dismiss buying the most expensive camera gear in lieu of perfecting your craft. Making due with less. Simplifying. And it was those sorts of thoughts that had been preoccupying my brain for the past few months. Culminating in me the other week keeping my diligent never-buying-new-camera-gear-thing going and plunking down some cash at a local Starbucks to a guy before walking away with a Canon 5Dc.

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Last year for fun I threw together a little montage comparing the size of the sensor of my Canon 7D vs. the size of the four-by-five inch film of my creaky Wista large-format field view I bought after spotting it sitting high on a shelf beautiful and old.





Maybe that's what started this all. Got me thinking that is. About formats and sensors and such. How when you're dealing with DSLRs there's either crop-sensors (otherwise known as 'APS-C' - from the days of actual APS film - like the 7D) and there are full frame sensors (the size of thirty-five millimeter film - like the 5D).





Then there's a whole lot of other stuff. And by 'stuff' here in this case I mean all the other features these sorts of cameras come crammed with nowadays. High-def video. Megapixels. More megapixels. All crammed on the same-sized sensor. There's only so many pixels after all and neuro-pathways and such for the signals to make their way along the silicon to the card. And how I for whatever reason tend not to favor nowadays - preferring I guess more the yesterdays … Worn pianos. Old houses. Creaky cameras. Which is one reason I bought that large-format field view all wobbly crazy-beautiful: it is the most simple yet complex photographic instrument ever made. The juxtaposition in itself beautiful.

So as I scanned down the feature-set of my 7D I was sort of reminisce - 1080p HD video, 8 frames-per-second, 19-point cross-type auto focus system, 3-inch LCD, 18-megapixel CMOS sensor, etc. etc. etc. Reminisce for something simpler I guess. But something that could at the same time capture more detail. Just like the view camera. Simpler. But more detail. More detail. Because I know what I shoot. I shoot boring old landscapes that do not require eight frames per second or nineteen-point auto blah-blah focus. And that stuff does not matter.

But every ounce of detail I can capture in the frame does.

And the bottom line is that a bigger sensor means - well - bigger pixels. Not megapixels. That's mostly marketing jargon. But physically - just bigger pixels (the science of physics doesn't lie or try to sell you an idea that isn't entirely relevant ... ). And that means that each one of those pixels can hold more information. Color and such. And less - well - noise.

It's no secret crop sensor cameras claim (those ad men again!) to shoot high ISO (i.e. 800+) really well when - in fact - they just have built-in noise reduction filters that are applied to each and every pixel.

Case in point ...

That's a shot from the 7D taken at ISO 1600 viewed at 100% without software (i.e. post production) noise reduction. Now admittedly this is not going to be a totally fair comparison because the next example was taken at ISO 800 (also without any software noise reduction) but sort of regardless ...

Umm yeah ... what noise? Seriously. But I'm jumping ahead of myself a little I guess.

Backup a bit ... I started to do some research. Lots of research. It's then that I came across Ken Rockwell's awesome article he called The Full Frame Advantage. And the first thing I noticed was how he started off pairing together what he termed his 'clunky' Canon 5D Classic (a now six-year-old full frame body) and his Tachihara 4x5. Clunky sounded about right for what I wanted. I like clunky. Maybe cos I like having to slow down some for photography. Having to work at it a little instead of just pointing and shooting and letting the camera's nineteen point auto focus do the rest so-to-speak.

But like I caught myself saying: the 5Dc is now six or seven years old. And like a friend pointed out - nostalgia doesn't work the same with digital cameras as it does their film counterparts. True dat. So I looked into what people were saying about it. Quickly I found a group on Flickr with a recent discussion about whether or not the 5Dc was still viable.

And the comments surprised and intrigued me. Then seemed to speak to me in more ways than one. Within five minutes of reading through the thread I was sold on the idea.

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'For someone like me who enjoys taking her time before taking a picture, the 5Dc is still an amazing camera.'

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'I had no desire to buy the latest greatest body with a million bells and whistles. I just care about the quality of the files … and the 5Dc delivers!'

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'This camera produces mind blowing images … I am always in awe when I open the raw files.'

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'I've just bought a 5D Classic and was somewhat apprehensive given the age of the camera. However, after one day of use I am staggered by the image quality.'

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'I'm finding the 5D Classic experience lets me focus on taking the photograph.'

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'The switch from crop to full-frame is a giant leap and is like going from 35mm to medium-format. The 5D will blow-away any crop sensor camera.'

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'The resolution is enough for me, ISO is good, better than a 7D (it's noisier but retains color depth, detail and dynamic range better) and colors have a certain muted depth to them that I really love.'

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'Most people are always chasing the endless journey of having the latest and greatest gear … I prefer to be content with a camera and focus my energy on producing great pictures.'

Lastly someone wrote ...

' … and most importantly, but also the intangible reason, being my affection for quaint things.'

Yeah. I quite liked that little comment. All that and I guess my own nostalgic sense for old cameras. For simplicity.

I think it's cyclical really. Or 'typical' maybe is the better word. I've been shooting a while now and after all these years I finally (finally) found an impossible challenge. Or a vision of sorts. For photography I mean. So it has all come around now it seems this need to hone the equipment I carry and use to achieve that. And simplify. No more over-featured camera bodies. No more extras.

But not just with the camera I've known. The lenses too. So no more zooms. Primes are sharper edge to edge than anything but the über-expensive zoom lenses (and those always have limitations at either end of their range) and are faster (I have to admit it's really cool being able to shoot with fast lenses again) while being significantly lighter and less expensive. Among the comments in that Flickr thread were also some about lenses.

***

'Now for me personally, I am no longer a fan of using zoom lenses. That’s not to say they aren’t useful (because they absolutely have their place), but for the way I work, I just prefer a fixed focal length (prime) lens. I enjoy the lack of complication, the more focused mindset it puts me into, and not to mention the smaller size and lighter weight of most prime lenses!'

***

'Primes lend themselves better to paying close attention to good technique and composition. The zooms can sometimes lead to point, zoom, click … without enough attention to careful image making.'

Exactly!

I always look at this one particular image of Eldorado I shot a few years ago that I wish wish wish I had captured on large-format film (I did not yet have the Wista at the time so I cannot be too hard on myself).



And I remember the process. Probably too vividly. It was evening or at least late afternoon. We were climbing up Sahale Arm and I looked over. Saw the clouds billowing behind Eldorado. The shadows. Thought it looked cool. Grabbed the 20D out of my chest pack and telephoto zoom. Stopped for a second. Pointed. Zoomed. Shot. Kept climbing.

I say too vividly because I look back at it with a hint of regret. I wish I had taken more time. Been more deliberate. I got lucky maybe but it would have been more enjoyable - more intentional - had I thought about it a little longer. Had I not been able to be so lazy by just twisting a lens barrel until I had about what I wanted to frame in the viewfinder (there is a difference after all between just zooming the lens in or out versus walking backwards or forward). Had more pixels and detail. Because this is one of my favorite images I've made in the North Cascades. Or at least pretty high on the list.

So I need a limited set of prime lenses. Three to be exact. Two down (the Canon 50mm f/1.4 and 24mm f/2.8) … just the 100mm f/2.0 to go. This setup will more or less mirror my Wista field view with a 90mm Rodenstock Grandagon (the 35mm equivalent is 27mm - but I intentionally opted for the slightly-wider 24mm over Canon's 28mm), 150mm Rodenstock Sironar N (equivalent to a 44mm) and 300mm Nikon Nikkor-M (same as 90mm in the 35mm format). A wide, normal (where 'normal' means the focal length is equal to the diagonal length of the film format) and telephoto. They will all be light and tack sharp and give me just about every option I need.

And another thing ... these prime lenses are designs from decades ago. And current DSLR sensors are at the maximum limitations of physics (sans going down the road of nanotechnology which may not be terribly far off). Which is to say that this combination of a 5D Classic - which still holds its own six years after its introduction in the world of maxed-out-resolution sensors - and decades-old lens designs that can still resolve more detail than the sensors of the camera bodies on which they're mounted and nearly equal to a piece of four-by-five inch film - will not become obsolete. Just as a view camera a hundred years old (or at least decades old) is still not obsolete.

But all of this about prime lenses of course means that if I cannot get the shot exactly how I want by not being able to just twist a lens barrel then I cannot get the shot exactly how I want. If I have to move this way or that then I'll have to move this way or that. But in thinking about prime lenses a bit more it seems shooting with them will bring about a more defined style and direction to my photography. Rather than a portfolio of images with a more or less limitless range of focal lengths I will be able to hone the look of my photography. So without looking all the same of course - because the subjects will be varied - the overall sense of the images will somehow be tighter. Or at least in my mind.

And lastly - there's just something about shooting with a 50mm lens and having it be ... 50mm. I cannot really explain it. It's just a feeling. And so I think back to the camera my dad handed me in the bedroom of my first apartment while the afternoon sun streamed in all orange and glowing ... his old Pentax S3 SLR he had purchased for himself while stationed over in Korea just before the Vietnam war broke out with (wait for it ... ) a 50mm lens screwed to the front.