From Depends to braces!

I’m always amazed at weddings to see old uncle Bert and aunt Edna get up and dance so gracefully across the dance floor while I’m there uncoordinatedly dancing as if I was wearing a Depends needing a desperate change. Heck, it’s my uncle Bert who wears Depends yet he just has those smooth moves I wish I had.

So last year I convinced my wife to take some dancing lessons with the hopes that when I get to be 72 years old and invited to a wedding, I too will be able to get on that dance floor and just like uncle Bert, impress all the young folks.

After a few months of lessons I can honestly say that I’ve improved. I’ve gone from Bambi on ice to John Travolta on crack! Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration but I have more confidence on the dance floor and although I’m not 72 yet, I sure look forward to that next wedding. Now as long as uncle Bert doesn’t show up, I should be good enough to make aunt Ethel(Edna’s envious sister) wish she was young again.

Now what does this have to do with Charlie’s Angels?

Well my wife is a high-school teacher and every year she helps put together a school talent show. I like to help out a bit too by creating some of the advertising graphics and photographing the evening so that the kids will have souvenirs of this memorable event. This year she gathered 10 students (5 couples) and taught them the Cha-Cha, the dance we learned, as one of the acts.

Before the show, 3 of the dancers wanted me to photograph them. I was not ready for this as I was setup for low tungsten light telephoto photography. Now I wasn't about to say no to these cuties so I quickly changed my lens and scrambled though my camera's settings to readjust and shot some images back stage even though the improvised background was bad.

When I got back home I looked through all my images I shot during the event. I liked one of the backstage shots and decided to get a bit creative. I cut out the bad background and replaced it with flames and this quickly turned out to be Charlie’s Angels.

I sat back later that evening and realized how ironic this whole dancing idea had become. Last year I just wanted to be like my old uncle Bert so that I could dance like him when I’m 72. Now I wish I was that 16 year old kid with braces that danced with these beautiful girls that night!

But after even more reflecting I realized that when uncle Bert goes gliding by me so elegantly with Aunt Edna on the dance floor, he looks at me and wishes he was still 43 and dancing with my beautiful wife.

From the brighter side of the dark room,

Pierre

The Benefits Of A Big One!

They say that size doesn’t matter; it’s what you do with it that really counts. Even thought I’m very fortunate to have a big one, I’d have to agree that size doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to use it. But when it's all said and done, the size of your camera sensor makes a huge difference in image quality and your ability to salvage an image if you are starting from a bigger image file. A big sensor means a big camera and a big camera has other advantages.

The Other Benefits of a Big Camera
When I’m out shooting I often have my D300 with an MD10 Power Grip and a 80-200 zoom with shade hood hanging of my side held by my BlackRapid R-Strap. I always get a kick out of the facial expressions when people see just how big it is. Women usually say “Oh my that is big!”. With a smirk and smile I usually look at them, blush and reply by saying “Thank you”.

When I was at Disney and getting ready to take a picture of my kids with the Little Mermaid, she couldn't help but notice the size. She whispered in my ear “Listen big boy, if your snorkel is as impressive as your camera, you can spend the evening with me in my grotto!”. I was stunned by the proposition and couldn't help but imagine what it would be like when all of sudden I heard a loud voice. It was a Disney Cast member saying “Excuse me sir, for the last time before we call security, we are asking you to move on and let the rest of the children get a picture with the Little Mermaid!”

As I walked away disillusioned of having been ‘kicked’ out of the grotto, I couldn’t help but wonder if she really did whisper in my ear and if she did, what did she really say. Maybe she said “ Listen fat boy, I’m not sure if you have a snorkel in your pants or you are just happy to see me but get the hell out of my grotto before I call security!”.

I'd like to believe that she actually did invite me for the evening and everyone once while I let my mind wonder off and think about what it would have been like to spend that evening chasing each other around in the grotto while eating plankton!

So when it’s all said and done, having a big one does have many advantages. From basic image quality to salvaging an ok image from a bad shot to simply impressing people by how big it is, big is good. However if you happened to have a small one, don’t feel bad or don’t rush into getting a bigger one. It is amazing to see the stunningly beautiful images produced by small sensor cameras. And if you do have a small one and aren’t getting beautiful images then your problem is most likely not your camera!

From the brighter side of the dark room,

Pierre

To Clean Or Not To Clean, That Is The Question.

I’m the type of guy who has has to fix what’s broke. I like to be organized and my work area needs to be clean. I’m not sure if that is what led me to adventure myself in cleaning my camera’s sensor myself or it was just plain old stupidity, but I did it anyways. I learned so much about the exercise I though I’d share with you my experience so that you can avoid the mistakes I did and the mild seizures!

I’ve blown dust off my sensor in the past and that has always worked. But on my recent Disney trip, I was changing lenses more often in one day than my son was changing his mind on what souvenir he wanted me to buy him. On this trip I got many Disney souvenirs myself. Some stuck on my camera sensor and the rest on my Visa statement. Blowing on the sensor like I did the past just didn’t work this time around.

According to Nikon, there’s only really two options if blowing it out doesn’t work; live with it or send it to Nikon for cleaning. We’ll I didn’t like either options so researched the various cleaning methods on the Internet. After hours of research, I was sold on the option of purchasing the Photographic Solutions Digital Survival Kit and doing it myself.

Heck why not? After looking at so many people do it on YouTube why couldn’t I do it? Thinking this was easy was mistake #1.

So I did a simple ‘uncontrolled’ sensor dust test with Photoshop that proved to me that my sensor was in desperate need of a good clean up. Here’s the test result.

The test was ‘uncontrolled’. That basically means I had no clue what I was doing so I didn't get a proper reference check. This was mistake #2. You'll see why a bit later.

With all this information, I purchased the kit from Vistek's and anxiously waited for the delivery.

When I got the kit I just couldn’t wait to try it out. Why wait, plan and think this further? Why not just jump into it like a monkey in banana tree? It’s only an $1,800 camera and I’ve never done this before! What a perfect opportunity to learn and maybe even regret.

The Digital Survival kit cost about $40 delivered to my door and came with 5 swabs. Now I read that it takes a bit of getting use to and that you may have to repeat the swabbing at first as you learn the technique. And even though you can only use the swab once, there’s 5 in the kit, why should I be worried, a monkey can do this. Mistake #3, thinking I was better than a monkey.

So when got home from the Post Office I grabbed my camera and ran upstairs into the washroom (claimed to be the room with the least amount of dust in the house - definitely the best reading room in the house!) and began to setup. I read the instructions and realized there was a discrepancy between the kit’s instructions and what I read on the Internet. The kit says to generously apply the cleaner to the swab while the Internet tended to say just a few drops will do. Mistake #4, don’t follow the manufactures instructions so I only put a few drops.

So I got the camera ready in Mirror Lock-up mode for sensor cleaning and prepared a swab and went at it. My first surprise was the fact that the camera sensor chamber is tight, very tight. Second surprise was that the perfect sweeping motion I saw so many time on You Tube just wasn't happening with me. When I was done, I did a quick test and just used the camera LCD display to see how I did. I was quite disappointed to see what appeared to be as much dust on the sensor than before, and bigger chunks. So I tried again. I improved a bit but this time I managed to get fibers from the swab on the sensor. This was going from bad to worst. Seeing I had plenty of swabs I figured I’d just keep on going until I was happy! Mistake #5, when 2 out 5 fails, you better rethink your approach or you are in trouble.

So I continued until there was only one swab left. I looked at my LCD display and was still disappointed. So why not use the 5^th swab? Why not screw it up even more so that I can send it to Nikon to get it done properly? So I used the 5^th swab and finally got a better result but still not perfect. Now that I’ve made so many mistakes, why not do one more? So against instructions I reused the fifth swab a second time. Mistake #6.

Now that the swabbing was done (I had no more left!), it was time to do some tests. My first test on one wall turned out frightening. Aside from the fact that a few dust spec remained, it appeared that I had damaged my sensor. The more tests I did the worst it got. I tried different ISO setting, apertures walls, you name it, I tried and things looked bad. Here’s one example.

At this point I really thought I had screwed up my sensor, and badly. As the evening progressed, I couldn’t stop thinking of how stupid I was to have tried this in the first place. I researched the Internet again, looking for ‘Getting out of jam for dummies” or "How to explain this to your wife for dummies" and then realized that maybe my test background and technique was part of the problem so decided to use my laptop screen similar to these instructions. I did that and got this result.

The result was much better but I got some annoying rings. Why? I did more test and the rings were in different places on every image. By 11:30 p.m., 5 hrs after the first swab, I realized I had made another mistake. All my tests were done in JPG mode. And since I had cranked many adjustment(sharpness, saturation) on my camera settings, I clued in that the rings I was seeing just might be the in camera raw to JPG conversion effect. So I did another test in RAW at f/22.

And voila, a fairly clean sensor with no sensor problems.

So here’s what I’ve learned.

1. This isn’t quick and easy.
2. 5 Sensor swab is not too much.
3. Do a good controlled sensor dust test before you start. (ISO 100 or 200, F22, LCD screen as background, +1EV, RAW). Follow these instructions.
4. Do other test such as F/4.0 and F8.0 to see what the dust will look like on your typical shots.
5. Ignore test with smaller than f/22 apertures as you will most likely never use this anyway.
6. Don't use walls, use your Computer LCD.
   

My camera sensor is clean now and I hope it stays that way as I don't plan on trying this out again soon. I purchased a Giotto Rocket Air blower and hope that this will get most of the future dust off my sensor. But should the sensor get dirty again, I guess I'll suit up in my Monkey suit and and go at it again.

Hope this helps you make a decision on whether to blow, swab or eat bananas!

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at pierre.contant@yahoo.com

Pierre