Micah Walter

Next month I am planning to pick up a Canon EF 24 f/1.4L lens. This will be my first fixed focal length lens I will own in the Canon EOS system. Needless to say I am pretty excited. In less than a month I will be heading back to the east coast permanently and plan to do quite a bit of shooting once I’m back. At the moment, my camera bag is pretty minimal. I have one prosumer body and three lenses. It certainly does the job for the amount of shooting I have been doing these days, but I plan to expand this year and so I have been doing some contemplating about what to get and why.

First of all, I decided to stick with Canon. I was very tempted by the new Nikon D3. It seems to be just about the perfect camera. But, there are plenty of other reasons to stick with Canon, the biggest one being the amount of money I am faced with spending just to make the switch.

So, my plan is to develop my collection of lenses, and eventually get a new camera as well. I had thought about picking up a 5D, but I think sometime this summer that camera will be getting a decent update that will probably be very attractive. The current 5D model seems great but lacks a few key features that I really want.

So I am going to hold off and see what the update looks like. I can always rent a 1Ds if I have a shoot that requires something like that. I can also always rent long glass if I need it, as well as lighting and all sorts of other things. In the area in which I live I have a great resource for rentals.

So for now, I think a 24 f/1.4 would be a great addition. It will allow me to do some of the low light photography I really like to do. On my 20D it will be around a 38mm equivalent. That’s pretty narrow for my style of shooting, but I guess I wont have to worry about softness in the edges. Once I have the 5D (or whatever the next version is called) it will be a great combo with the full-frame sensor.

I am also planning to update my EF 17-35 f/2.8L to the latest model EF 16-35 f/2.8L II. I figure if I can sell the 17-35 for a decent price the $1400 16-35 shouldn’t be too far off in my budget.

There are a few other accessories and items I am planing to pick up, but this is about it for now.

This is sort of an odd Object of Desire. I have, since I can really remember, wanted a Leica. Now that the M8 is out and getting so much praise, I REALLY want one. But, of course, they are pretty expensive. So, I will just have to save my pennies. Maybe by the time I can afford one, they will have an M9 that is full frame!

In the meantime I have been thinking about this camera that popped up on my radar at a pretty good price. It is an M6 Classic (non TTL) with a 35mm f/2.0 Summicron.

“Wait a second, doesn’t that shoot film?” - Well, yes, indeed it does use that film stuff. I haven’t shot any film in years. Truthfully, I really can’t see myself dealing with all of the issues film shooters face. I mean, first of all, you have to buy the film, and then you have to safely transport it to the place where you are planning to shoot. Then, once you have shot it, you have to transport it back or to the nearest lab, and if you can’t find the right kind of lab you may even have to pull out the chemistry set and process it yourself. After that, to make the images visible on the internet you must scan the film, which of course requires a scanner, or another lab and another lab fee. And then even after you have scanned the film, and even after you have made prints, you have to figure out a safe way to store the film so it wont get ruined.

How did we do it back before digital?

I haven’t decided if I will get this camera or not, or maybe another one like it. Part of me says, at least it will hold its value and I will be able to sell it and keep the lens, but the other part of me says I should just wait it out and go digital all the way.

Regardless, I wanted to show off the picture here. It really is pretty isn’t it! Special thanks to its current owner for the pic.

So, I am probably obsessing a little here with a follow up to my last post. With a little free time today I decided to look at the potential differences between a full-bore Canon and Nikon system. So, I put together the following price list. I actually used Apple’s new Numbers app for this, which was kind of fun too.

The idea behind this equipment list is that this would be a pretty typical professional level set up. Obviously every photography has his or her own personal preferences, and I too would probably add or subtract or rearrange things here and there. But, between Canon and Nikon’s lineup, I think this is a pretty typical pro setup, and as close a comparison as I could do.

Also, please note that some of the prices are rounded, some are from B+H and some are based on articles I have seen on the web as to what the new yet to be released equipment will actually cost. So there is some slop in the numbers here.

Okay, so here is the idea. Two pro level bodies, three main lenses ranging from very wide all the way up to telephoto. One fast macro lens, and a 300 2.8. I also added a 1.4x Teleconverter and a single top end Speedlight to the mix. I left out additional accessories like extra batteries, memory cards and things like that.

As you can see, the Canon system is significantly less expensive. I wasn’t surprised, and am thinking this may have to do with the “slop” in the estimated street prices for Nikon’s new lenses. However, check out some of the pros and cons. Aside from price, with the Nikon you get a 12 megapixes full-frame sensor. With the Canon you get a cropped 1.3x 10 megapixel sensor. This means that the Nikon system will have a range of 14mm-300mm not including the teleconverter. With the Canon you end up with a 21mm-390mm. The Canon shoots RAW images at full resolution at 10 frames per second. The Nikon can do 8fps at 12 mpix, but to hike it up to 11 fps you have to crop down to 1.5x and 5.5 mpixels.

In my opinion (and I am not a sports shooter) the difference between 8 fps and 11 fps doesn’t really bother me. To me, I am more interested in the full frame, wide angle end of the spectrum.

We will have to wait and see how things go when the actual prices show up. I will be sure to update the spreadsheet when I know more details!

I know what you are probably thinking. 1) How come the Objects of Desire category is so “all over the place.” 2) I thought you shoot Canon! Well, to answer the first question, I am a gear junkie. Admittedly, I will stand up in front of a room of anonymous gear junkies and state, “My name is Micah Walter, and I am addicted to gear.” I don;t think it’s my fault exactly, but even though I continually preach about how good and expensive equipment does not a photographer make, I really do love the stuff. Maybe I just enjoy marveling in the glow of really amazing engineering. Sort of like someone consumes a work of art and wonders “how did they do that?”

The most recent piece of equipment, which I cannot seem to get out of my head is the recently announced Nikon D3. So, first, I will give you some back story. I say first, because I don’t want to spark a giant Canon vs. Nikon debate. I have used both for years and have had successes and failures all around.

I began my photographic endeavors with a Nikon FM2. It was loaned to me by my father, and I used it in grade school up until the point where everyone thought I should have my own. So, we shopped around and I got a Nikon FM. It was the older less sophisticated model, but I got it for free from a friend, and all we had to do was purchase a lens.

From that point on I was a exclusive Nikon shooter. Following the FM, I upgraded to a used F3, and eventually got a second body. The F3s were amazing cameras. They had very little in terms of automatic features, but the light meters were very accurate, and they never failed. I still have one of them, sitting on my desk at my parents house, collecting dust. If you are interested in buying it, don’t bother asking, it’s not for sale.

When I decided to go pro, I was on the event horizon of the digital era. I chose to purchase the all new Nikon D100 and a few lenses. The D100 was a great camera. It had its limitations, but it made amazingly colorful and crisp images. Some of my best work was shot on that camera.

To supplement my camera equipment arsenal I bought a Nikon D2h. This is where the trouble began. The D2h was my first pro level digital SLR. I paid over $3000 for it, and used it for about six months. I was never satisfied with it. It was really nice in certain ways, such as the ergonomics and that incredible 8 frames per second shutter that had just the right Nikon feel to it. But, it really lacked where it counted–image quality. For many types of situations it was just fine, but once you cranked the ISO above 400 all hell broke loose. In addition to noisy images at high ISOs (what photojournalist can work below 400?) image quality really fell apart in mixed light. The auto-white balance was all over the place, and due to the fact that I was mostly shooting hearing on Capitol Hill at the time, I decided to ditch the entire Nikon system and go for a Canon 20D.

The switch was pretty easy. I got a 20D, and a few lenses and a flash. I was really in heaven being able to safely shoot at ISO 800, and the auto-white balance was far better than any camera I had used in the past.

For a while I had lusted over the 5D, and the other Canons. But now, with the announcement of the new Nikon D3 and the new 14-24 f/2.8, I am really wishing I was still a Nikon shooter. I miss the ergonomics, and the shutter sounds, and the build quality. Of course, the proof will be in the pudding once I see a high ISO image made in mixed light, but I have heard the rumors, and it sounds really promising.

I really like the Leica M8, but I will definitely wait until the fix up the image quality and offer a full-frame sensor. I can’t see myself affording a 1Ds Mark III anytime soon, even though that thing looks incredible. So, I wonder, should I wait for the next version of the 5D to arrive, with more pixels a faster shutter and a bigger buffer? Or, should I think about jumping back to my roots and save my pennies for a reverse switch back to Nikon?

Any thoughts?

I’m really hot to get a small HD camcorder these days. I t would be great for lots of reasons, but mainly I am interested in using it for collecting multimedia content. The new HD camcorders are really amazing. For around $1000 you can get one that is fairly decent. Of course, I am pretty new to HD, and really, pretty new to video and audio, so I have been doing my homework.

I found a few cameras that I thought I would mention here. Three of them are pretty good candidates and the last one is out of my price range, and probably just too large for what I want to use it for. The Canon HV-20 is the cheapest at about $1000. It has a single sensor, with a color filter array (just like your digital SLR) but it can shoot in 24P mode, which makes it very attractive. It is also really really small. I have seen some sample footage from this camera, and it looks pretty nice for what you are paying. All I would need to add would be an XLR mic adapter, and a nice set of mics to get myself up and running. Of course there have been some complaints about the low-light performance, but that seems to be the big issue with all of the smaller consumer grade cams.

Another option I am seriously considering is the JVC HD Everio. This camera is also exceptionally small, and I like the black finish. The main difference with this camera is that it doesn’t use tapes. It has an internal 60 gig hard drive that stores your footage. To make this feasible, JVC decided to go with an MPEG-2 format (I guess their version is also somewhat new and better). With this format you can store up to 5 hours of full resolution footage. I would much rather use this type of system and burn my raw footage to DVD, than deal with all those little miniDV tapes. I have heard lots of mixed reviews about the HDD option, but it makes sense to me. I haven’t seen any sample footage yet, but I have heard that even with the MPEG compression, it is still very nice. The JVC goes for about $1500 and would also need an XLR and mic setup to make it sing.

The next step up in the price range is the Sony A1U. This thing was recommended to me by a couple of people over at MediaStorm.org. The A1U runs for about $2100, but comes complete with a mic and XLR inputs. It looks very similar to the old PD-150 that was really popular. The main drawback to the A1U (and the JVC) is that they don’t appear to have a 24P mode. I’m not sure how big of deal this is. I saw some sample comparisons from the Canon HV-20 showing off the difference between normal mode and 24P mode. There is certainly a difference, but I wonder how hard it would be to achieve the “film look” with filtering in post-production.

Right now I am pretty focused on the JVC. It really looks like a “Micah” sort of camera. The fourth camera in my list here is way out of my price range. It’s the Sony HVR-V1U. This thing was recently featured in a very interesting article by David Leeson from the Dallas Morning News. He has been using the camera to make frame grabs for still images. his article, which you can read here, is very enlightening, and I have to agree that we will be seeing more and more frame grabbing going on in the years to come.

The HVR-V1U looks incredible, but definitely too expensive and a little too large for my purposes at the moment. Has anyone out there had any experience with any of these cameras?

I thought I would start a new section called Objects of Desire. I know, I know, it’s not the camera, it’s the photographer. But, I will be the first to admit, I am a bit of a gear-head. I mean, I really love things like cameras, computers, and industrial farm equipment. There is a certain something about a piece of fine machinery that lets one into the mind if its designer. It is sort of the same as a painting or a photograph to me. You get to see the work of humans, creating from scratch. Good stuff!

But, enough about all that. Today’s object of desire is of course the brand new Canon 1D Mark III. I will leave out all the specs as I am sure, if you are at all interested in this thing you have read the hundreds of reviews around the net.

I’m not sure I even really want one, now that I am so obsessed with my true object of desire, the Leica M8, but it does look like the perfect camera. Maybe too perfect. If they could fit all this camera in to the body of the 5D, add a full-frame viewer and about 10 more megapixels, we would really have something! Next year I guess…

The Mark III is now shipping, so plunk down your $4k, and get in line!