Excellent Sunwayfoto FB-44 ball head review at SCV Photo Ideas

This review should be considered the gold standard for this particular head. In fact, SCV Photo Ideas has many great reviews worthy of copious note taking.

“Having in mind that this is a newly released product with an innovative approach to the low profile design, some operational irregularities or small design flaws that need improvement may be expected.

Sunwayfoto’s public Invitation for testing and reviewing the new XB ball head series, declares a company that lacks arrogance and accepts well intended criticism for the betterment of their products.

On the other hand a few minor flaws cannot obscure the built quality, the great stability and the smoothness of operation under different loads.

Therefore, I consider the XB-44 Low Profile Ball Head a top product, which after a little refinement yet may be ranked above competition.”

What ohm's review and SCV's review completely agree on is that the FB-44 is a fantastic low profile ball head; therefore, it is something many photographers have been hounding after. Sunwayfoto obviously responded to SCV's criticisms as the clamp design and overall polish of the 2013 FB-44 are well and away over what I see at SCV.

I think it fair to say that we should expect great and still greater things from Sunwayfoto in the months and years to come. 

Fujifilm X100s now comes in black

And so do its accessories. Check out Fujifilm's global site for more.

Fujifilm XF 18-55 vs XF 35

Fujifilm X fans who are lost for reading material in the post-Christmas bloat should head over to Fuji vs. Fuji for a shoot-off featuring the popular XF 18-55 and the 35/1,4 lenses. FVF's admin does sharpness, bokeh, and depth of field comparos, all in an easy-on-the-eye format. 

Ming Thein on the Nikon Df

While not a good writeup as test reports go, Ming's report is as mordant as it is crisp. His main concerns are are with the camera's ham-fisted ergonomics:

“The problem is, there’s a lot of bad, too. Most of it is a comfort/ ergonomic problem: the vestigial grip is simply too small to be useful in supporting the camera, and too large to allow you a flat-fingered grip in the same way you’d use a mechanical Nikon. (Not having a film winding lever to nestle your thumb in on the back doesn’t help, either.) The camera itself is too physically large to be gripped in this way; the shutter position is too high/ flat and uncomfortable to use for any period of time except with the very smallest (think pancake, or 50/1.8) of lenses. The shape of the grip just makes my hands cramp into a claw, and various protrusions dig painfully into my digits – I may well have odd-shaped hands, but given how ‘right’ previous Nikons felt to me, I was surprised by how physically uncomfortable it was to use. On top of that, the strap lugs are poorly positioned: the right side one digs into your fingers. And here I was thinking only Olympus made this mistake.”

— http://blog.mingthein.com/2013/12/24/review-2013-nikon-df/

And I tend to agree. On the surface, the Df pulls at heart strings. On the surface it looks like an older Nikon camera. But it is all on the surface. Older Nikons were lighter and much smaller. They had great viewfinders. The Df is merely the smallest full frame 35mm digital camera that Nikon make. Volume-wise, it is nearly twice the size of a Nikon FE or FM. Despite this, it sports an F3-sized grip and a chintzy viewfinder.

Complaints regarding haptics and ergonomics are real. The Sony ILCE-7r, which is no my go-to digital camera for still life, is designed for the young photographer who never has experienced cameras with good ergonomics, controls, and immediate feedback. But such is life when modern photography is driven not by photographic purpose but by market share. Outside of larger format backs, specialised cameras do NOT exist today. Each one has to pack all the goodies in. And, when the driving force behind pricing and construction is cost/performance ratios, specialised cameras may not return. 

Here's to hoping that things will change.

Not all pixels are created equal: Nikon D610 vs. Sigma DP2 Merrill

DPReview member, Dogonit, demonstrates quite clearly how the 800$ Sigma pulls out more information from the same low ISO exposure than the twice-expensive Nikon D610.

“NOT ALL PIXELS ARE CREATED EQUAL: The Foveon sensor in the Sigma and the Bayer-type sensor in the Nikon are very, very, VERY VERY VERY different beasts. When Sigma claims a 48-Megapixel sensor it’s an overstatement, but one that’s based, at least partially, in comparative reality. The Foveon sensor does indeed have 48 Megapixels! They are just stacked over top of each other, like how film is made. The RGB sensors are translucent, so that the sensor takes a red, a green, and a blue reading for every pixel it ends up rendering, which comes out the other end as a 16 Megapixel image. How is this significant? Well, consider how a Bayer sensor works. The D610 is listed as a 24 Megapixel sensor. Does is have 24 Megapixels? Yes, BUT...each of these pixels picks up only red, green OR blue information. The Bayer filter then takes that information, calculates probable values based on averages from neighboring sensors, and estimates what each pixel’s color should be. What comes out the other end? A 24MP image, but it’s not really a 24MP image because it hasn’t really gathered full 24 Megapixels of Red, Green and Blue data; it’s captured somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 Megapixels (because there aren’t equal numbers of R, G, B pixels - there are far more Green pixels to record information). If you don’t understand this simplified explanation I encourage you to read more technical articles that explain this whole thing in detail. I assure you though that this is an accurate representation of what’s going on with each of these sensors. What I’m getting at is this: Don’t cry foul when Sigma claims 48 Megapixels. Nikon and Sigma are both over-representing their sensors in terms of the data it collects vs. the final output.”

— http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3590833#forum-post-52699306

And I agree. But then, you can count me in with those that feel the next logical step is 56 megapixels in a 35mm FF digital camera. 

Sony a7r shutter vibration seismometer test

Before the Coffee has posted a tireless shutter shock comparison that faces off the Nikon D3, the Sony NEX7, and the Sony a7r. The conclusion is as follows:

“Duration of vibration is greatest for the A7R over the D3 and NEX-7. This confirms what we already know; the shutter has to close, open, close and then open.
Intensity of vibration in the A7R is about the same as a DSLR but the A7R dissipates the vibration faster than the D3. I am pleased to see that the A7R is not off-the-charts in shutter vibration. It will probably impact image quality at high zooms but most of my shooting will be 100mm or less. For those that like above 100mm, it would be great if a firmware update for the A7R would allow us to raise the shutter into position prior to exposure, much like mirror lock-up.”

I have found no problem with shutter shock for strobe photography. Shutter lag and shock are high on the a7r and can be expected to exert influence over the final image in slow exposure photographs.

Again, here are my thoughts about the a7r.

Fujifilm XF 10-24 F4 R OIS announced (and summarily trashed)

On paper, it looks to be a great lens. Fujirumors members already are bashing it. Too expensive. Too big. Too heavy. Where's the marked aperture intervals? Yadda yadda yadda.

First, the contention that this lens is expensive is ridiculous. Fujifilm should be free to charge whatever they want for their products. If they want the X series to be a premium set of cameras and lenses, there is only one way to ensure it: price accordingly. If you want the puppy dog and toenail photographers, make your stuff as cheaply as possible and hoard a ridiculous and uncontrollable market.

True, Fujifilm could charge less for the 10-24. They could price it according to, say, performance alone. There's a tactic. Yay! The market at work. Samyang do that. And look at how their products are lusted after. Do the Samyang thing, but in Toyota style. Literally support 60+ models of cameras, just so that you don't miss anyone. Don't have a vision of your own. Down cultivate that vision. Don't aim high. Don't design for consistency.

Go for the toenail group.

The problem is that Fujifilm is a Japanese company. Over here in Japan, the only thing that matters is large distribution. Focus in your lineup and focus on a specific market are completely foreign to Japanese corporations.

Toenails!

Fujifilm have already released a couple of cheap X cameras that prove that they are going after everyone and everything. And they have a whole range of crappy point-and-shoot cameras that, for all intents and purposes, could be made by any camera company out there. So now, Fujifilm have to answer to the toenail group. 

When the X100, and later the X-Pro 1 was released, I had hoped that Fujifilm would abandon a silly past, that they would aim high and focus on perfect haptics, on simplicity, and most important, on cultivating a mature, loyal, and percipient market. 

Fujifilm X100s VS XF 23/1,4

Well-shot comparisons like this one should be helpful for those wavering between the compact X100s and the SLR-sized X-Pro 1 or XE with the massive (and impressive) XF 23/1,4 R Fufjifilm lens.

Fuji vs. Fuji is a comparison site with scattered, but interesting information about Fuji cameras and lenses. I expect great things from it in the coming months.