We dealt with a bit of rough weather which ended up working to our advantage, trying to find some shelter in Ferntree Gully we found an old abandoned warehouse. Will share the story once it’s out next week, hang tight.

This much anticipated camera the 5D Mark III is a very interesting and appealing update, because Canon decided to keep the resolution of the camera about the same – 22.3 MP sensor, versus the 21.1 MP sensor on the 5D Mark II. This is a very different move compared to what Nikon did with its D800, which boasts a crazy high resolution of 36.3 MP, versus 12.1 MP on its previous generation Nikon D700. It almost seems like Canon and Nikon are reversing their roles, because Canon has always been pushing for a higher megapixel count, while Nikon has been focusing on better image quality, better autofocus and other important features. The Canon 5D Mark III specifications are indeed very impressive – seems like Canon is finally listening to its large customer base. The AF system went through a complete rework and the camera now has 61 focus points, up to 41 of which are cross-type. The previous 9 focus points and 1 cross-type on the 5D Mark II sound like a joke in comparison. The Nikon D4 and D800 have 51 focus points total, 15 of which are cross-type. So Canon is way ahead in terms of AF specifications (that’s assuming that Canon finally addressed its AF problems). The continuous shooting speed has also increased to 6 fps (compared to 5D Mark II’s 3.9 fps and Nikon D800′s 4 fps) and the viewfinder coverage is now 100%, compared to 98% on the 5D Mark II. 

Here is a summary of the Canon 5D Mark III specifications:

1. Sensor: 22.3 MP full frame sensor
2. Sensor Size: 36 x 24mm
3. Native ISO Sensitivity: 100-25,600
4. Boost Low ISO Sensitivity: 50
5. Boost High ISO Sensitivity: 51,200-102,400
6. Image Size: 5760 x 3840
7. Processor: DIGIC 5+
8. Metering System: iFCL metering with 63-zone dual-layer sensor
9. Metering Types: Centre-weighted, Spot, Evaluative, Partial
10. Dust Reduction: Yes
11. Weather Sealing/Protection: Yes
12. Body Build: Full Magnesium Alloy
13. Shutter: Up to 1/8000 and 30 sec exposure
14. Shutter Durability: 150,000 cycles
15. Storage: 1x CF slot and 1x SD slot
16. Viewfinder Type: Optical TTL
17. Viewfinder Coverage: 100%
18. Speed: 6 FPS
19. Built-in Flash: No
20. Additional Exposure Modes: Silent and low vibration
21. Autofocus System: Advanced 61-point high-density reticular AF (up to 41 cross-type points)
22. LCD Screen: 3.2 inch diagonal Clear View LCD II with 1.04 million dots
23. Movie Modes: Full 1080p HD with ISO 100-12,800, expandable to ISO 25,600
24. Movie Exposure Control: Full
25. Movie Output: AVI, H.264/MPEG-4 in MOV Format (Compressed)
26. In-Camera HDR Capability: Yes
27. Live View: Yes
28. Camera Editing: Lots of in-camera editing options with HDR capabilities
29. GPS: No
30. Battery Type: LP-E6
31. Battery Charger: LC-E6
32. USB Standard: 2.0
33. HDMI Port: Yes
34. Mic Port: Yes
35. Wireless: No built-in wireless, optional wireless accessory
36. Physical Dimensions: 152 x 116.4 x 76.4mm
37. Weight: 860g (body only)
38. Price: $3,500 AUD

My advice to most people is to always have a back up of your back up, if that makes sense. Below is a brief summary of my ‘Digital Asset Management System’. Firstly I use the KISS principle, keep it simple stupid! On my main Mac Pro I have a relatively small SDD that runs the operating system and programs. Along side this is another SDD for scratch disk & cache space for the operating system and programs. Using SSD (Solid state drive) is basically a giant flash memory card, fast and hard to break as there are no moving parts inside the drive. Next to these drives sits a 2TB Hybrid drive that contains all my business documents, image files and other important things. It’s especially handy to have images inside the computer, compared to an external drive as it works fast to preview & edit the file. I keep all my music and videos on a separate ‘external’ hard drive that has a standard connected as speed isn’t an issue here.

Keeping in mind that I am in the photography industry most of the above doesn’t apply to 90% of the population but the next steps do, BACK UP!!!!! So with my computer and external hardrives I back them all up on a ‘NAS’ RAID server via ‘Timemachine’ that is built into the MAC OS. I still can’t get over how amazing and easy to use that software is, I swear by it!

OK well all my stuff is backed-up now, but what if my office burns down or gets ruined by Melbourne’s unpredictable weather???? Simple, have another back up of your back up. This means I have another external ‘NAS’ RAID Server that comes home once a month that duplicates the back up that is plugged into the main computer 24/7. It’s important to keep this ‘secondary’ back up in a separate location just in case. It’s heartbreaking seeing people who have lost entire family histories and photos because they didn’t have a proper back-up system in place.

Worst case scenario now is that you computer is damage, stolen but at least you still have your entire system and data backed-up. Timemachine can restore a new computer to the same state as your old one…brilliant.

Any questions or if you need clarification on anything in the post please contact me: info@johnwilson.com.au

Back Up Flow Chart

ROKEBY Studios

Over the last 5 weeks I’ve had the absolute pleasure of sponsoring exhibition printing for Chissy Cauchi. In early 2011 Chrissy spend two months travelling through India where she worked with Aid Organisation Projects Abroad, as a volunteer at the love & care Orphanage in Madurai, South India.

Combining her passion for children and photography, Chrissy documented her experience in pictures, in what has become the Madurai Kids Photographic Exhibition. It’s been held at Rokeby Studios in Collingwood tonight, Thursday 18th August 2011. Come along and enjoy the photographic prints, short films, auction of exclusive framed prints, drinks, nibbles and live DJ set.

Click to enlarge invitation

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working closely with Chrissy and Marija Ivkovic from Rokeby Studios editing and printing the prints for the exhibition. They have been beautifully printed on Photographique Rag.

Tickets for the exhibition can be purchased here all money raised is going directly back to the orphanage.

JWP is sponsoring a $1000 door prize to this event.

I encourage photographers and clients to draw on their test prints, stick them on the wall and constantly reflect how they could improve it before printing it for exhibition. There is a huge debate around retouching whether it’s right or wrong, some photographers use it very minimally others create there entire masterpieces using retouching techniques. I guess Adobe has keep the world interesting!

In reality there has only been three components I have changed in this image. Spotting (Cleaning up sensor dust and any annoying marks) colour balance and contrast. I can’t stress enough how important contrast is, especially mid range (80-200 Levels). I’ve worked down to pixel level on the image and it now sits framed as a 24×35″ print in houses and offices around Australia. ‘Bruny Island Tasmania’

John

Before Retouching (Original Raw)

After Retouching

Fine art printing consists of implementing technical skills to prepare a print for exhibition or folio presentation in a professional colour managed environment. I could write pages on this but here are the basics.

Before I run any of my personal or client work of on my Epson 44 inch printer I subject the digital file though a ‘print finishing’ process which includes applying print outputs (Returning any clipped shadows or highlights within the printers tonal range capabilities, generally 8-250 levels), colour balance, contrast (especially mid range contrast) sharpness and most importantly soft proofing. This allows you to simulate on your monitor how your image will print, creating these ‘Soft proofing profiles’ is a painful process but detrimental to the success of the print. Each different type of paper has it’s own profile. In the long run ‘Soft Proofing’ reduces costs of reprinting.

There are many variables though depending on how photographers set up there files, especially when it comes to monitor calibrations. Every file is different, many of my clients submit work that is either too dark (unexposed) or flat (lacks contrast). In a perfect world it would be ideal to calibrate your monitor and printer to ‘what you see is what you get’. Well, through calibration and testing I have achieved this in my ‘Colour Managed Workflow’. Another aspect to consider is how different (Professional & archival) papers represent different tone and colour. For example a B&W landscape may look textured, sharp, moody and ‘pop’ on a rag style paper but look completely awful on a lustre style paper.The best thing you can do when printing for an exhibition or your folio is to work closely with a professional in ‘Fine Art Printing’. Look at samples, compare and ask questions!

If anyone would like to know more information about print finishing/retouching or clarification please contact me through www.johnwilson.com.au