Raw fish: om nom nom!

I have had my Canon S90 for nearly a year! Quite hard to believe - in fact Canon has already announced an update is due out soon (S95). Apparently the rear dial doesn't turn freely anymore on the S95 but I haven't actually found that the loose one on the S90 has been the problem many feared it might be. I like that they've added extra holes for a proper neck strap though - that seems like it could be useful.

If there was one thing that would make me want to upgrade, it would be the ability to attach a dedicated optical finder. I know Canon would rather have me buy the G11 for that but those cameras are simply too big once you've tried the S90 (not to mention the lens is a stop slower!)

I would imagine such a device using a proprietary clip instead of the usual flash shoe to keep the size down; perhaps with an extra frame marked for 50mm FoV. It doesn't need to be super-accurate, although large and bright would be very desirable. For bonus points, the finder could incorporate a focus indicator LED and illuminated frame lines that switch as you zoom the lens - I'm sure many people would pay good money for this.

I often find that I am holding my camera up to my eye, zoomed all the way out and pre-focused, just trying to eyeball the correct framing. It works surprisingly well! Some enterprising users have already hacked (well, glued) finders onto the S90 but a first party solution would be far more elegant. Mike Johnston recently likened these cameras to the original Leica; I think a proper finder would really cement the argument.

Lightroom tells me that my catalogue only has about 750 shots from the S90. It's not much but I have some travels coming up so that number should go up soon. More importantly, I have a very large number of keepers - about 150 are marked 3+ stars - and most of these are in difficult low-light situations where most compacts would struggle to deliver much in the way of usable pictures. These are 150 shots I would not have made with my DSLR because it was sitting at home!

On a related note, I managed to drop mine a short distance onto some gravel. Luckily it escaped with nothing but a mark or two on the lens ring paint - easily sorted with some black permanent marker The build quality (while not up to Leica M standards) is also more than adequate!

Shot info: f/2.2, 6.85mm (one step from full wide), ISO 1600, CR2 converted through Lightroom 3.

Shot with a Nikon D700 and a selection of fines Nikkors: 14-24/2.8, 24-70/2.8, 70-200/2.8 VR2, 105/2.8 VR. If I had to pick a favorite lens it would definitely be the 14-24/2.8, with the 105/2.8 VR Micro-Nikkor coming a close second. They are all, without exception, big and heavy lenses I wouldn't want to carry around all the time but they certainly produce the goods when needed!

And to illustrate just how tiny it is  - here's mine next to an AA battery (you might also recognize the Gordy's camera strap it's wearing):

Nikon expert Thom Hogan has posted his views on the S90 and sums it up much better than I could. I find the S90 a great camera for those times when I don't feel like lugging my SLR around. And since I've had a chance to handle the Olympus E-P1, I really don't lust after a m4/3 camera anymore even though I'm sure it's technically a better proposition.

Lightroom was actually doing the right thing by preserving the original look of the images. All that was needed was to either reset the development settings (killing my adjustments in the process), or update to the latest process version (this is available from the Settings menu when in the Develop module). I have noticed that some of my images require a lot less sharpening under the new process and so would look rather over-sharpened when simply converted to the latest process. In other words there is a good reason why Lightroom does not automatically put your old images through the new process – it’s different enough that the results of your original adjustments may simply not look as good as they should. My advice would be not to do large-scale en masse conversion of entire folders or catalogs, rather convert individual images and reassess the adjustments made.

Now that I am seeing the output of the latest rendering engine, I can tell you that this alone will be worth the price of the upgrade for me. Colour noise handling is vastly improved, the luminance grain is tighter and there may even be a tad more detail visible in some borderline cases. Have a look at the following side by side crops and judge for yourself (click to see in full):

All files use the default Lightroom noise reduction settings – the colour noise reduction slider was set to 25, and luminance noise was set to 0.

The improvement in the G10 images is very impressive. Also note the much reduced vertical banding in the 50D ISO3200 sample #4 above (this is the only crop that is not 100% because the banding was not as obvious at the 1:1 magnification size). Overall, I am seeing ever so slightly more detail (e.g. the stitching in sample #2, eyebrow hairs in sample #3) and vastly reduced colour noise with a more pleasing grain pattern. The Nikon D700 does not show a huge improvement – I had to go through quite a number of ISO 6400 photos to find one that shows much of a difference, mostly because the files are so good to start with. The story is similar with the Pentax K10D in that it doesn’t show much improvement – the files are fairly noisy in the first place and stay that way even under the new process.

All the above files have easily discernable differences at full-screen view on my HP LP2475w (24” 1920x1200 LCD, or around 30% magnification depending on which camera the file comes from), except for the Canon 50D @ ISO 400 and the two Pentax shots. The differences between Lightroom 2.5 and 3.0 Beta rendering for these three images are basically invisible at smaller magnifications.

Another small but important improvement that I’ve noticed is the smoother movement of the adjustment sliders. Previously, some computationally-expensive adjustments would make the sliders very notchy as the image preview was being rendered every time you changed a value. Now the sliders can move freely all the time. This is a classic case of better use of multithreading leading to more responsive software. I haven’t done any actual testing but it seems as though the new beta is also utilizing my dual core CPU better during import/export. It only makes sense as CPUs with four or eight threads of execution are becoming increasingly popular, and Lightroom 2 has some known deficiencies in such configurations.

The Lightroom 3 beta is available to all at Adobe Labs (free registration required).

Canon G10 set on Flickr (slideshow).

Here are a few shots of what it looks like on my G10 and K10D:

Also check out the customer gallery on Gordon's website which showcases many the different styles and colours available.

Verdict: highly recommended! (It should match my future S90 quite nicely, methinks.)

Pixel densities compared - Canon G10, Canon G11, Nikon D90, Nikon D700. They are 34 MP/cm², 23 MP/cm², 3.3 MP/cm², and 1.4 MP/cm² respectively. Ok, a compact is never going to be anywhere near as light sensitive as even an APS-C DSLR, but f the new sensor delivers even a 1-stop improvement over the old one it would be great. Can't wait to get my hands on one!

Edit: I think Canon missed a trick with this one however. They should have left a small attachment point and released an optional external viewfinder, with brightlines for 28/35/50mm framing.

You can also view it large on Flickr.

I just finished reading The Economist's special feature on the financial crisis from the October 11th 2008 edition. It's a fascinating, if long, read starting with When fortune frowned. On the subject of financial crises, one theory suggests a link between the number of Starbucks franchises and the state of a country's economy.

In case you have missed the mini banner on the blog, I published my first photo book with a collection of Orange River images. Check it out! I ordered one of all the available options, and they look great. I think my favourite is the Hardcover ImageWrap option. I will be ordering some more in time for Christmas! In the mean time Blurb has launched a premium grade paper option which should look even better.

The Pentax K-m has started shipping in the UK. Paired with the upcoming 15mm Limited prime lens, it should make one hell of a lightweight travel kit. (Pentax DSLRs use an APS-C sized sensor so the field of view would be equivalent to a ~23mm ultra-wide lens on a 35mm film camera.)

McLaren F1 chassis number 65 got sold at an auction for a record-setting £2.3m. Despite losing its top spot as the fastest production car some time ago, to many people it remains the supercar thanks its uncompromising and unique lightweight design.

Adobe's Creative Suite 4 might have only just began shipping, but Nvidia is quick to cash on it with the Quadro CX. As far as I can tell it is mostly just a rebranded GTX 260, and the only application that really benefits from it is video transcoding from Premiere. For Photoshop CS4, even the most basic cards should benefit from the new OpenGL-based image canvas based on Adobe's specs. The Nvidia Quadro CX does however offer dual DisplayPort interfaces and 30-bit colour so it's not all badge engineering.

And in gaming news, the Mirror's Edge demo is up on both Xbox Live and PSN as of today. I hope it lives up to the hype - it is busy downloading as I type.

Dell 2408WFP

A couple of months back I started a quest to upgrade my aging 19" LCD. First, I bought a Samsung SyncMaster 2232GW which I'd seen a friend of mine use. This turned out to be a disappointment - I didn't care much for the glossy finish or the shiny black case, but the real deal breaker was the colour banding and, to a lesser degree, RTC artefacts. After reading lots about the different LCD panel types, I decided that I had to get a display that isn't based on TN technology. The Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP is one of three monitors based on the same Samsung S-PVA panel (the other two being the Samsung 245T and the aging HP LP2465). Short of high-end LaCie and NEC monitors, these three together with the Apple Cinema Displays are the only high-quality enthusiast-level LCDs available in South Africa at present. The Apple Cinema Displays don't play very nicely with PCs (they don't have a built-in scaler so text mode in particular does not work) so I went ahead and ordered the Dell based on my very good experience with the Ultrasharp 1707FPs I use at work.

For the advanced PC or Mac user who values wide viewing angles and colour accuracy, this is an excellent LCD. Dell recommends this monitor for "accurate color representation" in the "home and office", and describes it as offering a "satisfying viewing experience when engaging in digital content creation, gaming and HD entertainment". Depending on where you're coming from, this could be the best monitor you've ever seen or just not good enough to make the grade. Read on for my experience with it. Ergonomics and connectivity are certainly top notch. One possible issue is the extended colour gamut - colour managed apps will display colour accurately, but some apps will have ridiculous neon colours as a result. Lightroom, Photoshop CS3, the Vista desktop (Explorer, photo viewer etc.), and Mozilla Firefox (once configured) all work correctly.

I ordered my monitor on September 4, 2008 and received the original revision, despite a firmware update being released all the way back in June already! I wouldn't ordinarily mind but the original firmware only allows the user to adjust sharpness in increments of 25. The default value of 50 is too high, causing colour halos around text. Dropping it to 25 results in a picture that is way too soft. This also tends to emphasize grain in photos and jagged lines in vector graphics. The new revision firmware should sort this out but don't assume that you'll get it - you might need to send it back to Dell for an update.

What is a more serious issue for graphics/photography users is the so-called "contrast shift" or "gamma shift" that is inherent to PVA matrices. This means that the halftones will shift in brightness when viewed off-centre. This is a major problem as you only need to move your head a few centimeters to notice it. With a panel of this size, simply moving an image from one side of the screen to the other will result in a visible change as you drag the window across. This is the reason we don't buy cheap TN panels in the first place! Except, TN panels change contrast when you move your head up and down. PVA panels change (and quite significantly) when you move left to right. This is arguably even worse, as monitors are wider than they are tall, and typically you'll stay at a constant height when sat in front of a computer.

My last problem with this monitor is hard to describe - some users report is as "DLP-like colour rainbows". I can notice it easily if there is some white text on a black background (e.g. a command shell), or a low-key black and white image on the screen, and move my eyes from one side of the screen to the other. As your eyes move across the screen, the B&W image will temporarily appear to have vivid red/green/blue colour stripes across it. This effect happens to me often enough (without specifically looking for it) to be annoying.

Now onto the positives, of which there are many. The stand is excellent - moves smoothly, yet manages to be well damped. It has a small footprint yet is very stable, and rotates nicely along the vertical axis. The portrait orientation pivot feature might come handy to some. The monitor looks like a serious piece of kit and feels very well put together. On the back, there are all the inputs one could wish for - including the new DisplayPort connector. I think it's particularly well suited for general multimedia and productivity tasks. Watching video on it is fantastic thanks to bright colours and wide viewing angles. Gaming is another strong point - I tried Crysis (using PC over DVI, scaled from 1600x1000) and Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360 over VGA connection, scaled from 1280x800), both were stunning although I still prefer my couch + plasma TV when it comes to recreation

My monitor is going back to Dell as a result of the above mentioned issues. I still believe it is a very solid choice but not the right one for me. However besides the inherent S-PVA problem of contrast shift, the remaining issues are inexcusable at this price level from a major manufacturer like Dell. Especially when a fix for at least one of them has been available for some months now. Service from Dell SA was outstanding though so I'll be more than happy to deal with them again. In the mean time, I'll be waiting for the new HP LP2475w to launch in SA. This monitor uses the latest generation H-IPS panel from LG and so has the potential to be even better than the Apple Cinema HD Display 23" and as good as the Apple iMac 24" (but without the glossy finish).

Other reviews from around the 'net: TFT Central, TrustedReviews.