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Publisher's Blog: Ryan Jordan's Backcountry
Here's a short video highlighting some of my experiences this fall with the new .22LR Pak-Rifle, a 16-oz small game and utility rifle. I mistakenly reported earlier here that the rifle weighed 22 oz - sorry about that (bad scale).
My full review of the Pak-Rifle will be published at Backpacking Light during the first week of December. Here's the introduction from my review, and the video follows:
The Pak-Rifle weighs 16 oz and shoots 0.22LR shells, which weigh less than 0.11 oz apiece. If one is trekking through areas where upland bird and small game abounds, then adding 20 oz of rifle and shells can allow you to spend many more days in the backcountry than what might be possible simply by carrying all of your own food. A similar argument can be made for an ultralight fishing kit. Consequently, equipment that can be used for foraging and hunting deserves some consideration for trekkers undergoing longer journeys in remote locations where food weight might become prohibitive, and resupply logistics are challenging.
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Winter Color: Mammoth Hot Springs, WY
Photo: Sigma DP2, ISO 50, f/4, 1/1600 sec.
I'm deep into reviewing the technical performance of a number of mid-sensor compact cameras right now for Backpacking Light. I just put the Olympus E-P1 review to bed, and you'll see it published there next week.
In addition, I'm looking at the Panasonic GF-1 and the Leica X1, and comparing them all to my baseline high-image-quality-compact, the Sigma DP2.
That means I've been using the Sigma DP2 a lot more lately, so I can really understand what we're comparing here. It's pretty easy to shelve an old camera and say that the "latest new thing" blows it away.
But, I'm finding that with the Sigma DP2, it's a tough little cookie to blow away. You'll see this loud and clear in my review of the Olympus E-P1, which is sort of underwhelming when I compare prints enlarged to 16" x 20" from both cameras (hint: Sigma DP2 images were unanimously preferred by viewers), which the Sigma DP2 providing more detail (in spite of lower resolution) and seemingly more aesthetically appealing color tonality.
The image above reveals the incredible power of the Sigma DP2's Foveon sensor at capturing color information. This was another one taken at Mammoth Hot Springs last weekend. Very subtle diffuse sunlight was bathing small bits of the terrace in the foreground, while most of it was shaded, and backlight by a sun that is screaming behind a cloud just off camera. Talk about a dynamic range nightmare.
I imported the X3F file from Adobe Camera Raw 5.5, and was easily able to recover all of the image data contained in both the highlights and the shadows. Once it was in Photoshop, I then used a layer mask to adjust brightness and contrast in localized areas of the image to bring the foreground out a little bit. The result is shown above: rich, beautiful color, and image depth, that easily competes with what the Olympus E-P1 is capable of producing - at half the weight and size.
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Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming
Lower Terraces, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park. Sigma DP2 f/8 1/80 sec. November 15, 2009. Ryan Jordan photo.
A lot of people take pictures of neat thermal features in Yellowstone Park. Some people take really, really good ones. But at some point, they all start looking the same.
I was really fortunate last weekend - right place, right time, you might say. Zero degree weather, diffuse light, and spectacular color. Not always the combination seen by the tourist crowd at Mammoth.
I'm glad I had the Sigma DP2 with me. I think this little camera's Foveon sensor might have been tailor-made for the colors of Yellowstone National Park.
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Pushing Digital Image Data Around
Alan Dixon on the Cedar Run trail, Shenandoah National Park. Panasonic GF1, 20mm, f/1.7, 1/400 sec.
To me, one very important benefit of a camera with a "larger" sensor is the ability to push its image data around during post processing. Some call this "robustness". Others call it "resilience". It is probably the most defining difference between smaller and larger sensors.
It's also a key measure that I use to compare similar sensors, such as those in the Panasonic GF1 and the Olympus E-P1. The latter provides data that is tough to push around. My upcoming review at Backpacking Light of the E-P1 suggests this indirectly. I notice it simply by the loss of color data, and detail. Images from the Panasonic GF1, however, seem to be less sensitive to aggressive post-processing, which means you can do more with them in terms of adjusting color, contrast, luminance, and detail.
It is one (of a few) reasons why I favor the Panasonic GF-1 over the Olympus E-P1, and perhaps, the most important one.
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The Fortunate Decay of Digital Camera Evolution: Uniformity in Digital Imaging
I'm writing a series of digital camera reviews at Backpacking Light over the next few months, including the Olympus E-P1, the Panasonic GF1, and the Leica X1 - three cameras that promise exceptional technical photographic performance for their size and weight.
In context, my own bias lens will be formulated by comparing these cameras to those that have achieved "classic" status in my own backcountry kit (which includes light, compact, high quality, simple cameras, and necessarily excludes DSLR's and most (poor quality) small sensor compacts.
I first started leaving SLR cameras at home when I caught the lightweight bug in the late 1980s. I had been shooting a Nikon F1, Canon AE1, and Minolta Maxxum at the time, and ended up selling those kits to fund the purchase of a Leica M3 equipped with a 1960s vintage Leica M lens. Other than a brief foray off-trail (and for me, off-route!) into DSLR photography a few years ago, I've stuck with more compact cameras ever since, with the Leica M3 (and later, an M6), an Olympus XA, Nikon 28Ti, and Contax T3 capturing most of my favorite photographs during my mountaineering and backpacking trips. Kodachrome 64, and later, Fuji Velvia, were my primary films of choice for their beautiful color rendition and contrast.
Since I left the Contax T3 behind and dove into digital photography, I've had short affairs with many cameras, and longer affairs with only a few. Those few included one camera that by today's standards would be ridiculed for its image quality: the Pentax Optio W60i. I took this little camera to Alaska in 2006 and because it was with me I captured some of the best images I've ever taken. No, they're not gallery photos, but the camera captured enough image detail and color to produce (with no small bit of post processing!) photos with character, worthy of adorning the walls of my home.
But the standards that have stayed with me through the years of digital photography are few and far between, and limited primarily to two camera series: the Ricoh GRD (and its later brethren), and the Sigma DP1 and DP2. There are faster cameras out there, there are those that are more feature rich, and there are those that offer technically superior image quality. But there is something about these two camera families that distinguish them from the crowds a little: they produce out of camera photos with more character.
The character of a photograph is a hard thing to review, and compare among cameras. It's one of those things that as a photographer, you feel in your heart, and sometimes your gut, more than in your mind. It's the reason that you choose Kodachrome 64 over Fuji Velvia 50, or vice versa. And for some of us, it's the reason why it's so difficult to pull the Sigma DP2 out of our hands in favor of cameras that offer technical superiority when pixel peeping 100% crops.
"A hiker by a creek (sic)." A yawn-inducing out of camera JPG from the Panasonic GF1, or Canon S90, or Olympus E-P1, or Leica D-Lux 4, or ... or ... or ...
This brings me to what I see as the "fortunate decay" in the evolution of digital cameras, and is reflected by my own experience peeping at pixels, and reading the highly technical reviews of cameras published by the likes of DPReview.com and others. That fortunate decay is the trend towards uniformity in the ability of digital cameras to capture technically outstanding images. I say that it's a decay because camera makers are spending their time building cameras (and sensors) that serve technical analysts more than image viewers. So, we are on the cusp of seeing high ISO noise disappear, capturing 10+ EV of dynamic range, and resolving NNN lpmm of detail, and frankly, some think that in a few years, the sensor used in the camera will be irrelevant.
And, I say that this is a fortunate sort of decay, because it may reveal the need for a new type of digital camera market: one that is not necessarily focused on technical performance of the image sensor, but rather, upon the ability for the lens to send a character-filled image to the sensor, and the ability of the interface between camera and user to be minimized in a way that re-engages us as photographers rather than operators of little computers with lenses attached. This niche has been squarely introduced with the introduction of the Ricoh GRX: a camera controller that can accommodate various lens+sensor combinations.
In conclusion, I'm convinced that while sensor technical specifications will continue to rise (perhaps significantly, relative to where they sit today), the vast majority of mid- and large-sensor digital cameras, and a very large number of small-sensor compacts, will produce images capable of capturing enough data that they will all be able to produce just about any type of image that the photographer will want to produce. Thus, we'll again return to the darkroom (digital this time, instead of chemical) to reveal an image's character - and thankfully minimize the tool used to capture the image in the context of the larger process used to produce a final image for viewing.
In fact, after spending the last few months shooting the Olympus E-P1 and Panasonic GF1, it wouldn't take much to convince me that these days may already be here, and that we might do well to spend less time focusing on a pixel peeper's perspective of image quality and more time shopping cameras based on their weight, size, ergonomics, and simplicity - areas in which the Ricoh GR (digital) series and the Sigma DP series still have no competition.
The evolution of digital photography has placed necessary (but probably mis-prioritized) emphasis on the technical performance of sensors, and it's caused even the most serious photographers to lose sight of the real goal: to capture photographs that tell a story. Technical uniformity, hopefully, will allow us to return to those roots.
My friend and hiking partner Alan Dixon tries to stay warm while filling his water bottle from Cedar Run in Shenandoah National Park on a cold, fall day, in the midst of a stark and leafless deciduous forest during an evening walk up 3,000 vertical feet of Appalachia en route to its crest at Hawksbill (November 2009).
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24 Hours: Nine Months Til Summer
I posted the next episode of "24" yesterday. It will go online, with photos and narrative, at Backpacking Light next week.
For this episode, I traversed (in rather wintry conditions in early October) the divide from Hyalite to Cottonwood, and was joined by Ryan Connelly for the latter part of the trip. He showed up in my camp around midnight!
Cold, snow, wind, sneakers, a neat tent, fire, soup...
I hope you enjoy the video. I sure enjoyed the trip.
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Best Montana & Alaska Hiking Vacations (sic)
Chase and I are planning a car camping trip this weekend with our Boy Scout troop. We're going to camp at Mammoth Hot Springs, just inside Yellowstone National Park. Currently, Mammoth ranks as one of Chase's Top Five Best Ever Places on Earth. I think it's because one time we were there, we saw a big bull elk in rut tear the skin off some guy's brand new $100,000 motorcoach.
We'll cook outrageous meals in dutch ovens, take photos of the terraces, soak in the Boiling River, and enjoy the solitude of the campground because apparently, people don't go camping after Labor Day anymore.
We'll go hiking of course. I think we're planning on a descent down into the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone. Mammoth is a fantastic jumping off point for day and overnight hiking.
I think this will shape up to be a great Montana-style weekend vacation. Cheap, too.
My friend Andy is taking a vacation too, up in Alaska. Looks like he's going to do a neat loop hike out of Kotzebue.
