Tech Tuesday: Why Digital Camera Images Aren't Sharp Out of the Camera

When I was scanning the web for ideas on this weeks' Tech Tuesday post, I ran across this already-made-up excellent explanation of why digital camera images are not sharp right out of the camera. You can see it here at Ken Rockwell's excellent web site. The technical reason is something called Bayer interpolation, which Ken explains very well, or at least in more than enough detail for me.

It tend to check in with Ken's 'What's New' section at least every few days - he usually has something interesting to say or to explain, and I like his humorous writing style.

I got away without writing my own Tech Tuesday post today, but I guess I can't get away without posting one of my own photos. How about this one, from our photo meetup this past Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery?

Constellation Silhouette

Arlington National Cemetery Meetup

 

Our hyperactive Meetup group visited Arlington National Cemetery yesterday, our sixth photo meetup since we got started August 2nd.

I can tell you from my experience over the past two months that if you find yourself in a photo slump, try a nearby photo Meetup.com group - it's worked wonders for me, as I've been photographing nearly nonstop since early August. The energy from being around other enthusiastic photographers carries over between meetups.

I hadn't been to Arlington National Cemetery since 1964, when I was 14 years old. I was moved by the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, but not so much by the ceremony itself, as by the many WWII veterans attending. While most people were watching the precise ritual by members of the 3rd US Infantry Regiment, I was fixed on these true American heroes. As young men, they endured countless hardships for our sake, then came back home and quietly and modestly rebuilt their lives as well as the American prosperity of the postwar period. Now at the end of their lives, we are fortunate whenever we find ourselves in their presence. 

"...Known Only to God"	SSGT Frank DiFransisco, watches the changing of the guard.
	Marine Corps War Memorial
Pearl Harbor Survivor

Baltimore Inner Harbor Meetup

This past Wednesday evening, our meetup.com group assembled once again for a photo shoot at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. We've become quite an active group, as this is our fifth event since we first started in early August. It was a good turnout as well, with 10 photographers along for the fun.

Catch some of the great photos by our members at our group pool on Flickr.com

Also, click on the image above to check out my latest attempt at panoramas, this one stiched together from five photos to produce a 33MP final result, using Canon's PhotoStich software. PhotoStitch comes free with every Canon camera these days, even the least expensive. It's dead simple to use and works great.

This time, I used a tripod to pan for the five exposures, and it worked perfectly. To get this view, we clibed up Federal Hill, an historic site adjacent to the south side of the harbor. My only regret is that these photos were taken a little too long after sunset, and the sky was going black. I'll have to go back to Federal Hill another time to get some "dark-blue-sky" photos of this same scene.

Sandy

Her smile undampened by the Friday afternoon rain, Sandy and I take shelter in the lakeside pavilion at West Drive boat landing in Central Park (taken 9/12/2008).

My Camera History, Part IV

Just shoot me. Kill me now...

... because I once had a Leica M3, a beautiful, clean one at that, and then sold it two years later.


I bought the M3 DS (double-stroke) in 1978 or 1979, I can't remember exactly when - I guess it's just too painful - at my favorite little camera shop, Olden Camera, just off Herald Square. I think it was something like $350 or $380, and that included a screw-mount-to-M-mount adaptor for my 50mm collapsible Summicron. I don't think I could touch that same camera today for under a thousand dollars. Maybe I shoulda invested in Leicas instead of the stock market.

The funny thing is, as beautiful and precise and fondle-able that camera was, I just don't remember taking a whole lot of pictures with it. I don't think I have a single photo that I can put my hands on right now that I could definitely say was taken with the M3. Don't ask.

But it gets worse. I also bought a Minolta CL in 1979. The Leica CL and Minolta CL were compact M-mount rangerfinders made by Minolta and jointly designed by Leitz and Minolta. Sort of like a Buick and an Oldsmobile. Anyway, the CL was a truly amazing design - it was even smaller than my Leica IIIc, and yet totally modern and innovative, sporting a throught-the-lens spotmeter - I think that was a first for an interchangeable-lens rangefinder.

The CL came with a very sharp 40mm f/2 Rokkor (the Leitz version were called Summicron), and it was capable of mounting other Leica lenses, either M-mount or using an adaptor, old screw-mount lenses.

I did use the CL more than the M3, but still not an awful lot compared to my earlier cameras and the Leica IIIc that I still had. At least, compared to the M3, I have one or two yellow slide boxes that are marked "CL" to show for it.

My Leica era came to an end by 1981, by which time I had sold all three cameras.

I know, I know.

NYC Endorsement