Photography – Page 36 – a sibilant intake of breath

On cameralessness and camera-sight

For nearly a month now, I have been walking around without a decent camera (the one on my phone is too low quality to count). At the outset, I was wondering if it would change the way I looked at the world. It seems plausible that a person carrying a camera might become overly concerned about the possibility of recording experiences and thus become less immersed in the situations themselves. While I think that remains true in some circumstances, I find that the general result of not carrying a camera is simply loss of acuity in sensation. Having a camera forces you to pay more attention to what is happening around you: the quality of the light, the details of natural and man-made objects nearby, brightnesses and distances and angles.

As Tristan and I discussed while he was visiting this weekend, one’s sensitivity extends to include consideration for the kind of equipment being used. You do see a bit differently when you are carrying black and white film than when you are carrying colour; you care more about textures and relative brightnesses and not at all about colour temperature. Probably, there are differences in how you see based on whether you are carrying a camera loaded with 35mm film, one with a small digital sensor, or one with a larger sensor more capable of low-grain performance in low light. It is a bit like Michael Pollan’s description of what happened to his vision when he was collecting mushrooms: our visual systems are quite happy to optimize themselves for the task at hand.

Thankfully, my repaired camera is in the process of being mailed back to me. It is notable that Canon repaired it for free – essentially acknowledging that the problem arose because of a defect in manufacturing. I thus feel vindicated in saying that the Future Shop staff were wrong to reject an exchange, on the basis that I had abused the camera. I won’t be making the mistake of giving them more business anytime soon.

[Update: 31 January 2007] Oh, trumph and celebration! My camera has been returned and seems to be functioning properly. No more photos of the day from weeks past!

1024 by 768 does not a pretty 4 x 6 make

Partly because of concerns about archiving digital files in the long term, I am hoping to make prints from some of my digital files. Unfortunately, there is an issue of aspect ratios. My digital photos all have an aspect ratio of 4:3 – different from those used for 4 x 6″, 5 x 7″, and 8 x 10″ photographic prints. I don’t especially want black bands on two sides of each image, and I definitely don’t want them arbitrarily cropped.

Is there anywhere online where I can order digital prints on photographic paper in native digital resolution? Albums capable of holding prints with that aspect ratio would also be required. The alternative – manually cropping hundreds of photos to minimize the unwanted aesthetic effects of switching to the 4 x 6″ format – is something I only want to do as a last resort.

Powershot A570 IS dead in three days

Three days after purchase, the battery hatch on my new camera broke during the course of ordinary use. I opened it to change the batteries and, when I tried to close it again, found that a little plastic bit was bent outwards. Afterwards, it would not close.

Future Shop refused to exchange it for a working one because they said the breakage was my fault. It was a reminder of just how poor their customer service is. The agent doing the return insisted that it had been dropped, even though it looked absolutely perfect aside from the bit that was bent.

The camera is being sent back to Canon for repair under the manufacturer’s warranty. Hopefully, they will simply repair or replace the hinge assembly. Irksomely, it can only be sent back to the store that did the original sale. When it comes back in a few weeks, it will therefore need to be mailed out to me in Ottawa.

[Update: 16 January 2008] More than two weeks after turning in my camera for repair, it remains ‘unprocessed.’ Perhaps, they say, they will be able to tell me the cost of repair within a week.

[Update: 23 January 2007] Apparently, the A570 has been repaired. My mother has kindly offered to pick it up and mail it to me tomorrow.

[Update: 31 January 2007] Oh, trumph and celebration! My camera has been returned and seems to be functioning properly. No more photos of the day from weeks past!

First photo in a book

After asking my permission, a group of authors used one of my photos in their book Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior. The photo in question is of a Soviet automobile in the Occupations Museum in Tallinn. I am not sure of the precise context in which it was used, but they have offered to send me a copy.

I will post a photo of the page including my photo when the book arrives. I am generally happy for people to use my photos with permission and proper attribution. The pleasantness of this experience stands in contrast with the unauthorized publication of one of my photos in The Oxford Student.

An orderly transfer of power

When I saw a camera markedly superior to the one I have been using for the last two years on sale for about $150, including a 2GB memory card, it seemed that the time to upgrade had arrived. I was drawn to the Canon Powershot A570 mostly because of the image stabilization, which allows sharper photos in lower light. It is also nice that it has ISO ratings going up to 1600 – compared with 400 on my old A510. It remains to be seen how the graininess of the two cameras compares at fast speeds. The controls on the new camera are nearly the same as the old, though it will take a while for them to become as utterly intuitive as the A510 was after its years of valued service.

What surprised me most about the A570 is how pleasantly quick it is. The time lag from pressing the shutter to taking a photo is much shorter. All sorts of other camera operations are faster too; transferring photos to my computer is about three times faster. The Digic III processor is probably responsible for most of that. As you can see from the two linked images, the A570 also seems to blow out highlights less than the A510. Those frequent white patches were one of the most substantial failings of a camera that is excellent overall.

The old camera remains perfectly serviceable. Virtually every picture posted on this blog has been taken with it. It will probably be available at low cost to a friend who will use it well.

[1 January 2008] The camera has passed to Emily Horn. May she use it well.

Photo archives

This afternoon, Emily and I were looking through photo albums from when I was a young child. One of many thoughts that occurred to me during the course of flipping through photos nearly a quarter-century old is the enduring quality of such media. Digital photography is a lot cheaper and more convenient, but it is also likely to be more ephemeral. Who has confidence that their digital photos will endure for twenty or thirty years? Who has the backups, and on media with that kind of lifespan? Neither burned CDs nor hard drives can really be counted upon for such a duration.

People may age may be the last generation to commonly have baby photos to look at in old age. Someone should offer a service where digital files are pressed onto bronze in file formats that will still be readable decades or centuries hence.

LCD picture frames

Walking through a packed mall the other day, I actually saw a product that had not previously occurred to me but which was nonetheless quite appealing: electronic picture frames. They ran from about $150 for a 4 x 6″ frame to about $350 for an 8 x 12″ version. The latter is the size I would go for, if purchasing such a thing. It doesn’t make too much sense to show off photos at sizes smaller than that.

Basically, you put a bunch of photos on a memory card, put it in the frame, and see them presented for whatever span of time you like. So far, my intention to make some prints has not been fulfilled. This would be more portable and varied than a bunch of framed prints, anyhow.

The idea of an ever-changing photographic feature for my living room is appealing. My flat would seem a bit less impersonal with such an element. It is also true that the presentation of photos in an actively luminous way (slides or a screen) has advantages over prints that simply reflect available light. For one thing, the colours seem to look nicer.

Does anybody know which brands make attractive and reliable screens of these sorts?

Banning photography reduces our security

Yet another story has surfaced about the authorities being overly heavy handed in response to photography. This time, it a Japanese man threatened and detained because he was taking photos from the window of a moving train. There are two important responses to this trend. The first is to stress that it is useless for security purposes. If there is a situation in which taking a photo would help a terrorist to achieve their objectives, no enforceable anti-photo policy will deter them. Anyone willing to plan or undertake a terrorist attack will be able to tolerate any punishment that could conceivably be imposed for taking photos. They are also likely to be able to take photos in a way that will not be noticed: either with sneaky hidden cameras or with a simple camera phone or by developing an awareness of when the authorities are watching. Banning photography in places like vehicles and bridges punishes photography enthusiasts and serves no security purpose.

Secondly, the ability to take photographs is an important check against the abuse of authority. Without the infamous videotape, it is likely that the Rodney King beating would never have received public attention and that the officers involved would have been able to lie their way out of the situation. Similar abuses, such as the inappropriate use of tasers, have been appropriately documented because people present had the capability and initiative to make a recording. Photos, videos, and other recordings can provide a vital record of interactions with authority: both allowing people whose rights are abused to provide evidence and allowing frivolous claims to be dismissed. A security force that is serious about good conduct and oversight has nothing to fear and much to gain from a bit of public surveillance.

More generally, banning photography is symptomatic of the demise of open society. While there are legitimate security risks that exist and reasonable steps that should be taken to protect against them, reducing oversight and individual liberty both undermines the very things we are trying to protect and creates new risks of abuse at the hands of modern society’s burly new enforcers.

[Update: 15 November 2007] This post on Classical Bookworm, about a recent incident at the Vancouver airport, highlights how important it is for private citizens to be able to record the actions of police and other security officials.

Chernobyl gets a new hat

At the same time as enthusiasm is growing for the use of nuclear fission as a non-greenhouse gas emitting energy source, the crumbling concrete tomb around the Chernobyl reactor is to be encased in steel, at an approximate cost of $1.4 billion. The doomed reactor will be covered by “a giant arch-shaped structure out of steel, 190 metres (623 feet) wide and 200m long.” Of course, it is only a matter of time before the new carapace will need to be replaced, in turn.

The Chernobyl disaster occurred back in 1986. Despite causing widespread contamination, about 95% of the radioactive material initially present remains within the site of the reactor complex. A motorcycle-riding photographer named Elena has put some haunting photos of the abandoned area on her website.

Just yesterday, Dr. Patrick Moore (co-founder of Greenpeace) urged the more widespread use of fission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As ever, there are three big problems with nuclear fission: waste that will be dangerous for a span longer than the existence of civilization thus far, the possibility of catastrophic accidents, and the connection between civilian nuclear capability and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. It is certainly becoming less clear-cut that nuclear is a worse option than the alternatives. For one thing, new reactor designs like the South African pebble bed promise to reduce the chances of accidents. On the proliferation side, there is talk of fuel supplier countries taking back spent rods, as protection against their plutonium being extracted and used for bombs. Of course, that just worsens the nuclear waste situation. The fact that it is all sitting in ‘temporary’ reactor ponds and that no state has constructed a permanent geological storage facility for radioactive waste should continue to give us pause.

Hacking a Canon digicam

For a number of years now, I have been recommending the Canon Powershot series of point and shoot digital cameras to everyone thinking of buying a relatively inexpensive but surprisingly capable digicam. Thanks to a firmware hack called CHDK, it seems they can be made even better. You can activate features normally available only on much higher end cameras, such as live histograms and taking pictures in RAW format.

Unfortunately, the A510 that I use to take all the photos on this blog is too old for the software. When it finally kicks the bucket for good, I may well buy a camera that can me modded in this way.

I learned about this via flying penguin.