June 2011

Another cat image? Yes I know. It´s a sign for quiet months. Beside my job and my biking I have almost no time for photography. At least this image has been shot with a real camera - not with a telephone like the last one. The Sony NEX 5 still amazes me with it´s outstanding image quality. I really think that this the future of photography - small cameras with big sensors. Of course there will always be people that take their images with their phones but if you are seeking for real quality in the image you have to shoot with at least a micro four thirds camera or higher. The quality of the image above is almost unreal. The focus is on the waterdrops on the window. The cat behind it is slightly out of focus. It looks amazing at 100% on the screen.

My business trips bring me to nice places in Eastern Europe but they are business trips so I don´t want to bring a DSLR. In the past I used compact cameras but they don´t cut it especially regarding low light capabilities. Most of the time I arrive late and when I have a walk after dinner it´s dark. With the NEX 5 I can comfortably shoot at 1600ASA. 1600ASA! Unthinkable a couple of years ago. When I got my first DSLR in January 2002 ( a used Nikon D1 ) I remember that I was amazed by the fact that the base ISO was 200ASA. What a step from shooting Fuji Velvia at 40ASA. I also used 400ASA a lot and sometimes 800ASA. I would compare the 400ASA of my Nikon D1 with 1600ASA to 3200ASA on the Sony NEX 5.

I can´t stand the people that complain about noise in 3200ASA shots. I always have to remember a video I saw on you tube. Today there is amazing technology but it´s wasted to a generation of idiots. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk&feature=related

I really like that guy. He is my generation. A generation that knows how it was 20 years or even 30 years ago. Let´s go back 30 years for a minute just to give you an idea. There was no internet but it does not matter because there were no real computers as we have them today. There were no smart phones, there were no mobile phones at all. Like explained in the video the phone was mounted on the wall. There was no sat nav for the car. There was no MP3 players or CD players, people enjoyed music by listen to records ( still the best way by far to enjoy music by the way ). There were no digital cameras ( yes I know there was one in 1975 but it was a 4kg monster in a lab that needs almost 30 seconds to record a 0,01 MegaPixel image ). Back at that time you shoot a film roll, bring it to a shop and pick up the processed slides or prints a week later. If you want no noise ( we called it grain ) you have to shoot ar 40ASA. There were no video cameras. I had a friend that liked to shoot video. So I remember how these first video cameras looked like in 1990. They worked with a full size VHS tape! A VHS tape is something that your parents may store somewhere in the cellar. These devices were a VHS tape recorder with a lens. They were really huge and of course ran out of battery extremely fast. Today every smart phone takes HD or even full HD videos and DSLRs can mimic real cinema look. Once again:

no real computer

no internet

no digital camera

no mobile phones

no digital audio

no video cameras

no sat navs

no wireless heart rate monitors ( for sports )

And surely a couple of other things I just can not mention all of them. Today most of the people spend a lot of time with their smartphones or computers. Some almost live on the internet. Especially the kids and younger adults got consumed by all the possibilities. Spending their time on facebook, twitter or some online games. Question is: What have all those people done 30 years ago? Did they just sit around bored to death?

To all the young people - uncle Joachim is telling you something. This is what we did before email, facebook and SMS: We did meet in real life. We were able to define location and time in advance because there was no way to call each other when not at home. We sat together talking and listening to each other without checking email and facebook messages at the same time. As a consequence we knew each other better. We read books and wrote letters. We recorded tapes for the special one. Not impressed yet? All a waste of time with outdated technology. Wait. We had more sex. Real sex not cybersex somewhere on the net. You need proof? You are the proof! You only exist because your parents have met in the real world. I got to stop now wasting my time on writing almost a novel just for this months picture of the month. I got to go back and check what´s new on the internet.

setting main shot: Sony NEX 5, P-Mode