2010: End of the year thoughts

 

As last year, I have decided to write a short article about photography in 2010-2011...what has improved this year and what I hope to see in the next future. Of course, these are just personal reflections about the things that have caught my attention for my work of nature photographer!
 
 

Cameras, lenses and photographic technology

Digital SLRs have reached a level of excellence that would have been difficult to imagine few years ago; nowadays even an entry-level camera as the Canon 550D has great image quality, and a semi-pro camera (Nikon D300s, Canon 7D) is enough for the majority of photographers. Personally, I would no longer buy high-end cameras... of course, pro cameras as the Nikon D3s, Nikon D3X, Canon 1D4 are great, but do you really need them? I work as professional photographer and nowadays I use the 7D ($1600) as my main camera body. Image quality and features are enough for the majority of situations, and with the money I save by not upgrading to a more expensive SLR, I can afford to travel more and to have more opportunities for photos. If you are looking for a new SLR, I really encourage you to evaluate if it will really give you benefits, or if you just want a new toy - in this case, you may get better results by investing in lenses or travels :-)  
 
There is only one thing I'd like to see improved in the successor of the 7D - high ISO performance. The 7D is already pretty good for an APS-C camera, but it is usable up to ISO 1600, or 3200 in case of extreme necessity. A "7D Mark II" with one or two stops of ISO improvements would be truly spectacular, and technically it is quite possible - I expect to see something like that in late 2011 or early 2012.  
 
In terms of lenses, the 2010 has been a great year - there have been many interesting announcements, and for me two of these are really welcome: the Sigma 8-16 and the Canon 300 f/2.8 II. As I wrote in 2009, I was really looking for an APS-C lens with the same angle of view of the Sigma 12-24, and after few months Sigma announced the 8-16...I have bought this lens as soon as it has reached the market and I am using it with satisfaction. Another of my favorite lenses is the Canon 300 2.8 IS USM: the version that I own is the excellent lens announced more than 10 years ago, in 1999, and this year Canon has announced the new version, that will be available in early 2011. The current 300 2.8 was already a spectacular lens and it is my workhorse in wildlife trips, the new 300 looks even better - it promises better features and better image quality. I'm not going to buy it soon, because the initial price is way over the top (about $ 6000), but after one or two years, when the price will be a bit more affordable, I'll consider to get it as replacement for my current 300 2.8.  
 
What more could I want? a 8-16 with image stabilization and a cheap 14mm f/1.8 for APS-C (Sigma 20 f/1.8 equivalent) would be welcome, but they are not essential. I can say that with my current lineup - Sigma 8-16/Canon 24-105/Canon 180 Macro/Canon 300 2.8 IS - I already have all I really need, with these lenses it is possible to take photos of almost everything without too much weight to carry around!  
 
In terms of accessories, huge memory cards (64 GB SDXC and CF) are now available at affordable prices; the Transcend 64 GB 400x CF costs $ 160 and the SanDisk 64 GB SDXC costs $ 210. These cards are both huge and fast, and with a couple of these you can cover even the longest trips - in all my trips, I have never needed more than 100 GB of space, even with the big files of the 7D and 1DsIII, so two 64 GB cards are really enough. With some cameras (e.g. Nikon D300s, Canon 1 series) you can even use two cards per time to make a backup directly in-camera, if you want extra peace of mind when using large cards. Next year I expect to see even larger and faster cards, but for the majority of photographers, or at least for me, the "good enough" level has been reached.  
 
In the camera phones world, there have been huge improvements in video quality - nowadays the majority of high-end phones are able to register HD video, 1280x800px at 30 FPS. The photographic capabilities, instead, have not seen big improvements, with the exception of Nokia N8. The N8 has the same resolution of my Samsung M8910 (12 megapixels), but it has much better ISO capabilities, about 1-2 stops lower noise. It uses a 1/1.83" (5.3x7.2mm) sensor, that is bigger than the sensor of all other camera-phones, and it is actually bigger than the sensor of most compact digicams (give a look to this impressive comparison between N8, M8910 and a Sony digicam). For me, the camera phone has replaced the need of a pocket camera, and I have used it with satisfaction even for some photos that I have published here on JuzaPhoto: its wide angle with good macro capacity and great depth of field is an interesting choice for creative photos.  
 
Next year, I expect to see camera phones capable of full HD video, and I hope to see also more phones with the image quality of the Nokia N8 (or even better). Optical zoom is still a rarity, but at least a 2x or 3x zoom would be very welcome!  
 
To sum up this year camera reflections, I can say that in the past there were good and bad cameras, nowadays the majority of cameras are good; of course some cameras are better, but there are not "poor" cameras, at least in the Canon and Nikon lineups.

 

An example of the improvements in camera phone quality. Samsung M8910 (camera phone), 4.6mm f/2.6, 1/580 f/2.6, ISO 50, handheld. Click here for details and 100% crop.
 

Up and down: technology trends

Full HD video is now a standard feature in most of new cameras; video image quality has reached an excellent levels, and many cameras have a lot of manual control on video. That said, I have used the video feature a lot less that I initially expected, as the majority of other photographers. The reality is that photography and video are two very different ways to look at the world, and it is difficult to do both, so the majority of photographers has kept taking photos, and videographers have kept taking videos. I am glad to have video in-camera and I think it is fantastic to have both photo and video in the same tool, but I have not used it often. In future, I think that the photo-video convergence will go on and in five-ten year all cameras will be both photo and video cameras, but people will keep using them for mainly one of their functions, depending by personal preferences.  
 
Mirrorless cameras are growing and in future I think that they will replace DSLRs, but currently I don't see many reasons to buy one of these cameras - they still have too many disadvantages (poor AF, poor viewfinder, limited battery life). Nowadays, I think that many of these cameras are more a "trendy" thing than a truly useful tool, but I am optimist about their future improvements.  
 
3D, in its current form, is not much more than a gimmick and it has zero interest for me. Maybe in future it will improve, but for now it is still far away from being truly useful for a nature photographer.  
 
This year Adobe has launched Photoshop CS5, and this time I am very happy about the upgrade. I was less than enthusiast about CS4, while I have really appreciated the CS5: in particular, the content aware filing is a great step forward. Other than that, CS5 is faster and it has other small improvements; the only thing that I'd really like to see improved in next version is noise reduction - the current version is not bad, but it is about the same of CS2, so there is room for improvement.  
 
Computer hardware and software keeps getting better and better, and nowadays you can get a desktop computer that is fast enough for post processing 20/25mp files without spending a lot (with $ 500-600 you can already get a fast computer, and with $1000 you can get a super fast core i7 with 8GB RAM, 1 TB hard disk and Windows 7). If you are looking for a notebook, the price to get similar performances is a bit higher, but even in this case fast computers are getting more and more affordable. Personally, I have chosen the laptop + external screen solution from 2009, and I have no regrets... my i7 Dell XPS 16 has all the power I need and it combines the versatility of a laptop (when I am traveling) with the quality of a desktop system (when I am at home).
 
 

My photographic and travel philosophy

For me, this year has been undoubtedly been a "macro and travel" year: most of my photos has been taken either during travels around the world or in macro trips in Italy. Some of my travels are focused on a particular subject - for example the trip to India was thought for reportage, and the trip to Morocco was for landscapes - but usually my trips don't have a specific subject, they are thought for nature photography in general...wildlife, macro, landscapes and "travel photography".  
 
When I am in Italy, I do mainly macro: for me photography must be something pleasing and relaxing, and walking in the countryside at sunrise is much much better than spending a day in a hide :-) Of course, this is strictly a matter of personal preferences, but I enjoy wildlife photography a lot more outside Italy - in most of the countries that I have visited, it is much easier to get close to wildlife.  
 
Traveling is now an essential part of my work, and I highly recommend to nature photographer to travel as much as possible. You don't need to spend a lot of money: the majority of my travels have a budget of 1500 € or less; the majority of countries outside Europe are much cheaper than Italy, and with some spirit of adventure you can travel in economy. My recommendations, for the travelers on a budget, are: book flights with some months of advance and do extensive research to find the cheapest flights; travel with 1-2 friends to share the costs; study the country that you will visit so you won't need a guide, sleep in hostels or cheap hotels and avoid expensive restaurants. Of course, you need to sacrifice some comfort, but traveling without much money is truly possible.