First Takes: K-7 Video

We will be uploading some videos that headquarters has produced in the next week or two. However, being the sort of hands-on guy that I am, I thought it was important to post some other samples so there would be a wider range of video for all of you to look at.

When I started to write the copy for my post yesterday, K-7 Movie "Sound" Primer, I was thinking that I'd briefly touch on the sound recording options of K-7, and then in a separate post share my initial impressions as a "user" about the video recording capability shooting with a pre-production camera with firmware versions 0.34 and 0.35.

However, I realized that there are so many facets to the new movie mode in the K-7, as well as it's other rather "deep" set of improved and new features, that I decided to try and combine a few initial observations about both sound and video in this post which is clearly only my first take on this new video era of SLR's that we're embarking on. As we've been extremely busy testing and confirming all the various features in the pre-production samples, I will not list the specs here. Sites like dpreview and imaging resource have down a great job in detailing all the speeds and feeds in their respective "first looks". Since I did post some photos yesterday of the Rode Stereo VideoMic, you might want to check out imaging resource's comments about the K-7 internal mic and their use of the Rode mic since we gave them a unit to test as part of their K-7 Hands-on Preview.

Based on my initial and limited experiments shooting video with the K-7, here are some observations.

STABILIZED VIDEO
The K-7's in-camera shake reduction is going to be a big plus for allowing one to produce smooth, non-jerky video clips. I've fooled around holding the K-7 at arms length and shot video in wide sweeping motions moving the camera up and down as I walk around. The resultant video looks remarkably smooth. Based on my hand-held and very casual videos shot with the DA*200 and DA*300, SR video will be very important when using longer, heavier lenses.

SOUND RECORDING
Advancements in technology typically never come without some compromise or challenge. Our SR system is doing an incredible job in stabilizing images, and offering even greater capabilities than possible in the past. For example, "Composition Correction" is a new feature of the K-7 that takes advantage of our stabilization system. When shooting on a tripod, it's possible to fine-tune your framing by manually adjusting the position and rotation of the image sensor. The drawback to SR, now that we've incorporated video, is that the SR motors create a definite "whine" or "buzzing" that despite our attempts to totally dampen it can be detected when using the internal mono mic on the K-7. Depending on the type of video you're shooting and the level of ambient noise that's present while recording, you might find this noise less than pleasing. For casual video footage, such as my little league baseball video clip, you're likely not to even notice. However, if you're doing serious video work, we included a 3.5mm stereo jack on the K-7 thus allowing you to use a high quality external mic.

TRUE APERTURE CONTROL
Based on my initial experiments, being able to explicitly set your aperture when shooting videos is going to be a big plus. It's really important in video to have control over the DOF and decide when you want a soft look or let everything in the frame be sharp. While you can only select aperture at the beginning of a video clip, in most cases you wouldn't shift from say f/2.0 to f/8.0 in a single scene. The other benefit of aperture control is being able to match the same DOF and "look" from a video with the way you control that same lens when shooting stills. For example, I've started to experiment shooting with my beloved FA 31mm f/1.8 Limited and it's really encouraging to see that the 31mm is going to produce the same beautiful color, contrast and feel on video.

FIRST TAKE VIDEO SAMPLES
One thing that immediately struck me when I started testing the K-7 is just how challenging it will be to thoroughly test video. Not only do you have to test a wide range of lighting and sound situations, there are the tens of lenses of different focal lengths and speeds that need to be shot with, as well as seeing the effects of shooting at different apertures, etc, etc. For this reason, and recognizing that I had to start producing some sample videos, I've tried to keep the selection of videos for my first take pretty simple. However, I have tried to select video clips that show or give you a glimpse of the likely capabilities inherent in video recording with the K-7.

UPLOADING AND SHARING VIDEO
Just a word of caution for anyone that's viewing or planning to upload videos. Not all video hosting sites are delivering full HD video when you play them. From my experiments and talking to a very seasoned cinematographer, even though YouTube offers "HD" video playback, in reality your videos are being processed and down sampled to the equivalent of 540p. Therefore, I would place no faith or base your judgement on any camera's video capability by pixel peeping through videos on YouTube. I've chosen to use Vimeo for my video hosting and sharing, and have confirmed that the size of my native file (.AVI) is the same as the HD file that Vimeo is streaming to you.

Lastly, I have embedded my first take video in this post directly from Vimeo and it does play in HD mode, as indicated by the little blue bug on the right side of the viewer frame. If you want to see a larger view of this video, simply click on the Vimeo logo at the bottom of the viewer frame.

First Takes: K-7 Video from Ned Bunnell on Vimeo.

K-7 Movie "Sound" Primer

Preparing copy for this post. I'm also working on my first K-7 video samples and hope to have these uploaded to Vimeo in the next few days.

Disclaimer: To ensure I am not attacked by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), please note that the 5th photo is not of a dead cat or squirrel tail. It's what Rode calls a windshield, which they recommend should be left on at all times as even the slightest breeze can cause sound interference.

(Note: Click on any of these thumbnails to see larger view. Photos shot with K20D and FA50 f/1.4 lens.)

K-7 Brochure Copy

I have uploaded a "draft" copy of the text to be used in the US version of the K-7 brochure. This piece is targeted to come off the press late June/early July to coincide with first customer shipments here in the states.

Since it's sometimes hard to get a sense of how the various functions actually work from reading a pretty dry spec sheet, I thought some of you might find this brochure copy helpful. Obviously, not seeing the associated photos and images that will accompany this copy might make it a little difficult to fully understand the context of some of this copy. However, if this copy helps answer a few questions that have not been addressed elsewhere, then this post has served its purpose.

K7 Brochure Copy

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Brochures & Catalogs Pentax

Rites of Passage

Some of my most enjoyable memories as a parent were coaching little league baseball and teaching my three sons to play the game. This morning I had a chance to see my three grandsons play on teams coached by their dads.

I haven't shot much with the DA18-250mm, since I tested this pre-production sample right before we announced the lens. However, I thought it would give me a good zoom range for these baseball games. Photos shot with this lens and the K20D. RAW files processed by CS3 to produce jpeg's for posting here on blogger.

(Note: click on any thumbnail to see a larger image.)

Outside Magazine Recommends K2000

With a circulation of 400,000 and a shelf-life until September, the Summer 2009 Outside Magazine's Buyers Guide features 349 hot, new products and dubs less than 10 percent of them as “KILLER VALUES.”

We were pleased to see that the PENTAX K2000 digital SLR flash kit has received the KV distinction for being a sweet deal. Here’s what Outside Buyer's Guide had to say...

“Beginner-friendly features include built-in image stabilization that works with any PENTAX lens, a point-and-shoot mode that automatically assesses the subject and chooses the best exposure and scene mode, and a help button that pulls up shooting tips and technical information. One tester compared it with having the camera manual in your pocket at all times.”

(Note: click on any thumbnail for a larger view)

100mm Macros of Early Season Tomato Plants

My father was a serious gardener who typically grew at least 200 tomato plants every summer. My job as a kid was to help him water, prune, pinch off the "suckers" (first photo) and fertilize the plants. He'd constantly remind me that the size and quality of the harvest was directly related to the care you gave the plants throughout the growing season. While there is no fruit to photograph right now, I spent a little time this weekend using the K20D and 100mm Macro lens to capture a few different views of the early plants.

The last photo is not a tomato plant, but the Japanese herb, Shiso, who's purple and green leaves are great in salads and frequently used as a wrap with sushi.

(Note: Click on any thumbnail for a larger file. Images shot in RAW and processed with CS3 to produce jpegs for posting here on blogger.)

Beatles Pentax Photo

Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison on board aircraft, June 1964
Photographer: Morrie Hill

I'm sure that a few Pentaxians have seen this classic photo of George Harrison apparently trying to figure out one of the dials of his new Pentax. I had seen this photo previously, but had never been able to confirm its provenance. By coincidence and a little Googling, I uncovered that this photo was taken by Morrie Hill during the Beatles tour to New Zealand, and is part of a collection owned by the Alexander Turnball Library. There's a page on Flickr you can check out to learn more about this Beatles Photo.

While it's not obvious at the present time, you might want to refer back to this photo for a particularly small detail after certain announcements are made in the near future. Call me what you will, but if this is considered a "tease", it's actually part of some thought I've had recently trying to determine if it's possible for high technology products to have an innate personality. In other words, I'm talking about the "soul of a camera" and is this something that can be felt and appreciated by the photographer who uses that tool? Happy postulating and if you have a well thought out view on this, I'd enjoy reading your reaction and comment to this notion. Cheers!

Note: I can see from a few posts on various forums that some folks literally took my words to mean that I'm referring to specific features in a future camera, which could not be further from the point of this post. Guess the tendency on forums to immediately react to someone's words is similar to firing off a few shots before you've taken off the lens cap. I was not suggesting that we're bringing back features in that 1964 Pentax that George is holding. That would be like BMW using the same exact engine from the original Mini Cooper in their re-incarnation. What I'm really thinking about is the idea that certain products have a synergy where the different features and functions cooperate advantageously for a final outcome. Simply defined, it means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

And again, please consider these are thoughts not necessarily related exclusively to our next camera. Any company that designs a new product suffers through many long review meetings trying to decide if their offering will resonate with its customers in a way that the experience and emotional attachment the end user has will be far greater than any one feature. This is what separates the iPod from all the other MP3 players. This is what I'm sure Microsoft is working feverishly to achieve in Windows 7. If anything, I'm simply saying we're as anxious and excited about the next few months as some of you are :-)

Discovery of 70 yr old Negatives by Robert Capa

A shot of a woman and child at a Spanish refugee camp in France, taken by Robert Capa in March 1939.

There was an interesting article in yesterday's NY Times about the discovery of 4,300 negatives taken by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David Seymour during the time of the Spanish Civil War.

If you're interested in photography history, here's the link to
From Battered Boxes, New Works By Photography's Old Masters

100 Rolls of Film

Having recently organized some of my old photo logs, it reminded me that for many serious film photographers it was critical that one eliminate any variables in emulsion when you had to replenish the supply of your favorite film with a new batch.

For those of you that never shot film, every role of film comes with an emulsion number that indicated date of manufacture, coating plant etc. The photos, below, show the process I used to test the effective film speed (versus stated ISO) of film as part of some workshops I taught on adapting the Zone System to 35mm photography.

I should add that by knowing the effective speed of your film when recorded by your standard lenses and developed in your standard developer, you essentially were eliminating any of the variables in your equipment thus allowing you to instinctively compose and read a scene quickly then "expose for the shadows and develop the film to control where your highlights fell".

This got me thinking about another practice in the film days that has seemingly been forgotten or not appreciated in the current age of being able to immediately review images taken with a new camera or new lens, and instantly make snap decisions on the performance of your gear. I remember a maxim a well known editorial photographer shared with me at a workshop I was attending about how he related his lenses as equivalent to the fine bristle brushes he used for his other passion - oil painting.

Just like new brushes, he pointed out that with any new lens, he had to spend many hours getting accustomed to how it captured light just like how he'd have to practice with a new brush on scratch canvas to understand how it lay down his favorite oil paint. His maxim was that it typically took him "100 rolls of film" to thoroughly test any new lens in all the various lighting situations and conditions that he typically shot. He explained that he would never use a lens on an assignment until he fully understood it's characteristics and traits.

Note: I've been meaning to write this post for awhile, and I still have some additional comments from my old photo journals that I need to find time to review in order to complete this essay. Stay tuned.

(Data on color photo: DA*55mm lens / K20D / F4.0 1/20 sec. Japan, April 2009)