Glyphs of Time :: a blog by jarvis grant

September 21, 2011

Nikon 1 System: Has Nikon finally got small right?

 Nikon1 Series

The Nikon1 Series Family of Products

Nikon has introduced the Nikon 1  camera system. Not to be out done by Olympus, Panasonic, and Ricoh, Nikon has produced a small sensor, mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera system. These cameras are targeting photography enthusiast who want to actually learn photography and step-up from their point & shoot camera. The system is also trying to woo pro photographers who want a serious camera with interchangeable lens that don’t  weigh a ton and are small & agile.

First there’s the Nikon J1. This 10 megapixel camera is design with the photo enthusiast in mind.  It’s got a bunch of pro features, yet its interface is closer to the familiar point & shoot model this photographer may be used to. It also has a couple of “dangerous” features! I consider a feature dangerous when the camera ports to be smarter than the human being using it. One such feature is , Smart Photo Selector. If you’re too dumb to choose which shot is best, the camera will make the selection for you! The subject’s head is down or turned from the lens? Hmmm…that must be a mistake! Let’s (the camera) delete it. Nikon marketing experts say, “With a single touch using Smart Photo Selector there are no more imperfect photos.” Yeah, right. Well, if you want it comes in different colors, like pink, with lenses to match!

Nikon 1 J1

Nikon 1 J1 in Red

Ok, next is the big brother , the Nikon 1 V1. Again this is a 10 megapixel camera with a few extra “pro” features. It has an electronic viewfinder, a hot shoe, Nikon i-TTL flash metering utilizing the Nikon Creative Lighting System, with both an electronic & mechanical shutter with speeds as low as 30 seconds, and the option of adding an external mic when shooting HD video. It looks to be quite interesting. At least on paper. Only comes in black, thank God!

Both cameras have the new Nikon CX sensor. This sensor is smaller that the Nikon DX sensor and the four-thirds senor. Yet, it’s bigger than the normal point & shoot camera sensors. This should up the ante on image quality without packing in a bunch of false megapixel numbers. At least for the time being. Both cameras also shoot HD 1920 X 1080/60i video with a HDMI output, but no HDMI cable in the box. They also come with Nikon’s low end viewer software which can “edit” stills and video. Hey Nikon you could have done a little better here. Like offer Adobe Photoshop/Premier Elements. Or offer a stand alone computer capture module. Oh well!

Nikon V1

Nikon 1 V1 in Basic Black

Still there’s one feature these cameras have that I think is really cool, The Motion Snapshot. With the Motion Snapshot, when you take a picture it captures a tiny video. It reminds of Star Trek Voyager, where they had digital picture frames that had just a little bit of motion to them. Pretty slick!

Nikon CX  Sensor

The orange rectangle is the Nikon CX Sensor

Now, I’m a Nikon shooter. I first real camera was a 1965 Nikon F. I’ve always bought Nikon, until my first point & shoot Nikon. It was a piece of junk. Than I bought a second one a bit higher on the food chain, it was a piece of crap too. Both cameras just simply fell apart From that I said “Never again!”.  My final point & shoot 35mm camera was a Leica Mini-Lux Zoom. Now that was (and still is) a camera! Then I experimented. I bought some Nikon CoolPix for my school (Ellington School of the Arts in DC). Was not impressed. So now, I’m looking for an interchangeable small digital camera and this Nikon1  V1 could be it. But if Nikon has come up with this, Canon can not be far behind. Both Nikon and Canon, who are the traditional Camera Giants, are still playing technology catch-up with, the new kids on the block, Olympus (who’s not that new!), Panasonic, Sony and Ricoh. Hey, things are starting to get interesting!

 
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September 14, 2011

Amtrak Northeast Regional: Part 1

Amtrak Northeast Regional Map

My route from Washington, DC Union Station to New Rochelle, NY.

I’ve been traveling on Amtrak since I was in college in the early 1970s. During those days the train only stopped at New York Penn Station. Now Amtrak’s Northeast Regional,  stops a little closer to my hometown of Mt. Vernon, NY at New Rochelle, NY. So, for the past three years I’ve been going up to New York on a more regular bases, about 5 times a year. Checking in on my Mom and my daughter, Maya. Now, Maya grew up in DC, but has recently moved up to New York to live her dream of being an artist and helping her Grandma. She’s really making a go of it and is doing better at it then in DC. I find that interesting because DC is a smaller creative market than New York, and a bit easier to break into. But New York is more progressive and a real art town.

Okay, now during all those years of riding the train, I would a photograph here and there, no big deal. Spent most of the ride sleeping. During the past three years I got a really nice point & shoot digital camera, the Panasonic Lumix LX3.  The camera is small, fast and pocketable with a wide angle f/2.0 Leica zoom lens. This camera allows me to shoot more pictures, about the equivalent of 7 rolls of film, on a two gigabyte memory card. I love it. Very surprised with the images I’ve been producing with during my mini train journeys.  I also carry an extra memory card and battery. That’s almost a brick of film, for those who remember film bricks!

Now a few things have been happening. The first is that I’ve been becoming more familiar with the scenic’s of the trip. Though I’ve become familiar with the views, I’m not familiar  enough to setup and be ready to take a shot. A lot is still hit and miss. A little more miss than hit it turns out! Still I’m learning how to get better shots. After all, I can’t ask the conductor to stop the train or slow it down. So I’ve worked out a methodology for shooting. It goes something like this. I tend to anticipate a photo. As we approach the scene, I’ll ten decide to push the shutter or not. If not and I feel I should have, that composition I missed will go into my mental archive of possibilities. As this archive grows, the potential of making a good shot increases. So I’ll miss “that” shot, but the possibility of something similar appearing again down the track or during another trip increases.

Conductor on the Amtrak Northeast Regional

Conductor on the Amtrak Northeast Regional, leaving New Rochelle, NY on to Boston. ©Jarvis Grant

The next thing that happens when photographing out the window is camera handling. When a stretch of scenery seems promising I turn the camera on so it will be ready to go. Hey the camera is fast, but it’s still a point & shoot. When I firat point the camera out the window, it takes the sensor/light meter about three seconds to adjust to the change of light and become operable, and another 2-3 seconds to focus (if I’m lucky). A lot can pass by in 6 seconds as the train speeds on. I also set the camera to “Burst Mode” so it can keep taking pictures and give be more options of a scene. The downside of Burst Mode, is the camera takes time to process those photos. During that processing time the camera can’t take any new images. Finally, if it’s bright, I put the camera on “Program” so I don’t have to think about exposure and other camera stuff. As it gets darker, I go to Manual Mode or Shutter Priority. More techno thinking and a little less esthetic thinking. Still, it’s all good fun, which is the bottom line along with having new photos.

Within this body of work there are a few thematic series. Below are a few sample images. I’m still working all these images out, sifting and sorting them out. So, in future post, I’ll share what I’ve been doing with these photos as I continue to ride the rails on the Northeast Regional.

Crossing the Bay between Philly and Wilmington

Crossing the Bay between Philly and Wilmington. ©Jarvis Grant

 

Traveler checking the time board at Newark, NJ Penn Station. ©Jarvis Grant

Traveler checking the time board at Newark, NJ Penn Station. ©Jarvis Grant

 

New Rochelle Station at Twilight. ©Jarvis Grant

New Rochelle Station at Twilight. ©Jarvis Grant

 
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