Today I’ve made a comparison regarding High ISO Noise. The Micro Four Thirds Cameras were fitted with the LUMIX G 20mm/1:1.7, the APS-C Pentax Models were fitted with the PENTAX DA 21 Lim. Other Settings were on all Cameras AUTO WHITE BALANCE, Noise reduction settings turned OFF, Vignetting Corrections and Intelligent Contrast Settings turned OFF, Picture Styles NATURAL, Sharpening, Contrast, Saturation all to Zero, File Format JPG. So, it is a very fair test. See yourself, the Olympus E-P1 stands out! ISO is 3200 on all Cameras. Click the pictures for Original Size.

PANASONIC LUMIX GF1 [Firmware 1.0] | LUMIX G 20mm | ISO 3200

OLYMPUS E-P1 [Firmware 1.0] | LUMIX G 20mm | ISO 3200

PENTAX K7 [Firmware 1.0]| PENTAX DA 21 Lim. | ISO 3200

PENTAX K-X [Firmware 1.0]| PENTAX DA 21 Lim. | ISO 3200

Wow, I am overwhelmed of the Auto White Balance under this light source [neon tubes] and the very good noise performance [detail, grain, and chroma noise] from the E-P1. Quite cool performance. I thought the GF1 would also do a good job, but ISO 3200 is not a ISO i would use, also not on the Pentax K7. The new Pentax K-x also stands out against the K7. I think APS-C has not an advantage anymore compared to [Micro]Four Thirds. Feel free to comment.

Edit: I am no pixelpeeper, i am happy when a camera did ISO 1600 well and when i can make a good 20cm x 30cm print of it.

me warming up from the cold and for the concert

here comes the evening.

Heidelberg has had a very nice sunset light. And as some birds took their way home the concert is only 1 hour away. The first guests arrived at the Hall.

a nice venue.

The concert started at 8:10pm. Sakamoto did a really nice intro with water sounds underlayed by a long synth tone. I didn’t know this piece but i think the water sound was field recorded by his trip to greenland. He played the piano by beating and picking the piano strings directly inside the piano. A really avantgardistic intro, and the next pieces were all from “out of noise”. Mr. Sakamoto was in a really good mood i think and he joked often during his concert. He was also a bit wondering that in the middle of octobre “we have around zero” degrees and as he is very engaged in environmental topics he joked these temperatures are a sign for “global colding”. laughs.

It’s not easy to write about what his music means to me and i think  it’s better letting this off, because the mood can only be shared by the artist and the listeners of the concert. And words can’t do it right. After pieces from “out of noise” he stated that he has no playlist what playing next and that he will choosing pieces according to his and the audiences mood. By looking around  he stated “…and also the mood of the hall”, “what a beautiful hall”. applauds.

“what a beautiful hall”

So the evening went on pretty nice and i was very impressed by the music and the atmosphere. At least he did 3 encores and as Sakamoto stated today at twitter “ the heidelberg gig is the longest so far on this tour. 2 hr 20 min.”

good night.

ticket and writing by David Toop

Here is the setlist from siteSakamoto:

1. glacier
2. hibari
3. still life
4. in the red
5. tama
6. nostalgia
7. composition0919
8. improvisation
9. energy flow
10. asience
11. tamago 2004
12. amore
13. tango
14. 1900
15. merry christmas mr.lawrence
16. the last emperor

    encore 1

17. sweet revenge
18. bibo no aozora
19. happyend
20. tibetan dance
21. thousand knives

    encore 2

22. aqua

    encore 3

23. 1919

ryuichi sakamoto playing the piano 2009_out of noise. Limited tour book ed.

On last weeks wednesday my friend pete and me take a walk to the Zähringer Burg. It was one of the hottest days of octobre since many many years. Our photowalk took us up the hills, into the trees.

the wooden cross. Pentax K-7 with Pentax DA 35 Lim.

I was also happy to try out the new Pentax K-7 which is a fine tool, but Changing Focus Points and shiftings on the small Mode Dial are a bit annoying because you have to press here and there a button before getting access to a function you need. Normally i use a Pentax K10D DSLR which is more easy to operate. But as you see the K-7 did a wonderful job in terms of imagequality and exposure.

I enjoy to walk around and look how the sunlight falls into the forrest.

the warm light. Pentax K-7 with Pentax DA 35 Lim.

get close. Pentax K-7 with Pentax DA 35 Lim.

Peter with his camera.

Since a few months Peter has also an own DSLR. Some years ago he made a photography workshop. So it’s not all new to him. And when he asks, i’m there to explain. He has a good view and also a philosophical opinion regarding photography.

A hundreds metre before reaching the castle we saw a place where they do archeology work.

some archeology. Pentax K-7 with Pentax DA 35 Lim.

history. Pentax K-7 with Pentax DA 35 Lim.

I like very much how nice and complex the roots are. They become one with the ground and other plants. And trees are very important! One of my Facebook contacts, Musician Ryuichi Sakamoto is  funder of more trees.org. You should go there  more-trees.org. “Even in this moment, a mass destruction of forests is taking place, and human civilization will be at stake as it’s long-term consequence.”

wild wood | Pentax K-7 with Pentax DA 35 Lim.

another root | Pentax K-7 with Pentax DA 35 Lim.

trees at work – reducing co² | Pentax K-7 with Pentax DA 35 Lim.

keep an eye on trees, they also do on us | Pentax K-7 with Pentax DA 35 Lim.

After an afternoon using the K-7 i am impressed in terms of imagequality. The real advantages are better metering and faster AF and a slightly better handling of High ISO Noise, now less and structured like film grain.

I hope you readers are inspired to go into the trees. Enjoy your forests and keep an eye on trees. With or without a camera.

EDIT: Meanwhile Mr. Ryuichi Sakamoto has visited this blog entry and commented over twitter: ” beautiful forest. beautiful lights!! thank you!”  So i am looking forward to hear and see him tomorrow at his Heidelberg Gig “Playing The Piano 2009″. Reports here. Xeb.

Today Germany vote their new government. Only ca. 70 % turnout! This one taken today on a sundays photowalk in Denzlingen, Germany.

election day | Denzlingen, Germany | M.Zuiko 17mm/2.8

Gebräu 1, Freiburg | “very appreciated in our small town” |

A bit late but i planned to do some nice writing  about this Photo Exhibition: Gebräu 1. At Sept. 18th i went to the Exhibition Opening. I have to say that i very appreciate exhibitions of this kind here in our small freiburg. Normally it’s rare here. So thanks to all the people who managed and grounded this exhibition. Joscha Bruckert from Dortmund did a fine job. Not only the artists work ,which i link later this article, but also the location is not what you will usually expect from such an exhibition. The pictures are hanging in rooms from our local beer brewerie “Ganter”. I am not a fan of their beer but it’s nice to see that they opened up some rooms for art.

contrast, an old bureau has space for art [Magdalena Fischer “Junior Athletes”]

One of the most amusings is the fact that some of the photographies are put on stacks of beer crate! But what about the art? You will see the work of thirteen artists from germany, austria and suisse. The range goes from more experimental work to concrete themes. For me the most exciting works are Petra Warras “Glencheck”, a series about a man who has a fictive fight with himself, than Andreas Till’s “Sunday”. For one Till was going out with his Mamyia 7 every sunday, simple to photograph people on sundays. Than i was impressed by the portraits from Christian Breevaart. He photographed a series of students from the Bachelor. They  show their feelings after the first semester. Breevaart also chatted a bit with us about his and the others work and how much time and enthusiasm they spend for the exhibition.

Christian Breevaart (left) while his report | “for weeks we worked hard”

Other artists to look through are Anja Schori, Anne Schwalbe, Daniela Droz, Harald Roser, Jana Voigt, Jörg Brüggemann, Joscha Bruckert, Magdalena Fischer, Marlon Kowalski [who is also one of my flickr contacts] & Michael Lämmler. And now some more photos from the exhibition.

charm | art alongside an old machine

view from the bureau | guests impressed

simple | installations at gebräu 1

go there!

It was  nice and an evening that inspired. Gebräu 1 is up to the 9th of Octobre, so if you are in Freiburg or want to come over go there. http://gebraeu.info/

If I find the time i will visit again.

XebastYan.

Today i had a day off. For six hours i helped a friend to repair his windows installation. Back home i feel i have to photograph something. Since a longer time i feel i need some projects, some ideas to improve my photography. So i used the second part of today to do “2pictures a room”. Normally everyone lives for the moment in the everyday life ; and rarely you take a deeper look to the things that surround you.

Room I

Room II

Room III

Room IV

Room V

Room VI

I love the way it came out. The daily things around us have their own expression. Look deeper to them.

XebastYan.

This week was a lot to do at work, so my writedown about the Firmwareupdate 1.1 had to wait. On Septembre, the 15th Olympus released this to improve Continous-AF with all AF-Lenses & to improve the Autofocus in general.

Installing with the Olympus Master2 Software is totally easy, but you have to be shure that power and also your internet connection are stabil. The Bodyupdate takes a bit a long time. I have asked me if the updateprocess’ hang up. But it’s all ok. It’s just over 20MB! The Lensupdates were much faster.

So, what does the Update? Is AF really improved? As i am not the one person who measures in Studio Comparisons i only can tell you about my real world tests. In my opinion it is improved, faster and more precise, but i had expected it a bit faster. I was curious about the Autofocus in Video and in my opinion the AF doesn’t pump as much as before.

Overall the Update is ok & essential for your E-P1 and the Lenses. Maybe we can expect a new AF improving in 1.2? Time will tell. How are your experiences?

| Nature is shrill |  M.Zuiko 17mm/2.8 “more precise & faster AF”

Last Thursday we had the 40th  birthday party  from my girlfriend. Meanwhile our son [right back] & his friends played with the bobby cars. They are looking very cool… & moody.

For Readers don’t know what MFT exactly is i recommend the Four Thirds Website.

The 4/3 Size is what we are talking about.

• Name: Four Thirds
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3
• Diagonal: 22.5mm
• Width: 18mm
• Height: 13.5mm

The Diagonal of APS-C [ex. Pentax K-7] measures ca. 6mm more. The Diagonal of Full Frame [ex. Nikon D700] measures ca. 20mm more. The Diagonal of a Compact [ex. Canon Powershot G10]measures ca. 15mm less.

The bigger a Sensor the more light it is able to catch. Also the effect of depth-of-field increases with sensor size. As you see the Olympus E-P1 Sensor-Size is an alternative to APS-C DSLR’s and this is where a Micro Four Thirds Camera is to see. You can’t compare it with a full frame camera in terms of High-Iso Performance, but you will have nearly APS-C Quality and much better Performance compared with a Small Sensor Camera. Therefore it is the perfect mixture of both worlds. What more to need?