No, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth

Hi Bloggers,

This corner of the Internets has been most neglected by moi. For that I apologize. (Not that anybody sees it. LOL) But in the interest of paying some attention to this meager blog, I have decided to update it with some recent photos using a digital camera made by Nikon which was selling just before the launch of their watershed camera the D1. This model is called the E series. You can read all about it here:

http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/digitalSLRs/E3E3s/index.htm

Around 1998 is when I started using digital cameras but I couldn't afford the 10,000 plus price tag for the true DSLR form factor. So in addition to using my film cameras like the Nikon F5 and N90s, I opted to use the small point-and-shoot style digital camera. First I used the Agfa ePhoto 1680. Eventually I moved over to Olympus Camedia bodies, until I was able to buy the Nikon D1.

But just before getting the D1, I did visit a supplier to check out the Nikon E3s. The main draw to this camera is its full frame ability for lenses. No crop factor. But to gain it, the system was using an internal optic system to give it a full frame view. Thus the massive bulky body it has. Needless to say I opted to wait for the D1.

I bought the E3s I currently own on EBay for only $75! But the catch was that it didn't have any battery to go with it. I basically took a chance that down the road I could find a way to power it up. So, it sat for a good year or two. I was eventually able to find a battery adapter which fits the battery compartment. It's supposed to plug into a Nikon AC adapter/battery charger unit, but there are none around anymore. I discovered that the plug from the Nikon adapter fits my Panasonic AC adapter, which powers my HVX200 HD video camera. So, the next step was to figure out how to power the camera. Plugging it into the wall is one thing but having portable power with an AC plug is another. Thankfully I found the perfect solution. I purchased a used 20W battery by Black & Decker. About the size of a slim portable hard drive, it powers the Panasonic AC adapter and in turn powers the Nikon. I pop the battery into my pocket with the Panasonic adapter and run the cable to the camera. My workaround is a success!

As for the camera, it works fine. But as you would expect, the files are miniscule and the quality isn't too stellar. In fact, I'd say out of all the pre-2000 cameras I have, this is the poorest quality, but not bad for a mid to late 1990's digital camera! You have to put yourself in late 1990's time frame and realize that everyone else for the most part was shooting film. Here is a camera that delivered a photo to a newsroom from the field hours before anyone else without having to develop film and scan negatives. Amazing!

My full gallery of photos from this camera can be seen at my Flickr page:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonman24/sets/72157645373819901

DCS-720x photos

I got out yesterday to take some photos with my Kodak DCS-720x that I picked up on Ebay. I was surprised to find out that only 386 photos were ever taken on it! I just got two new batteries for it also. BTW, they stink and don't hold a charge long.

I quite like the quality this camera can achieve, especially now that it is ancient in digital photography terms. There is a LOT of latitude in the RAW TIFF files it makes.
Anyway, I was able to get a few nice photos out of it and these are my favorite ones. The rest can be seen at my Flickr gallery here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonman24/sets/72157629834415718/

I also have a few other galleries there that feature photos from the Kodak DCS-420, Canon DCS-3 and the nc2000e AP news camera by Kodak.

Rainbow umbrella shot with the Kodak nc2000e

I wanted to shoot this scene with my new (old) Kodak 720x but the battery just won't hold a charge, so I grabbed it with my Kodak nc2000e digital camera instead. This is actually a view of our deck umbrella with the rain on our slider.

[41]
ISO:        200
Aperture:   F4
Shutter:    125
Lens (mm):  180mm
Exposure:   A  
Program:    rE 
Exp Comp:   +0.7
Meter area: Mtrx
Flash sync: Norm
Drive mode: H  
Focus mode: M  
Focus area: Spot
Distance:   ?? 

DCS-720x sample photos

I was able to squeeze out a couple of photos with the Kodak DCS-720x. The batteries I have are bad and won't power the camera up more than a few seconds. I have to return them under the warranty for two new ones. Until then I won't get a chance to really see what this puppy can do. I was also amazed to find out that this camera has had only 386 frames shot on it in its whole life!! That means it's virtually a new camera. I couldn't believe it.

The files in the camera are the proprietary Kodak tiff that is a virtual digital negative and can be adjusted in all sorts of ways. White balance, exposure, sharpening can all be done without losing the original information in the photo. They also open easily in Abode Bridge on my Mac. I've downsized the files to 200 DPI at 9 inches across, which is what I size all my photos to, even ones I shoot in the D700 I use at work. There, the RAW files are just too big to use effectively when shooting sports so I just shoot on Normal JPEG setting. What's nice about the 720x is I can shoot a sporting event in the RAW tiff and it's still small enough to work with and with a 1 GB card, can still achieve almost 400 images.

Picked up a Kodak DCS-720x!

I just picked up a Kodak DCS-720x on Ebay. I can't post a photo taken with it yet because the Cameron-Sino battery packs suck and won't hold a charge long enough to shoot a photo. So far all the controls work and it is VERY clean and new looking.

As soon as I can take some photos with it, I'll post a few.  :)

Lacrosse: Spring is here, finally!

It's been a while since I've played with the Kodak/Nikon nc2000e camera. So, I charged it up and took it out to a recent Fairfield Prep lacrosse game. Here are some of my take with it. It's so hard to get used to the 2 fps on the camera. I'm so spoiled since using cameras like the D3s or D700 which boast 7 to 9 fps! I remember I used to use a Nikon n70 film camera at an old paper I used to work at back in the late 90's. I think it only had 2.5 fps or 3 at the most, and somehow I managed to shoot sports with it. Those were the days.

Snow, snow, and more snow!

Just a few photos from the recent snow we've had in Connecticut. The area received anywhere from 12 to 24 inches of snow in one day. Shot with the Nikon nc2000.

Football season in full swing!

OK, snap here with a new post...finally! I took a break for a while and honestly hadn't come across much worth diggin' out the antique digital cameras for. Now that we are in football season, I thought I'd make a few images at a nice day game in Trumbull yesterday. St. Joseph faced New Canaan. St. Joe's held on to beat them 28-27. These images were made using the Kodak nc2000e, an amazing digital camera in its day. It's neat to be able to still squeeze a decent digital image from it all these years later! The first image in this group is also a part of the Stamford Advocate online slide show from this game:

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/football/article/Matakevich-returns-St-Joseph-holds-off-New-720596.php

Cool!

'Ol Edwardsville

Here's a few shots I made on a walk while visiting family in Pennsylvania. The gas pump, fan, and trailer were made with the Nikon nc2000e and the house with the grill on the porch was made with the Nikon D50.

RBS Building comparison

Recently, the sun was setting on the RBS building next to where I work in downtown Bridgeport, Conn.. I thought the scene was very beautiful. So, I decided to snap a few frames of the building, each one a different camera.



The first, above, is from a 3MP Fuji 6800z point-and-shoot I got for 30 dollars on Ebay. (Isn't Ebay great. LOL!) The resolution is interpolated in-camera up to 6MP. It's still a pretty quick and responsive camera for how old it is.



The second, middle, shot was made with a Kodak DCS-330 3MP Professional camera that I'm borrowing from a friend to play with. It's one of the first Kodak pro bodies to use a preview monitor in back. I believe the first was the DCS-315. Not 100% sure though. This image was the most saturated and contrasty of all the cameras.




The third, bottom, was made with the Kodak nc2000e that I've been using for a while now. It has been interpolated up to 3MP through Photoshop's RAW converter which opens the tiff file. What's also interesting is the crop factor. On the nc2000e, the 16mm fisheye lens used, clearly giving the widest view, with a 1.5X crop factor. That makes the 16mm a 24mm lens on the nc2000e. On the DCS-330 however, there is a 1.9 crop factor. That makes my 16mm a 30mm. On the Fuji, the widest end is a paltry 39mm. It's 3X zoom goes up to 108mm.

All have been sized to 200 DPI at 10 inches across. All were lightly toned or sharpened in Photoshop. Feel free the files to download to compare.

Out of the camera comparison

Here's another quick Nikon D2h versus nc2000e comparison. These were taken at Shelton High School's Graduation Exercises in Shelton, Conn. on Friday June 18, 2010.

Out of the camera the D2h's colors are drab whereas the nc2000e's colors are vibrant (top photo).

The D2h scores points on a more film-like look when zoomed in on details (bottom photo).

Points for the nc2000e when used in Program Mode and matrix metering. This camera (since it is technically a film camera) still works better when metering various difficult conditions like these graduates who are backlit.

The D2h falls short when using Program Mode. Highlights at any point in the frame cause either massive under or overexposure. Manual is just about the only way to go when light is like this.

Just another day in paradise

Here's a couple of pics from yesterday's assignments. Both were in Bridgeport, Conn.

The first is a portrait of resident Eric Colon who has a problem with the construction company next door to him. On windy days, plumes of dust are sent his way and rats have been a problem too. The city has forced the company to stop work but it's fighting it in court.

The second set is from Bassick High's graduation ceremony at the Klein Memorial Auditorium on Tuesday night.

(Shot with the Kodak nc2000e)

Taming muddled details

So, I've been trying to figure out why there was so many "jaggies" at the edges of details in photos from the nc2000e as compared to the more natural look of details from later cameras like the D2h, which I use on a daily basis. At first, I just chalked it up to the camera just being such old technology, but some photos I've shot depicting natural things like flowers didn't have that problem, so I had to re-evaluate what might have been causing it.

One of the thing I've discovered is that after opening the Kodak .tiff in Photoshop Raw module, there are default settings in place for some sharpening to be done right off the bat. If these are not changed, any additional sharpening of the photo later will result in a piling on of pixels which makes detail get blotchy in spots around any given photo, but mainly where a light and dark contrast appear, say black against a white, or where there are many details that come together, like shingles on a roof.

After pondering this for a bit, I tried a couple of things that, I think, have improved photos a bit.

(Feel free to download the full resolution photos for your own comparison. Especially to see the 300% cropped pics. They have to be opened in PS to see the details clearly.)







The photo at top is brought in from Photoshop Raw and left at it's default settings which were: Sharpening is 25, Radius is 1.0, and Detail is 25) Notice the 300% blow-up of details in the label and you can see the muddled look, and that is without extra processing as a jpeg later. The second 300% photo show Unsharp Mask added later, causing even more artifacts and "jaggies" to appear.

The second full-size photo is the same scene but with all Raw settings brought back to zero. After it was opened in Photoshop from Raw I then applied Unsharp Mask at the following settings: Amount - 100%, Radius - 2.5 pixels, and Threshold - 10 levels. (What's interesting here, is that for years I'd use sharpening at lower levels. The radius would never be set higher than 0.7 and the Threshold was never more than 6. Making the amounts higher here have helped.)

Notice the 300% blowup of that detail and I think you'll agree that this is a better, more natural looking representation of the photo. (Also note that I applied Noise Removal which is built into Photoshop CS4. It does a good job of removing moire and artifacts from photos)

Fairchild Wheeler Golf Course tournament

A post has been overdue, because of a very hectic week at work. Graduations are upon us and with a diminished staff, the workload has increased. But here are a few "snaps" from a recent FCIAC Championship golf tournament at Fairchild Wheeler Golf Course in Fairfield, Conn. on Thursday June 3, 2010. (Shot with the Kodak nc2000e)