DSLRs in the field

[chad_h]

Still shootting analog but seriously considering digital in another

year or two I have a question for those who use DSLRs for nature and

wildlife photography. How bad is the dust problem on CCDs and CMOSs

when your out for a week at a time or more? Can you diagnose the

problem when you're without a computer or do you only find out when

you get back? How difficult is it to clean the sensor when you're

out under the elements? I'm guessing the best bet would be to clean

it in the evening inside a windless tent.

 

Using film you have problems with dust scratching chromes but

fortunately it can change from film to film since it often shifts on

rewinding and loading. How simple has the conversion from Film to

Digital been? Do any of you shoot both at the same time? Just to

let you know my background to help direct your answers, I'm trying to

slowly build up stock and will soon start writing articles to go

along with some of my work to submit to editors, etc. etc. Sorry for

all the questions in one post. Thanks in advance for your help.

[safarishots]

I've been using a Nikon D1H for about 8 months now. I was also concerned about dust before I got it. Since then, the problem has cropped up a few times, but it has not been too difficult to remedy. I can see the dust when on the cameras viewfinder if I take a high f-stop photo of a whilte wall or blue sky. So I don't have to have a computer nearby to tell if there is dust on the CCD. If there is dust then I do the following:

 

1) With a q-tip and methanol, swab out the area just inside the camera's mounting ring to clean out any little metal shavings from changing lenses.

 

2) Put a piece of clear packing tape over the mounting ring with just a small opening on one edge.

 

3) Lock up the mirror.

 

4) Insert the end of a blower bulb through the opening and blow the CDD. The idea is that the tape will attract and catch any dust.

 

5) Remove tape. Lower the mirror. Take a test photo. Repeat steps 2-4 if necessary.

 

6) If steps 2-5 are not working (only happened to me once in 8 months), then I go to a swab system. People use Sensor Swabs with Eclipse fluid. I use a cut down rubber spatula wrapped in Pec-Pad and a couple drops of methanol.

 

I try to wait until I have a good place to do any cleaning, though I have used the tape method in the field once or twice and it worked fine. A spot or two of dust in your shots doesn't ruin them, you just have to fix them in Photoshop later.

 

I'm also thinking about getting more serious about writing and getting photos published. So far, my niche has been building websites and using the photographs that way. From that background, digital was the only way to go. I'm finding that I need more megapixels if I want to get serious about digital stock. The new Kodak 14N is looking pretty good.

 

-Jon Hill

[cliff_lesergent]

If I'm out in the field, I sometimes check for dust spots by taking the lens off and making an overexposed image of a light source like the clear sky. Significant dust spots are usually visible on the LCD screen that way, although the really small ones are not.

 

I like Jon's idea of using tape to catch dust particles dislodged with the blower; I'll have to try that one.

 

The only problem with the switch from digital to film is that it's hard to go back to using film. Where I live (a modern city with a population approaching one million people), there is only one competent E-6 processing lab left, and they are quite expensive.

 

I like having a film original, but the workflow to get the image scanned and on to a CD for my stock agency, or to a print, is several days long (drive downtown to drop off the film, drive downtown again the next business day to pick up the film, edit the slides, scan the slides, caption and label the slides, store the slides). Digital, by contrast takes only a few hours for a large number of images (load to computer, convert to TIFF, edit, rename, save).

[rob_hadlow1]

First and formost I must say why would you even want to think about shooting Digiatl for Stock Photography? The image quality of film is much supperior then that of Digital! Lets first start off with sharpness, I have yet to find a Digital Camera, ANY DIGITAL camera that can compete with the sharpness of film, exposure quality of film, the overall stablness of film. If your stock agency wants digital files, scan them, you get way more lines of resoulution in a scan/more megapixels in a scan then you ever do with an image shot on a digital camera. Having worked in the photo industry, I have had an oportunity of checking out all these beautiful toys when they hit the market. Having tried the Canon EOS1D/1DS, D60, D30, Nikon D1/D1X/D1H, D100, Fuji S1/S2. Sure digital imaging is fast but the scarifice you make, you loose shaddow detail, not to mention, noise in the shaddows. Color fringing, look at the EOS1DS major noise at higher ISO's (400 and higher) and the new Kodak 14N, the shadows are green, not to mention that the highlights reveal no detail. When is the last time you comapred Velvia or Provia F to Digital, hmm, strange the film seems to have better detail, better resolution, better color, better everything. Digital is great for newpapers, amd the press, fast down and dirty. But if your a stock photographer, you should have the time to make your image, you shouldn't be doing a drive by shooting.

 

As far as labs go, I live in this same city pushing a million people as Cliff does, there just happens to be two major players as far as Pro Labs Go, both very reputable. Both labs will go that extra mile to help you out. So what if you have to drive into the city with your film and or your images to get them scanned, at least then you will have both the hard copy and the digital file. Ever try to retrive images of a corrupted card, oops, sorry data is not available! I have seen way more corrupted cards then I have damged film from pro labs. If you really want to get serious about the stock image profession, (My Opinion) buy a high end film scanner, this way you can scan the images yourself, burn your CD and ship them off to the stock agency. All from the comfort of your office chair. This is the way I do it for my Stock Agency and they are more then happy to accept these digital scans.

 

Now as far as cleaning your CCD or CCMOS chip, there are tools out there that make this job easy to do, they're like a pencil with a sticky end on it which graps the dust particle, presto all clean. You mentioned scratching of film, KEEP YOUR GEER CLEAN! I will go out to the bush for days on end and will rentlessly clean my gear every night to make sure it is free of dust, sure dust happens, but keeping your gear clean will ensure that dust never gets where the film goes. Only go to a Pro Lab that does Dip and Dunk, forget the Roller Transport Machines, even the ones in a pro lab, becuase you never know what the rollers have picked up, this is why a dip and dunk machine is a way better E6 line.

Don't get me wrong, I feel that digital has a place, but not in Stock Photography, Film is way more accurate and has much more lattitude then Digital Photography. Every year digital gets better, but as of yet it can't touch film!

 

Yours Truly

 

Rob H.

[ken_dunn1]

I have been worried about operating temperatures. They never list them below 32 degrees F. Thats not really acceptable in nature photography.

[ilkka_nissila]

I asked Michael Reichmann about the cold behaviour and he said that the cameras work fine as long as you can keep the batteries warm. In practice you apparently need to swap batteries frequently but the camera still works as long as the power is supplied. I talked to Nikon's salespeople about it and they said pretty much the same thing. The question is why do the companies then specify the cameras for use in > 0 degrees C? Will the camera's warranty be void if it breaks in the cold?

[ShunCheung]

But "cold" is a relative term. What kind of temperature was Michael Reichmann referring to? 0C/32F is no big deal, but what about -20C (around 0F)? For some places in the world, it is not that unusual. Further below that, it gets tough for us humans.

[graham braun]

I'd recommend going to the Luminous Landscape forums and asking Michael.

 

He'll have had opportunity to test cold weather (in and North of Toronto) where we've had some pretty serious cold weather lately (-30 to -40 C).

 

Cheers - Graham.

[ilkka_nissila]

He said he'd used the Canons in -30 C without problems other than the obvious with the batteries. Still, before I'm convinced I'd like to see some actual winter photographs taken with DSLRs. So far I have only seen one shot, and that was taken with a Coolpix 5700 I think.

 

-30 C in continental weather shouldn't be all that terrible (for people) but on coastal areas it's certainly a challenge. ;-)

[ricardo_jamin]

I took the following pictures at Yellowstone during winter:

<a href=http://www.photo.net/photo/1217823>http://www.photo.net/photo/1217823</a>

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Camera is Nikon D1x

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Not sure how cold it is during that particular shot but definitely below freezing. In the morning when I was there it gets as cold as -2F.

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--ricardo