Technology Tales

Adventures & experiences in contemporary technology

EVF or OVF?

22nd December 2019

In photography, some developments are passing fads while others bring longer lasting changes. In their own way, special effects filters and high dynamic range techniques cause their share of excitement before that passed and their usage became more sensible. In fact, the same might be said for most forms of image processing because tastefulness eventually gets things in order. Equally, there are others that mark bigger shifts.

The biggest example of the latter is the move away from film photography to digital image capture. There still are film photographers but they largely depend on older cameras since very few are made any more. My own transition came later than others but I hardly use film any more and a lack of replacement parts for cameras that are more than fifteen years old only helps to keep things that way. Another truth is that digital photography makes me look at my images more critically and that helps for some continued improvement.

Also, mobile phone cameras have become so capable that the compact camera market has shrunk dramatically. In fact, I gave away my Canon PowerShot G11 earlier this year because there was little justification in hanging onto it. After all, it dated back to 2010 and a phone would do now what it once did though the G11 did more for me than I might have expected. Until 2017, my only photos of Swedish locations were made with that camera. If I ever was emotional at its departure and I doubt that I was, that is not felt now.

If you read photography magazines, you get the sense that mirrorless cameras have captured a lot of the limelight and that especially is the case with the introduction of full frame models. Some writers even are writing off the chances of SLR’s remaining in production though available model ranges remain extensive in spite of the new interlopers. Whatever about the departure of film, the possible loss of SLR’s with their bright optical viewfinders (OVF’s) does make me a little emotional since they were the cameras that so many like me aspired to owning during my younger years and the type has served me well over the decades.

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III

Even so, I too have used mirrorless cameras and an Olympus PEN E-PL5 came into my possession in 2013. However, I found that using the screen on the back of a camera was not to my liking and the quality of mobile phone cameras is such that I no longer need any added portability. However, it needs to be remembered that using a Tamron 14 to 150 mm zoom lens with the body cannot have helped either. Wishing to sample a counterpart with an electronic view finder, I replaced it with an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III earlier this year and have been getting on fine with that.

The body certainly is a compact one but the handling is very like an SLR and I have turned off the automatic switching between viewfinder and screen since I found it distracting; manually switching between the two is my preference. As it happens, using the EVF took a little acclimatisation but being able to add a spirit level overlay proved to as useful as it was instructive. The resulting images may be strong in the green and blue ends of the visible spectrum but that suits a user that is partial to both colours anyway. It also helps that the 16.1 megapixel sensor creates compact images that are quick to upload to a backup service. There have been no issues working with my Tamron lens and keeping that was a deciding factor in my remaining with Olympus in spite of a shutter failure with the older camera. That was fixed efficiently and at a reasonable cost too.

As good as the new Olympus has been, it has not displaced my existing Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Pentax K5 II SLR’s. The frame size is much smaller anyway and January saw me acquire a new Sigma 24 to 105 mm zoom lens for the former after an older lens developed an irreparable fault. The new lens is working as expected and the sharpness of any resulting images is impressive. However, the full frame combination is weighty even if I do use it handheld so that means that the Pentax remains my choice for overseas trips. There also is an added brightness in the viewfinders of both cameras that I appreciate so the OM-D complements the others rather than replacing them.

While I can get on with EVF’s if SLR’s ever get totally superseded, I am planning to stick mainly with SLR’s for now. Interestingly, Canon has launched a new enthusiast model so there must be some continuing interest in them. Also, it seems that Canon foresees a hybrid approach where live viewing using the screen on the back of the camera may add faster autofocus or other kinds of functionality while the OVF allows more traditional working. That of itself makes me wonder if we might see cameras that can switch between EVF and OVF modes within the same viewfinder. The thought may be as far fetched as it is intriguing yet there may be other possibilities that have not been foreseen. One thing is clear though: we are in an age of accelerating change.

More thinking on travelling without a laptop

10th December 2016

When it comes to the technology that I carry with me on trips away, I have begun to start weighing devices on my kitchen scales. The results are a little revealing. The HP Pavilion dm5 that has gone with me to Ireland and other places weighs between 2.5 and 3 kg while my Apple iPad Mini 2 comes in at 764 grams. My 12.9″ iPad Pro with its Logitech keyboard weighs between these at 110 to 1200 grams. The idea of consolidating computing devices for travel has been discussed on here before now and the main thing stopping my just going with the iPad Pro was the viewing of photos without filling up its 32 GB of storage space.

Since then, I just may have found a workaround and it is another gadget, this time weighing only a few hundred grams: a 1 TB WD My Passport Wireless portable hard drive. Aside from having a SD card slot that allows the automatic backup of photos, it also can connect with tablets and phones using WiFi broadband.

WD My Passport Wireless

It is the WD My Cloud app that makes the connections to mobile devices useful and it works smoothly on iOS and Android devices too. Nevertheless, there is more functionality on the latter ones such as DNG file support and an added slide show feature that works with JPEG files. Both of these are invaluable for viewing photos and I feel a little short-changed that they are not available on iOS. Hopefully, that will get resolved sooner rather than later.

Thankfully, my Pentax K5 II DSLR camera can be persuaded to save DNG and JPEG files simultaneously so that they can be viewed full screen on both types of devices without having to transfer them onto the tablet first as you would with Apple’s SD card reader. Usefully, that gets around my oversight in buying iPads with only 32 GB of storage each. That now looks like a false economy given what I am trying now.

Such is the weight difference, just taking along my Apple iPad Pro and the WD device will save around 1 kg and there is less fuss at airport security screening too. While my HTC phone would suffice for seeing photos as slide shows, I am wondering if my battered Google Nexus 9 could come too. The only dilemma then would be how to pack things since I am not sure how a large iPad screen would seem to cabin crew or other passengers during take off and landing. That makes using the Nexus 9 onboard more of a proposition and the iPad might go into the hold luggage to make life a little easier. Still, that choice is a minor concern now that I can try travelling overseas without a laptop to see how I get along.

A new phone

7th August 2009

Nokia 1661

For someone with an more than passing interest in technology, it may come as a surprise to you to learn that mobile telephony isn’t one of my strong points at all. That’s all the more marked when you cast your eye back over the developments in mobile telephone technology in recent years. Admittedly, until I subscribed to RSS feeds from the likes of TechRadar, the computing side of the area didn’t pass my way very much at all. That act has has alerted me to the now unmissable fact that mobile phones have become portable small computers, regardless of whether it is an offering from Apple or not. After the last few years, no one can say that things haven’t got really interesting.

In contrast to all the excitement, I only got my first phone in 2000 and stuck with it since and that was despite its scuffs and scratches along with its battery life troubles. Part of the reason for this is a certain blindness induced by having the thing on a monthly contract. As that is not sufficient to hide away the option of buying a phone on its own, then there’s the whole pay as you go arena too. The level of choice is such that packages such as those mentioned gain more prominence and potentially stop things in their tracks but I surmounted the perceived obstacles to buy a Nokia 1661 online from the Carphone Warehouse and collect it from the nearest store. The new replacement for my old Motorola is nothing flashy. Other phones may have nice stuff like an on-board camera or web access but I went down the route of sticking with basic functionality, albeit in a modern package with a colour screen. Still, for around £35, I got something that adds niceties like an alarm clock and a radio to the more bread and butter operations like making and taking phone calls and text messaging. Pay as you go may have got me the phone for less but I didn’t need a new phone number since I planned to slot in my old SIM card anyway; incidentally, the latter operation was a doddle once I got my brain into gear.

Now that I have replaced my mobile handset like I would for my land-line phone, I am left wondering why I dallied over the task for as long as I have. It may be that the combination of massive choice and a myriad of packages that didn’t appeal to me stalled things. With an increased awareness of the technology and options like buying a SIM card on its own, I can buy with a little more confidence now. Those fancier phones may tempt but I’ll be treating them as a nice to have rather than essential purchases. Saying all of this, the old handset isn’t going into the bin just yet though. It may be worn and worthless but its tri-band capabilities (I cannot vouch for the Nokia on this front) may make it a useful back up for international travel. The upgrade has given me added confidence for trying again when needs must but there is no rush and that probability of my developing an enthusiasm for fancy handsets is no higher.

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