Photography

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Newly updated photography equipment!

Posted by tonny.xu on 22 Oct 2006 | Tagged as: Be alive, Photography

Today bought a new lens, 2 new style water-proof packages, a single pod, a tripod for my company, 6 transparency films, a 5 layers reflection pad.

It’s really good to see these things….

Let’s take a look at these wonderful stuffs.


EF 50/1.8 II


BENRO Single pod


Lowepro Rezo 180 AW 


5 layers reflection pad

Some other things are for the next week’s campaign, next week, we will be gathered around West Lake, and I guess we will have a good day.

Here are some other stuffs for this campaign.


3 kinds of transparency films


Tripod for company

Deep View: Resolution - PPI/LPI/DPI

Posted by tonny.xu on 12 Aug 2005 | Tagged as: Photography

Originally from Photoshop for Astrophotographers

Resolution: PPI, LPI, DPI

It is important to understand the relationship between the resolution of the image file and the resolution needed by the output device.

Image file resolution is specified in pixels per inch (PPI). Output devices are usually specified in either dots per inch (DPI) or lines per inch (LPI).

In some cases, such as with computer monitors, film recorders, and LightJet photographic printers, there is a 1:1 relation between the PPI of the digital image file and the DPI of the output device.

In most other cases, especially with desktop printers that advertise 720, 1440 or 2880 DPI, there is a vast difference between DPI and PPI.

If we have a scanned or digital original image with 3000 pixels of true optical resolution in one inch, we can send this to an output device and make a 10-inch print with 300 pixels per inch of output resolution. The exact same file, output as a 20-inch print will have a resolution of 150 pixels per inch. In both cases, only the output resolution has changed, and no data has actually been lost. In other words, the optical resolution remains unchanged.

For a device like a film recorder or LightJet printer that outputs in pixels per inch, each pixel is a fixed size with the edges of the pixels touching each other. The pixels vary only in brightness and color.

For a device like a printing press that prints halftone dots in lines per inch, the dots are printed into a grid of fixed size. The dots inside the grid can vary in size and are equidistant from each other.

For a device like a desktop inkjet printer, the dots of ink are a fixed size and the number of dots vary to give the appearance of different tones.

PPI

10 Pixels Per Inch (not to scale)

Pixels per inch specifies the real optical resolution of the file: the more pixels per inch you have, the greater the true resolution.

PPI terminology is used in specifying real resolution in image file sizes during scanning, and for output to devices such as film recorders that output a digital file back to film as a slide or negative.

LPI

Newspaper halftone dots
"Lines" Per Inch

Lines per inch is the terminology used in offset printing, which uses a line screen to break up continuous tone material into halftone dots.

Any type of printing device that uses ink is faced with a fundamental problem - the ink is only one color. Originally, printing presses only printed images in black and white. The ink they used was black ink. The ink had only one tone, or shade, and that was black. The paper was white. In the early days of printing, only line drawings could be reproduced - black lines on white paper.

In the late 1800's a method was discovered that used tiny dots of black ink to simulate different tones or shades of gray to create the illusion of a continuous tone image. If a lot of large dots were printed in a given space, it would look like a very dark tone. If only a few small dots were printed, there would be hardly any ink and it would appear as a very light tone, essentially the color of the paper the ink was printed on. A 50 percent gray, for example, would have half of the available area of the square in the grid printed with dots, and half of the area left blank.

This trick was accomplished by photographing the original image through a screen that was divided into a grid, much like a window screen. This was called a line screen because lines defined the grid. Inside of each square of the grid were printed a number of tiny dots of black ink.

A halftone gets its name because you either had a dot (one-half of the tone) or no dot (blank paper, the other half of the tone).

Newsletters usually reproduce images with a coarse line screen of 65 lines per inch. Newspapers use halftone screens with 85 lines per inch. High quality magazines use halftone screens with 133 lines per inch. Very high quality art books may use a line screen of 177 lines per inch.

The number of dots inside of a grid on the line screen can vary. A 133 line per inch screen may have 2540 dots per inch.

A rule of thumb in the printing industry is that you need 1.5x to 2x the number of pixels for a given line screen. So for a 100 line per inch halftone screen, you would need from 150 to 200 pixels per inch.

DPI

Inkjet printer dots
"Dots" per inch

Dots per inch is the terminology used by laser and inkjet printers.

Laser printers use a single size dot, but in a group of dots in a regular pattern to simulate a halftone screen. Laser printers usually work in the 300 - 600 DPI range but with a line screen of only 50 - 100 lines per inch.

Inkjet printers use smaller dots of ink and usually work in the 720 - 2880 DPI range.

Depending the sharpness of the image, and the quality of the printer, anywhere from 150 to 360 pixels per inch are required for excellent prints on today's photo quality inkjet printers. Experimentation is helpful, because you can usually get away with a lot less pixel resolution than you would think.

Inkjet printers that print with 1440 or 2880 dots per inch do not really provide much more resolution than 720 dots per inch. To appreciate this much printing resolution, you would need a large format original scanned at a very high optical resolution which would produce a very large file. Regardless, you would probably not need more than 360 pixels per inch of output resolution.

Monitors

TV - Pixels per inch

Color monitors use a triad of dots or stripes, one each of red, green and blue, to produce a colored pixel.

To calculate the resolution of your monitor simply divide the resolution of your display by the actual size it appears on your monitor screen. For instance, I run my monitor at 1024 x 768 pixels, and the 1024 pixels on the horizontal side are spread out over approximately 12.8 inches, so 1024 / 12.8 equals 80 PPI.

For an image that is 1024 x 768 displayed on a monitor that is running 1024 x 768 resolution, there is a one to one relationship between the pixels in the image and the pixels on the monitor.

Rules of Thumb

Output Output Form Number of Pixels needed
Inkjet Dots Number of dots divided by 2 to 8
Offset Press halftone dots 1.5 to 2 times the number of dots
Continuous Tone
(Film recorders, LightJet, Chromira)
Pixels 1:1
Monitor Pixels 1:1
Web Graphics Pixels 1:1

Examples

Inkjet printer:

  • 10 x 8 inches at 720 DPI (720/5 = 144 PPI) = 1440 x 1152 pixels = 4.75mb file.
  • 10 x 8 inches at 720 DPI (720/2.4 = 300 PPI) = 3000 x 2400 pixels = 20.6mb file.
  • 10 x 8 inches at 2880 DPI (2880/8 = 360 PPI) = 3600 x 2880 pixels = 29.7mb file.

Offset press:

  • 10 x 8 inches at 1.5x for a 150 line screen = 225 PPI = 2250 x 1800 = 11.6mb file.
  • 10 x 8 inches at 2x for a 150 line screen = 300 PPI = 3000 x 2400 = 20.6mb file.

Continuous Tone:

  • 10 x 8 inches at 305 pixels per inch on a LighJet printer = 3050 x 2440 pixels = 21.3mb file.
  • 1 x 1.5 inches at 4000 pixels per inch on a film recorder = 4000 x 6000 pixels = 68.7mb file.

Monitor:

  • 10 x 8 inches at 800 x 600 resolution on a 17 inch monitor with 12.8 inches on the horizontal side = 62.5 PPI = 625 x 500 pixels = 916K file.
  • 10 x 8 inches at 1024 x 768 resolution on a 17 inch monitor with 12.8 inches on the horizontal side = 80 PPI = 800 x 640 pixels = 1.47mb file.

Web Graphics:

  • 10 x 8 inches at 800 x 600 resolution on a 17 inch monitor with 12.8 inches on the horizontal side = 62.5 PPI = 625 x 500 pixels = 916K file.
  • 10 x 8 inches at 1024 x 768 resolution on a 17 inch monitor with 12.8 inches on the horizontal side = 80 PPI = 800 x 640 pixels = 1.47mb file.

Notes

Epson suggests using 240 pixels per inch for high quality printing on good photographic papers with their photographic inkjet printers. You may be able to get away with as little as 150 pixels per inch, depending on how critical you are. Some people use 300 PPI or even 360 PPI. But this means that you have to have that much true optical resolution in your original. Using interpolation on a small file to reach these high resolutions will not provide the highest quality output.

Lets take an example of a sharp fine-grained 35mm transparency original scanned at 2700 pixels per inch of true optical resolution. This produces a 2700 x 4050 pixel file that is 31.3mb.

If we want to print this image with a print size of 10 x 15 inches on a photographic quality inkjet that prints with 2800 dots per inch, we would not multiply 10 inches times 2880 dots and think that we needed 28,800 pixels by 43,200 pixels to make a print. Remember, dots do not equal pixels in this context.

Instead, knowing that 300 pixels per inch will produce excellent output with these printers, we would divide the true optical resolution of the original file by 300 pixels per inch on the short side of the print and see that we had enough true resolution to output 9 inches (2700 PPI / 300 PPI). We could output 10 inches on the short side at 270 PPI, and this would probably also produce an excellent print.

James Gosling also uses Canon's DC

Posted by tonny.xu on 07 Dec 2004 | Tagged as: Photography

You know what? James also uses a Canon 10D, and with a EF - 100-400mm IS lens. it's cool!

Watch the following pictures taken by James Gosling…:)

http://weblogs.java.net/jag/page12.html#98

Look what kind of games did they play? Wow~~~, each time u want to play such a game, I guess, u should have a least $1,000. ($400 for the car, $500 for the helecopter renting fee,$100 for the gas and the pilot, I guess)

Some classic saying…

Posted by tonny.xu on 07 Nov 2004 | Tagged as: Photography

在佳友在线看到一片转载自色影无忌的文章,写的太好了,简直就是一篇经典的发烧回忆录。

摘抄全文如下。。。

作者:viewfinder (为了稍微好看一点,格式化了一下

原本题目是叫《漫漫摄影发烧路》,可想到几年来虽痴迷于摄影,但每天魂思梦绕的除了机身就是镜头,片子拍了不少,可是以砖墙和报纸居多(为了检验镜头的表现和机身的对焦/曝光精度)。在器材上的投入和所谓?作品?的产出极不成比例,所以一提到?摄影?二字就汗颜不止,干脆改到了现在这个题目。

这几年在这条路上摸爬滚打过来,又看到周围无数的影友也在重复着和我一样的道路,未免还会碰到我原来的烦恼和痛苦。所以斗胆将我和我熟知的影友的发烧历程总结出来。希望要上路的影友能得到些借鉴。您如果已经是?过来人?了,而且文中所述和您的经历类似,请会心一笑,表明咱们产生了?共鸣?。

另外要说明的非常重要的一点是,这里所说的影友或发烧友指的是和我一样的广大业余爱好者。咱们共同的特点是:第一,完全是自费发烧(花钱买罪受?);第二,经济并不十分宽裕判断依据是您最近时常想念的机身或镜头的售价是您月收入的二至二十四倍。而且倍数越大,说明您发烧的度数越高。正是这两个特点,注定了我们广大的影友发的发烧路无比的曲折。如果您用的是公家的顶级器材,或者觉着开始就买?顶级?机身加一套专业镜头并不是很大负担的话,本篇文章肯定就不适用于您了。

一、上路之前

大多数人在正式发烧之前都有一定的拍照经验,或用过给家庭留影的?傻瓜?相机,或使用过家里的老式相机,或着借用过朋友的单反相机,甚至你本来就拥有一架带标准镜头的单反相机,但是从来没有想过后来会如此的痴迷。驱动你踏上这条路的动力是多种多样的,或看到了一次摄影展,或看到一本摄影画册,或仅仅看到了朋友拍到的一张风景,你好象一下就被感染了,就象得了流感一样。你开始想我是否也能?制造出?这样的相片。碰巧你刚丛一个旅游胜地归来。看着自己用?傻瓜?相机拍的惨不忍睹的照片,你暗下决心,一定要好好钻研一下?摄影?。

二、单反相机,一定要单反相机才能搞?创作?

大凡关于摄影的指南都是这么说的。只用过135?傻瓜?相机的你觉着以前拍的照片不行的原因归结于没有135单反机。买单反机之前你要经过一番考察。这?考察?使你慢慢推开了相机世界的大门,各种品牌型号林林总总,你肯定会感慨于这个世界的博大和你囊中的羞涩。经过了一番痛苦的抉择,你终于下定决心,把你能承受的最贵的一台国产或进口的带标准镜头或标准变焦镜头的或手动对焦/曝光或自动对焦/曝光的单反相机请了回家(***本文尽量没有提到相机的品牌,但?品牌?有可能是在以后使你苦恼的重要因素之一***)。你在不知不觉之中以把双脚踏上了这条发烧?不归路?。

三、要配齐所有焦距段,最起码是28mm到200mm

在你用你新买的单反机拍了几卷胶卷以后,发现要出?作品?远不是有单反机就行那么简单。回过头来看名家的作品,好象用的镜头要么是比你镜头广的广角镜头,要么是比你镜头焦距长的的长焦镜头。你恍然大误,原来如此。这是你发烧历程中又一次飞跃(发烧温度的攀升)—你开始关注镜头了,虽然你现在看到的只是镜头的焦距这一项。你开始挖空心思要?凑?齐所有?常用?的焦距段。不幸的是当你在开始买相机时并没有考虑到这一点,所以刚刚?放完血?的你更加苦恼于资金的不足。可配齐广角,中焦,长焦的迫切愿望是那么的强烈以至使你盯上了?便宜?的小口径变焦头。这些变焦头使你用有限的资金完成你的计划。你甚至为找到了这些大变焦比的镜头感到洋洋得意。

果然,你在镜头上的投资没有白费,你的照片开始有别于你周围朋友拍的留念照了。虽然这可能仅仅是由于你镜头广角端给人的视觉冲击或长焦端较浅的景深给你的照片带来的?与众不同?的感觉。你周围人对你的?作品?的认同和夸赞无疑又给你增添了继续前进的动力。

四、备用机身,要用专业的标准要求自己。

再添一个机身的想法此时又滋生出来了。你说服自己的冠冕堂皇的理由是1、频繁更换镜头太麻烦;2、可同时使用不同的胶卷;3、有一个备用的机身以防万一。你试图用这三个理由说服自己但又不愿意深究这三个理由是否成立。因为你心底深处真正的想法是要买一个更好的机身(时下叫机身升级)。可能在你买第一个机身时怎么也想不到会烧到现在这个程度或者当时确实财政吃紧,总之,你认为只有再买一个更高级的机身才能配齐你的?摄影系统?,而如果只有当前这一个机身的话肯定会妨碍你出?作品?。

经过长时间的紧衣缩食,你终于又实现了你的这个愿望。有着两个机身的你终于有了点?专业?的自我感觉,特别是跟影友们一起去?采风?的时候。可是新鲜感一过,你才发现1、同时带两个机身要远远比换镜头麻烦;2、你两个机身很少装不同的胶卷;3、好象只有胸前两个机身偶尔互相碰撞会让你感到心疼以外从来不用担心机身会有什么故障。慢慢地,你又开始只用一个机身了,当然是更高级的那个。原先的机身在摄影包的底层找到了自己的归宿。

五、镜头除了焦距以外,还有最大光圈等重要参数。

你原本以为在器材上的投资已经结束了,可不幸的是这只是你花钱高潮的序曲。

随着你摄影水平的提高你开始有一些片子要放大一下。原本在五寸、七寸照片上看着很清楚的风景、人物,放大到十二寸左右就难以满足你越来越挑剔的眼光了。你现在也知道了?镜头素质?是怎么回事,越来越注意自己拍的片子色彩还原好不好、有没有暗角、逆光时眩光严不严重……你总是拿着五倍后来又换成十倍的放大镜看底片。你开始意识到刚开始买镜头时只考虑焦距范围可能是最不成熟的行为。虽然你的片子不清晰很有可能仅仅是因为手震或聚焦不实;你的片子色彩还原不好是因为扩片小姐刚跟男朋友分手心情太差,但你还是越来越不满足你那些?低素质?的变焦镜头了。

这次你确实比原来成熟了,学会了在买镜头之前先找齐所有的资料,反复对比各项参数。还是由于资金的原因,你不得不考虑性能价格比。虽然开始你仍然觉着没有必要买恒定光圈大口径的变焦镜头去追求那大一至两级的光圈,但以拥有很多镜头资料的你后来慢慢发现恒定光圈大口径的的?专业?变焦镜头和那些?业余?镜头的差别不仅仅是大一至两级的光圈,而是镜头光学素质(最起码是在镜头的数据上的)和机械做工的不可比性。这一点在镜头的重量和价格上充分体现了出来。换句话说你觉着现在只有这种镜头才能满足你用十倍放大镜看底片这么高级别的需要。

?要买恒定光圈大口径专业变焦镜头?的想法刚冒出来的时候着实下了你一跳,因为这将意味者你要用两倍以上于你化在机身上的资金投入去买镜头这远远超出了你最初机身和镜头投入比例保持1:1的心理底线。况且这钱不是一下能赚的来的……

然而你现在?中毒?已经太深,你开始每天晚上睡觉都梦到那一两只镜头。经常在陪家人逛街的时候跑到摄影器材商店,?爬在柜台上痴痴地看货架上的?梦中情人?直到口水流出来?(一位坛友哼哼牛?的妙语)。你终于无法承受这一番痛苦折磨,痛下决心,砸锅卖铁也要买下这镜头。你首先想到的是把你原来的镜头出手。可到了二手器材店你才知道你悉心爱护下的足有九五成新的镜头店主最多能给你五成的价钱。你终于明白了?鸡肋?的确切含义。由于你太需要钱了,虽然你心里痛骂着?奸商?但还是把镜头留给了他……

当你终于把?梦中情人?拿到手上以后自然是无比的欣喜,虽然欣喜中带有一丝心痛。试拍报纸和砖墙的结果表明这?高素质?的镜头果然不负众望,这使你心理得到了极大的安慰。可在以后的实拍中你越来越发现在80%到90%的条件下这贵了几倍的镜头和你原来的?低素质?镜头并没有明显的差别。毕竟平时拍摄风景而且光照好时小光圈用的多,聚焦不实的时候用什么镜头都不清楚,扩片小姐的心情仍然起伏不定……特别是当你杠着?梦中情人?翻过一个山坡累的气喘吁吁时,你甚至开始怀念起你原来那套已属于别人的轻便的镜头来了。

六、定焦镜头,你真的需要了虽然主要是在心理上。

毕竟你在家看镜头资料和摄影杂志的时间要远远多于你扛镜头满山跑的时间多,而在家时你又忘却了镜头沉重给你带来的不便。不知从什么时候起你在看镜头数据资料和各种测评数据时下意识地转变了立场:你总是不自觉地想寻求你拥有镜头的缺点和不足。就象你爱一个人,她/他在你心目中太完美了,你害怕她/他会有一点点的瑕疵会影响到其在你心目中神圣的形象所以对她/他的缺点有一种神经质的敏感。

果然,一篇镜头测评的文章把你彻底击垮了:?(此镜头)……拥有近乎完美的光学素质,特别是在……,然而比起定焦镜头来还是有一定的差距……一般严肃的摄影师是不会接受这种为寻求便利而做出的在作品质量上的妥协……?。

你原来一直以为(特别是经过各种形式的广告的引导)变焦镜头是技术进步的结果,而且其素质已经赶超了原来的定焦镜头。孰不知现在所有镜头厂家设计镜头时用的还是数十年前甚至上百年前的光学公式,而变焦镜头由于其镜片组数多虽几经努力还不能做到象定焦镜头那样好。

再对比一下定焦镜头的价格,就算买几只镜头也要低于你那支大光圈的变焦镜头。你现在脑子里完全充斥着你的镜头这个可能是唯一的但现在是你最介意的缺点。你越想越觉得你好象又犯了个错误。

定焦镜头,你真的需要了。虽然主要是在心理上……

七、中(画)幅,一个新的梦想的开始

中幅相机一般指的是120相机。在?国产经典双(镜头)反(光)相机?网站( http://www.ChinaTLR.com )的首页有这样一段话:

?你可能已拥有了一整套相当不错的135相机,这是你花了很长时间建立的系统,因为你买每个镜头前都要考察一番。你又买了坚实的脚架和云台。你使用遮光罩,快门线,反光镜锁。以保证象质。 你对你放大照片的结果非常满意。这时该发生的事情终于发生了–你看到一张放大到nXn (n>24) 寸的 一张作品,你知道你没戏了。 It s big, it s sharp, it s beautiful - 这就是中幅 — 摘译自 photo.net, 原作者Doug Hughes?

虽然你一年也没有几张要放大到24寸以上的照片,但这段话对发烧至此的你极具煽动性。你原来只知道120相机只有专业人员和影楼才会用,现在你终于明白了为什么他们会用120相机。虽然120相机系统单比镜头的分辩率等参数赶不上135相机的镜头,但其占据大底的优势。就连国字号的摄影杂志也发表了(在放大到一定尺寸以上时)国产的双反120相机比世界上最顶级的德国某牌号135相机怎么怎么样的言论。

虽然由于120相机的产量小,不具备135相机的规模效益但你还是可以有多种选择。从一二百块的旧国产双反,到动辄上十万的欧洲顶级,你都可以量力而行,做出适合你的选择。而他们之间的差别从?象质?角度讲要小于120和135两种系统之间的差别。

可当你真的投资买了中幅相机以后,你会发现比起135相机来讲120相机太麻烦了,还要负担比135高的多的胶卷和冲扩费用。这就是为?追求象质?而付出的代价。

然而对?追求象质?是无止境的,比120底片还要大的多的是4X5, 比4X5底片大的多的 是8X10……这什么时候算到个头啊?

八、你又需要一个?傻瓜?相机了但你现在管它叫旁轴相机。

虽然这条路上的每一步都伴随着痛苦,但走到现在你才理解什么是真正的痛苦:拥有这么多摄影器材的你每天还要为生计忙碌,每天上班下班,好容易赶个节假日还要打理家务,串亲访友。能出门旅游的机会一年也没几次,即使能出门了又很少是专为拍片。除了测试镜头外光剩空按快门了。真有英雄无用武之地的感觉。

终于你受一些大师的启发,找到了一个解决办法:何不抓拍你周围的人和事呢?只要出家门都能拍,没准哪天能赶上个?决定性的瞬间?。好多大师不都是这么起家的吗?

说干就干你打量了你那些摄影器材,大摄影包是不能带的;硕大的变焦头更不能带。看来只能用轻便的小广角或标头了……

不幸的是你这种?创作?的状态没坚持几天就夭折了,因为领导和同事每天都用异样的眼神看着你包里的这套单反机。虽然你只用了你最小体积的镜头,但你的领导和同事还是具有?单反相机就是专业相机?的认识水平的。不用开口你就能从眼神里看出他们心理的疑惑?莫非这小子有跳槽的想法……??

更让你觉得沮丧的是当你在上班途中好不容易碰到个?闪光点?,你的单反机总是引起被摄者的注意。落到底片上的大多是别人对你镜头怒目而视的脸。

你终于明白为什么大师们都用旁轴相机了。

符合你条件的旁轴相机并不难找。可先如今大部分旁轴相机都是程序曝光的。你想要的有光圈优先曝光的旁轴机大都价格不菲,随然现在的程序曝光功能的机子是从只有光圈优先曝光功能的机子进化来的。

无奈,你只有选择一台程序快门,有电动卷片,装有定焦或变焦镜头的旁轴相机。虽然别人还是称之为?傻瓜机?,但你管它叫有自动功能的?旁轴相机?……

九、没有列出的但使你猛掏银子的还有:

三角架,你可能买到第三个才知道前两个的钱完全是应该省下的。
黑白放大机,到时候你就会受人煽动,试图控制?摄影?的全过程。
幻灯机,反转片……

十、你现在可以算过来人了,但这条路是没有尽头的

静下心来想一想,算一算,你在摄影器材上的花费可能是你们家除了住房以外最大的花费了。虽然你在尽量克制你的预算,可结果还会或多或少影响到了你家人的生活。你或许应该反省一下自从你有了这爱好以后,对家人的关爱是否少了许多?或许你现在仍然无怨无悔,那祝愿你能更加理智些,认清器材对摄影的作用,一步一个脚印地走下去。

你可能要对于正要上路的或没有陷的太深的影友建议别买变焦头焦一步就照3个定焦
计划,Xitek也大声疾呼?便宜买死人?,可他们没人能听的进去,就象当初的你一样。可能这发烧发的就是这个过程。

是谁说来着:?让一个男人破产的最简单的办法是,给他一架相机?