Chris Poindexter, Author at Snapsort

Will Film Follow Kodak To The Grave?

Is filmed doomed to the same fate as Kodak?

It’s been a rough month for film. Kodak had to shush rumors about a possible bankruptcy and offer a red-faced explanation about why they’re hiring a law firm specializing in helping big corporations going out of business.

Added to that was CreativeCow pointing out that ARRI, Panavision and Aaton have all ceased production of film movie cameras, shifting their design and production focus to digital. Those companies will still produce special orders for film cameras, but will no longer manufacture production film cameras.

Following the trend away from film in Hollywood, FilmCraft, a commercial film photo lab in Detroit, closed their doors, leaving Astro in Chicago as the sole film lab in the entire midwest. With theaters switching over to digital projection as fast as the screens can be converted, even the market for distributing film prints to theaters is on death watch.

The moves in the film world could have a roll up effect on photography, as movie production and distribution are the last big corporate markets for film. What’s left in the photography film market? Disposable plastic film cameras at the drug store, an ever decreasing handful of hobbyists still shooting film, and certain specialty markets like x-ray film. You even have to hunt at big box retail stores like Walmart to find a display of roll film.

We’re now in the long trailing tail of film. How long Fuji and AgfaPhoto will continue to make photographic film is anyone’s guess. Every year that ticks by sees their market diminish. Economics will win out in the end.

It may still be a hobby for a handful of photographers, but it may not be a hobby you’ll be able to indulge in much longer.

Five Trends In Wedding Photography

There’s a fine line between the words “trend” and “fad” in the world of photography. The word “trend” implies gradual and sustainable growth over time. The word “fad” has somewhat negative connotations among photographers because it implies glitz with no substance. Those of us in the business a while recall infant portraits in an over-sized tea cup with just the twinge of a shudder.

In wedding photography the market changes fast and the difference between trend and fad is sometimes hard to distinguish. There are some changes I’m pretty confident calling as a trend at this point.

Photo Booths

These can be the old style retro photo booths where guests pose for pictures, or a more modern digital equivalent. The idea is instead of just signing a book, guests sit for a quick picture. Instead of a simple guest book full of incomprehensible scrawl, the happy couple has a digital guest book of the people just as they were that day.

Overall I like this trend, but it adds to the overhead because the mechanical type need to be staffed. You don’t exactly want to clamp your Nikon D700 to a tripod and let people shoot self-portraits with it.

Proposal Photography

I’ve filled in on at least three proposal shoots this summer. This has moved from the fad to trend column in a big hurry, to the point now it’s almost an expected part of package along with engagement photos.

It’s more work, but at least it’s fun. While a wedding is a huge amount of work to shoot right, proposal pictures really are snap-snap, goodbye. In, out and done in thirty minutes.

Boudoir Shots

This is hardly a new trend. Boudoir photography came into existence about 15 minutes after the first successful photography process was developed back in 1826. Boudoir popularity has kind of ebbed and flowed since then and is making a comeback lately.

Usually not part of a standard package, it is getting to be a more requested as an add-on. If you’re a guy, you might want to think about partnering with another female photographer in town because some customers will be more comfortable with a woman shooting those shots.

As a purely professional precaution, I take my wife along if I’m going to be shooting one, or a female assistant. That way there’s no questions about propriety.

Wreck The Dress

Another one of the more enjoyable trends in wedding photography, this is your chance to go crazy on a lovely wedding dress. Pictures in the pool, a mud pit, the ocean, let your imagination run wild.

Probably the best one I’ve seen was one done at the paintball park, it was certainly the most colorful.

Again, more work but also more fun.

Slideshow At The Reception

This is a little more tricky, but is definitely a hit with the guests. A slideshow of the wedding photos play on one or two big screens at the reception. It gives everyone a chance to imprint those memories, for better or worse, while it’s still fresh in their minds.

You’ll probably need a gear mule to help with this and the equipment is not cheap. But this points to a growing desire for real-time photo sharing.

Look for this trend to continue as well as a desire for near real time posting on Facebook and other photo sharing web sites.

The ABR800 Ringflash

abr800_front_0710 — The ABR800 Ringflash is a solid performer - by PC

I’m probably going to date myself a little, but I still like big ring lights. The ring flash look hasn’t really been big in fashion photography since the 70s, but a good ring flash is still one of my favorite keys because of the versatility. Ring lights gained fame for lighting that eliminated shadows on the subject and the distinctive catch light in the eyes.

My weapon of choice for a ring flash is the Alien Bees ABR800, made by Paul C. Buff up in Nashville. There have been some criticisms that the light is a little off in some of the Alien Bees line. If that’s true, it’s not in the ABR800. It’s got plenty of power, travels well and is incredibly versatile.

Most often you’ll be using a ring flash with the lens poking through the center of the ring. The lighting surrounding the axis of view creates an edgy, high contrast look that almost completely eliminates shadows on the subject, but can create a shadow halo around a subject near the background.

I like being able to move in close and change the perspective without moving the lights around for every shot.

Even if a ring flash isn’t right for a particular shot, nothing stops you from putting inside one of the 30 or 56-inch moon units and using it as a key or fill, or just bounce it into an umbrella. I really like the moon units, but agree that those can be tricky to set up.

I’m not the only one who likes the ABR800.

Nikon’s Snazzy Coolpix S8200

nikon coolpix s8200 — Nikon's Coolpix S8200 has great specs with a mid-range price tag - by Nikon

This camera was announced back in August, but slipped under my radar. I wanted to go back and catch it up because the Nikon S8200 is a really decent mid-range offering from Nikon at an attractive price point.

The S8200 sports a 16-megapixel 1/2.3 in BSI-CMOS chip behind a healthy 25-350mm 14x built-in zoom lens. Backing up the optics is Nikon’s Expeed C2 image processor.

The ISO range is a respectable 100-3,200 with optical image stabilization and boasts a 3” live view fixed-position LCD on the back. Controls are a mix of menu and manual controls that’s heavy on the buttons.

The autofocus system contrast detect with a multitude of options including multi-area, center, tracking, face-detect and live view.

On the software side it has panorama modes for both 180 and 360 panoramas.

Video is full size 1080 HD at 60 fps in MPEG4 format with the added bonus of HDMI mini connector.

Two minor niggles with this camera are Nikon’s reluctance to add 24p support to their smaller cameras and some serious photographers will be put off by the lack of a RAW output option. The S8200 is not the smallest of pocket size cameras at 33mm wide and weighing in at 213 grams (roughly half a pound), you’ll need a big pocket, but it’s solid to the touch.

Still, overall a nifty little package for $329, worth a look for anyone shopping for a second camera that’s easier to pack around than a full size DSLR.

Vendors Run Short of Samsung ST700

Samsung has a low-cost winner in the ST700 - by Samsung

Samsung has stumbled on a winner with their compact consumer camera the ST700 as some vendors are having trouble keeping them in stock. Released in January of this year, recent price drops have lead to shortages. If the ST700 was a good deal at $279, apparently many consumers consider it a steal at $199.

The specs are impressive for a pocket size camera. A 16.1-megapixel 1/2.3 in CCD image sensor behind a 5x 26mm (26-130mm equivalent) lens with dual optical and electronic image stabilization.

The ST700 is definitely made for parties. On the back it sports a 3 inch touch LCD screen and has the added feature of a 1.8 inch front LCD screen for framing with the camera on self-timer.

On the software side the ST700 is packed with features like Magazine Album, Smart Face Recognition, Face Detection and Tracking and a bewildering host of in camera effects like soft-focus, fish-eye, miniature and cinema.

One feature that’s really clever is the ST700 will put posing suggestions on the front screen so all users have to do is align themselves with the outline on the front screen for great shots.

Video on the ST700 is limited to 720 at 30 fps and with the CCD sensor it’s a little weak on low-light performance, topping out at ISO 3200.

Since the camera has been out a while, there are plenty of user reviews out there. A few users have reported problems with the build quality and units that have quit working. Even users positive on the camera recommend getting a hard shell case and take care to keep dust away from the lens, but overall the camera gets high marks from users.

Make sure you can return it in case you get one of the bad ones, but for under $200 the ST700 is a great choice if you’re looking for a camera to take along to your bowling league or to give to the kids for their social events.

This camera is an upgrade to the ST600 and strong sales of the ST700 should just about insure an ST800 for next year.