January 2023 – frederikboving

Nikon Z6ii: Firmware upgrade, how-to

Your smartphone probably pushes software updates to you on a regular basis and prompts you to make sure you have the latest software installed. Your Nikon Z6ii is not that pushy, and you need to be more active to find out if a new version of the software for both your camera and lens is available. I recommend that you at all times have the latest software installed as it often involves improvements and bug fixes that are nice to have installed.

My approach to the upgrade is simply to install the new firmware version on the memory card and install the software from the memory card onto the camera and lens. I’ll show you the steps in the following.

Before you start

It is a good thing to make sure the battery is fully charged (or close to). Nikon will not accept to start the software installation with a half charged battery, not even if you have power supply via USB-C while running the upgrade. So before you do anything, make sure you have a fully charged battery.

Nikons homepage with the firmware update. — Nikons description of the upgrade to version 1.5 of the Firmware for the Nikon Z6ii.

Another thing to check is if you have the need for an upgrade – you may already be running on the latest version and then of course no action is needed.

You can go into the setup menu (the wrench symbol) and scroll to the bottom and find the “Firmware version” menu item. In here the “C” gives the Firmware version of the camera and “LF” is the lens firmware. Make a note of the two and compare it to the latest version of the firmware on the Nikon homepage (see image above where version 1.50 is the latest version).

You can simply put “Nikon Z6ii firmware upgrade” as search text in google, and the first item that pops up is the link to the Nikon homepage. Or you can just press here to get to the same place. You can also here see what upgrades have been made from version to version. In my case I jumped from version 1.30 to 1.50 and hence skipped version 1.40. Notice that you need to select if your operating system is Mac or Windows before downloading.

Download

In order to download the file with the new firmware, simply scroll to the bottom of the page where you accept the terms and conditions, and hit the button to start the download. It is a relatively small file and in my case the download was quick and took less than 10 seconds. The file on my Windows based PC was put in the dedicated folder for downloads.

The file itself is an executable file that is packed. It is important that you run the unpack before you move on. In my case the file “F-Z6II-V150W.exe” is the executable packaged file with the version 1.50 firmware for the camera body. When you run the file, a folder named “Z6IIUpdate” is created in the same folder as the downloaded file. You need to double click on that folder to see the actual file with the firmware – it has the ending “.bin”. There is only one file in the folder, so you cannot miss it.

Installation – body

You then need to get the “.bin” file onto the memory card of the camera. I prefer to move the file by inserting the memory card in my PC and copy it here. You can do the file transfer in many ways (USB-C etc) but I prefer the low tech and safe way to simply copy it to the memory card on the PC.

There are 2 things now that are important: (1) You need to make sure the file is copied to the root drive of the memory card and (2) if you have 2 cards in the camera at the same time, take out the one without the firmware upgrade – that way you force the camera to read the memory card with the “.bin” file installed. The manual says the memory card has to be formatted, but in my experience this is not necessary, as long as the file is in the root of the memory card and there is only one card in the camera.

So after you have inserted the memory card in the camera, turn it off and on again, go to the same menu items as where you checked the firmware version (SETUP -> firmware version) and now you should be offered to upgrade.

Nikon Firmware upgrade. — Nikon Firmware upgrade: In this example I’m going from version 1.30 to version 1.50. Notice that the orange bar is showing the selection so make sure to move the orange bar to “yes” and confirm with hitting the “ok” button (centre of the command wheel).

The orange bar starts being positioned at “no” so you need to move this one up to highlight “yes” and the confirm with the centre of the command wheel (“ok”). After confirming the upgrade, a progress bar will be shown to far the upgrade has progressed. A camera upgrade can take several minutes, so be patient. A lens upgrade is typically much faster (the process is the same).

It is important that you do not disturb the camera while the upgrade is running. Do not turn it off. Do not touch any buttons. Leave it be. Let it do it’s work with no interruptions. This is important, as an interruption can leave the camera in an undefined state and then you may need a Nikon professional to unbrick your camera! So please take this point seriously!

After the upgrade is done, follow the instructions on screen and you are good to go with the new version of the firmware.

Installation – lens

The process of upgrading the lens is exactly the same as for the camera body. Find the appropriate file for your lens using google, check that you have a need for the upgrade, download the file, run the extract, get the “.bin” file onto the memory card, get the memory card in the camera and select SETUP -> firmware version and follow the instructions on screen.

I actually downloaded and installed both the lens and the camera firmware upgrade files in one go, and the camera then simply asked me which of the files I wanted to install.

Final thoughts

If reading the above does not make you feel comfortable with the process, then get a professional to do it. It is a relatively simple process, but better safe than sorry. Hope this guide has been to some help and all the best with your Nikon Z6ii camera.

Review: Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs

When looking at the long list of hits that Beatles or Rolling Stones have produced and comparing that to what other successful bands have made, it dawns on you just how talented these bands were. It’s a different league, simply. This is exactly the feeling I get when browsing the 400 images of Ansel Adams – there are so many great images presented in one book. He was and is in a league of his own.

Another thing that strikes me is the consistency of the work. Of course the images have been carefully selected amongst many more, but the sheer consistency and super high quality of each and every image is truly impressive. Adams is known for his motto that “nothing is worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept”, and he lived his own motto: every concept in the 400 images presented is razor sharp.

The book gives a short introduction by Andrea G. Stillman, but other than that the book is simply presentation of 400 images, organised into different phases of Adam’s life. The book is relatively small (25cm by 20cm) and paperback quality, but the black and white images present themselves really well despite the format not being the largest.

And as an outdoor photographer, I especially enjoy the section from the national park and monuments, probably the images that Adams is the most famous for. And of course you will find the moonrise image from New Mexico and the golden gate before the bridge. But there are many, many more great images.

Can I recommend the book? Yes, if you are interested in landscape photography and want to study one of the greatest of all time, then this is a good place to start. When evaluating my own work, I often ask myself if I would hang my own work in my living room, and only a few images pass that test. But when it comes to Ansel Adams, I’d gladly put any of the images in this book on my wall.

Review: Apple iPod Pro (1. generation)

Design darling

Well designed products is how we know Apple, and the Apple iPod Pro 1. generation is no exception. It is a beautifully made product – even the packaging is well designed and leaves you with a feeling that everything is designed and carefully considered down to the slightest detail.

I have the version 1 of the iPods and one of the big things I miss is the ability to regulate the sound level on the iPods themselves. That has been fixed in version 2 and is probably confirms that Apple themselves knew that this was one of the design flaws of the 1st generation. So you need to find your iPhone to turn the sound up and down.

As a former audiophile, I can say that the sound is far from perfect. Apple has clearly put emphasis on a pleasant and “round” sound rather than a precise and “dry” sound with high fidelity. So if the fidelity of sound is on top of your list, this product may not pass the first item on your list! No matter what, I recommend that you try the sound of the iPods before buying – it is very much up to personal preference and taste, so give them a try before buying if you want to be sure the sound it spot on relative to your taste. I think however that most will agree that relative to the standard iPods the sound and fit here is levels above!

Apple iPod Pro (1. generation) — The cradle that doubles as a battery pack works really well. And wireless charging is a plus.

Another detail that bugs me senseless is the lack of USB-C connectors. As a photographer with tons of gear (camera, flashes, etc) that needs a charger, I have come to appreciate the industry standard USB-C and the dramatic reduction in number of chargers I need to have on stock. I look forward to Apple moving to USB-C also on the iPhone and the iPods (my iPad has USB-C, so it is coming ever so slowly).

A mitigating factor however is the support for wireless charging of the battery in the cradle (aka the wireless charging case). And then I think the cradle that doubles as a battery pack is a little strike of genius – it was probably not Apple that got the idea, but their implementation works really well. The combined battery power with the combined battery in the iPods themselves and the cradle is really good and for my daily commute I have never run out of battery power.

I have had many in-ear earphones, and the iPods are the only ones that fit my ear right out of the box. This may be a coincidence that is specific to me and the way my ears are, but I can assure you that if you do not feel comfortable with the in-ear “hook”, then you will never be good friends with your earphones. Fit and comfort are number one. I do not run and cycle with my iPods, but I walk a lot and often take the train wearing the iPods, and I enjoy every minute. I think one of the reasons is that they are much lighter than my previous in-ear earphones.

The noise reduction is super effective and if you are not comfortable with closing out the world that way then the transparency mode that lets in ambient sound is for you. Especially at work where some noisy colleagues can be a pain, the noise reduction feature is a life saver!

In daily life the iPods just works. They connect to the iPhone via Bluetooth and it works really well. You can move to the next and the former song by pressing the iPods 2 or 3 times respectively, and if you take the iPods out temporarily and insert them again, the music picks up from where you left.

When you insert the iPods in the cradle and close it, the iPhone tells you the battery status for both the left iPod, the right iPod and the cradle. It is little details like that which makes the iPods such a pleasure to use. And then of course that it is wireless, probably needless to say.

The iPods are in many dimensions delicious to use, but expect the pods themselves to be less delicious after some time of usage. They do go into your ear after all! This is where the distance between what you see in the ads and what you experience in real life starts to kick in!

Conclusion

So as you have probably guessed I am really happy with this product. The sound is decent although not the best in the market, they fit my ears really well, the design and user interface is well made and works, etc. So my overall assessment is a very positive bias. They are really easy to use.

Other than being expensive as we know Apple products, my biggest reservation is the lack of volume control on the pods themselves. And for this reason I suggest you go for 2. generation, as it really is THE annoying thing about generation 1.

Use a grid to shape the flash light

Forward

A grid is a pattern of black fabric that you mount typically on the front of the softbox instead of the usual white fabric. The grid will effectively stop or dampen all light that tries to travel sideways relative to the direction the flash is pointing, and hence make most of the light travel in the same direction.

Grid in flash photography. — The grid seen from the side when the flash fires. Most light that tries to “travel” sideways will be stopped or dampened.

Although the softbox itself is coated with a reflective fabric on the inside and and hence designed to send all the light forward, the forward direction is still much wider than the front of the softbox itself. The grid helps limit the sideways travel by only allowing the light moving straight forward to continue, the rest is blocked or dampened.

The flash grid. — The grid in action to the left, and the softbox without grid to the right. Notice how much wider the light is cast to the right.

I use the grid to give more specific direction to the light, if for example it is important that the light bouncing from the floor or the ceiling is minimized. Notice that the grid dampen the effect of the flash all things equal quite significantly, so especially if you shoot the flash in manual mode, you need to factor in the effect of the grid when setting the flash power.

Review: Sean Tucker: The meaning in the making

To make a long story short: this is a super interesting book, and it comes highly recommended.

If you expect to have a book that talks about photography in terms of which aperture to shoot at or how to frame your images just right, then you will be disappointed. The scope is much broader as the sub-title suggests: The why and the how behind our human need to create.

Sean Tucker: The meaning in the making. — My cat kept me company during the read. 320 pages in paperback format.

You may – like me – know Sean Tucker as a photographer and a YouTuber and follow him on both channels. But I did not know that he had been a musician and and waited tables to make ends meet financially. And it reminded me that he had also been a priest (and no, I did not run for the hills…).

On the homepage Sean writes that “This book contains personal stories interwoven with the psychological, philosophical and spiritual practices which help me stay a mentally healthy, inspired and motivated ‘maker of things.'” – that is in essence the content of this book. And it is relevant for anyone being creative of some sort.

The book impressed me in several ways and to illustrate, let me give some examples:

Envy. Envy is not something we often talk about. It is a forbidden feeling almost and one that most try to supress. But Sean instead moves forward and analyses the feeling and how to deal with it constructively. This part of the book I found refreshing and brave, because he uses himself and his own story as the example and not some “holding it in arm’s length and talking about it academically”-way.

Feedback and critics. I find it hard to ask for feedback, or I simply forget to do it. And even more seldom do I actually work with the feedback. Sean early in his life thought about this and apparently decided to use the feedback as an integral part of his way living and working, and that calls for respect. And he also early identified mentors and was early in life very clear about why he wanted mentors and how to make the best of them. Sean also gives several examples of feedback that was harsh or brutal at the time, but he managed to turn it into something constructive and useful every time.

Success. I must admit that to some extent I believe in the american dream. Maybe not in the way a true American would, but that hard work and a bit of talent or luck can take you a long way and almost is a guarantee for success. Sean punctures this belief effectively using van Gogh as example, but also from his life as musician. I am still processing that part of the book and it bites me. I know from my NLP training that we do not see the world as it is, but rather a model of the world and that we take in information that fits our model of the world mainly, and leave the rest be. Seans words about success does not fit my model of the world, and as such it to me is a mental blow. And as unpleasant as mental punches to the kidneys are short term, as beneficial they can be longer term. Sean also talks about the world being broken and this is another part of the book that challenges my belief system, so I’ve been plenty challenged reading the book!

The small stories. Without going too much into details because I think you should enjoy the story yourself, I will give this quote: “This artistic train wreck would win no awards, but it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen”. That little story really moved me.

I could go on. But I won’t, because I think you should read the book if you have any interest in creativity, self development or philosophy. Or how you can grow as an artist.

I bought the book here in Denmark from a local online store. It can also be downloaded in an electronic version. And I believe you can even read a larger sample from the book. So there are no excuses – start here.

Shopping link

Sean Tucker: The meaning in the making

Video link

From Nikon D5600 to D7500 – is that a good move?

So over at my YouTube channel I got the following question from Arpski 2K, and I want to add it to my list of blog posts, as I find that many ask – if not the same question – then questions that circle around the same subject:

“Right now I have a dilemma what to get after my D5600, but I am still not sure. I think that right now my DSLR is limiting me, I like to photograph landscapes and wildlife, mainly birds but for landscape looks like crop sensor is the limit like i can’t zoom out the scene how I would like to do. And the AF for fast birds is sometimes slow and wrong as it pick up often wrong thing to focus on, idk, my lens is stock 18-140mm, also I love to travel with my camera so weight is a factor too. Maybe 7500 would be better option?”

Arpski gives us a number of hints regarding what is important: the weight of the gear, the ability to go wide in landscape photography and the ability to track fast moving birds fast with autofocus that locks on. And he has an idea that the APS-C sensor in the D5600 is limiting him.

Ok, let’s look at the individual parts:

Weight: If weight is important to you, my advice is to stay with APS-C or cropped sensor. Full frame glass is much heavier and also more expensive, and the bonus of the FF in terms of bokeh and low low light capabilities does not seem to be important here. I have seen landscape photographers working with APS-C cameras and getting beautiful results, so no need to go full frame if you ask me.

BIF: Auto focus to track fast moving birds, i.e. birds in flight (BIF) is a challenge for many AF systems. Mind you that the AF speed is a cooperation between the lens and the camera, so it can sometime be a bit difficult to say of the camera is slow, or the lens is slow or the combo is slow. But before you go and invest in new gear, try this: Manual focus! Or rather, no focus at all. I do not know what distance you shoot birds at, but if they are say 100 meters away, focusing at 100m distance and leaving the lens in that position may just give you the results you are after! The depth of field here is 60 meters at f/4 on an APS-C camera when shooting at 140mm! So if you can figure out the distance to your subject, manual focus may be the answer to your problems. The depth of field – all things equal – grows to very forgiving sizes when the distance to your subject is large!

Shooting wide: In my book a 18mm lens is pretty wide. Yes, you can go wider! If you want to invest in a small prime that is wider than 18mm, then there are a number of options. But before you do that, you can try an alternative: shoot several overlapping images and stitch them together in post processing. That way you can go wider than the lens itself and as a bonus you will get an image with a lot more resolution. If you can stomach it, then try to shoot in manual exposure mode, as the exposure and depth of field needs to be constant across the images, otherwise merging them may give strange results.

Ok, so none of the issues reported cannot be addressed using the existing lens and the D5600. But then Arpski mentions that he feels the D5600 is a limitation to his photography. This is a feeling I think most photographers have tried: we constantly ping pong between upgrading our gear and upgrading our skills. And sometimes we just feel like our gear is the limiting factor and it is time to move on. That is as it should be.

The D7500 was a camera I unfortunately only enjoyed for a short while. I bought it after my D5600, but the D7500 was bricked in a salt water accident shortly after I got it and it could not be restored unfortunately. But I loved that camera: great ergonomics, fast FPS, excellent low light performance, etc. I had it with me on a trip to Dublin and I came home with a wonderful set of images.

Mind you that many photographers love to hate the D7500. The reason being that Nikon gave the D7500 a wrong name. The D7100 and D7200 are legends and loved by many Nikon enthusiasts, so when the D7500 came out, they thought the D7500 would be the successor to the D7200. But it was not, and the D7500 took a lot of beating from frustrated photographers. If Nikon had flipped to digits and called the D7500 for D5700, I think all would have been good and the camera would have been seen as what it is: a really good all round APS-C camera. So bear this in mind when you read blogs where people discuss the D7500 – people don’t like it, because the name stages the camera the wrong place.

So what to do? I have one principle that I pursue wholeheartedly, and that is ergonomics and weight. The best camera is the one that is with you, and if weight is important to you, choose a light camera. In other words, don’t go full frame – you will hate the weight penalty. And many APS-C cameras are absolutely wonderful cameras that often are at par with full frame if you do not have crazy demands in terms of shallow depth of field or low light capabilities.

The D7100 and D7200 may be what you should be looking at. They have legendary status and if you can find a good copy without too many clicks on the clock then I am sure that could be a good next step. I shop used over at mpb.com (no affiliate) and find that they give a fair trade in price for used gear and that what they sell is in the condition advertised.

The D7500 is also an option and I think it will be easier to find a good copy used as it is a younger camera. They even sell new copies (affiliate link). My only issue with the D7500 is that it had little “ears” to hold on to the camera strap and those ears were not good friends with my big hands. But that is the only negative that springs to my mind.

If you specifically try to choose between the D7500 and the D5600, my advice is to go with the D7500 if your budget allows. The D5600 is a good camera, but the D7500 is in many respects just better (FPS, dynamic range, etc). I shot with the D7500 in low light conditions and especially this image convinced me that the D7500 is a great camera.

Again, it is difficult to give a final and decisive advice, as you hold the list of personal preferences and what is important to you. And it is your money. And you have to live with the consequences of whatever you decide. My best advice is: consult many sources, read many reviews and don’t trust anyone fully, but make your own opinion based on many different sources. That way you can make an informed decision. I wish you the best of luck with your photography!

Nikon Z50: Manual exposure guide

Manual exposure

Many find manual exposure a bit intimidating and stay with the automated mode or one of the semi automated modes like aperture priority or shutter priority. Good news is that manual exposure is not complicated at all and that you have a lot of room for making exposure mistakes and still be able to fix it in post, provided you shoot RAW, which I highly recommend. And you will understand your camera a lot better when you know how to operate in manual exposure mode.

You camera has a built in metering system, that constantly measures the available light. This system continues to work also when you set the camera in manual mode. Select the manual mode on the PASM dial top right on the Nikon Z50.

Mode dial top right – here the mode “M” for manual is selected.

Once in manual mode, you will notice a little exposure indicator appearing, both in the viewfinder and in the rear LCD. This indicator will tell if the camera finds that the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings will give a correctly exposed picture when you hit the shutter.

Nikon Z50 — Notice the scale bottom right on the rear LCD. Here the metering system says the image will be underexposed.

It is a good thing to keep an eye on the exposure indicator to make sure you get the exposure you are after. Sometimes you want deliberately to over- or underexpose your picture, and the exposure indicator is a good tool to make sure you get what you want.

exposure indicator guide — The exposure indicator shows if the picture will be over- or underexposed or correct exposed. Notice the difference between the viewfinder orientation and the rear LCD ditto. Credit: Nikon manuals.

Another way to see the same information as the exposure indicator is to use the histogram – you can make it appear by hitting the “disp” button on the center top rear on the camera. Finally, as you have WYSIWYG, you can simply notice if the LCD or electronic viewfinder turns very dark or very bright – a good indication something is off relative to a technically correct exposed picture.

Aperture and shutter speed

You control the aperture and the shutter speed by turning the front and rear command dials respectively.

If the camera flashes “FEE” in the top LCD when you mount the lens, it is probably because you have not locked the aperture on the lens to the highest f-stop number possible – the camera needs this setting to be so, in order for it to control the position of the aperture blades when shooting with AF or AF-D lenses.

If your lens is an older model (say AI or AIS) where you have an aperture ring on the lens, it is not always possible to change the aperture with the front command dial – instead you will have to set the aperture on the lens. The top LCD will not show the aperture but just a “F–” to indicate it cannot “see” the chosen aperture. The metering indicator works fine still though.

ISO

On a digital camera, ISO is actually not part of the exposure. The sensor has the sensitivity it had when it left the factory and it cannot be changed.

By setting the ISO to other values than the base ISO 100, you apply a gain to the values read by the sensor. It is camera internal post processing that happens from the sensor has read the light and until the image sits on the memory card. Just like in the old days when you turned up the radio, you both amplified the signal and the noise – the original signal remains the same. ISO works the same way, so the price for turning up the ISO is more noise and grain.

When you push the ISO button on top of the camera, you change the function of the front and rear command dial.

Pushing the ISO button and at the same time turning the front and rear command dial, changes the ISO values. The front command dial switches between ISO and auto-ISO and the rear command dial shifts between ISO values.

Here the ISO button is pushed. The ISO value in the bottom of the rear LCD turns yellow to show the value can now be changed using the command dials.

When you have auto-ISO switched on, the camera will be in a – if not semi automatic – then quarter automatic mode. In other words, the camera will try to make the picture correctly exposed ALONE changing the ISO. So if you have a dark scene where the aperture is closed down and the shutter speed is fast, the camera will have to go to very high ISO values to compensate.

You can use auto-ISO to make sure you come home with images that show at least something, but be aware that grain and noise may be the price you pay for switching auto-ISO on. For starters, I would recommend that you have auto-ISO off, and keep an eye on the exposure indicator or the histogram to make sure the exposure is roughly right. Later, when you have some experience, auto-ISO can make you work faster.

Metering modes

The Nikon Z50 has 3 metering modes. You can access these by pushing the little “i” in the rear of the camera (middle) and this shows a 6×2 menu where one option is “metering”. Selecting that one, brings a sub-menu with 3 options.

The metering mode does NOT change the amount of available light, rather it changes how the camera meters the light that passes through the lens. I shoot almost entirely in the “matrix metering” mode as it is the most advanced one, that tries to take in the entire scene and find a good compromise.

Second option is center weighted metering. This one is good if you shoot portraits where you don’t really care of the corners are exposed correct – the important is that the person in the frame is exposed correct. The manual also mentions this as a good mode if you shoot with filters.

The final option is highlight-weighted metering. This one many street photographers use as they are not afraid of losing details in the shadows. I use it for shooting silhouette photography, where the details in the shadows are also less important.

All of these modes may seem confusing, so my advice is to use matrix metering. If you shoot RAW, then there are plenty of options for adjusting the exposure in post and hence I find that these 3 options are maybe more for backward compatibility with older DSLRs.

Final thoughts

I hope the above has given you some inspiration for shooting in manual exposure mode. With a mirrorless camera like the Nikon Z50, it IMHO has become much easier to see if the exposure is right or not: both the EVF and the rear LCD will show you a too bright or a too dark image if you got it wrong, the histogram will be “lefty” or the opposite and the metering indicator will do the same. So there is plenty of help to get the exposure right if you ask me. And then, if you shoot RAW and didn’t nail the exposure just right, there is lots of headroom to tweak the image in post so the exposure is spot on. I hope you will practice your new set of skills! I think you will find it rewarding!

Video link

Review: Timbuk2 Heritage Classic S Messenger bag multi-colored

I was looking for a messenger bag (a sling bag), and after googling a bit the Timbuk2 Heritage Classic S Messenger bag quickly came out as the one that suited my needs the best: A basic bag, not too expensive (83 EUR) and solid build quality. The price varies a bit subject to the color chosen, but it is in the vicinity of 80 EUR here in Europe. (For the record: I am not sponsored by TimBuk and have bought this bag for my own money).

It measures 37 x 26 x 10 centimeters approximately and easily holds my laptop, a X280 ThinkPad laptop (13″ approx). In addition I have a notebook and and a few pens, and that is basically it. I have both keyboard, charger, mouse and screen both at home and at my workplace, so I am so lucky that I only need to carry the PC itself and then a notebook. And for this limited purpose, the Timbu2 has plenty of room.

There is no padding in the bag and if you plan to carry fragile material in the bag, you’d better be sure not to drop it or put it down suddenly – there is only a thin fabric. The fabric seems solid and durable and I trust it will last for many years and also keep water out, but do not expect padding.

Inside the bag there are 2 large rooms. I use the inner room for the PC and the other room for my notebook and gloves. There is a little net for holding a bottle as well, but it will not hold a tall thermo bottle like above (the bag will not close properly) – but a 1/2 liter cola fits fine.

Inside the bag there is a number of small open rooms that I use for holding pens primarily, and there is also a larger room you can close with a zip.

On the outer side of the bag there is one open pocket and two that closes with a zipper, and one of them has a string inside that allows you to attach a keyring so you can have your keys attached and stored safely.

The thickness of the bag can be adjusted with two straps that also hold the locks for closing the bag. I don’t like to have the strings flapping around, especially when I am on the bike, so I have made a little knot to keep them at bay.

The strap to throw over your shoulder is nice and wide and well padded.

The flap that closes the bag is fitted with both velcro and buckles. When not out and about, the velcro is more than plenty to keep the bag closed, in fact, sometimes it feels a little to efficient when you just want to grab a pen quickly and the velcro does what it can to keep the bag shut! But you’ll get used to it.

Timbuk2 Heritage Classic S Messenger bag multi-colo — My fingers point two the two buckles that close the bag firmly. Between my fingers the velcro that also closes the bag.

Conclusion

If this bag will suit you and your needs of course comes down to your criterias and personal preference. It is a very solid built bag, durable materials and very convincing sewings everywhere. And they have clearly thought very carefully about many of the details such as the closing mechanism, the pockets, the strings, etc. In my humble opinion the design is spot on for a simple bag that will serve you for many years without breaking the bank.

However, the money has been spent on solid durable fabric, sewings and straps, and not on more luxury items such as padding, leather or other up-market features. It is a very basic bag, and if you want a little extra or a little luxury, this bag is probably not for you. This one delivers the basics only, but does so very well.

Review: Outdoor Photography monthly magazine

Before Covid hit us all and we could travel freely, my dear wife bought me a copy of the magazine Outdoor Photography in a UK airport somewhere. This was back in 2019 and the copy was issue 249 with a great article by Lee Acaster: His guide to black and white photography. I have read that article at least 20 times, and thanked my wife that she introduced me to Outdoor Photography equally many times.

Outdoor Photography magazine

Ever since colleagues gave me a copy of the Landscape Photographer of the year, I have been convinced that British landscape and outdoor photographers are amongst the best in the world. Carrying a Danish passport and having no relationship to UK other than a holiday now and then, I think I can say that this assessment comes with some level of objectivity! And the Outdoor Photography magazine has continued to confirm that my assessment is not half bad.

The table of content for the magazine has been pretty stable over the years:

Features and opinion
Learning zone
Location guide
Nature zone
Gear zone
Regulars (newsroom and books)
Your op (e.g. publishing readers work)

My favourite part is the Features and opinion, because you here get close to some of the really good photographers and their work. And there are lots of examples of images they have produced and the inspiration I have got from reading these articles and seeing their work is monumental.

Coming from little Denmark, the sheer amount of talented photographers that UK has is simply astonishing, but of course it has to do with the population of UK being 10-15 times Denmark. But even when factoring this in, I still think the UK on a global scale is in the top league, without having done any scientific assessment. Part of the answer probably also lies in the competition being so much more fierce in UK as you simply have to be good to make it, otherwise you will just disappear in the crowd of reasonably good photographers.

I have now subscribed to the magazine, and as such a copy wrapped in plastic arrives in my physical mailbox on a monthly basis. It is not cheap but I find that the value and the pleasure of seeing these great images and articles by far exceeds the costs. Of course, should my economy get worse than it already is, this would be one of the first items in my budget to cancel, but as long as I can afford it, this is little photography luxury that I really enjoy. And it is one of the very few items hitting my physical mailbox that I enjoy (although when the competition is bills and dunning letters, it is of course easy to shine in compare!).

So bottom line: if you are interested in outdoor photography (landscape, nature, adventure, wildlife), then this magazine comes will my highest recommendations.

What are depth of field indicators on a lens?

Not all lenses have a depth of field indicator! It seems like it is a thing of the past, so you need a good old lens to find a DOF indicator! And that is not necessarily a good think, as it can be very useful!

The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 — My beloved 70-200 mm lens has a distance scale, but no DOF indicator.

On older manual focus lenses there is a distance scale where a – typically – white marker shows what distance your are focusing at. The scale is often very detailed for close distances, and as you increase the distance the jumps get bigger and bigger: 5 meters, 7 meters, 10 meters, 20 and infinity. So it is like a hockey stick – when you get to the far end, things happen very fast!

In addition to the distance scale, you also select the aperture on an older lens by turning an aperture ring. Each of the f-stop values are color coded – if you see the image below, the f/16 value has a pink (?) color coding.

Depth of field indicators for two different apertures.

Now here’s the trick: On both sides of the white marker that shows the focus distance, there is a pair of colored markers that shows the near and the far end of the DOF. In the example above to the left at f/16, you can see the two pink arrows showing the DOF markers and in the example to the right it is green arrows doing the same for f/8. The image above is from the video that I have linked to below, in case you are interested in more details about manual focus.

As you can see on the colored pairs, the blue markes give a much wider DOF than the green markers, which is not a surprise as the blue corresponds color wise to f/22 whereas the green corresponds to f/8.

The DOF scale can be super useful to determine the circle on confusion, i.e. the range in which the image appears to be sharp. This for example enables you as a landscape photographer to put the focal plane so that the far end of the DOF just touches infinity on the distance scale, and hence you make the best use of the DOF at a given aperture. It can also be a group portrait where you want to select an aperture so that everyone in the image will appear to be sharp, and not just the front row!

Month: January 2023

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