Tour Of Kodak Film Manufacturing Factory

A journey down memory lane. The good old days of film cameras and photography, brought to you by another Kodak moment.

Understanding A Camera's Exposure Setting and Digital Noise

I am back from my Alaska/Canada Wildlife Photo Tour. It was my annual shoot and this time I put the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II camera to more real world tests. In addition to the EOS-1D X Mark II, I brought the EOS-7D Mark II, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II and EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II lens. You can see my equipment bag and my works on MichaelDanielHo.com.

The first commercially successful photographic process was announced in 1839, the result of over a decade of experimentation by Louis Daguerre and Nicéphore Niépce. Eastman Kodak engineer, Steven Sasson, invented the digital camera in 1975. The first commercially available DSLR camera was released by Kodak in 1991. It was a customized body with a digital sensor, mounted on a Nikon F3 camera.

In a bit more than two decades, the technology have overtaken analog film materials and dominate the photographic industry and practice. Take a look at my earlier post on the history of photography and how photos can be 'manipulated'.

My readers know, I have been a wildlife photographer using Canon equipment for over 25 years. Through the decades, I have used almost all of Canon's cropped and full frame, film and digital cameras, EF, EF-S and Super Telephoto lenses. For me, through the years, the most agonizing dilemma is shutter speed vs noise. Shutter speed can be increased by raising the ISO setting or using a faster lens, but it comes with its corresponding weight and exponential price increase. Noise can be decreased somewhat by using noise reduction software during post processing, The ideal situation is having the optimum shutter speed and ISO setting in the camera, in the first place. 

For those who are interested in photography and the history of photography, visit the Eastman Kodak Museum in Rochester, New York, digitally. Below are a video tour of the Kodak Museum Technology Vault and an article from Canon explaining the science of photographic film and digital sensor, and how each affects the noise in photography.

Film, grain and digital noise

Photographic film is made up of an emulsion coated on a flexible base. The emulsion contains silver halide grains. These grains are sensitive to light. There are a couple of ways to alter the sensitivity of the film to light, and so alter its ISO rating. First, you can add chemical sensitisers to the emulsion. Second, you can increase the size of the silver halide grains. Mostly, a combination of both is used.

Grain size is important, because of the way they are changed by exposure to light. They 'flip' from a non-latent state to a latent state. In their latent state they can be chemically converted (developed) to impure silver (which is black), creating the familiar black-and-white negative image.

It takes a certain amount of light to flip the grain to a latent state. If we think of light not as a continuous stream, but as individual elements (photons), we can imagine that it takes, say, five direct hits by photons to flip the grain. If the photos are evenly spread over an area, larger grains are more likely to be hit more often than smaller grains. In photographic terms, this makes the larger grains more sensitive to light.

The downside is that the larger grains become more visible in a photographic image. It is a classic compromise situation. Do you want a low-sensitivity film which can only be used in bright light, but which has very fine grains giving beautifully smooth gradations, or do you want a high-sensitivity film which can be used in low light, but which has large grains giving rough tonal texture?

For most photographers, the answer is to use the lowest-sensitivity film suitable for the situation, and accept 'grainy' images when the alternative is no images at all. For some subjects, of course, you can use a slow film in low light with the camera on a tripod and long exposures.

You can't change the size of the light-gathering pixels in a sensor once it is installed in your digital camera. Sensitivity has to be increased in another way. In fact, the sensitivity of the sensor doesn't change at all. Instead, the electrical signal generated by each pixel is amplified. To increase the effective sensitivity of the sensor, the amplification is increased.

However, all electrical circuits emit a degree of 'white noise'. If you turn the speaker volume up really loud on your hi-fi, you can hear a familiar hiss even when there is nothing playing. Or if a television is not perfectly tuned to a station, the 'white noise' creates the 'snow' that appears on the screen. When a television is correctly tuned, the signal strength overpowers the background noise.

Similarly, digital cameras produce a varying degree of background noise. In bright light, the pixels produce a strong signal and less amplification is needed. The signal overpowers the background noise. In technical terms, there is a strong signal-to-noise ratio.

In low light, the signal is weak. If you increase the amplification by setting a higher ISO rating, you increase both the signal and the background noise, and the noise becomes significant. There is a weak signal-to-noise ratio. The noise shows through, degrading the smooth tones of the image.

It is exactly the same dilemma you have with film. As the ISO rating increases, the image quality decreases.

You have to compromise between sensitivity and quality. However, at least with a digital camera you can change the ISO rating much more easily than film users can change film, so the chances are you will achieve a better compromise.

Image noise and pixel size

Increasing the signal-to-noise ratio reduces image noise. Larger sensors have larger pixels, which trap more incident light, resulting in higher signal levels and an improved signal-to-noise ratio. This is why the EOS 5D and EOS 1Ds Mark II cameras have such low noise levels – the larger full-frame sensors are able to trap more light in a given time period.

To keep noise to a minimum, cameras with smaller sensors and smaller pixels use micro-lenses to focus the light into the pixels so as much light as possible is trapped and little is wasted by falling between the pixels.

Long exposure noise reduction

Many EOS digital cameras feature a long exposure noise reduction function, which aims to remove some, or all, of the fixed pattern noise that is sometimes present in images taken with exposures longer than a few seconds.

Temperature plays an important part in the conductivity of electrical circuits. As the temperature increases, the conductivity decreases, causing more background noise. When you take a picture using a long exposure, the sensor is active and it heats up, making it more susceptible to fixed pattern noise.

The long exposure noise reduction performs a dark field subtraction – in other words, it calculates the fixed pattern noise and then removes it from the image you have just shot. In practice, it's not worth turning on unless you are planning on taking images with an exposure time of more than 2 to 3 minutes.

Long exposure noise reduction is a menu item on the professional EOS-1D and 1Ds series cameras as well as on the EOS 5D, and EOS 80D cameras.

Canon Australia Launches Light Awards for 2016

With thousands of submissions in its pocket from 2015, the Canon Light Awards sees a facelift for the new year

Rejuvenating the vibrant photography competition for photographers, by photographers, Canon Australia is excited to reveal a refreshed format for its Canon Light Awards from March 2016 – kicking off with a brief on Stillness by Canon Ambassador and Australian sweetheart, Guy Sebastian.

From today, there will be a new brief set every two months, as opposed to a monthly brief, allowing participants to fully immerse themselves in the challenge. Three device-focused categories will also replace the previous Open and Student categories, to further encourage participation from everyone who has a love for photography – whether a hobbyist using a compact camera, or a professional who works with full frame DSLRs.

To nurture the winner in each category’s’ imaging skills and knowledge, they will also be awarded unique experiences with some of the best photographers in the country, on top of vouchers and product prizes.

“I love the buzz and excitement of world tours and being focused on performing my music live to my fans, but outside this, some of my most precious moments are spent behind the lens, observing and capturing the world around me. It is in these moments of stillness where I can really appreciate the little hidden surprises at every turn, the small details that often go unnoticed as we hurtle through our days,” shares passionate photographer and Canon ambassador, Guy Sebastian.

“For my Canon Light Awards brief, I’m encouraging people to use their creativity to focus on ‘stillness’. When you stop, take a deep breath, and find your sense of wonder, you surprise yourself with the beauty that lies in your frame.”

The Canon Light Awards was launched in 2015, as a series of monthly creative photography challenges aimed at nurturing Australians’ love for visual storytelling. With 14 judges and briefs set to date, thousands of memories captured in time, and two 2015 Grand Final winners just announced last week, the Canon Light Awards truly had a remarkable year. For 2016, the Canon Light Awards is set to continue as the ultimate program for inspiration, experimentation and growth.

“What sets the Canon Light Awards apart from other photography competitions is that we actively encourage everyone from people tinkering with a camera for the first time, to professionals who have made a career of capturing moments through the lens. With every new brief set by some of the best in the industry, we encourage creative shooters to push the boundaries of their imagination, craft and skill. Our focus on unique experiences for Canon users is further exemplified by other great initiatives such as the Canon Collective’s ‘Shoot the Brief’ photography meets that take place with every new Canon Light Awards brief announced.” said Jason McLean, Director – Consumer Imaging, Canon Australia.

For more information on the Canon Light Awards, and should you or your community want to get involved, do spread the word and check out http://lightawards.canon.com.au

To see the outstanding submissions from the Canon Light Awards 2015’s 22 finalists and two Grand Final winners, please see the full gallery of high-res images available for download via http://bit.ly/1mVQ4qs

For more information on the Canon Collective, click here.

Overview of changes to the Canon Light Awards

To continue as the ultimate program for inspiration, experimentation and growth, these are the key changes made to the Canon Light Awards from March 2016 :

In line with the new categories and keeping unforgettable photography experiences at the heart of the prizes, winners and runners-up for each brief can expect :

About the Canon Light Awards

Created by photographers, for photographers, the Canon Light Awards encourages all creative shooters to push the boundaries of their imagination, craft and skill by responding to a creative brief with powerful images that tell a story. With a new challenge set every second month by Canon’s master photographers, the Canon Light Awards is designed to help Canon camera users to achieve their photography creative potential.

Who and When was Film and Digital Photography Invented?

The first commercially successful photographic process was announced in 1839, the result of over a decade of experimentation by Louis Daguerre and Nicéphore Niépce. Unfortunately, Niépce died before the daguerreotype process was realized, and is best known for his invention of the heliograph, the process by which the “first photograph” was made in 1826. 

Daguerreotypes are sharply defined, highly reflective, one-of-a-kind photographs on silver-coated copper plates, usually packaged behind glass and kept in protective cases. The daguerreotype process is demonstrated in the video below from the George Eastman House. 

Eastman Kodak engineer, Steven Sasson, invented the digital camera in 1975. In a bit more than two decades, the technology have overtaken analog film materials and dominate the photographic industry and practice. This video below, presented by George Eastman House, features a timeline of digital camera technology starting with Steven Sasson’s first completely digital camera prototype and takes us all the way to the cameras in our smartphones today. So has digital photography finally replaced the film camera for good? Find out. 

My readers know I have been a wildlife photographer for 25 years using Canon equipment. My first professional film camera was the Canon EOS-1. When Canon announced their first digital camera, the D30 in 2000, I bought it as an experiment and worked with the new medium. When Canon introduced their first 'affordable' full frame EOS-5D camera in 2005, I bought that as well because by that time I have seen the value of digital photography and needed a professional 'backup' camera. You can see my equipment bag and works on MichaelDanielHo.com