Crossing Over

Bridge Crossing Dune to Ogunquit Beach, ME

Having just returned from a very short visit to Ogunquit, Maine, I have of course been reviewing all of the images that I made there.  I don’t know about you, but it seems that I’m always disappointed with the whole lot (from a given trip) when I first look at them on a large monitor.  The first pass through is the worst – I stare at them wondering what I was thinking when I pressed the shutter button.  I’m certain that they all suck.  Then I wait a few days and try again.  By this time, I decide that maybe a few aren’t too bad and I actually do a little post processing.  And so it goes.  Eventually, I may ”discover” 10 or 15 that I classify as “good”.  Like this one – maybe.

This one, by the way, was taken with a Canon G10.  We were out walking in the early afternoon and I didn’t feel like hauling the 5D around with me.  Sometimes it can get a little heavy (it has the battery pack and an L – bracket attached).  Anyway, the G10 is a good “go anywhere” camera.  Even if you don’t have a big enough pocket, it fits easily into the palm of your hand.  I bought the G10, of course, because of its RAW capabilities.  It replaced a G7 that I liked very much (my wife now uses it).  To be honest, I didn’t really care about the 14.7 Megapixel sensor size.  I didn’t need it, for one thing, and I was concerned about that many sensor sites being packed into such a small space.  But all of the online reviews I’d read seemed to indicate that noise wouldn’t be a problem so long as the ISO setting was at 80 or 100, the scene wasn’t too dark, and the exposure was reasonably correct.  Well, this was the middle of the day, the sun was out, and the exposure was correct. 

Still, there is noise in the shadows (especially in the clouds).  It’s not very noticeable, but it’s there and it bugs me.  I know some people like a little graininess or digital noise, especially in black and white images, but I’m one of those people who doesn’t.  I never liked it in film and I don’t like it in digital images, either. 

So I guess that makes me a not quite satisfied customer.  I think it would have been a much better camera with fewer pixels.  I doubt, for example, that I’ll be printing any images much bigger than 8 x 10 from this camera.  Heck, even with that many pixels it’s not as sharp as the 5D with good glass.  I know that that’s an apples and oranges comparison, but I simply don’t understand why they tried to pack all those sites onto such a small sensor.

My wife says I’m too picky.  She says I’m too hard on myself with respect to composition and she says that she can’t see the noise.  Maybe so.  She says I’m Monk (the TV character) with a camera.  Funny, but I don’t think that she was complimenting me…….