Missouri women's basketball forward Jessra Johnson, left, fails to prevent Oklahoma's center, Abi Olajuwon, from making a two point shot on Wednesday, 20 Jan. 2010 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo. Olajuwon wears the same number as her father, Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon, from his college career. The Tigers lost 61-62 to the Sooners. | Canon 1D IIn and 50mm f/1.4 lens; exposed 1/1250 sec. @ f/1.4, ISO 800. | Color corrected with X-Rite Color-checker Passport.

The Set-up

Last Wednesday I found myself sitting on the court at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo. with two different camera bodies and three different lenses.  So, what’s the problem?  The 7D and the 1D Mark IIn see colors differently.  Add to the equation that the glass in a lens affects the color rendered in the final photograph.  For newspaper photography, usually captured in JPEG instead of RAW, this is just something you would normally “live with.”

Maybe you’d just take two identical bodies and figure no one will notice the difference once its printed on Charmin, any ways.  But online, the differences can be stark.  Take, for instance, this Columbia Missourian slideshow where I was using my 7D and a 1D Mark III on loan from CPS, but my colleague Chris Dunn was using an older D2Xs body at the football game between MU and Kansas State.  This is an extreme example, but it is amusing to watch Kansas State’s jerseys suddenly jump from purple to blue depending on which camera was used.  Hint: Nikon didn’t figure out what purple “looked” like until the D3 and D300 came out.

Article continues!

A Solution

Joel Kowsky holds up the X-Rite Color-checker Passport to calibrate my 1D IIn for Mizzou Arena's lighting.

I first read about the X-Rite Color-checker Passport back in early November when Michael Reichmann posted his own review of the product.  Essentially, it is a miniature Gretag-Macbeth color chart in a collapsible, hard, plastic case.  It features a white balance target, as well as a set of “warming” and “cooling” white balance squares (when neutral simply isn’t the look you want).

But the magic of the chart isn’t that you have an idea of how color should be rendered in a certain space, like Mizzou Arena.  No, the power of this tool is that it integrates with Adobe Lightroom, and can be used to make individual camera profiles.  The only catch is that the photographs must be captured in RAW in order to take full advantage of this tool.

For some people, including many of the people I work with at the University of Missouri, that would be a deal-breaker.  However, for anyone who is truly serious about color management, this is an obvious tool to have, and it actually speeds up your toning workflow.  You profile your monitor (you do profile your monitor, right?), you can calibrate your printer for specific paper types, why not calibrate your camera, too?  Fortunately, X-Rite makes the process fairly simple.

Missouri's RaeShara Brown pivots around Oklahoma's defense Wednesday night at Mizzou Arena in the Tigers fifth straight loss. Brown had 12 points in 31 minutes. The Sooners won 62-61. | Canon 7D and 70-200mm f/4L IS lens @ 70mm; exposed 1/1000 sec. @ f/4, ISO 3200. | Color corrected with X-Rite Color-checker Passport.

Procedure

It really makes the most sense to use the Color-checker Passport when you know that the color is important (studio work comes to mind), or you want consistency across two cameras.  For a basketball game, 100% accurate color doesn’t really matter.  However, I wanted to confirm that this tool really could help to “sync” the color between the two bodies.

First, you photograph the target with each camera and lens combination you plan to use under a given lighting situation.  The target should take up at least 10% of the viewfinder, so it need not be frame-filling to work, although it doesn’t hurt if it does.  While you’re at it, flip the chart around and shoot the white balance target.  Make a custom white balance from this target.  Make your pictures.

When you get home, download everything into Lightroom and find your Color-checker Passport images.  To create a profile, all you do is click on “export,” and use X-Rite’s plug-in to make the camera profile.  It chugs away while you continue sorting your pictures before alerting you to the successful creation of the profile.  Lightroom must exit and restart in order to find the profile that was created.  It is then accessible at the bottom of the “Develop” tab, under “Camera Calibration.”

Choosing the custom camera profile built by the X-Rite Color-checker Passport's software.

At this point, if you don’t find the results to be completely accurate, you can still adjust the tint and saturation of the RGB sliders.  This setting can then be copied and pasted into the other photos made with the same camera and lens combination, or you can even make it a Develop Preset.  If you really want, you can have this camera calibration the new default for that camera body, although I would prefer to stick to Adobe’s own dual-illuminant DNG camera profiles as the default.

Dual-what?

When you select “Adobe Standard” as the camera profile in “Camera Calibration,” you are choosing a Dual-Illuminant DNG profile.  All of the profiles built by the X-Rite software are based on the open DNG RAW format.  The difference between a normal and a “dual-illuminant” profile is better explained in practice.

There are two possible routes for using the Color-checker Passport: to make individual profiles for specific lighting conditions and lenses, or to make a profile that understands two lighting conditions all in one.  That is, you could make one profile that understands daylight and tungsten lighting.  But wait, there are so many variations in tungsten lighting!  Why not make a profile to cover two extremes of tungsten light?  And another that handles the extremes of florescent bulbs–to the super-green grocery store light tot the nearly tungsten?  The possibilities are (sort of) endless.

I have only worked with the normal profiles so far, but plan to build my own dual-illuminant profiles soon.

A Quirk of Note

I have found that, on occasion, the Lightroom plug-in fails to generate a profile.  This seems to happen more with my Panasonic G1, the Olympus PEN Ep-1, and also my Canon EOS 7D files.  The solution that I have found is to manually export a DNG file that you specify to be compatible with versions 4.x and earlier, and creating the profile with the desktop version of the X-Rite plug-in.  X-Rite does appear to be aware of this issue and  will likely release a patch soon.

Bottom Line

When all is said and done, I think that the X-Rite Color-checker Passport is a surprisingly useful tool, especially for color-management gurus.  How useful?  The only difference between the images below, from the 1D Mark IIn, left, and the 7D, right, from the ones displayed earlier in this article is that the “Camera Calibration” has been set back to the Adobe default.  Suddenly, Oklahoma’s jerseys don’t match across the two pictures.  Would some toning fix it?  Sure, but this way, a step is simplified in the workflow–and it’s quickly and easily applied to all of my pictures from the event.

Shameless Plug: If you decide to purchase a Color-checker Passport, please consider doing so either through my referral links to B&H or Amazon.com.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, left, and 7D, right, without the use of the X-Rite Color-checker Passport.

Content © 2010 David Kennedy | View Original Post | Comment | Filed under Columbia Missourian, Reviews | Tags: basketball, color management, EOS 1D Mark II N, EOS 7D, photojournalism, Reviews, sports, X-Rite Color-checker Passport

MU freshman Erika Chapman dances with the Golden Girls during a time-out at the women's basketball game against Texas - Pan American on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009 at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo. | Canon 1D IIn and 16-35mm f/2.8 L II lens @ 23mm; exposed 1/400 sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 800.

On Thursday I went over to the Mizzou Arena with Stephanie Hinkle to photograph the University of Missouri’s women’s basketball team demolish Texas – Pan American 83-34.  I haven’t photographed basketball much, but have found that I can at least find the occasional feature photo even if my action images haven’t yet developed to the point where I’d like to have them.

Missouri's Bailey Gee attempts to drive past Texas-Pan American's Sherrell Davis during the first period of the game. | Canon 7D and 70-200mm f/4 L IS lens @ 70mm; exposed 1/800 sec. @ f/4, ISO 3200.

Golden Girls Time-Out. | Canon 7D and 70-200mm f/4 L IS lens @ 176mm; exposed 1/400 sec. @ f/4, ISO 2000.

Content © 2009 David Kennedy | View Original Post | Comment | Filed under Columbia Missourian, Cutting Room Floor, Updates | Tags: basketball, sports, sports feature

Hickman junior guard Aqua Corpening dives to the floor after shooting a two-pointer in the fourth period of the game against Helias High School on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009 in Columbia, Mo. The Kewpies defeated the Crusaders 53-48. | Canon 1D IIn and 16-35mm f/2.8L II lens @ 16mm; exposed 1/320 sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 1250.

I also thought that the way that the Helias team was swarming around the same player, Aqua Corpening, was fun in this image:

Aqua Corpening, junior guard for the Hickman Kewpies, prepares to attempt a two-point shot during the fourth period of the game against the Helias Crusaders on Dec. 3, 2009 in Columbia, Mo. | Canon 1D IIn and 24-70mm f/2.8L lens @ 38mm; exposed 1/320 sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 1250.

Usually I’m told to find a good sports feature in addition to the usual sports action.  Most of the time I can find interesting people in the crowd, but I had forgotten that a better opportunity would come at half time, when people can go out onto the court and shoot baskets themselves:

Jackson Kespohl, 6, aims for the basketball hoop during half-time at the Hickman High School vs. Helias women's basketball game on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009 in Columbia, Mo. | Canon 7D and 70-200mm f/4L IS lens @ 81mm; exposed 1/400 @ f/4, ISO 3200.

Content © 2009 David Kennedy | View Original Post | Comment | Filed under Columbia Missourian, Cutting Room Floor | Tags: basketball, sports, sports feature

Left to right: T.J. Moe, Kirk Lakebrink, Andrew Gachkar, Donovan Bronner, and Tanner Mills take a moment after their victory over the Kansas State Wildcats at the Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Nov. 14, 2009 in Manhattan, Kan. Missouri defeated Kansas State 38 to 12. / Canon 1D Mark III and 24-70mm f/2.8L lens @ 24mm; exposed 1/4000 sec. @ f/4, ISO 1000

Preamble

I began to write this from up in the press box at the Bill Snyder Family Stadium.  The game had ended a couple of hours before–Missouri won 38 to 12, with most of the points racked up in the second half.

I used two camera bodies (initially I planned to use three, but I loaned my 1D IIn to my colleague whose camera was down to half battery before the game even started): my new 7D, and a 1D Mark III on loan Canon Professional Services.  While I don’t like many parts of the Mark III, especially the way in which one chooses the focusing point, and I am wary of its ability to autofocus given its less-than-stellar history in this regard, I love the way that files look from the Mark III.  And, besides, it’s about to be replaced with Mark IV bodies, so I figured I’d give it a chance as the used market is about to be flooded with them.  And wow, was I surprised.

More after the jump!

Kansas State Wildcats' wide receiver, Brandon Banks, attempts to evade the Missouri Tigers' defensive back Kenji Jackson, left, line backer Will Ebner, and safety Jasper Simmons during the fourth quarter on Nov. 14, 2009 in Manhattan, Kan. / Canon 1D Mark III and 70-200mm f/4 L IS lens @ 116mm; exposed 1/2500 sec. @ f/4, ISO 1000.

The Mark III and the 7D

The Mark III that I was working with did not seem to have any autofocus issues at all.  I set the AI servo sensitivity as slow as it could go (affecting how quickly the autofocus will “jump” to an object closer or farther at that focusing point, which is key when panning–you don’t want it to start focusing on the stands full of fans when you’re tracking the defining run of the Missouri Tigers’ wide receiver, Danario Alexander.  And the files were crisp, and the colors buttery, which I can happily say is true of the 5D II, and, with regard to the color only, true of the 7D as well.

I intend to write a continuation of my 7D review soon, and will elaborate on this observation, but I feel that the files from the 7D are not as “crisp” as they could be (note that this is different from “in focus / sharp”), and I believe the problem is that Canon crammed 18 megapixels into the sensor when they should have gone with 12.  I believe Canon may have hit the ceiling as far as ideal megapixels per square centimeter.  Time to ratchet that number back down! Now, to be fair, I have not yet tried the 7D’s RAW functionality yet, and the files from RAW may well hold better details from the camera’s 18 megapixel sensor.  I have not yet evaluated the camera’s RAW performance because Adobe has not yet updated Camera RAW or Lightroom, which is driven by Camera RAW, to support the 7D.  Yes, the camera came with Canon’s own RAW conversion software, but my interest in manufacturer’s software is close to zero.  Why won’t Canon and Nikon just give in and give us all DNG files?

I am, however, very happy to report that both the 7D and the 1D Mark III meter very similarly.  Manually setting the exposure +2 2/3 stops off of the cloudy sky in Manhattan, Kansas, gave perfect histograms in both cameras.

Tim Barnes, left, Missouri's offensive lineman, holds back Kansas State's defensive end Prizell Brown to make a path for Missouri's ball carrier, tailback Derrick Washington, during the first quarter of the game on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009 in Manhattan, Kan. / Canon 7D and 400mm f/4 DO IS lens; exposed 1/2500 sec. @ f/4, ISO 800

7D Autofocus

As far as autofocus performance goes, I have been very pleased with the 7D.  I have used a couple of focus patterns, and found that both single point AF as well as the “groups” of automatically-selected points (nine out of the middle, or four on the top, bottom, left, or right).  The ability of the camera to remember which focusing point (and pattern) you used in either horizontal or vertical orientation (hint: they can be different, so set the camera to a “top” focusing point in vertical mode!), set by Custom Function III-12-1, is very smart.  I have also found that setting the AI servo sensitivity to negative 1/2 (instead of fully negative, in the case of the 1D Mark III), is ideal for my own usage.  Another photographer I know and respect swears by setting it to plus 1/2.  Your mileage may vary.

Kansas State Wildcats head coach, Bill Snyder, slumps his shoulders as he walks off of the field after being defeated 38-12 by the Missouri Tigers on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009 in Manhattan, Kan.

Content © 2009 David Kennedy | View Original Post | One comment | Filed under Reviews, Updates | Tags: Canon, EOS 1D Mark III, EOS 7D, football, photojournalism, Reviews, sports

Baylor Bears' corner back Clifton Odom dives unsuccessfully for Missouri Tigers' wide receiver Danario Alexander at Faurot Field in the third quarter of the game on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009 in Columbia, Mo. / Canon 7D and 400mm f/4 DO IS lens; exposed 1/3200 sec. @ f/4, ISO 500.

I have not yet formed a clear idea in mind of what I think of the performance of the new Canon EOS 7D dSLR.  I purchased it specifically for action photography–sports and wildlife–to accompany my aging 1D Mark IIn, and I photographed the college football game between Missouri and Baylor with these two bodies this past Saturday.  I made about 800 frames on the 7D (about 700 too many), and was happy with the focus on several, but certainly not all of the frames.  I will be photographing another football game this weekend, Missouri Vs. Kansas State, to be held in the “Little Apple.”  I will go into further detail about what settings I am using in a future posting, but I will make a few remarks about the camera here.

Missouri Tigers' quarterback Blaine Gabbert attempts a pass while the Baylor Bears' Jason Lamb dives after him during the second quarter of the game. / Canon 7D and 70-200mm f/4 L IS lens @ 183mm; exposed 1/3200 sec. @ f/4, ISO 400.

Handing

Without question, I think that this camera feels better in-hand than any other, with the exception of the 1D series.  The grip is, for once, contoured for a person’s hand.  It is very well constructed, and the buttons are easy to find and also “stick out” a bit more so that a gloved hand can actually manipulate them.  As a native of the Midwest, this is particularly important, as our winters seem to last about six months!  Strangely, while virtually every button is improved over the xxD series, the depth-of-field preview button has taken a turn for the worse.  It is almost flush with the camera body, and does not push in very far.  Disappointing.

The viewfinder is a joy to look through with this camera.  Not quite as nice as the 5D II (which, frankly, is not as nice as Sony’s Alpha 900 viewfinder), but worlds beyond the 40D or 50D.

So far I am unimpressed with the RAW/JPEG button, which enables whichever format you are not using by default, but only for one frame.  Nevertheless, it is better than the “direct print” button than it was in the original 5D, and I suppose I should be thankful because it could well have returned to that state of stupidity when Canon moved the “Live View” button from that position, where it is on the 5D II, to a spot above the joystick controller.

What I will also state, to a great deal of dismay, is that this camera feels worlds better in-hand than does my 5D Mark II, which carries a $1,000 premium over the 7D.

More after the jump!

Baylor Bears' running back Terrance Ganaway stiff-arms Missouri Tigers' safety Jasper Simmons in the fourth quarter. / Canon 7D and 400mm f/4 DO IS lens; exposed 1/1250 sec. @ f/4, ISO 500.

Menus / Customization

I will credit Canon for making the menu system incrementally better with each successive version of their DSLR’s, with the possible exception of their custom settings menus, which have been “cut up” into four submenus that claim to have distinct themes, but frankly confuse more than they simplify.

While I do not miss its absence on this camera body anywhere near as much as I do on my 5D II, I do not understand why mirror lockup is buried in a custom function instead of being a button or, alternatively, a drive mode.

An aside: for about a year now, I have been able to check out Nikon D3 and D700 bodies from the University of Missouri, as well as a full complement of lenses from 14mm to 500mm, and had been very envious of the body designs that separate drive modes, metering modes, and autofocus modes onto separate dials and switches…until recently, which I photographed at night.  Here’s the kicker about those switches: they don’t light up, so you can’t easily tell which one you’re in without finding your flashlight.  For the first time, I actually appreciated the way that Canon makes it all available on the top screen, which has a back-light.  Am I saying that one is better?  No, I am saying that they are different.  But at that very moment, I was cursing the difference.

Moving on, I am impressed that Canon finally loosened up on what all could be changed.  Many of the buttons on the camera can have their functions changed, dial directions reversed, etc.  A very pleasant change, indeed.

Conclusions

There are no conclusions yet.I will have more thoughts on this camera in the coming weeks.  It often takes me a while to evaluate a new purchase like this camera, especially for something so specialized for action when I don’t often get to work in that specialty!

Kenji Jackson, center, cries out in frustration after an incomplete interception in the fourth quarter of the game. / Canon 7D and 400mm f/4 DO IS lens; exposed 1/640 sec. @ f/4, ISO 500.

Content © 2009 David Kennedy | View Original Post | Comment | Filed under Columbia Missourian, Updates | Tags: Canon, EOS 7D, equipment, football, sports

Content © 2009 David Kennedy | View Original Post | Comment | Filed under Columbia Missourian, Updates | Tags: Bike Polo, Boone Life, Columbia Missourian, multimedia, sports, sports feature, stories, story

Danielle Linneman, a junior on the Rock Bridge High School varsity softball team, heads off to bat on Thursday, September 17, 2009 at University Field in Columbia, Mo. The Rock Bridge Bruins defeated the Hickman Kewpies 4-0.

Content © 2009 David Kennedy | View Original Post | One comment | Filed under Columbia Missourian, Cutting Room Floor | Tags: Columbia Missourian, softball, sports

Members of Team Columbia-HTC and a lone member of Team Cervelo move to the front of the pack as they work their way along 7th Street in St. Louis as part of the 7.5 mile circuit of the first stage of the Tour of Missouri on Monday. The first stage was won by Britain's Mark Cavendish, competing for Columbia-HTC, and consisted of ten laps of the circuit. Canon 1D IIN and 300mm f/4L lens; exposed 1/5000 sec. @ f/4, ISO 400.

Yesterday I was sent out to St. Louis by the Columbia Missourian to photograph professional cyclist Floyd Landis’ participation in Tour of Missouri, as well as the first stage of the race.  Landis, who was stripped of his victory in the Tour de France in 2006, his pedaling with an artificial hip, and he apparently consulted with a doctor in Columbia, Mo. before having the surgery in the UK.  I will link to that story when it goes up tomorrow.  For now, you can browse through some of my other photos from yesterday on the Missourian‘s Tour of Missouri photo gallery.

One thing I will say is that I was very, very happy with my choice of taking my 300 f/4.  Sure, 300 f/2.8 lenses are great in low-light situations, like indoor volleyball, but at an outdoor event like this, f/4 is plenty, the lens is extremely sharp, and unlike some of the other photographers at the media room at the Ballpark Hilton that night, I wasn’t complaining about my shoulder hurting!

I did get a weird comment from someone else about my new and favorite laptop, my MSI Wind netbook, as I used it to edit my take in Breeze Browser and then e-mail some of the better images back to the office before driving back two hours on I-70.  But, again: I’m trying to save my shoulders, back, and knees.  If you want to schlep around a 9-pound behemoth of a laptop, be my guest.  But that ain’t for me!

Content © 2009 David Kennedy | View Original Post | Comment | Filed under Updates | Tags: cycling, photojournalism, sports, St. Louis, Tour of Missouri