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i bought myself a point and shoot camera - the olympus 1030 - which is waterproof, shockproof and freezeproof. it’s intended to be a backup to my main camera. the reason i chose the olympus is because of its waterproof abilities. it can go where most other cameras cannot … which should allow me to get some interesting photos. overall the image quality isn’t the best, but it’s a trade-off for practicality. i’m happy with the camera though and it should earn its keep over the next few years.

this photo was taken with the olympus. it’s a reflection in the glass at technomart in gangbyon. you can see me in the photo and in the background is seoul’s han river and olympic bridge … as well as an incredibly beautiful day, complete with a clear blue sky.

I thought I knew a lot about photography, but I was completely taken by surprise when some photographers started talking about pancake lenses. What is a pancake lens? Jessica, Jeju Island.

Photographers are strange people. Sometimes photographers like big lenses, sometimes they like the smallest possible lenses. The smallest lenses available are commonly called pancake lenses because they’re flat, like a pancake.

For quite a while, pancake lenses had fallen out of favour in photographic circles. A little while ago Olympus released a pancake lens for its new DSLR cameras. That kicked off a surge in renewed interest in pancake type lenses.

Why are they so popular? Well, the biggest reason is that they’re small. One benefit of their size is that the lenses are light and easy to carry. However the biggest benefit is that the small, flat lens makes the camera much more discrete.

Pancake lenses are popular amongst street photographers for this very reason. A long lens is quite obtrusive. Pointing it at someone can attract their attention or make them aware of the camera. Since photographers want to capture people in natural situations, a big lens is too noticeable. A pancake lens makes the camera appear much smaller and less obvious. It allows a photographer to remain unnoticed while taking photos of people.

Pancake lenses are usually short range prime lenses. Most pancakes are between 35 and 50mm in length and around f1.8 to f2.8 maximum aperture. These apertures are important and one of the biggest benefits of prime lenses - because it means the lens is fast and sharp.

Often, pancake lenses will be manual focus, due to their small size - autofocus pancakes are rare indeed.

The other important aspect is image quality. Short prime lenses are a playground for bokeh; out of focus area. Bokeh is important to photographers because it determines the aesthetics of any area beyond the camera’s depth of field settings. If a lens is poorly designed, it will not render out of focus areas very well. The bokeh will look harsh and flat. A good prime lens will produce great bokeh, much better than most zoom lenses.

The resurgence in popularity has resulted in a number of companies developing pancake lenses. Nikon and Canon both have new pancake lenses hitting the market. Panasonic and Olympus have already released lenses with various mounts. There are also a number of third party lens makers who have pancakes; the two most popular being Zeiss and Voigtlander.

The only real downside to pancake lenses is their price. Usually, a pancake will be two or three times the price of a similar standard prime lens. The higher cost is due to the engineering required to make the technology work in a ‘flat’ lens.

With photography’s recent surge in popularity, camera makers have been outdoing each other to make newer and better equipment. This will probably result in companies also developing many more lens types. Nikon have already released tilt shift lenses to appeal to architect photographers. It’s likely that there will be more pancake lenses on the market in the next few years.

For now, it’s probably not worth owning a pancake lens, unless you want to practice your manual focusing. Save your money and invest in some good standard prime lenses, such as a 50mm f1.8.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

These days, a lot of cameras are coming out with full frame sensors. My camera has a cropped sensor, so it’s not full frame. Is full frame better? - Matthew, Seoul.

The concept of ‘full frame’ is something of a misnomer. Every frame is a full frame. However, the standard for full frame is based on 35mm SLR cameras, which were the most popular cameras before digital came along.

A full frame camera, then, is a camera with an equivalent of a 35mm sensor. Most DSLR cameras, however, have smaller sensors or ‘cropped sensors’. The reason for this is that DSLR technology is still being developed and full frame sensors were very difficult to make, had numerous technical issues, and were quite expensive. So manufacturers decided to offer cropped sensors instead.

Full frame sensors have two distinct advantages. The first advantage is that old lenses, which have very high build quality) are designed for SLR cameras. SLR cameras use 35 mm film, upon which the standard full frame is based. So full frame SLR lenses are perfectly suited to full frame DSLR sensors.

The second advantage is that a full frame sensor is bigger. Simply, the bigger sensor has more photosites (the small buckets that collect light). The bigger sensor collects more light than a cropped sensor. Cropped sensors, therefore, have more difficulty collecting light to make the image. So the camera amplifies the signal from the sensor. As a result, cropped sensors create a lot more noise.

These days, manufacturers are very good at making cropped sensors, so the noise factor is less of an issue. It’s very easily solved with software. Also, due to the popularity and affordability of cropped sensor DSLRs, camera makers are producing a lot of cropped format lenses. These lenses are specifically designed to get maximum benefits from a smaller sensor.

Cropped sensor DSLRs actually have one cool advantage over full frame. They receive a magnification bonus on full frame lenses. Because the sensor is smaller, the range of a full frame lens is altered.

For Nikon, the camera receives a bonus of 1:1.5 for a cropped sensor with a full frame lens. This means that a 100mm lens is actually 150mm. I have a 70mm – 300mm lens for my Nikon D200. The lens is full frame but the camera has a cropped sensor. In effect, my lens has a range of 105mm – 450mm. That’s an awesome range for a lens. For Canon, the bonus is 1:1.6 and for Olympus, the bonus is 1:2 because they use a unique four thirds sensor system.

This bonus, however, doesn’t work the other way around – such as cropped lenses on full frame cameras.

Don’t be put off by the whole ‘sensor size’ issue. Full frame DSLRs are still expensive and new technology. Cropped sensors and lenses are affordable, practical, and very high quality. If you have a cropped sensor DSLR (as most people do) then stick with it. In the future, when full frame is ubiquitous and affordable, make the switch.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

been doing some shopping research … and have come up with a few things that i want to buy in the next 6-7 months.

1. olympus 1030 sw digital camera.  having a 3rd camera in my bag may seem nuts, but there are going to be advantages to having a point and shoot. firstly, i can make short movies. second, people don’t react to pocket cameras like they do to big slr and dslr cameras. third, this camera is waterproof to 10 meters, shockproof and works in all temperatures.
2. i’ve decided on a 70 litre backpack. there are 3 contenders: Lowe Alpine TFX Summit 75+20, osprey aether 70 and gregory baltoro 70 hiking pack. the lowe alpine is on the top of the list. but the osprey would be a good second choice. the 20 litre day pack seals the deal … it’s just a matter of whether i can find the bag in korea.
3. northface baltoro boots. i want to buy these about a month or 8 weeks before i leave, so that i have time to break them in. i’ll only be taking one pair of shoes (as well as a pair of sandals) so i need to invest in solid footwear.

those are the 3 most important items. most other stuff i already have or is much smaller. i did have a waterproof camera, however it’s quite old and not very flexible. i already sold it for what i paid … so i didn’t lose any money on the camera!! lol … the olympus is about the size of a deck of cards, so it’s definitely a good pocket camera.