J O N A T H A N JK . C O M

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Bah, we all know that we want the low down on a 5D mark2 of full frame goodness!  (Only because I want the low down on Canon’s next full frame sensor :)).  Canon know how to annoy their followers, those who bought the 40D could feel bummed about an update coming out already and the legion of Canon fans want their Nikon D700 nemesis announced!  

Instead we get nothing.  Canon are playing their cards close to their chest and I guess Photokina is when they are going to release something about it. Notice the lack of plausible rumours for a 5D mk2?  The 50D rumours have been flying around for a while and they were pretty spot on.  Yet nothing, not a whisper for the 5D replacement.  Scary.

At least we know the specs of the 5D mk2 are going to be higher than the 50D.

I tried to watched as much of these 2008 Olympics as possible. I use to live in China and have a natural affinity, love and respect for the Chinese.  I had wanted to travel there this year to photograph the Harbin Ice Festival but travel was probably going to be too expensive for me.  Instead I’m making plans to go to Cuba instead.

Anyway, here are various links that show some of the more memorable moments at the Beijing 2008 Olympics:

• Guardian Newspaper (UK)
• Stern.de (GR)
• Independent Newspaper (UK)
• Newsweek blog ‘Visions of China‘

As a student of photography, I’ve put myself in a position where I want to learn about the photographic practice. I’ll go to libraries, attend lectures, read publications and go online and mingle digitally with fellow enthusiasts on flickr or in online discussion forums. I’m in that position as a student where I’m supposed to question everything so that I am constantly trying to improve my photography to become a better photographer.

But there is one question which I’ve asked twice online now (this’ll be the third time) because I am genuinely curious to understand why people sign their photographs when displaying them. I haven’t asked my lecturers funnily enough but I will now once the new year starts.

My question is this… Why do photographers sign their photographs (so it relates to online photography you see)? I see it online nearly everywhere in discussion forums and frequently on flickr or some other photo sharing website. I’ve stopped and thought about it and wouldn’t do it myself. Can anybody convince me otherwise.

I see no point in it other than to pimp ones own identity online. It’s there as a bragging right surely?

Am I being unfair or shortsighted in my opinion?  Maybe but here’s why. How come I’ve never seen a professional photographer do it? Henri Cartier Bresson never did but we all know instantly that the image below is his.

Why didn’t he put his initials in the bottom right corner? He was our pioneer in photojournalism when it was still in its infancy, shouldn’t he have signed like any great artist?

As far as I can tell nobody from Magnum or VIIPhoto agency do it either unless its a deliberate watermark, stamped across their imagery so as nobody could crop the image and reuse it without attributing it first. Even then it is in the agencies name, not the photographers.

So if the professional, famous and genre defining photographers don’t do it.  Why do the amateurs or anybody who doesn’t fit into the molds I’ve mentioned in the last two sentences, why do I see so many photos online with a signature? The argument for the watermark is weak considering its placement in the image, always to the side, away so as to not distract from the image. But it does anyway and I can crop the image and make it my own.

Do you do it to get recognised so people remember your name?  Surely if the photograph was memorable in the first place people would remember the photographer who crafted it without the need to sign it? Can’t the photograph stand on its own merits and surely it is weakened by having your name there?

I’m asking the question and it would be enlightening to get an answer. Eight pages into google doesn’t give me one.

• Part One (Introduction)
• Part Two (Lenses and Test Info)
• Part Three (Olympus 17.5-45mm Kit lens)
• Part Four (Olympus 12-60mm Zuiko lens)
• Part Five (Panasonic/Leica 25mm lens)
• Part Six (Minimum focusing distance)
• Part Seven (Panasonic/Leica 25mm lens – DOF, Sharpness)
• Part Eight  (Panasonic/Leica 25mm lens – aperture comparison images, f1.4 & f2)
• Part Nine (Conclusion)

Have I benefitted from purchasing this lens? Below I’ve listed the positives and negatives. But remember for the most part it is how it benefits me, even though I might make comments that compare it to other lenses which don’t entirely fit. I’m judging it primarily for myself and how it works for me but including general statements making reference to other primes for the benefit of you.

NEGATIVES

Price

This is a huge chunk of change as stated in the beginning of the review for a prime lens. I’m well aware of the fact that for the same price as this lens I could have repurchased Canon’s own 50mm f1.4 prime lens along with an EOS 3 and still have money left over. Or as one of my friends did note, I could have bought the same Canon 50mm prime and a second hand Canon 5D for £400 more, odd, but that was his take. Those are weird comparisons to make but as somebody who owned that gear, I understand what my friend is trying to say because he is a Canon user and doesn’t look favourably on the Olympus lineup.

Here is where the review begins to get interesting, it’s just Panasonic/Leica images here on in! Sunday was a terrible day for weather so I was confined to my house and back garden for most shots. Sorry!

I was interested in the Depth of Field and the Chromatic Aberration if the lens would produce any. Which it did, slightly at higher f-stops in the centre and to the sides at lower f-stops. I took some random images as well for a later part in this review and it does so up slightly in other images, again it disappears at lower f-stops. It must be noted that I can’t see any CA unless I zoom really close in so I’m not concerned so much about it, but your reactions may very.

There was no need for me to create crops of these images as the zoom function illustrates well the details I’m talking about.  I’m trying to not comment too much as I want the images to speak for themselves.