Smartphone fine art photography? After two months with my Samsung Galaxy S 20, I have to admit it appears to be a real option. Though I am not sure, that all of my work qualifies as “fine art” I would say that in 2021, a state-of-the-art phone camera module is no longer severely limiting.

I’m writing this follow-up article to demonstrate what I’ve been able to capture with my new phone.

First, let me say that these images are not all intended to be jaw-droppers. Some of them were shot rather specifically to reveal the sensor’s abilities/limitations. Others were shot with somewhat higher aspirations Hopefully, they are somewhat pleasing.

In 2015, Samsung introduced a brand-new line of cameras called the NX series. It was Samsung’s first foray into a mirror list interchangeable lens camera, and it hit the market with a splash. It was beautifully constructed, extremely well-featured, and came with very fine newly designed lenses.

Most interestingly, it also featured a Samsung-manufactured, very high-quality 28-megapixel sensor. This was shockingly competitive with sensors made by the dominant manufacturer’s Sony and Canon. It was for a time, highly promoted. Samsung hired a number of very well-known photographers for this purpose. I shot with a loaner camera at a photo expo in Seattle and was very impressed.

Then suddenly, the Samsung NX series was no more. Apparently, Samsung decided that cameras “weren’t their bag” and they dropped the product line rather abruptly. It’s actually a shame because there was clear potential for this product.

Apparently, they didn’t forget how to make sensors. As you saw perhaps in the last article I wrote about the S20 weeks ago, despite the diminutive size and tiny pixels, it can produce very high-quality files. Given this, I decided to keep it in service.

For the most part, I shot it entirely in raw which is available in “pro” mode. Shot this way the camera produces a .dng file in a 4/3 format and a wide format JPEG. The latter is processed by the phone’s software. Very typically the results of the processing are fairly pleasing and pleasant to look at on the small screen. Details in the JPEG files are definitely smoothed out by the processing and don’t appear useful for anything beyond digital display.

In early March my wife and I spent a week in the Adirondacks. I brought my typical travel kit including my Fujifilm X100V and my XE3 with a variety of lenses. I never got them out of their bags. When skiing or snowshoeing, I would merely take my small Manfrotto tripod and the smartphone mount, and shot with the Samsung exclusively. I have been doing that ever since, in part with this article in mind.

I have to say that I didn’t really miss my Fujis. Part of this, however, is that I’ve been photographing the high peaks region in early March for so many years, it’s hard to find novel scenery. This was thus an interesting new challenge.

Once home, I continued with the exercise playing with the bleak, early spring scenery as our snow finally melted away.

This is a really good sensor. Many of these images you will note, were shot into the sun with prominent shadows. Better digital sensors have several qualities. One of them is dynamic range, which in part feeds into their true resolution.

Dynamic range describes the ability of the sensor to capture very bright scenes, and deep shadows, but still retain detail when the images are edited. Small pixel phone sensors have traditionally been terrible at this. This sensor handles it brilliantly, certainly as good as for instance my 2009 vintage Panasonic GH1, a much larger sensor interchangeable lens camera (also 12 megapixels).

Another attribute of a good sensor is tonality. This describes the subtle gradations shades of gray, and of color. Earlier technology recorded shades in discrete steps makes the image look more like a painting than a photograph, especially when viewed in detail. More sophisticated sensors have much more subtle gradations. I would say this Samsung sensor does surprisingly well in this regard.

I’ll offer one more thought. No one really talks about the lenses in these tiny camera modules, but in the case of this Samsung S20, there is little to criticize. There is some lens flare, and given the lack of any lens shading, but it is pretty well controlled. And if there other lens distortions that can be measured, they are well hidden in normal usage

At any rate, I think I’m done with this experiment. I’m going back to my more serious gear as the Spring season presents more photographic opportunities.

But it’s nice to know I’ll have the Samsung just in case.

As always, I’d Be honored if you’de share.

Header image: Wind and Snow( Samsung Galaxy S20 EW 5G)

It is now 6 months into the dictatorial restriction of our liberties sold to us as “2 weeks to flatten the curve”. There do not appear to be any goalposts being offered to give us hope.

We can surmise, that the availability of an effective vaccine for SARS Cov-2 will liberate us, but this was squelched by the eminent Dr. Fauci, who claims that even with a vaccine, restrictions will need to be maintained until at least the middle of next year. I read that as until June/July 2021.

Meanwhile here in Pennsylvania, the number of new cases per day, after a small late July peak, has once again begun to decline, along with the number of hospitalizations. The average percentage of emergency room visits for COVID-19 type symptoms is 0.6%. The highest percentage comes out of Sullivan County with 3.8% though they still have no documented cases of COVID 19. The average PCR positivity rate is 4.2% throughout the Commonwealth. I’m sorry but this no longer feels like a pandemic.

Meanwhile, we continue, with what is becoming ritualistic behavior vis-à-vis masking. I have made it clear in the past, that I have been compliant up to now, out of courtesy, and out of the desire not to cause problems for businesses I frequent. But as this disease fades, so should we see our precautions fade. Instead, it’s becoming ingrained.

So now I walk into a restaurant. Shortly before entering, I slip my mask on my face. Throughout the summer this is largely been out of doors, and I walk at a distance from other patrons over to a table (no bar seating allowed), either with my wife or to join a group of friends. At the table, we are permitted to unmask. This is despite the fact that we are now sitting much closer to each other (often no further away than we would be at a bar). None of this makes any bloody sense, not only given the minimal incidence of the virus now but by the mechanics of respiratory droplet spread.

Another issue has to do with the persistence of the virus. The experts seem to be preparing us to understand that this particular virus is going to be persistent in the environment. This is really shouldn’t be any great surprise, as it is true of the adenoviruses, rhinoviruses, and other coronaviruses that circulate year-to-year. It’s only by repeated exposure that most of us have at least partial immunity to these common viruses. This means unless you’re very debilitated, you are unlikely to get very sick. Sound familiar?

I hope we have not squandered the opportunity over the summer, through more unfettered social interaction in outdoor spaces, for healthy people to get small exposures to the virus. This would be important in the pursuit of some level of “herd immunity”. I am concerned that as the cold and flu season begins, that we will overreact as respiratory illnesses become more common.

As many of you know, I have been using the Atlantic magazine’s COVID Project among other resources, for some of the data in these articles. As a left of center publication, one would hardly think they would shave the data in a conservative way.

I looked at South Dakota, now 4 weeks from the Sturgis motorcycle rally. South Dakota, it is one of the few states that does not have a mask mandate. The event was accused of being inappropriate, and later of being a “super spreader”. On the website, there are multiple graphs documenting a number of parameters including new cases, number of tests, number of hospitalizations, and number of deaths.

At first glance, the numbers are concerning. South Dakota had had very few cases of COVID, with small peaks in April and May. The curve was then flat until roughly August 16 (right around the end of the rally) when an upward spike began, peaking in early September. Hospitalizations, also peaked, interesting to roughly the same level seen in May with a much smaller number of total cases. The graph of deaths also had a small peak.

All of this looks discouraging except for something I initially overlooked. The graphs used by the Atlantic, have a different scale for each state. This makes it easier to track smaller numbers but also makes small changes look much more dramatic. For instance, the second large peak of hospitalizations post-Sturgis looks impressive, but the number was only 83 admissions for the state. The death peak was 2. Sturgis hardly appears to have been a “super spreader”.

There is more encouraging news. We talked about the CDC reports of “excess deaths ” several weeks ago. This is a comparison of the agency keeps between the actual number of deaths throughout the US for a particular time of year, versus the expected number of deaths. For the first time since April, in the third week of August, there were no excess deaths, and in the fourth week of August, we’re actually 14% below the expected death rate for the week. This certainly seems consistent with our impression that although there are significant numbers of positive PCR tests, the morbidity and mortality associated with this are very low. This may be due in part to the over sensitivity of the PCR test, and possibly a better understanding of how to treat the smaller numbers of those who become critically ill. If we remain below the expected death rate, it might rightfully be said that this outbreak is over.

At any rate, in Pennsylvania, there appears to be no end in sight. A federal judge ruled that a portion of the Wolf/ Levine unilateral restrictions are unconstitutional. I’m not well versed in law but I understand this suit was brought by plaintiffs in a variety of businesses, whose complaints have been largely dealt with as the state partially reopened. Members of the hospitality industry were not a party to this, thus their issues were not addressed in the ruling. The main effect of this may be to relax the restrictions on public gatherings. The Wolf administration is expected to ask for a stay, while they appeal.

I’m uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a militant “antimasker”. The extreme viewpoints on either side of an issue tend to be wrong. Then again, I think we need to find a way to cut through the unwarranted fear, both for our health and for legal liability, the politics, and the religion-like virtue signaling that has become a part of the public reaction to the pandemic. If the virus is here to stay, we’re gonna have to learn to live with it. To me that means moving back towards a normal state of existence.

People keep saying “follow the science”. I completely agree.

As always, I would be honored if you would share this.

Header image: Old Trail near Ray Brook (Fujifilm XE3, XF 18-55 f2.8-4)

Those of you who follow this site, know that for the most part, Henrysmithscottage.com is an apolitical site devoted largely to photography and camera gear. I do occasionally swerve off track to talk about other topics. During this coronavirus outbreak, it seemed reasonable to put on my “pulmonary/critical care hat” and offer my perspective.

By the way, I really appreciate the very nice comments I’ve been receiving.

My dealings with social media up to this point have been largely benign. I don’t discuss politics for a variety of reasons: number one, I don’t really care to publicize my affiliations, at least on this platform.  Number two is the essential truth of these times, which is that no one is persuaded by your political postings. When you put up your snarky commentary on Nancy Pelosi or Donald Trump, all you’re doing is annoying a subset of your “friends”. I typically unfollow people that do this persistently.

Of course, in my case, this means my Facebook feed is now dominated by posts on recipes, camera gear, barbecue grills, garden tractors, and people’s pictures and the like. You can’t believe how many people like to post pictures of their new Weber kettles.

Recently I came to realize, that this platform that feeds me all manner of banal content is in no way benign. I personally experienced the manipulation of Facebook algorithms.

Two days ago I risked breaking my apolitical profile by posting a documentary I encountered on YouTube. This was a very intriguing presentation that argued rather persuasively that COVID 19 originated not in a Wuhan “wet market”, but in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a high-level lab located coincidentally less than a kilometer from the market. It was well done, using actual emails from those in the lab, scientific articles that had been published by their scientists in the lab in well-known peer-reviewed journals. There were multiple interviews of virologists, and China policy experts.

Later in the documentary, it opened up the question of Chinese government involvement. To me, it stopped short of any radical conclusions. I drew from the documentary that most likely the virus very possibly engineered in the lab more as a vanity project than anything else, and was accidentally released. Other than offering some additional embarrassment to China, again there seems to be no political issue.

I posted this with a disclaimer admitting that it was from a conservative source (the Epoch Times) but as the article did not appear to be discussing a political topic I thought it would be interesting.

When I hit the post button, a little window popped up. Apparently my content was rated as “False” by Facebook. And guess what, it wouldn’t post.

The reason: the Facebook fact-checkers have apparently decided that the virus originated in the wet market. So despite the fact that this video makes it a compelling argument, backed up by documents, for origination in the lab, it’s a “no go”. Sorry… Facebook’s already decided the issue for us. How considerate.

So who would be harmed by circulating this article? Well, again I don’t think this is a political topic. The only entity that would appear affected by this would be the Chinese communist government. Why would Facebook run cover for them?

So let’s talk about the accuracy of these “fact-checkers”. Several days ago I posted a video of a physician from the midwest discussing how different states score coronavirus deaths and how it can be misleading. Again I viewed it as apolitical. As I said at the time, being familiar with death certificates, a lot of what was said rang true. Again the fact-checkers at Facebook rated this as “mostly false” and let it post with a disclaimer.

Lo and behold, several days later, Pennsylvania is forced to remove 200 deaths from the coronavirus column, largely because of the exact things discussed by the physician in the video.

So I think beyond charcoal grills and garden tractors, Facebook is manipulating us. I would argue that this platform is best used for “happy talk”. Post birthdays, your pets, your children’s or grandchildren’s pictures. Have a ball. But don’t trust this platform for anything more important because it does not appear to allow a true exchange of ideas.

So-called “fact checkers” do not have a monopoly on the truth.

Now let’s see what happens with this post.

As I write this, I am sitting on my back porch in the Adirondacks. I am wonderfully relaxed: after a morning of hiking and shooting, the smell of balsam, and the soothing sound of a nearby cascade tempts me into taking a mid-afternoon nap.

Back in the day, I would have arrived here with several large camera bags with all sorts of gear including multiple DSLRs with multiple lenses, several heavy tripods, and flashes. I would have spent considerable time on the choice of lenses to bring. I would, days before leaving, begin the process of charging the multiple battery types I would need.

This was not necessarily frivolous. 15 years ago, if I wanted images that would print big, I would need to bring my best equipment, which meant big DSLRs and lenses. Nowadays. with mirrorless Fujifilm gear with lots of megapixels, my gear choice is much less critical, and my camera bags are far less cumbersome.

For this trip, as for other recent trips, my choice was straightforward. In one small bag I have my X100f with two teleconverters, and a polarizing filter for the main lens.

In truth, this set up alone would probably satisfy 70-80% of my needs at this point. The 28-50mm FOV offered by this gear, along with the soft leaf shutter, make it a very capable landscape camera. With the built-in neutral density filter, it is a clear choice for moving water.

One might imagine that my other camera bag might contain my Xpro2. You would be wrong. Though I enjoy that camera and value its stout construction and weather sealing, it doesn’t usually make the cut for personal travel. My interchangeable lens travel camera is generally its little brother, the XE3.

There are several reasons for this. First of all, is the smaller size, and lower weight of the XE3. This is despite the fact that it has the exact same imager and thus picture quality, as the XPro2. The lack of weather sealing is a slight issue, but as most of my lenses are not similarly robust, and I’m reasonably careful, I’m not sure it matters much.

Finally, for some reason, USB charging, a feature of both the XE3 and later X100 series cameras, was omitted in the X Pro 2. This makes no sense to me given the latter camera’s larger size. This charging function eliminates the need for a separate battery charger. As both the X100f and the XE3 use the same batteries, everything works out nicely.

As for lenses, my choices vary, but on this trip, for the sake of simplicity, I grabbed both “kit” zooms the 18-55mm f2.8 t0 4.5, and the 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 both of which are image stabilized and wonderfully sharp. I also packed the Laowa 9mm f2.8 and the Fujifilm 60mm f2.4 just to have a few primes lenses along.

The resultant kit is unobtrusive, very light and fun to shoot. It is also convenient that the two camera bodies have nearly identical control layouts. With this gear using a light tripod, I can easily capture images that will make beautiful fine art prints, to 17×22 inches and beyond.

It’s fun that light and easy to use photography gear has become so capable.

I hope I still am.

  

 Sometimes an image will surprise you in small but delightful ways.

   Sometimes it will be the inclusion of an unnoticed detail in a corner of the image that adds interest to the eye.

  When shooting on the water, it can be a feature under the surface, unseen through the viewfinder, but revealed courtesy of the polarizing filter you thoughtfully placed on the lens.

   In my case recently, it was blue light.

  I was camping with my daughter Brigid, a sort of last attempt to bond before she escapes to college life. We paddled our kayaks to an island in the Saranac Lake chain of upstate New York.

  Truth be told, she wasn’t real happy about this. Her brother escaped “dad duty” as he had brought two friends with him on our trip up north, and there weren’t enough kayaks. His time will come.

  I was going one way or another, and I’d like to think if anything, Brigid went to make sure that I didn’t capsize and drown.

 This particular trip is lovely.  You “put in” at a state sponsored site on the Saranac River and paddle through a series of ”ponds” prior to emerging into the vast waters of Lower Saranac lake. This is a large convoluted body of water, connected to the Middle Saranac Lake again by the Saranac River which reappears at the southwestern end of the lake. Multiple islands erupt from the lake floor. They vary in size from single rocks harboring a small pad of soil and a few conifers, to multiple acre-sized landforms covered in White Pine and northern hardwoods. This makes Lower Saranac a pleasant, visually interesting, largely sheltered place to paddle, though we did encounter fairly fresh winds and chop over the open sections we had to traverse.

   As they were loaded with gear, the ‘yaks rode lower in the water than usual, and it was somewhat difficult to “beach” them on the steep and slippery gneiss shoreline on the island we had chosen. Once secured, we unloaded and set up camp.

The NYS DEC maintain this area nicely. There are nice wide open tenting areas. There is even a privy available (definitely necessary, as these are busy sites)

Each site has a concrete fireplace, correctly designed to provide reflected heat for the cool Adirondack nights (thirty to forty degree nights would not be uncommon).

  I removed my Panasonic GH1 and two lenses from the dry bag where they resided for the trip over and waited for the light to get interesting.

  I had thought about taking some video, especially if the lake’s loons cooperated by calling prominently, but they were quiet that night. A few of their mournful cries were audible, but only in the distance. We contented ourselves with the warbling of wood thrushes, the chittering of the islands sole red squirel, and the occasional sound of passing powerboat.

   Periodically, dark clouds appeared, threatening rain. Happily it held off until much later, when we were finally zipped into the tent for the night.

  At dusk, the temperature dropped and fire seemed like a nice idea. I gathered wood and using the bark from a birch log we found already at the site, started one fairly easily.

  I spent a lot of time in the hour around sunset, shooting from various vantage points before returning to the campsite for good.

   There, Brigid and I sat around the fire as the light faded. The glow of the fireplace was evocative. I had no tripod on the trip ( yes, I know, big faux pas) so I was forced to set the camera at ISO 1600 (not the GH1’s best strength) to get reasonable shutter speeds.

   I asked Brigid to stay very still, and shot several frames with her in the foreground, counting on the image stabilization to keep things sharp. It was important to if anything, over-expose a bit (with a fire as the bright point it doesn’t matter so much), to avoid shadow noise. I looked at the image on the LCD in camp, it looked OK, and I put the equipment away for the night.

   I shot a few more images in the morning before we left the next morning but the sky was cloudy and the light mostly unremarkable. Still… there were moments.

   When I got back to my computer and was able to view the images in Photoshop, I noticed something I hadn’t seen in camp. In sharp contrast to reds and oranges of the firelight, was a soft blue glow evident through the trees at the shoreline, the fading blue of the night sky reflected in the water of the lake. I played with raw image a bit, pushing the exposure to a point that enhanced this effect (but only a bit). I was surprised and impressed with the camera’s dynamic range and metering which had allowed all of this to be recorded.

I like this picture. It reminds me of the numerous, and largely anonymous campfire scenes one sees for sale at souvenir shops throughout the Adirondacks.

  More importantly, it will always remind me of a very pleasant memory of time spent with my daughter before she embarks on a new phase of her young life.

BTW Brigid, Happy 18th.