Photophys.com: The Science of Photography

Air Travel – What equipment to take?

Comments[0] 12:36PM Jul 30, 2009 by Charles in General

I am a serious amateur photographer, and I do several photo-shoots far from home each year.  That means air travel with all its hassles.  I start with the requirement that all valuable and sensitive equipment, e.g. cameras and lenses, go with me as carry-ons.  So what do I really need and how can I pack it so that it will be allowed as carry-on luggage?

Why Moore’s law will continue to apply to digital photography

Comments[2] 04:05PM Jul 29, 2009 by Charles in General

Recently, at Luminous-landscape.com (LL), Ray Maxwell expounded on his view that Moore’s law is no longer relevant to digital photography.  This was based on his observation that we have all the pixels in our digital sensors that most of us need.  I thought that was a very narrow view, indeed, and was planning a rebuttal when Nathan Myhrvold’s rebuttal was published on LL.  Myhrvold explained that we can still use more pixels in many situations, and that he expects to buy sensors in the future with many more pixels than are now available.  I agree with everything he says, but I think he misses the point.

Publication News

Comments[0] 11:56AM Jul 17, 2009 by Charles in General

The book "Science for the Curious Photographer" is now available for sale here.  Until August 15 the following discount code is in effect: intro010.  You can click on the Buy Now button to see the effect of this discount on the price.  Should you buy this book?  Readers tell me that this book is great for some people but not for everybody.  Parts of it require some facility with mathematics and a tolerance for equations.  To help with your decision, I have included a link to the detailed TOC.  Also, you can read parts of the book.  I suggest you look at the recent excerpt on art in photography published on Luminous Landscape (LL).  An earlier LL excerpt on equivalent images contains a few equations.  Also, the chapter on close-up photography (930 kb pdf) can be downloaded here.   This chapter contains equations and simple algebra.

Proposals for hardcopy editions are still being considered by publishers now.  I will report on those efforts later.