Today on Single-Serving Photo I’m bringing you something a little bit different. Instead of news stories about amazing photographers, press releases about equipment you can’t afford, or overbearing pontifications on the usefulness of HDR as a medium for artistic expression… Drumroll please… Graphs.

To be more specific, graphs of modulation transfer functions. Dry-sounding? Absolutely! Exciting? I sure hope so!

As the title suggests, today’s episode is concerned with lens quality. To be more precise, metrics that measure lens quality. To be yet more precise, metrics that measure sharpness, which is universally regarded to be a major factor in lens quality.

In this day and age, though it’s useful to hold equipment in your hands, to hear the sounds it makes, to feel its controls and its weight, nobody buys a professional camera or lens on the basis of a visit to the shop. That is, unless they’re quite wealthy and don’t mind making expensive errors in judgment.

No, no, this is the information age, the age of silicon and fiber optics and space travel and ray guns and… Well, not ray guns. But computers and cell phones and quartz watches and, oh yeah, that other little thing called the Internet.

That’s the Internet with a capital “I,” the one that connects computers worldwide, that connects my incoherent ramblings to you in the comfort of your own home at this very moment, and not least of all, that allows you to meticulously research every purchase you want to make, no matter how insignificant.

When it comes to researching lenses, if you’ve ever been down this road, you’ve probably come across one of my favorite sites, dpreview.com. Digital Photography Review (as it’s formally named) is probably the most technically thorough camera and lens review site in existence. They aren’t going to give you a whole lot of aesthetic or subjective fluff. Instead, they’re going to give you boat loads of data, and if you’re reading their lens reviews one of the first things you’re going to notice is the interactive lens sharpness tool.

What dpreview has done is created their own interactive tool for viewing the data points produced by many, many combined modulation transfer function graphs, which allows you to choose different focal lengths (on zoom lenses) and f-stops and observe the sharpness performance of the lens based on their measurements.

By looking at MTF measurements made by reviewers, you can determine the “sweet spot” aperture setting and focal length for a given lens and use that to produce images of a sufficient sharpness that you will be able to print them out at obscene dimensions and wave them around in front of your friends boasting about the clarity and detail you’ve been able to achieve.

After all, that’s what friends are for, right?

Now, if you want to know more about the mechanics of MTF calculations and how these measurements are taken and what they mean (which is truly interesting stuff), I highly recommend that you take a look at Camera Lens Quality: MTF, Resolution & Contrast written by Sean McHugh on the awesome Cambridge in Colour site. This is one of the more detailed explanations I’ve seen with attractive and understandable illustrations (which is the only way I can ever understand anything; you have to draw me a picture).

If you want to peruse some lens reviews and play with interactive MTF graphs, start by reading dpreview’s announcement of their new lens reviews and how their interactive tool works: Dpreview launches lens reviews.

It is easy to say that we are “standing at the crossroads.” Occasionally it’s even true, but the expression sounds so important, it evokes such responsibility, that it’s hard for scientists, technologists, journalists, historians, economists, and futurists to hold back the urge, even if the decision to be made is minor, the outcome arbitrary.

So recognize that it is with a full understanding that I say to you, right now, we stand at the crossroads of creativity. We’ve stood here before, we will stand here again, but I can say categorically that we stand here now and it is an important and exciting time to be a photographer.

To our left lies the path toward a technological utopia, a world where anything can be achieved in post-processing, where your creative vision can be phoned in from the desktop. On October 19th, Lytro announced the release of the Lytro “light field” camera. A digital camera smaller than a TV remote that allows you to take a picture and choose a focal point later.

The Lytro camera adds “focal point” to the list of characteristics that can be changed through software long after the photo has been taken. Among those are now white balance, tone curve, color balance, overexposure (to a degree), lens distortion, and likely more that I’m having trouble coming up with right now.

To our right lies the path toward a simpler time, toward the nexus of art and craft where technology assists in some small fashion the mind and hands of the artist, whose vision is crisp and whose execution is informed by experience. In September of last year, Leica released their second digital camera, the M9, a camera with so few features it seems, at first glance, a cataclysmic engineering gaffe.

The M9 is an 18 megapixel digital camera with no auto-focus, no single-lens reflex or through-the-lens view, and a metering system that barely qualifies as a “system” at all. It essentially puts a NASA-quality full-frame 35mm sensor behind a camera from the 1950s.

Though these two events do not precisely coincide on the calendar, they are so perfectly juxtaposed as to appear planned. The Lytro asks a photographer to think less—about focus, at least—and provides the software tools to create images with perfect focus. The Leica M9 asks a photographer to take back the responsibilities that have been held firmly by technology for the past decade or more and gives the photographer nothing beyond exquisite glass and one of the best digital sensors on the market.

To accept the Lytro as the future of photography is to embrace an art practically devoid of error. Conversely, to accept the Leica M9 as the future of photography is to embrace human imperfection.

Creativity has never been, and surely will never be, stifled by progress. No tool, not even the Lytro, can extinguish the creative spirit. Light field technology joins the ranks of tools like RAW format and Photoshop, neither of which suffocated any artist that I know of. Quite to the contrary, precision has historically led to new frontiers of expression as Ansel Adams demonstrated by forming his f/64 group and defying the unfocused, painterly style prevalent at the time with his staggeringly sharp and detailed images.

Nevertheless, and at the risk of sounding unintentionally critical of Ansel Adams, there is always a human element in art and the less you can perceive of the craft, the further a work creeps from an embodiment of human spirit to a science of human mind. Surely an image of social gravity executed with infinite precision, lacking nearly any flaw, is nevertheless the vision of its creator. But is content, devoid of interpretation, the sole measure by which expression should be judged?

The Lytro camera is a tool that frees the artist from one more shackle, but does it also take away one more opportunity for the artist to express their humanity?

The Leica M9 is a tool that says to the artist, Realize your vision, control for yourself nearly every aspect of your work’s creation, and when you fail to perform at the level of a machine, burn the machine. It is a camera for those who see beauty in the flaws, and there is a purity and a nobility to that.

Descending from the clouds for a moment, I should also mention that the Lytro camera is now on sale for about $400 ($500 if you want it in bright red), and that the Leica M9 can be found for almost $7,000, without a lens. I mention this because I expect people to call me out for comparing apples to oranges. Believe me, I already know.

But you don’t have to take my word for it:

• The Lytro camera, from Lytro.com
• Lytro Launches, via The Online Photographer
• Leica M9 Hands-on Review, from dpreview
• An M9 in Paris, via Luminous Landscape, an in-depth review

I’ve posted about Canon’s involvement in the filmmaking industry before; in my cheekily titled Canon 5D Mark II in the (Dr.) House I reported on the use of the EOS-5D Mark II to film an entire season finale episode of House M.D.

Since then, the hipster Vimeo community has been running their Converse All-Stars threadbare filming hundreds of hours of content with the 5D Mark II and thoroughly enjoying it. But the 5D Mark II remains, at its core, a still camera. I mean, that’s what it was designed to do. The ability to record video is a cute add-on, and although it works very well for small-scale filmmakers in oversized scarves and skinny jeans, it falls short on many features a crew would need to film a real movie (regardless of wardrobe).

At the same time, high-end optics mogul Jim Jannard, founder of the well-known Oakley eyewear company, has been building a new empire around his peculiarly named Red cameras, poised to literally transform the filmmaking industry with modular, extensible, relatively inexpensive (operative word here, relatively), and staggeringly performant digital cine cameras.

So performant, in fact, that Peter Jackson was reported to have bought 48 of the things to film his upcoming Hobbit movie, and now word is out that James Cameron slapped around $3 million on the proverbial barrel head for 50 or so of Jannard’s black-and-red hand-machined devices.

On the tails of this nearly complete transformation of the entire filmmaking industry into yet another contributor to our practically unsustainable hoard of digital data, Canon has announced that it is throwing its hat into the ring with what they are calling the Cinema EOS C300.

The camera will reportedly hit the market in early 2012, but it has already been making the rounds in some exclusive circles as Canon worked with filmmakers to ensure that all of the proper functionality was in place. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and Canon Explorer of Light Vincent Laforet was invited to use the C300 in his upcoming short film Möbius and Vimeo was there behind the scenes to document that experience.

In the Vimeo piece, Laforet gushes about the C300; its image quality, the extent to which Canon integrated filmmakers’ specific suggestions, and about Canon’s new cine-specific lens, the 30-300mm f/2.9-3.7, which, balanced on his knee, looks like it probably weighs at least ten pounds.

The retail cost is said to be around $20,000, which is just above the low target for these digital cine cameras (Red cameras can cost anywhere between $17,000 and $60,000 depending on options, and even that is a fraction of what film cinema cameras cost).

Is Canon shifting their business toward the cinema given that Nikon is kicking them up and down the street with huge and practically noise-free sensors? Are they facing financial challenges that has prompted them to search for more revenue streams? Will this foray into the cinema industry forsake those of us who are still fiercely loyal to their still camera brand?

These questions and more will undoubtedly be answered in the coming year as the C300 is released into the wild.

• Read the press release, see product photos, and watch the Laforet video on dpreview: Canon unveils Cinema EOS C300 interchangeable-lens video camera
• Haje Jan Kamps also covers the release and his reactions at Pixiq: Canon vs Red: The battle for amateur filmmakers is about to commence

It occurred to me back then that I had, indeed, seen videos of Canon lenses being assembled (specifically their “L” series; I am not sure if the non-L lenses are hand-assembled or not) but I didn’t have the presence of mind to go find them.

Because I’m still mostly a Canon devotee I thought it wise to catch up with that thought and post these behind-the-scenes videos of a Canon “L” lens being assembled, yes, by hand. Truly it is a marvel of engineering and of manual dexterity at some points. Hopefully if you, too, are a Canon shooter, these videos will give you even more respect for the product you likely hold in such high regard.

This is a three-part series and takes you all the way from “how do we make sand into a lens” to “this is how we put the barrel together.”

Leica Lenses (English) from leica camera on Vimeo.

Check out Camera Technica for more about photographic technology.

Image Stabilization Revealed from Camera Technica on Vimeo.

After careful inspection, I can confidently say that these are two photos of the same half of the lens from either side. I have no idea why someone would have one half of a lens and not the other half, perhaps it was just a demonstration piece. I count seven elements, but I’m really not an expert. It looks like the lens has a maximum focal length of 22mm.

Any Leica folks out there who can fill in some blanks? Leave a comment!

Edit: I just learned that this split lens was the result of some kind of educational final project. The engadget post this information comes from says that “Leica students” were permitted to cut a $4,500 lens in half as an art project. I’m not sure what a “Leica student” is, but the halves sold on eBay for almost $1,000.

So I guess if you cut a Leica lens in half, you cut its value in quarters. Or something. Still, a very cool view into the complexity of these instruments that we use all the time.

Sometimes I feel like a shill when I talk about these sales and deals, but it’s so hard for me to look at a fabulous bargain and not pass it on. Such is the case with the so-called Canon Loyalty Program, which is apparently Canon’s way of saying “thank you” for buying one of their point-and-shoot cameras.

I found this on the venerable deal-hunting site “FatWallet,” and if you like you can read the original post yourself. Basically, if you have a qualifying Canon digital camera (it has to be digital and it’s really limited to point-and-shoot models), even if it doesn’t work anymore, you can trade it in for a refurbished white-box replacement at a pretty reasonable discount.

If you have an out-of-warranty Canon point-and-shoot and you were thinking of upgrading it, this could be an opportunity to save a little cash, which is something everyone could probably stand to do right now.

Read the fully detailed summary of the program on the FatWallet forum.

Photography is awesome and I love it, but it’s super expensive sometimes. Photographers often commiserate with one another about the high price tags on tripods and ball heads (or sometimes they gloat, but the nice ones commiserate), and if you get into studio photography you are often getting into a whole new world of expenses from strobes and stands to backdrops and gels.

Now, it definitely pays off to have the right tools for the job, and that starts to become glaringly apparent when you’re doing work with people, but for so-called tabletop product photography you can often get by with some home improvement supplies and a little ingenuity and patience.

After the break, the resident product photographer and editor at Handmadeology shares a $12 product studio setup that yielded the image on the right.

Handmadeology is a blog owned by Tim Adam, a metalcrafts guy who started selling on the Etsy marketplace and wanted to share his tips and ideas with the Internet at large. Handmadeology is very focused on items to be found on Etsy and ideas for improving your sales through Etsy, but this particular post by contributing writer Mariano definitely overlaps into Single-Serving Photo territory.

Using a window, some paper, cardboard, a simple clamp, and aluminum foil, Mariano can get a very clean seamless image that you might think was taken in a cloud dome or using one of those infinity boards. Check out the link below to read Mariano’s full article and see how it was done.

Studio Quality Product Photography with a $12 Setup via Handmadeology