In The Picture

Captain Barossa – Red Wines With Body And Soul

Extraordinary wines from MacKenzie, Kalleske, Lehmann & deFazio

The Captain is an elusive character, not unlike a caped crusader from the comic books. An odd moniker for someone in the Barossa who makes wine. His frontman is James McKenzie who came from London and bought a farm with vineyard in the Barossa in 2009. A sea change for him - from finance to farming, a homecoming for his wife Islay who hails from these parts.

The mission

I asked James where the Captain idea came from but didn’t get a clear answer. I asked him who made the wines, and he said: the Captain. Who's the Captain? The answer is: the winemaker wants to give the growers top billing, and take a backseat. The Captain and James want to champion the independent growers who are the backbone of this wonderful region, by producing distinctive single vineyard wines under the Captain Barossa label.

 

James says it's about paying the growers a fair price for their fruit, and charging consumers a fair price for the wines. That means direct from vineyard to you at present. All the reds are $18, so the pricing is attractive. As we shall see, it’s more than attractive.

The growers and their wines

James MacKenzie's property has 35 acres of vines at Williamstown at an elevation of 300-360m. Soils range from rich alluvial soils to harsher rocky soils. The reds are mostly dry grown, the vines are hand-pruned and have a permanent pasture between the rows, where sheep safely graze during the winter months. 500 merino ewes help to keep down the weeds and provide plenty of natural fertiliser.

The MacKenzie Shiraz 2010 is a cracker – superbly concentrated sweet and spicy Shiraz fruit in the dark cherry spectrum packed into a tight envelope of fine acid and gentle tannins. It reminded me of Kym Teusner’s Riebke Shiraz 2010 - it’s just as focussed and tight and finely balanced. It made me wonder if Kym had a hand in the winemaking here. Let's just say that this wine is extremely well-made and will live for many years. It’s enjoyable now if you decant it and give it time to breathe. 14.5%.

Elytra Shiraz Cabernet 2009

Lehmann is a well-known name in the Barossa, and this wine is from Phil and Sarah’s vineyard high in the Eden Valley (450m). It takes its name from the protective forewings of an exotic species of winter-active dung beetle - Bubas bison -  which Phil uses to aerate the soil (3000 of them actually), mix soil horizons and deliver manure to the root zone of the vineyard. The beetle is the full stop on the pretty label.

The wine is not the elegant red I expected from the high Eden ranges. The fruit is as big, soft and voluptuous as one of Rubens’ nudes, at the blackcurrent/cassis/chocolate end of the spectrum. Acid and tannin take a backseat here, so this wine is skirting the fine edge of admittedly high quality jam. The Elytra will appeal to those who like really big, soft, cuddly reds. I’d enjoy it over the next year or so.

Angelo de Fazio owns an 85 acre vineyard in the Greenock Hills in the North West Barossa, and tends it the old-fashioned way. He says some of the vine plantings date back to 1864.

The de Fazio Bush Vine Grenache is from 2007, and the colour has a lot of brown in it. There’s tar and leather on the nose, and varnish and charred steak on the palate mixed with some Kirsch and earthy notes. The wine reminded me of old Italian reds I’ve drunk, or maybe Spanish ones – they can be a great match for strong gamey food. I found myself wondering if this would’ve been better a year or two ago, or maybe I’m tasting too many young reds these days. A wine of character, no doubt about that.

The de Fazio Chardonnay 2011 is more of a round, full, easy-on-the gums drinking style. The vines apparently are among the oldest in the valley, but to me the wine lacked varietal expression. Then again, the price is modest at $13 so there are no complaints.

Kalleske is another famous name in these parts, and Andy is the AK on the curious labels of these exotic reds. The AK Petit Verdot 2009 comes from a family-owned vineyard at Ebenezer and the Durif from another at Koonunga. I wasn’t sure what to make of these wines from the outside, to be honest. The label doesn’t do it for me – James says it reflects the innovative thinking behind these wines – and Petit Verdot is not a variety you see bottled on its own very often.

Petit Verdot is one of the minor varieties in Bordeaux, even tougher-skinned and later-ripening than Cabernet Sauvignon – so late that it used not to get ripe most years. Now global warming seems to have given it a new lease of life over there. Petit Verdot clearly thrives in the sunny Barossa Valley (and makes monstrous wines at Rutherglen).

Andy Kalleske's version is a dense, black-purple wine that mixes violets and blueberries with assorted herbs and spices. The fruit is ripe and the flavour deep, the acid backbone adding perfect length and balance. The more we drank of this over a couple of days, the better it got. A fascinating food wine, and not too big at 14%.

The AK Durif 2009 is best described as an extravagant dessert in a bottle. There’s Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte mixed with plum compote, licorice allsorts and cherry-liqueur chocolates. All these aromas fairly leap out of the glass from the impenetrable liquid, and the wine makes an impact on the senses not unlike Wagner's Ring Cycle. My mates and I had this with a platter of creamy and blue cheeses with dried fruits and nuts in quince syrup on the side. A perfect match. A red dessert wine at last. Yes, it’s dry on the finish. It’s a riot everywhere else.

Summing up

This was a fascinating experience, tasting truly original and individual wines of this calibre. That they sell for $18 a bottle is ludicrous – if Parker found out about the Elytra Shiraz Cabernet and the AK Durif, he and his followers would go nuts, or apeshit as they used to say over there way back when. Let’s hope they never do find James or the Captain, and that we can keep buying these wines for a song.

I confess that my admiration for these young Turks in the Barossa keeps growing: they’re going back to the old farming ways, back to the land and the vines to make sure they grow the best fruit possible. Minimalist winemaking is then focused on giving the fruit and the place it comes from true expression, which is a long way from what happened in the 80s and nineties down under when the fruit hardly mattered because trick yeasts, fancy ferments, aromatic oak and other tricks shaped the wines.

The website has a lot more detail and background on the growers, and facilities for ordering the wines reviewed here.

http://www.captainbarossa.com.au/

Thanks for adding so much colour to our wine scene, Captain, whoever you are

Please note that the samples reviewed here were supplied by James McKenzie. My policy is to buy my own samples wherever possible because larger wine companies select their best samples from their best batches for reviewers. In this case, I didn't feel there was any danger of that.

Kim

Autumn in the Southern Highlands - wonderful lunch at Eschalot restaurant with a stunning Tertini Pinot Noir

Not long after the hottest May day in 70 years, autumn arrived. Mothers’ Day was bleak and windy, but we took mother out to lunch the day before as we always do to avoid the crowds. And Saturday was a cool but pleasant day in the Southern Highlands. At historic Berrima, not far from the old jail and just up the road from the historic pub, stands a lovely old homestead that is the Eschalot Restaurant.

This is one of those rare gems that gets everything right, from the quality of the food sourced from selected producers in the region to the well-trained, helpful staff to the space and ambience. The prices are fair for a one hat restaurant – the only one between Sydney and Canberra: about $20 for entrees and $35-40 for mains. http://www.eschalot.com.au/ 

Chef David Learmonth and his team prepare wonderful dishes from quality produce, without the fuss and artifice that is so often the norm in good eateries these days. Real food with wonderful flavours that aren’t contrived, presented simply, that’s what Eschalot is about. Thirlmere duck, Southern Highlands lamb and pork and beef. Owner Richard Kemp says, ‘we source the best produce and do the minimum of processing.’

Richard is proud of his immense wine list, a tome that is daunting even for one who thinks he knows about wines. These wines are carefully chosen and intelligently priced from $35 a bottle up, and many are available by the glass. I asked Richard for his help in selecting a Pinot Noir to go with our lamb, pork and duck dishes and he suggested a local:

This is a well-coloured, full-bodied Pinot that delivers authentic flavours with a hint of gaminess in a rich, seductive package. Perhaps a touch short on the finish, but I’m quibbling with perfection - this is serious Pinot Noir. At $60 on the wine list, I assumed the wine sold for $25 – 30 at the winery. I was wrong: the website reveals that this Pinot has won 8 Trophies at 3 Wine Shows and sells for $55. The winemakers are listed as Jonathan Holgate and Nick Bullied who was one of Peter Bourne’s old front bench line-up (see recent post). Great stuff, Nick! http://www.tertiniwines.com.au/aboutus.html

Thanks to the team at Eschalot for providing such as wonderful oasis with such consistency – it was just as good last year. And while you’re in Berrima, a visit to the old pub is in order along with a brief spell at the Alpaca centre at the other end of the village.

The goodies here are gorgeous to stroke, and this time they had some real Alpacas in a tiny corral. They look a lot like sheep with long necks and round faces.

Yes, they’re seriously cute creatures.

The light faded just as we were leaving, and presented a chance for a nice autumn photo or two

This magnificent tree is Mother’s Nyssa Sylvatica in Kangaroo Valley.

KIM

SYDNEY SUMMER 2012

Rotunda at Balmoral

Click on any of the images to see a larger file

Lighthouse at Vaucluse

Strelizia

friends

Beach weather

Bird

Bird

bird

Circular Quay

Bliss

Reflective mood

Camera: Nikon D40x, 18-135mm f/3.5 - 5.6 lens

Teusner Wines – stunning Aussie reds for a song

Old vines, great fruit and simple winemaking – what a difference!

Before we get to the good news, a little history to set the scene: A couple of months ago, I wrote a post headed How Fosters and Southcorp trashed Australia’s greatest wine brands. The piece is a short history of what happened to these companies between 1960 and 2010 http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2011/09/how-fosters-and-southcorp-trashed-australias-greatest-wine-brands.html .

The wine business - a distraction?

The trigger for that piece was Fosters CEO John Pollaers describing the wine business as a ‘distraction’ to Fosters’ beer business (after he sold it). The ‘distraction’ to Fosters’ beer business included a list of hallowed brands that were once the backbone of this country’s wine industry: Leo Buring, Seppelts, Penfolds, Lindemans, Wynns, Saltram, Metala, Seaview, Tollana, and Bailey’s of Glenrowan.

I concede that my disenchantment with the wine business began in earnest in the nineties. For two decades, I’d spent vast sums of money on wine which gave enormous pleasure. And for those two decades, you could buy wine from every corner of the world for fair prices, some for bargain prices. In those days, Sauternes and Barsacs were among the bargains, underrated, as were the wines of the Rhone.

Australian wines had long been the biggest bargains, but that changed in the nineties with a new cult that celebrated star wine makers and ‘super’ wines. ‘Super Tuscans’ in the old country, $100 Aussies in the new. Penfold’s 707, Wynn’s Michael and others were suddenly priced and handled like precious bottles of grand cru Bordeaux. Penfolds’ Yattarna Chardonnay hit the shelves with a silly name and a silly $150 price tag. Henschke’s Hill of Grace was $300. Grange leapt up to $500.

Rock Star winemakers

Star winemakers were another phenomenon, along with star wine writers like Robert Parker and James Halliday.

High points from these guys was equivalent to a triple AAA sticker from Moody’s or Standard and Poor’s. And like the DCOs before the financial crisis, the value of the wines was vastly overhyped. This is an excerpt from a different older post, a segment headed The winemaker as demigod . http://briard.typepad.com/kims-konfection/2009/11/australian-wine-the-jam-is-on----the-way-we-were--most-people-would-argue-that-australian-wine-has-changed-for-the-better-ov.html

‘Overseas and at home, it was soon a case of wineries that were celebrated and wineries that were forgotten. Guns-for-hire winemakers were quick to see the opportunity and offer their services to the forgotten wineries, flying by helicopter from vineyard to vineyard, and flying by plane from continent to continent, adding their magic touch and fairy dust for a small ransom wherever they went. Soon it was easier to pick the roving winemaker than the winery that grew the grapes at blind tastings, that’s how big the fingerprints were.

The wine business had come to resemble Hollywood and its star system, from Michel Rolland in France to Brian Croser in Australia. The best of them were consulting to some 100 wineries at vintage time. It’s a kind of madness that is best understood by watching a documentary called Mondovino, which contrasts the old with the new in a very compelling way. In their defence, the flying winemakers would argue that they sorted out many problems that beset small and large wineries alike, for the greater good. Their opponents would argue that they made more and more wine taste the same.’

The rise of the young Turks

Some of the new generation winemakers were content to stay  in one place and do their own thing. Many were sons of Growers in the Barossa or the Riverland, and they began making wine under their own label. The Barossa Valley was home to many growers who used to sell their grapes to the PLO (Penfolds, Lindemans, Orlando) and still do. Some of these vineyards contained  vines that were over 50 years old and produced  low yields of wonderfully concentrated  fruit. Shiraz, Grenache, Mataro were the main varieties.

Photo courtesy of Teusner Wines - it's the boys drinking some cool amber fluid at the end of a hard day.

The wine business is a lot like the fashion business, and these boys don't have any fashion sense (reassuring, that). In the eighties, Shiraz was a very poor cousin to Cabernet, and Grenache and Mataro (Mourvèdre) were often blended away without a mention of their names even on the back label. They were old grapes, and the Barossa and McLaren Vale were old hat - the new darlings were the Yarra Valley and Tasmania.

In the early nineties, US wine guru Robert Parker paid us a visit, tasted some big, ripe, old vine Shiraz from the Barossa and declared it purer than the blood of Jesus and worth a king’s ransom. Suddenly, everybody wanted old vine Shiraz from the least fashionable wine regions in Australia. The bigger the better. Parker also praised the few GSM wines (blends of Grenache, Shiraz & Mataro) he tasted, and suddenly every winemaker was running around the Barossa looking for these almost extinct varieties. Today, Mataro is back in fashion!

   

photo courtesy of winebiz.com.au http://www.winebiz.com.au/pdf/WIJ-MourvedreVarietalReport.pdf

Here’s a classic example of Parker Power: Parker gave the 1997 Wild Duck Creek Duck Muck Shiraz from Heathcote in Central Victoria 99 out of 100 points in his ‘The Wine Advocate’ quarterly, ‘and suddenly every Texas oil baron or Silicon Valley billionaire had to have a bottle of Duck Muck on the dinner table. A $50 bottle achieved more than $1500 at auction soon after Parker gave it the nod.’ Here’s the rest of the story http://steveburnham.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67%3Aduck-muck&catid=36&Itemid=55

Nine Popes and the Holy Trinity

I think it was Charlie Melton who first defined the Rhone formula down under with his Nine Popes label. Others soon followed with Rhone blends like Holy Trinity, and a new genre was born. With the big old firms bought and sold many times over, younger stars set the pace with the new old vine Shiraz and GSM styles, led by Elderton, Kalleske, Hewitson, Rockford, Turkey Flat and Torbreck. 

Turkey Flat and Kalleske had been growers for many decades, while Hewitson and Torbreck were young Turks making wine from fruit bought from other growers. The big, warm and friendly GSM formula was and still is a hit with drinkers, but some of these wines are pretty pricey. One reason was Robert Parker writing them up for his US readers, which made them scarce. They range from $35 - >$100 (for the hand-signed private label).

Teusner Wines

They also tended to be high in alcohol, which bothered me for years until I figured I’d have to get used to it with all that global warming going on. (Btw, the Duck Muck 1997 was 16%). I read about Teusner Wines in Winestar’s newsletter – their Riebke Shiraz 2010 made Hallidays’s top 100 this year, and it was less than $20. We tried a bottle with a Boeuf Bourguignon, and I was impressed. A purple, vibrant wine with wonderful sweet fruit and soft finish, it’s a bargain.

Next we opened a bottle of 2009 Avatar, a GSM blend, and it was a sumptuous, soft, velvety wine that made us sit up and pay serious attention. A modern version of the old steak-and-eggs-and-a-good-cigar in a bottle. This one’s about $25 and a steal at that. The third wine we tried from Teusner was a 2010 Eden Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a big chuncky wine that still has some softening to do over the long haul, one that will reward patience as they say. Another bargain at $18. We haven't yet tried the 'Independent' Shiraz Mataro with the puss-n-boots-in-a-suit label - I like the humour of these guys.

On the right Page

Teusner Wines is a partnership formed in 2001 by Kym Teusner and brother-in-law Michael Page. Michael is a viticulturalist, Kym is a winemaker who worked for Torbreck before starting out on his own. He knows the best vineyards for the kind of fruit he’s looking for: Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro from old, well-tended vines. The wine is matured in big, old barrels, not new oak hogsheads, and minimal manipulation occurs during winemaking – just the opposite of what put me off in the late eighties and nineties when all kinds of tricks were used to extract more fruit and oak and flavour by any means fair or foul.

Keeping the wines affordable is a goal of these young Turks. I don’t know how they do it, since fruit from old vines can’t be cheap. I suspect it’s the usual cycle: these guys are on the up-and-up, and busting a gut to make the best wine they can. Once everybody finds out how good their wines are, they’ll beat down the cellar door and drive the prices up. Don’t anyone tell Parker about Teusner, please.

Ode to the grape

I’ll leave you with this truly poetic review of the Teusner Avatar from Salsa Rose at the Age newspaper:

‘Spicy, seductive and alluring, she goes by no other name than grenache. With her favourite dance partner mataro, they tear up the night. The backbone of shiraz cutting in at the end. That’s the label of this rose that’s full of tangy, juicy fruit fragrant with rose petal and rhubarb notes, some creaminess and sweet fruit on the palate before finishing dry with crisp acidity!’

That’s not how the Avatar spoke to me, but you have to admire the poetry. More on Teusner Wines here http://www.teusner.com.au/history.htm

Safe travel

Kim

 

Breakthrough cameras of 2011 – Part 3

Canon SX220 - does just about everything, costs next to nothing

The last bracket of cameras I haven’t chosen for their breakthrough technology, but for breakthrough practicality. In a previous post, I described the search for the perfect go-anywhere-catch-any-scene-fits-in-your pocket-doesn’t-cost-a-fortune camera, and said it's a lot like the search for the perfect woman: neither one exists. In both cases, it’s a matter of finding a model you can happily live with.

Canon popped out two new models that looked interesting: the IXUS 310 HS and 510 HS, respectively with 8x and 12x zoom lenses. For reasons only Canon can explain but cannot, these cameras are called Elph 310 and 510 in the US of A. The 310 is attractive because it’s really quite small, and getting an 8x zoom lens into this little body is quite a trick.

 

Slick as it is, 8x zoom isn’t quite enough for travel camera, so the IXUS 510HS looks a better bet. It’s another sleek design but pretty much the same size as the SX220 which costs over $100 less ($250 at online shops), and has full MASP controls - the IXUS range is all auto. The HS sensor is most likely the same. The SX220 delivers far more than you’d expect at its price point, and offers a superb combination of IQ, versatility and portability. So it ends up being my pick.

The body of the SX 220 HS is just a fraction smaller than the smallest of the EVIL cameras, the Sony NEX C3. The problem with the Sony and other EVILs is the big lenses: by the time you put even a modest a zoom lens on one of these bodies, they’ll no longer fit into your pocket. Interchangeable lenses are terrific except on a go anywhere camera, and this is where the Canon scores with an 18-260mm lens that collapses into the little body.

Even expensive DSLR zoom lenses are compromised from a design point of view, usually showing some distortion at the wide end and losing sharpness at the long end, and then there’s Image Stabilisation of varying effectiveness. You’d expect a 14x 18-260mm tele zoom in a $250 digicam to show all these problems and then some. Frankly, Canon has worked wonders with this lens and the new High Sensitivity 12 mp backlit CMOS sensor. IQ is better than with the Canon S95 I owned for a short and disappointing time.

There’s a touch of barrel distortion at the wide end, and some purple fringing on occasion, but it’s sharp right across the long zoom range. Even at 260mm, it returns pretty sharp images, and the IS works better than it has any right to given its small size and weight (bigger cameras are easier to hold steady).

As always, please click on any image to see a larger file.

These two shots were taken with the zoom lens fully extended. Image Stabilisation also helps with low light shooting, which is OK to ISO 800 and even 1600 in emergencies - as in the shot below which is remarkable for this class of camera.

The SX 220 has full manual controls, and a lovely 460k screen, and the usual simple Canon controls and menues plus a host of special modes. The camera starts in a instant, and focusing is pretty snappy. Shot to shot times are a bit more tardy but choosing continuous shooting mode is one way to get around that problem. 2.5 frames/sec isn’t all that fast but it’s fast enough to catch some action.

The range of the lens is f/3.1 - 5.9 so it gets a bit slow at the tele end (as do most tele zooms). One thing missing is a RAW shooting option, which will disappoint some. I'm happy with the JPEGs the Canon turns out. Another weak spot is a battery that's barely good enough for 200 shots. Curiously the SX230 uses the same battery as my old IXUS 960IS, so I have a spare already. 

Build quality is a mixed bag as well – strong metal body but flimsy lens closure (the blinds that cover it) and covers for the connectors and flash. The flash spoils the show by popping up when you turn the camera on – Canon, what is this stupid feature doing on a camera like this? And why not give the camera a shape that fits better into hands? I use fingers on top and thumbs on the bottom to hold it. Battery life is poor, with 200 shots max.

These grumbles soon fade when you look at the images the camera produces. Yes, you can get creative as well. Also check the image gallery – the link is in the right hand margin.

The SX 220 won DPReview's travel camera shoot-out recently (the SX230 with the GPS bump actually but they're identical every other way), sharing top honours with Nikon's S9100. The Nikon is another full auto machine so it didn't make my shortlist.

DP Review said: ‘Images from the SX230 are amongst the sharpest and most consistently well-exposed of the cameras in this group test. … considering the breadth of its zoom range, sharpness is impressively uniform.’ They added: ‘The new sensor and processor deliver excellent image quality in just about any situation we tested the camera in, and when you add excellent optical quality and video performance into the mix, the SX230 HS is a very compelling camera.’ http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q311travelzoomgrouptest/page3.as

Kim

 

52 Suburbs in Sydney – the work of Louise Hawson

52 suburbs, a thousand faces

‘My name is Louise. I've lived in Sydney for over 30 years but had never set foot in most of its 600+ suburbs. So from September 2009 to October 2010, I explored and photographed one new Sydneysuburb a week in search of the beauty in the 'burb.’

That’s what Louise says on her blog. I saw her exhibition at the Museum of Sydney a while back, and meant to write about it but didn’t get there.

What struck me about Louise’s photography was the rawness of many of the images, and the glaring technical issues (light blowouts and stuff like that). And what struck me at the same time was how well the images told their stories, and how the rawness helped them do that. Somehow they look like they’re snatched on the street. That’s how it was, here it is. Unadulterated. Perfect street photography.

Louise also uses a simple but effective technique, putting two images side by side that have something in common (form or colour) but have very different subjects.

Here’s just one example of a 'burb Louise has captured in her unique style: Arncliffe. http://www.52suburbs.com/2010/06/suburb-no-39-arncliffe.html

Now I see she’s getting a new project up and running: 52 Suburbs Around The World http://www.52suburbs.com/ , and she’s looking for sponsors large and small, and crowd funding. She’s already raised over $8,000. You can also help Louise by buying the 52 Suburbs book - on here website.

‘A note about the cities I've ended up choosing. You know how I was going to visit 12 cities? Well, having given it some serious thought, I've reduced the number of cities to between 4-6. Why? Because that way we can spend 2-3 months in each city and really get a feel for the place, exploring 8-12 suburbs in each. A month might just have been rushing it. Plus I'm keen to try and get as many locals in these cities to interact on the blog and the longer we're there, the more chance there is of that happening.’

Good on you, Louise, and good luck!

Kim

At long last, a great travel travel zoom that fits in your pocket - PART 2

More on Image Quality

Of course, the tiny sensor of the Canon has some hard limitations, but let’s put these in perspective: If you haven’t followed my blog, let me explain that I’ve been looking for the close-to-perfect pocket camera for a while now. Last year, I bought a Panasonic GF-1 and sold it soon after because I found its dynamic range too limiting, and because it didn’t fit into any of my pockets, not even with the pancake lens.

The Olympus option was bigger still, and more expensive at the time, and the sensor was the same. Even the new E-P3 still uses the same sensor, ‘essentially the same one as that which we first saw in the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 almost three years ago,’ as dp.review notes, ‘and in the face of rapid progress from other manufacturers, it's now looking distinctly dated.’ http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympusep3/page24.asp .

As the DxO comparison shows, dynamic range is still the Achilles heel of the M43 sensors.

When I gave up the idea of a ‘good-enough’ pocket or EVIL camera, I bought a used Nikon D40x. http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2011/03/back-to-basics-photography.html. The lenses I mostly use on the D40x are the tiny 35mm f1.8 prime and the 18-135mm zoom, and the lot fits into a small bag and doesn’t weigh too much. The dynamic range of the D40x (D80) sensor is far superior to any M43 sensor yet made. http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2011/02/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gf1-evil-fun-part-2.html

The D40x option may not make a lot of sense until you accept that EVIL cameras aren’t pocket cameras but compact ‘systems’ cameras, i.e. you buy the bodies and add lenses and an external flash and so on. That means you need a carry bag, however small, to take them with you on your travels. The carry bag needed for the D40x might be a touch bigger, but we’re arguing about fine details now. The upside is that the D40x is a responsive DSLR with a built-in viewfinder and flash. And terrific image quality:

  SX230 Image quality

The Canon has the same issues with dynamic range as every other digicam ever made. Here’s a shot where dynamic range was a real challenge, and it shows exactly what I mean: blown out light areas and dense dark areas that won’t reveal any more detail no matter which photo editor you use – the info just isn’t there.

What about that lens? Even with DSLRs, serious 14x zooms are compromised from a design point of view, so what about this dinky little number? Frankly, it’s a real surprise. Yes, there’s a bit of barrel distortion at the wide end, and some purple fringing on occasion, but it’s consistently sharp right across the long zoom range.

Obviously, the DIGIC IV processor has a lot to do with that, sharpening, reducing the ever-present noise and filling in the blanks. The images look sharpened, but the sharpening isn’t overdone. You can see the artefacts when you take a close look, though. This is a 100% crop (click on the image) of a shot taken at full zoom:

On the whole, the IQ of the SX 230HS is almost on the same level as the Canon IXUS 300HS I reviewed a few weeks ago. The IXUS 300HS has a slight edge, to my eye, at least, with the images looking just a tad less processed. Is it the different sensor? Fewer pixels? Who knows. I've said before, the images produced by these cameras show far more similarities than differences.

One thing is for sure, Canon's new CMOS back-lit sensors do job very well. And, apart from fitting in your pocket, the SX230 has another advantage over EVIL cameras: it costs around $300. Given its price, compact size and the inbuilt 18-260mm DX equivalent lens, image quality really leaves little to pick on. This shot was taken before sunrise at ISO 800 with the lens fully extended:

The colours are quite true as a rule, with the image settings turned off or switched to neutral. It depends on your subject, of course.

Here's the dynamic range issue again, pretty bad blow-outs:

In less bright light, the SX230 does very well.

  The next image speaks for itself: A long shot in the dark, almost.

Build and Handling

A few issues here: With a camera this size and this capable, why did Canon not give the body a more user-friendly shape? Or at least a small grip on the right-hand side? As it is, the body lacks any kind of grip or grippy surface, and that’s annoying. As with the IXUS 300 HS, function has taken a back seat to form, a very pretty form in this case but Canon would’ve made more friends if it had given this competent camera a more functional body.

It’s a chunky camera, with the body made of solid metal. Only the silver rim - also metal but quite thin - looks a bit flimsy where it opens for the flash and the ports. Apart from that, this camera is very well-constructed. The MASP/modes dial is very solid, so are the other buttons, and the screen is gorgeous. The lens makes no noise when zooming in and out. The size and weight of the SX230 actually help you hold the camera steady, which can be a challenge with smaller digicams.

The layout of controls is well done, from the shutter on top and the zoom ring around it to the crisp 16x9 display and the big MASP mode dial. And navigation is pretty good too: unlike the IXUS 300HS, the SX230’s body has enough buttons on the back despite the same size wide screen, so it’s not hard to set this camera up for shooting exactly how you want it. If you don’t know how you want it, a large collection of scene modes and special effects is provided.  

Performance

The flash spoils the show by popping up when you turn the camera on – Canon, what is this stupid feature doing on a camera like this? The best way to stop it is to keep a finger on it, but it doesn’t answer the question.

The camera starts in a instant, and focusing is pretty snappy as well. Shot to shot times are a bit more tardy but choosing continuous shooting mode is a simple way to get around that problem. 2.5 frames/sec isn’t all that fast but it’s fast enough - you don't buy a camera like this to shoot sports action. The zoom ring has a smooth enough action and is well-judged for the long range, and the best news is that the Image Stabilisation works really well.

Anytime you shoot at less than 1/30 of a second, the orange shaking hand warning will come on, but the camera copes with slower speeds OK most of the time. With a usable option of ISO 800, that makes it a versatile little machine that you can use in a variety of situations without problems. The range is F/3.1 - 5.9 so it gets a bit slow at the tele end.

The battery is barely good enough for 200 shots which is not exactly generous. The only positive here is that, for reasons I can't fatheom, the SX230 uses the same battery as my old IXUS 960IS, so I have a spare already.

Final thoughts

As an all-round, take-anywhere, all-in-one camera, the SX230 is hard to beat. The IQ is not serious challenge to low-end DSLRs, but it can come surprisingly close as this shot shows:

On the whole, I agree with DP Review whose reviewers said: ‘Images from the SX230 are amongst the sharpest and most consistently well-exposed of the cameras in this group test. … considering the breadth of its zoom range, sharpness is impressively uniform.’ They added: ‘The new sensor and processor deliver excellent image quality in just about any situation we tested the camera in, and when you add excellent optical quality and video performance into the mix, the SX230 HS is a very compelling camera.' http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q311travelzoomgrouptest/page3.as

It’s almost ridiculous to find a huge zoom range like this in a pocket camera, and it would be just as ridiculous to pick on some of the obvious compromises that follow - slightly bigger size and more body depth, for example. If size is a big issue, Canon's new IXUS 510HS provides 12x zoom in a smaller package but you'll lose the MASP controls.

That there are so few nits to pick is an indication that the SX230 does most things pretty well. Sure, it doesn’t break records in any particular discipline, but then it’s really more an accomplished pentathlon champion than a sprinter. 

Kim

 

 

 

Nikon D5100 – the further we go, the better it gets

One of the things I really missed in the tropics was the ‘Golden Hour we landscape photographers hang out for. It’s that period in the morning just before and after the sun gets up, and the same in reverse in the evening. In the tropics, the transition form night to day and day to night is quite sudden, and a golden hour is a rare event reserved for certain nights in late summer and autumn.

In Sydney, by contrast, the golden hour is a frequent event, but it isn’t an easy thing to photograph because your camera’s metering system will not cope with the dramatic contrasts in dynamic range. The best option is to switch to Manual mode and to check your LCD after test shots to check that you’ve got the settings right – usually several notches left of what the camera suggests (it tends to overcompensate for the bright light of the rising sun).

The first sign that a new day dawns

It's like watching theatre unfold in front of your eyes

The sky lights up like a fire

Suddenly, there's the pot of gold and you've got to catch it.

The exercise brigade misses so much

The D5100 doesn't miss much. In my review, I complained about Nikon giving us yet another battery. It turns out that this new one delivers some 1,000 shots before running out of juice. That's a worthwhile gain over the 500 of the D5000.

Kim

Digital Photo Perfection - what is there left to talk about?

The web is rife with speculation that Nikon will release a couple of new DSLRs this month, to replace older models like the D700 - more details http://bythom.com/ Let me ask a simple question: how much better do you expect the new cameras to be? A couple of years ago, the makers of DSLRs threw in video because there was nothing else left for them to do. 

I’ve said this more than once over the last couple of years: digital cameras have become so good that they produce flawless images even when the operator has his eyes closed. Any minor issues like exposure, straightening, sharpening and cropping can be quickly fixed in PP. There you go. Perfection.

So what do we talk about once we've reached such an easy level of perfection? Minute technical differences between cameras and lenses? The meaning of life? How to split the atom? I'm running out of ideas, not sure how others keep going.

With so many shooters now flooding the web with good quality images, it’s also tough to come up with original images that you haven’t seen a hundred times before like the shot above. Palm Cove, just north of Cairns. Very nice. Just as you’d expect. As always, click on the image for a larger file.

Trying hard here, but haven't you seen this before as well?

Bad weather can be a great help when you're looking for a new dimension

You have to work harder and concentrate on the essentials of photography: light and shade, texture, hues. You have to look at things in a different light.

And from different angles

Light and shade can transform a common ginger bush into something special

This bamboo isn't common, but a special variety in the Cairns Botanical Gardens

Cape Tribulation in the Daintree north of Port Douglas.

The Inner Barrier Reef at low tide just off the Low Isles near Port Douglas

Let's finish with one of the locals

And just to fill in an important blank, all these images came out of my old D40x because I didn't want to expose the new D5100 to unnnecessary risk of damage or loss. Proves my point, I think. I can't see that the D5100 would've produced significantly better images in these settings.

 

Kim

Winter Down Under

There's plenty of colour if you just keep your eyes open. Click on images for a larger file.

Just plain bark

And full-on green

And life of all kinds

This next shot was taken with the D5100's special effects mode - selective colour

And this is Nyssa Sylvatica, the tree with those glorious autumn leaves, in winter

A rare black swan

The Magnolias are about to pop out in all their glory

The early ones aren't always the best

Spring is only a month away

Kim