In LA

I received my Panasonic DMC-LZ8, and shot a few test photos today. In summary, I’d give the camera an A- for optics, an A for features, a B for user-interface (I have to click how many times to manually set the ISO equivalent?), and a solid D for image processing.

Why that low grade? Because after the camera has responded to the user’s commands, the lens has focused and zoomed, the image has been focused on the sensor, and the sensor has captured an image, Panasonic’s Venus Engine IV software goes to work. It takes the raw image off the sensor, processes it, and writes a file to the memory card. The problem is in the processing — digital images contain some amount of noise, and this noise can be reduced by applying noise reduction algorithms. But there is a downside to noise reduction, as these algorithms reduce the level of detail in the image. Every manufacturer approaches this tradeoff in their own way, but Panasonic’s decision is very unfortunate.

The Panasonic DMC-LZ8 (and apparently most other Panasonic digital cameras) suffers from an overly aggressive style of noise reduction. The user can set the noise reduction to be reduced in one of the camera’s menus, but it can’t be reduced nearly enough, and can’t be disabled. It doesn’t appear to be possible to shoot a photo that is not visibly mangled by Panasonic’s digital noise reduction.

Panasonic’s noise reduction may be useful for photos shot in low-light conditions, as such photos can have enough noise to warrant some smearing of detail in order to make the noise less distracting. Photos shot in bright sunlight should have very little noise and thus require little to no noise reduction, yet the DMC-LZ8 attacks such images with its noise reduction algorithms and leaves them noiseless but also a bit impressionistic, as if they’d been painted with a tiny brush. Definition and fine details are lost in the process. I dialed the digital noise reduction down to its lowest setting and shot a few more sample photos, but the noise reduction was still very apparent.

The problem is not limited to the Panasonic DMC-LZ8, as is attested by this internet petition which asks Panasonic to release a firmware update for several other Panasonic cameras to allow users to choose to disable noise reduction. I would also prefer to disable the camera’s noise reduction feature, because it is easy to apply noise reduction in computer to shots that really need it, and 9 times out of 10 I prefer the organic look of the noise itself to the painterly look of noise reduction.

Gripes aside, the camera seems nice in all other aspects, and for $111 I’m happy with it. It’s small, fast, cheap, and the images are reasonably good (they’d be great if not for the problem noted above). If I’d paid the suggested retail price of $179 I’d probably already be in the process of returning the camera and replacing it with the Canon SD870IS, but at $111 I’m content. I don’t intend to use this as my primary camera. Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.

From saveourtacotrucks.org:

Led by District 1 County Supervisor Gloria Molina, the L.A. Board of Supervisors has passed new restrictions that will effectively eliminate taco trucks from our streets. Under Supervisor Molina’s new rules, taco trucks will have to change location every hour, or face a misdemeanor charge carrying a $1000 fine and/or jail. Yes, jail.

Taco Trucks are a special facet of Los Angeles, and something we don’t want to lose. Though this ordinance currently affects just unincorporated parts of L.A., that’s 65% of the County. And of course it opens up the doors for legislation closer to home too.

I happen to think taco trucks are cuter than the average brick and mortar restaurant, and always like seeing them parked around the city, serving their wares. If you also think taco trucks are charming or useful, and don’t want to see them disappear from Los Angeles, you could do worse than spend a few minutes visiting the saveourtacotrucks.org website. There you can download printable posters, sign petitions, that sort of thing. If you’re wondering what a taco truck is, there are plenty of photos of taco trucks on flickr for you to peruse.

Technorati Tags: food, hollywood, los angeles, mexican food, politics, taco, taco truck

Some of my friends and relatives don’t yet know that I’ve moved back to the U.S. A quick update on my life is in order:

1. I moved to Beijing, China in March of 2007
2. While in China I did a number of things:
   1. Studied Mandarin Chinese
   2. Met a lot of very cool Chinese people (我很想你们, 我有机会的时候我应该要去中国访问你们).
   3. Worked on the first NBA produced Chinese television show (”NBA制造”, a sly title meaning “made in NBA”). Edited the initial promotional materials for the show and about half of the pilot episode.
   4. Worked on the film The Children of Huang Shi (黄石的孩子) in an IT role likely unique to productions in China, facilitating the lines of communication and data between the director and producers in China and the editors in Australia –not an easy task given China’s internet censorship and general network instability. While working on that film in a little town named Hengdian, I met a director, producer, and postproduction supervisor who were doing preproduction work on “The Forbidden Kingdom”. This led directly to my subsequent job.
   5. Worked on the film The Forbidden Kingdom (功夫之王) as second assistant editor. We built our editing suites into a room in the not-too-luxurious Yingdu Hotel in Hengdian (横店).
   6. After four months of work in Hengdian, shooting of The Forbidden Kingdom ended. Last September I and the other members of the editorial department were sent to Los Angeles to continue editing the film.
3. Editorial began working on the director’s cut of the film over in Studio City. Initially I was to be sent back to Beijing (to continue working on the film there) after one month, but one month in LA became two, then four, and then they ended up keeping me in LA for the duration. Somewhere in the middle of those 6 months of work in LA, I decided I might as well consider the U.S.A. my home base again.
4. I’m now finished with The Forbidden Kingdom and have gone on to a new job in the editorial department of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I’m living in Studio City, not far from Universal Studios.

A busy intersection in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. 5/2006

Yesterday I walked to lunch along a busy street in Hollywood, having a very difficult time hearing my friend on my cell phone as busses and trucks rattled past. I marveled at the amazing amount of noise I encounter on a daily basis, and thought of how peaceful the aural landscape of the future city will be if one day all internal combustion engines are replaced by electric equivalents.

There are a ton of Toyota Prios¹ zooming around the streets of LA fairly quietly using their electric motors, the first wave of the new sound of transportation. Sounds like progress to me.

So I’m hoping that a new piece of legislation introduced in the US House of Representatives, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008, doesn’t result in a mandatory minimum noise level for all vehicles. Here are the details on the Act, courtesy of its supporters at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB):

The bill requires the Secretary of Transportation, within ninety days of its enactment, to commence a two-year study to determine the best means to provide the blind and other pedestrians with information about the location, motion, speed, and direction of vehicles. Upon completion of the study, the Secretary will report the findings of the study to Congress and, within ninety days, establish a minimum vehicle safety standard for all new vehicles sold in the United States. Automobile manufacturers will have two years to comply with the vehicle safety standard.

Some folk over at treehugger.com wonder if such concern is overkill, asking How Many Blind People Have Been Hit By A Prius? One answer can be found in an LA times article on the bill, “While the organization is not aware of people being struck by cars they couldn’t hear, NFB President Marc Maurer has said he fears it’s only a matter of time.”

I’d like to think that the desire for a quiet environment and the desire for blind people to be able to freely and safely navigate the streets don’t have to be at odds. Hopefully if the bill passes, the required study will show that tire and electric engine noise alone will suffice to warn pedestrians (especially given that as more and more hybrids take to the streets the total level of road noise will go down, so that the sound of approaching electric vehicles will be less masked by the din). Or maybe someone can develop a wristwatch for the vision-impaired which would use sonar or transponders built into every car to notify them of approaching traffic?

I’d prefer any solution to one that results in a future of roads filled with chirping, whistling, or beeping cars.

Technorati Tags: accessibility, ambient sound, Legislature, safety, sound pollution

1. the plural of Prius if treated as a 2nd declension Latin noun [↩]

Actress in café, happily greeting a friend: You look different
LA Metro-dandy: Oh, I’m wearing colored contacts and fake glasses.

Overheard by¹ Zach at Jennifer’s Coffee Connection, Studio City.

1. title and format are references to the great site, www.overheardinnewyork.com [↩]

I shot a few portraits of Angus against the smoky sunset background. I like this one, but it needs a little bit of photoshop work to really make it sing. There’s somedetail in the shadows I can bring up to further separate him from the background, make him look less like he’s popping out of the horizon, and make it less of a complete silhouette.

Another photo from last night’s sunset. The smoke from Malibu was very heavy.