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More on the Olympus TG-4

Jamie Straw

Jamie Straw

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A spin-off from the thread that diverted from Stuart/Tom experience over to cameras and their macro abilities. Hubby is convinced we should get the Olympus TG-4, I'm wondering if any of you have used this "Light Guide" which "channels the cameras LED illuminator for enhanced, even lighting during macro photography." Based on my experience with close-up photography and the flash on my phone, seems like a good idea.
 
I used one like it, and it is awesome if your subject will stand still. It's only waterproof (or so it claims) to 50 ft.

Basically, it turns your strobe into a ring flash.

I should add (as the guilty party who pointed your hubby to the TG-4) that your hubby owes you a commission. I think you deserve a vacuum chuck.
 
If you plan to do close up macro photos the camera will block the light. So the light guide is needed.
Like Hy said it is just sort of a round mirror that projects the light like a ring flash.

You should also get one of the small tripods. I use the Olympus app to control the camera from an iPhone or iPad. It connects through wifi so you can't be online while doing photography with the device. For macros you want the camera to shoot without using the camera button so either put it on timer or use the remote feature of the app.
 
Well from an artistic point of view I don't like ring lights. the lighting is too flat. However it is a very quick and easy way to light small objects if you just want a good clear image. What you can do is mask off part of the light on the top and bottom with black tape and then put some white translucent tape over one of the sides. That should give a more natural look with some shadows. The problem with ring lights is they don't produce any shadows and of course have a ring shaped highlight on anything curved and shiny. We bought one at work to use for portraits and of course I had to try it for artwork. After about 3 months we never used it again. Just didn't like the look of the lighting. I was able to mask it off as I mentioned and got some good lighting but it ate up so much of it's power it didn't allow me to use the maximum f stops which you often need for macro work. I rigged up 2 strobes really close to the front of the lens for maximum power but you average photographer isn't going to go to those extremes.
 
hockenbery said:
If you plan to do close up macro photos the camera will block the light. So the light guide is needed.
Like Hy said it is just sort of a round mirror that projects the light like a ring flash.

You should also get one of the small tripods. I use the Olympus app to control the camera from an iPhone or iPad. It connects through wifi so you can't be online while doing photography with the device. For macros you want the camera to shoot without using the camera button so either put it on timer or use the remote feature of the app.
Click to expand...

I'm an Android person, so no i-anything.😛 The timer it is. As to small tripods, somehow I've accumulated 3 of them -- probably were in various auction lots bought for some other desired item.😵
 
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john lucas said:
Well from an artistic point of view I don't like ring lights. the lighting is too flat. However it is a very quick and easy way to light small objects if you just want a good clear image. What you can do is mask off part of the light on the top and bottom with black tape and then put some white translucent tape over one of the sides. That should give a more natural look with some shadows. The problem with ring lights is they don't produce any shadows and of course have a ring shaped highlight on anything curved and shiny. We bought one at work to use for portraits and of course I had to try it for artwork. After about 3 months we never used it again. Just didn't like the look of the lighting. I was able to mask it off as I mentioned and got some good lighting but it ate up so much of it's power it didn't allow me to use the maximum f stops which you often need for macro work. I rigged up 2 strobes really close to the front of the lens for maximum power but you average photographer isn't going to go to those extremes.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the details, John. Sounds like perhaps for coins it would work well? That's the most important thing. For my small turning stuff, I'll use a photo cube (just received from Amazon) and light(s) on the outside, not true "macro" photography and wouldn't use the ring.
 
I used to build computers when they first hit the market, when they began the cycle of being outdated
every year or two I decided it was time to throw in the towel. Now the software is going down the same path
along with cell phones etc. There is no way a person can keep up with the technology changes hitting the
market each year.
 
Jamie,

I have had various versions of the Olympus Tough, the TG-4 being the latest.
I killed a few versions while scuba diving....seems 80 feet is about the limit. Doh.
Finally bought the case, so now I'm good to 200 feet. 🙂

As a travel / adventure camera, its awesome.
Swimming, scuba diving, skiing and travel etc. its really good.

A few quibbles: it uses a proprietary cable to USB - very annoying. Yet another cable to keep around.
Heavier than other cameras its size. Not that cheap.
Its a heavily armoured camera, so extra weight and cost.

For stills and normal usage around the house/workshop, I'm not sure its the best pick.
For pics of your work, I'd stick with an SLR.

Olaf
 
As a former photographer I can't keep up with the new cameras either even though I try. I'm not sure an SLR is a necessity anymore. There are some great point and shoot cameras out there. For shooting your own art work I still think manual focus and manual exposure or at least exposure overrides are essential. There are work arounds for cameras that don't have these features but they are always a pain in the butt. The new mirror less cameras a great in the studio. Not so great outside if it doesn't have digital viewfinder because you can't see the image. I don't have any experience with Olympus but have used several of the Panasonic Lumix point and shoot cameras and they are an excellent value for what you get. They also have really good macro capability. They don't have the ring light option but you can do a really good job of shooting coins by simply cutting a hole in the bottom of a white or translucent plastic bowl. Place that over the coin and then shoot through the hole. Add your own lighting outside. The bowl tends to diffuse the lighting like a cloudy day and makes a wonderful system for shooting jewelry and coins. I remember I taught a class at Arrowmont in shooting artwork and girl had purchased what I think was called a Cloud dome. It attached to the lens and looked like a tupperware bowl. It was very expensive. Iwent out that night and bought a small white styrafoam cooler and cut a hole in the bottom. We put a light outside and and got just as good a photo as she got and it cost me all of 99 cents.
 
john lucas said:
... can do a really good job of shooting coins by simply cutting a hole in the bottom of a white or translucent plastic bowl. Place that over the coin and then shoot through the hole. Add your own lighting outside.
Click to expand...

So, what you're saying is that there really is a useful purpose for a bowl with a hole in the bottom. 😀 When we turn through the bottom of a bowl we can claim that we're making a photography accessory.
 
Photography is all about learning to see light. Especially in the studio. You don't just look at the piece your photographing you look at how the light shapes it and in some cases how the light looks bad on it. Light of course creates shadow. Its the light and the shadow that create shape and 3 dimensionality in a photo. If you use too much light such as the photo boxes with 2 or 3 lights all around, the light will be too even and the piece will appear flat. Using one light in a photo box or what we call a light tent it is possible to create a more 3 dimensional piece because the light will be brighter on one side and creates some shadow on the other side.
when I was teaching nature photography we would be out at sunrise and everyone would of course shoot the sunrise or turn around and shoot behind us where the sun it lighting the trees. A much better show quite often was left or right where the sun was hitting one side of the tree and there was shadow on the other side. This creates a photo with a lot more depth or 3 dimensionality. The light in this case will be much more dramatic.
I used to do a lot of macro photography. I found that I could take a flash unit and attach it to a cord so I could use it off camera. I would set that flash to give me an exposure brighter than the ambient light. Then I would position this flash to shine a light similar to the sun hitting the piece from the side or sometimes even slightly back lit. This would create much more shape to the flower or bug. It was very much like the same way I shot art work in the studio. Create shape and drama with the main light and then add reflectors or a second light to bring the shadow side darkness up to a usable brightness.
 
The IES Illumination Engineering Society has a wealth of information pertaining to "lighting".
The other variable is an individuals eye's and the processor that converts the data to an image they see.
The "Kelvin" color of the light source is another variable in creating the image.
The color of the light source determines the color reflected from the item being photographed.

I worked with a machinist many years ago when he moved his tool manufacturing facility. I was helping
him with his electrical distribution for all of his machines. I noticed he was using "HPS" High Pressure Sodium
lighting in his production area's. This type of lighting is very depressing to work under, I mentioned to him that
he could retrofit his lighting to a better quality full spectrum light source and he just laughed. Using the single
spectrum (red) colored light source he was able to see the direction his machining equipment was running in.
This prevented ruining expensive tool parts being machined on conventional lathes and mills back in the day.
Under a full spectrum light the eye is unable to identify rotation of an object, under a single spectrum light source
the eye is able to identify the direction of rotation.
 
Mike Johnson said:
Under a full spectrum light the eye is unable to identify rotation of an object, under a single spectrum light source the eye is able to identify the direction of rotation.
Click to expand...

It's not the spectral content, but rather the strobe effect of gas-discharge lighting running on AC power that provides the stop-motion effect which enables observation of motion, however, you can only discern a change in direction and not the direction itself without knowing some initial conditions. I would think that the the machinist was using the strobe effect to judge speed rather than direction. It doesn't really matter whether the light is monochromatic or if it has a broader spectral content. Xenon flash tubes which have a rich spectral content and a color temperature of about 5500K are used extensively for stop motion analysis. I have observed the strobe effect at my lathe when using the LED work lights. Obviously, it needs to be dark to observe this. I turn outdoors and in the summer I sometimes turn at night with LED lighting (when I need lots of light I turn on halogen flood work lights).

The older style low pressure metal halide gas discharge lamps, especially the low pressure sodium vapor SOX lamps are essentially monochromatic. The newer and more efficient high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps have a broader spectrum of light output. The even newer "white" SON "white" sodium lamps have a color temperature rating of about 3000K and a CRI of about 85. They are primarily for indoor use. The CRI rating takes into account the spectral content of the light output. I don't know if the intensity of the strobe effect is diminished by the special "glass" used in SON lamps¹, but I assume that the impact is minimal..

At work, we had to move from one office building to another. Since the new building wasn't ready to be occupied, the temporary office space was set up in in the high bay of an unused aircraft hanger where we quickly discovered the strange effects of HPS lighting. Our new office building wasn't quite ready for occupation so office space was set up in the open high bay of an aircraft hanger building that wasn't currently being used. The really strange effect occurred when leaving the hanger at the end of the day and going into natural daylight. The natural daylight appeared to be a strange intense blue color. It took almost 15 minutes to get completely back to normal color vision. After threats of a rebellion, the lighting was replaced with standard office fluorescent lighting.


¹ NOTE: Sodium is a highly reactive element and at high temperatures and pressures there is no ordinary glass that can be used on SON lamps because the sodium quickly chemically reacts with it and turns it black. The solution to that problem was a ceramic -- translucent aluminum oxide (as in grinding wheel abrasive) along with a metallic oxide coating on the interior surface as the new kind of "glass" for a SON lamp.
 
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