Mark Heath

Photos

Review of Disney Plus

by

Disney Plus

As an AV enthusiast and broadband advocate, I’ve been very excited by the rapid roll-out and take-up of TV streaming services. These have increased consumer choice and introduced Ultra HD 4k content and Dolby Atmos sound. Disney has just launched its Disney Plus service in the UK and at the great price of £5.99 per month. Because of the coronavirus crisis, UK streaming providers have reduced bit rates to lessen their load on the UK’s broadband infrastructure so the service currently does not look or sound as good as it should. However, the service is certain to prove popular among families isolating in their homes and with children not going to school.

Disney Plus screenshot

I have produced a review below (which will be updated when bit rates return to ‘normal’):

Review of Disney Plus in the UK: shame about the picture and sound quality

Photography for Posterity

by

I am currently building up an online library of old photographs of the village where I live so that these amazing images can be shared as widely as possible. Thank you to the people and local museums that have provided these. These images have proved immensely popular, being viewed about 50,000 times in the last year, mainly by local people. The photos shown were taken by the Reverend Holland and James William Church.

amateir photographerI am so grateful to the photographers at the time who put considerable effort into capturing the world around them. The photo on the left shows James William Church, who was a keen amateur local photographer.

We would be so much poorer if these people had not done this. They have really inspired me to capture images for posterity, and in the best quality possible. Even things that may seem normal and even mundane at the time often become fascinating later.

View more old photographs

Other pages you may be interested in:

History of Spaldwick (Spaldwick website) | Other Blog Posts for Spaldwick

Photographing Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire

by

The National Trust describes Anglesey Abbey as a Jacobean-style house with gardens and a working watermill. Over 100 acres of grounds contain a range of gardens and walks, which were laid out by Baron Fairhaven in the 1930s. This includes popular rose and dahlia gardens that house a large number of varieties. The Lode Water Mill, dating from the eighteenth century, was restored to working condition in 1982.

To view all the photos, visit:

Anglesey Abbey Gallery

For more information, please view the National Trust using the following link:

National Trust Anglesey Abbey website

 

Ten Years of ‘Serious’ Photography

by

Time has flown so quickly. While it does not seem that long since I bought my first Digital SLR camera, it’s now ten years since I became ‘serious’ about photography.

I purchased my first digital SLR camera back in 2006 (the Canon 350D), and I had just one lens – the Canon 50mm f1.4 – the so-called ‘nifty fifty’. The main initial driver for my purchase was to capture my young, growing family in as high a quality as possible. Before this purchase, I relied on different types of compact camera to essentially take ‘snaps’. I look back in horror at some of the images I produced where, often, little attention was paid to subject, composition or technical aspects. In September 2008, I created and launched the website for my village (which I still operate today) and this spurred me on to use my developing skills to capture village landmarks and events. My first ‘proper’ self-assigned project was to photograph my local village fete in 2009, and the images shown in this article are from that event.

At the time, I didn’t realise that I was capturing history. Tony Wakefield – my friend George’s dad – gave a demonstration (alongside George) of the British Magnum 4 sidecar. This was very impressive, and noisy at the time. I had not realised that Tony was part of the British Magnum 4 sidecar racing team, which was headquartered at the Spaldwick Service Station. You can view more photos from this era, including a clip from Motor Cycle News in 1967 with the title ‘Wakefield – bright hope’ here:

Spaldwick History Photos

As with all photographers, I’ve better defined my own style and preferences over time. As painful as it has been, I’ve tried to become more organised, for example, creating and regularly uploading images to my Smugmug-powered online photography site as it makes sharing images with others so much easier. The other day, I was rather shocked to realise that I now have about 30,000 images online, with more than six million views to date!

If you are thinking about purchasing a ‘proper’ camera rather than, say, using a mobile phone I would strongly recommend going for it. Realise that you are on your own journey, and just enjoy it. Photography has given me immense pleasure over the years and I just cannot imagine not having a high-quality camera to capture the world around me.

Recording Mark Sturdy Singing ‘Hey There Delilah’

by

I’ve known Mark Sturdy for many years and have seen his and my family grow up in the same village in Cambridgeshire. I’ve regularly taken photos of Mark and his band, and these photos were taken at two of the earliest occasions, both back in 2012.

I’ve seen Mark perform ‘Hey There Delilah’ on several occasions. Mark kindly let me test my basic recording skills to capture his signature piece. Equipment used: Neumann U87 (vocal) and Rode NT4 (acoustic guitar) using an Apogee interface. Recorded at 192 kHz 24 bit resolution.

Photographing Cambridge

by

As one of my favourite cities, Cambridge is relatively small, with a population of about 129,000, including 25,000 students. With the clear influence of its world-renowned university, Cambridge possesses a host of cultural must-sees and beauty spots. I love visiting the city with my camera.

With over five million visitors flocking to see Cambridge every year, you really do need to visit at off-peak times in order to capture scenes without people.

In warmer weather, nothing is more relaxing that taking a punt along the River Cam, passing many of the Cambridge Colleges.

I am delighted that some of my Cambridge photos have been published – such as in the book ‘A Day Above Cambridgeshire’ by Angela Weld, Richard Hall, Robert Pusey, and William and John Nowell.

You can view many more Cambridge photos here:

Cambridge Photo Gallery

How Many Megapixels are Enough on a Camera?

by

I always try to capture images is as high as resolution as possible – not really to display on mobile phones and today’s display technology but for posterity. In many years, display technology will have advanced rapidly and those images that look fine today on a small screen will look distinctly blurry, noisy and lacking in detail on much larger displays in the future. I can tell this as I often display images from Facebook on my iMac Pro’s 5k retina screen and images that look fine on a small mobile phone look pretty bad on a much larger higher-resolution device.

I am always amazed at how much detail an excellent DLSR camera with the best lenses can capture. Below is a scene I photographed with a 60 Megapixel Sony A7R IV camera (hand held) with a Sony 24mm FE f1.4 GM lens. This camera captures images of 9504 x 6336 pixels, so even an 8k TV could not display the images produced in their full resolution. If you are looking at the image on a decent monitor, you should be able to distinguish the start of the name on the boat – ‘Elaine’ – and clearly distinguish the blue flag above the name.

The image above, is actually just a crop taken from the original image below.

Here is another example, below, which shows a cropped image. On a decent monitor, you should be able to clearly make out the text, “For family, friends and drink lovers everywhere!”

Now here is the original image from which the image above was cropped.

Based upon this, one could argue that such high resolution on a camera is completely wasted if you are viewing images on a display screen. This is particularly true for mobile phones, which many people are currently using to view images. For example, one of the most current smartphones is the Apple iPhone 11, which has a screen resolution of 1792 x 828 pixels. Even though modern mobile phone screens look detailed and sharp (because they have a relatively high pixel density), their small size means that they cannot display images in their full resolution. The iPhone 11 cannot even fully display HD video content (1920 x 1080 pixels), nevermind Ultra HD 4k content (3840 x 2160 pixels). With a resolution of 1792 x 828 pixels, the iPhone 11 is capable of only displaying the output of a 1.5 Megapixel camera in its full resolution.

It would be unwise to base requirements on today’s viewing on small mobile phone screen. Some desktop users are using screens with much higher resolution. For example, my 27-inch iMac Retina screen has a resolution of 5120 x 2880 pixels. It can display the output of a 15 Megapixel camera in its full resolution. Apple’s new 6k display has a resolution of 6016 x 3384 pixels, and so can display the output of a 20.4 Megapixel camera. More and more people are expected to display their photos on smart TVs. Already, 8k TVs are on sale, which are expected to proliferate in the next ten years. An 8k TV, with a resolution of 7680 x 4320, can display the full resolution image of a 33.2 Megapixel camera.

There is another important factor, however. The figures so far assume that you would be using the full output of a camera. However, most photographers like having ‘spare’ resolution to be able to crop images to make them more artistic or remove unwanted visual distractions. If you want cropping flexibility and plan to eventually have your images displayed on an 8k TV, you will need a camera with significantly more than 33.2 Megapixels. Suddenly, the 60 Mpixel resolution of the Sony A7R IV does not seem overkill anymore.

Bear in mind that the benefits of a large pixel count on a camera depend critically on the quality of the lens used and the lack of motion blur. The true resolution of an image captured can be significantly degraded by a poorer quality lens, which is why increasing resolutions on mobile phones is rather pointless. Opting for a camera with a high Megapixel count demands investing in the best quality lens available. Furthermore, motion blur can reduce the actual resolution recorded. For example, it is possible to see motion blur on the cropped photo above. Ideally, photographs should be taken with a tripod or a very fast shutter speed. Fast shutter speeds generally necessitate higher-cost, wider aperture lenses to avoid noise.

While I take photographs with other cameras, I’m now noticing I reach for my Sony A7R IV in preference. I know that images I take today will be more futureproofed for tomorrow.

BBC Ramps Up Ultra HD (4k) Content Through iPlayer

by

As with any AV enthusiast, I relish being able to watch (and listen to) TV in the best quality possible – to see exactly what the Director intended. In general, a huge amount of work in put in behind the scenes for TV programmes and movies, with incredible attention to detail.

To help bring viewers improved picture and sound quality, the BBC has been trialling its new Ultra HD (4k) service through iPlayer, and it has looked spectacular. Many people do not realise that they are able to receive these ‘test’ broadcasts on their smart TVs. The BBC has been offering 4k versions of ‘Seven Worlds, One Planet’ and ‘Dracula’. The photos shown were taken of my own TV screen, so looked even better in person. I’ve created an information page on my Increase Broadband Speed site for anyone interested in finding out more:

BBC iPlayer Ultra HD (4k) Demonstrates Amazing Picture Quality

As described in my recent article Superfast Broadband Fuels Streamed Video-on-Demand Services, the widespread roll-out of superfast broadband is fuelling a transformation in the availability and take-up of Ultra HD services, including services offered by Netflix, Amazon, Sky and Apple. You can read my recent review of Apple’s new TV+ service here:

Review of Apple TV+: Apple’s Streamed Service Leads the Pack in Picture Quality

I will shortly be reviewing the new Disney+ service when it launches on the 24th March 2020. It will offer a broad range of Ultra HD content. It’s a tremendously exciting time for AV enthusiasts.