Locus Software – works w/ Leica S2, M8.2, M8, Digilux 3
Buy NowCurrent price: $29 |
|
|
Locus is a computer program for Microsoft Windows that will help you master the technology of your camera and lens. It calculates the things you need to know to control the focus, blur, perspective and depth of your photos. It has a large camera database and a great User Manual with Illustrated Dictionary. Many gifted photographers have an amazing artistic “eye”. They seem to instinctively know how to compose a beautiful shot. They often make the ordinary look extraordinary. Yet many of these same gifted photographers struggle to make sense of their cameras. How to configure them to capture the images they envision. The desired perspective. The right amount of background blur. What lens to use? What focal length and aperture? What focus distance and perspective? What speed? What resolution? Locus will help answer these questions. Many shots come only once and you’ll have just the one chance to get it right. It may be a live event that will never be repeated. There could be big money at stake. How do you nail the shot the first time? How do you make sure that the subject will be in focus? What if the subject is moving? How fast must your camera be to freeze the motion? The best photographers rely on experience and planning. They’ve captured the “money shots” before and they know what to expect—what did and didn’t work in the past. They may have spent hours or days doing test shots to prepare. Now there is a tool to calculate many of these answers for you and help you plan for the shoot before it happens. With Locus you can plan your shoot and shoot your plan. Using Locus is a 1-2-3 step process…Step 1: Begin by entering information about your camera in the upper portion of the program’s main window. Locus includes a database with the parameters for 1,267 cameras! It’s the largest database of its kind and most of the time, you simply select your camera from the “Camera” list and your camera’s information will be loaded into the program. Notice below that your camera manufacturer’s logo will appear to aid recognition: Step 2: Enter information about your lens in the middle portion of the program’s main window. This includes the Focal Length, Aperture f-number and Focus Distance. Locus can help you determine the Focal Length with the program’s Focal Length Calculator (shown below). Simply enter one of the desired Field of View (FOV) dimensions and the Focus Distance in the center of the Calculator. It will then calculate the required Angle of View (AOV) and Focal Length at the top. In the example above, the photographer wants the FOV to be 7 feet (2.1 meters) wide and he plans to locate the camera 10 feet (3 meters) away from the point of focus. This will require a lens with a 50 mm Focal Length. Image sensor or film frame Format Size (the dimensions of the image area) Aspect Ratio of native pictures from the camera Locus Speed CalculatorSome subjects just won’t hold still—like the airplane shown in flight above. Locus includes an innovative Speed Calculator (shown below) that enables you to calculate the Minimum Shutter Speed to freeze the movement of a subject. Enter the Direction of Travel, Speed and Distance to Subject and the program will calculate the Minimum Shutter Speed with the assumption that the camera will be stationary. In the example above, a subject traveling at an angle of 245 degrees with respect to the camera at a speed of 100 mph (161 kph) and a distance of 50 feet (15.2 meters) from the camera will require a shutter speed of 1/2227 seconds for the selected camera and lens. The closest 1/3 EV step (a common increment for cameras) would be 1/2500 second. And there’s more: If you enter the Actual Size of the area you plan to photograph and the Focal Length of the lens you plan to use, the Crop Calculator will tell you how far away to locate your camera (the Focus Distance). The secret of Locus’ PrecisionThe secret to Locus’ pin-point accuracy is knowing when something is in focus and when it is out of focus. This is calculated with the “Circle of Confusion” parameter or COC. It defines the maximum fuzziness that a dot can have before it begins to look out of focus. Why a “dot”? Because a very small point-like object provides a good standard for comparison. Since objects appear bigger as they go out of focus, the in-focus dot grows into a fuzzy circle. The COC is the maximum size that a dot can be and still look in focus. For many years the photography industry treated the COC more or less as if it were a fixed value for each Format Size and its value was based on old pre-World War II film, photo prints and viewing distances. That’s why traditional Depth of Field (DOF) tables—even the ones provided by lens makers today—are of little value. Why? Because the size of the photo and the viewer’s distance from it have changed a lot and have a dramatic effect on when an object will appear out of focus. Locus includes a COC Calculator (shown below) so you can adjust the COC to your specific situation. Begin by entering either the Output Size or the Enlargement Factor. Then enter the Viewing Distance. The effective COC will be calculated for those conditions. Plus it will calculate the size of a single pixel in the photo so you will know if the resolution of your camera is a constraint on the apparent focus (i.e. the size of a pixel is larger than the COC). Now Locus’ calculations will accurately reflect the size you plan to display your photo and the distance of your viewers from it. You’ll know what will really look in focus to your viewers and what won’t. You’ll know the real Depth of Field (DOF) and how to set the Aperture f-number of your lens to achieve it. Without Locus, you’ll just be guessing. Computer RequirementsLocus is designed to run under 32-bit versions of Windows Vista and XP and it requires about 61 MB of hard drive space. All purchases are final—there are no refunds. So we recommmend that you download the program from our website at www.ht-locus.com and test it to make sure that it runs on your computer before you purchase it. The program’s “demo mode” will give you 30 days to launch the program up to 12 times to make sure that it runs okay. Note: Locus may be able to run under 64-bit versions of Windows and it may also be able to run on a Mac via Boot Camp (or other PC emulators) if Windows XP is installed. However, we do not test these configurations and do not support them. Shipping & Payment: |
|
