Miscellaneous Stuff…

Crystal Lake Infrared

Some pixelated ramblings from Piazza.

Scott Parsons Blog

1. First up is mention of a great blog by my friend Scott Parsons. Scott has been very involved in photography, having seen it from both the retail and dealer side. He is writing a blog which is really quite amazing. His writing has a philosophical bent that is engaging and thought-provoking. Most of the blog photos were shot with an iPhone. You can read more and sign up here: Espyworks

2.  Canon announced a new high-end camera today. At nearly $7000, not many of you will rush out and buy it but it is always interesting to see how far the science is being pushed. Called the 1D-X, it is an amalgam of their 1.3 D series and their DS full frame sensors. It has an 18 mp full frame sensor and can shoot 12 frames a second! For a while at least, it will likely feature the lowest noise of any camera. It would also appear the megapixel race is slowing down, since this new 18 mp body is replacing a 21 mp model! Recently I was visiting with my friend Jack Kingsley who was involved with early digital sensor research; their sensors had something like 256 pixels!  A far cry from 18 million.

What is perhaps more relevant to us is the fact that soon the 1D MK III and IV and 1DS MK III models will appear in larger numbers on eBay at great prices. A year ago, I bought a used 1D Mark III for about $1,900 (new ones were $4,500) and it has become my favorite body. I could never have afforded a new one. Be warned though that once you work with a pro level camera, it is hard to go back! You can read about the new camera here: 1D-X  On the other hand, this is not to say that a nice “point & shoot” isn’t the way to go! Pick the tools for the job. Often “less” camera is better than “more”! For instance, I have my eyes on a new offering from Fuij: the X10 Compact.

3.  Another great blog I subscribe to is by Art Morris. Art is an amazing bird photographer and I am always learning something from him. Yes, the blogs have lots of advertising but you can ignore that.

Moody Sneffels

4.  More Adobe magic. In case you thought the wizards at Adobe had been napping (a reasonable assumption given the underwhelming features in the new Elements 10), fear not. They are working on a technology that will remove the blur from a photo. Read that again. I don’t mean the optical illusion of unsharp masking or “smart sharpen” which just add some edge contrast on the pixels. This is actually analyzing the blur in an image and then rendering a sharp rendition.

The best way to understand this is the watch this 6 minute video: Image Deblurring If your jaw does not drop, then you probably should have gotten a tetanus shot! Will this show up in CS6? Who knows. But it is enough to get your salivary glands pumping. I don’t need no stinkin’ tripod!

5.  I recently came across an online camera simulator. CameraSim teaches you how ISO, shutter, focal length, aperture and other settings affect your photos. It is free and pretty darn cool. Especially great if you are new to all this nonsense of f-stops and such!

Ouray Splendor

6.  Lightroom is an amazing program but to use it effectively, you need to get your photos organized first. This seems to be a big issue with folks. I frequently work with photographers who have their photos scattered all over. Some are on the desktop; some under “my pictures”; some under other folders. This sort of chaos is not conducive to efficient management, to say nothing of making proper backups. I just posted a short article here, Getting Organized, which will point you in the right direction.

7.  Next Lightroom Basics class. I am tentatively planning my next Lightroom class for Friday, Nov. 18. Only six students. Visit my Class Page for more info and to register.

8.  Happy Halloween!

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Whose Bag Is That?

A recent event leads to this reminder. We were photographing at Crystal Lake (shown above), south of Ouray. With glowing fall colors, a calm lake and a dramatic sky, we were letting the pixels rip on a magical morning.

Shortly after we arrived, we noticed a camera bag along the water’s edge, apparently left behind. We checked to see if there was any identification such as a luggage tag or business card but nothing was apparent. The bag contained a Canon 5D and some lenses, a not inconsequential investment.

My friend Dick asked around as people came and went but no one claimed the prize. We planned to leave a note at the parking area and take the bag to Ouray. Our friend Lora has a motel there and knows everyone in town. She would call the other motels and also alert the Chamber of Commerce and police. We were confident the bag could be eventually reunited with a forlorn photographer!

We continued to make photographs and at some point, a photo workshop instructor got involved and decided to take charge. He was rather rude and arrogant and announced he would take the bag back to the Fort Collins area, some 300 miles away where he would attempt to track down the owner via the serial number.

We argued for leaving the bag in Ouray, 10 miles away, as a more logical place for the owner to search, but we were told our idea was quite stupid! We were assured by some of the workshop participants that the instructor was a “professional” and thereby best qualified for the highly technical and specialized area of camera bag reunions! The best line was when I opined that the bag might find a permanent home in Fort Collins, to which I was told, “the pro shoots Nikon; why would he want Canon stuff”. So there… I guess.

By now, the “instructor” had glommed onto the bag, like a chicken on a June bug! Dick, (in an act of bravery perhaps, or not!) took a photo of the instructor and also got his business card. We hoped this would keep him “honest”.

After about 90 minutes we were getting ready to leave when lo and behold, a person came along looking for the bag. We pointed him in the right direction and he was one happy camper!

The message here of course, is to make sure you have your contact info in your bag. On my own bag, I have a tag attached to the outside, as well as business cards inside.

The same advice applies to camera bodies, lenses and tripods. Some years ago, I left behind a Gitzo tripod. It did not have my name on it and so I learned a $500 lesson.

On many of my bodies and lenses, I have placed a recovery label from stuffbak.com  There are other similar services such as lostfoundreturned.com and  trackitback.com

If nothing else, get a label maker and put your name and phone on everything! I even put my contact info on my memory cards.

Most folks want to be honest but without any contact info, there is not much hope of recovery.

Go label your stuff NOW!

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