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› archive for May 1st, 2009

Size matters? / Daddy’s got a brand-new bag.

I should preface by saying that I love our used department. Given that they’re also the lighting department. And bags. They handle a lot downstairs and I like to chat with them when I’m making my way back from our warehouse.

They are also some mad-hat haters. I for one am pretty thrilled that my e-410 can, with an adapter, mount a manual focus 50 1.8 from the OM system or Nikon or EOS and have an equivalent 100mm 1.8. Mr. Proctor quipped that he could achieve the same result by cropping his images by 50%. My retort was that my cropped sensor still has all its pixels…and he shot back with the higher pixel density = more noise argument. I weakened, fell back on “control your lighting” and was trampled under the powerful tag-team assault of from Rich’s “I like shooting at ISO 3200 and having it look like 1600″ and Scott’s “why don’t you just draw a picture” jab at my fumbling “I’ll fix it in post!”

My Shooting-Fu is yet weak in its reliance on fixing things like white balance, exposure recovery, and cropping in post, and I must yet tremble before the masters who complete mathy-like equations involving focal length, aperture, apples, oranges, and jalapenos while panning their manual focus lenses without even thinking about it. I am currently more concerned about composition and the more squishy notion of a photograph’s “feel” than being technically perfect right from the camera (because, you know, there’s no on-board firmware making decisions about color balance, contrast, etc).

So have fun with the below:

Where my new Crumpler bags were hellishly in need of some white balancing I went back and used the handy one-touch WB function and shot it again. Mostly to keep playing with the new gallery function Mr. Martin has implemented in the blog.

See you Thursday, folks.



Cameras See In The Dark

So, I have to admit, I’m sad the race for ISO expansion has so far only gone up. Sure, now my camera can see better in the dark than I can, but it’s only solution for the day is faster shutter speeds. Like, the best of the Olympus digital cameras (which is, of course, were my expertise lies) go up to 1/8000 second shutter, which is very groovy. Especially for stopping time. I think you can freeze a bullet at that shutter.

Where this sucks is: what if I don’t want to freeze time? What if it’s dead noon and I want to shoot a fountain and have it come out as the smooth, sensuous blurs of motion and not the dizzying, distracting matrix of time-frozen droplets?

If I had ISO 50, or ISO 25, this would be easier. Turn the gain down on the sensor and it needs to have more light hit it for a proper exposure. That also increases shutter time, which would give me flowing water. It all makes so much sense!

Until such time as I get expanded ISOs down in the double digits and not quadruple and quintuple digits, it’s a good thing people still make neutral density filters. Me, I’m looking at a good, wholesome ND8 (for a full three more stops slower on the exposure end).

Contractually, I now have to say “Olympus lens filter Indianapolis”, which is a bit awkward, but if you do happen to need a filter for an Olympus lens whilst in Indiapolis, it couldn’t be truer.



Canon Day is May 9th

The bi-annual Canon Day at Roberts is coming around again.  The big Canon digital camera sale is here!  It will be Saturday, May 9th from 10-3.  Canon factory reps will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.  But you don’t have to wait to get the good deals on Canon lenses and cameras.  The deals are in affect now through Saturday May 9th.  Big instant rebates are now available for Canon lenses.  The new Canon point and shoot cameras have big savings as well.  And you won’t have to mail in any rebates!  Come and get the good deals



Walkabout Continues Evenings

OK, looks like next week Thursday, that’s May 7th, is going to be our blind-luck guess for when the weather won’t be silly and interrupt us taking awesome shots. So, Thursday! Woohoo! It’s a late night for Nick and I, so meet us outside of Roberts downtown at 6:30pm for the usual hour or so of shooting (although we can be a bit more flexible about that with evening walks), comradery, and nonsense that is so typical of Nick and me. Grab a camera (be it Nikon, Canon, Oly, Sony, Pentax, Konica, Minolta, Mamiya, Hasselblad, or even Holga) and join us as we hit the mean streets and pretend we have a clue what we’re doing.



Oh My Lowepro

So, I got this from our rep a couple days back, and we feel this is the best way to share it with you, dear readers.

“So…….below is a photo of how I use the Flipside 300 to hold my Canon 500 f4 lens…  plus the Wimberley Sidekick, which many shooters use with the 500 to control the lens nicer on the tripod.  To be able to put both in one small bag is a dream!!  You have no idea how excited about this I am!!  I have shown it to so many people.

“It all fits in the pack perfectly…and you should put a photo of the 500 in the Flipside (300) for one of your alternate views on the site.  This is huge!!  No one makes a good bag or small backpack for the 500…and it probably fits many other big lenses too from Canon and Nikon.  Don’t overlook this…  It is huge in my opinion.”

“The CompuTrekker is my favorite pack ever made…and I love it to death.  I have sold countless bags for you from showing it in all of my photography classes… I show them how much gear it can handle…and how well it contours to the back….and then let them know it fits a laptop with ease. This is key because I do so many photo presentations when I am leading photo tours…….and I need my laptop so often.  It really is the most versatile pack made in the world and no one in my opinion, has anything close.”

Our Lowepro rep sent us this from an “anonymous Canon tech rep.”  (Lowepro of course making those imperative digital camera accessories, the camera bags, and making them well. I used a Rezo 160AW for quite some time before giving it to my dad). We’ll accept some healthy skepticism towards the authenticity of the testimony, but we have to admit, the picture included is good, because apparently the 500mm monster of Canon lenses does actually fit in the Flipside 300 quite cozy. Really. See the picture below.



May in Indianapolis

You never know what you might see here in Indianapolis in the month of May. Today I was just walking back from lunch and saw a motorcade of motorcycles stopping traffic right in front of the downtown Roberts Distributors store at 255 S. Meridian. My first thought was a funeral. But a funeral through downtown? Not too likely unless it was a dignitary of local celebrity, and I would have heard about that.

Luckily I always have my trusty Olympus digital 1030SW point and shoot on my hip. This time I got it out, and on in time to capture a shot of what was really stopping traffic in the Circle City.

An Indy car on Meridian Stret

An Indy car on Meridian Stret

Behind that came a bunch of new silver “Official Pace Cars” one of which was driven by one of my racing heroes Rick Mears, but I didn’t get that shot. Nothing was wrong with the camera, however there was a nut loose behind the view screen.




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