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Why You Need To Photowalk

Pho­towalks = Sexy, Try and Deny It

Pho­towalks = Sexy, Try and Deny It

We didn’t see you out at the last photowalk (except you, Tony, we appreciated seeing you.) And you know what, you really missed out. Check out that shot above. Check out the shots below. We really want to see you out this coming Tuesday. Don’t worry if you don’t think you’re very good or you don’t have fancy equipment, we don’t care. You want help and advice? We’ll give it, gladly. It’s about a love for photography, no matter how you do it.

Thanks again to Erin and Jeff. Shots below from Nikon’s D3 and my trusty Olympus E-3.



Nikon Rocks Indy, Derek Shoots a D3, Pigs Nationwide Take Wing

photo by Dawn Boarman

photo by Dawn Boarman

So, as mentioned by the stalwart Mr Henry, the photo walk was great fun. Thanks go to Jeff and Erin for making it what it was. I spent the first half working with my normal tackle while Nick, at my recommendation, got some one-on-one love with the very sweet D700 and the (old/current) 70-200 VR. Then, near the end and at Jeff’s suggestion, I picked up the D3 that had remained strangely untouched and started running around with it and the 14-24, 24-70, and the 85mm f1.8.

The D3 was as impressive as I remember from the last time I got to handle one briefly, and the CH drive mode was so fast it took me a second to realize it wasn’t just a funny sounding shutter action but in fact three of them every time I pressed the button. Hair trigger on that beast.

Jeff was great to have out, he’s really quite knowledgable not only in specs but in methods, and he was very forthcoming with help and tips. And, afterwards at Rock Bottom, we were all (Dawn, Nick, Jeff and myself) talking it over, and we think maybe we haven’t been pointing out enough that these aren’t just photowalks for the guys and gals who know what they’re doing, that they are in fact learning experiences and that we’re out there to help you understand photography better. So, if you’ve been holding off on coming out because you’re not a ‘shooter’, stop it. Come on out and ask Nick and myself any questions you have, we’ll give you all the advice in our noggins in exchange for your company.



Photowalk – Success!

Voice activated lightstands

Things went rather well. The weather cooperated, so I didn’t need to use my rainsleeve. And even though I managed to convince everyone to park something like, nine miles from the shooting sites, everyone seemed pretty pleased with the outcome. Above, you’ll see our volunteer model Erin, framed by two voice activated light stands with Tony’s elbow poking in from the side.

Later on we’ll have footage to put on the Roberts Imaging channel on youtube, and as Derek and I filter through and spruce up our shots we’ll get them added to the Flickr feed for y’all to ogle and mock. Dawn’s got some pretty neat shots (and some hilarity) from the fish-eye she borrowed off Jeff.

We’ll be having another informal walk on Tuesday, August 18th about 5:45pm at the corner of Illinois and Washington (kinda by Champp’s, under the Artsgarden) and if the weather get’s nasty we’ll head inside. We’re working to arrange another model to come out and hang with us as that seems pretty popular. I know I get tired of shooting Derek.



Olympus E-P1 Reviewed (And Also, Reviewed)

Olympus’ ‘Digital Pen’ E-P1 makes a resurgence this past week with a couple notable reviews showing up. DPReview has of course weighed in with their usual detail-oriented approach (the gem of which is they reviewed the two lenses, for those wondering how the 14-42mm and 17mm pancake weigh in), and DCResource takes the other tact and reviews it from a day-to-day use standpoint. A lot of points are made that basically boil down to “it’s a consumer camera”, which I kinda shrug off because, well, it is rather consumer-oriented. As my design prof used to tell me “it is what it i.” I, personally, still dig what it is, and still remain confident the image quality bests my E-3 (if not the weather-proofiness).



Photowalk Rain or Shine

PF-THIN-88 Alllllllll right you impatient walkers, we’re getting up on this tomorrow evening. Unless there’s a monsoon downtown, we’re still meeting at the circle at 6PM. For those worried by light sprinkles, be not afraid -be equipped. Aquatech, Optech, and Hefty all have options to protect your gear.

To reiterate, we’ve got Jeff Penn of Nikon coming out carrying a bag of flash for us to pass around and highlight Nikon’s Creative Lighting system. The ineffable (not to be mistaken with infallible) Dawn is cajoling a model friend out, so we’ll not only be equipped for street portraiture, we’ll also have a subject -till about 7pm. After that, we might be left shooting (shudder) each other, or strangers.

MM. Strangers.

Quick recap: Memorial Circle, Tuesday August 11th, 6pm, Jeff Penn, CLS, Dawn’s hot friend till 7pm, pictures, rain, raingear, monkey-business.



Sony’s Personal Photographer Does Your Job For You

IPT-DS1 "Personal Photographer"

IPT-DS1 "Personal Photographer"

While that device to the left may appear to be a shiny silver UFO of a dock, as was more common in the yesteryear of compact cameras, it is in fact the first “Personal Photographer.” That trippy little saucer mounts either the new DSC-WX1 or DSC-TX1 from Sony, and then you stick it on a tripod and it does all the work of photographing a party for you.

By that, I mean that it’ll start spinning around a full 360 degrees, and tilting up and down. It latches into the face detection and smile shutter functions of the camera to find happy smiling faces and take the pictures for you.

Now, you ask me, that’s amazing. Scary, a bit, but amazing. If it works as advertised it’ll be a neat little gimmick and aid greatly in the further automization of recording our lives. S’neat as heck, though.



Photowalk with Jeff Penn of Nikon Aug. 11th

photoextravaganzaBOLD

ZOMG! Photowalk!

Here we go, Photowalkers. We’ve missed you. We’re looking to stop missing you come Tuesday, August 11th at 6:00p. You’ll get to hob-nob with our very own Jeff Penn of Nikon, who’ll be bringing some gear we can pass around.

What do you need to bring? Well, your kit and a spare CF card and maybe a friend, a tolerant spouse, or a volunteer model. (For the lucky, I guess that’s be all one person. )

We’ll meet at The Circle at 6p and all take a walk up Meridian to one of the lovely parks north of The Circle and use up the scenery with Nikon’s Creative Lighting System.

Remember that these are welcome to everyone and any camera system or device. We like taking pictures, and we like it when you take pictures. Heck, my girlfriend brings a flip and shoots video.

See you there.

Drop me a line at nhenry at robertsimaging.com if you’ve questions or comments.



Hot Kingston Memory Deal

kingston-133x-8gbI’ve been helping Nick slug through the new inventory list for the website (staff shortages the past couple of weeks and internet interruptions have made it something of a mess to catch up on), and hidden in there I found this little gem:

Kingston’s Elite Pro 133x Compact Flash Card – $24.97

Now, as you probably don’t know, the 4GB version of this card has been the staple of my shooting for the past year (I currently have two of them). Running at about 20 megabytes/second (133 x 1.5 kb/s = 199.5 = 19.95 mb/s, close enough for me), they’re fast enough for me to chug 10mb raw files at 5 frames per second for about 14 shots, and if I lay off the continuous drive it’ll clear the buffer in about 10-20 seconds I’m off again. Probably not for sportsshooters, but for your everyday joe that’s plenty fast enough.

And, while Kingston plays third fiddle to Sandisk and Lexar’s reputations it seems, their cards are certainly reliable in my experience (again, used two of them exclusively for a year, they’ve survived my washing machine and my attrocious habit of hot-swapping them in and out of readers and cameras.)

And, they’re 25 friggin’ bucks. You know that’s a nice price. A year ago I paid 40 bucks for the 4 GB one.



Nikon Announces 4 New Cameras

OK, so, due to some crazy storms in Indianapolis yesterday we’ve just now regained internet connectivity at Roberts Imaging, and right off the bat I need to catch up on yesterday’s new Nikon point-and-shoot models.

Coolpix S1000PJ

Coolpix S1000PJ

The highlight of the batch is the new Coolpix S1000pj, a 12 megapixel compact with a 5x optical zoom (28-140mm equiv), and Nikon’s 5-Way VR (including a blend of optical and electronic VR, extra high ISO, and Nikon’s Best Shot Selector). Oh, and a built-in projector.

Yup, as in for projecting your pictures onto a wall. Neat stuff, actually, and we’re hoping to get to do another field test with one when it comes out (reportedly next month).

This unique, actually exciting point-and-shoot will be available in Henry Ford’s favorite color (black, that is), and will set you back around $430 when it comes out.

Coolpix S640

Coolpix S640

Up next is the Coolpix S640, which is bacially the S1000pj minus the projector. Actually, it’s almost exactly that. So much exactly that that we’re moving on to the next model down. (The S640 will come in black, red, pink, and white, and set you back about $250)

Coolpix S640

Coolpix S640

The third model announced is the Coolpix S570, which is a further pared down S640 (ditching the optical VR, most notably). Still present are the common threds in all four models: the 12 megapixels and the same 5x zoom. At this point the price is now down to right at $200. Not a bad. (The S570 will come in black, blue, red, and pink.)

Coolpix S70

Coolpix S70

The last model is the upgrade to Nikon’s popular and svelt Sxx series, this time in the form of the Coolpix S70. As mentioned, it sports the same 5x zoom and 12 megapixels of the others, goes back to the full 5-Way VR, and upgrades to a 3.5″ touchscreen for controls.

More interesting than the specs are the color options. It’s available in the rather traditional satin red on red, but then things get wild rather quickly. The other three colors feature metal on one half, and a faux grip on the other. You can pick from black with a black pebbled leather grip, light brown with pebbled champaigne leather, or beige with a surprisingly nice light brown tech grip. It’s hard to describe, actually.

All of these coming, er, soon.




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