Sigma 30/1.4

Got it today. A couple of quick and dirty test shots around the house.

Travel TV

I travel and I watch travel shows. You don't wait till you are in Europe to read the guide book.

Rick Steves - the most informative... and geeky. Very geeky.

Globe Trekker - travel, corocodile hunter style. Actually, this show is growing on me.

Samantha Brown - trying too hard to be cute. Popeye, please save her already.

Anything Rachel Ray - quick, change the channel.

Rudy Maxa - really doesn't say anything new, all in home video quality footage. Awful music in the background. He needs a new camera man, and wardrobe.

Joan Cusack - coming in October, even the "trailers" (?) alreadymake me cringe. What were they thinking? She must be producing it too.

Anthony Bourdain - good music, interesting and original. well, what can I say, I liked Kitchen Confidential. And I hate Abba. It's not for everyone, but who cares? There is something to be said for a travel /food show with a "viewer discretion" advisory.

World Poker Championships - why the hell is it on the Travel Channel?

The DSLR Bandwagon

I have been biding my time as regards buying a DSLR. With newer, better models cropping up every few months, and with prices going lower and lower, I had resolved to wait till next year at least before jumping in. Better let the market "stabilize" a little first.

However, as these things usually go, a friend of mine decided to upgrade to the latest Nikon offering, the D80, and I had the opportunity to get his lightly used D50 at a very good price. A price not too painful should I end up not liking the whole DSLR thing.

Well, I got the camera this week. I had always thought the D50 was a good camera. My only problem with it is the low magnification viewfinder. Still, not insurmountable. My eyesight is still pretty good. =) I have also read a bit about adding Nikon's DK-21M VF magnifier. I might give that a try.

For my purposes, it is just right. Six megapixel is good enough - I rarely make enlargements more than 8 x 10. It is fast, and has all the features I need, and a lot that I don't. It is small and light, which should make it a good travel companion.

I got just the D50 body, as my friend was keeping the kit zoom. I think with the D50, I will stick with a couple of small primes first. I already have the 50/1.8 AFD, and I just bought a 24/2.8 AFD in great condition off PNet. That should make for a nice lightweight 35/75 combo.

I am really not much for zooms anyway. The one other lens that I am considering at this time is a fast normal lens, for those times when I just want one lens, one body. This is the way I am used to shooting with film (RF and SLR), and I want to see how it translates to digital. I have read and seen some nice things about the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC. This would translate to a 45mm normal focal length in 35mm terms.

We'll see.

Bag review: LL Bean's Flying Tiger Briefcase

I have got lots of bags. This has got to be one of the best.

I got this as a gift early this year, and took it on my trip to Prague and Vienna last summer. Great carry-on, with loads of storage space: two large external pockets with magnetic flaps, one with pens loops, slot for cards, and a convenient case for glasses. Zippered passport/ticket pocket. Full length zippered pocket on the other side. More pockets inside, including a smart hanging zippered one so you don't have to dredge the bottom of the main compartment for small items.

Construction is first rate, with heavy but soft full grain leather throughout. Zippers and seams are strong. Soft satin-like inside lining. The strap is adjustable and softly padded.

When not seeing use as carryon, it often sees use as my camera bag. Throw in a 3-compartment Domke insert, and it is a much, much cooler alternative to a Billingham Hadley Pro. A bit on the heavy side though, like comparing a leather jacket to a canvas field coat.

It spends most of its life as my office briefcase, which it also does with flying colors. Great all-around bag. If you want a slightly smaller (albeit costlier) alternative, check out Levenger's Stanley Traveler. The Stanley is more business, less attitude.

Pandora

I have Rich S. to thank for this. I am so hooked on Pandora, created by the Music Genome Project.

It lets you customize "radio stations" by typing in the name of a song or artist. It then plays selections similar in musical qualities to your initial selection. It lets you create quite a number of "stations" to select depending on your mood. So far, mine ranges from Bill Evans and Billie Holiday, to John Coltrane and Eva Cassidy, to the Raconteurs and Coldplay. The service is free unless you opt to upgrade.

Just don't make the mistake of typing pandora.net or you'll get spammed with XXX email!

Lawyers, Doctors and other "Fondlers"

In photography, at least in the online photo-related forums and blogs, there exists a great divide to rival that between film and digital - that of so-called photographers versus gear-heads, also "fondly" referred to as gear fondlers. People who appreciate the gear more than they use it. People who can talk technical details, but cannot shoot worth a damn.

Doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, dentists, etc all have been labelled as the stereotypical "fondler." On the extreme end of the fondler camp are two sublasses: the Leica fondlers, and the latest-whiz-bang-pixel-peeping digital fondlers. Often one person is in both fondler subcategories.

There is at least some truth to this characterization.

Here are some of my thoughts, many of which are not new:

1. Lawyers, doctors, and professionals in general, have a greater amount of disposable income. Money for hobbies. Camera equipment is expensive, especially, you guessed it, Leicas and the latest digital wonders.

2. Obviously, these professionals are not pro photographers. Hence they shoot less than someone who does this for a living.

3. Contrary to the stereotype, more than 50% of Leicas ever produced are in Japan. In the hands of collectors.

4. Many fondlers appreciate fine craftsmanship. How things work. They are technical. Probably because their left brain is more developed from all the studying, reading and learning to reach where they are now in their professions. These people ask why and how. That's why they know all these little gearhead details. Not just about their cameras. But also about cars, and wines, and home entertainment systems. They tinker under the hood.

My wife paints and plays the piano, but she can't work the TV remote.

5. Anyone, fondler or not, who thinks that expensive gear = good photography is truly stupid. Anyone who believes the converse is both stupid and elitist. Gear need not be expensive, as long as it does what you need it to do. Oftentimes, however, the more you demand of the gear to enable you to shoot what you need (ie faster lenses for low light, or longer lenses for, *yawn,* bird photography) the more you need to pay.

6. I don't agree that fondlers are clueless about art. In fact, many fondlers are well-versed in art. They go to museums. They can appreciate paintings. They own artwork. They may not have as much free time to paint or photograph, though, because...

7. Many, if not all, of people in these professions make good money because they work long hours. Personally, I work from sunup to sundown every weekday. In addition, I work every 4th night from 5pm to 8am the following morning. I also work every 4th weekend from 5pm Friday to 8am Monday.

I also have a wife and young children.

Sure, I would love to have a day with nothing to do but walk aimlessly down alleyways waiting for a good street photo.

But I would be lucky to bring my camera along on the weekends when I go out with my family, then later during the weekend, process, scan, and PP.

Realistically, most of my shooting is during time off, or vacations. We try to do that as often as possible.



Would I trade my profession for my hobby? No. I love what I do and I get a lot of satisfaction from it. Heck, I went through 21 years of school plus 6 years of post-graduate training to get to where I am. I must love it.

If I won the lottery... maybe I would work a little less, and spend a more time travelling, more time with my family, and more time wandering aimlessly down alleyways waiting for a good street photo.

No, I don't fondle my gear or whisper sweet nothings to my camera. I can appreciate the craftsmanship behind it, but I don't particularly treat it with kid gloves. In fact, most of my stuff was bought used, but mechanically in perfect shape. I try to use it as much as I can. Not as much as I would like to, yes.

Perhaps not as much as someone else may think I should, but then why should I give a shit?

Alright, enough of the late night rant. The way I see it, fondlers are just left brain people. Sure, photography is an art, but unlike most art forms, it involves gadgets. Fondlers are drawn to the optics, the rangefinder mechanics, the precision, the electronics, the computer post-processing. Right brain "photographers" are drawn by the "art."

This is just a rule of thumb. A select few are great at both. Da Vinci for one.

Are they mutually exclusive? No. Left brain people can shoot, same as right brain people can add and subtract. After all, everyone has both sides of the brain. It's a question of having the knack for something.

The brain can also be taught.

Someone was figuring out how to make fire while someone else drew on cave walls. Hard to draw at night without fire. Live and let live.

Birthday Boy

Today, I finally got to process the film from Mikey's 7th birthday. This was my pick of the lot (Konica Hexar RF + Leica 50mm Summilux, f/1.4 @ 1/15 sec. on Tri X rated at ISO 400, processed in Kodak HC110 Dilution D).

Self Appreciation

"Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than the Earth's mountains and rivers and oceans, every one of your forebears on both sides has been attractive enough to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so. Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life's quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result - eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly - in you."

Bill Bryson
*A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Week of Rain

I am off this week, and the weather has been miserable. We had plans to drive 6 hours north to Vermont to stay at a lakeside cabin. Since enjoying "the outdoors" would be nearly impossible unless you wanted to hike in muck, there seemed to be little to gain in going. If I would be confined indoors all week, might as well do it in comfort.

The week didn't turn out so bad. Quite restful even. There were even a couple of days cold enough that we had the fireplace going. I spent a lot of time sitting on my big armchair beside it, reading. With the dark skies and pouring rain, I honestly can't think of a lot of things I would have enjoyed more. With Billie Holiday playing, all that was lacking was the Laphroaig, in honor of John Rain (no pun intended), whose latest exploits I was engrossed in all week.

I had read three of the Rain books in the past, starting with "Killing Rain," followed by the first two of the series. This time, I got a copy of "Rain Storm," which I liked most of the four. I will need to get a copy of the latest installment, "The Last Assassin."

Great light reading. Why are there no John Rain movies yet?

Canon P