megapizzle

Ok, if you've got $1500 layin around, go to your camera store NOW and see if a handful of cash will put you at the top of food chain when the 20D starts to arrive. I got my grimey fingers all over one today (remember, I'm connected) and yowza, Canon knows how to create some great product.

I'm not going to tell you specs and numbers, there are other sites for that. But I am going to tell you that the camera feels great in the hand (unlike that $5000 dollar Kodak DCS ?n) and when you stand on the shutter, it fires. It's like that gay pink bunny bangin on his drum, it just don't quit. Well after about 5 seconds it will slow. But how many times do you need to fire off an entire roll in the span of a yawn?

If you're a Pro, it's a great compliment to what should already be in your bag: 1D Mk2 or 1Ds.
If you're not a Pro, it should be in your bag if you are serious about photography and want a great dSLR camera.

I've got a few friends who purchased the 10D more recently, and I can tell you they're pissed. But that's the way it is with this digital nonsense.

Take this advice: Befriend you're local camera flunky, if he's worth his salt, he'll take care of you. You'd be surprised at what a 12-pack of good beer will get you in return. Remember biz is about relationships, and the stronger they are, the better off you'll be when you want the latest & greatest, NOW.

my hero

Last night my father turned 74 years old. It's very rare that I make photographs of my parents.

Anyway, to make a short story long, after we went out for sushi, we came back to my place and I asked him if I could make a portrait of him for his birthday. I told him that I wanted to shoot him in a black t-shirt, so he would need to change.

My camera of choice: A 4x5 SpeedGraphic loaded with Polaroid Type72 (400) film and an 8x10 Korona with a lens from the turn of the century and type 809 Polaroid.

I shot a few 4x5's to warm him up, and then busted out the 8x10 with only 1 sheet of Polaroid.

I chose not to process any of the film while they were there. After they left, at about 11:30 I got anxious to see how the film turned out, I picked a 4x5 at random— loaded, then pulled.

Bam! There was the shot I had waited my whole life to produce. The man whose father killed himself when he was 11, the man who helped support his mother and sister, the man who was given so little and has given so much. The man I call, my hero.

Anyway, the moral of the story: pick up the camera and take action. I think it was Richard Avedon who bubbled something about "Happy Accidents."

(There's a magic that comes with shooting film, that digital can't touch. And this was one of those moments. I love the marketing campaign that Polaroid used awhile ago as a rebuttal to digital "Apparently, Instant wasn't fast enough.")

Tech notes: I took the Polaroid and scanned it on an Espon 4870 flatbed scanner and printed to an Espon 9600 printer, on Somerset Velvet, 40x60 inches. It's beautiful.

f/1.4

The last few days I've been listening to a lot of who-hoo over Canon's latest super-sized combo. You know, the 20D with three flavors to choose from— body, body+crap lens or body+decent lens. I know of close to 20 people who want this camera. They think it is going to be the answer to a question they haven't even asked themselves: what will I use this camera for?

Ask yourself this question!

6 months from now, there will be another annoucement. And that 11-megapixel 1Ds chip will be making its way down toward the Digital Rebel.

The camera industry has now become the computer industry. And every 6 months something new will be announced and every year, that system you just couldn't wait to own, will now be obsolete.

Assimilate, resistance is futile.

ps. f/1.4 is wide open. think about it.

photokina

The other day I was asked, "what's photokina?"

photokina is the grandaddy of camera-shizzle tradeshows. It is an event that is held in Cologne, Germany every two years where everything imaging related sparkles with a hi-pro-glo.

Typically it's where the big manufactures unzip their traps and show who's got what. This year's show is guaranteed to be a circus packed with more elephants and peanuts than any Barnum & Bailey tent, as both Canon & Nikon are prime to make some highly anticipated announcements.

So, if you're looking to stay on top of what's hot and what's not during the last week of September, go catch some tasty waves, a cool buzz —then jet on over to Cologne and jam with The Stones, you'll be just fine.

in the know

i am connected. i have access to a wealth of information.
and in the words of Homer Simpson, "Share the wealth!"

Oh yeah, and, "Being popular is the most important thing in the world."

photography is my life. it's what I live and breathe. I am here to share share what I know. don't be afraid to ask.

20/20 Visions

This was the name of my gallery that I used to own a few years back. The name implied not just clarity, but sense. That elusive intuition— of what was yet to come.

Enter the EOS 20D Digital SLR from Canon. 8.2mp, 5fps, $1499???

For those of you new in Digiland, this camera 3 years ago would have cost you over $20,000.

God Bless disposable technology.

HA HA

You know that famous Swedish camera company that has been going steady with NASA since they took their first moonlit walk back in the sixties? Of course you do— Hasselblad.

You know the pre-digital box that all the kingpins swore by, that you had to sell your arm and leg to afford? Well that dying old man of a company sold it's organs to the Chinese, because they had lost touch with how to run and keep up with the times. Can you say Shapiro Group?

Well, well.... guess who just stepped into the digital ring without ever putting up a fight?
Hasselblad has merged with Imacon, the heavyweight champion of the world in the high-end digital market.

Supposedly they will now be called Hasselblad-Imacon and the Royal Family of photography & digital imaging will make the professional world a better place.

Oh if only Victor was alive to see this Scandahoovian union.

print this

I am all ears for listening to what kind of printers you kids are using these days. I've been with Epson for a long time, but I've been flirting with a new gal in town who costs less, delivers high smack gloss, sucks those tanks dry and runs at thrice the speed of my EX.

She stole my heart, not my wallet and her name begins with a C.

jpg or raw

ask yourself this question when trying to decide whether to shoot jpg or raw: are these crap photos? or are they important?

if they're important shoot raw. if they're not shoot jpg.

I know, all of your pretty pictures are important. Well, out of the thousands and thousands of photographs that sit on my HardDrives and pages & pages of ClearFile stacked boxes upon boxes, there are only a handful that truly define important in my archive.

Raw requires post-processing that offers you more control over than a typical jpg.

99.9% of the people I show a print made from a "RAW" file vs a JPG cannot tell a difference.

You be the judge. Do you like to work on the computer and are a control freak like A.Adams? Shoot RAW. If not shoot JPG

RAW= More post-processing, more storage space, more time, greater control.
JPG= Faster processing, less storage space, less time, so-so control.

d*SLR

the digital SLR.

there are only two in my book: Canon & Nikon.

Everything else is— everything else. These are the two major manufacturers of Digital SLR cameras that are worth any kind of discussion. First, I've been a Nikon user for almost 20 years now. My first hand experience is with Nikon, whether it's film or digital, Nikon is what's in my bag.

Having said that— Canon makes great gear too. I have friends that shoot Canon and swear by their gear. Enough said. This blog isn't about yester-year, it's about digital photography and its future... and oh yeah, my take on the whole pie.

Canon or NIkon?

Having followed the industry for the last few years and being actively involved in it, I've got one word that that sums up where digital photography is going: Canon.

Nikon was early to dip its fingers into the pixel pie and turn the world on its ear with the D1. But as of late, they have since resigned themselves (for sure unwittingly) to taking a backseat in the digital drive.

Canon is driving.
And you better have your seatbelt on.

Don't believe me? Wait till next month's Photokina and see who's holding the big guns and who's holding the pee-shooters.

Cameras

So you don't know what kind of digicam your looking for? Ask yourself these questions before you get to the camera store: What am I going to use this camera for? Is it to take snapshots of my dog? Is it to take photos for eBay? Is it to replace my existing film camera? Is it so I can save money on film & processing? Is it so I can make my own prints on my computer and printer? How big will I be making these prints?

These are just some questions you should take the time to answer before you even begin thinking about a camera that costs $1000 or more.

First, define what you want to do with this camera? If it is to take snapshots ocassionally that will never be printed bigger than 4x6— or even printed at all, you're fine with a 2-megapixel camera.

Second: Is this replacing your film camera? If so, is it because you think there are inherent savings by going to digital? Not necessarily. You might need a whole new computer system, printer etc.

Third: Output size. If your printer only prints 8.5 wide, a 3-4 megapixel is quite adequate for your needs.

Now, mind you, if you're serious about photography and want to change lenses, need shooting speed... you're going to want a DSLR, and not going to find one new in the 2-4 megapixel range.

This is a starting point. More next time.