About taking pictures
Reid Stott, an unapologetic Canon photographer, quotes: “Canon is the only D-SLR brand to own and manufacture the sensor, processor and lenses in house.”
How come when I read that I think to myself the days when Apple was the only personal computer brand to have their own design (industrial, chipset, architecture, protocols), software operating system, and manufacturing “in house”?
How did that turn out for them again?
Photokina is coming and the pre-announcements are coming with it. Today it’s Nikon’s turn.
I thought I’d pick out one camera to mention: The Nikon Coolpix S10.
It’s only one of many Nikon compact cameras with Vibration Reduction built in. The other cameras are the thin, periscope style S7c and the more standard compact L5. (The S9 and L6 don’t have vibration reduction.)
By the way, Nikon’s designations are quite confusing. The key is understanding that Nikon uses the letter designation to denote the budget for the camera: L = budget, S = stylish, P = professional. Then the number after it is in order by time. This leads to confusion like the L6 being worse than the L5 and the S7c being an S8 with WiFi, and both being better than the S9. And the S10 being completely different than the S8 or S7c… more like a newer S4. Very silly!Continue reading
Engadget scooped the next Canon Rebel (Canon 400D dSLR) that everyone has been speculated would be released for Photokina.
If the specifications are true, I’ll have to eat a little humble pie. I was predicting the 9 point AF system (as Nikon has switched to the CAM1000 11 point AF system with the D80), but I wasn’t predicting the following:
Mike Johnston points out a Michael Reichmann review of the Panasonic L1.
Here is a one line summary of the review: Michael Reichmann says he should love Panasonic and the L1 design in particular and then tears the camera a new asshole.
I’m not surprised about the review. Reichmann’s “full frame” snobbery has been peeking through for a few years now and is now in full bloom. The fact that he qualifies his review by stating that he has a Panasonic bias is laughable.
Should I begin this review of the reviews and comments by stating that I have a Nikon bias? How is that relevant? If I wax glowingly of the the L1, does that make it more valid because I’m a Nikon guy? Typical fallacy.Continue reading
Luke Welling’s OSCON wrap up reminded me of an incident.
No, not about my battles with Tourette’s, or, should I say, people confusing honest fucking programming frustration with Coprolalia. 😀Continue reading
The New York Times has a wonderful summary article of High Dynamic Range photography.
(I have a strong suspicion that the article is heavily influenced by discussion on the HDR Flickr group.)
This was a little serendipitous because I had a discussion at lunch where I heard the tired old line that “nothing new is in Photoshop since x came out” and I pointed out some of the features in CS2, of which HDR support was one of them.
Continue reading about High Dynamic Range photography after the jump
Dassi sent me the winners of the “I Look Like My Dog” contest which was sponsored by Cesar Dog Food.
Clearly these were well produced and I have a feeling that this was not a “contest” at all.
I love the photography. I love the classic portrait lighting and the matching expressions the photographer managed to get out of the models. Excellent!
Here is a camera review where I lifted this summary from PhotographyBLOG.
“Bottom line, the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L is a really excellent optic, but one that struggles a bit along the edges and in the corners with full-frame bodies. As such, it’s an almost ideal candidate for use with DxO Optics Pro, particularly if you’re shooting with a full-frame dSLR.”
Translation: “This lens sucks for its intended market.”
Continue reading
Last week, Dave told me about “chimping”.
I am soooo guilty of this.
Continue reading
Microsoft is working on Microsoft Live Labs photosynth, which sounded like a version of AutoStitch on steroids, but is actually something else entirely.