A view from last week
Disappeared last week, on purpose. Some of this was to test the G11, but mostly it was a chance to get away and decompress. Above: one of our views.
May, 2010
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A preview of things to come…
Sunday, May 30th, 2010G11 under water
Monday, May 24th, 2010It’s a bit early fir a full diagnosis, but so far I’m tempted to give th’ G11 a thumb’s up for it’s underwater performance. Some sample pics to come later, though – for now, I have more tests to run.
Just suffice it to say, the slowness hasn’t Newman issue in my dirst two days of testing.
A frustration with the G11
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010Good God, is it slow to take a picture. I haven’t experienced this slow of a burst mode since 1999! Maybe that’s just luck, but it doesn’t seem so.
Rather, it seems that there’s no buffer. Instead of taking shots until memory is filled up, it just takes ‘em one at a time. Which puts you at the mercy of the disk write speed.
Even with a professional SD card, it’s painfully slow. Forget about using this with your kids…
Hitting the limit of the LX3
Sunday, May 9th, 2010It’s official: I’ve hit the limit of the LX3′s capabilities. The lack of zoom wasn’t what did it in, interestingly – it was the cost of accessories.
To explain: since I spend so much of the year in cold places, I tend to escape to warm places. These warm places tend to be areas where you can swim, and spend time on the beach. And in those places, you must have a waterproof case.
The last two trips that I have taken were effectively without the waterproof housing. You may recall that my old camera died on the first one, and I spent the second trip occasionally borrowing one. I will not go through that again, so it’s time to look for a replacement.
That replacement is now here: the Canon G11. Not sure if I like it that much, but we’ll see if it grows on me.
G11, Sample image (macro)
Flickr Favebrowsr, an observation
Sunday, May 9th, 2010
Favebrowsr, today
This is really more of an observation about Flickr than anything else, but I’ve noticed: if you lock down your files in Flickr (no download, no seeing other sizes), but upload a larger-sized photo (compared to the on-screen display of a Flickr image), the full size is actually available to anyone who tries to access via the Flickr API.
Take this pic, for example. I favorited it just a short while ago. On screen, it’s fairly small – maybe 400 pixels wide.
Got my hands on an iPad…
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010… For a few minutes, at least. I have to say – I’m both impressed and underwhelmed.
It’s a pretty nice thing. Compact, solid, and surprisingly heavy. The clarity of pictures are surprisingly good, although I could detect some pixellation. The interface is nice & smooth – even nicer than the iPhone. And reading: much, much easier.
I could see myself loving it.
That being said, I’m completely underwhelmed. This is what the whole hubbub was all about? A glorified iTouch, for $800?
Ouch. No thanks.
But feel free to buy me one. I promise I won’t whine about it…
I think I have figured it out
Monday, May 3rd, 2010Reflecting over this over the last few weeks, I think I know why I’m not happy with my work this year. I’m bored with it, and it shows. Specifically, the vast majority of what I like in photography can be lumped under the “landscape” category of photography. By now, I’ve taken most of the shots I really, really like, so nothing feels new.
Compounding the problem: the LX3 can’t really pull off some of the shots that I’d like it to, and that’s my quick-carry camera. This time of year we have spectacular sunrises over mountains and nighttime clouds – something that would be great to capture. But you need zoom. I’m not sure that a 200mm on a DX sensor would do it, even. But carry around the 400mm lens? That would be the day I’d need the wide-angle.
Hrm…
2009 was a Great Year
Saturday, May 1st, 2010Perhaps not financially, or politically, but photographically. Looking back, I’m definitely happier with my work back then.
I’m not sure what has happened – I mean, my pace of learning has continued, but the spark just isn’t there.