Digital miracles and 100mm portrait lens

I imagine what it would be like to travel back in time to the photo club of my youth and demonstrate a modern digital camera. Holy mama. I think I could list at least a dozen major features which I would have given a kidney to have back then. And that's just the major ones. Just the ability to shoot at 3200 ISO in great image quality, and to hand-hold down to 1/8th of a second even with a tele lens. Even after getting used to the progress over years, it still seems miraculous. I remember logging a big tripod around in the nineties just to be sure to get sharp pictures even with a short tele lens in overcast weather. Now, 'it's to laugh'.

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(I had the one below. A wonderful portrait- and all-round lens. Compact and nifty; many of my favorite pictures were taken with it, examples shown. I actually don't remember, though, what originally (in my teens the first time), made me choose a 100mm over the much more popular 135mm, but I don't regret it.)

Selecting MFT lenses

An impressive article about choosing lenses in the Micro-Four-Thirds system (my favorite camera system, compact yet top quality).
(If you prefer another system/brand, there are links to similar articles for others.)

Note: I agree with the article that it pays to pay attention to whether the lens or body has Image Stabilisation, it's great to have it. But I have found that it does not harm if they both have it. Also I have not had problems if there was no UV filter built in. And adding one to the front of the lens I don't find "inelegant" but rather a way to assure that the front lens will be pristine even after long use. There are even special filters now which are extra tough, especially made to protect the lens (though they are pricey, see this $115 example from Hoya's new HD3 "hard line").

Good Girl art

Sensual girl portrait art.

Fuji GFX, the new compact big-format cam

Nice promo video about the new compact "medium format" (big sensor) camera Fujifilm GFX. (What's with the dang X's still? How about a name which hints at what the camera is?)

OK, so eight grand is still a Pro price, but it's much cheaper than a Hasselblad or a Phase One, and getting big-format cameras in more reasonable sizes is an excellent thing.

It seems the finder bump can be taken off if you want to use the screen instead, also an excellent thing.

Old cameras

A friend's son for some reason likes the idea of using film cameras (they've barely even been made in his lifetime), and acquired some nice old gear. (A class in school teaches them how to use film, I guess to make them more in touch with the medium.)

And I'll be damned if I don't get nostalgic about those old cameras. I would not start developing films again for all the treasure, but the cameras were "real cameras"... They were equally good years later, unlike digital ones, which you can almost feel crumbling under your fingers after their first new years'.

And these old metal machines often had a classic macho kind of beauty, something you can't say about many digital cameras, except a few which were made to look classic, like the Fuji X100 and the Olympus Pen-F.

... A photographer friend once asked to buy my Olympus X100. He didn't remember the exact name of it, so I asked him which of two possible choices it was. He said "the one which looks like a camera", and I knew which one he meant...

Music collectors

I'm just watching the Gilmore Girls, and the wonderful Lane charcter (wait... "Jane Lane"... I *knew* they were fans of Daria) is ordering new CDs from a huge catalogue.

 I'm wondering, big music fans, who buy new music all the time, how can they possibly *consume* all that music? There's just not time enough. I don't buy a lot, and I still have music I've yet to listen to.

 I suspect that they have the intention of listening to it all, but even if they can't, they want to *have* it, and it just piles up. They probably believe they will have the time to listen to it one day, all the while they keep buying new.
 Ah well, as addictions go, it could be a lot worse. :-)

Recent photos

(Canon GX-1 II)

Vincent Bal shadow art

Vincent Bal makes some fresh, clever, and often funny art by combining drawing with the shadows of everyday objects.

Although he (wisely) here uses a very simple style, it sometimes shows that he can really draw.

Why write in cafes

On request, here is a little piece I wrote about why many find it helpful to write in cafes and such places.

Start-of-winter-message from Eolake

Here in Northern Europe it is today the coldest day of the winter so far. The first day with frost on the ground in the day time. So what more fitting day for a warmth message...

I would like to thank *you*, my dear friend, for all the nice contacts and communications you give. Even the smallest one counts. We are all part of each other's connection to divinity.

I wish you a lovely December and holiday season, with nice surprises, pleasant personal growth, and good communications.

By Elena Lukina

For the cafe writer without a bag

I've just posted this on eReaderJoy.com about the new wave of portable keyboards.

Digital art paper sculptures

Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans and everybody else who feel in the mood.

Here is an excellent example of how Digital is revolutionising art and design. (And of course so many other things, but there's a whole library's worth of discussion of documenting there.)
It is laser-cut paper!