Squares and More Squares
As I've mentioned several times here, I've had lots
of issues with my Canon gear. I bought into the Canon
system after using consumer Nikon gear for years. I
needed a fast body with AF for some work I do.
Immediately things bugged me. So, in the first month
I sent several lenses and bodies back. I took loads
of pictures and then winced when they were brought
into Lightroom. I finally got really angry and
ordered a D300, thinking that maybe Nikon could make
me happier.
I mentioned this to a good friend and fellow Canon
shooter, and he suggested that before I do this
crazy switch dance, that I give Canon the chance
to make it right. So I did. I called, they were
great to work with and I sent my stuff in.
Well, they arrived back at my house about 8 days
after sending them in.
Things look much better. The 24-70L lens had a faulty
mechanical chassis (whatever that is) replaced. The
70-200L needed adjustment as it was back focusing.
The 40D also needed some adjustment - AF was off on
occasion. You're telling me. Like 98% of the time.
I was anxious as I took the camera out and mounted
the lenses. A few test shots showed promise.
The only lingering issue in my mind:
I bought three Canon products. All three were faulty.
Anyone who has taken a basic stats class will
recognize the probability there. And yet they still
managed to place three faulty items into my hands.
100% crap rate. Boy does that suck or what.
One has to question the kind of QA do they have at
Canon? I will have to admit that the service was
*almost* great, but I am still out $75 just to
ship/insure it. Thats $75 I had to spend to get
decent Canon gear.
Kinda makes me angry - but having a camera/lens combo
that focuses makes me feel a bit better.
Of course, the much-maligned Leica M8 with my
collection of old lenses (ranging from 10 to 50 years
in age) has never had problems. Ironic.
Interesting.
Lightroom Round-Up
Soccer Tournament
- L7Foto has a short video tutorial that talks the basic Pick/Reject/Rating editing task. This is something that every photographer needs to hone - and it takes years.
- Bridge/ACR/Photoshop or Lightroom? Scott Kelby covers this in his blog post on The Photoshop Insider. I worked on Bridge/ACR and then moved to the Lightroom team a year ago. There was a reason why I jumped ship - Lightroom is a much more focused, organized, efficient tool for 90% of the raw processing task. Period.
- Peachpit Press has revamped their Lightroom Resource Center. You can even get access to Martin Evening's LR 2 book before it is printed.
- Matt Kloskowski has revealed some of his deepest, darkets confessions in "Confessions of a Lightroom Addict"
More Squares
Nikon vs. Canon
More Portraits
I found it felt cheaper and less solid than the 40d. Some of the controls I like better, some less (I always hear how NIkon is more intuitive). Granted, it really is a bit better at high ISOs than the 40d, but not markedly so. The grain has a different structure that I can see liking more than the Canon, but its not light years ahead as I understand the D3 is.
I was talking this over with a friend of mine and he recommended that I send in the 40d and my lenses for calibration under warrantee. That in mind, I called Canon up and they were super easy to work with, so the whole lot heads off today for California and I should have them back in a week or two.
So maybe I'm not giving up on Canon yet. I sure wish they'd release the 5D replacement.
Portraits
I shot pictures of the younger girls, then the older dancers. Most of the latter didn't turn out very well, but this one of Meghan (EBT instructor extraordinaire) was quite sublime if I do say so myself.
Canyonlands 2008
A discussion on the Leica mailing list inspired me to get out a vintage Canon 1.2 lens I use periodically for low-light shooting and repurpose it as a portrait lens. Makes sense - a 50mm lens on the M8 approaches a portrait focal lenght. But try using it with a very shallow DOF instead of the typical f8.
Here are some examples...
I'm very happy with the results. Square format (doing
a fair amount of this recently) with a slightly toned
B/W look. Nice.
On the Lightroom front, a few great things over the
past few weeks:
CameraPorn (yes, I know) has a
good tutorial on importing and organizing images
in Lightroom.
Inside Lightroom has a series
of things on the new LR2 beta as well:
Thats all for today. Cheers!
New Emerald Ballet Theatre Galleries
Lightroom 2.0 Beta Q&A
Please peruse the galleries and enjoy. All images are available for purchase vie the options on each image frame.
Other images from the Emerald Ballet Theatre archive are available for viewing/purchasing in the EBT Portfolio page.
Back, Sunburned and Happy
Most of the feedback I've seen is very positive and the potential is getting many excited for the full release later this year (note how I'm being very vague).
Matt Kloskowski has posted a nice Q&A on the Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips website that covers many of the questions I'm hearing.
On a related front, I've
given up on the Canon 40D.
I've had this camera and several reputable pieces of
L glass for about 5 months now and I've never really
been very happy with it. Why? Lots of issues with
sharpness, detail, focus and noise. Every time I look
at images from that camera I am not as happy with it
as I should be. What is weird, performance aside, I
was much happier with the images from an old NIkon
D40 than I've been with the Canon 40D. Go figure.
So I'm done as of today. I just ordered a D300 and
some nice Nikon glass, and hopefully it will live up
to my expectations. It arrives tomorrow and I'll put
it thru the ringer in short order. I realize I'm
somewhat spoiled by the Leica gear I own, but
disappointment just got the best of me. With no 5D
replacement on the horizon yet, it looks like I'm
jumping ship again.
I expect that means my 40D and its assorted
paraphernalia will go on Ebay in the near term as
well. I feel I really gave it a go and it has become
clear to me that I need the speed and flexibility a
good DSLR delivers.
So its Nikon's turn. I hear spectacular things about
the new Nikons, so lets see what happens. I'll
probably pick up an SB-800 and the battery grip as
well as I've become quite fond of them on the 40d.
That said, here is
another few images from my desert vacation. These are
all square formats of the local flora and I'm quite
happy with them.
I was also in the studio
yesterday with some dancers, so I'll be posting some
non-desert stuff soon.
Thats all. Have a great day.
Spring Break - I'm Outta Here
I *love* taking time from my busy world to head out into the wilderness. This past week my son and I headed into the backcountry of Canyonlands National Park in Southern Utah. It was early in the season, and temperatures were moderate - we saw rain, snow, wind and sun. We did 30 or so miles of rugged, even brutal terrain and spent 4 days wandering around in a blissful state. We climbed over slickrock, wandered down deep valleys choked with the detritus of past rain storms, sought out water holes hidden in caves and walked thru giant meadows full of early spring flowers.
My son, 11, is quite a hiker. He can run circles around most adults and is tough as nails. I'm quite impressed with his ability to endure the physical and mental strain of serious wilderness travel. Happily, he has classified this trip as the best ever, which I note he says every year as we roll back to civilization. I'm pretty proud of him.
Here are a few photos from the trip...
A Few Pictures
Expect a rash of pictures on return - my camera gear almost weighs more than everything else I'm carrying. Consider that my pack (before consumables) weighs in at 6.5 lbs while my camera gear is coming it at nearly 5 lbs. Egads.
So I'm off to red rock country with my boy, a few good books and a nice camera.
I'll leave you with a favorite quote from Ed Abbey:
"One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am-a reluctant enthusiast... a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards."
Lightroom 2.0 Beta Now Available
The public beta of
Lightroom 2.0 is still in the news and getting an
awesome response.
Here are a few things:
- Photonovice - a brief overview of how the new local corrections feature works.
- Lightroom 2008 Adventure: Tasmania - like they did with 1.0, there is a big group of photographers out putting the beta thru its paces. Several team members are with them and they are blogging their experiences.
- Another Lightroom 2.0 Overview
Thanks for all the great feedback.
Also, I'm going to be out of the office and off the grid next week - taking my son backpacking in the desert southwest and won't be back until late next week.
Enjoy yourselves while I'm gone, and keep the feedback coming.
Free Lightroom Tutorials
We did it. Finally.
Its been a long time in coming, but the public beta of Lightroom 2.0 is now available from Adobe Labs.
First, read the Lightroom Blog about the release, that details the fine print...
Primary Known
Issues
- Lightroom 2.0 beta will not upgrade Lightroom 1.x libraries. The beta is intended to be used for testing and feedback purposes. Lightroom 1.x and 2.0 beta libraries will be migrated to the finished version of Lightroom 2.0.
- While data loss is not expected, this is a very early ‘beta’ quality build and you should always work on duplicates of files that are securely backed up.
- Lightroom 2 beta will not overwrite or interfere with a machine that currently has Lightroom 1.3.1 installed.
- Develop settings applied in Lightroom 2.0 beta are not guaranteed to transfer correctly to the final version of 2.0. This is particularly true for localized corrections.
- The new Photoshop integration functionality is only available with Photoshop CS3 (10.0.1) and should only be used for testing purposes. Metadata associated with the original file may not carry over to the subsequent file saved from Photoshop
The Top Drawer Enhancements
- Localized Corrections - Retouch portions of the image (Dodge, Burn, Saturate, Sharpen etc) in Raw - non-destructive local corrections for your images - smack-down to the posers!
- Skin Retouching - This deserves a call out - you can do some awesome skin retouching with the Negative Clarity brush.
- Multiple Monitors - Grid and Develop together in da house.
- Smart Collections - Collections keep'in current
- Picture Package - Simple layout tools for picture package goodness
- Output Sharpening - Sharpening done, juuuuust right
- Post Crop Vignette - Special effects love
Here are a few resources to learn more:
- Terry White's Creative Suite Podcast covers Lightroom 2.0's major new features
- NAPP has a LIghtroom 2.0 Learning Center up already. Check out this great visual overview.
April Fools? That was last Friday.
So grab a copy and start providing feedback - we still got work to do.