SFO has been undergoing quite a program of investment in recent years. Upgrades to the runways, redevelopment of terminal buildings and a new control tower. The new tower is not yet finished but it appears to be getting close. I thought a couple of shots to compare the old with the new were worthwhile before the change is permanent.
I shall start by pointing you at a blog that is far better written and far more informative than this one. Not a huge challenge of course. However, the author of this blog is a fantastic photographer and now also a director – Vincent Laforet. Vincent’s blog can be found at blog.vincentlaforet.com and he posts quite frequently on the subject of film making, techniques and equipment. Vincent started out as a photographer and a very good one at that. He has won a Pulitzer Prize and is a Canon Explorer of Light. I first saw him at an ISAP event where he talked about his aerial photography as well as a very moving description of his experiences after Hurricane Katrina.
His life changed dramatically when Canon released the 5D Mk II. Vincent had early access to the camera and made a short called Reverie to demonstrate the video capabilities. This short went viral and suddenly making motion pictures with SLRs was a big deal. Now he has moved geographically and professionally and works in the film business. (As an aside, if you ever get the chance to hear him speak, do go as he has some fascinating experiences to share and may well move you in the process.)
Recently, on his blog, Vincent talked of some new device that he considered a game-changer that he would be announcing. The anticipation got quite a few people interested and, when the announcement came, it did not disappoint. The device is called the MOVI (there is a cool stylized way in which MOVI is written that this blog is not going to do justice to I’m afraid) and it is made by Freefly. It is a stabilized mount that is handheld and provides the ability to get smooth shots with a single hand allowing some very creative approaches to moving the camera.
I am not much of a video guy. However, when I had my first SLR with video capability, I started experimenting with shooting video and this has progressively become more important on the projects I am working on. Video provides a very different way of presenting some subjects and it complements the stills well. My video shooting and editing skills might not complement my stills quite as well but we have to keep learning.
Since I am not investing in a significant amount of video equipment but, instead, I shoot video as part of my stills efforts, I have to be limited in how adventurous I can be. Steady handheld shots without a rig are a challenge but can be achieved. Moving is out of the question without making the viewer feel very uneasy. I recently shot some cockpit video from a jump seat during the takeoff roll and during refueling and the vibration made the majority of the footage unusable. A few small excerpts showed the experience but not long enough to make people uncomfortable.
Getting a stable platform in difficult situations is a great step forward. The MOVI is a very cool piece of gear. It is not cheap but, compared to other pieces of equipment, I think it is very affordable. More importantly, it is the start of something new. People will take this concept and run with it and we are likely to end up with many types and levels of complexity of stabilization that will suit different pockets. This could mean something that works for me. This is why I am so excited. The MOVI is great and I would love one. I don’t have the justification for one for my projects but I feel confident I will see something come from this that will make my work easier in due course.
Having heard a lot of comments about people’s views of the new livery American Airlines has adopted, I was reserving judgement until I had seen it myself. When I first saw images online, I was not bowled over with it but I was not appalled as some people seem to have been. Given the boring nature of many liveries these days, I thought it was a little different from the norm and certainly not cause for offense. Of course, there were plenty who thought the exact opposite.
I have now had my first chance to see it for myself and I have to say my opinion is much the same. I was lucky in this instance that I got to photograph it just before the sun went down so it was bathed in some very favorable light. Even so, I think it looked okay. You will make your own decision of course. In time, we will forget this discussion ever took place!
For a while I have been looking at changing the gallery software I use on this site. The gallery is a relatively fixed part of the site. New images are included as posts are published but the gallery is relatively unchanging over time. However, the previous software I had used was based on Flash technology. A look at the demographics of those visiting the site shows that a significant number are now coming from mobile devices, particularly those running iOS.
Consequently, a large portion of the visitors would get nothing if they tried to see the gallery. This wasn’t something that I could accept. I have now introduce a new gallery that runs on html5 as opposed to Flash. Configuring it took a little work but it seems to be running now. Therefore, it is now live. If you click on Gallery above, you should be able to see the new format irrespective of your device. However, I don’t have the resources to try it on every operating system so please let me know if it doesn’t work on whatever you are looking at.
Thanks
Rob
This is a short piece and has absolutely nothing to do with photography – unless you consider going on a photo shoot as a reason to not keep to your other schedule items! It is safe to say that the holidays did not fit in with my normal exercise schedule. I have a pretty regular routine that I try to do each week but, having people to stay for the holidays and the distractions of food and drink meant everything went on hold. Even the last chance before Christmas was sacrificed to a trip to Waukegan to shoot the Mustangs and Buckeye!
Anyway, the holidays are done, our friends have headed home and it is back to a normal routine. That means back to the gym. In the past I have felt crap after some time out from exercise and, after an odd experience, I have been better about knowing when I am reaching that point. Consequently, today I went in with a limited plan. However, nearly two weeks off combined with a lot of indulgence means even that plan was a stretch. I did it but I did not fell particularly great. However, I survived (otherwise you would not be reading this)!
Usually the next visit is significantly better. I hope so! I also need to get into the routine again since my annual check-up is coming and I don’t want the Christmas and New Year excess to be too obvious to my doctor! Good luck to all of you in a similar boat to me. To those that kept working out during the holidays, well done – I do hate you of course!
Not for me of course. A new camera body. A new one for me might be good but I have to stick with the one I have I guess! There has been a lot of information floating around the web for a while about what the next body might be from Canon. I have been paying particular attention to this as I have been considering getting another body for a while.
The reason for my interest is that I would like to replace one of my existing bodies. I have two broadly similar cameras but there are of different vintages. The more I have shot with them both, the more apparent the problems have become with switching from one to the other. There are little issues that become noticeable over time and there are capability differences that also have a bearing.
The little differences are surprisingly important. Canon changed the control arrangements between the release dates of these two designs and switching quickly between them can result in me using the wrong button combinations. I have back button focus set up on my cameras and they use different buttons for this. A small issue but one that is a nuisance when you are in a hurry. (They also have different batteries which is inconvenient although not the end of the world.)
The newer body has greater capability in low light, better frame rates and something that I never thought I would care about – video. It turns out I shoot more video clips than I ever expected. When you have two bodies set up with different lenses, it can be a pain to realize that you want to shoot a quick video but the appropriate lens is on the non-video body. Therefore, two identical bodies would be better.
Consequently, I nearly bought a second body earlier this year. Then the earthquake hit and they became a rare commodity. For ages they were unavailable. Then they would occasionally show up but by then, talk was of the next body coming out. I was in a quandary. Do I wait for the next evolution and risk having another pair of mismatched cameras or do I forgo whatever enhanced capability there may be and have identical bodies?
Today I got some clarity in that Canon announced the new body. As expected, it merged the two lines to create a full frame camera with high frame rate capability. This is very appealing as a full frame sensor was something I did want to get. Canon seem to have been clever and not gone crazy with the pixel count. At 18Mp, it is only slightly more than the current body (so no panic over replacing cards, computers and hard drives to cope with huge files) but this is with a full frame sensor so actual pixel density is slightly reduced. This is not something I am too concerned about.
However, I do have different sensor sizes between bodies. I would have video for both which is a plus. The button configuration has been tweaked again. However, it does seem to be that the key interfaces are still the same and some of the changes are things I have thought about myself. The battery is changed which would have annoyed me but it appears to be the case that the batteries are backwards and forwards compatible so that should be fine.
There is a stumbling block of course – price! Canon has been edging up the price of the APS-H cameras for a while getting them closer to the full frame version pricing. With the merger of the line, it appears that they have got to a price point closer to the full frame version. Have we been trained to accept this? Maybe. What will the street price be? We shall have to wait and see. Am I going to buy one or get a duplicate of the current model while it is still available? I don’t know. I have nearly six months before they become available so I guess I have plenty of time to think about it and get saving!