Category Archives: Commentary

Commentary

‘Wallace Stegner’s West: Selected Works’ Cover

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I usually don’t post about it when one of my photographs is used in a publication, but this one is special to me. Heyday Books, noted publisher of many titles connected with California and the west, is releasing a new book about one of my favorite authors, Wallace Stegner.

Few authors understood this place as well as Stegner, and even fewer could write about it in fiction and non-fiction as he could. So you can imagine how pleased I was when Heyday contacted me about using one of my photographs of the quintessential central California oak/grassland on the cover. You can see an announcement of the book’s release on the Heyday Books New Releases page.

Commentary

Site News Update

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Those who follow this site, either directly or via the RSS feed, may have noticed some “issues” during the past week. I’ve been working to deal with some hosting issues and this has caused some problems – and they may not be over just yet.

Those who follow the site via the feed, in particular, may wonder where the photo thumbnails have gone. I hope to restore them before long, but for now your best bet is to click on the article’s title link and visit the site to see them.

Thanks for your patience.

Dan

Commentary

“It’s not a photo until it’s a print”

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That’s how Jim M Goldstein began a post last week in which he offered a proposal to encourage people to experience and acquire prints:

One of the unique aspects of digital photography is that we’re now able to enjoy photographic work with out viewing it in printed form. More so now than ever before supporting a photographer is shown almost exclusively online through photo forums, blogs, and other online communities. While viewing photographs online is easy and relatively inexpensive it is a hollow experience by comparison to holding an actual print from a photographer you respect and admire.

The goal of this project is to introduce fine art photography, photography books, print exchanges, and other photography related products to photography fans of all walks of life. It is also to spur photography fans to think in terms of financially supporting talented photographers so they can continue to do what they love.

Like many of you, my first experience with many photographs was with surrogate images – in my case most likely reproductions in a book, though today it could just as likely be with a version posted online. I’ll bet that many of you can recall the experience of visiting a gallery and seeing for the first time a print from which one of these reproductions was made – and having an “Oh, My God!” reaction to the original print. Perhaps like me, you stood in front of some of these prints for minutes – perhaps many minutes – in order to take in what you had not been able to see in the reproductions.

Follow the link to Jim’s site to find about more about his project. (And while you are there, check out the rest of his blog, view his wonderful photography, and subscribe to his podcast.)

I am going to participate in the project, and I’ll post more about the nature of my participation shortly.

Commentary, Equipment, News

Canon EOS 5D Mark II Announced

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This evening I’m seeing quite a few links to the announcement of the updated EOS Canon EOS 5D Mark II. (Here is a link to a Canon press release.) Unlike some previous Canon updates that seemed rather trivial – e.g. 20D to 30D – this one includes quite a few compelling new and improved features, and I’m sure this will be a very popular camera.

Some highlights include:

  1. 21MP full-frame sensor
  2. HD video capture
  3. The expected sensor dust reduction/cleaning features
  4. Live view shooting
  5. Some interesting software additions – a “new creative mode,” “peripheral illumination correction” in jpg modes (sounds like compensation for vignetting), and “auto lighting optimizer” (seems to try to deal with recording details in high dynamic range scenes)
  6. Continuous shooting at 3.9 fps
  7. Larger and higher resolution LCD
  8. 150,000 shutter cycles
  9. Expanded ISO range
  10. Price: $2699

For many of us who are attracted to the 5D image quality, the 21MP sensor is a good thing – this camera should compete with the 1DsMKIII on an image quality basis as long as one has good enough lenses and uses careful technique. (I doubt if there will be much IQ advantage if one hand holds the camera in most cases.) It is interesting to note that the increased shutter life is competitive with 1-series cameras as well.

Video capture is quickly going to be a standard feature on DSLRs – though the usefulness of the feature is something that will perhaps only become apparent once these cameras find their way into the hands of those who know how to use the feature effectively and creatively.

The relatively leisurely 3.9 fps burst mode is no surprise. The 5D is not a camera optimized for fast action sports photography that relies on high speed burst mode shooting. But still, at nearly 4 fps it won’t exactly be unusable in this regard either.

The pricing is interesting as well. Whether due to the recent announcement of a $3000 25MP full frame Sony camera and the anticipated competition from a 20+MP Nikon camera or something else, it seems that the prices of full frame cameras – and very capable ones, at that! – are starting to drop.

Will I buy one? I had pretty much decided that I would not buy a 5D upgrade that only provided a 16MP sensor. However, at 21MP this body provides close to double the number of photosites – and such a doubling has been more or less my trigger for an upgrade. Of course, I’m not one to rush to be the first to buy. I’ll let those who are willing to pay any price to be “first on the block” get theirs right away, and I like to see what initial problems are discovered as the first units are released. All of that being said, I think there is a fair chance that I’ll do this upgrade within the next 6 months or so.

Also: Canon announced one new lens, an upgraded EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM. The previous version was thought by some to be less impressive than its 35mm f/1.4 big brother, so it isn’t too surprising that Canon updated this lens. There is also some thought the Canon will update some lenses in order to take better advantage of the higher MP count sensors – they can exceed the resolving ability of some good lenses. It will be interesting to see whether the new 24mm L is a significant improvement over the previous version… and whether it is worth the somewhat shocking (for a prime!) $1699 list price.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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