Tag Archives: best

Commentary

2008 Favorites

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(Updated on 1/14/09 to add comments to some of the photographs.)

Since it is the last day of 2008 I guess it is “now or never” if I’m to put together the obligatory “best of the year” list. I thought of doing a “Best 10” or “Best of Each Month” or similar, but I finally gave up and just tossed a whole bunch of links in here, undoubtedly forgetting to include a few other favorites. (A few have 2007 dates – they were published here for the first time in 2008.) Despite the fact that there might seem to be a slight hint of grumbling in that first paragraph – just my sense of humor at work – I look forward to this end-of-the-year ritual every year. It is really great fun going back and reminding myself of what I’ve seen and photographed, and I frequently rediscover an image that I had somehow forgotten or overlooked.

By the way, if this is the first time you have visited my my blog…

Anyway, on to the photographs… Continue reading 2008 Favorites →

Commentary, Equipment

Canon 50D Announced: Competition is a Good Thing

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News of Canon’s announcement of the new EOS 5D cropped sensor mid-range DSLR is all over the web today – well, at least all over the photographic portion of the web. The new body updates the X0D line from the recent 40D, primarily by updating the 1.6x cropped sensor to 15 megapixels. According to Canon this was done while increasing the performance at high ISOs, keeping the burst rate almost the same as that of the 40D, and maintaining image quality by the use of “gapless microlenses” that can capture more light than would have been the case with older designs. There are other feature updates as well, and it looks like the price will be roughly but not precisely in the same ballpark as that of the 50D… at least once the prices drop a few months after the introduction of the new camera.

What does this mean for the DSLR buyer? The answer is, “It depends.” Continue reading Canon 50D Announced: Competition is a Good Thing →

Equipment, Technique

Using the Wrong Tool for the Job: Which Lens is ‘Best’?

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These are things that everyone knows about picking the right equipment for the subject, right?

Use wide angle lenses to shoot landscapes. When people ask what lens to get, I always ask them what they’ll be shooting. If they say landscape I generally recommend something wide rather than something long. Here’s an example of use of a very wide angle lens on a landscape shot:

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First Light, Banner Peak and Thousand Island Lake

Use long lenses to shoot sports. Everyone notices all of the Really Big Lenses at sporting events. I sure saw plenty of them at this week’s Amgen Tour of California bike race. Heck, I even used one myself to get shots like this one:

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Riding to the Starting Line, Prolog Time Trial, 2008 Tour of California

But wait a minute…

Sometimes the “common wisdom” can be exactly wrong, or at least it is possible to get interesting results by doing the opposite of the obvious thing. How about a landscape shot with a very long lens:

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Big Sur Fisherman, Winter Surf

And here is another bicycle racing shot, done with an ultra wide lens. (That’s Mario Cipollini banking into this turn, for the cycling fans out there.)

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The Peloton Enters San Jose – 2008 Amgen Tour of California

I’ll share one bit of technical information here. All four shots were made with two lenses. Both of the wide angle shots – landscape and cycling – were done with a 17-40mm zoom at the wide angle end. Both of the telephoto shots were done with a 100-400mm telephoto at the long end.

Just to tweak another assumption about “the right equipment,” both bicycle racing shots were done with a Canon 5D – and everyone knows that the 5D is only useful for landscapes and that you can’t shoot action subjects with it. ;-)

Ideas

The Confluence Rule

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At The Online Photographer Mike Johnston comments about an article by Charles Cramer that compares medium format digital to scanned 4×5 film. I think one of Johnston’s comments is especially intriguing:

I have a principle I call “the confluence rule.” What I’ve noticed is that the closer two of anything are to each other, the more people tend to work to discriminate between them, and the more passionate their arguments become about which is “best.” This is backwards, in my opinion. To me, the closer two of anything are to each other–the more confluent they are–the less it matters which one you choose.

By the way, The Online Photographer has become one of my favorite photography blogs recently.