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Michel
Brooklyn, NY
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I keep fighting the urge to purchase one. I don’t know how much longer I can hold off. They do seem fun. 10 year old me would beat up current age me for not having one considering how relatively inexpensive they are.
Adam Gibbs, a British-Canadian-British Columbian photographer I follow on YouTube uses his drone for photography in addition to video. This movie has some great examples - https://youtu.be/57O79Tfo2m8
Drone On!
I got to see a drone the other day, finally. A local friend, Pam, just got her realtor's license, and she bought one. Fortunately for her, her seven-year-old grandson was visiting a few days earlier when it arrived, so she had an eager and attentive onlooker helping to supervise. She sent it up ...
how about doing something dumb twice? 2 days in a row. When I lived in Montreal years ago, street parking restrictions forced you to move your parked car from one side of the street to the other on most days (no parking on the left side Mondays and Thursdays; no parking on the right side Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesday was a freebie!) I came home from work one day and as I walked from the Métro saw that I had parked on the wrong side of the street and I now had a $75 ticket. I was really mad as I got into my car to move it so it wouldn't happen the next day. Well, it was a Monday, I got a ticket for being on the No Parking Monday & Thursday, so in my rage I actually moved my car to the No Parking Tuesday & Friday. When I came home the next day and saw the result of my (double) mistake all I could do was laugh.
Dumb Rookie Mistake
Have you ever done something dumb? You remember the other day in the "Old Dreams" post that I bought that Voigtländer 40mm ƒ/2 SLII lens in the rare Contax (C/Y) mount? Well, I blew it. It came, but it immediately became apparent to me that the lens was fogged, so I quickly contacted the seller ...
when I got the very first iPad, just after it was released, my brother in law exclaimed it was like I had been to the future.
A couple of years ago I replaced an aging iPad 3 with a MacBook Air and I regret it. I look forward to reading about your experience with the new iPad.
New Toy!
I've owned many Apple devices since I began writing on the original 128k Macintosh in 1984. The one that's least necessary is also the one I like the best: the iPad. I bought my iPad Air, the original one, in 2013 (which does seem like a long time ago) because I thought they were cool and I was...
I suffer from kerataconus. The topography of the cornea of both my eyes looks like the Himalayas on a raised relief globe. I don’t need to tell people on a photography blog what that does to the sharpness of images transmitted to my brain. By luck the worst of the deformation is shifted slightly from one eye to the other such that the stereoscopic image is a pretty good composite of the reality before me. A new ophthalmologist once asked me, after looking at each eye individually, if I played any sports. I told him I played tennis. Skeptically he asked if I was any good. I told him I managed pretty well. Another test but conducted with both eyes simultaneously confirmed my “luck”.
Doctor My Eyes
It's official...as confirmed at my latest appointment yesterday, my new eye has improved to 20/20! Still has a bit of astigmatism, which can be corrected with glasses. My other eye has gotten a little worse and will need the same treatment (partial cornea transplant, new lens implant) in a year ...
Mike, please write about cameras. Reading about them in detail seems to suppress my GAS. Somehow other people’s experience with cameras (and other gear) provides almost the same dopamine as buying without the risk of buyer’s remorse.
The (Un)Balance of TOP
Just wanted to point out where everyone will see it that of the past 100 posts on TOP, going back to February 7th, only 18 have been about cameras. I counted back 100 (I actually went back through everything and made a checklist) so the percentage is easy to calculate. And those 18 included post...
It’s not exactly what you are looking for, but you could use a reminder based on location. It seems to work especially well if your phone connects to your car via Bluetooth. It is an extra step but it could work. 1. Silence your phone; 2. Go to reminders -> hit the + for a new reminder, enter text (e.g. turn ringer back on), toggle on Remind me at location, and choose the option that works best for you.
Mich
P.S.: disclaimer I do not work at Apple
A Brief Plea to Apple
Boy, does this feel like a grain of sand in the Sahara. It doesn't even amount to a hill of beans. Maybe one bean, at best. However, we have several readers who work for Apple, so maybe one of them can get this to the right department. A seemingly minor thing, but I'm in dire need of a timed Do-...
Hey Mike, so glad you are better and back at home.
Home Again (OT) (Blog Note)
En route to Rochester in the snow. That's my nether half under the sheet. I got home last night and I was able to sleep in my own bed. Here's the story.... But first, I’m in the first day of a four-day recovery, during which I am not supposed to type! Me, not supposed to type?! So I’m getting a...
Thank you for that link Mike. Those prices seem very reasonable. At this point I only shoot film if I can get it processed at the same time, but I have plenty of older stuff still sitting in the “to be scanned” pile. I can’t wait to see some of those images again
Richard Man's Scanning Services
Your fellow TOP reader Richard Man would like you to know about his new commercial scanning service. He offers two tiers, Bulk Scanning and High Quality scanning, and suggests, "Bulk scan your collection, then select the images you wish to make high quality scans of. Best of both worlds!" For hi...
I love this new feature
Baker's Dozen: Smartphone Photographs
For this fortnight's "Baker's Dozen" readers' portfolio, I asked for smartphone photos, and got as many as I thought I would...lots and lots. I have to apologize to the many people who sent great shots that I won't be using today. If it's any consolation, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone's p...
regarding your comment on LensRental packaging. I love great packaging. If you don't have a smartphone lens from Moment Lenses you should order one just to see their packaging. Also, this bit of satire - https://youtu.be/EUXnJraKM3k - was apparently put together by Microsoft's own marketing department to express their frustration with the company's visual identity.
Around the Web on a Friday (Week 42)
Photo by Peter Turnley • I've been helping my friend Peter Turnley promote his Cuba workshops, which Peter likes because he gets high-quality participants from TOP. Since I last posted about it many places have been reserved, although there are spaces left for every workshop. Up next is the New...
Without a doubt the Zeiss 35mm f/2 for M mount. I use it on my lowly Leica M2. For too brief a time I used it with Kodachrome. It also lovely with Tri-X. My second favourite is the old Nikon 35mm f/1.4 with the yellowish glass element (because of some radioactive coating. It's wonderful for B&W. The thing is massive though. I bet it weighs more on its own than the Olympus OM-D EM-5 and 17mm f/1.7 combo.
The Best 35mm Lens
Just for fun, what's your favorite 35mm (or 35mm angle-of-view equivalent) lens? [UPDATE Sunday noon: Still awaiting the enigmatic oracular Oren's pick. Hoping to lure him out of his usual inscrutable silence. As Ctein (sincerely, not sarcastically) says, Oren sees things in lens performance mo...
ironically I bet that most people who hate cars and pool probably love carpools
Addendum and P.S.
...I'll tell you what, if I ever do that Kickstarter and build that "Visitor Center" here*, I'll include at least one "Always-a-Frame, Never-a-TV" (thanks, robert e) Samsung Frame TV and have a rotating display of horizontally-oriented pictures on it. That would be cool, amongst the rest of the ...
"... events that cannot be caught on FILM today." (emphasis mine). That made me laugh.
I wonder, if we take Ken Tanaka's premise above and move from time to a physical object, how long would that strip of film be?
Your Camera Is Too Slow
Where is Ctein when you need him? I shouldn't be writing this. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden recently announced that they have developed the world's fastest camera, capable of five trillion exposures per second, according to an article at IFLScience. I couldn't find an April 1st dat...
Thank you for the link to the Fred Herzog book, I have ordered it. I have been infatuated with his pictures since I first saw this one posted on these pages a long time ago. Fingers crossed that it is part of the book!
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/04/14/art-58
Same As It Ever Was, No Need to Fret
So to end this fine week of transition from February to March, let's pull together a few of the open threads. • Ken Tanaka objected to the "Ideal Outfit" post, opining that such equipage* is a thing of the past (while admitting that he himself is equipped as well or better, I'll remind him with ...
Mike, I believe I became your 400th Patreon supporter. Where should I send you my address so you know where to have the Mazda Miata delivered?
[Thanks very much Michel, but the Miata goes to the 1,000th supporter! --Mike]
Patreon Update (Blog Notes)
I just sent a "mass email" as a test to all the TOP supporters on Patreon, and I think I got the information wrong—I asked people to add my personal email address to their Contact books to avoid the Patreon emails being routed to their spam or trash folders. But apparently the email comes from P...
Hey Mike, if I may I would like to respond to Burple question about Lunar Orbiter photo digitizing efforts. These sites offer some information about current and recent efforts to remaster the data from those old transmissions, but I bet they may also lead to other sites that might provide more about the actual onboard equipment.
http://www.space.com/4695-moon-photos-1960s-digital-facelifts.html
http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/mcmoons-the-former-mcdonalds-where-nasa-digitizes-ol-1156566139
http://www.moonviews.com/
On the Scene of One of the Greatest Photo Shoots in History
I had never seen this before, although you might have—it was published in 2013. A wonderful short by the Goddard Space Flight Center about the shooting of "Earthrise," undoubtedly one of the greatest photographs ever made. The video recreates the making of the shot in wonderful detail. Gave me ...
reminds me of one of my favourite things. This movie and animation recreating the occasion of the capture of the Earthrise images. I can only imagine what it would have felt like to be so far and see our planet as a small disk rising over the horizon of another celestial body.
https://youtu.be/dE-vOscpiNc
Random Excellence: NASA
This image is of a Cibachrome (Ilfochrome) print sold at auction on Valentines Day. It was part of a group of either 22 or 30 prints—the listing is a bit unclear—that were part of an exhibit entitled "Sightseeing; A Space Panorama," which opened at the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian I...
I ordered two flashlights. They will be fun Christmas gifts for my wife and daughter for our annual camping holiday.
I don't mind the ads and at a minimum I would suggest you continue to display the Amazon search box. Question for you, does (my) Amazon Prime membership affect your ability to receive credit for my purchases?
Today's Toys
[UPDATE: Well, rats. I suspect maybe Amazon is still working out the bugs with this—I've just spent three hours messing with it and I can no longer get it to work, despite trying a bunch of different things. The ads are pretty fun—I was looking forward to building these posts every day. I guess ...
Mike, I am so happy for you (and for us). Can't wait to hear all about it.
Talked Meself Into It
If you ever think my blandishments are strumming at your own yearnings and triggering your wants, consider what I do to myself. Yesterday my own post talked me into it: I've reserved a place for myself in Peter's Cuba Workshop in March. It's tropical down there, and March will be a good time for...
Mike, I wish I could go, and I hope someday I can have an adventure like that. Short of me going I wish you would go. I can't think of anyone better to relay the experience in the written word. Go.
Life Is an Adventure
Peter Turnley with some other famous guy in Cuba. Photo by Noah Friedman-Rudovsky. A psychologist friend recently mentioned that a great many people in the indeterminate, vaguely unspecified more-or-less mid-life age-range share a common wish—they wish they could break out of their settled pr...
The other, practical aspect of taking pictures from a plane, at least if using an iPhone, is identifying location. Even in airplane mode the GPS keeps tracking.
Flying With a Camera (Part I)
Guest post by David Raboin Cloudburst Above South Florida. Much of photography depends on luck. Beyond skill, you sometimes need to be in the right place at the right time. As an airline pilot, the odds are stacked in my favor. I fly thousands of miles of every workday and I keep a camera clos...
Drone photography is going to make aerial photography accessible to a lot more people but until flying on commercial jet has been, for most of us, our only opportunity. I usually pick an aisle seat, but on certain routes I will forgo the comfort and choose the window. This is on our way back from Grenada a few years ago.
Flying With a Camera (Part I)
Guest post by David Raboin Cloudburst Above South Florida. Much of photography depends on luck. Beyond skill, you sometimes need to be in the right place at the right time. As an airline pilot, the odds are stacked in my favor. I fly thousands of miles of every workday and I keep a camera clos...
re: Matt Taibbi's description of Goldman Sachs, I think the comparison is unfair. Squid are wonderful animals, and an important contributor to the cycle of life on earth. Even vampires should take offense; they are largely misunderstood.
Rapacious Getty
I have to admit I've been rendered speechless by a lot of things lately. I won't mention specifics in most cases—you can probably guess a few. Not the most appalling, but possibly the most egregious, is something that's happened in our very own little parish. You can read the article yourself at...
This reminds me of the first time I came across Fifth Third Bank. I thought it was a joke.
Micro 4/3
Just a FYI. Here at TOP, the proper way to write "Micro Four-Thirds" is "Micro 4/3." Every publication, especially in print but even online, has institutional style guidelines: that is, how it handles the myriad usage, grammatical, graphic design, and typographical choices that come up every day...
for all we know that chair's not even there, or red, or maybe it had a smiling guy sitting in it and it's green.
I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
Red Chair Redux
Hard rain squalls yesterday had the creek roaring all night. Today along came glorious weather—cooler, drier air, brilliant clarity, and magnificent skies. For regular readers who remember "the red chair" from last Winter, I thought you might like to see what it looked like today. Hope you had...
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