PHOTO OF THE DAY July 8, 2009

It's Sicily again. The camera is a Canon A620 P&S. August of 2006.

Video in DSLR's The topic that will not go away

I'm re-posting this article as the buzz about it's inclusion in the new Nikon DSLR's is inevitable. Yet there are those who tenaciously and quite stubbornly will not accept it's inclusion. They feel somewhat threatened by such an innovation that blurs that demarcation, that until recently, was inviolable. Change is hard as we all know. Therefore i will reprint the original post in order to explain my view on this important topic.
The buzz word today is VIDEO.
Its creating quite a stir on many photo websites and blogs. There is great passion for and against video in a still camera.
Personally, I have no use for video. Many of my cameras have had video but never used it. However, the profession is changing especially in photo journalism and internet reportage. We now have so called "webisodes" and other areas of interest to the younger photographers who really have no attachment to cameras as such. We, and I speak for myself and many like me who began decades ago, have an attachment to cameras as cameras and video cameras as video cameras. there is a wall that keeps the two media separate and it gives us comfort. This is the way we have been functioning all these years and we can not even accept that one day video will be accepted as the norm in a camcorder. Just today, when I saw the new Olympus digital Pen, I became all excited. This reaction to a basically limited camera is really my way at going back to simpler times when a camera looked like a camera. I have Leicas that I no longer use and always lusted over an M8. Sadly the latter is not a very successful design, kind of a works in progress, and it's somewhat overpriced for what it does. You get where I'm coming from.
To the newer photographers without all the nostalgic baggage the inclusion of video is absolutely normal and welcome.
It's the way it is. Camera makers try all they can to get an edge on the competition. At this point in time, Canon has the edge at least on video.
This is reminiscent of the coming of DIGITAL. Many photographers who found this new technology strange, many were computer phobic, were totally against it and prognosticated it's irrelevance and demise. To many wishful thinkers, it would go away; it was only a passing fancy. Well, as they say, the rest is history. The change was not easy but it had to be made in order to stay relevant and in business.
So,if and when I get the 5DII, I will never use video but my daughter, Jennifer Galatioto,a superb professional photographer,is bugging me to get a 5DII just because of the video.
C'est la vie. All the best and happy shooting.
Please comment.
Rocco Galatioto

PHOTO OF THE DAY July 6, 2009

It's again to the "oh what 4 megapixels can do" theme. Shot at dusk in April of 2004, with a Canon 1D and the 15-35 f2.8 L.

PHOTO OF THE DAY July 5, 2009

Back to Sicily and back to the theme that fancy, high powered cameras are not always needed. August 2006. Taken with a Canon A 620 P&S. Not bat at all.

Photo of the day for the Fourth of July

Only in Queens can you feel the vibrancy of the new America. It's different foods, languages, peoples, all trying to become Americans.

Latest pix from the moon

Thanks to NASA's LRO probe we can now see higher definition photos of the lunar surface.

The shroud of Turin, Made by Leonardo?

Interesting indeed and theorized many times. Now a new book asserts that Leonardo was the creator of the world's first negative,
From Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.
"il primo negativo "fotografico" della storia che ha come matrice un'immagine mentale»
«Così Leonardo creò la Sindone»
La tesi della scrittrice Vittoria Haziel: «Il maestro usò un ferro arroventato e disegnò sulla tela il suo autoritratto»
Interesting for us photographers.

PHOTO OF THE DAY July 3, 2009

Back to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This time on a cloudy and very atmospheric day when the colors really come out. Taken on May 2005 with an Olympus D300.

Thnk you for the memories, Eastman Kodak

Because of the recently announced demise of Kodachrome, and the discontinuance, a few years ago of its wonderful line of silver halide based photo papers, it is incumbent upon us to give it our thanks.
Kodak deserves our thanks not only for Kodachrome, Ektachrome, VPS, HPS, Kodacolor, Tri-X, Pan-X......[after all it was Kodak that introduced new film formats and gave them their names i.e. 135, 120,220, 808, 110, 620 etc.] Not to mentionrbut also for its many photo gadgets such as that superb tray siphon that lasted me 30 years, its superb darkroom lights and Wratten filers... you get the picture. It should be thanked for being an American company that was emblematic of a period of corporate innovation almost unseen anymore. Let's not forget that it was Kodak that introduced the digital sensor for still cameras. Little did they know that it would be their demise.
It's photo chemicals were always manufactured to the highest standards whether they were for B&W or color films, even in cameras they had some great additions going back to the box cameras that started it all. They were the first to have autu exposure in a 6X6 camera introduced at the 1939 World's Fair. Some of the Ektar lenses are, of course, legendary. We could go on and on.
We, as photographers owe Eastman Kodak a debt of gratitude that is immense. I just hope that the company survives so that it may continue to surprise us in the future.
Well done Kodak; keep on fighting the good fight. And thanks for the memories
Rocco Galatioto

PHOTO OF THE DAY July 2, 2009

This time it's the near by Queens Botanic Garden. A works in progress compared to the Brooklyn and the NY Botanic Garden in the Bronx; it does have a large number of flowers and it's tulip beds are very well kept. It's a very pleasant place. Taken on a sunny day in April of 2004 with Canon 10D and the Canon 50mm f2.5 Macro.

Under water camera test...

Our friends at dp Review have posted a very interesting just concluded test on underwater cameras. These are very handy to have, not necessarily for use under water but for use in inclement weather.
check out the link below.

http://dpreview.com
Scroll down to the bottom of the blog to find the active link.

PHOTO OF THE DAY July 1, 2009

A new month and more rain in NYC. This sunny face may cheer you up.
This recent photo was taken with a D2X and the Nikkor 70-300 VR f 4.5-5.6 G. A nice and not too expensive lens. It's shortcomings are it's rather plasticky built and it's slow aperture. Nevertheless, it's very sharp and not very heavy. A generall all around good lens to have for extra reach.