Saturday, October 10, 2009

Street Photography

This is a great topic and one that is always in vogue in the various blogs. The question always revolves around which lens is better or which camera. All the responses will deal with corner sharpness, color fidelity and other typically useless topics that have nothing to do with photography. Too many teccheies I'm afraid. On a recent post in DPreview.com asking such a question, my reply was this:
It all depends at what you mean. I feel that photography is just that. Capture a fleeting moment as fast as possible. The lens and camera are there just to facilitate this. Today any decent camera can do this and many P&S cameras are becoming actually good for this task. The lens should capture the emotion. If it's sharp or not at the corners is irrelevant to me: if the colors are not absolutely pefect is also irrelevant to me. I'm looking for an image that says something unique.
Having said this, the 35 f2 is a great lens for this task. It's light and cheap - just in case something goes wrong - and is does a superb job. My favorite lens to travel, for example is the 25-85 3.5-4.5 EF. It's very light and does a good job. I've posted many shots with this lens on my blog. The best thing is to concentrate on the image and not to be bogged down with all the equipment. I feel that the DSLR is not really truly suited for street photography as it's intimidating and very large. We are photographers, not snipers. This is to preface the fact that long lenses are, for me, out of the question for street photography. The reason the old RF's were good at this was the fact that they were unobtrusive and quiet. And yes, the 35mm was the ideal focal lenght. I alsmost used mt 35mm Summicron exclusively on my Leicas with the 50mm Summicron hardly ever used.
Shoot, don't pixel peep is my motto
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Photo of the day, October 10. 2009 LX 3


Taken yesterday on the shores of the Geleware river. Early fall scene with the Panasonic LX 3.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Photo of the day October 9, 2009 Canon 5D


The fabulous Island of Burano in Italy in April of 2008 with the Canon 5D and the 24-85 3.5-4.5 EF. Not a bad lens onsidering it's not an L.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

It's about time. They started the digital revolution.


For good or bad, according to which opinion you adhere to, the digital photo revolution was started back in 1969 at Bell Labs the great American free enterprise lab that was perhaps the most creative and innovative research facility in the world. Among the many inventions, they developed the transistor. And finally, after 40 years, the Noble Prize Committee came around to making the award.
So the two physicists who co-invented the CCD image sensor,Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith have been rewarded with a share of this year's Nobel Prize for Physics. They developed the charge-coupled device in 1969 while working at Bell Laboratories, and produced the world's first solid-state video camera just a year later. Each receives a quarter share in the $1.4 million prize. Well it's about time.

Photo of the day October 8, 2009 Fuji S1 pro

Taken exactly 8 years ago on 10-8-2001. I ha to get away following that brutal and inhuman attack on 9-11. So I went to eastern Pennsylvania. and took this shot.
Just 3 mega pixels. Go figure.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Photo of the day October 6, 2009 Nikon D2h


What a mere 4 MPX can do. Shot in May of 2005 with the Nikon D2h and the 70 to 300 Nikkor. These tulips were in my front yard. Man, I miss spring already!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

The Buzz

It's all over the internet. All sort of rumors as to what camera will be brought out by which company. It never ends. Most people cannot get full use of what they have but still want to upgrade. This will make them better photographers, they erroneously believe. This will never end until they come to the realization that people take the photos using a camera that is a tool. This tool must be mastered before a new one is sought. I realize that sport photographers are always looking for a faster camera but there were many superb sports photos taken in the old days of manual focus and manual exposure. All these automation increases mediocrity.

Photo of the day October 5, 2009 Olympus E300


Once more in Erice, Sicily. The summer of 2006 with the Olympus E300 and the 14-45, F 3.5-4.5 lens.

Photo of the day, October 4, 2009 Fuji S2 Pro


The Brooklyn Botanic Garden with the Fuji S2 Pro. I wish I still had it. The lens, I do not recall. Shot in April of 2005.

Fall splendor