Gearlust: Fujifilm X-Pro1

Fujifilm unveils a changeable lens compact camera, the X-Pro1. Similar retro-goodness to the previous X-100. Note the controls: shutter speed dial, exposure compensation dial, and on-lens aperture ring. Also the optical rangefinder.

UPDATE: Gizmodo is predicting body price about $1700.

UPDATE 2: Gizmodo loves it, and a price has been announced: $2400

Fujifilm Finepix X100 first look

The Fujifilm Finepix X100 that I mentioned previously is given a brief first look at dpreview based on a prototype model. Among the niceties is a shutter release that has a threaded mechanical cable release connection.

Gear lust: Fujifilm Finepix X100

Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show, this Fujifilm Finepix X100 digital camera has a classic rangefinder design. More importantly, it’s a functional design: all the traditional physical controls, including an aperture ring, are there.

iPhone 4 photography

I just got an iPhone 4, and I really like display. I also like the built-in camera: a vast improvement in image quality over previous iPhones. Even better than the Sony Ericsson (SE) phonecam that I like. The HDR mode is great at getting a nice image out of super-contrasty scenes. (The image below was shot in HDR.)

That said, it has one major deficiency, even compared to the simplest fixed-focus SE phonecams: lack of white balance presets. The ProCamera app helps a bit by giving the ability to lock the auto-white balance. So, you can tap and hold on a neutral-color area (or grey card) and then lock the white balance. But, it doesn’t match the convenience and consistency of having WB presets.

Applying adjustments to multiple images in Aperture

Let’s say you have multiple images, all of which need to have white balance adjusted in the same way. First, make the adjustment on the first image. Then, in the browser view, right-click on the adjusted image and select “Lift Adjustments” from the contextual menu. Next, select the remaining images to be adjusted, right-click on any one of the selections, and choose “Stamp Adjustments” from the menu. The shortcut is Shift-Cmd-V. When I found this out, it saved me a whole lot of tedium.

Small world…

via www.flickr.com

Small town: I ran into her at my usual bar. She remembered my taking this picture. She sings with The Bo Stevens.

Sign parts

I was stupidly happy when I stumbled upon taking pictures of parts of signs. Little things.

Film is alive and well

I love shooting film, still. Some of my favorite pictures were shot on film. 

I just discovered a Tumblr blog called I Still Shoot Film by a pro photographer who takes beautiful pictures on old cameras, occasionally doing things like cross-processing. And posting eBay deals on cameras.

 
 

 
 

Strobist tricks

>

I took New Year’s Eve as an opportunity to do more off-camera manual strobe shots. I think it went quite well, and I am slowly getting a feel for guesstimating the right aperture for a fixed flash output.

This picture was shot with my Nikon SB-800 held far out in my left hand. It was manually zoomed to its furthest setting: 105mm coverage if I recall. Power was 1/16. Triggering was with the Cactus V4 radio trigger. There was, of course, a fair bit of luck in the aiming of the light. I took only this one shot.

A picture or two from my recent trip to Boston and NYC

I spent about 10 days between New York City and Boston a couple of weeks ago. Only now starting to edit the pix that I took on the trip. Here are a couple. The first is a view of the Empire State Building from High Line. The second is from a Halloween party thrown by 3rd Ward in Brooklyn. Click on either image for links to more. I’ll post more as I edit.