Category Archives: gear

Odds and ends…

It’s been a busy week with not much time for blogging but I thought I’d add a few links to things that I’ve seen in the last few days that are of interest to the frequent traveler…

• United Airlines is starting a new policy of charging for a second checked bag.

• There was this news that the TSA was insisting that all electronic devices be removed from bags when going through security. Then this clarification on the TSA’s blog. Who knew the TSA had a blog?

• A possible answer to that portable computing device I’ve been wanting? (can you take a possum carcass as carry-on? Would that count as your one personal item?)

Nikkor 24mm tilt-shift lens

Nikkor 24mm PC lensNikon has announced new products including a D60 DSLR as a follow-up to the popular D40X. Interesting to a smaller segment of the population is the addition of a 24mm Perspective Control lens. Canon has had one of these for some time while Nikon only offered an 85mm PC lens.

Perspective control, or tilt-shift, lenses have movements that allow you to correct for perspective distortion (Wikipedia has more info). For instance, when shooting architecture from a low angle, you can “straighten” the building so that it doesn’t appear to lean back. Happily, that particular function is now also available in Photoshop. I use the “distort” function to do this but there is also a “perspective” option.

An additional advantage of tilt-shift lenses is their ability to distort the plane of focus. By tilting the front element you can angle the plane that is in focus to artificially create deeper (or more shallow) depth of field. Landscape photographers have been doing this with bellows movements on large format cameras for decades. And then there is the ability to use this effect to take shots that look like tiny models.

Whether any of these uses allows you to justify the rather steep price is up to you but at least those of us on the Nikon system now have a wide-angle, tilt-shift option.

MacBook Air

MacBook Air

There you have it. The new MacBook Air from Apple — the world’s thinnest notebook computer. It’s an achievement for sure but I don’t think I need to place my order today. Thin is great — light is even better — but I’d really like small. I would like Apple to make something like Fujitsu’s Mini-Notebook with a CF card reader built right in. I don’t need a large screen but being able to do very minor Photoshop work and send emails is about it. Basically something that would allow me to get files to clients from the road in a pinch. And small and light would be key. And rugged wouldn’t hurt. I’m afraid I’d snap that MacBook Air in half in my backpack. Oh, well.

On the other hand, I did like seeing the addition of email to the iPod Touch. That and a portable storage device with a card reader and I’d have a lot of my needs taken care of. I’ll do some thinkin’ on that.

Anyway, the excitement is over now. I’ll have to switch over to DP Review’s PMA report to see what the camera manufacturers will bring us at the end of the month. There’s always somethin’…

Oh, and I promise to actually post a photo one of these days.

Twas the night before Macworld

Macworld ExpoTomorrow is one of my favorite days of the year: the Macworld keynote. The end of all the speculation on the rumor sites about what Steve Jobs will unleash next. Last year the iPhone. This year? Will it be the MacBook Air? We’ll soon find out.

Until then, I have this news from the BBC and other sources that Egypt wants to copyright its antiquities including the pyramids and the sphinx. The BBC reports:

Egypt’s MPs are expected to pass a law requiring royalties be paid whenever copies are made of museum pieces or ancient monuments such as the pyramids.

Most of the focus seems to be on three dimensional replicas at the moment but will photographic images also require permission and royalties? According to The Guardian, “the law would not prevent artists from drawing images of the monuments or historic sites, as long as the images were not exact copies.” One could assume that a photograph would be considered an exact copy. Hopefully more details will be available soon.

Now I’d better get downstairs to put milk and cookies out for Steve Jobs so that he’ll put something good in my stocking tomorrow. Merry Macworld, everyone!

Polaroid’s portable printer

Polaroid portable printerPolaroid has a new portable printer coming out that looks interesting. The Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer (really, guys… couldn’t come up with a catchier name?) uses ZINK, or “zero ink”, technology where the dyes are embedded in the paper. At less than 3″ x 5″ and no more than an inch thick it would take up almost no space in the bag. And you can peel the backs off the prints and use them as stickers.

One use comes to mind immediately. I work with a stock agency that likes to have photos attached to model releases. Imagine being able to stick a photo of the subject onto a model release in the field. No more making notes on the release like “brown hair with blue shirt” to help me organize my paperwork and photos when I get home from a shoot.

We’ll see where the price falls — and the price of the paper — but it has potential.

And I know this has been making its way around the internet but I feel compelled to share this hilarious Photoshop tutorial titled “You Sujck at Photoshop”.

Korea, batteries & kinnearing

Korean temple guard

I’m still tinkering away at my new website. Today I’ve added the first gallery to the images section. I chose to start with a gallery of photos I took in South Korea and will be adding others soon. This one is a multimedia slideshow but others will be more traditional image galleries so that there will be something for every bandwidth. I’ll let you know as others go online but I imagine this will be an ongoing process.

A couple of other items of interest: First, there are new regulations going into effect today for those flying with lithium batteries. There is some information about this on the TSA site. Also this information on SafeTravel.dot.gov. The basics seem to be that you can’t pack spare lithium batteries in your checked luggage anymore. You can still have them in your carry-on luggage as long as they are packed correctly and meet the other lithium content requirements. More joy at the airport. I guess I’ll no longer be cutting down on the weight of my carry-on by checking my batteries.

And lastly, this item from the New York Times’ site on the buzz words of 2007. It seems a couple of new photography-related words cropped up this year. My favorite? Kinnear:

kinnear v.

To take a candid photograph surreptitiously, especially by holding the camera low and out of the line of sight. Coined in August by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee of the Yarn Harlot blog when she attempted to take a photograph during an encounter with the actor Greg Kinnear at an airport.

I do that all the time (just not of Greg Kinnear). Now I know what to call it.