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Friday, September 9, 2005
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 Friday, September 9, 2005
started 9/9/2005; 4:32:39 PM - last post 9/9/2005; 9:03:59 PM
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Doc Searls - Friday, September 9, 2005 
9/9/2005; 8:32:39 PM (reads: 6405, responses: 2)
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Shootings 
| | Today's my stepdaughter gets married. Here. |
| | Aside from my participation in the wedding (and the guy-work required... moving tubs of ice, hanging lights on trees), I'm doing my usual volunteer duty as a photographer. |
| | One problem: my camera, a Nikon CoolPix 5700, crapped out. For the second time, it's gone back to Nikon for repairs. |
| | So I rented a Nikon D70, a 6-megapixel digital SLR, with a large Nikon 24-120mm zoom lens. Last night at a pre-wedding party, I shot about 300 pictures with it. With many of them I used the Nikon flash I bought for the CoolPix. |
| | It's a damn good camera, but heavy as a storm grate, and far less user-friendly. In fact, it's annoying beyond endurance. |
| | Earth to Nikon: outsource your UI to your photographers. |
| | I know it's hard to distribute several million permutations of variable settings across two displays, ten buttons and two wheels, but there has to be a better way. |
| | I really missed the CoolPix last night. It's not nearly as responsive or flexible as the D70, has 1 less megapixel, and a UI that may actually be worse; but I can take better pictures with it, mostly because the flip-out viewer allows me to shoot candids from all over the place. I don't have to heft a contraption the size of a surface-to-air missle launcher up to my eyeball and set off conditioned responses (Smile for the camera!) in the direction it's pointed. |
| | I almost decided to turn in the D70 and buy the CoolPix 5700's latest successor, the 8-megapixel CoolPix 8800. But then I read the review, and decided that it's not worth $800 more than the 5700 I'll be getting back from the shop in a couple weeks. It's still slow, and retains many of the older model's shortcomings (though it does overcome some of the worst ones, mostly in the UI). |
| | It's a damn shame that they don't put the responsive electronics in "consumer" cameras like the 8800. Also that none of the reviewers give any respect to the requirments of candid (or even field) photography. You'd think, looking at the galleries, that all anybody ever shoots are flowers and buildings. |
| | Okay, rant/off. Gotta go haul some stuff around. |
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Richard Blumberg - Digital Camera strategy
9/10/2005; 12:19:44 AM (reads: 833, responses: 0)
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I came into a small windfall a couple of months ago, and one of the toys I decided to treat myself to was a new digital camera. I thought I'd buy an SLR, but when I went, again, to look at them, they were dauntingly heavy. I wanted a camera that could handle two types of situations: I needed a long lens for the photo ops I come across kayaking and sailing in Maine, and I needed a snapshot camera for the kids and the pets and the ebay auction items. I finally decided to go with two cameras: the Canon 12x zoom S2-IS for distance, and the SD-400 for pocketability. I'm happy with those choices. The S2-IS, at full zoom, is equivalent to a 435mm lens on a 35mm camera, and the optical stabilization is superb; even from a sailboat in choppy water, I get razor sharp images of seals, eagles, and other sailboats. And the color, exposure, and flash settings on both cameras seem to be spot on. I made my living as a photographer, doing industrial slide programs, for about 8 years in the 70's, and I had a full Olympus kit that I loved. But what I have now does what I want to do now, and it puts a lot smaller load on my shoulders and my pocketbook. (I did decide that 5 megapixel was enough for what I want; I haven't printed anything larger than 8x10 in 20 years, and 5MP is ample for that.)
Richard
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JTH - Re: Thursday, September 8, 2005
9/10/2005; 1:03:59 AM (reads: 620, responses: 0)
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Doc
Congrats to the bride and groom
Camera(s)
Once upon a time (many years ago - actually a couple of decades??!?!!?) shot with Canon(s), Mimyia(sp?) twin lens etc. Even a Lecia and a Nice Nikon.
Gave all up, sold (was not happy with my work, even though others would pay for it)
Used nothing for many years, let ex wife do the shots.
Now digital
Canon PowerShot A510
Got wife a S2 (or some such, she wanted the "zoom" - I shoot wide most of the time)
Been bullitproof so far.
Pocketsized
Also has far too many settings ... (VBG)
Other : catch David Brooks (for right of center view) in NYTimes Op/Ed on Katrina being chance for "fixing" urban poverty in NO.
Diaspora (been blogging it a bit)
Also - Brown gone from FEMA in the field (expect fully soon)
Ciao
Chip
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