Knuckle and Spam Sandwich

Last month, Canon announced another addition to the Digital Rebel line. The details can be found over at dpreview.com.

Before I go into what I think about it, I want to retract something I said about the 450D (XSi). One of my gripes was that only there was only support for three bracketed frames. Now I realize that when shooting RAW, three is usually more than enough for a solid HDR image. Heck, when shooting RAW, one frame is sometimes enough.

The 500D looks very promising. These were some of the things I didn’t like about my 400D:

• Perhaps my biggest complaint about the 400D (XTi) was the maximum ISO of 1600. The 500D goes three levels higher and stops at ISO 12800. I have yet to see what the image quality will be like, but just having the option there is a big step. As always, grain is preferable to camera-shake-induced blur.
• There’s still no auto focus assist beam. I don’t think any of Canon’s SLRs have this. I expect it would be less of an issue on cameras that have a focusing screen. Since my post on the 450D, I’ve gotten better at autofocusing in low light, so it’s not the issue it once was (my eyes are too bad to make manual focus an option).
• Crop factor still 1.6x. It’s still absurd to put at 15 MP sensor on a consumer-grade camera. Nothing short of professional lenses will be able to utilize such high resolution. But that’s the number that sells cameras, so I don’t expect any end to this particular insanity. I’ll concede that for the sake of consistency, it does make sense to keep the Rebel line at a 1.6x crop factor.

The real surprise was that the 500D is going to support 720p video at 30 frames per second. This will make it only the second Canon SLR capable of recording video. Here’s one video of many videos shot with the Canon 5d Mk II. Between that and the support for high ISO, I want one. Yeah, it doesn’t do 6 FPS like the 50D. And, yeah, it doesn’t do full-frame like the 5D. But it’s a good bit cheaper than those models, and it still does a hell of a lot more than the 450D.

It’s due on May 1st, with an MSRP of $799.

EDIT: I almost forgot. They also doubled the resolution on the LCD screen.

Last night I dreamed that several tornadoes were bearing down on me. I was not at home, but at a beach house with family (something I have not done in a couple decades). TotoThor was curiously absent. I guess a hurricane would be a more likely disaster on the coast. Of course, the whole dream was no doubt inspired by the cyclone that recently hit Murfreesboro*. I spent the duration of the dream trying to find my camera. As I was, apparently, on vacation, my camera bag and lenses were all right there, but the camera had been misplaced. While everyone else was trying to find the safest place in the house, I was trying to find my camera, and cursing up a storm of my own. How could I be so careless? Every time I looked out the window, I saw a new and spectacular scene of funnel clouds and lightning. Some were remarkably similar to this scene, which I clearly still have regrets over. The storm came and went, and while everyone else was happy to be alive, I was still cameraless and pissed off.

(* I celebrated my 30th birthday in the boro on that very same day, and saw some of the destruction. I took a few photos, but none were better than what can be seen in this Daily News Journal slideshow.)

I liked this anonymous Slashdot comment very much.

“Music is actually a commodity. Really. The world is full of people who could, and would do a more or less equivalent job.

If it was a true free market situation, it would be over saturated to the point where music would be free anyway.

The major labels have positioned themselves as gate keepers and most of their work for the last 10 years has been about keeping the sender from the receiver, and maintain the artificial scarcity.”

At least, I like to believe it is.

In my mind, this will open the doors for more low-budget films like El Mariachi and Primer, just to name a couple. There have been many good films created on a relatively small budget, so why have I named these two? Some of you may already know. If so, we should probably hang out and talk about movies. For those that don’t know, both of these films found success on a $7000 budget.

Robert Rodriguez is a household name, now, and producers are throwing millions at him to do what he does. But back in 1992, he was not a big name, and he had to make his movie with seven grand of his own cash. From IMDB: “Rodriguez was producer, director, writer, special-effect man, etc, the only job he didn’t do was act, as there would be no one else to operate the camera.”

Unqualified, El Mariachi was a good movie. Considering it was made on such a tiny budget, it’s incredible. Whether you’ve seen it already, plan to see it, or don’t care to, you should watch The Robert Rodriguez 10 Minute Film School. “I didn’t have a film crew, so I would just use my actors.”

Twelve years later, Shane Carruth, inspired by Rodriguez, made his own film out of $7000. His is not a household name, but I sure hope that he continues to make movies. As you can see, he’s still got just the one on his resume. Primer is one of my favorite movies, and writing about it makes me want to go watch it again. I still think that what Rodriguez did is more impressive, since he had so many action sequences, but I enjoyed Primer a lot more.

The bulk of the budget for both films was spent on… film.

I upgraded this blog to the latest version of Wordpress today, and decided it was a good time to relocate to the domain I purchased nearly a year ago for this exact reason. Jeez — am I really that slow?

In a few weeks or months or whenever I remember to shut down the old feed, I shall do so. If, for whatever crazy reason, you currently follow this blog, then you should go ahead and resubscribe to the feed at www.knuckleandspamsandwich.com.

Thank you for helping me help you help all of us.

I’m not selling my camera or my favorite lenses, but I’ve got a lot of stuff that is either redundant or which I don’t use enough to justify keeping. So, I’m posting these items here in advance of a craigslist or eBay listing.

• Canon A630 Digital Camera - the point and shoot I had before I bought an SLR. I keep it for portability and movies, but I only used it twice in 2008. I’d survive without a P&S, but I’d like to replace it with something ultra compact, or maybe I’ll just buy a cameraphone. takes 4x AA batteries and an SD card. comes with USB cable, and original box and manual. comes pre-loaded with feature-extending Albest firmware. $150.
• Canon 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Macro Lens - like new. comes with soft case, manual, UV filter, both caps, original box and receipt. $200.
• Canon 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III USM Lens - bought used. perfect condition. noticeable aberration at the long end under some lighting conditions. comes with both caps. $150.
• Kenko extension tubes - 20mm and 36mm. like new. Canon mount. tested, but never used since. these were part of a set with a 12mm tube, which I’m keeping. $40 each.
• PocketWizard Plus receiver - bought used. you’ll need a PW Plus transmitter to do anything with this. I hear this will also communicate with a PW Plus II transceiver. takes 2x AA batteries. works perfectly. $130.
• Lowepro SlingShot 100 AW - single strap sling bag that I bought new. excellent condition. haven’t used it since I bought a larger bag. $40.
• Lowepro EX 120 - small camera bag that I originally bought new for my P&S. it barely fits a compact SLR with one non-telephoto lens. I still use it when I don’t mind just bringing one lens, but I’d rather have a small bag that has room for two or three lenses. $10.
• Light stand - bought used as a lot of five, and I don’t need that many. visibly worn, but sturdy. does not include mounting bracket. $10.
• 1 GB SanDisk CompactFlash card - that’s pretty small, but maybe you could use it as a backup? $free.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. If you’re reading this, then I probably trust you enough to ship an item to you.

I drove east for about 4.5 hours in some ugly-ish weather on the 24th to Black Mountain, NC. That’s where my grandfather lives, and he’s unable to travel, so that’s where we’ve spent the last five Christmases. Black Mountain is a small town, complete with all those little, somewhat touristy shops that thrive at Christmastime. The mountains are always beautiful, especially when capped with snow — no such luck this year, as the high temperature for each day of our stay was comfortably above 50 degrees.

My family is awesome, and I mean to brag. Most of us are related through my grandfather and his four daughters, three of whom have children. For various reasons, all of us “children” (the youngest is now 25), spend Christmas with our mothers’ family. There are seven of us in this generation, and less than 10 years separates the oldest from the youngest. So, with the occasional exception, it’s the same crew every year, and it’s pretty much always been this way. But they’re awesome, so it’s great. Since my father was an only child, and I see the same cousins every year, I often forget that they have other cousins that I don’t see.

On account of my purchase of a house, my brother and sister got me an artificial Christmas tree, along with lights, ornaments, and a tree skirt. I hadn’t said a thing, but I was actually planning to buy a fake tree when the post-Christmas sales came around. My parents got me a new, desperately needed, electric razor for my head, and some pillows for my couch.

Gifts are traditionally not exchanged between cousins, but I ended up with a seriously awesome cap that Elizabeth knitted for her brother. It turned out a bit too small for him, what with all that superfluous hair on his head, but it fit me perfectly. It’s dark brown with some sparse bands of red, orange, and yellow. Now that I think about it, I wish I had asked someone to take a photo of Elizabeth and me when I had it on. Here’s a shot I took after I got home.

Much alcohol was consumed, many board games were played, and a plethora if gifts were happily exchanged. I think this is the first year we’ve not consumed a turkey, but plenty of excellent food was eaten. Christmas was good.

I meant to mention this back when I first saw it. You know I don’t like to link to some random thing I found on the net, but I’m going to make an exception because this is the greatest thing I’ve seen all year. I wish I had one tenth the creativity of Mr. Keith Loutit.

Metal Heart (Vimeo)

My parents drove up for Thanksgiving weekend. It was great seeing them, and we got a lot of work done on the house. The hideous wallpaper in living room proved relatively easy to remove, and there was white paint underneath. The room looks a lot better now, but it still needs to be repainted. We removed several overgrown shrubs from the front yard and trimmed the ones that remained.

They also brought several pieces of furniture that they didn’t want anymore: three chairs, a bookshelf, and an end table. And three of my grandmother’s paintings, and a large drawing of an F-4 Phantom II that my dad had commissioned when he was still serving. And my books, which had been in boxes in their attic since 2004. Since last weekend, they’ve been in boxes on my living room floor, so today I decided to unpack those. This is when I realized that it was two boxes of books, and one box of… stuff.

Stuff. Random junk. But junk I had not seen since 1997. My parents sold the house a year after I left for college, and apparently they boxed this stuff up and have been hauling it around ever since. I’m glad they kept it. There was nothing valuable, in terms of dollars, which is why I assumed that they had just thrown it all away. But opening the box and seeing these items was amazing.

Since I left for college, I’ve moved fourteen times. I feel, and hope, that this is the last one… for a while, at least.

I love RSS, I don’t subscribe to any photography blogs. I’ve been meaning to find one to follow, but just haven’t yet. Part of the problem, no doubt, is that I can barely keep up with my current collection of feeds (I’d like to remind a certain reader that I find the term “feedbag” to be derogatory and that I can quit any time I want).

In Merlin Mann’s blog, 43 Folders, he discusses productivity and creativity. I started reading it earlier this year, and I’ve consistently found his posts to be interesting and helpful. It was a pleasant surprise to see him talking about photography, especially since I could relate to his experiences as a novice photographer. And, of course, because it’s an inspiring read.

(Amusing but tangental observation of my own: When taking photos of a person or persons who are posing for the photo, the action of taking a photo with an SLR held horizontally, then rotating the camera to a vertical position, is more likely to evoke a reaction from the subject(s) that just about anything else, with the exception of aiming the camera at someone who isn’t expecting it. My guess is that it subconsiously reminds people of poparazzi or fashion photographers that they have seen on TV.)

I still struggle with the self consciousness that comes with getting out there and looking like a fool, but not as much as I used to. These days, I’m able to remind myself just how rewarding a good photo can be. On the other hand, as I move past this variety of negative consciousness, I’m encountering another. More and more, I’m aware of how others might feel about being on the other side of the camera. Subconsciously, I’ve been justifying unsolicited photos of people in some absurd ways:

• There’s the fact that I discard unflattering photos, so they’ve got nothing to worry about. That notion is clearly stupid, when examined by my conscious mind, because they don’t know my intentions.
• I used to be about as camera shy as one could possibly be, and I’ve gotten over it, so anyone else certainly should be able to. Again, it’s stupid — just cause they can doesn’t mean they have.
• In general, I don’t mind if my photo is on the internet, and I forget/ignore the fact that there are several legitimate reasons why someone might not want their photo to exist where literally anyone can see it.
• When I’m shooting strangers in public, I’ve got Bert P. Krages’ The Photographer’s Right floating around in the back of my head, and the belief that it means I need not be concerned with the feelings of the subject. This is not what it means.
• The belief that if it really bothered anyone, they’d say so. In the case of friends, it’s just another instance of the classic courtesy-tug-of-war — “They’d say something if they didn’t want to be photographed” vs “Clearly he enjoys taking photos, and his fun shouldn’t be ruined over my discomfort.” In the case of strangers, I expect that most of them just prefer to avoid confrontation.

I think the bottom line is that I’m putting the burden of confrontation on the subject, and that’s not right. As an introvert, my instinct is to hide behind the camera and press buttons. I’m going to make an effort to always ask for permission when dealing with new subjects. Even then, they may feel some obligation, or might be too embarrassed to reveal their camera shyness. But if that’s the case, well… I asked as explicitly as I could, and an inaccurate response is on them, right? That doesn’t seem right, but at least it’s better than my current technique.

EDIT: I just noticed that Kevin blogged about the exact same post, and got something different but excellent out of it. You should go read his post, too.