Absurd Singularity

And all I've got to show for it are these lousy photos. ;-p

Obviously there were some much better days than others (I'm nowhere near the level where I can crank out stunning shots every day, unlike some other photographer's projects that I've run into throughout the year) but overall I had a good time doing it. Frankly I'm surprised that I actually completed it as there were quite a number of days where I was still scrambling to find something to shoot at 11:45pm. ;-p

It's going to feel a little strange not having to come up with something every day but I'm not sure if I can turn off the bit of my mind that's constantly on the lookout for an interesting view. This project has scarred me that much. =) I decided not to continue this year with the 365@50 project as I definitely feel the need for a break. But I may start dabbling in The Daily Shoot every now and again.

Anyway, I would definitely encourage anyone interested in starting a 365 project of your own. It definitely won't be a cakewalk but doing it in the company of others (even virtual) can help a lot. I'm not sure if there's any real words of wisdom I can pass along to those in search of inspiration during their projects except to peruse the works of others and when all else fails, go macro. ;-p

Ah yes, and lest I forget, Happy New Year everyone! May your 2010 be full of memorable moments. =)

Just a few things I thought were interesting/amusing in the past few weeks.

After opening up a box of Dunkin' Donuts and moving to grab a chocolate kreme one (basically a white powedered donut filled with chocolate cream with a dollop of decorative chocolate cream hanging out of one side):

Devon [all excited]: Don't eat that! It's got doggy poo on it!

Ah I love my kid, always looking out for my best interests. That is when he's not busy pretending to rip my head off. =p

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Talking to my mother about my grandparents' old home (they've both passed on already) and why my mom and aunts haven't done anything with it yet, she mentioned that if they tried to sell it, it'd be a hassle cause they'd have to get my grandparents' permission. Confused, I asked her what she meant. Now, worshiping one's ancestors is pretty normal in Taiwan (I believe it's part of Taoism) and I had known that there was a little shrine on the top floor of the home where I'd always have to visit once whenever I returned to Taiwan to pay my respects to my grandparents. What I didn't know was that because this shrine was there, any future attempts to move it (which selling the home would ultimately lead to), required the deceased's permission.

And how exactly do you go about getting their permission? Basically you have these two curved wooden markers which you hold in your hand while standing in front of the shrine and conversing with them, explaining the situation and then asking for their answer. Then you cast the markers onto the floor (or whatever flat surface happens to be handy). Depending on which side up the markers wind up, that's your answer. If both markers land curving upwards, then the spirits have found your request highly amusing and are laughing their asses off. If both markers are curved down, then the answer is no. If one is up and the other is down, then yes.

To me, this seemed pretty much like gambling. Plus I couldn't see what was stopping anyone from just throwing the markers until you got your preferred answer. So then my mom went into some anecdotal stories (which I won't get into here to protect the innocent) about how the spirit(s) would keep refusing until the living had pretty much explained everything that could possibly be explained about the reasons for the request. Which, now that I think about it, is pretty similar to what parents have to go through when trying to explain things to toddlers. They're not verbal enough to let you know exactly what they're thinking so you wind up explaining things six ways to Sunday in an attempt to get them to logically accept that what you're trying to get them to do or believe is the right thing. Except I guess when you're talking to spirits you can't use the "Because I said so!" nuclear option. Or maybe you can, you'd just have to deal with some possible hauntings and unlucky events afterwards. =p Which again, is very much like dealing with unruly children. ;-p

But anyways, I just thought it was one of the more interesting conversations I've had recently. Plus the fact that the markers give you not just a simple yes/no answer but also a "we thought that was really damn funny" option I found highly amusing.

With 30 days left in my first 365 Project, I've been looking ahead and pondering whether or not to continue in 2010 with the 365@50 Project. I'm still undecided. Maybe I'll take a year off first. But just in case, I'll be testing out a few 50mm lenses as I don't currently own one. In my previous forays with the 50mm (I've owned at one point or another: Canon f/1.4, Canon f/1.2 and Sigma f/1.4), I've never been completely excited about it. Sharpness wide open never seemed to be that great (although to be fair, I've been comparing them to my 85mm @ f/1.2 that's wonderfully sharp).

The first two to arrive are the Sigmalux (Sigma 50mm f/1.4) and the Zeiss Planar 50mm f/1.4 ZE. The Sigma is still a tank, large and well-built. Bokeh is still as creamy as ever but this particular copy seems to be a bit softer than I was expecting wide open. The Zeiss follows more along the lines of the Canon and Nikon 50mm f/1.4s in size except it's fantastically well-made with its all-metal body (even the hood is metal!). Its bokeh does not lose out much if at all to the Sigma and it does seem to be sharper wide open although kind of hard for me to tell at times because it's still tough to nail focus through the 5D2's viewfinder (even with the EG-S focus screen) at that large aperture. But I'm very impressed with it. I just wish it had autofocus. =\

Anyway, I'm expecting the Canon f/1.4 and f/1.2 either today or tomorrow so will be posting another pixel peeping post in the next few weeks. Should be interesting. =)

Transcribing a conversation Erin had with Devon a few days ago (as told to me by Erin):

Devon: I have something stuck between my teeth.
Erin: Oh? Where is it? Let me see...
Devon: Something's stuck in there, you need to get it out with candy.
Erin: Something's stuck? Let me get the toothbrush.
Devon: Never mind, it fell out.

Mom: 1, Devon: 0.

So, it's been a little over a year since my last earphone post. Ever since I picked up the Etymotic hf2, it has been my preferred everyday earphone for use with the iPhone. However, the hf2 isn't without its problems. Or more specifically, one HUGE problem. There appears to be a manufacturing defect with the original hf2 that causes either the left or right channel to just cut out for no visible reason. The weak point seems to be where the cord meets the plug, cause if I messed around with the cord a bit right above the plug, the sound would come back, but immediately disappear again if the cord was moved. So it appears that the wire within the cord was breaking somehow even though the exterior plastic cord was fine. This issue happened not once, but THREE times in the past year and a half. Thankfully, Etymotic replaced the non-functioning ones free of charge since they were all under warranty. And I know it wasn't user error because after the first time, I was doubly careful every time I unplugged the earphones, gripping the plug and not the cord.

(l to r) Etymotic hf2, Shure SE115m+, Klipsch IMAGE S4i

A more impatient fellow would have given up after the second occurrence of this issue and probably switched to another brand. Luckily for Etymotic, and unfortunately for me I guess, I still stuck with them because there weren't any other iPhone-compatible earphones that could compare at the time. When it wasn't broke, the hf2 was still the best-sounding microphone and controller-equipped earphone available.

Continue reading "Earphones Once More" »

So I've owned the Panasonic LX3 for quite some time now and overall I like it a lot as my DSLR alternative. The only weaknesses being its limited pocketability and short zoom range (24mm-60mm). For a point & shoot, it's packed full of yummy features and controls that will satisfy the majority of control freaks out there. Enter the Canon S90. Reborn from the ashes of the old S-series (which hadn't been updated for 4 years), the S90 brings back the RAW-shooting capability of its S70 progenitor and more importantly, does it in a significantly smaller body.

One other notable feature on the S90 is the large lens aperture (for a point & shoot) on the wide end (f/2.0 at 28mm). Unfortunately that wide aperture isn't maintained across the zoom range (dropping down to f/4.9 at 105mm) but I assume that wouldn't have been possible without increasing the size of the camera significantly. Now the LX3 is also capable of f/2.0 at its widest setting (24mm) and that decreases slightly to f/2.8 at its longest (60mm). So it's only natural to compare the two although the S90 is one stop slower (f/3.5) around the 60mm range.

For this shootout, I'm only testing the JPEGs, not the RAWs, from each camera. Photos were shot in Av mode, white balance was set to Tungsten, image stabilization was turned on and i-Contrast was set to Auto on the S90 while iExposure was set to Standard on the LX3.

Continue reading "Panasonic LX3 vs Canon S90 JPEG Shootout" »

So, during the time that this blog was down, we took a trip to Taiwan. Our Taiwan trips seem to pretty much fall into the same pattern over the last few years: lunch/dinner with relatives, lunch/dinner with friends, lunch/dinner with old coworkers, wandering around department stores, paying an amount that I would never even consider paying in the States for a haircut, and a trip to the dentist. During our last trip, I traveled light when it came to photo gear. Packed just a Nikon D80, a Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR, and a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 in a Crumpler Sinking Barge backpack. Also used a Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Home bag for everyday use. This time, I thought I'd be a masochist and bring more gear.

To that end, I settled on the following kit:

• Nikon D700 + 2 extra batteries
• Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 G
• Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 G
• Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro
• Sigma 50mm f/1.4
• Lensbaby Composer + full array of conversion lenses

Continue reading "Travel Photo Gear" »

So that bit of unexpected downtime only took umm... 4 months to recover from. =) But we took the time to change servers and services and update the blog engine to the latest spankin' version. A lot has changed between MovableType 3 and 4 so I'll have my work cut out poking around the new tools. Anyhow, more later. But it's good to be back! =)