More Stuff I'm Reading.

Just some interesting items from around the photo blogoshpere.

• Timbuk2 Snoop Insert Transforms a Normal Messenger Bag Into A Camera Bag - at Popular Photography.
• The Man Who Inspired Jobs - A nice piece at the New York Times about Edwin Land. I've posted about his connection to Steve Jobs before. Via The Online Photographer.
• No new Pentax cameras in 2011 says Photo Rumors. But the more interesting part to me was this bit at the end of the post. "The Pentax camera division will not merge with the Ricoh camera division in the coming year."
• Keep your Photoshop presets safe with Dropbox - A very handy Photoshop tip from fine folks at Drawn.
• And finally, Thom Hogan says that Olympus is about to drop the price of the E-PL1 kit to $399 and throw in a $100 rebate.

More Football Photos

East Central Community College freshman quarterback Jesse Blakemore (10)

This past weekend I went to Decatur, MS to shoot the East Central Community College homecoming game. Since it was homecoming the game was early, kickoff was 2pm. So, since there was plenty of light I decided to shoot the whole game with the Nikkor 80-400mm and left the 70-200mm in the bag.

I just wanted to try shooting the whole game with something that would give me the extra reach. Zooming all the way in to 400mm let's you get photos like the one above. I couldn't have done that with the 70-200.

But I don't know if it's worth it. The 80-400 is really slow compared to the 70-200, in more ways than one. First it's got a slower aperture, f/4.5-5.6 versus a constant f/2.8, but that would be OK for daytime games if it weren't for the other problems. See, it's also a lot slower to focus. I mean a lot. And it's slower to use, because the zoom ring is so stiff. So stiff that the rubber grip is coming loose. It's just got a cheap plastic-on-plastic feel. The zoom ring on the 70-200 is smooth.

And the last thing is the close focusing distance. Even zoomed all the way out to the short end at 80mm, it still feels like the closest focusing distance is about 6 feet. The 70-200 can get down to around 3 feet I think.

So, until we buy a 400mm f/2.8 (never), I'll still use the 80-400mm, but I don't think I'll shoot a whole game with it again. It's a pain to shoot football switching lenses on just one body, but that's the way it is.

Oh, and the final score: MGCCC 37, ECCC 21.

Popular Point and Shoots

004_R1174136, originally uploaded by infrar3d.

I was surfing the Point-N-Shoot forum at rangefinderforum recently, and noticed that the entire first page of 25 posts was dominated by just a few models. And most of them weren't recent models either.

1. Ricoh GR-D (I,II,III)
2. Ricoh GR1/v/s
3. --
4. Hexar AF
5. --
6. Hexar AF
7. Konica Hexar AF
8. Ricoh GRD4
9. Lumix LX-5
10. Hexar AF
11. Klasse W
12. --
13. Ricoh GRD III
14. Klasse W
15. Fuji Klasse/Klasse S
16. Olympus Infinity Stylus/Infinity Stylus EPIC
17. Hexar AF
18. Hexar AF
19. --
20. --
21. Hexar AF
22. Hexar AF
23. Lumix LX5
24. Ricoh GR Digital
25. --

Here's the breakdown.

Konica (Hexar AF) - 8
Ricoh (GR series, both film and digital) - 5
Fuji (Klasse series) - 3
Panasonic (LX5) - 2
Olympus (Infinity Stylus series) - 1

The Konica Hexar is still pretty popular isn't it? Gotta get my hands on one of those eventually. Is the Fuji X100 the new Hexar? Or maybe the Sony Nex-7 with it's new Zeiss 24mm lens?

Steve Jobs: Visionary, Inventor, and Very Challenging Photo Subject | PDN Pulse

PDN has an article up about Steve Jobs as a difficult portrait subject. It also has the behind the scenes story of the 2008 Albert Watson photo that was posted on the front page of Apple.com yesterday.

Steve Jobs: Visionary, Inventor, and Very Challenging Photo Subject | PDN Pulse

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

The front page of apple.com today. Photo by Albert Watson.

Steve Jobs passed away yesterday evening.

Friends texted me, and it was all over the news. Celebrity deaths don't normally affect me, but this is different. This is someone that has had a very real impact on my life. I have a hard time imagining how different the world would have been without him. He will be missed.

Stuff I'm reading.

004_R1173585, originally uploaded by infrar3d.

So here's a couple of fun links.

http://www.featureshoot.com/2011/10/portraits-from-world-beard-championships/
http://www.eatliver.com/i.php?n=7765

And a couple more that I just like.

http://lpvmagazine.com/2011/10/mikael-kennedy-passport-to-trespass-vol.-8-9-part-1/
http://thephotobook.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/john-ryan-brubaker-strange-cities/

Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company

Well, it's official; my old favorite camera company, and current favorite camera company, are now one. They issued a press release today stating that the deal is done. I wonder if they'll continue with two distinct camera lines under the Pentax and Ricoh names? Or maybe they'll just go with Pentax Ricoh, like Konica Minolta did.

Via Ricoh-28mm.