Hello everyone! Yes, you're right, it's been a really long time since I've posted any photos. Things have been so busy that I just haven't found the time. The good news is that I have no shortage of photos to post as things calm down this fall.
New: Gallery of a backpacking trip in Grand Teton National Park that Lisa and I did along with Jon and Alan in early September. It was challenging, but well worth it, and the photo opportunities were endless! Next up: photos from Yellowstone National Park.
New: Today I posted a new gallery with photos from a recent hike in Kananaskis Country, all shot on film. We hiked up Grizzly Peak which, depending on who you ask, was about 900m up and between 8km and 12km in length.
Update: I just posted the final eighteen photos in the gallery from my UK Trip starting on Page 18.
Also, I've added another lens to my arsenal. Since my 18-70mm lens is a "DX" lens, that means it's made for the smaller sensors in amateur digital SLR cameras and won't work with film or with full-frame digital cameras. Hence, I found somebody selling a used 28-80mm lens here in Calgary for about $60. It's an excellent, small, lightweight, and very sharp "normal" zoom lens that's just perfect for my N80 film camera.
Update: I've added the last eleven photos to the gallery of Noah's First Year starting on Page 10. Enjoy!
Well, I'm sure it's not too exciting to most, but the big surprise is the first few photos from my new film camera. Check them out starting on Page 10. I don't know about you, but I think they look fantastic! I just can't believe how much contrast appears in the photos, and how accurate the white balance is.
With my digital photos, I'm always increasing the contrast, bumping up colours and tweaking the white balance (basically, the balance between things looking too blue or too yellow). With these film scans, I generally toned down the contrast a little and I didn't have to adjust white balance in a single one, even going between daylight, incandescent lighting, and using the flash. Now, much of this might be attributable to auto-correction going on by the film scanner, but I'm still impressed.
I know what you're thinking: "he's gotta be crazy. Nobody's used film since the '90s!" Well, I'm here to tell you that film can still be a lot of fun. The camera I picked up is the Nikon N80, which is pretty much the equivalent camera to my digital D80, but from about 2001 to 2006 when film was really dying off. This is a camera that would be about $600 or so if it was still made new today. And I got one that looks brand new to me (I haven't seen a single thing to suggest it has been heavily used) for about $60 plus shipping on eBay! 60 bucks, people!
And how is it to use? Well, the first thing people should notice coming from digital is how big and bright the viewfinder is. The brightness is related to the camera using either a penta-mirror or penta-prism to reflect the light towards your eye and the autoexposure sensors. Smaller, inexpensive SLR cameras like the Nikon D40 or the Canon Digital Rebels use a mirror, while larger, more expensive cameras like my Nikon D80 or the Canon 40D use a prism. Also, the size of the image you see is directly related to the size of the recording device, be it film or a digital sensor. Since a 35mm film frame is about 1.5 (Nikon) or 1.6 (Canon) times the size of a typical DSLR sensor, the image is much larger. Full-frame digital cameras start around $3000. Yup, that's right, a $3000 camera's viewfinder in a $60 camera. Sweet!
Besides being smaller and lighter than my digital, the film camera also has fewer distractions. Instead of checking out the last photo on the LCD screen after every shot, I can instead focus on the subject and avoid missing the next shot. Not every photo from my first roll of film will make it on the web page, but every single one is a keeper for my archive. Compare that to digital, where I typically delete half of what I take. Yup, film saves me time in the digital darkroom! I just drop off a roll of film at Costco, head back in an hour to pick up the developed film and a CD of 6 megapixel scans, leave them $5.50, and head home to post those photos on the web. Awesome!
Update: Fifteen more photos can be found starting on Page 7 of the Noah's First Year gallery.
Update: Fifteen photos have been added to the gallery of Noah's First Year starting on Page 4.
New: I've started a gallery in honour of our nephew Noah's first birthday. Our gift to him was a photo book filled with my photos from his first year. Eventually, I'll add all these photos to the gallery, and I even have a few extra to add to the end. It'll be a little of a surprise. Here's a hint:
cam-er-a, noun - literally, chamber; a bit of portable darkness to put between a lens and a piece of rectangular light-sensitive material.
Update: Twelve photos from the City of Bath and the Roman Baths added to the UK Trip gallery starting on Page 15. This was easily the highlight of my trip; way cooler than Stonehenge.
Hi everyone. Things are calming down a little and I'm back at it. Great news: I recently purchased a new lens to expand my creative options. Samples and more info coming soon...
New: Gallery of 20 photos from Lisa's and my trip to Cuba in January.
Greetings! I'm back from Cuba and back working on photos. Should I take a break from London pics and post some from Cuba? I think I might. I won't put off the London pics too long, though.
Update: 40 photos added to the gallery of my UK Trip starting on Page 7. Many more still to come...
I know, I know; it's been forever since I've added anything. Well, fortunately I was out taking pictures during all this time and I'll be getting them posted ASAP. The biggest news is the new gallery started today!
New: I've started a gallery for photos from my recent trip to the UK. There's 33 photos to start, but I'm nowhere near done. I'll see if I can get more done before my next international trip next week.
Update: The gallery of Chris & Ola's Wedding has been finished off with eight more photos starting on Page 5.
New: A gallery for Chris & Ola's Wedding has been created and has twenty new photos so far. More to come.
Tech News: Canon has released another new camera: the 5D Mark II. Since Nikon was first with movie-mode, Canon had to improve on features somehow. The 5D Mk II will record in full 1080p HD, a step up from the Nikon D90's 720p, and will autofocus (although very slowly). The Canon's 30 frames per second recording will look more like TV news or sports, while the Nikon's 24fps will look more like movies. Being a high-resolution full-frame camera with incredible colours and image quality for under $3000, the 5D Mk II has no competition from Nikon for strictly landscape photography. Shooting people, or other things that move, is a different matter.
Update: I added the final thirteen photos to the gallery of Scott & Kara's Wedding starting on Page 10. How convenient that I've finished these wedding pictures just in time for the next wedding we're attending in two days. Expect pictures from Chris & Ola's wedding in the next couple weeks!
Tech News: Canon enthusiasts might be interested to know that Canon released a new camera today: the EOS 50D. For Digital Rebel owners thinking of making the giant leap from a mass-consumer camera to a weekend-wedding-photographer camera, the 40D is still the way to go. Canon claims the 40D and 50D will co-exist until at least the end of the year, and that the 50D aims a little higher than being a direct replacement. The 40D sits just slightly higher on the ladder (in some ways) than my Nikon D80, and it seems this large gap between the Rebels and an "advanced amateur" camera will only get wider.
New: I've started the Camera Tech section of the web site with a page on the Nikon D90, due to be released tomorrow. It might be worth a read if you're at all interested. Hopefully there's at least one of you out there. :> Now, back to work on wedding photos.
Update: OK, so I missed "the weekend" by a day. And, I only got fifteen more done. These ones were a little more time consuming than anticipated. They're turning out better than expected, however. The latest photos from Scott & Kara's Wedding start on Page 7.
New: Well, I took a short break from the wedding pictures to post a gallery of Noah's Baptism that took place this past Sunday. What a cool little guy! Don't worry; on the weekend I'll post a bunch more wedding pictures (hopefully 20 or 30 more).
Update: Fifteen more photos from Scott & Kara's Wedding are up. I know; they're coming slowly. I'm workin' on it.
New: The first fifteen photos from Scott & Kara's Wedding have arrived! Lots more to go...
Update: I've re-edited all the photos in the gallery of Brent & Tracy's Wedding and updated the files with slightly higher-quality versions. Hopefully they fit everyone's screens.
I'm starting to sort through pictures from Scott & Kara's wedding, and I should have the first few up tomorrow. I can sense your anticipation. Well, at least Lisa's anticipation.
Update: The Stampede Rodeo gallery is finished. Twenty more photos have been added.
Update: The last ten photos have been added to the gallery of Brent & Tracy's Wedding. I'm so happy how they all turned out, considering it was my first real event with the new camera.
New: I've posted the first two pages of the Stampede Rodeo gallery.
Update: Fifteen more photos added to the gallery of Brent & Tracy's Wedding. Still going...
Update: Ten photos added to the gallery of Brent & Tracy's Wedding. Slowly but surely...
Update: I've added a few more pages to the gallery of Brent & Tracy's Wedding. I think I'm about half done; still some work to do yet.
New: The whole web site! This thing has just begun, and will hopefully continue with frequent updates.