Jon L

Prime love or not, still testing out the 24-70L. IMG_9847 by drjlo1, on Flickr

I would think it was funny, too, if it wasn't so painful during the night. Researching the issue, I'm very close to conjuring up some sort of bleach or pesticide solution and spraying the whole back yard, multiple times.

Aarrrhhgg! After the recent rains, the frogs are back, and it's mating season in Spring, and these frogs croak mostly through the night, especially 3-5 AM! I can't sleep, and sometimes even with earplugs on Sample audio/video below: http://vimeo.com/21381294

Hooray. My Canon EOS-1V HS sold on eBay, so I've got more cash for more lenses Not giving up film, as I have two other film bodies, but 1V HS was a bit more film camera than I really need..

I really thought hard about getting the 17-55 for a while, but the darn thing now sells for $1150 on Amazon and seems like most users experience dust issues. Also, the more I live with 24-70L (and presumably 17-55), the more and more I appreciate primes, which inspire me to actually take more photographs...

Barely cropped. Canon 85mm f1.8 with 31mm extension tube on. No second chances with this guy, who is quite handsome up-close. Camouflage by drjlo1, on Flickr

Canon users don't fare well, either, according to that article: "Meanwhile, Canon's factory in northern Honshu, which is understood to make lenses, remains closed with no word on when production will resume. Fifteen people were reported injured there. Canon today said that, at plants where operations 'may be suspended for one month or more', it will seek to make use of alternative sites that escaped damage, in order to maintain production."

Playing with the borrowed 24-70L lens. with extension tube IMG_9674 by drjlo1, on Flickr IMG_9625 by drjlo1, on Flickr IMG_9677 by drjlo1, on Flickr

I've been begrudgingly shooting RAW recently and using Canon's Digital Photo Professional for conversion. Is CS5 and LR3 any better than DPP for RAW conversion? I like DPP fine for its simplicity, but it seems to only allow manipulation of +/-2 stops for "brightness" and also narrow ranges of manipulation for color saturation, for example (can't turn color photo into complete B&W for example).

I made the mistake of buying a "mint" used copy off Amazon, and the seller now won't accept the lens back. Here's hoping Sigma will be able to take care of this, but researching, people are saying they would want both the lens and the body sent to them, which would be a pain in the arse..

My dang Sigma 70mm F/2.8 Macro will not autofocus in live view on my Canon 550D. AF is fine on viewfinder. Apparently, there are reported issues with live view autofocusing with certain third party lenses from Sigma, Tamron, etc with certan bodies. It's a damn shame because I like this lens for macro, and the 70mm focal length is great for me... Anybody else having any live view AF problems with third party lenses?

What about the Tokina 11-16mm F2.8. That aperture really helps with indoors and sunset/dusk shots. Darn thing is super sharp even wide open at F2.8.

Thanks for the I.D. I'm sort of glad I missed the "action." We often forget how brutal nature really is. Found on my lawn:

Dang, found this sucker on my fence today and had only a couple of seconds so had to use the Sigma 70mm already on the camera. Scary red eyes and so calm. What the hell is that?

I have S95, and honestly, THE reason for buying it is portability, ultra-portability even. Before S95, time and time again, I was always in situations where I wished I had a decent camera on me. Unlike some of you, I don't carry my DSLR everywhere. The IQ is quite good for P&S in good light, but in darkish indoors, even at F/2, the noise and color isn't near what it could be with a big camera fitted with F1.4 L-series lens, for example. I personally think I would go for XZ-1 or one of the cheaper Leica's if I had to do it today, but that's b/c I gave the S95 to my wifey..

Looking around and having seen these DIY contraptions, I have now come to the conclusion photographers are just as lunatic as audiophools What fun! In addition, I have created my (almost) first HDR today, and boy, this is WHOLE another can of worms...But fun!

Lighting has and will always be the bane of my photo existence. I've been researching and have decided against ring flashes due to lack of adjustability, casting of the ring shape, and the large expense. I've been seeing great results from people with on-camera flash with elaborate diffusors, so that's probably the way I'll go since I already have a flash. Still, I'm finding I usually prefer the results without flash and with "natural" light whenever I can create that, especially with reflective objects. The thought of carrying around an off-camera flash/light with light stand is not particularly appealing to me, either.

When I recently got into Macro photography, I thought all those people were nuts going crazy with Macro Focus Rails, Macro ring flash, etc. Well, to do it right, one apparently needs them. It's very difficult to hand-hold and shoot macro, especially with narrow apertures one needs for DOF. Tried tripod but then the camera couldn't get close enough due to other objects in the way. Anybody know a good, cheap(ish), sturdy macro focusing rail? I was initially trying to get a much closer photo of this tube but gave up due to not-very-sharp results.

Wow, you find Sony NEX5 IQ a lot better than Sony A230L or mostly for the size? At any rate, I just picked up the Sigma 70mm Macro lens.

Wait a minute. How did you develop your Kotachrome? I thought that last place closed down some time ago?

, I was wondering about that. From what I understood about google voice from those who have it, one can still send voicemail or message to that google voice phone number, no? This one just returns "invalid number" message back.

Perhaps I'm too trusting of the human kind. I had an ad on Craigslist for a camera, and this guy called and wanted to a trade with his lens plus cash on my part. He says he is coming from about about an hour and half away and wants me to meet him half-way at a Starbuck's. Sounded reasonable, so I agreed. Drove 45 min to this Starbuck's and sat on my ass for 15 min, 30 min, 45 min, and finally had to leave after an hour. Apparently the guy called me from some sort of internet phone/google voice, etc because the phone number rings and goes into a beep. Messages come back "invalid." The e-mail address I got out of the guy comes back "Delivery failed." Wow, there are actually people who have time to do this sort of thing to a random stranger?

I was thinking about picking up a 1.4x teleconverter. Some seem to claim the IQ suffer noticeably due to teleconverters, but have you noticed? BTW. How DO you view the exif data at Head-Case? Tried right-clicking on the photo but nothing..

85mm lens with 31mm extension tube, hand-held without flash at dusk. I'm finding out I love the effect of dusk lighting and extension tubes on textures. The petals look like cloth in photo, but they didn't look like that to the naked eye at the time.

True, but lots of people share their photos with family/friends in other countries, etc, so viewing a photo should be hassle-free, at least one would think. At any rate, a work-around is to right click on the photo and click "reload," which brings back the older viewer which allows you to blow up the photo by control + feature. Unfortunately, one must do this for each photo every time! This works in Firefox and Chrome but not in Internet Explorer by the way, and there's reports that Mac users' photos don't get cut off. A company supposedly worth $50 billion can certainly hire a competent web designer, one would hope. And who came up with the brilliant idea of sticking a random ad on a photo viewer when the user is LEAST interested in looking at an ad and wants to look at a photo?