Wading through a backlog of photos

Canon Island, DoomCon, WAPF... for the past month I have been going at full tilt. I have a huge library of photos that I needed to start working on, sorting, deleting, processing, etc. Been at it most of the day with small breaks here and there. Done for now, but will pick it up where I left off. Have made a slight dent in the processing backlog, but have so much more to get done.

Maybe I should hide the camera batteries so I stop taking photos of subjects that catch my eye... nah!

W.A.P.F. Convention

Is it me or I have been either at conventions or vacations almost an entire month? Seems like it.

The W.A.P.F. (Western Australia Photographic Federation) started Friday, with guest speaker Dale Neil, a professional portrait photographer.



Then Garry Sarre, another pro photographer specializing in portraiture. Got some great insight and advice.



Day two, another great photographer, Richard I'Anson, the "Travel Photographer". He's even written a book by that title. Amazing images.





Then we had the "Foto Fiesta", where we had some models, some character actors, dancers, historical re creationists, and some inanimates too.

Flash in the Pan - Flintlock rifle




Kentucky Rifleman




Trio of Minstrels




Wood Sprite




Camera Showdown?



Imaging Ancestor




Glass Plate Camera



A Day in a Viking Life



Retired



Down on His Luck





Sunday, Richard I'Anson was back.

Then we had Patrick Baker, a pioneer in underwater Photography



Then we had the raffle and an impromptu 'auction'. I bought a small hand blown bud vase. :)

RIP Jonathan

You can bet your last dollar, Barnabas Collins would never ever sparkle.

Jonathan Frid, original 'Dark Shadows' star, dies at 87

I remember running home from school to catch Dark Shadows. RIP, Jonathan. I remember you with a frisson of childhood fear and fondness all at the same time.

It seems my purchase curse is still in full effect

*sigh* My 5 month new Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, the same lens that won me a wonderful holiday trip to Hamilton Island, has decided that it won't focus. Not a good thing in a camera lens.

My purchase curse is this: no matter what it is, ever new item that has anything to do with mechanics or electronics is faulty. People have laughed at this statement. Family and friends have laughed at it.

They aren't laughing any more.

Phones, blenders, hand mixers, microwaves, computers, coffee pots, automobiles, hair driers, washing machine, dryer, dish washer, refrigerator, bicycles, cameras, you name it. My ex husband was a tool, so even he might qualify.

So, the first new lens I got was the above mentioned lens. And it's faulty. At least it's under warranty, and is on it's way to the East coast for repairs or replacement. Wing was a darling, and has hired a replacement for this weekend (photography event this weekend) so I won't be caught short.

More on this supposed Canon 5D-III light leak

Being a family with more than one Canon camera, we were able to test this 'problem' with a 40D, 60D, 7D and the 5D-III.

Guess what? All four do this... BUT you must have the cameras set to Program/AV/TV mode for it to occur. I will say again, if you have already half pressed your shutter button to focus, you aren't going to be reaching to push the LCD light on the LCD panel. It's a futz, a non-issue.

It's not, I repeat NOT, a light leak, it's the cameras trying to lock onto or find a light source to meter for exposure. It does this whether the lens cap, body cap is on or not.

Talk about being blow out of proportion

There have been reports of "light leaks" with the Canon 5D MkIII. I followed the info to this article.

Canon did confirm there have been reports:

In extremely dark environments, if the LCD panel illuminates, the displayed exposure value may change as a result of the AE sensor’s detection of light from the LCD panel.

The phenomenon [...] has been confirmed when using the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera. Canon is now examining the countermeasures and once the countermeasures are decided, we will post the information on our Web site.

But look at the video showing these 'light leaks'. I did. And since I have a 5D-III I decided to recreate this 'light leak' as done in the video.

No lens, body cap on, set to AV, in a totally dark room. Guess what? Nothing happened. No exposure changes, no changes in settings. Also, how many photographers are going to be adjusting their cameras without a lens, with just a body cap on it?

It's like a futz keystroke on a computer that might shut a program down. But it even more reminded me of an old GET SMART episode, where you had to sink 4 billiard balls lined up just right, in the proper pockets to get the secret transmitter built into the pool table to open up. This light leak does not happen under normal operations.


Could it be an issue? Yes. Is it a catastrophe? Not hardly.

I wasn't quite champing at the bit

Not quite. Got up, got dressed, packed a lens, a battery, and camera strap in my camera bag, and waited for Wing to get up. Rather patiently. If you know me, sitting around for 2hrs waiting is patience for me.

Wing got ready and off we went... to Team Digital, where my CanonEOS 5D MkIII camera body was waiting. Arrived, and while paying for the camera, I started getting it ready to use. The first photo I took was of the inside of the store. Again, the shutter speed, the quick focus, and the photo quality in low light. Wow, just wow.

That was disappointing

Wing signed us up for a photography workshop, "Beauty In Motion". Although Wing did explain what he was after (taking photos using ambient and available light instead of using strobes or studio set up) and he was given the all clear.

We arrived in time (although the traffic did threaten to make us late.). Upon arrival, we were handing a sign in sheet. I read it, and it raised my eyebrow. Across the top of this 'form' was a statement that I, the photographer, retained full copyright of said photos... BUT I wasn't allowed to do anything with them. Whohuhwha...? I read the entire thing, and noticed something. It wasn't a legit release/binding form. When i questioned the contradiction, I was snottily told it would be 'explained to you later'. Strike One

It was 'explained', by an extremely rude man who glared at me, while thrusting the form around the room, pretty much in an attempt to intimidate everyone (me in particular) into accepting it as THE LAW. it wasn't, but with the exception of me, maybe Wing and a few others, the attendees were total or near beginners and didn't know any better. I did know better, and don't appreciate being lied to, or bullied. Strike Two

It turned out to be a full on studio shoot, with strobes and light boxes, not working with ambient and available light. Oh well, I figured the old Lemon/Lemonade , and make the best of the situation. I knew what I wanted as a pose from the dancer. I took the shot, got what I wanted, and the 'teacher' wanted to look at it. He did, and then did nothing but criticize it, how it wasn't what HE would have done. Tough shit, guy, it was the shot *I* wanted. It went downhill from there.

He imparted so much erroneous information (case in point: all cameras if set to the same shutter speed, aperture setting, and ISO, would get the same photo. Hullo? Sensor capabilities, lens, etc etc?), and even Wing noticed. And then there was this guy, skulking around, sneaking photos of the participants of this workshop. I didn't sign any release form agreeing to have my photo taken during this workshop, and even though I blatantly placed either my hand or camera between me and this photographer, he kept sneaking around the room. Strike 3.

I took my camera apart and packed it in my camera bag. The volunteer from FotoFreo came over to talk to us, wanting to know if the workshop was what we expected. I know I gave a look to Wing that just reeked "Is she f**king kidding?" but politely said no, it wasn't. That all it was was a studio shoot, something we had already done. "Oh, as long as you're satisfied." "No, we aren't. As we said, this isn't what it was purported to be." She insisted "As long as you're happy" to the point I was looking for a wind up key. Forfeited the Game!

Wing wrote/typed up his opinion of this workshop and the people handling it.

I get back from Swancon

And I find a bunch of little things wrong. Good news, my computer is fine. Bad news is my default user account is wonky somehow. I am in the process of 'cloning' the account, without copying too much from the wonky one.

Then my Stakka drive decided to have an error, so I cracked it open only to find the small drive belt for spinning the carousel had broken. Need to take it somewhere to be repaired, as I have nothing to replace the drive belt, so it will have to be repaired. I will not just throw it away for the want of a small rubber drive belt.

Shifting the photos I took at SwanCon from laptop to external drive so I can edit them on the 'big screen'. I didn't realise I took 25 gigs worth. Of course many of them are dupes, or ones where the flash didn't cycle fast enough. Don't know what will end first, the transfer or the battery giving out.

Have so much laundry to get done.

After 9 months of flawless performance

My computer had decided to not like it's graphics adapter and just will not load the drivers. Using a large screen which is supposed to be 1920x1080 at 1283x1024 is a bit eye-bending. But at least the motherboard had a basic VGA adapter. So, right now, I'm in the process of making a system image, then I will back up the data drive too. Then my computer gets packed up, and brought to Harvey Norman as it's still under warranty.

Will be setting my laptop up, using the external monitor and keyboard. It's going to seem as slow as molasses going uphill in January.

Was she on crack?

Gov of S.C. Nikki Haley thinks women don't care about birth control/contraception? Gov't isn't mandating when you take contraception. Typical obfuscation from a Conservative.

One more time: the government wants to make sure health insurance companies continue to cover birth control (most did prior to this, but that's called clouding the issue with facts), and to stop employers from deciding what your health and reproductive choices are.

There is no, I repeat, NO infringement of religious freedoms by offering a service you don't want to use. Contrary to what all the Republican food groups are saying, your insurance premiums won't go up if your neighbor takes insurance covered birth control. That is the lying bullshit that the TeaBaggers and Ultra Conservatives are spewing about, and the ignorant noddy dogs are accepting as gospel.

Calling all shutterbugs and honest people local to me

A local charity, Camera Recycle Project, an organization that collects used camera gear and lends it out to young people with a passion for photography who can't afford to buy gear. It was robbed of almost 90% of its inventory. A police report was filed, but it never hurts to cover all bases. This list has been sent to local used camera resellers and pawn shops.

List of Cameras and gear stolen from "Camera Recycle Project"

Olympus EP-1 with blue leather case (had 14mm pancake lens on it)
1 Olympus EP-2 (silver) with 18-55 mm lens
1 Canon 450D (black) with battery grip (18-55mm lens)
1 Canon 350D (silver) with black 50mm lens
1 Nikon D200 (50 mm lens)
1 Nikon D5100 (black) with fold-out screen (11-18 mm lens on it)
1 Nikon D70 (black)
1 Nikon D 60 (black)
2 Nikon Coolpix
2 Olympus Ultrazooms (UZ450) - one silver, one black
Assorted point-and-shoots (black Nikon Coolpix, silver Nikon Coolpix, pink Samsung, black Samsung)
Assorted SD cards, CF cards

Available Serial numbers:

Olympus EP1 Black - B3B505144
Nikon D40 - 8003232
Olympus SP 560UZ - L79206022
Olympus E420 - 222497018
Nikon D70 - D33697
Tamron 11-18mm lens - 011619

If any of this is spotted, please contact the police, not me!

he's back in the saddle again

That means Wing is going back to the dojo tonight. I can only imagine how stiff and sore he is going to be tomorrow morning. It's been three months since his last training session, as he had knee surgery. Then he goofed a few times, making the knee very sore, setting himself back a few weeks. Also, I made him wait until we came back from Hamilton Island. Last thing I wanted was to having him limping around.

On an aside, I did manage to catch the cold Wing had. At least the worst of it waited until I got home. Silver lining and all that. :)

Have about 100 photos of "Canon Island" up on Flickr set "Canon Island 2012"

Still have the videos to go through. Fun fun!

Good news is I did manage to get a room at the Pan Pacific for "DoomCon". Not at SwanCon block rates, as I wasn't planning on taking a room until last week. Negotiated good rates though, seeing as Wing won't be there every night.

Grateful for the small things

What I'm grateful for is that the cold I caught from Wing really didn't hit me until after we got home from Hamilton Island.

Been going through the photos taken while on the island. Culling those that are duplicates or near duplicates, ones where the speedlite hadn't cycled, and ones I just don't like, or didn't come out as I had hoped, and I still have close to 100 'good ones'. And I still haven't gone through them all yet, but I did upload about 80 of them to my Flickr account. Go me. Now, me go nap. Zzzzzzzz