Hanna and Ike

Hanna, meet Ike. Ike, meet Hanna.

And courtsey the Weather Underground:

Ike. Who we are more concerned about.

Hanna. Who we’re less concerned about.

September 3, 2008 | Filed Under Things | Comments Off 

The Next Camera

I’ve been pondering my next camera. I’m currently using a Canon EOS 300D, the original Digital Rebel (DR), which has served faithfully and well since the spring of 2005. So at three and a half years old, it isn’t that old, but in comparing its capabilities with newer cameras, I’m seeing some areas where it’s lacking.

  • When taking candids of younger kids, being able to take long bursts of shots seems to increase the odds of getting a better shot. The DR comes up short in this regard. Certainly better than the Kodak DC280, but more and faster would be useful.
  • I’ve a bias against flash. In that I prefer not to use it. Probably because I have no clue what I’m doing with it. That aside - I really really like natural light. So when you add natural light + wild insane running children, that means a really fast lens to keep the ISO low, or a higher ISO and a moderately fast lens. And higher ISO means more noise in the image. I was looking at an image shot at 6400 with the new Canon 50D, I’d judge the quality to be equivalent to what I would get at 800 with my DR. As I increase the ISO, I should be able to get better results at higher f stops - meaning better shots at f/3.5 or f/4.
  • I like the idea of a full frame sensor, with higher resolution. The down side of the full frame sensor is that my Tamron lenses might really show their limitations at the edges of the photograph. And the downside of the higher resolution is that I’d need more cards and more disk space. The up side is that I’d have more flexibility in how I cropped the shots and still have enough photo to print 8×10s or larger.

While the Canon 1Ds Mk III really tickles my fancy, at $7,717, I can’t really justify that camera. Not even close. Easier might be the Canon 5D, which has a full frame sensor, and comes in at a more reasonable $2,289. On the other hand, the new 50D is priced at around $1,299, is a 15.1 megapixel camera, and with the smaller sensor (1.6x field of view crop) should get good performance out of my Tamron lenses.

But I’d really like that 5D!

September 1, 2008 | Filed Under Things | Comments Off 

Midi files to feed to the Roland HP201

We’re renting a Roland HP201, which I’ve just discovered will play midi files sent it by my laptop.

August 30, 2008 | Filed Under Things | Comments Off 

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