I’m not really sure why I still visit Michael Reichmann’s site. Maybe it’s one of those akin to George W. Bush making a presidential address; you’re compelled to listen not because you want to get something tangible information from it, but because you anticipate him to make a big boo boo.

Well, that has happened again today here…but it wasn’t written by MR himself. It’s an article on “Why Moore’s law doesn’t apply to Digital Photography,” a title that is more pretentious than “Why the Megapixel Race is SO 2005.”

But, OK, let’s play along with this for a moment: Maxwell (the author) is basically saying that the amount of megapixel becomes insignificant since no lens will outresolve it. Well, that’s assuming there will be no new technology when it comes to optics (lenses). So it is flawed…very flawed. I remember my computer science professor saying that we’ll never see the day a printer having more than 1MB of memory (forget about Bill Gate’s famous quote about a computer not having the need to have more than 640k of memory) because nobody will ever need it. One can never assume what another wants or needs because it is NEVER constant nor predictable. Sure, we don’t need a 100 megapixel camera today, but who are we to say what technology can bring tomorrow and what would be the needs of people by then?

Popularity: 2% [?]

In case you don’t know, the White House has started publishing their images (Pete Souza and his posse’s photos, no less!) on Flickr. Interesting to note that full resolution is available and, just a few days ago, publish the EXIF of the images! This is excellent so one can learn from the experts. You can freely pixel-peep on the photos and amaze yourself with the fact the 5D Mk II is trounced by D700 at similar ISOs and see the glorious details.

For me, the much more useful information is the EXIF, to see what lenses and what exposure was used in the image that caught my eye (Yes, they’re all Pete Souza images…but not all of them are great…some are even crap, in my opinion)…so I can play Photo Editor and imagine myself yelling at Souza “What the hell is this garbage? I don’t pay you top dollar to get this crap.”

Well, one can always imagine.

A few observations: Pete uses mostly primes (50L, 24L, 135L), uses available light for most, if not all, of the shots…including indoors.

BTW, if you haven’t done so…buy Pete Souza’s “The Rise of Barack Obama.” One of the best photography book I’ve read in a long time.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Prologue
This is what I call version 0.1 of the review.  It will probably evolve over time depending on how much procrastination has invaded my schedule.

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Popularity: 19% [?]

I started serious photography around 1997, back when we used to store images in these small cylindrical canisters called “film” and we used to wait at least an hour or so before we realize if we screwed the exposure of our photos.

I was fortunate enough to experience the “golden years” of analog film; I shoot mostly on slides and pure B&W film and even process my own film in my own “darkroom”…which is actually our bathrooms and my wife used to complain about the stench of those chemicals that I use.  I had my slide film developed via snail mail using Fuji’s or Kodak’s mailers and spent a fortune on high-quality archival sleeves to store those slides.

Ah yes…the memories…so why did I bring this up?
While rummaging through the chaotic forums of DPReview, I came across this guy’s collection of images taken with Kodachrome.  It hit me like a sledgehammer to my nuts…reminded me of how beautiful analog film looked.   Of course, the guy clearly has talent and skill, but his use of the technology back then is just amazing, simply put.

Here is his website about his passion of one of the truly greatest imaging medium: the Kodachrome.

Popularity: 32% [?]

While I’m so much engrossed lately with anything to do with bicycles, I haven’t totally forgotten about photography.  In fact, I just updated my iStockphoto portfolio with a few images from my recent trip to Massachusetts.  It’s funny that I haven’t updated my portfolio for more than a year prior to this upload…that’s how lazy I can get.

Popularity: 19% [?]

AlienBees finally started shipping their much-anticipated CyberSync Strobe Radio Triggers.  Fortunately, I happen to be one of the first people who got their grubby hands on this product.  Unfortunately, I’m also one of the first ones to express disappointment on this not-so-well-thought-out-designed product.

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Popularity: 100% [?]

Wow, that’s a mouthful.

If you find yourself cringing at the price of a pair of PocketWizards for your wireless strobe triggering needs…or perhaps cursing at your el cheapo eBay radio triggers (I’m on both camps), you’re in luck…because the genius that is Paul C. Buff has created yet another splendid product aimed “for the rest of us.” A pair of the transmitter/receiver is cheaper than a used PocketWizard transceiver.
Alas! It’s only available for pre-order. Be rest assured that this site will be host one of the first reviews available when AlienBees start shipping this (hopefully) awesome product.

Popularity: 22% [?]

If you just updated your you Capture NX to 1.3.2 on Leopard, chances are you began seeing “Cannot load Blah.NEF” error message when trying to open ANY NEF file. I did, and found the way to get around the problem. Follow these steps:

- Send a hate email to Nikon for letting loose a retarded update for their dog slow software (optional)
- Uninstall Capture NX using your installation CD
- Install Capture NX from your installation CD (assumes 1.1)
- Update to 1.3.1. If you are asked to run the software after update, choose “No.”
- Update to 1.3.2. Again, DO NOT RUN Capture NX yet.
- Reboot
- Voila! Capture NX fixed. Maybe.

Now, some of you may ask: why not skip 1.3.1? Well, the stupid developers of Capture NX (Nik Software?) will only update software from 1.3.0 onwards. If you have a version lower, the updater won’t even warn you that you need at least 1.3.0; it will just complain that “Capture NX is not installed.” WTF? The Nikon support page will tell you you need at least a 1.3.0 to update, but will not give you a direct link to 1.3.0 or 1.3.1. STUPID. STUPID. STUPID.

Popularity: 44% [?]

• Peter Stormare.  If the dictionary needed to use an image to define the word “cool,” Peter’s photo would be it.  I would take a really tight picture of his face while he’s totally wasted/drunk…and he would still look f*cking cool.  Only Peter Stormare can pull that off.
• Patricia Arquette.  Why her?  Well, why not?  She’s one of the finest actresses that walked the Earth.  I imagine taking a picture of her as she’s taking her morning coffee or tea in her home kitchen. 
• Samuel Jackson.    He would have been the coolest person in my book if he hadn’t made “Shaft.”  Gawd, that was a terrible movie.  I will only take a picture of his piercing stare…just his eyes.  That will scare the hell out of everyone who looks at it…
• Giada de Laurentiis.  Most photos you will see of her is with her trademark smile…I would take a photo of her from the neck up, hair up, little make up…and NOT smiling…in fact, I want to take a picture of her genuinely pissed.  I would try to piss her off before I click the shutter.
• Edward Norton.  The greatest actor who ever graced Hollywood.  White background.  Him on a bar stool.  I would try my best to make him laugh.  Then I would take a picture of him while laughing.
• Steve Jobs.  Tight shot of his face in B&W.  Spray of blood on his face.  People would be guessing if it’s blood or something else…
• Woody Allen.  He is the breathing evidence of why God exists.  Imagine if he had Brad Pitt’s look with all that talent and wealth… ALL women would flock to him.  I would take a picture of him playing the clarinet on a NYC subway station with a really wide angle lens in grainy black and white.
• M. Night Shyamalan.  This is easy.  I would take a picture of him on a field, him in a Yoga position next to a HUGE pile of dung.  If we can’t manage to get a pile of dung…a stack of DVDs of his movies since “The Sixth Sense” will do.
• Howard Stern.  Silhoutte of him in side view.  Screaming.  F*ck yes.
• Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.  I have no idea on how I would do it but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be very difficult to screw up this one.

That’s it.  I’m not even sure why I wrote this.  But, hey, If any one of you on the list is reading my blog…

Popularity: 23% [?]

I bought a bottle of Eclipse and a bunch of Sensor Swabs a while ago thinking that I would use it often to clean my D200′s CCD.

Many months after I got the sensor cleaner, I never got to use it…not even once because the Giottos air blower was more than adequate to rid of the dusts that accumulate in the sensor.  I was beginning to think that I should have not bought the sensor cleaner in the first place…

When I bought the used D2X, I never realized how dirty the sensor was until I took studio shots with a white background.  Try as I might with the Giottos blower, I could not remove the sensor dusts.

To make the long boring story short, I ended up using the Eclipse and Sensor Swabs.  I was as scared as a wet kitten when I did the procedure…

Just after a few minutes, I was done.  When I took test shots with the ExpoDisc, there are still a couple of dust specks left, but I figured I could live with it.

Moral lesson of the day: Sensor cleaning is not that hard…and Eclipse + Sensor Swabs works!

Popularity: 23% [?]