Category: Media

Photo by Joe WilcoxNov 7, 20056:12 pm

Girl in the Window

I am debating whether to keep the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens. My main reason for choosing the lens was the f/2.8 (and, of course, the “L” glass). I sparingly use flash and wanted a lens more suited to this shooting preference.

On Friday and Saturday evenings, I took the lens out at dusk for some difficult shooting. The picture here is of my daughter, goofing off through her parents’ bedroom window. I had to adjust this image quite a bit, using Apple’s iPhoto to change the brightness, contrast, and exposure.

Photo by Joe WilcoxNov 4, 200511:06 pm

Little Miss Shutterbug

This evening, I took my daughter to the camera store, where we purchased a Canon Digital Rebel (black). She has shown great interest in photography, outgrowing her Canon PowerShot S410 and constantly begging to use […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxNov 1, 20055:09 pm

Now I’ve got two Canon f/2.8L Lenses

Last night’s jaunt down Scary Perry left me rethinking my recent Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM lens purchase. I had such a lovely time shooting with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens that I decided to go back to Penn Camera for a possible trade in for the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM.

Biggest concern: Size and weight. The f/2.8 lens measures 84.6mm x 193.6mm and weighs in at a hefty 1310g. There are computer notebooks that weigh less, and that’s not taking into account the heft of the Canon EOS 20D. After holding and shooting with the f/2.8 lens attached to the store’s 20D, I decided to take the chance.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 30, 200510:06 pm

My New Canon Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM

Yesterday, I traded in my Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens at my local Penn Camera, in Rockville, Md. I was never happy with the lens, which focused slowly and produced too much noise. Yes, I know the photographer is always to blame. There are bum lenses sometimes, too.

As result, I relied mostly on my Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L USM lens, which dramatically changed my shooting style. When I had the Nikon D70, I liked to hang back, typically relying on the Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED AF Zoom-Nikkor lens. The Canon L lens means getting in closer.

Pulp Media by Joe WilcoxOct 27, 20058:10 pm

Yeah, I’m ‘Lost’

Tonight, I broke down and purchased “Lost” Season 1 from the iTunes Music Store. The time had come to start serious testing Apple’s new video service. I wanted to see if the shows really could be watched (and enjoyed) from the new iMac’s Front Row. Yup. Quality is a tad VHS, but w-a-a-y better than I expected.

The download put the Verizon Fios 15Mbps DSL service to its toughest test yet. Surprisingly, the nearly 5GB of data—that’s 25 episodes—downloaded in well under an hour. I timed the first couple programs at about two minutes each, then left the PowerBook G4 downloading while I washed dishes.

News Media by Joe WilcoxOct 22, 20054:44 pm

‘Good Night, And Good Luck’

I just returned from the AFI theatre in Silver Spring, Md., where I watched the film “Good Night, And Good Luck“. I can’t speak for George Clooney’s motivation for making the film, but the topic certainly is timely considering the U.S. government’s anti-terrorism stance.

As a writer and former journalist (former in current job only), the topic attracted my interest. I credit the director for creating a real sense of being there, even filming in black and white. Wikipedia and Museum of Broadcast Communications offer excellent bios on the film’s protagonist, Edward R. Murrow.

News Media by Joe WilcoxOct 19, 20058:01 pm

It’s Not a Fact

Just about every year, PC Magazine columnist John Dvorak writes about the death of Apple. He’s been wrong every year—actually about lots of things he writes about. Now he claims that there is media bias in favor of Apple, because, “today’s newspaper and magazine tech writers know little about computers and are all Mac users. It’s a fact”.

He continues, “I could list 50 [technology writers.] Readers should thus not be surprised by the overcoverage of Apple Computer. Every time Steve Jobs sneezes there is a collective chorus of ‘Gesundheit’ from tech writers pounding away on their Macs”.

Living by Joe WilcoxOct 18, 20053:02 pm

New TV Commercial Tuesday

Now that Apple has a store selling videos, I’m wondering if there should be some other content for download. I’m thinking TV commercials. There are certainly some TV ads that are fun to watch and […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxOct 12, 20056:12 pm

Whew, It was worth the Risk

Well, it is great to be mostly right. Apple did in fact launched a video service today, with music videos and TV shows, and even video podcasts, so I’m three for three there.

The company also announced a new video-based iPod. I even got the Mac entertainment repositioning right. Apple released a new iMac with built-in video camera and new entertainment interface called Front Row.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 9, 20055:35 pm

Gramps and Digicams

It’s mixing-and-matching time—pulling together elements of the last post (on digital prints) and the next-to-the-last (about my father-in-law).

I have used digital cameras for a long time, at least as far back as 1997. The photo of my daughter and her grandfather was taken in late 1998 with a digital camera I can’t recall. I suspect that it was Kodak’s then top-of-the-line 1.6 megapixel shooter, which sold for more than a thousand bucks. A year later, I moved up to Canon’s PowerShot S20, a lightweight (for the time), full-featured 3-megapixel digital camera.

Apple by Joe WilcoxOct 6, 20056:51 pm

Wicked Widget!

Most people think I’m really into technology, because I handle it well and that’s what my day job is about. Actually, I’m not gear head. I can build a computer, but never would, and I spend no time fussing around upgrading PCs. So, it’s very rare I get really excited about technology.

But, I’m pumped up tonight.

News Media by Joe WilcoxSep 30, 20058:58 pm

There is No Excuse

Sometimes I wonder what print publication editors think, what’s accidental or intentional in publishing and what is the backstory beyond certain decisions. Excellent example is last week’s New York Times Magazine.

On page 78 starts an article about luxury hybrid vehicles. Part way through the story is a two-page ad for Lexus, the kind of ad no legitimate publication would allow. Tagline: “Welcome to the Luxury Hybrid”. An ad for a Lexus hybrid vehicle in a story about hybrid vehicles? For shame! Print publication tradition, particularly in the esteemed New York Times Magazine, would forbid the mixing of editorial and related ad copy.