Category: Photo

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 11, 20065:00 pm

Prickly Situation

This afternoon I took the Canon 20D and EF-S 60mm Macro lens out into the backyard. This prickly plant reminds me of cloud formations, where the shapes take on meaning. In the photo, I see a fox to left and dog to the right. Bow. Wow. The neighbor’s dogs barked as I took pics near the fence.

I continue to struggle to find satisfaction with the Canon 20D, which has been the case since buying it. The Nikon D70 felt more like an extension of my eye, capturing images just as I saw them. I have long fussed over the Canon 20D, with some dissatisfaction regarding focus, which has always seemed soft to me or different than expected. I’m surprised by the number of times the focal point isn’t where it appears to be. I’ve encountered this problem using two different 20Ds.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 23, 20067:23 pm

Canon EOS 20D, 30D, or Nikon D200?

I am contemplating digital cameras this week, following Canon’s pre-PMA announcement of the EOS 30D. I had expected a 10-megapixel honker to match the Nikon D200. Instead, the Canon EOS 30D is a marginal upgrade to the 20D, similar to the Nikon 70s compared to the Nikon 70. My initial reaction: Why didn’t Canon do more? I already had compared the D200 and 20D before the announcement. My conclusion: Canon doesn’t need to.

For some time, I’ve griped about the Canon EOS 20D compared to the Nikon D70 (at one time, I owned both cameras and now have only the 20D). I often found the photos taken with the D70 came out as I expected, which wasn’t always the case with the 20D. The camera acted more like an extension of my eye.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 1, 20067:09 pm

Look Smug in the Mug

One of the great benefits of my job is opportunity to speak to people running some really cool companies. Today I got the grand tour of photo-sharing site SmugMug. I had strongly considered setting up shop at Flickr, for which I had already plunked down $24.95 for a year’s Pro service. I probably will upload some stuff to Flickr, mainly stock images for my blog posts. Externally hosted images would make for less work should I ever move my blog to a new host. Looks like SmugMug will become my main photo flat. I’ve already started moving in.

SmugMug is one of the best photo-sharing sites I have seen. Tools are excellent for amateur or pro photographers. Technology is modern, fresh, and easy. SmugMug also is a successful family business, something you don’t see much in high-techdom. My temporary SmugMug site is up and running. I plan to use a domain, if I grow to like the service as much as I expect to.

Photo by Joe WilcoxDec 25, 20058:50 am

Miracle on 34th Street

After reading Thomas Hawk’s account of his bad shopping experience at PriceRitePhoto and good experience with B&H Photo, I wanted to pipe an endorsement for the B&H folks.

My family visited long-time friends in Fredericksburg, Va., on Friday. My good friend told me that she had ordered a combo camera/camcorder for her husband for Christmas. She called B&H, which didn’t have the device in stock. After she expressed disappointment, the sales clerk suggested calling Adorma, where she eventually purchased the camera. In an experience straight out of “Miracle on 34th Street,” she praised B&H for recommending a competitor and pledged to shop there again.

Photo by Joe WilcoxDec 12, 20055:49 pm

Sweet Memory

Last week I upgraded the memory on my 1.67GHz PowerBook G4 to 2GB. The computer came with 1GB of memory, which used to be plenty. But with Apple’s Aperture and bunches of programs running, more […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxDec 6, 20058:30 pm

Snow Heart

The overnight snow was a bust, just 10 cm as measured on my porch. So, I’ll remember another snow day, in March 1999, when my wife and daughter made a snow heart for me in the […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxNov 23, 20058:58 pm

Thanksgiving Snow

Snow fell tonight in Washington, a rare delight in the nation’s capital, made more delightful by the timing. In about 20 years of living here, I can’t recall Thanksgiving snow. Still, I managed to turn […]

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.

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.