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  • Colorado, Gear

    Snowy Ouray with Canon 5D2

    11.15.09 | Permalink | 13 Comments

    Beaumont, Ouray, Colorado

    Despite my tenacious cold, I bundled up and walked around the block this morning to take the new Canon 5D2 and some new lenses for a spin. The fresh snow caking Ouray and the surrounding mountains made for a nice test subject!

    The photo above was taken with a Contax/Zeiss 35-70mm lens, at 35mm f/8. This is an old, discontinued, manual focus and manual aperature lens, but I had read many glowing reviews about its incredible sharpness. Supposedly this zoom lens is as sharp or sharper than equivalent length prime lenses! So I picked one up on ebay for a reasonable price and this morning was my first trial run with it. I eagerly opened the files on my computer, and was not disappointed! The sharpness almost looks like it came from a Foveon sensor, but at a much larger resolution. In fact I’m so stoked I thought I’d share the fullsize file with all you pixel-peeping camera geeks out there.

    >> Click here to see the sample full resolution file (7.6mb). The raw file had a sharpness setting of 3 (of 10), which does snap it up a little bit, but I figured since that’s about what I’d do anyways with my files, you might as well see it at that setting. The file was converted from 16bit to 8bit, I tinkered with the levels and color balance in Photoshop, added the watermark, and saved it as a quality 10 jpeg (to save a little bandwidth).

    Anyhow, I am way stoked on the sharpness I’m getting from the 5D2, the 17mm and 24mm TS-E lenses, and now this Contax/Zeiss 35-70mm lens. I can’t wait to get out into the mountains again for some more real shooting with this setup! I’ve got to kick this pesky cold first though.

  • Gear

    Cold Feet with Full Frame Digital

    03.09.09 | Permalink | 13 Comments

    The term “cold feet” is of course often used in the context of marriage, and so it’s an appropriate term to use here, since a serious photographer is, in a sense, married to his/her camera. (I’ll set aside the further metaphor of camera polygamy for now). Investing thousands of dollars into a whole new camera setup (and committing to use it all the time as your go-to camera) is a big decision, and one that many photographers, including myself, dwell upon for far too long. At some point, you just have to either forget about it, or buy it and get it over with.

    Last week I went for it, and bought a new Sony A900 full-frame 24mp digital SLR, along with the Zeiss 24-70mm and Sony 20mm lenses. After just a few shoots with the new camera, I’ve gotten cold feet and have returned it. I’ll explain why below. (Warning: don’t bother reading further if you’re not a camera gearhead).

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  • Funny Stuff, Gear, Videos

    FlexTrek 37000000000000

    03.05.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

    Dominate the landscape! Neutralize the elements! Humiliate your surroundings!

    This is what it’s like to go backpacking with large format camera gear. Ha! (Thanks for the tip, Wally).

  • Colorado, Gear

    New A900 and Ouray Ice

    03.03.09 | Permalink | 5 Comments

    Ouray Ice Climbing
    Climbing in the Ouray Ice Park.

    Yesterday a sparkling new Sony A900 24mp SLR camera arrived via Fedex, with a few lenses, so today I figured I’d go take it for a spin. What better place to go on a cloudy day than the Ouray Ice Park, just a few blocks from my house? See a few more photos below.

    I spent a fortune on this digital setup, and I have high hopes. During the last year I’ve lost my enthusiasm for lugging around 20+ pounds of large format 4×5 gear and film, and I’ve been spoiled by the light weight and ease-of-use of the little Olympus E-420 digital SLR setup. With the recent generation of high megapixel SLRs, like the Sony A900, a new option emerges that could possibly be the ideal compromise of weight and image quality. Combined with the ultra-sharp 24-70mm Zeiss lens, the 24mp images are very impressive indeed, and in fact from what I’ve seen so far, I’d say that detailed 50″ prints are certainly in the realm of possibilities. Though this is a hefty camera compared to the Oly, requiring a heavier tripod also, the whole setup is still less than half the weight and bulk of the 4×5 system. I plan on adding a more in depth review of the camera here after I’ve had more experience with it.

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  • Backcountry Skiing/Snowboarding, Gear, Videos

    Snowboard Helmet Cam Attempt #1

    01.20.09 | Permalink | 4 Comments

    Snowboard Helmet Cam

    View Quicktime Video – 11mb

    This weekend I had my first chance to test out my new helmet cam, the GoPro Helmet Hero. It’s a tiny little digital camera with a 170ยบ fisheye lens enclosed in a waterproof casing, which mounts on top of my snowboard helmet.

    The video I’ve posted here is just a mellow cruiser run that we lapped a few times… nothing too spectacular but heaps of fun nonetheless. It was mellow enough that we opted for the “Chinese Downhill” strategy of going all at once, and I went last hoping to get some of my friends on camera in front of me. I’m looking forward to filming some of the more intense lines we normally do around here.

    More initial thoughts about this helmet cam below.
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  • Gear

    Digital Advances

    09.17.08 | Permalink | 5 Comments

    These days are good times for camera junkies. The latest professional digital cameras and lenses are offering features and image quality perhaps never before achieved by SLR cameras, and recent announcements promise even more improvements. Here’s a few of them that pique my interest, along with some thoughts of what I want to see down the road. (Warning: Only camera geeks need read further).

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  • Gear

    Goodbye Sigma DP1, Hello Olympus E-420

    08.22.08 | Permalink | 8 Comments

    In my Quest for the Ultimate Compact Camera, last winter I bought a Sigma DP1. I have had two goals in this quest: to find a good complimentary camera for my big and heavy 4×5 large format system, and to have a stand-alone camera to take on longer backpacking trips when I leave the 4×5 behind. While I loved some aspects of the DP1, namely it’s wonderful image quality and it’s tiny size and weight, the camera didn’t really fulfill either of my goals very well.

    With no other viable alternative on the market to fulfill my Quest, my main goal shifted to obtaining a lightweight do-it-all camera setup for my longer backpacking trips when I leave the 4×5 setup at home. The solution was the Olympus E-420, currently the lightest and smallest digital SLR on the market. I didn’t buy the regular kit lenses for this camera; instead I opted for the more expensive but very high quality 12-60mm Olympus lens. I consider this lens to be integral to this camera setup, and as you read my review you must remember that I am reviewing this lens as much as the camera itself.

    Read the details of my experience and comparison of both cameras below.

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  • Gear

    Books for Backpacking

    05.02.08 | Permalink | 3 Comments

    On backpacking trips longer than about three days, especially on solo trips, I like to bring a book along. I hardly ever get bored just relaxing and soaking in the views, but still it’s nice to have some extra brain food.

    Because of the demands of backpacking, any good backcountry book needs to meet certain physical criteria. It must be compact and lightweight – so it must be a paperback, ideally with small condensed print. I had a brilliant idea once of publishing little “backpacker” editions of books, on thin Bible paper with really small print and perhaps a little companion dry bag. But for now, regular thin paperbacks will do.

    Subject matter is also important to consider. Novels can be a poor choice because of the danger of ripping through the story too fast. You don’t want to haul around a book for five days if you’ll only get to enjoy it for one or two. Some novels can also seem like a petty distraction compared to the magnificence of nature around you. If I wanted petty distractions, I’d stay at home and browse YouTube.

    I also try to avoid bringing books that have a singular disturbing topic; Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer is good example of this. Interesting book for sure, but the last thing I want to do for five days in the mountains is immerse myself in the world of fundamentalist Mormonism.

    In my opinion, the best backpacking books are non-fiction, in particular philosophy or spirituality related books. The subject matter can be every bit as profound as your surroundings, perhaps even leading to a deeper connection with the surrounding landscapes. Philosophical books demand closer concentration and slower, more deliberate reading than novels. One chapter can often provide enough food-for-thought to digest all day long, and being out in the wilderness provides the time and focus to do so. These books can also withstand multiple reads; sometimes you can even get more out of it the second time through.

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  • Gear

    Quest for the Ultimate Compact Camera

    04.08.08 | Permalink | 14 Comments

    Sigma DP1, Ricoh GX100, Fujifilm F30

    For the most part compact cameras are built as point-and-shoot cameras for regular day to day snapshots; however, recently some camera manufacturers have been developing compact cameras that have features geared towards more serious photographers. The appeal of compact cameras is of course that they are compact and lightweight, and if they could be developed to include advanced features along with professional image quality, the result would be a very useful photographic tool indeed.

    Over the last several years I’ve been searching, and waiting, for the ultimate compact digital camera. As you may know, my primary camera is a 4×5 large format film camera. Almost all of my serious fine print photos and are made with this beast, but I also like to carry along a supplemental digital compact camera for quick snapshots, action shots, and sometimes macro shots. When I’m backpacking, all my 4×5 gear is packed up in my backpack, but the compact camera fits in a little case on my chest strap – easily accessible for quick shots while hiking.

    I am now using my third digital compact camera in as many years, and I will briefly review each one in this article. The sample photos have been processed in Photoshop – they are not direct from camera. Though I may have adjusted brightness/colors/contrast to a minimal degree, I have not done any sharpening or chromatic aberration fixes. The fullsize jpeg images have been optimized for the web, so there might be slight compression artifacts, but it should be negligable.

    I’ll also take this opportunity to state that I have little interest in shooting SLRs anymore, even though there are some pretty small ones on the market. First of all, they won’t work as a supplement to my 4×5 system; it’s just too much extra bulk and weight. Secondly, as a standalone system, the weight savings of a complete, quality SLR setup vs. the 4×5 setup is not very significant, yet the image quality difference is huge. If I ever go back to a solely digital setup, it will only be for a lightweight compact camera. In other words, if I’m ever going to sacrifice the awesome image quality of the 4×5 setup, then there had better be a proportional weight savings involved.

    On to the reviews!
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  • Gear

    Personal Locator Beacon

    04.01.08 | Permalink | 8 Comments

    ACR Personal Locator BeaconThis is an ACR GPS Personal Locator Beacon, or “PLB” for short. It is my safety net when I go out solo on long backpacking trips.

    Here’s how it works: If I had an accident that left me unable to walk out of the wilderness, I extend the antenna and press the button to activate the help signal. An internal GPS receiver acquires my GPS coordinates and the PLB transmits them along with my personal identification code through satellites to an NOAA station (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). The NOAA station then calls my emergency contacts (friends and family phone numbers that I’ve registered beforehand) to ensure that I am indeed out in the wilderness and it’s not a false alarm. They then contact the local Search and Rescue team, which would initiate a rescue operation – knowing my exact location.

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