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The NikonLinks Blog by Edwin LeongNovember 16, 2011 - It’s been a while since the last post (my bad) and there are a few things to offer some quick thoughts on: Demise of Apple's Mac Pro? That surprises me, because I would have thought the graphics and film industry would still be big buyers. Maybe they still are, but since these are niche industries with no mass-market appeal, the sales are no longer justifying keeping the Mac Pro. Apple’s not shy about killing off dying or unsuccessful products, so those of us who have been hankering for a Mac Pro, may have to pony up the charges and get one while they are still available. The current Mac Pro is old and has been due for a refresh for a while and there are hints that Apple has just been waiting out Intel for a new Sandybridge processor to upgrade the current Westmere processors. Those processors should be available in January and new Mac Pro towers should be available shortly after…I hope. Looking at what the iMac offers, one could argue that a high-end iMac is just as good as an entry-level Mac Pro. The iMac has become a very intriguing option ever since Apple offered a quad-core processor option and boosted the RAM capacity. However, there’s one aspect of the iMac’s design that I hate and which dissuades me from considering one to replace my aging PC. The iMac does not allow user access to the hard drives. A user can access and upgrade the RAM modules, but not the hard drives, which given that mechanical hard drives will eventually fail, will require a trip to an authorized Mac repair centre to replace. At times, I don’t get Apple’s way of thinking. With the notebooks, a user can access the RAM and hard drive and do upgrades or replacement of faulty drives, but not so with the iMac or Mac Mini. While it is possible for a user, with the right tools, to replace an iMac’s drive, it’s involved and more than what the majority of users would want to attempt. Why couldn’t Apple design the iMac with a rear port door or cover for easy access to the hard drive (same with the Mac Mini)? Save for this lack of access, I may have already bought an iMac by now. As it is, I’ve been holding out and waiting for a refreshed Mac Pro – kinda like I’ve been waiting and holding out for Nikon’s next generation of prosumer SLRs. Another aspect of the Mac Pro that I love is the beautifully clean architecture inside. Hard drives have slots that they slide into without messy and stiff SATA cables running every which way. Looking inside my PC is to look at a rat’s nest of cables as the assorted optical and hard drives are connected to the mobo, while separate power cables connect to the PSU. Then there are the additional fans I mounted in a Frankenstein-like manner to keep the processors cool due to my ditching of the original CPU fans for the dual quad-core Xeons. The original fans were effective in keeping the CPUs cool, but screamed like a jet engine while also exhausting massive amounts of heat in my office. I removed the fans and replaced them with very large passive heat sink towers, but I feared for the heat build up, so I added two 120mm fans to blow cool air on the heat sinks. All of which adds more clutter and cables inside the PC. To quote Danny Glover from the Lethal Weapon movies, I’m too old for this shit! I’m not interested in building hot rod PCs anymore. My last (and still current) PC was custom built and it cost me $5,000. It rocked back in its day when state of the art digital was 12 MP, but it ain’t so rocking these days processing RAW files in the 18-24 MP range. It still works, but there’s a definite drag when I’m working on high resolution RAW files in Lightroom 3. I contemplated going with a MacBook Pro when Apple offered a quad-core processor option, but given all the peripherals that I have, not ideal and it’s not like I’m the type that needs a computer to review and process in the field. Hopefully, Apple has one more iteration of the Mac Pro to come before killing the line. Wedding photography nightmare Never had a couple come back and say the photos were bad or that we didn’t stick around long enough. If anything, it was the opposite where my partner and I stayed longer and gave the couple more than the agreed upon time. It was with a mix of bemusement, shock, and horror to read about the New York man suing his wedding photographer for not fulfilling the contract and for not taking satisfactory photos. To be sued is not to be taken lightly, but after reading further about the details, I cannot help but think that the groom is in need of psychiatric help. First, the lawsuit comes many years after the wedding day and more than ample time for the groom to voice concern with the photographer. Two, the marriage itself is history with the bride having left the USA to return to her native Latvia. Three, the groom is demanding that the photographer pay to restage the wedding and bring all the guests back. This is where we enter into a reality distortion field, because, as mentioned, the marriage itself is kaput and I rather doubt that the bride wants anything to do with the groom’s demands. One can only wonder if the bride departed due to the groom’s state of mind. Oh yes, the groom’s father is a partner at the law firm that is acting for the groom. I hope justice prevails for the photographer and that the groom will end up paying for the photographer’s defence cost. If I were the photographer, I’d counter sue for damage to reputation and disruption of business. More on infrared If you have a camera that has LiveView with auto focus, you can go with universal calibration and you do not need to send a lens to LifePixel when converting the camera’s filter. I was very seriously considering sending my old D2X off to LifePixel for conversion, but as the D2X has no LiveView mode, calibration could be tricky unless I decide to send away a lens for custom calibration. Now, my thinking is to have another camera I own that has AF LiveView and convert that camera with the universal calibration. It will make life much simpler, but a challenge trying to photograph in bright sunlight (still looking for a Hoodman Loupe type of device without the very high Hoodman pricing). Another clarification, based on information I found by accident by reading the Nikon forum at Photo.net, is my comment about using a polarizer and having weird hot spots show up in my images. Turns out, it’s the not the polarizer at fault, but the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens. At certain focal lengths, the lens is fine and does not produce any hot spots, but at certain focal lengths, it will due to light reflections from the internal lens elements. The hot spot is the internal reflection showing up in the image file. Visible light photography is not affected, but infrared wavelengths are. If you use an infrared-converted camera with zoom lenses, some testing will be needed to determine which focal lengths can cause reflective hot spots. I show two examples from my trip to Toronto back in September:
In the motorcycle photo, you can see flare in the centre of the image. In the photo below, you can see a purple flare spot above the three trees (marked out by the red arrows). Both photos were taken at 24mm with the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens, however, I have other photos showing flare at different focal lengths. Note, these are output from Lightroom, so there is no WB correction.
Speaking of infrared and lenses, I came across additional information that makes older lenses with infrared focusing markers, less reliable than I realized before getting my feet wet with infrared photography. Apparently, the red dot marker, which denotes where to set a lens’ focus for infrared photography, is only reliable for a specific type of infrared film and using a specific type of filter. Without knowing which film and which filter, you may not get accurate focusing, which doesn’t help much now that we’re in the digital age. Again, best option is to convert an SLR that has an auto focus LiveView mode. If you are interested in converting your camera for infrared capture, I obviously recommend LifePixel.
October 27, 2011 - A look at the Vanguard Up-Rise 38 messenger-style photo bag
Over the years, I've accumulated enough bags, cases and lighting gear to warrant dedicating a storage closet to hold it all. However, despite having a variety of camera bags, I've been on the hunt for a particular type of bag that can do double duty as an everyday office case for work. For many years, my work bag has been a lightweight nylon soft case, which I got from my workplace. It can hold a surprising amount of documents, as well as a laptop and accessories to support the laptop, but as a lightweight style bag, it offers no padding for when I want to bring along cameras and lenses. I found myself wrapping my cameras and lenses in towels and old shirts to offer some protection during the commute to the office. I do have a Lowepro Street and Field 400 shoulder bag, bought way back when Lowepro first introduced the S+F system, but typical of dedicated camera bags, it's rather fat and not purposeful as an everyday office bag. I also bought a National Geographic shoulder bag, which I thought would offer the right mix of size, capacity, pockets, and retro cool chic with its canvas material. Unfortunately, I found the strap to be rather unforgiving under heavy load and it squeaks (seriously) when I walk with it on the shoulder. It also lacks quick access to gear with having to undo straps and then a zipper to get at the gear inside. The most recent bag I bought was sight unseen from a vendor's website. Like the National Geographic bag, it had the retro canvas material and had a design that I thought would make it a good everyday bag. Unfortunately, while the bag had an overall nice design, it was too damn small to carry anything more than say a Panasonic GH-1 kit and even then, there would no space to carry anything else like my lunch and newspaper. What I want is a messenger style bag that can accommodate a decent amount of photo gear while still being able to carry other things I need and want when going to work. Being able to handle my 17-inch MacBook Pro would also be nice. A messenger style bag avoids the bulkiness of traditional camera bags, which does mean a compromise in overall capacity, but it's not like I'm expecting to haul a pro sized SLR and three f2.8 zoom lenses everyday. I'm thinking my Panasonic GF1 or a small SLR kit built around a D5100 or a D7000 with a zoom lens or two (note, I don't actually own either Nikon SLR, just using them as examples). When I think of camera bag makers, my mind automatically gravitates to Lowepro, because it's been the key manufacturer I've made most of my bag and case purchases since the beginning. This is primarily a historical thing because Lowepro is sold in just about every Canadian camera store (the company is Canadian afterall). This has blinkered me from seeing and considering other bags and cases, which is to my detriment, because there might have something available from another company to fit my needs...like from Vanguard. Vanguard offers three messenger style photo bags in its Up-Rise system. The smallest is the Up-Rise 28, with the medium sized Up-Rise 33, and the focus of this posting, the largest Up-Rise 38. Disclosure, I received the Up-Rise 38 from PhotographyTalk.com, as part of the consideration for posting a sponsor's link in the left side column of NikonLinks. The Vanguard Up-Rise 38 I received is custom embroidered with the PhotographyTalk logo. The Up-Rise 38 can be bought from retailers such as B&H Photo for USD $140.
The Up-Rise 38 is typical of most camera bags in being made from heavy duty nylon material (1000D Polyester Ripstop). Also typical is the black exterior color, but not so typical and also quite welcome is the orange color inside the bag. The orange color adds an attractive contrast to the black exterior and makes it easy to find darker and smaller accessories that you know you packed, but can't for the life of you, find inside bags with dark interior colors. It's also a benefit since I know which of the adjustable inserts belong to the Up-Rise 38 rather than have them get lost in a jumble of same colored inserts and dividers, such as with all the Lowepro bags I have.
As with other messenger bags, there is a front flap that covers most of the front of the bag. The front flap has a zippered pocket for sundry items such as for keys or a small book, etc. The front flap is secured to the bag in two ways: via generous sized Velcro fasteners and a single plastic snap buckle in the middle of the flap. The front flap also has a quick access zippered opening on top, so you don't have to undo the Velcro and buckle to access the gear.
Lifting the front flap reveals a pretty generous amount of additional pouches, pockets and slots to store accessories, documents, pens, memory cards, etc.
The main storage compartment has an padded insert that can be removed if you wish to use the Up-Rise 38 as a regular work bag without carrying any camera gear. At the rear of the main compartment is a padded slot meant for a notebook computer. It's long enough to accommodate a 17-inch MacBook Pro, although that may stretch the bag a bit if you plan to haul some largish camera gear. The back of the bag has an additional open pouch as well as a zippered pocket.
Like many other bags on the market, the Up-Rise 38 comes with a rain cover, which can be folded up small and clipped and stored inside the bag. It's nice to have, but truthfully, I've never bothered with using a rain cover for any of the bags I bought that came with one. This despite living in the rain-laden Pacific Northwest.
The shoulder strap has a removable padded section, which I certainly would not remove since it definitely makes the bag more comfortable to carry on the shoulder. Many bag manufacturers don't give enough thought to the shoulder strap, but this is quite an important part of the bag due to the stress point on our body.
The Up-Rise 38 can be made into a larger bag by unzipping the zipper that runs the middle of the exterior of the bag. This allows the bag to increase by a modest size, but it would still be tough to be able to fit say a D3S with a 70-200 attached inside. Separately, yes, but together, no, not as wide load capable as my old Lowepro S+F 400 bag. Although the PhotographyTalk logo kinda gives it away, the regular Vanguard Up-Rise 38 bag doesn't scream photo bag. You'll look like any number of office jockeys carrying their laptops to and from the office, which is actually a good thing if you don't want people to know about the expensive photo gear you might be carrying inside it. Older blog postings are available at this page. |
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If you're like me, you have a variety of camera bags, cases and backpacks, all meant for different tasks. That's just the way it is with photography, because no one bag can do it all. 
Overall, the Up-Rise 38 is an attractive messenger style bag that can carry a moderate amount of gear comfortably...but, wait, there's more...