BEFORE AND AFTER - 22 MOFFAT, BROOKLYN, NY

BEFORE:

Three images captured with a Canon 5D MkII and a 24mm TSE II lens. The lighter lower exposure is only for extra detail in the shadow areas. The building didn't quite fit in a single capture; the files were stitched together using Autopano Pro to generate a 16 bit file from the original raw files.

AFTER:

After levels and curves corrections, hue and saturation adjustments, burning and dodging and perspective controls - oh, and a new sky.

LOVE AND HATE

Every now and then I'm going to try and post some quick things that I love or at least like a lot and some quick things that I don't like (hate is sometimes not too strong a word) since I never seem to have time for more in-depth reviews. For what it's worth:

LOVE: The "Up-Strap". This thing does what it says, keeps the camera strap from constantly slipping off your shoulder. They never responded to my email regarding a simple modification that would make it even better though...

LOVE: The Sennheiser MKE 400 shotgun microphone. Works great on the Canon 5D MkII when doing video and is really small and lightweight.

HATE: LaCie hard drives. I was suckered into getting one again last Fall ("Rugged" haha, right) and it, like every other LaCie drive I ever had before, quickly died. To be fair, they did replace it but only after a 6+ week long email exchange that was something out of a Monty Python episode. Seriously. I have the drive here but will only use it for transporting unimportant things back and forth between home and the studio or if I know I already have several back-ups elsewhere. On the other hand, I LOVE the G-Drive Mini. I have a few and have never, ever had a problem with them.

PROJECT MAH-JONGG

Project Mah-Jongg is still on view at the Museum of Jewish Heritage through January 2nd, 2011. I photographed an array of items for this exhibit that were printed in the 2wice publication, "Crack Bam Dot" - design by Abbott Miller of Pentagram who also designed the exhibit.

PHOTO EXPO SHOW NYC 2010

I went to the Photo Expo at the Javits Center yesterday. Not much to report. It's surprising to me how much smaller the show is now compared to years past, I hadn't gone in a while but I remember it being twice as large. Noticeably absent was Apple and Adobe. I remember I was at the show when Apple launched Aperture in 2005 and their booth was ginormous.

I did buy a "Steadepod" which I had seen online and was intrigued by. I haven't used it yet. It seems like a good concept but I have to say it feels rather cheaply made.

Seems like everyone is selling inkjet paper. So many booths of these little companies selling paper and printable canvas including my favorite, "Freedom Paper" whose booth was complete with a giant Stars & Stripes image and a Bald Eagle. You can't make this stuff up.

I had a long talk with an engineer from Canon and told him my list of grievances as well as my suggestions for future products. He seemed to be genuinely interested in what I have to say - we'll see if my feedback goes anywhere or not... Here's some of what I had to say:

• 5D Mark III should have a built-in clinometer
• 5D Mark III should have a fold out screen like the 60D
• EOS Utility Software should not have screen resolution restrictions so it can be installed on netbooks
• The TS-E 45mm lens is need of an optical redesign to bring it up to par with the other TS-E lenses

737 COCKPIT HUD

I really like this image I did a while back - I literally put the camera in the pilot's seat of this private 737 with the HUD (Heads Up Display) down and in view. You can see the beautiful control tower built in 1962 at Laguardia Airport in the distance (which is now being replaced with a new, modern tower that will function better but not look as nice).

Sigma 12mm lens on Canon 5D