man & nature # 235 ~ water

Lake George ~ Bolton Landing, NY • click to embiggen

not tuscany # 1-3 ~ you do what you gotta do

The Sagamore ~ Lake George / Adirondacks, NY • click to embiggenOver the past few weeks The Landscapist has been something of a travel picture log / blog of sorts. While much of the commentary has been descriptive of my travels, I hope that the pictures have given you an example of a different way of looking at things - that there is in fact still an emphasis on the medium of photography in pictures, if not in words.

The pictures posted here are of this past weekend which was spent at a rather upscale resort, The Sagamore, on Lake George here in the Adirondacks. The place is not really my cup of tea but the wife had a conference there so I tagged along for some great golf and what turned out to be my discovery that autumn color had arrived.

FYI, the place was crawling with downstate, re: NYC, lawyers.

man & nature # 234 ~ next big thing, pt.2

AM fog on the West Branch of the Au Sable River • click to embiggenYesterday's idea regarding an interchangeable sensor camera body, while not exactly met with cries of "Yes we can!", was met with some skepticism and comments from those who might be considered as defenders of the status quo.

IMO, the idea that thinking of cameras as computers with processing hardware - which, as additional chips and circuitry are added, would require camera body mods to accommodate - is a problem only if one is wedded to the traditional 35mm film camera body design. And, even if one is committed to that design for some sort of sentimental reasons, a battery grip-like accessory could be developed to provide more than enough space to house future space devouring processing hardware upgrades. Who says that the "computer" must be housed within the camera body?

IMO, that kind of thinking isn't cutting the mustard - to me, it smells more like cutting the cheese.

Rolleiflex 3003However, that said, if designers can get beyond the classic slr style body design, who knows what might be possible. In fact, I've been around long enough to remember that just such thinking has been applied to camera design. Consider the Rollei 3003 - an innovative 35mm SLR camera design with interchangeable backs.

The Rollei 3003 was a very innovative 35mm camera - it not only had interchangeable backs, it had: 1) interchangeable lenses 2) interchangeable finders 3) interchangeable focusing screens 4) interchangeable bulk backs, and, if you look closely at the enlarged version of the photo on the left, you will notice a small lid on the top front of the body. That, dear friends, is the popup lid for a waist level finder - imagine that, a camera with eye level and waist level viewfinders. How cool, not to mention practical, is that?

If I were running the world (photography-wise), I'd be looking at this creative bit of camera design thinking as at least a starting point for the interchangeable sensor idea. Don't tell me that it can't be done. After all, if we can put a man on the moon ....

The only question is, will it be done?

man & nature # 233 ~ a personal best

The Olympic ski jump towers at the end of a late day round of golf • click to embiggenFor one reason and some others I was unable to step onto the 1st tee on The Lower Course at my home course until 5:10PM yesterday. After my normal routine of stretching and loosening up, I teed off at 5:15PM.

If I had known that the sunset was at 7:14PM, I might not have even tried to play a round but I was not aware of that sundown timetable at that time. Nevertheless, I knew that I had to hustle and hustling was not a problem in as much as I was the only golfer on the course.

So, proceeding at a brisk walking pace, off I went. The only distractions I faced were the magnificent views on/of the course itself and those of the surrounding peaks - the warm (color temp) late day sun cast long shadows and the mountains were beautifully sculpted by the light. The temp was in the 65-70˚ range - it was a wonderful evening by any standards.

All of that said, I got in a complete 18-hole round. The last 2 holes were played just after the sun dipped below the surrounding mountains but with plenty of soft light remaining - way more than enough to see my intended targets and follow the flight of my ball. I walked off the 18th green at precisely 7:28PM - a 2 hour and 13 minute walking round of golf, my personal best time.

According to the EXIF data on the accompanying picture, it was made at 7:37PM. It was a grand and glorious evening.

man & nature # 232 ~ the next big thing?

Road repair equipment in AM fog • click to embiggenToday was the day for Leica to announce / reveal their newest digital cameras, to include their new flagship rangefinder M9 (18mp full frame sensor). And so it has come to pass and it can be yours for $9,000 US.

On a certain photo blog/site there has been much to do about how this camera, although expensive, actually represents good dollar value because Leicas go for big bucks on the used market. Assuming that you can come up with the price of entry (which does not include a lens like, say, the Leica 24mm f/1.4 Summilux-M Aspherical Manual Focus Lens, which will set you back a cool $5,995 US), this may indeed be true.

On the other hand, in the digital camera world this may indeed NOT be true.

A quick check for a used Leica M8 body - Leica's most recent digital rangefinder flagship - on ebay revealed that they can be had for up to 40% less than they sell for new. Considering that the M8 hasn't been around for very long, that's a very hefty depreciation for a Leica camera. That may be due, in part, to the fact the M8 had some ... ahhh ... "problems" which hopefully got fixed this time around, but ....

There is absolutely no guarantee that a Leica digital camera will hold its value better - as a % of original purchase price - than any other manufacturer's digital cameras will. As we all know, "flagship" digital cameras come and go seemingly with the wind, at least with the winds of digital change, that is.

All that said, here's what I'm waiting for - I'm dreading the day, and it's probably coming soon, that Olympus will be introducing their next "flagship". Even though they have declared that 12mp is enough, they have stated that their intent is to concentrate upon improving things like dynamic range, noise, resolution and the like - things that matter much more than more mp when it comes to IQ. Good for them. These are things that with noticeable improvement would motivate me to "upgrade" to a new flagship model, but ...

These improvements are obtained by improving a camera's sensor and internal processing software, not the camera body. Sooooo .... when is a camera maker going to design a body with an interchangeable sensor capability?

Now, I'm not asking for a user-changeable sensor - I'd be more than happy to separate myself from a camera body for long enough to have the sensor changed by an authorized repair facility. No problem. My Olympus E-3 has superb build quality - it can probably last a "lifetime" like, say, the 2 Nikon film camera bodies sitting on a shelf (right within arm's reach of where I am sitting), but, unlike the Nikons, which can keep on making pictures until all the film runs out, my E-3 is destined to become a superbly built paperweight in fairly short order (by film camera standards).

Operating under the assumption that the current sensor in my camera can be replaced if it were to be damaged or become defective in some manner, how difficult can it be to design the body so that the next generation sensor - along with a software upgrade - can be inserted?

Seriously, how hard can that be?

man & nature # 228 - 231 ~ chimp away

Clock Park AM fog • click to embiggen
AM fog ~ Au Sable Forks • click to embiggenI have always been somewhat confused / perplexed regarding the idea of post-picturing cropping. That notion was marching around in my cranium for a while yesterday as a result of reading a blog post wherein the author was mentioning that his new full-frame sensor camera allowed for a considerable amount of after-the-fact cropping while still maintaining a high degree of sharpness / detail / lack of noise and the like.

No doubt that that is true. But, my question is - if you feel the need to crop after-the-fact, where's the disconnect with that idea - cropping for better ... what? ... composition? - at the time one is picturing?

Or, to put it a slightly different way - if one of the principle characteristics of the medium of photography is the act of selection (and it is) why don't picture makers pay way more attention to that act while they are engaged in the act of picturing?

I am doubly perplexed regarding this question in the current digital age. I mean, for goodness sake, your camera has a screen on which to view your selection efforts on the spot. One can chimp away to one's heart's delight. Man, if you can't get it right with that help, once again, I might suggest taking up another time-killing sport other than picturing.

man & nature # 227 ~ just wondering

Washington Street ~ Westport, NY • click to embiggenA few days ago, Don asked:

... what is the average time a viewer looks at a picture such as in National Geographic or even on-line as compared to someone viewing at a gallery?

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea. That said, my experience and intuition says that pictures in a book/periodical or in a gallery get a lot more viewing time than those viewed on-line. All I know for sure, is that I spend more time looking at a picture or a group of pictures when I am in a gallery or looking at a book/periodical. That may be so simply because pictures just look and feel "more natural" in print than they do on screen.

That said, I have a question regarding average time spent viewing a picture - how much time, on average, do any of you out there spend viewing any of my pictures here on The Landscapist?

And, as long as I'm asking questions about my pictures, how many of you would keep coming back if all I posted were my pictures - no words, just pictures?

FYI, this is not a scientific survey - nothing is going to change here on The Landscapist as a result of your answers. I'm just curious.

man & nature # 224-226 ~ just doing it

A Hike up Owls Head • click to embiggenCollege girl, aka - coma girl, was hoping to see Hugo one last time before she returned to college on Saturday. As luck/coincidence would have it, I received a phone call at 9AM Friday from Hugo's dad (The Cinemascapist) that he had missed a notice that Hugo' pre-school would be closed that day - would I pick up Hugo from his mom's workplace around noon? That was a spot of good luck for college girl.

Hugo's mom works at The North Country School which is conveniently located (for our purposes) just down the road from Owls Head. I had been promising Hugo a hike to the top of Owls Head for the past 2 years, college girl had a planned hike for Friday that did not happen, so it seemed like the perfect thing to do to satisfy a number of wishes and promises.

So we did it.