So after much thought and endless problems, i decided i would change the concept of my film and go for  a more subtle approach. In the end i was unable to get hold of a Police Cell in time to actually film what i wanted but this may come later. But for the hand in I had a similar idea which i did lick and got inspiration from an advert i previously blogged about. I really think it works and had I been able to make the advert longer I would have liked to use different people or experienment with different voices delivering different lines.

リコー GXR と同時発表のカメラユニット「GR LENS A12 50mm F2.5 MACRO」の撮像素子が APS-C サイズと知って、35mm 判換算 75mm 相当か、と最初は思った。

ニュースリリース (リコー、2009年11月10日)

でもよく見るとレンズの実焦点距離は 33mm、35mm 判換算で 50mm 相当ということのようである。50mm じゃないのに製品名に「50mm」と入れてしまうリコーの独自規準は果して認められるのだろうか。ニコン DX、キヤノン EF-S、ペンタックス DA、ソニー DT いずれもレンズの実焦点距離を製品名に入れている。DX NIKKOR 18-55mm であって 27-82.5mm ではない。

リコー、“ユニット交換式”デジタルカメラ「GXR」 (Impress デジカメWatch、2009年11月10日)

リコー、ユニット交換カメラ「GXR」の発表会 (Impress デジカメWatch、2009年11月10日)

「GXR」という名称の由来は「GX」と「XR」だそうである。じゃあなぜレンズ名称は RIKENON じゃなくて GR なのか。

レンズ・撮像素子・画像処理エンジン一体型にすることで、レンズに最適化した撮像素子・画像処理エンジンにできるとのことである。とするとこの先も APS-C サイズ撮像素子搭載ユニットが製品化されるとして、それも買うとしたら、ほぼ同じ撮像素子を複数買わされる羽目になるわけだ。ローパスフィルターまでレンズに最適化した「ベストマッチング」が嬉しい人もいるのかもしれないが、そこまで最適画質にこだわって撮像素子を複数所有したいとまでは思わない。

それから銀塩カメラにおいて、このレンズに最適なフィルムはこれ、と決めるのは撮影者であって、レンズメーカーやフィルムメーカーではない。撮影者によって好みが違うだろうから、同じレンズであっても最適と考えるフィルムは人によって違うだろう。リコーというレンズ・画像処理メーカーの考える「最適」なシャープネスや色再現が気に入らない人もいるかもしれない。

それはともかくレンズ・撮像素子・画像処理の「ベストマッチング」を求めるなら、ライカ X1 のような従来型のレンズ固定式コンパクトデジカメでいい。ライカ X1 を見て、APS-C サイズ撮像素子は有効1220万画素程度でどうやら成熟してきたようだ、と感じていただけに残念である。

それと GXR の場合はコントラスト AF であるから、マクロはともかく標準レンズとして使用する場合は AF 合焦速度に不満を感じるかもしれない。ペンタックス K-x に DA35mmF2.8 Macro Limited の方が位相差 AF もコントラスト AF も使えて快適であろう。

簡単操作の小型軽量デジタル一眼レフカメラ 「PENTAX K-x」新発売 (ペンタックス、2009年 9月17日)

ちなみに K-x では昔の K マウント XR RIKENON レンズも使える。さらに撮像素子シフト式手ブレ補正もある。

今回の GXR 用カメラユニットで最も残念なのは、33mm F2.5 マクロレンズを他社のレンズ交換式デジタルカメラシステムで使用できないことである。なぜレンズと、撮像素子を含む画像処理部とを切り離せない方式にしてしまったのか。レンズ・画像処理部・カメラの 3つに分離できるようにすれば良かったのに。レンズマウントが例えば K マウントであればペンタックスのデジタル一眼レフでも 33mm F2.5 マクロレンズを使えるし、リコー独自開発のマウントであってもマウントアダプタを用意してマイクロフォーサーズ機などでもそのレンズを使えるようにできる。

「RICOH LENS S10 24-72mm F2.5-4.4 VC」カメラユニットは 1/1.7 型有効1000万画素 CCD、GR DIGITAL III やキヤノン PowerShot G11/S90 と同じ CCD である。広角 24mm 相当まで必要ないという場合は PowerShot S90 の 28-105mm 相当 F2.0-4.9 の方が明るい。24mm 相当が必要ならパナソニック LUMIX DMC-LX3 が 24-60mm 相当 F2.0-2.8。どちらもレンズシフト式手ブレ補正搭載である。

GXR ボディ 1つとこのカメラユニット 2つを所有するのと、デジタル一眼レフカメラと PowerShot S90 または LUMIX LX3 を所有するのと、どちらが使い勝手が良いか。どちらが安価に揃えられるか。どちらが現時点でも将来的にも拡張性の点で優れているか。

GXR ボディ 1つだと例えば標準マクロで撮った後に広角でも撮りたいと思ったら、いったんユニットを外して交換しなければならない。デジタル一眼レフとコンパクトデジカメなら 2台で同時に撮れる。ユニット交換が面倒だから GXR ボディ 2つ所有しようと思ってもそれほど安くない。価格面では、GXR ボディ 1つでいいのであれば、K-x に DA35mmF2.8 Macro Limited と上記のコンパクト機どちらかの組み合わせの方が高くなるかもしれない。ソニー α550 に DT 30mm F2.8 Macro SAM なら少し安くなるか。

拡張性は現時点では既存のレンズ交換式デジタルカメラシステムの方が優れている。将来的にはどうなるかわからないが、リコー 1社だけでどこまでできるのか。マイクロフォーサーズだってパナソニックとオリンパスの 2社、シグマも賛同を表明しているし、マウントアダプタ経由でライカ L/M マウントレンズやオリンパス OM、昔のキヤノン FD レンズまで使える。フォーサーズのポリシーが「デジタル専用設計」なのは承知の上で、それでも技術的に可能なら古いレンズも使ってみたい、という要望も許容してくれている。オリンパスも OM レンズ用マウントアダプタを提供し、OM レンズの推奨 F ナンバー範囲と推奨焦点距離(ズームレンズの場合)を公表している。リコー GXR は「デジタル専用設計」をより純化した「デジタル専用原理主義」であろう。そんな狭量なシステムが受け入れられるだろうか。

カメラユニット以外のユニットも計画されているようだが、ワンセグではなくフルセグメントのデジタル 3波チューナーユニットが出たら考えるかな。テレビ番組を SDHC カードに録画する。録画予約だけなら 3.0 型 VGA 液晶でもできるだろう。競合製品は iVDR ビデオレコーダーとなる。

コンパクトで、置き場所を選ばない！デジタル放送を簡単に観る・録る、ビデオ感覚 iVDR対応デジタルチューナーを発売 (三洋電機、2009年 7月 8日)

あらゆるテレビに接続して「iV（アイヴィ）」に直接録画できるデジタルチューナー内蔵iVレコーダー発売 (日立マクセル、2009年 7月 9日)

三洋とマクセルのiVDR録画対応3波チューナがアクトビラ対応 (Impress AV Watch、2009年11月 6日)

リコーにそんな技術があるかどうかは知らぬ。

The Grea Tbearded Reef

When it comes to web it always is hard to pick one and only one example from so many beautiful webs out there… So here is it, The Great Bearded Reef Web Site. It is not the flash based web it’s even don not have so many AJAX features, but it is really simple web with a GOOD design and great idea how to present the information to the visitors!

By scheming and theft, the Thief of Eddis has become King of Attolia. Eugenides wanted the queen, not the crown, but he finds himself trapped in a web of his own making.

Then he drags a naive young guard into the center of a political maelstrom. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king’s caprice, but his contempt for Eugenides slowly turns to grudging respect. Though struggling against his fate, the newly crowned king is much more than he appears. Soon the corrupt Attolian court will learn that its subtle and dangerous intrigue is no match for Eugenides.

This is by far my favorite book in the Queen’s Thief series, which isn’t surprising since each installment has gotten progressively better. Just as in The Queen of Attolia, there are some changes in the point of view used. Though we still get to peek in on Eugenides from time to time, most of the novel is narrated by Costis, a young member of the Queen’s Guard. Since we all are familiar with the greatness that is Eugenides, it’s kind of neat to get to see Eugenides transform in his perspective from an incompetent, weak, puppet king to someone incredibly strong, clever, and worthy of the respect of not only Costis, but  all of Attolia.

Though at times I felt like more of a bystander to Eugenides’ experiences than an active participant, I did enjoy seeing events unfold from Costis’ eyes. I found him quite a likeable character, despite the fact that he scorned my Eugenides at first, honest in all his dealings, as well as acting with honor (save when he made the mistake of decking the king out of anger. Whoops.).

Though you may wonder from time to time just what he is up to, Eugenides is at his typical clever self in this novel. Just you wait until it all plays out. I don’t want to give away too much, but be on the look out for the best. sword. duel. ever. It made me so proud of my man, let me tell you.

And now on to the Music Monday portion of this posts, where I provide a soundtrack of sorts for the book in question. This week I only found the one song, but it is a good one: Luka Bloom’s I’m On Your Side, which describes Eugenides’ struggle with accepting his kingship, but also provides the reminder that both Costis and the Queen are there to believe in him and support him.

I’m On Your Side by Luka Bloom

Luka is one of my favorite Irish Trad/folk rock artists out now. I had the pleasure of seeing him in concert in Chicago this summer, and let me tell you, he puts on an amazing live show. He’s a triple threat (yay, cheesy American Idol reference): not only is he an amazing vocalist, but he is an incredible guitar player and writes beautiful songs and lyrics. This song is off his new album, titled Eleven Songs.

Well, it’s been a while.

My last post on this blog was on Halloween. My latest post on any of my blogs is from November 3. While they’ve been stagnant, none of these blogs have been abandoned. I just want to make that clear. Life happens, and things like this get put aside until they can be taken up again.

I’m not going to go into a large amount of detail here, but I wanted to let everyone know why the blogs have been largely ignored. Here’s a bit of what’s been going on (in no particular order):

• Work: As the conference season draws to a close, my work schedule has been sporadic. Some weeks we’re really busy, others we’re really not. And with our crew of four being cut in half (one transferred to another location, the other was in a pretty bad car accident), I’ve been stepping up to fill those gaps.
• Google Wave: As reported in my last post, I got an invitation to the preview of Google’s new Wave application. I’ve been excited about Wave ever since I saw the long video of the conference where it was announced. The biggest problem with Wave is that there are many aspects that are not intuitive. I guess that’s what happens when you’re trying to redesign something. It makes sense when you think about it. Anyway, I’ve been putting in a good amount of time trying to figure it out, and see how I can put it to use.
• Family: Family life can be taxing. It’s just that simple. But when you add on a child that’s getting sent home from school three days a week, things are a little more trying. The poor kid has been in weekly play therapy, weekly group therapy, monthly visits to another shrink, and bounced from one medication to another by his pediatrician. This is all in addition to his physical ailments, which range from allergies to seizures. And no one has been able to determine what’s wrong (and something most definitely is wrong). The other child has been involved with a theatre/clowning/Shakespeare class, which, while it doesn’t cause any problems, does take a few hours out of every week to get her to and from class.
• The Scare Game: The last week has seen the sudden kick-off of filming the second episode of this web series, and this week likely sees the shooting of episode three. With everything else, I haven’t been able to participate as much as I would like, but it’s still something I’m excited about, and something to which I’m willing to dedicate whatever time I can. I’m also (as you’ve seen in part here) blogging, tweeting, and now waving to spread the word-of-mouth about this show.

Going into the holiday season of Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year’s, I can’t say how active I’ll be, but I hope you keep checking back, or follow me on Twitter so you can see when I’ve posted another blog, or subscribe to the RSS feed for this and my other blogs. I’ve got a lot to write about, and a lot of things I’ve found that I want to share. I just need the time to do so.

Dj Cheeba demonstrates how music and video can be combined in a live performance. The video shows Cheeba performing live in LA, although to properly appreciate it you need to get out and see him yourself.

A year or two ago a young couple lost their two-month-old son. They had him in bed with them and one of them must have rolled over on him in the night because when they woke up in the morning their beautiful baby boy was dead. A pastor friend of mine and I went over to their house that night. You talk about heartache! The boy’s daddy, a young fella, kept wallowing in the floor saying “God is judging me – God is judging me!” The pastor was trying to show them some scriptures when the mother blurted out: “I just don’t see how there can be a God.”And before you criticize her, you just wait till you wake up beside your dead baby.

I  said “Ma’am my heart goes out to you – I won’t try to say I know what you’re going through because I don’t. But I was reading a story this afternoon about a lady who had lost her baby boy too. She went to her pastor and said “Where was God when my boy died?”

He was stunned by the question like we all would be but he thought for a moment and said “Ma’am, God was in the same place He was when His Son died 2000 years ago.” And I’m telling you there’s a God in heaven that knows what it’s like to lose a baby boy. He knows what it’s like to lose a loved one and He can sympathize with your pain.

On top of that, I believe the grace of God takes care of little children and that baby’s in Heaven right now. And if mama and daddy are Christians – they might have to spend 40, 50, or even 60 years apart from their child and I know that sounds like such a long time. But looking back, 10,000 years from now, it won’t seem like that long at all.

The standard in our club has always been to use Wings for producing AVs but to move beyond the free version to allow multiple piture and audio tracks is quite costly. PicturesToExe is an alternative that some members might want to take a look at.

WnSoft has released PicturesToExe Deluxe 6.0, a photo slideshow software for Windows. Version 6.0 of the Deluxe edition brings new enhancements to the program, including 3D effects and the capability to create executables for Mac. Other highlights include multi-monitor support, Windows 7 compatibility, and the ability to add your own soundtrack, sound effects and text comments to each slide.The Deluxe edition is available for $75.

PicturesToExe Deluxe 6.0 | PhotographyBLOG

Photography is all about light.  Three controls affect the amount of light reaching the camera’s sensor: aperture, shutter speed and sensitivity. Each one also has a creative impact on the image.

And now for the fun bit.  Some smart folks have divided each of these three controls into “stops” as shown in the following table. Each stop up doubles the light. Each stop down halves the light. This allows the photographer to change the creative effects while maintaining equivalent exposures.

The following four images have equivalent exposures.

With the above tools and some knowledge of artistic composition, you are on your way to great photos. Now go and have some fun!

I’m one of those people who likes to have a visual representation of characters while I read a book, so I’ll often save images in a folder on my computer of actors and the like who resemble the characters the way I imagine them. I’ve been quite successful in finding pictures of actors who look like the characters from Outlander the way I imagine them to be (though these may or may not be actors I would pick to play them in a movie), so I thought I’d share them with you all. I also figured that I might as well go all out, so I visited Picnik and created some lovely scrapbook pages for your viewing pleasure. Without further adieu . . .

Jamie and Claire 
 

Jamie has always been Gerard Butler for me, both in looks and in personality, as he has the right height and build, as well as Jamie’s wry smile and sense of humor. He’s also one actor listed here whom I would like to see cast in the movie, should it ever happen. Naysayers have said that Gerard is too old to play a younger Jamie, but I think these pictures (which are from P.S. I Love You) prove that without the scruff and a little longer hair, Gerard still can pull off a youthful character.

Claire is shown here as Lena Headey, who played alongside Gerry in 300 (see lower right - hand corner). I see her more as an older Claire, which is honestly all I can imagine Claire as anymore, as the majority of the books have her in her fourties and fifties.  Lena has the timeless, elegant beauty (in these pictures, anyhow) to pull off a mature Claire, though I see someone like Kate Winslet or Rachel Weisz portraying a younger Claire in the movie.    

Brianna and Roger

My Roger is Henry Cavill, as he has the right height, build, coloring and quiet presence as Roger. I’d cast him on looks alone, for I honestly don’t know much about his acting ability, seeing as the last and only film I saw him in was The Count of Monte Cristo when he was much younger.

This actress, Alicia Witt, is honestly not who I had in mind for my version of Bree. I had some random curly-haired red-headed lass for her, but Picnik didn’t seem to like the photo, so I had to substitute Alicia. She actually bears a striking resemblance to how I pictured Rachel Hunter in book seven before I read a bit closer and realized she was supposed to have dark hair. I can’t seem to get a red-haired Rachel out of my mind now, but what can you do?

Young Ian (and Rollo)

Aww, it’s Ian, my second favorite Outlander guy after Jamie. He’s a bit sassy, has a humorous streak, is bold and brave, but at the same time gentle and considerate. What’s not to love? With his lanky build and long, slightly homely (but endearing) face, French actor Gaspard Ulliel is  just as I imagine Young Ian. Now all the casting directors need to do is find a Scotsman who looks just like him, because can you honestly imagine a Frenchman pulling off a Scots dialect? I didn’t think so.

How could I not include Rollo, Ian’s favorite furry companion? His loyal friend is represented by a random Irish Wolfhound, becuase I couldn’t find a Wolfhound-Wolf cross. Isn’t he a braw, bonny lad, though?

Well, now, wasn’t that a lovely way to waste time? Did I get the images of these characters right? Who are your ideals for the folks of Outlander, both the images of them as you read the book and who you’d like to see cast in the movie? Do leave a comment and let us know.

I have been looking at a few tutorials on After Effects to get the look i want for my advert! This particular tutorial was very interesting on getting a blockbuster look and feel on a film!

http://library.creativecow.net/articles/maschwitz_stu/red-giant-blockbuster-film-look/video-tutorial.php

We had a crazy show this past friday (11/13/09) on Selective Hearing down at WCUW 91.3 here in Worcester.  Special Guests the Black Ownerz & Arablak from the Social Light Sound crew were in the building as well as the whole SLS  &  HHTT family.  http://hulkhatetimetravel.com/2009/11/19/selective-hearing-91-3-wcuw-111309/

Selective Hearing on 91.3 airs every friday night from 10 – 12 and can also be streamed live online @ http://wcuw.org/

In case you missed it last month down at the show Nite People’s own Tone Capone was mixing with only one turntable and the IPhone. Make sure to tune in every friday or stream online @ Wcuw.Org “Urban Fire Radio” 8-10pm ( playing Reggae and hip hop ) “Selective Hearing” ( Hip Hop and talk radio ) 10pm-12am and El Gallo 12am until the sun rises ( Latin Music )

You missed last week’s show?? I will let it slide just this once but make sure you tune in every Friday from 10-12pm 91.3 WCUW in beautiful Worcester, Ma or stream online @ wcuw.org My brother Yohon actually recorded the show for your listening pleasure so check it out! At Selective Hearing we not only bring you the best in hip hop, but also that REAL TALK!