Messing around with my Kenko extension tubes I bought last month. This is the 20mm and 12mm tubes stacked onto my 50/1.8. I have played with these once before in Thailand and realized quickly that you really need to have an external or ring flash. So I setup a cheap tripod with my SB-600 firing down almost straight down on top of the Baklava.

Another macro shot, this time of the rear sprocket of my very neglected mtn. bike. Again, 32mm tubes and the 50/1.8 were used with the off camera flash firing directly above. Gotta love the Manfrotto tripod with articulating arm to get into your subject and still remain steady. Now I just need to go find one of those gigantor centipedes that were setting up shop inside my house over the summer; would be an interesting subject.

Yup, just a quick photo of our lovely dinner table.

It’s in a large format for those of you out there who like to take things and photoshop crop them to your own monitor size for wallpaper.

Merry Christmas to everyone, especially my few readers.

DOF, originally uploaded by Photography24×7.

Shot taken at Cactus Garden, Sector 5, Panchkula
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 135 mm

ryan

cold steel mornings.

rena

birch

Back to the point. I played around a lot with my Rebel and thought the kit lens was dynamite stuff (what did I know).  Every image I took was a masterpiece (ask my mom). But after a week or so, something changed. I knew how I wanted my pictures to look, but I didn’t really know how to get them there.

Enter camera store dude.

Not helpful. The thing with camera store dudes is that they are dudes (no offense if you’re a dude).  When you’re a chick and walk into a camera store, it’s like getting sent back in a time machine 150 years.
Here’s the conversation:

Me: Hi, I was looking for…
Dude: We have some really nice pink Olympus point-and-shoots over in that case.
Me: Actually I needed a lens…  maybe.
Dude: You don’t like the one that came with your camera?

It didn’t really work that well.

So I ate up whatever tasty information I could cobble together off the Internet.  Much of what I found written was technical. It was written by men for men in a special language used only by men.

Beware, opinion ahead: Dudes love the technical aspects of photography. Women love the emotional aspects of photography. Just sayin’. Telling a dude you want a “dreamy look” with a “blurry” background makes their faces go blank, eyes droop, and mouths gape. But women, they “get” it when you say that.  Isn’t that interesting?

Canon Rebel XT | Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens
ISO 100 | Aperture f/1.4 | Speed 1/640 sec.
Aperture Priority | No Flash

Okay, so when I got my first D-SLR camera (it was a Canon Rebel XT) I was pretty blown away. I ran out to the car and I took my very first pictures. I took three… and then the battery died. But I took my very first pictures (three)  and there was one that was good.

See, it was that cool and monumental.

I can’t show you those photos, because being the jackass that I am, I deleted them inadvertently four months ago. I back up everyone else’s photos, just not my own.

Anyway, my point is that this was the beginning of the journey to more expensive camera things. Something every spouse is dying to hear. Trust me. Mine gets so excited when I buy new gear that he runs out of the room.

I’ll finish my thought in the next post.

Canon Rebel XT | Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens
ISO 100 | Aperture f/2 | Speed 1/8  sec.
Manual | No Flash

Author : RAHARJO, SANTOSO

Salah satu cabang dari Mechatronics yang sudah sangat maju baik dalam pengembangan maupun aplikasi pada saat ini adalah Humanoid Robotic. Bipedal Robo adalah salah satu contoh robot humanoid yang menirukan fungsi dan gerakan dari kaki manusia. Buku ini menjelaskan konsep dari pembuatan sebuah Bipedal Robo. Bipedal Robo adalah 2-legged robo (robot berkaki 2), dimana untuk setiap pasang kakinya didisain memiliki 5 DOF (Degree Of Freedom). Gerakan dari Bipedal robo ini dikendalikan melalui sebuah remote control. Untuk membentuk rangka Bipedal Robo yang ringan dan tipis tetapi kuat, maka digunakan material aluminium. Sedangkan untuk aktuator Bipedal Robo digunakan motor servo Futaba S3003, dimana setiap motor servo ini akan dikontrol oleh sebuah sistem kontrol berbasis AVR ATMega8 yang terdiri dari master controller yang berfungsi sebagai ?otak? utama dari sistem dan slave controller yang berfungsi sebagai direct servo controller. Ketika master controller mendapat input-an data dari remote control, maka data tersebut akan diolah oleh master controller dan dari data tersebut master controller akan mengatur sequence dari pengiriman data (posisi masing-masing servo) ke slave controller. Dari pengujian pola berjalan yang dilakukan pada Bipedal Robo yang menggunakan servo Futaba S3003 sebagai aktuator, diperoleh kesimpulan bahwa Bipedal Robo mengalami kesulitan untuk memindahkan dan mengangkat posisi badan karena tidak tersedianya torsi yang cukup dari servo. Sehingga diperlukan servo dengan torsi yang lebih besar agar dapat melakukan pola gerakan dengan baik, misalnya dengan servo Hitec HS-645 MG.

Keyword : humanoids robot, bipedal robo, DOF, servo motor, ATMega8, remote control

Sumber : http://repository.petra.ac.id/2533/

Seventeen, originally uploaded by Steve Gray.

Captured this evening after the conclusion of the Pensacola Childrens’ Chorus’s annual production of “Christmas on the Coast.” The show was fantastic, and as always it was a joy to see my sister onstage.

The theatre itself was recently renovated. Having been a Pensacola institution since the 1920s, it was long overdue for some repairs and restoration. After a lengthy stretch of work, it re-opened at the beginning of the summer, restored to its former glory.

#DS28: “Sunday challenge time: Break out a bigger camera if you can and use a wide aperture to work with DOF and bokeh!”

I love messing with DOF.  Thought of using  this for the DOF assignment while I was taking pictures of the creek on the other side of the fence.

#DS27 “Lots of lights are already up for the holiday season. Festive and bright! Make a photo.”

I’m mildly happy with this.  I may re-do this assignment if I get inspired.

I absolutely adore this photograph! I wish I could take credit for it. It was taken by Christoph Rehage whilst he walked around China. For three years! His entertaining and inspiring blog is linked.

The young boy looks so serious and beyond his years, standoffish and unsure. Whilst the old man so playful and cheery with a toothy grin that I love.

Beautiful! With gorgeous depth of field.

Shopping for someone who shoots video or stills either professionally or on the side, is a daunting task.  Buying camera gear for someone is a bit like shopping for a teenage girl.  The type of gift is as important as the name brand.  Get the wrong thing or the wrong name and you can expect an instant request for a receipt.  Most gift givers concede defeat almost immediately and go for a gift card from Best Buy or Walmart.

However, if you want to do something more personal this year or impress that special someone with a gift that will say, “I care about what you do and want to support you”, then this gift guide will help you make the right choice.

Storage

No matter what they shoot, everyone needs storage, and too much is never enough.  All you need to know is what kind of camera they use.  This is easy to find out, because most shooters LOVE nothing more than talk about their camera.  Trust me when I say you don’t have to worry about arousing suspicion as much as you do about being trapped while they go on and on for hours about why their’s is so much better than everyone else’s.

• SD Card: For those using Canon and Panasonic video cameras, SD Card 16g: no less than Class 6 $44.
• Compact Flash Card: For those using Canon DSLRs (5D Mark II or 7D) you’ll need a compact Flash Card.  You can a 16GB card anywhere from $33 to $100.
• Sony Pro Duo: These memory cards are sold in various sizes:  2GB to 32GB and are essential for those using Sony prosumer cameras.    They range in price from $10 to $100.
• Memory Card Reader: These devices read all of the afore mentioned memory cards and plug into the PC or Mac via USB connection.  The range in price from $12 to $30.
• Patriot Flash Drives: Boasting a 200X transfer rate, these little drives are great for video or boosting your memory performance when editing.  They  range in price from $11 to $50.
• Western Digital My Book Essential: These portable hard drives are awesome.  They’re built for video and easy to take with you wherever.  They range in size from 500 GB to 2 TB with prices ranging from $50 to $200.

Gadgets

• ikan Cheese Stick Jr: The Cheese Stick Jr. is a simple metal block that contain all of the standard production industry threads (1/4-20, 3/8-16, and M4-.7) which makes your production set-ups easier.  They retail for $50.
• The Leatherman Multitool: This all in one gadget replaces an entire tool box and is a must have for any shooter.  They range in price from $30 to several hundred depending on the model.
• The Zgrip iPhone Jr: This  device allows you to mount your iphone on a handle providing more stability for shooting video with an iphone.  $69.
• White Balance/Grey Cards: These cards are available from a myriad of different companies.  Essentially, they establish a standard for setting white balance to ensure you’re color balance is accurate.  They range in price from $5 to $30.

Bags and Case

If they complain about their current bag, you might inquire as to what they would ideally like.  Key fishing questions include hard or soft case and backpack or sling.  You’ll need to know what and how many things they want to fit into the bag or case.  Standard brands are Kata, Pelican, Porta Brace, Petrol Tamrack and Lowepro.  These range in price from $20 to several hundred depending on size and manufacturer.

Prepaid Premium Memberships

• Netflix: Even if they already have a Netflix account, they can apply your gift card to their existing account.  Plans vary from $13 to $40 depending on how many videos you get at a time.
• Smug Mug Premium Membership(you should be a member of smugmug to make this happen).    Smug The web address for http://www.smugmug.com/photo-sharing/gift-subscriptions
• Vimeo Premium Membership: Vimeo was created by filmmakers and video creators who wanted to share their creative work.  To purchase a premium account for someone, yYou need to be signed in to your own Vimeo account, which you can create for free. Then, you simply go to that person’s profile page and you will see a “Gift Plus” button that, when clicked, will guide you through the rest of the process.
• Filmschool On Demand Prepaid Tuition: Filmschool On Demand provides filmmakers with an education in the filmmaking process and business side. Their classes are taught by industry veterans with years of experience in production, development, distributions and marketing.  If you know someone who has always wanted to make a film, but they were baffled by the business side of the business, then a paid tuition for Filmschool On Demand will be a priceless gift.  Right now you can get a coupon for 40% off FSOD. When placing your order, use the code: ikan.

Magazine Subscriptions

Although print media isn’t as relevent as it was ten years ago, trade magazines are still a great way to stay up to date with industry.  Subscriptions to ICG, American Cinematographer, POST, HD Video Pro or Digital Photo Pro, The Hollywood Reporter or The Daily Variety will all be a most welcomed gift.

iPhone Apps

Is there anything the iPhone can’t do..?  If you’re not aware, there have been production applications available for the iphone for well over a year.   You can find them all at itunes.  Here are just some of the proffesional applications to choose from.

• Pro Prompter Software: For iPhone or iPod touch Price $9.99
• The Cinemek Hitchcock: For iPhone and iPod Touch:  $19.99is a mobile storyboard and pre-visualization composer designed for Directors, DPs or anyone who wants to visualize their story.
• LlamaSlate: This wonderful app gives a clap or beep to mark the beginning or end of a take.  I can also input the quality of each take and then go back in the edit and check what I thought at the time.
• Screenplay: is a $2.99 app for the iPhone, and has all the basic functionality of Final Draft: It offers formatting, scene elements, auto-complete character names, pagination and scene re-ordering.
• f/8 DoF Calculator: f/8 comes with presets for more than 800 camera models from Canon, Casio, Epson, Fujifilm, HP, Kodak, Konica, Kyocera, Leica, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Samsung, Sigma, and Sony.

Training Videos

Training videos are great gifts provided you choose a subject in the person’s area of interest.  Also, don’t make the mistake of buying someone a video for beginners if they are an expert and vice versa.  Here are some great training DVDs.  Google search the titles for information on where to buy.

• Learn Canon 5D Mark II Cinematography by Philip Bloom.  If you shoot video then you don’t want to miss out on this opportunity to learn from one of the pioneers of D-SLR cinematography.
• Learn 2 shoot Great Video On Your Canon 7D by Philip Bloom.  This DVD takes you through all aspects of shooting video with the Canon 7D in video mode.
• First Light Video Introduction to Editing with Final Cut Pro Training DVD. This DVD is designed to teach editors how to work in Apple’s Final Cut Pro editing suite. The training outlines the basics of editing.

Gift Certificates

If you’re still at a loss, you can get a gift card from a store that specializes in camera gear.

• B&H Video Gift Cards range from $30 to $200.
• Filmtools gift certificates range in price from $20 to 1000.
• Adorama sells gift certificates for however much you want.  Some include free shipping.

    HD camcorders gave us the freedom to shoot without the expense of film and development cost. The drawback was the inability to achieve shallow depth of field. With a fixed lens HD camcorder, everything is in focus down to the smallest detail. In the late 90s, filmmakers using HD video, were forced to use tricks such as lighting in layers with the subject lit the brightest.

   Without these creative but limited solutions, the audience can become distracted by a pretty extra in background or billboard that is part of the set. The result: your scene loses its impact due to lack of control over the image. The advent of the DOF or 35mm adapter gave us the ability to achieve a shallow depth of field giving you more artistic control of the image. For those who don’t know, the device works like a telecine using the macro focus of the camcorder to capture the image on a ground glass screen. The glass is spun using a miniature motor.

   The shear weight of these devices and their components can be in excess of 20 pounds. This paved the way for an entire industry of camera support systems to redistribute the weight of the device, the lens, the follow focus and the HD monitor, which is critical to ensure clear, sharp focus.

   Enter the 1080P Full Frame DSLR The Canon 5D and now the 7D have only been on the scene for a short while, and now video shooters everywhere are ditching their EX1s, HVX200s and even their XHA1s for the affordable full frame DSLR. Indeed, many fortunes have been made by those manufacturers of the 35mm adapter, but I’m afraid it’s all over now. Prices are falling, and it’s no secret why.

   You can buy a Sony EX1 for $6.5k with a Letus Ultimate for $4k, totaling more than $10k without support railings, lenses or an HD monitor. Those accessories could easily jack up the price another $10k depending what you get.

   However, I can buy a 5D Mark II and a good lens with an ikan monitor for under $5k. If you’re still convinced you have to have a traditional video camera with a 35mm adapter, but your on a budget, you can buy the Panasonic DVX100 for $2.7k and get a Redrock Micro M2 Encore DOP Adapter and support system for $2k bringing you in just under $5k with no lens or monitor.

   On the other hand, you can go to B&H and get a 7D with a lens for under $2k. That leaves some extra cash to get the V5600 from ikan for $630, and then you’re ready to shoot for under $3k. Final Analysis The Canon 5D Mark II ushered in a new era of video production that has left Sony, Panasonic, JVC and even Canon’s Video division standing on the sidelines to make way for the multitudes who are literally grabbing them from stores before they can be shelved.

   In the meantime, the DOF Adapters are not moving, and the prices are dropping. Some are 50% cheaper then they were just six months ago. How low will the prices go in the coming months? Who knows. One thing is certain; the full frame DSLR revolution has rendered the 35mm adapter irrelevant and obsolete. The question isn’t, “Will they stop manufacturing,” but “When.”

A friend introduced me to the images of Poras Chaudhary. This is one of my favorites – Holi, The Festival Of Colors

I entertained myself at the company, holiday party by taking pictures.

Lillian , originally uploaded by captured by jOsephine Ki.

Lillian has terminal cancer. She wears her cancer awareness bracelet along with her ‘punk’ leather wrist band and is happiest when she is with her friends skateboarding , firedancing or just hanging out.

I have been meaning to write about my 35mm adapter that I use on my Canon HF100 but with so many video projects I have put it off.  So, here is the low down.  I purchased the JAG35st back in May so that I could shoot my sister’s wedding in Hawaii with some old school slr lenses.  I had looked into the many different adapters out there on the market but found myself noticing the amazing videos coming from the inexpensive but professional enough adapters by JAG35.  Once I purchased the JAG35st ( st means static – no moving parts) I started my search of Canon fd lenses.  This was the cheapest way to go if I wanted to get that “film look” in my future video creations.  If you are looking to give your videos a “film look” then check out http://jag35.com.  They are having holiday sales so some items might be slightly cheaper to purchase this month.  I have enjoyed the JAG35 adapter so much that I bring it wherever I go with my video camera.  It helps me when I want to focus on a specific subject and have the background blurred out.  I always carry my 50mm lens because the depth of field is really short and gives the image a closer more personal look.

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

While We Try to Teach Our Children All About Life, Our Children Teach Us What Life is All About | ( Angela Schwindt )

I think we can learn so much from our children, they really enjoy their present, I mean their time that they have in their hand and I think we should also enjoy our present, while we can plan for our future endeavor, we should never forget to really enjoy our times at hand, the future is not in our hand for sure. If you think there is something that can be done in the present just do it, don’t wait and don’t ever procrastinate, I’ve learn that all, I’m a victim of procrastination.

It is very heartwarming feeling watching my son playing with the leaf and with the puddle of water, everything look so interesting to him, every little-little things simply fascinate him, I wish I’ve a picture like that, a picture of me playing happily but I don’t, all I’ve is a blurry vision about my past, I grew up here in Kuala Lumpur in the late 1970, it is still “kampung” or village by today standard then, we don’t have electricity and we spent less time in front of the television, my television back then use a battery car to power it up and yes it is a black and white television and it is boring to watch. Nowadays children spent so much times in front of the idiot box and rarely have extra physical activity outdoors. To cut the story short, enjoy the present and plan for your future but do really enjoy the present first because the future is not in our hand…

]]> http://neuraldisarray.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/blowup/ Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:33:50 +0000 neuraldisarray http://neuraldisarray.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/blowup/

“Several other factors, such as subject matter, movement, and the distance of the subject from the camera, also influence when a given defocus becomes noticeable.
The area within the depth of field appears sharp, whilst the areas in front of and beyond the depth of field appear blurry.
For a 35 mm motion picture, the image area on the negative is roughly 22 mm by 16 mm (0.87 in by 0.63 in). The limit of tolerable error is usually set at 0.05 mm (0.002 in) diameter. For 16 mm film, where the image area is smaller, the tolerance is stricter, 0.025 mm (0.001 in). Standard depth-of-field tables are constructed on this basis, although generally 35 mm productions set it at 0.025 mm (0.001 in). Note that the acceptable circle of confusion values for these formats are different because of the relative amount of magnification each format will need in order to be projected on a full-sized movie screen.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field

So.. if your final output is 35mm film projection in cinemas or whatever, and the apparent focus of 16mm footage becomes dubious when blown up to 35mm size.. does this then cancel out the effects of using wider 16mm lenses with deeper perceived focus? I mean.. you’re using longer equivalent lenses when shooting on 35mm, but if the tolerance, the margin of error is more forgiving because there’s no blowing up of the image, which format ends up being less forgiving in terms of perceived focus when outputting to 35mm film?

This is where I rush to my nearest film lab, beg for their 16mm short takes, and start testing in my backyard on an ancient, makeshift film camera.. I wish I was old-school.

Don’t know what the name of this plant is but it looked interesting!

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