Mac PRO Sells for Almost a Million

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Apple Mac PRO Auctions at $977,000

One-off (meaning one-only) product designs created by Jony Ive and Marc Newson sold at a special (RED) charity auction at Sotheby’s in New York City over the weekend, with the pair’s four designs smashing all bidding estimates.
The Mac Pro, for example, was expected to fetch between $40,000 and $60,000 but ended up going under the hammer for almost a million – $977,000, to be precise. The auctioned model of Apple’s high-end powerhouse PC looks identical to the recently revamped model except for one difference – the color. The regular model, which goes on sale in December with a starting price of $3,000, has a black exterior, whereas the auctioned model is red. Let’s hope Apple popped in a bit of extra memory for the buyer’s additional $974,000.
The solid gold Apple earbuds, meanwhile, were picked up for $461,000. Yes, $461,000. These were expected to go for no more than $25,000.

So much of the world loves the Apple product lineup and has for many years that the anticipation that a one-of-a-kind model will fetch as technological art, nearly a million dollars, and further that it will certainly raise perhaps half again as much in 2-3 years seems ludicrous. But for those with more money that they can spend on reasonable living expenses seem to always find a way to astound us by reaching a height that is laughable. An earbud set for nearly half a million dollars? Of course the goal was a charity for The Global Fund to raise money for a variety of causes, including AIDS programs in Africa. That's certainly an honorable goal, so I'll reserve my critique for another day. Just thought you'd be interested.

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New Art at Fine Art America

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New Art at Fine Art America

by Rich Collins

 

Latourelle falls is an amazing waterfall scene to hang on your wall. There are so many views, this one of its thundering crash into the pool and cascading boulder. It lends a both a dynamic and calming effect in any room. And a 16x24" is only $61.55 unframed, unmatted on Luster Paper, or a metal Print at $125.95 plus shipping.

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One in a series of Latourelle Falls

 

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New Art at Fine Art America

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Latourelle Falls 4a 

Latourelle falls is an amazing waterfall scene to hang on your wall. There are so many views, this being a perennial favorite, with the slim falls and the massive rock wall behind. It lends a calming effect in any room. And a 16x24" is only $61.55 unframed, unmatted on Luster Paper, plus shipping. 

Get this print before the New Year prices go into effect.

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One in a series of Latourelle Falls

 

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Honoring Veterans Day

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Honoring Our Veterans

From the earliest of battles to the present day, on this day we honor our veterans for having served in action, in so many ways. Some with a single flag in ceremony of the freedom we all enjoy. Others are able to celebrate this Federal Holiday by choosing to join one another in prayer at their churches and in communities at parades. We here at Shooting Outside wish all veterans of all wars and actions worldwide, a grand thanks. 

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New Art at Fine Art America

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New Art at Fine Art America

by Rich Collins

View to Purchase any Size at my Gallery

One in a series of Latourelle Falls for sale now at my Gallery for only $154.42
for a 16x24 Canvas Print


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New Art at Fine Art America

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New Art at Fine Art America

by Rich Collins

View to Purchase any Size at my Gallery

One in a series of Latourelle Falls

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Medium Format, Do You Have What it Takes?

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Thinking in Terms of Going Medium Format? 

  The Mamiya 645DF+ with 40, 60 and 80 megapixels, starting at $13000 with a 90mm lens and digital back

If you're like me you've at one point or another considered shooting MF, (Medium Format). The lure of capturing photos which can be enlarged to huge wall prints is attractive for all the right reasons. Imagine gracing your home with extra-large prints for the look you see only in the very best Parade of Homes residences. Even in smaller homes the effect that gives is beyond compare. Or for the photographer who sells their art, it offers yet another market to reach into. Or, if for no other reason than to gain a truly better exposure, the reward is unparalleled. 

But Do You Have What it Takes?

First off it takes money but we'll get into that later. The ads and descriptions from sites that sell these MF bodies and the manufacturers that make claims, all seem to lead us to believe these accomplishments are nearly effortless. The list of the camera's abilities are long and include functions that make our current cameras appear limited by comparison. And I am absolutely positive there is a long list of buyers which have bought these bodies and after many frustrating outings have discovered that achieving the results they were lead to believe, have either sold them, or have them sitting in a closet collecting dust. 

 The Hassedblad H5D with 40, 50 and 60 megapixels starting at $17,995.00

There is a lot to consider when laying out that hard earned cash for a very expensive medium format system. Let's look at getting a sharp exposure, before we discuss anything else. What exactly does it take? Here is where I defer to what most all of us would refer to a medium format expert, Joseph Holmes' article 'GETTING TOP QUALITY FROM MEDIUM FORMAT' in which he writes a voluminous article that you can enjoy at your leisure or choose to read my brief on some of his points.When handling an APS-c sensor reaching a good focus is almost inevitable, with only the press of a shutter button. Moving to full frame, with AF Focus on and in Auto Mode, it is almost always a gurantee also. But when using a MF camera, in Manual Mode and reaching for the very best capture that the camera body, the digital back, the lens, the tripod, and you can manage, it is another matter entirely. 

You can expect a much sharper image because MF cameras do not utilize an anti-aliasing filter, a filter effect that tends to soften,  however you'll need to possibly do some post-production work if moire shows up.

Once set upon a tripod of some considerable weight for stability, you have a subject in your viewfinder, you must consider your vision and its ability to focus at the distance you wish to capture true focus. It follows that almost everyone will indeed find the best focus with the aid of a monocular. You will also need to calculate the effect of even a gentle breeze, slight if unnoticeable movements in the earth, your breathing and your hand's steadiness if not using a cable release or wireless remote, then by using AF Focus achieving what you see as the very best you can get, then turning off AF Focus and manually focusing to the best you can see (using the monocular) and only then tripping the shutter. All of these contribute or detract from your very best focus and sharp image. Only you will know which ones you will need more work on to accomplish as close to perfection as you can, for an enlargement which fits your wall or a client's. 

A monocular aids in seeing the focus within your field of view for your subject; once AF has focused, and you have manually attempted a better focus, I promise you,you will not be able to do this better without one. 

Every sensor is calibrated by plane of focus and some are dead on and some are not, leaving you with a less than perfect focus. In some cases the dead center of the sensor to the optical axis of the lens, can be no more off than 12 microns, the equivalent of 1/8 the thickness of a sheet of laser printer paper, or 0.012 mm. Then there is the focusing screen in the camera. it too must meet stringent alignment engineering and then mechanical placement, and we will find this in varying degrees of alignment, if we do test shoots. The trouble is 99 99/100% of us do not do this, so our shots are never going to achieve this close to perfection focus. 

Now the digital back is also calibrated and as often out of alignment. In Joseph Holme's article he mentions one of the ones he used, 175 microns out of alignment. That's enormous. It is also improbable to sort out the out of alignment issue down to the camera or the back without using more than one of each. The camera and digital back manufacturer will tell you their products are tested and zeroed in to perfection. Do not trust that. Not even on the very most expensive bodies, backs or lenses made, as his article will bear out, he found that was not true. This si also why I have moved form one body to another in the Canon line. I don't for a minute believe that any manufacturer of higher end products designs into their products quality assurance testing procedures, a less than best-effort attempt to release for sale the best they can, however I do believe it happens. Enough said. Expect it and then take the product back and replace it with another if this issue is important to you. And if you question this, read Mr Holmes article 'MEDIUM FORMAT DIGITAL CAMERA OPTICAL PRECISION'.

  

On to The Lens 

You would expect a lens to be sharp from the factory, but not usually a good expectation. It is up to you to find out by testing it, if your goal is to get the very best sharpness from all of your camera system's components. And Medium Format can not overcome any discrepancy in your lens sharpness. You can go through Holmes directions, through the use of a power pole, about half-way down the page on the first link above, or you can try the LensAlignMII at MTapes Design Store for right at $80. I have done this on most of my lenses and doing it yourself is not very difficult or time consuming but you do need to commit an hour per lens in the field and perhaps another hour on your screen. And if you find after doing the tests, that you have unsharp corners in your lens, that is the areas which are on the outer peripherals and not the center, there is nothing you can do about it if it is out of warranty, simply because the cost of realigning the glass inside a lens is more than replacement. Of course what that means is that your bad lens is now in the hands of another unsuspecting photographer. My advice is to buy new only, and test immediately then return until you finally receive sharpness in the corners. Here i suggest you take the time to read in full David Holmes article. 

Locking up the Mirror

When the shutter button is pressed the curtains involved swing into position and cause a tiny vibration, which definitely transfers to the image sharpness, that is, lack of sharpness. We don't want that. So we use the menu setting to lock the mirror up so that all we are doing now is opening the lens, as the shutter button is pressed. Now in saying that we realize that some lenses have inside them micro motors which are buzzing as we find auto focus, but usually they have already stopped by the time the lens fully opens and the image is captured by the sensor.  Locking up the mirror is vital in getting that near perfect capture, when considering a major enlargement. If you want to see what a really well focused image should look like zoomed at 100%, try this one at Better Light, then look at yours.  

Now do you have what it takes to go Medium Format? And I'm not talking about the money, which is considerable once the entire system is built.

 

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Easiest Wild Animal to Photograph

What's Your Choice for Easiest Wild Animal to Shoot?

 

Marmot, Squirrel, Ground Hog, Woodchuck, Rodent, Whistle-pig, Land Beaver, or Varmit?

Actually all of the names above have been used to describe this member of the squirrel family and all of them are correct, including Puxatony Phil. With the possible selection of the birds which frequent our yards and parks, though we don't normally think of birds of this genre, of a wild animal, my guess is the common Ground Hog. I visited Palouse Falls State Park in Eastern Washington and upon arriving in the early morning, it was nearly frosty out. Quite chilly on a July morning for that part of the country and had come to shoot the falls from a very high promontory viewpoint, so by the time I had taken out my gear, set it up and shot for an hour, I relocated to an alternate area right off the parking area, and then set up again for another shoot of the falls. It is a real gem of a waterfall to photograph, partly because of its height. It drops 143' taller than a full quarter mile; 768 feet, or 234 meters. As I shot adjusting for the morning light coming directly into my lens, since to get another view is nearly impossible without the use of climbing gear, I noticed from the corner of my eye, not 20' away, a marmot. It was not moving much, but had placed its body length to catch the light from the sun, so as to warm up prior to any serious movement. It was so lifeless that I couldn't even detect breathing.  It's eyes were closed. So I continues to shoot the Palouse waterfall until the marmot's slight movements again caught my eye. And what really caught my attention, once it woke fully was it patient attention to my presence. 

Not that I felt it was fearful of me, quite the contrary, even when I leaned over the fence to get a closeup, it only perked up as is my impeding upon its territory was an invitation to it. Suddenly it came right toward me and ended as close as it felt was comfortable just 3 feet from the safety fence I was behind. I decided at that point this must be the easiest wild animal to shoot and later discovered why. It apparently is common for visitors to offer them peanuts, which because they are of the squirrel family, Sciuridae, pleases them no end. I didn't have any peanuts nor would I have fed it as I am a believer that wild animals need to fend for themselves, or we risk pulling them from their innate ability to find food from the wild and not the parking lots. So there he/she stood, awaiting a free lunch which would never appear. never, that is, until the next visitor with a bag of peanuts arrived. 

I could literally have reached out with my hand to feed this marmot and because of past experiences with other human visitors it had no fear whatsoever. 

What wild animals have you been getting pics of lately and what wild animal do you consider the easiest to shoot?

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Reflections on a Lake

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Reflections on a Lake

Reflections on a Lake is meant for a quiet room, a den or library, an office or Boardroom, a bathroom, a bedroom or a dining room. You can purchase any size offered at my Gallery at Fine Art America online. And if the size you are looking for is not available, let me know in the Comments section or via email below. 

 

Location of Lake

I found this lake on a drive to Mt St Helens, and until recently I had forgotten the name and the route I took. It is called Silver Lake and it lies WNW of Mt St Helens., and East of I-5 by about 6 miles on Hwy 504. That I happened to catch a shot of this foggy quality on a very cool morning in December of 2007 was fortunate and lucky. I have sold this photo for placement in homes and offices over the years and it always looks great on the wall. One client placed it on their fireplace mantel, which when printed at 20x30" transforms their living room into a tranquil gathering place. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Email Me for a specific size request

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