…And The Living Is Easy
I spent a weekend in Toronto just chilling out with my friend Layla. I didn’t really get to snap many photos, but I started an album regardless. I’ll get more next time I’m down.
The best part of the weekend, aside from meeting a bunch of cool folks, was probably just kicking it in Belwood Park, having a picnic and generally chilling out, on a beautiful Sunday.
InterNOT!
I’ve been sitting in a café in Toronto trying to connect to some Wifi hotspot — and it ain’t working. Apparently they’re more than happy to take my payment info and then crap out — so avoid OneZone High Speed Internet at all costs. I’ve managed to get about five minutes of surfing time in. Well done, Toronto Hydro Telecom.
Someone’s going to be receiving a very tersely worded letter soon.
NSOP Camera Strap
In my travels across the Internet, I’ve come across a great little forum called the New School of Photography. It was started by Ben Jacobsen, who I know from other non-photography-related fora, and is a small community that prides itself on welcoming n00bs with open arms and avoiding the typical gear-snobbery rampant on some other sites.
To help support the site, Ben is selling a limited run of really great camera straps silkscreened with the site logo. They run about $25 and, quite frankly, are lightyears ahead of the straps included with most SLRs in terms of comfort. I received mine yesterday, and I’ve got to say, I love it already.
The thick cushioning is very comfortable, and the inside has gel beads that add grippiness without feeling like sandpaper on your nape. The version I got has pro-loop fasteners, which include clips for easily removing your camera from the main part of the strap. Anyhow, only I would get excited over a new camera strap, but there you have it. It’s great. Buy one. Support a good website.
Unimpressed
Remember guys, it’s not how big your camera is, it’s whether or not you get the Picard from your subject.
Click to enlarge.
Irony
Sorry for the lack of updates lately — I’ve been quite busy with some extracurricular activities and haven’t had the time for, well, anything. Gear heads will get the joke here.
(Click to enlarge)
The sharpness of this Tamron lens just keeps surprising me.
Scooter Heads Invade Montreal
I got to spend the evening shooting the city with my friend Christine yesterday. Great fun, and some great images. There’s this feeling of a slumbering city now pushing back the blankets and waking up for the coming summer months, and it’s downright invigorating.
I also finally put to use a free ‘Lomo’ Photoshop action that I came across at Addicted to Design (click to enlarge):
More photos from yesterday’s trek can be viewed here.
Foiled Again
I was hoping to get out and give my new (well, one’s just new-ish) lenses a little workout but the weather, combined with a bit of a hangover, conspired to keep me mostly indoors today. Here are a couple of photos anyhow. The first is from my first day with the 70-200mm f/4.0L:
I just love the contrast and sharpness of this lens. Simply phenomenal.
And, just to play with Noise Ninja a little bit more, here’s a shot taken at ISO 3200 and -1EV dialed in for an effective ISO 6400:
This was taken with the Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 lens I got a few weeks back. It’s wonderfully sharp for such an inexpensive constant-f/2.8 zoom.
Oops.
Yeah, guess what I got.
Plus, after rebates, I pretty much ended up with a free BG-E2N battery grip.
Wee!
Here are two test images — the second is a 100% crop, with no processing done to the RAW file (well, except for the crop). As always, click to enlarge any image.
