Arts

Project 1 – focal length and angle of view

Photography


These are the images that I took for the first project in the Art of Photography course. I guess the purpose here was to demonstrate the change in perspective by using prints and using them as a basis for understanding the changes that can be achieved by adjusting the focal length of the lens. I don’t have a printer so I am waiting for that to complete the exercise. One thing that I do need to get is a card reader for my SLR (Olympus E-520) which I started the exercise with. In the meantime, my LX3 will do the job nicely. Tomorrow on to focus with a set aperture.

Canon S90 – Surpassing the LX3?

Photography

It seems the success of the LX3 by Panasonic has produced a reaction from Canon with the introduction of the S90. After years on auto-pilot, it seems that the market is waking up to the demand for better photo quality, especially at low light.

Where the S90 seems to have surpassed the LX3 from looking at the specs is that it seems to be much smaller and there is no need for a lens cap. When I had to get a new lens cap for the LX3, it cost €25. In addition, when an opportunity for a shot arises, taking the lens cap adds another step to the process. It will be interesting to see if Panasonic responds to those advances in the near future.

Sony and the standardisation of the ebook format

Books, Tech

The Financial Times reports that Sony will standardise the format of their ebooks.
That brings up 2 questions for me.

  • Will they update the software on existing readers to allow the new format to be used?
  • Will this mean that for customers outside the US will be able to buy their books from more than one source?

I like the sony ereader but the whole experience of getting books that I actually want has been a frustrating experience. Customers from Ireland are restricted to the Waterstone’s site and the selection of books that I actually want to read there is really small. In addition, the interface on the Waterstones site is bad. I’m not interested in buying physical books from them. If they want my business, they need to have those books in ebook format. Otherwise, I buy from Amazon or physical bookshops.
If I can buy physical books from the Amazon US site, why can’t I buy books from the central Sony store? Sony, Waterstones and publishers in general need to wake up to make this experience as easy and straightforward as Apple can make it.

Party Shot

Photography, Tech

DP Review reports on a cool new product from Sony. The Party-Shot is a device where a (Sony) camera is attached and automatically takes photos in the surrounding area. The idea is that the party-shot is placed somewhere central and then using face-detection and motion sensors, takes appropriate photos. I would love to see this released for other cameras like my current compact, the LX3.