Tag Archive for "PDN"
A view of the Leica booth.
After I did a brief pass of the Expo I attended my second session, Twelve Things to Improve Your Digital Photography by Steven Johnson. I can’t remember all 12 things but a lot of the information presented was old hat but many in the same session had trouble understanding what was being discussed. Mr. Johnson emphasized shooting in RAW, converting to DNG, working in 16bit, and calibrating your monitor. The part that I got the most from was the topic of the light bulbs to purchase/use when working on your work, checking a print compared to what you see on the monitor, and presenting in a gallery. Mr. Johnson mentioned how he had worked very hard on a print for a gallery showing only to find the print when displayed at the gallery having a pink hue do to the cooler bulbs the gallery was using. He fixed the pink hue by replacing the light with one having the correct white point around 6500K “Daylight”.
The last session for the day was Your Picture Isn’t Real: Staged Photographs. Moderator: Bill Hunt. Panleists: Mia Fineman, David Levinthal, Lori Nix & Paulo Ventura. This session focused on increased opportunities for work, and provided me a better understanding of the marketplace. The panelists showed many examples of their work and discussed ways in which professionals might help develop their careers. It was a good opportunity to see these professionals in action and discover and appreciate their enthusiasm. I was reminded of a photographer who I follow on Flickr that does this exclusively. Snailbooty.
Bill Hunt, dealer www.hastedhuntkraeutler.com
Paulo Ventura, artist www.pauloventura.com
Lori Nix, artist www.lornix.com
Mia Fineman, curator, “Reality Check”, Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org
B&H buses them in directly from the expo.
I visited B&H to investigate the Panasonic GF1 and got my chance to play with the camera. I really like it but unfortunately the pancake lens that really makes this camera interesting is not yet available via B&H. Without the pancake lens to see and try I find it a bit difficult to compare it to the Olympus E-P1. If I had to make a purchase today I would go with the Olympus simply because it has a 17mm pancake lens available. I have visited B&H many times and this was the first time that I didn’t walk out with a new toy. My search continues.
The first conference that I attended this morning was Working Digitally in Low Light by Gerd Ludwig. The first half of the presentation showed a series of images that Mr. Ludwig has taken in his career in low light situations using film. In 2004 Mr. Ludwig made the transition to digital. The second half of the presentation showed images that Mr. Ludwig has taken since moving to digital. The message was clear. Digital with usable high ISO’s provide photographic opportunity that did not exist with film.
After my first conference session I quickly visited the EXPO before attending my second conference. The first booth that I visited was Olympus. I have my eye on the EP-1.
One of the biggest questions I have regarding my next possible purchase is to EP-1 or to GF1. Panasonic did not attend PDN PHOTOPLUS 2009 so I will be visiting B&H after today’s conference sessions to investigate the Panasonic GF1.
My next visit was at the Canon booth.
Another camera that I have my eye on is the Canon S90. I was very happy with my previously owned Canon S70 am happy to see Canon bringing back this series. The S90 has an excellent profile. I could easily keep this camera in my pocket. The 3.0″ LCD is a very nice feature for a camera with such a small profile. I also like the fact that Canon did not try and cram more megapixels and is maintaining a nice sweet spot of 10 Megapixels. The demo that Canon had on display did not have a card to take a photograph with so when I visit B&H later today I will test the camera’s high ISO abilities.
SIGMA APO 200-500mm F2.8/400-1000mm EX DG – MONSTER.
I am off to attend two more conferences for the day and plan to post again after my trip to B&H.