GenX Visual’s blog

Although it was deafeningly silent after my last post, which leads me to conclude that no one reads this thing (not even me), I decided to post and gloat a little about my new tool/toy.  I had to put tool in there so I didn't feel too much like a kid in the candy store and I really do use this to do a job, but it is still a really cool new "toy."

What am I talking about you might ask?  Drum roll please........

The all powerful, no human necessary (just kidding), Canon EOS-1D Mark III.

I got this little gem on Saturday.  After fighting with several preorder list providers, where I ordered back at the first of March, I cancelled them all and called up B&H where I got one of the last few they got in the 145 count shipment.  I beat people out by no more than 2 minutes... nice!  Those people that know me have seen how I take care of my 20D and can rest assure than I'm still keeping my faithful friend.  Big Brother Mark III is just taking over to give it a nice little break/vacation but it will keep waiting in the wings with lense poised and ready until needed.

Stepping up from a 20D to a 1 series camera takes some getting used to.  I've borrowed/rented 1Ds and 1D Mark II's in the past for specific needs but never fully loved the button layout (or price in the 1Ds case) but I did love their output.  The Mark III has a new button layout that 1D Mark II owners won't like at first but after getting used to I think will grow to love.  As an owner that shot mainly with the 20D the button layout of the Mark III is great.  It still takes some getting used to but that is mainly because of all the extra options.  You're main shooting buttons are pretty much in the same place with the addition of the AF-On button.  I always split the AF from the Shutter but I hated losing AE lock (other than half pressing the shutter) so the Mark III is nice because I still have the * button.  I debated on reprogramming the * and AF-On button to be reversed because I'm so used to hitting the * on the 20D but in vertical mode it is much easier to just hit the AF-On button.  After about 20 minutes of shooting I found no problem accidentally hitting the * button in horizontal mode, even after going back and using the 20D for a bit.  The huge LCD is nice although I try not to use it much for evaluating which photos are keepers, etc.  I use it more to check the information I set in the shot and the split RGB histograms to help determine if I need to adjust anything for the next series of shots.  One other feature I love compared with the 20D is that you can save your CF (custom function, not card) settings into 3 different sets and choose that set semi-quickly.  This means that if you have specific settings for sports you can save that to Set 1 but you have a different set of CF settings for outdoor flash portraits then you can set it to Set 2.  Now you just have to go in and choose to apply Set 1 and your ready for sports.  You can turn around a minute later and apply Set 2 to take that flash portrait.  No hunting and remembering all your CF settings.  You can also export these settings to your media card (you can save 10 different profiles) and transfer them to another 1D Mark III or just use it to expand your stored options... kind of like adding more CF Sets.  If you're like me then you also don't like always hunting through a menu or CF settings to get to a needed function.  Well that's relieved with the My Menu option that allows you to set up to 6 quick access functions on your own menu.  So you can quickly access format, mirror lockup, flash sync options, whatever you need quick access which digging through all the menus.

There are a lot more features to this camera but I'm sure those interested have already read the reviews, white papers and maybe even the manual online.  I just wanted to give you a couple quick points coming from a 20D user.  Also when you have a new toy you just need to show off a bit.  If anyone is reading this and has a question whether Mark III or camera/lighting related please feel free to post or message me and I'll do what I can to answer the question.  I'm hoping to post up a few sample shots later tonight/tomorrow and I'll be using the camera exclusively on a baby shoot this coming weekend so I'm sure I'll have even more insight soon.

Alright I was messing with the title so don't let it through you off... that's assuming anyone is reading this thing nowadays (check 1,2,3... is this thing on).

So I've been in a funk lately and super busy would be a huge understatement.  I decided that although I have no extra time that I would still make time for writing.  As a little back story I was a technical writer for a geek newsletter and other writer for a few years in my past.  I got severely burned out and dropped pretty much all forms of writing... blogs, notebooks, you name it.  I finally got the vox account and started to warm back up to writing again.  Now that doesn't mean you see me proofreading or spell checking or any of that fancy stuff.  Basically this is just a stream of conciousness as fast as my fingers can type it.  No drafts, straight to publish!

Having rambled all that crap though I have decided I don't know what to write about.  My old writing were all technical writing, some script writing (short movies) and throw in a little dry humor.  So I'm going to ask you my reading public (which I'm sure is mostly in my imagination) what do you want to hear from me?  Do you want to read my random rants where I don't care if you love or hate me afterwards?  Do you have lighting or other questions that are burning in your brain that you want to try to have me attempt to answer?  What will bring you all to this blog to look for updates or do I just keep rambling and drooling over myself in the corner (which I'm perfectly fine with doing too)?

So if you have a comment/question then post it and we'll see which way I am swayed in my writing.  Personally I'm hoping that everyone votes on drunken lighting/photography advice.  Something about slurred typing and overlapping/double-vision diagrams just seems like so much fun.  Who knows... maybe just like Jackie Chan I may be the drunken master.  Only your post will decide!

For such a large company I would think you should be able to get through the waiting phone lines within 15 minutes or so but no that doesn't seem to be the case.  I've called 3 times today and each time I was audio assaulted with elevator music from hell for upwards of 20 minutes before finally caving in to having to leave the desk and get something productive done.  They don't give you any feedback either... no, "operators are busy but we'll get to you shortly" or the popular "you're (insert number) in line and will be help in (insert time) minutes."  Just evil music that was surely designed to make you so greatful for a voice on the other end that you completely forget the seeming endless torture you just endured.  Now with that rant done let me explain the situation...

Several weeks ago I filled out the online pre-order for CS3 but had to cancel before finalizing because of the kid getting into stuff, etc.  Well I later attempted to finish the order from work.  This wouldn't normally be a problem but I didn't realize that their store detects your operating system and adjusts what you are ordering if you aren't paying attention.  So I spaced off and ordered a Windows version which will surely not install at this time on the mac, no matter how many live animals I sacrifice to the machine.  So the next day I noticed the error and did what any right minded person would do and call customer service.  After waiting on hold for 15 minutes I finally get through just to be told they don't have the power to access the sales system and that I would just have to wait for it to come in, return it and then reorder the mac version... unless I would like to be transferred to sales.  Well of course the answer is that I would rather save myself that misery and fix it now.  So I am transferred to sales and after a 10 minute wait the phone goes dead.  I call back and after another 10 minute wait it goes dead again.  Finally third times a charm and I get through to a real human being that speaks english.  I explain the situation and the guy pulls up my customer information.  He makes small talk and tries to buy himself some time while he searches all over their system to only come to the conclusion that it's not really ordered.  I'm a little confused because I can see it under my order history but he checks by name, phone number, e-mail, blood type, dna and first born genome comparison and still doesn't see the order.  Well how can I argue with that... so I order the mac version of the upgrade but he tells me to check back in a week or two and make sure that it is still right in the system.  I take his advice and wait until last Friday and after a few attempts give up until today.  Finally by the third attempt I get the most knowledgeable and friendly sales associate I have ever talked to at Adobe (seriously you guys at adobe should ignore the law and clone him... I know you have the technology, after all I've seen the new clone source tool).  He sees the windows order straight away but no mac order which irritates me a bit.  I ask about canceling the windows order but he tells me he wishes he could but it tells him it already shipped.  My screen says otherwise but the sales associate calls to shipping and they verify it went out this morning.  We go through the process of ordering the mac version so I don't have to wait 7 days to get the Windows one, return it and then wait for the mac version.  It turns out 2nd day shipping is only 8 dollars over what I would pay for ground so I agree to that.  So when all is done I have a mac version ordered today that will be here Wednesday, a windows version which will get here sometime next week or so that was ordered a few weeks ago and I'm back to basically doing what the first customer service person was going to have me do anyway.  I'm just glad I didn't order the master collection because two of those charges on the credit card would really suck.  Adobe might make the best image editting/design software but they need to seriously redesign the internal processes.  I'm sure someone someday will rise up to challenge Adobe and if the products are comparable then it will come down to ease of purchase and right now Adobe would lose (unless they adopt my cloning idea at which case I expect a check or free upgrades for saving their butt).

Now with that rant out of the way I have one question for all of you....

Wouldn't you like to be a pepper too?

OK... today's my birthday and no I'm not typing my age.

As of late yesterday afternoon I became the proud father of a new bouncing baby Macbook Pro.  The baby weighs a little over 5 pounds and is 15 in long.  The new baby and it's older brother, Powerbook G4, seem to get along just fine.  I only got up with it twice last night and it seems to be taking in new tasks at an alarmingly well pace.

OK... now that I got people all worked up... I did get a new 2.33 15in Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro yesterday but I've only had a little bit of time to mess with it as I'm preparing for my building/studio's openhouse on Friday.  My first impressions are great though.  The screen can go much brighter than my old powerbook so I don't have to run it with the brightness amped up so much.  Dynamic range appears great (will test more when I install my calibrator later) and the backlight problem of the previous model seems completely resolved and I can see even light across the entire screen.  One pleasant surprise is that my software RAID was instantly noticed by the new system.  I was unsure of how the Apple OS stored it's RAID configuration but it would appear that they put it directly on the drive which made for zero configuration needed (which is good because that would wipe out the drives and require a full backup, etc).  I'm still loading applications but the speed seems great (although we'll see with photoshop through rosetta later tonight).  The wireless network card is a pre-n card and although 10.4 doesn't treat it as a pre-n card I have noticed that I got better coverage when connecting to my Netgear pre-n router so it is obvious so far that the chipset is already a plus for me.  I hope to write more soon, good or bad, after I get time to really install some apps and play/test the system.

First impression though, if you were on the fence about getting a new macbook pro or not then I would suggest the time is now as the machine seems better than ever.

I used to want to be a pilot and an astronaut.  Years later I wanted to be a physicist and then a network engineer.  Now after watching the below video I think my photography will have to turn towards Fashion Photograhy.  I hope my wife doesn't mind me becoming a Fashion Photographer when I grow up... LOL.

Each year I volunteer to help my friends produce a movie for either the 48 hour film fest and/or the National Film Challenge. It starts with me helping with scripting, grip work, lighting, etc (you know behind the scenes stuff) and somehow morphs into me having an acting role!  I can't act but it seems my roles keep getting bigger.  All I can do now though is share my terrible acting skills to the world... so without further delay I give you...

Mirages

PS - My fellow Istockers will like that I play a fashion photographer in someone's hallucination and those that have met me will know that I don't speak to my models that way... yeah, I'm WAY more demanding.  :)