Technostalgia Jon Hillenbrand, May 19, 2010October 17, 2019 You know that feeling when you look at older technology and marvel at the intricacies of their jeweled engineering? I have named this feeling technostalgia. Today, I was playing with a very old lens, an 85mm f/2 AI-S Nikkor lens which has no motors, no chips, no auto-focus, no communication with the camera, nothing. But what it does have is all metal construction, super smooth focusing, buttery soft bokeh, incredible sharpness and a nice compact body. It’s also frighteningly faster and sharper than the lenses I use every day other than the 105mm macro and 50mm. There’s a great review of this lens on Ken Rockwell’s website. The fun thing about Nikon is that these old lenses can still be used on the new bodies. Even on my old D100, the lens works great with the camera. No communication between the lens and body, but with digital photography, you see your results instantly, so you’re good to go after some quick baseline tests. Funny how we live in this time of old and new technologies competing for our attentions. Today I watched a waveform open and close in realtime on my touch screen cell phone as I left myself a message of possible blog topics. Later, I looked up some creative tips and tricks on how to mess with Polaroid Spectra film (I found a brand new camera and about 20 packs of film recently). Then I played with a lens designed in the early 90’s and wished my newer lenses were made as well. Photography Thoughts lensmanual focusnikkorNikonnostalgiaoldphotography
Photography Killer Downtime Claims Victim May 20, 2008October 17, 2019 I’m sure no one has ever died from downtime. I can only imagine the downtime that soldiers or combat photographers have. Stories of hours of sheer boredom followed by moments of sheer terror permeate the milblogs on the net. Personally, I almost never have downtime. But when I do, it’s… Read More
Photography Just Do It! September 25, 2008October 17, 2019 We all know the Nike slogan, Just Do It. Speaks volumes. It’s as good a mantra for companies as it is for people. I’ve worked for companies that I’ve wanted to scream this at. I used to work for a company that hired me to help them enter the web-based… Read More
Photography The Two Year Time Lapse April 25, 2010October 17, 2019 The BBC, inspired by such films as Baraka, has brought a revolution to mainstream documentary filmmaking, specifically Planet Earth and now Life. Many of the mind-blowing shots are done on location, but several would be impossible to do out in the randomness of the great outdoors. The below behind-the-scenes video demonstrates… Read More