Month: December 2017

American Greatness Pick of the Day: “A Tale of Two Presidents and One Newspaper” by Michael Walsh

photog Current Events, On-Line Article Reviews, Trump , , , ,

I know that I shamelessly link to articles over at American Greatness but they have several writers that produce excellent articles on a regular basis.  Of course the posts by that guy photog ( here and here ) are a bit weird but what can you do?  No publication can be 100%.  What I like about this present post by Walsh is the quotes from the Reagan era that could have been lifted verbatim from a Times hit piece last week.  That’s doing your homework.  I absolutely refuse to open any link to the Times or Post even if it’s just a baseball box score.  Providing them with revenue would feel like subsidizing tuberculosis.  Hardly a palatable choice.  So it’s nice to have someone else do the dirty work of dissecting their pathology for me.

Enjoy!  https://amgreatness.com/2017/12/28/a-tale-of-two-presidents-and-one-newspaper/

 

Lenses for Sony – Part 2 – Wide Angle Lenses for Full Frame Cameras

photog Photography , , , ,

A couple of years ago the lament among Sony A7 series users was that there were no lenses for their cameras.  It would be hard to make such a claim about wide angle lenses for the A7 cameras today.  If you set aside the cine lenses there are 25 e-mount full frame lenses from 10mm to 35mm.  Looking only at what Sony manufactures themselves you would still have fifteen lenses.  Adding in Rokinon, Tokina, Voigtlander and Zeiss, that number increases to 25.

  1. Rokinon 14mm f/2.8
  2. Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 AF FE
  3. Rokinon 35mm f/2.8 AF FE
  4. Sony 16mm Fisheye Conversion Lens
  5. Sony 21mm Ultra-Wide Conversion Lens
  6. Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G
  7. Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM
  8. Sony FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS
  9. Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 OSS
  10. Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS
  11. Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM
  12. Sony FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS
  13. Sony FE 28-135mm f/4 G PZ OSS
  14. Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS
  15. Sony FE 28mm f/2
  16. Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA
  17. Sony FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA Sonnar
  18. Tokina FiRIN 20mm f/2 FE MF
  19. Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 Hyper-Wide Heliar
  20. Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 Ultra-Wide Heliar III
  21. Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 Super-Wide Heliar III
  22. Zeiss Batis 18mm f/2.8
  23. Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2
  24. Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8
  25. Zeiss Loxia E 35mm f/2 Biogon

As mentioned above, this does not count the specialized lenses used for motion picture shoots called cine lenses.  Counting all the models from Rokinon, Sigma and Zeiss this adds up to 18 wide angle cine lenses available for full-frame e-mount cameras.

  1. Rokinon 20mm T1.9 Cine DS
  2. Rokinon 24mm T1.5 Cine DS
  3. Rokinon 35mm T1.5 Cine DS
  4. Rokinon Xeen 14mm T3.1
  5. Rokinon Xeen 16mm T2.6
  6. Rokinon Xeen 35mm T1.5
  7. Sigma Cine 35mm T1.5 FF Prime
  8. Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 18mm T3.6
  9. Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 21mm T2.9
  10. Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 25mm T2.1
  11. Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 35mm T2.1
  12. Zeiss Compact Zoom CZ.2 28-80mm T2.9
  13. Zeiss CP.3 15mm T2.9
  14. Zeiss CP.3 18mm T2.9
  15. Zeiss CP.3 21mm T2.9
  16. Zeiss CP.3 25mm T2.1
  17. Zeiss CP.3 28mm T2.1
  18. Zeiss CP.3 35mm T2.1

Luckily for me I don’t shoot motion pictures so I’ll take that as an excuse not to say anything about cine lenses.  Which is lucky for the reader since I don’t know anything about these lenses and anything I said would be highly suspect.

The fifteen FE lenses manufactured by Sony are divided into several groupings.  The supposedly highest quality are the G Master (GM) lenses.  Next in quality are the G lenses.  After that are the ZA lenses which are produced under quality standards provided by Zeiss.  And finally, there are the just plain FE lenses.  Honestly, I am of the opinion that the actual qualities of a lens should be determined on a case by case basis.  Because of the higher prices for the highest quality classes it’s reasonable to compare equivalent lenses and determine whether the more modestly priced lens gets the job done for you.  In general, the biggest advantage of the Sony brand lenses is the alignment of firmware in the lenses and cameras to provide optimized autofocus.  It’s possible this also applies to the Zeiss Batis lenses since Zeiss and Sony are linked by cooperative agreements.  But that is only speculation on my part.  In general, the reputation of the Sony brand lenses is good.  The only caveat is that none of the Sony lenses are warranted as water proof.  There is mention of weather sealing but I do not believe they are as resistant to moisture as some of the professional grade Canon and Nikon lenses.  If water proof ability is needed then check the manufacturer’s warranty.

The next series of lenses I’ll talk about are the Zeiss Loxia and Batis series.  Zeiss is an old guard German lens manufacturer with a reputation for producing excellent lenses.  And the Zeiss lenses are known to be weather resistant.  Up until very recently all of Zeiss’s lenses were manual focus.  The Loxia lenses are manual focus lenses.  I currently use the Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 for landscape and general outdoors shooting.  I can attest that it is extremely sharp and has an excellent look to it.  I’ve also tried the Loxia 35mm and 50mm focal lengths and found them equally excellent.  So, if manual focusing is not a problem (landscape applications) then the Loxia lenses are highly recommended.  The Batis are the first Zeiss autofocus lenses.  They have the same excellent sharpness and look of Zeiss glass but they come with the advantages of autofocus.  They aren’t cheap but they are actually less expensive than the Sony GM equivalents.  If you have plenty of money then the Batis line provides another quality choice.

Voigtlander is another old German lens maker.  However, I believe the current company is really a Japanese company using the name.  Voigtlander provided some lenses for the Leica M-mount that were much less expensive than Leica glass.  They weren’t touted as highly as Leica lenses but they had a reputation of being very good.  Also, some of their designs were extremely compact.  For some types of shooting, like street shooting, this was an advantage.  Two lenses that Voigtlander produced in the past were the 12mm and 15mm Heliar designs.  These had a good reputation for compact size and low distortion in an extremely wide focal range.  Recently Voigtlander re-issued these lenses in e-mount and added to the niche by designing a 10mm wide angle for e-mount.  I have used the 12mm and found it to be an excellent lens for its kind.  I own the 10mm and also think it’s excellent.  But let me give full warning, 10mm and even 12mm are very odd focal lengths.  .  Even a slight raising or lowering of the of the camera out of the horizontal will cause wild distortions of the objects in the field of view.  So, don’t expect to use these lenses for portraits unless you’re in a fun house.  I believe Voigtlander will be issuing their 35mm f/1.2 lens in e-mount.  That would be an interesting lens to experiment with at f/1.2.

Rokinon makes extremely inexpensive lenses.  In the past there were quality problems associated with poorly centered lens components.  Lately I’ve heard that the quality control has improved quite a bit.  However, it is important to realize that the components and the construction techniques are not built to last forever.  Taking that into account you can get excellent results from some of Rokinon’s lenses for comparatively little cost.

Tokina currently has a 20mm e-mount lens.  I have not seen it.  However, Tokina makes very good lenses.  It would be nice to see both Tokina and Sigma get into the full-frame e-mount lens business.  It would be good for the competition and good for pricing.

So that’s a rundown on what’s out there.  What does it mean?  It means you have choices.  Even if you have a limited budget you have choices.  Because in addition to the lenses I’ve mentioned, if you don’t mind forgoing autofocus you can manually focus almost any lens in the world by using an adapter to put it on your A7 family camera.  In addition to adapted manual focus lenses some of the more modestly priced Sony wide angle lenses are actually quite good.  The Sony FE 28mm f/2 is $423.  I’ve used it and it’s actually extremely good.  For another $477 you can add the Sony 16mm Fisheye Conversion Lens and Sony 21mm Ultra-Wide Conversion Lens to it and get three focal lengths for a total of $900.  The Sony FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA Sonnar is the kit lens that’s usually included with the A7 camera.  If you buy it separately it’s $700.  It’s a good lens and very compact.  And now that high ISO really works it’s a perfectly useful lens for indoors too.  The   Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 is $300.  The autofocus version $550.

If you have more money you have more choices.  Voigtlander lenses are between $800 and $1,000.  The Zeiss and pricier Sony selections run into the $1,200 to $2,200 range for the wide angle lenses.  Are they worth the extra money?  To some people.  Landscape photographers want the sharpest lenses they can get and they want the nicest colors.  They worry about chromatic aberration and distortion.  They want a 3-D look where the details pop off the print.  They will pay the extra money to get the look they want.

Bottom line, you can get the wide angle lenses you want for the A7 (or A9) cameras.  If only the telephotos were so lucky.

The Future of Photography

photog Photography , , , , , , ,

Today I was watching a video on photography by Tony Northrup

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za2AeCujDZk&feature=youtu.be) .  Basically, it’s one of those “Here are my predictions for 2018” videos.  Tony goes through Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, Pentax and Fuji.  He has a variety of predictions and comments.  Some interesting, some obvious, some debatable.  What I found significant was a couple of statements he made about Canon and Nikon.  Apparently both Canon and Nikon are expected to produce full frame mirrorless models in 2018.  And in addition, Tony noted that last year Sony passed Nikon to become the second largest producer of full frame cameras and that the way things are going Sony will pass Canon in 2018 to become the largest.

And that is actually sort of amazing.  Tony Northrup is a former mirrorless skeptic.  Up until the second generation of the A7 system he doubted that a full-frame mirrorless camera would ever have the autofocus ability to compete against the professional grade Nikon and Canon models.  But in just three years Sony has gone from a novelty camera manufacturer to where they are now.  Now, having been the victim of years of Sony dithering I can state categorically that their success has nothing to do with superior implementation of their products.  Anyone who has had to deal with the Sony camera menus knows that’s simply not the case.  So, what it must be, is that the time of the DSLR is past and the advantages of the mirrorless camera are now so obvious that even Sony can’t help but succeed.

So, if it’s to be mirrorless cameras going forward, who will be left standing when the dust settles?  Will Canon and Nikon pivot and reinvent themselves as mirrorless camera companies?  Will Sony parlay their electronic and video expertise to dominate market? Or will one of the other mirrorless companies like Fuji or the micro four thirds manufacturers take advantage of their smaller form factor to pull ahead?

Who knows?  Certainly not me.  But at least I feel like I’ve won the first part of the bet I took when I stuck with Sony when they went from DSLR to mirrorless.  Now all they have to do is get out of their own way and give their customers the cameras and lenses they want to buy.  This year they came out with two amazing cameras, the A9 and the A7R III.  Both cameras are essentially ground breaking.  The A9 is the first mirrorless camera that could easily be used by either a professional sports shooter or a wedding photographer and perform as well as if not in some ways better than the Canon and Nikon equivalents.  The A7R III is a versatile high megapixel camera that can perform at the level of Nikon and Canon enthusiast cameras for everything from landscape to portrait to occasion shooting while providing the very best picture quality available.  What remains for them is to finish off the line up with updates of their high ISO stills / video camera (the A7S III) and the basic A7 III plain vanilla version.  Once the larger battery, better autofocus and joystick control of the A9 is introduced into these updates, Sony will have provided mirrorless shooters with the tools they’ve been waiting for.  And it will become difficult for Canon and Nikon to convince the market that mirrorless cameras haven’t already matched DSLR performance and in some ways surpassed it.  When I tested out the A9 last summer and saw what it’s like to shoot continuously with absolutely no blackout between frames I knew that mirrorless was the future.  And when I saw how good the autofocus on that camera was I no longer doubted that Sony might be a part of that future.

So, the great mirrorless game is afoot.  Who will take an early lead and who will be left at the gate?  Predicting these kinds of things is almost impossible.  But I’ll string along with Sony for the foreseeable future.  They’ve chosen wisely and are now fighting on their own electronics turf instead of on the DSLR field.  I like their chances.  But I have to say that after following along with these guys for all these years I have a sort of fatalism about how clueless they can be about avoiding obvious problems.  Please Sony, don’t screw it up.

New Year’s Resolutions 2018

photog Current Events, Humor , ,

 

We’ve done Christmas.  Enormous quantities of delicious, toxic foods have been ingested and now clog our arteries and brains.  Ancestors and descendants, siblings and their relations, friends and in-laws have been hosted, feted and dispatched.  Enormous sums have been expended for gifts that no one will care about or even remember six months from now.  With nothing to look forward to until Memorial Day the bleak winter climate of cold and perpetual twilight saps your very will to live.  What a perfect time to make life altering decisions about your future!

But let’s not waste the opportunity.  Tradition is a powerful force that binds us to the past and informs the future.  So, without further ado…

  • I resolve to send one thousand e-mails a day to each of the following groups for each of the following initiatives:
    1. to ABC advocating that Joy Behar be replaced on the View by a sexbot. But not an attractive, realistic looking one but a really poorly made one.  One that looks awful and has an extremely annoying voice.
    2. to the Democratic National Committee demanding that each male Democrat representative and senator, on account of being male, immediately, pre-emptively resign in favor of a woman. Or, if they really, really want to stay, then immediately begin transitioning to trans-woman status.
    3. to the NFL demanding that Joy Behar be installed as special advisor to the Commissioner on domestic abuse allegations, integrating female players into the League and other women’s issues.
    4. to the National Organization of Women (NOW) demanding O. J. Simpson be installed as special investigator into domestic abuse allegations.
    5. to the Disney Corporation demanding that the part of General Leia Organa be given to Hillary Clinton. I’m with her and so is the Force.
  • I resolve to begin each day visualizing an affirmation featuring the Clintons, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi wearing those old timey striped prison uniforms and leg irons working on a chain gang like the one in Cool Hand Luke.
  • I resolve to always check all links on Drudge to make sure I’m not clicking on an article from The New York Times, Washington Post, Politico or any other purveyors of fake news.
  • I resolve to boycott the NFL in perpetuity unless they get Kaepernick to grovel and apologize to the police.
  • I resolve to boycott Hollywood in perpetuity unless they expel Woody Allen, Roman Polansky and the other pedophiles and force Meryl Streep force to grovel and apologize to President Trump.
  • I resolve to buy American made products whenever a choice exists.
  • And seriously, I resolve to preferentially support non-leftist alternatives in any and all categories in which I find them.

Happy New Year to all you folks out there.  I’ve been enjoying a holiday with friends and family.  I’ll be gathering my wits and starting to output new material for the site this week.  There are some interesting new things coming up soon including some updates to the site.  So, apologies for the sparse output the last few days but I am only slightly superhuman.

Antepenultimate Christmas Day 2017

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The day before the day before Christmas this year is turning out to be climatically challenging but not without its charms.  To start off there is an ongoing freezing rain falling.  What this means is that a deadly coating of ice is accumulating on the roads and driveways of New England generating the dreaded “black ice” that all Yankees fear and also use as an excuse for “working from home.”  Luckily, I have the day off.  As a matter of fact, I’m into the second day of a vacation that lasts until January Second.  So, even though I will have to address the ice problem sooner than I’d like, my current outlook and world view is serene.  The waves of laziness and the glow of indolence are soothing my soul and generating a “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men” vibe that surprises even me.  Now, don’t get me wrong, “Men” is a poetical rendering for “Men of Good Will” which excludes democrats, deviants and malefactors in general.  But it still encompasses a great many people that annoy me most of the time.  So today is the beginning of that great period of the year when I have almost no homicidal rage and I truly feel that most people aren’t irredeemably evil.  Falalalala … lalalala.

And going along with this general benevolence I feel I must mingle, commune and otherwise hob-nob with my fellow wizards here at OCF.  I feel that anyone who can read my rambling nonsense and still come back for more is in some way a kindred spirit and must be encouraged to return and possibly shout back across the ether.  So, here’s a loud and heartfelt Merry Christmas to all of the folks out there and a Happy New Year too.  Feel free to leave a return greeting in the comments.

All indications are for a better year ahead and better days to come.  Even the imbeciles in Congress were able to get out of their own way and pass a reasonably helpful tax bill.  Anyway, I should have time over the course of this week (between family get togethers and other festivities) to publish at least a few posts.  With all the events and activity going on in Washington it should be easy for me to gin up some outrage and elevate my blood pressure sufficiently to produce something apoplectic and apocalyptic enough to match my usual output.  I’ve been perplexed with how the Mueller investigation is interacting with the Trump Administration.  I can’t figure if the President is naïve or cornered or biding his time.  But without a doubt 2018 will be another year of high political drama.  And #metoo will continue to provide incredible comedy value for your money.  So, stay tuned but don’t forget to leave time for pumpkin pie, roast beast and hanging out with family.  Ho, Ho, Ho.

For you Monster Hunter Intl. Fans, Larry Correia Has Posted Part X of his Annual Christmas Noun Saga

photog On-Line Article Reviews, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy , , , ,

Larry was the guiding spirit behind the original Sad Puppies campaign and the author of the best-selling Monster Hunter International series.  He’s also an extremely amusing fellow and his Christmas Noun parody is a yearly institution on his site.  The earlier installments are linked there and provide background on the various goofy story conventions involved in the tale.  And it’s free.  Enjoy.

CHRISTMAS NOUN X: THE GHOSTS OF DIE HARDS PAST

My Pick of the Day from American Greatness, Julie Kelly’s “A Great Week For The President And A NeverTrump Crack-Up”

photog Current Events, On-Line Article Reviews, Reviews, Trump , , ,

Julie Kelly has a very entertaining article about the NeverTrumpers starting to call each other out.  Some of them are waking up and recognizing the dishonesty of the real fanatics.  Or maybe instead of being fanatics, they’re just enjoying the face time and cash over at MSNBC and CNN.  Go over and enjoy the fun in this one.  One gem, David Frum claims Joe Scarborough is “center-right.”  Oh, the humanity!

A Great Week for the President and a NeverTrump Crack-up

The Way to Win the War

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Back in September of 2016 I read an essay that continues to provide me with insight into the state of present day America.  That was Angelo M. Codevilla’s, “After the Republic.”  His thesis was that regardless of whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump won the presidency, thinking of restoring the United States to the same kind of governance that existed before the 20th century crises was futile.  As sad as this conclusion makes me, I agree with it.  Even if the appearance of our government remains the same, what we are now dealing with is not one where the loyal opposition negotiates with their partners across the aisle to give the American people the moderate government that made American life feel temperate and fraternal.  The Democrats (and to a lesser extent, Republicans) are a wholly owned subsidiary of the Cultural Marxist Combine and to think of them any other way is delusional and suicidal.  With the advent of the #metoo tactic even their own pawns and bishops are now sacrificed to capture the opposing King.  We have reached the level of conflict where it is hard to imagine any action so heinous or bizarre that the Democrats would not use it if it provided sufficient progress in their war of attrition.

In such an environment of total war the priority is to destroy your enemy.  During war you set aside the normal priorities of growth and equilibrium and marshal all your resources and strength to dealing a fatal blow to your enemy.  Because if you don’t, he will.

So, the strategy is clear.  But the details of the landscape make tactics complicated.  The enemy knows full well what is going on.  But the American public is still only partly aware that a war is in progress.  Fully half of our nominal allies are sleep walking through this battlefield under the impression that we are at peace.  Of course, they realize that these are troubled times but they think we are still one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.  They must be awakened.  In the meantime, they are part of the problem.  They can inflict damage to our side through ignorance and gullibility.  This complicates things.  Subterfuge and misdirection becomes part of the tactical palette.  An extremely Machiavellian environment is inevitable.  So be it.

We have reached a very sad state of affairs.  We must adopt the tactics of the enemy in order to defeat him.  Honesty and chivalry won’t work.  Power politics and deals with the devil are the order of the day.  Look for a leader who can hold his own against the lies of the press and is undaunted by their attacks.  Forget flowery promises of future victories.  Measure actual results.  Be undaunted by minor flaws in your allies.  If you need reason to work with them just look at your enemies and the goals they embrace.  That should convince you of which side you should be on.  The politics of personal destruction will become the order of the day.  It is much easier to destroy the man than the idea.  Polarization will increase.  Friendships will be destroyed across the divide.  Sides will be chosen inside families.  Many men will lose wives and girlfriends as women will be the last to awaken to reality.  Jobs will be lost as cultural-Marxism converged companies purge the unbelievers.   It will get much worse before it gets better.  So be it.

How do you enjoy life in such an environment?  You build new friendships and associations.  Reach out to kindred spirits.  Support them.  Network with them.  We are not few.  We are many.  We just need to be connected.  Form some recreational or cultural groups with like minded individuals.  You can even pick activities that self-identify the participants.  For instance, how many left leaning hand gun target shooters do you think there are?  Or Bible study groups?  I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to come up with a few more.  And even relatively neutral activities are enhanced when shared with people who won’t throw a moral hand grenade at you from time to time.  For instance, I have a co-worker who shares an interest in photography with me.  Our relations are friendly.  When the Las Vegas shooting occurred, he spent a measure of my time that I’ll never get back trying to get me to say that gun control laws were the answer to this problem.  It was a futile conversation that left a bad feeling between us.  Wouldn’t I rather spend time with someone who wants to talk about something we agree on, like photography?  Yes.

And it doesn’t matter how unzealous you are for the cause.  You don’t have to be a hero.  You can tend to your own garden and just throw support of whatever kind to our side.  Even if it’s just friendship.  Just don’t be part of the problem.  Don’t attack to the right.  Are there people on the right who are outside of your comfort zone?  Fine.  Just don’t engage with them.  But don’t make it your mission to attack them.  If you need someone to attack look to the left.  It’s a target rich zone.  Every variety of degenerate and sociopath is represented on the left.  If you need something to strike go there.  My current project is to identify right-leaning businesses and organizations and maintain a list.  That way if I have a choice between Amazon or someone who wants to fend off a future solely inhabited by blue-haired cat ladies and footsy pajama wearing latte boys I can consciously make that choice.  If you know of any businesses or groups like that then stop by and add them to the list.  Be part of the solution.