Dovo Does Rust Easily. Now I know

I took it that it might be an urban legend that the Dovo would rust so easily.  I thought I use it to shave regularly, that's every other day or so, how could it get rusted?  Wrong.  I learned it the hard way.  It is not rusted yet but there are some very tiny spots on the blade, fortunately not on the edge.  But still, I can't believe it.  I did wipe the blade down I guess it must be from the scales.  I would not leave my blade open to dry as it's too dangerous for the rest of the family.  Well you live and learn.  I guess I have to get more anal about keeping it dry and oiled, just the sort of person to do this sort of thing.

Your Breasts Is The Battlefield

Out of nowhere there is this study and its accompanying non bounding guidelines that recommend women should have their breasts regularly checked, that's by medical professionals not merely by their boyfriends, beginning at the age of 50 every two years instead of today's 40 every year.  The ramification is insurance companies or the proposed federal health care reform may now use these guidelines as a reason not to pay for mammograms done for women before they reach fifty years old.  Cost saving at the expense of women's health.  Personally as a man, I don't think I need to worry about breast cancer for myself.  And I do believe that, as a cynic, there are times maybe the procedure isn't all that necessary.  But at the same time, I'd like the idea that women have the choice to do it at 40 instead of 50 and I'd like to see the procedure covered by insurance.  I think it's just a typical point of view from a consumer of health care.  Insurance companies and federal government of course may think otherwise.

As reported by The New York Times.

Feud

There is nothing better than a feud except when it's a feud between camera nerds.

The sometimes controversial but always entertaining Mr. Ken Rockwell is slamming some workshop and its works.  He calls it "It's Not the Camera: Death Valley Fiasco."  It's under his new section in November but since the guy is still writing his html like it's 1988 with no perma link you just have to look around if you don't see it.  One of the workshop instructors was Mr. Michael Reichmann who not too long ago wrote up a passage entitled Your Camera Does Matter a rebuttal to Rockwell's tongue-in-cheek Your Camera Doesn't Matter.

Do the pictures suck as muh as Rockwell thinks they are?  See them yourself and you be the judge.

UPDATE:
Mr. Rockwell has polished off his Death Valley Fiasco passage.  To my disappointment, the juvenile infantile pee in his pants remark was taken out, instead he added the somewhat conciliatory and somewhat respectful remark that the workshop instructors, Reichmann included, are "great guys" though "this wasn't their greatest moment."

UPDATE
Perhaps I was still sleeping.  The "peeing in my pants" remark is there.  I don't know I could be asleep writing the above first update.

I'm peeing in my pants, because I was tipped off about this fiasco while I was out in Indian Country on a much less expensive workshop, and I got better shots with my $430 Canon S90 at exactly the same time. I'll show you mine when I finally dig back out.

 I know Reichmann, Atkinson and Schewe are great guys; but this wasn't their greatest moment.

UPDATE
The "post" title is now changed to "Worry About the Picture, Not the Camera."  Perhaps "fiasco" is too incendiary to be used and he feels like to clarify that the sponsor Phase One makes great stuff.  He goes on to include a link of a professional's works shot using a Canon G11 to prove his point.  And more importantly, added more links to his advertisers and his own reviews.

UPDATE
PODAS apparently thinks the shitstorm created by Rockwell merits a blog post response which inevitably invites more beatings from Rockwell who is having all the fun, ending two of his updates "Fun" and "Go Shoot" with exclamation marks to punctuate how much fun and excitement he is having.

UPDATE
In less than 24 hours, Rockwell did a 180.  From the earliest Death Valley Fiasco to Worry About the Picture to Good news which I say is really borderline fawning on Phase One.  The juvenile candid stuff is now all gone.  Yes, the peeing in my pants is castrated and no unflattering mentions of poor sucky pictures nor vendor sponsored workshops.  I wonder what had happened.

Ricoh Going Rogue

Ricoh is out on a limb, and probably out of its mind too, to introduce its modular camera, the overpriced GXR, of which the GXR body sells for $549, the A12 50mm lens for $830 and the optional view finder VF-2 for $275.  For me, everything is kind of overpriced, but this is like really overpriced.  The concept is every lens deserves a matching sensor and there is somehow enough suckers to cough up that amount of cash.  So you are going to pay a lot for the modular lens because of its accompanying sensor.  End of story.  Just like dpreview has pointed out, Minolta had this idea way back and in 1998 EX-1500 was this love child of this modular innovation.  If only we can learn from history.  I say it would be a brilliant idea if the sensor is modular as well.  I am a cheapskate and I just don't like the idea that the lens comes with a sensor sealed in a module unless the price of the sensor is negligible which of course is anything but.

Lens, sensor, and body should be the trinity, not lens with sensor and body.

The GXR is kind of brave and brazen but I am afraid it would just go down in history like the Minolta's EX-1500, that is into oblivion.

More from dpreview.

Going Big

I am gaining new appreciation of my own pictures.  I spent some time editing the html and was able to make them 640px wide or 800px wide in one or two cases.  The pictures look so much better.  I mean they are good to begin with and now they are just great.  If you were to see them in print, you would be in tears.  They are just the greatest.  I spent about three seconds searching Google about bigger picture and I am done (I wish my GPS is this good), though actually editing the html is a bit time consuming and sometimes the codes have width and sometime it doesn't.  But in all cases, they are simple enough to get to the right size.

For pictures taken with my Canon SD880 IS (actually posts that got tagged with the Canon label)
Posts tagged with Hasselblad 500C/M
Posts tagged with Yashica Mat-124G
Posts tagged with Nikon F5

Enjoy.

Favorite Woman Of The Year

Woman we love: Chrissie Chau by unanimous decision.

Chrissie Chau, the girl who goes so far so fast is the darling of the year.  She simply can't do no wrong at this point of her career.  She is well loved by all the men in Hong Kong and admittedly some from overseas too.

Previously.

Note, if you disagree you are just wrong.

Going Big: Size Matters

I always think my pictures deserve more prominent coverage, if not from anybody, at least from me.  It's like your children, if you are not going to going to love them, who would?  And lo and behold a two-second search just gave me the solution I needed.  Actually I have been using this blogger editor for a short while and that feature is automatically made available, I just wasn't paying enough attention.  Anyhow, here it is.  My pictures are at least as big as if not better than some of them out there.  Woo hoo.  If you have a tiny little monitor, perhaps it's time to go just a little bit bigger like 22" at 1920x1080 to avoid the constant carpel tunnel inducing scrolling.  It's your wrist we are talking about.

Miscellaneous

The Mamiya Press SUPER 23 is a big camera to be handheld.  The thing is mounted with a 100mm lens.  The viewfinder and rangefinder is a bit foggy and not so easy to focus.  The 6x9 film back isn't small either.  The lens and camera seem to be in good condition.  The shutter and aperture move freely without hesitation.  The price is $349.  At one point I was pretty infatuated with the whole Press camera line probably starting with the Polaroid 600 SE.  Now not so much.

The other day I was in Chinatown I saw a young guy watching a tank of lobsters and holding in his hand was a Toyo 4x5 mounted on a tripod.  I couldn't help but asked him a few questions.  Young guy doing some courses in mid town.  I asked him what lab he uses.

Last night I bumped into a man or rather a character shooting a Hasselblad with a flash and a flash bracket.  I also asked him what labs he uses.  We headed to the same camera store and he ended up buying a whole bunch of NC 400.  I don't even know how many and how much he bought.

I think I am getting closer to develop my b/w ....  But just don't hold your breath.  It can take me another year just to open the box or something.  I am just slow.

Union Square

Walk

I like how portable and shootable the Canon is. In general the pictures come out OKAY, or you simply shoot again. I do have certain gripes about the camera. There are absolutely no manual settings. You can't set the aperture or the shutter speed at all. It's either Auto or Program. I can't even set the focus point when I compose. I guess it's time to read the manual to see if I have missed anything important. After shooting it for a few months, I almost forgot how much I like shooting through a viewfinder.

Veterans Day

5th Avenue, New York City