The State of Online Shopping, Clothes Edition

My online experience started with Amazon.

That must be over some fifteen years ago.

Still something has never changed.  Shops selling clothes for the most part do a very poor job.  What does S, M, L or 38, 40, 42 mean exactly.  I don't have a clue.

Why is it so lazy not to include measurements?  Because you know size 42 doesn't necessarily mean 42 inches.  Even pants listed as 34 don't mean 34 inches.

When it comes to online shopping especially clothing, we are still in the stone age.  Sure the web site may be HTML5, CSS, JavaScript and all the cutting edge and the company spends a fortune on it but hey they can't tell you what a Large is.

2017 USA Cyclocross National Championships

I was shooting without a press pass for this event.  I don't know much about biking or cyclocross.  I haven't had any meaningful ownership of any bicycle since high school.

I didn't go shoot all week I only went for the last two days, Saturday and Sunday.  I put myself up in the nearby Hilton otherwise known to the public as Super8.  I ordered room service from a nearby Michelin 4-star restaurant for dinner while going through my pictures and uploading them to Instagram.  Before I knew it, a Rolls Royce rolled up and dropped off my dinner.

For this event, I decided to go wider than my usual 20-35 or 16-35.  I went for the Nikkor 16mm f/2.8 fisheye from my library in Adorama Rental.  I was committed to it for the simple reason that I paid for it might as well used it to the fullest.  To fill the frame of the fisheye lens is to go really close and that's what I did and tried to do all day every day.  The above were shot using the fisheye lens.  My other setup was the usual 70-200 f/2.8, charity of my dear friend.

Weeks before the event I tried to get some press credential.  I even followed up when I didn't hear anything.  I even emailed and texted the parties involved.  The first one left his job and the second one never replied my text or would have none of my bull shit; a reflection of what a photographer I am.  Anyway I still proceeded to book my Hilton even I didn't get no press pass.  I guess I simply spectate if I am not allowed to take pictures.  Packing is always challenging; should I bring my 600mm or 800mm?  Should I use my F-stop Ajna or the biggest Shinn?  In the end, I settled for a small no-brand backpack my kids got from scouting but considered too uncool to use.  For me that's just true normcore I couldn't pass up.  Though I have to say before this, I had never ever shoot wearing a backpack, a slingback messenger bag yes but never a backpack.  I actively use two camera setups and I actually don't need to carry a bag for equipment in the field because the two camera setups are always in use and won't stay in the bag anyway.

It always takes me longer than I thought no matter I knew it would take longer than I thought to last minute pack my stuff to the car the morning I leave the house.

Google tells me I need some 2 hours to get there.  I am happy with the morning traffic.  When I got to the venue I was pointed to go to the parking lot some where across some highway.  It was a minor miracle I was able to find the parking lot without GPS or not driving back to the highway inadvertently.

It took me forever to take my gear out and to get everything I need ready.  The car was parked not too close to the course so I didn't imagine myself coming back to the car to pick up something I forgot; I would only come back to the car to drive away when the day was done.  I needed to make sure I had everything I needed for the shoot as if it's very important like I was paid to do it or like my career was on the line.  "If you don't take money, they can't tell you what to do, kid."

Nikon D810 with Nikkor 16mm f/2.8 fisheye.  Nikon D700 with the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8.  Sunpak 160J, PC sync cable, power cable with power pack.  Junior bracket.  Nikkor 16-35 f/4 carried as a spare in my backpack--or simply for weight training or back breaking purpose.  I also carried my rocket blower which turned out to be useful when the almost blizzard like snow came later in the day.  And yes the two rain covers too.

Snow came in the afternoon and it never relented.  Bad weather kind of makes good pictures for me.

I didn't set up my flash when I left the parking lot so it was a bit of a hassle to set it up there in the course amid all the actions.  I ended up hand holding the 120J (just as planned) without using the bracket as the days prior I noticed the bracket could get into the fisheye angle of view, ever slightly.  Anyway while I was shooting, see the above pictures,  I noticed I dropped the knurled knot and the flash anti twist plate--even I wasn't attaching the flash to the bracket, I had the knob went through the plate and screwed onto the flash shoe.  During the shooting frenzy, the knob must have come unscrewed and fell on the ground together with the leaves and falling snow.  Talking about finding a needle in the haystack.  I almost gave up searching in between shots.  Luckily I or my foot found the knurled knob and then the tiny anti hot shoe twist plate.  I felt very lucky.  I don't know what I am going to do without the knob and the plate, they are my life.

It got ridiculously cold and snowy as the day went on.  I took a breather buying lunch from one of the food trucks.

to be continued . . .

I was glad I remembered to bring the two rain covers from home and more importantly carried them in the field.  I needed them.  The cover was long enough to accommodate a long lens.  However it turned out too long and unwieldy for the 16mm fisheye.  Sometimes the cover was too loose and got into the picture view.  In the end I just removed the cover all together for the 16mm lens.  Both camera and lens performed almost flawlessly under sub zero temperature, wind and snow.  My fingers aren't all that lucky.  Skin fell off after a week and they are still numb.

I guess some observations merit and merit sharing.

I am in general a cheap person.  I use the camera strap that comes with the camera.  I don't have any fancy straps or carrying system.  When the camera is hanging from my neck I feel safe and secured.  The constant neck pain reminded me the camera setups were in place where they needed to be.  My hands can be free if I want to without dropping the camera.  Of course there are drawbacks.  When I shoot vertical which is actually infrequent with my D700 and grip, too often the strap got into the viewfinder which can be annoying and shot stopping (the rain cover made it 10 times worse).  With my D810 and 16mm fisheye I simply did not shoot vertical.  Also I do not have a grip for my D810 so that kind of discouraged me to shoot vertical anyway.

I did use my rocket blower to blow away the snowflakes which came down non stop and got accumulated on my viewfinder and whatnot.  I grabbed my rocket blower to blow the flakes away.  It didn't look too professional but it worked.  I guess it beats blowing with my breath as my breath would most likely fog up the viewfinder, even I guess, momentarily.

The junior races might not be as exciting as the U23 or the elites' but in terms of licensing potential it's better or equally good or I mean bad?  I am speaking from experience here.  So don't write off the junior races if licensing your shots is what you have in mind--I try to be pedantic here, I don't sell my pictures I license them.

It was a challenge, a real struggle to carry two camera setups a backpack and weigh 200 pounds to use the potty.  I just felt lucky without dropping anything.  I hope I never need to make the decision to retrieve or not to retrieve . . .

The day's program came to an end and I was happy to drive to check-in my Hilton which was just some 10 or 15 minutes away in snowy road condition.

The place was better than expected.  The bed was nicely made, the bathroom was all clean and with ample supply of towels.  The WiFi was sufficiently fast at least for download, the upload was slow just as what I would expect from cable.  I ordered from a neighborhood Michelin 4-star restaurant.  Unlike New York, there was no such thing as free delivery but I still need to order a certain amount to be worth their trouble.  About an hour later, my phone rang and I was ready to pick up my delivery.  I gave a hefty tips for the Rolls Royce chauffeured delivery.  I only ate half of my dinner and put the half in the fridge.  The bathroom vent made some weird noise non stop and the TV remote worked haphazardly.  The TV remote was designed in such a way one can't easily change the battery.  Anyway I wasn't a big TV watcher plus I was too busy Light Rooming my pictures.

I had breakfast in the Hilton.  It was quite an experience.  There was this dude, sort of in bike attire presumably a cyclocross racer who just casually grabbed a napkin and blew his nose and put the used napkin now full of booger and snot into the stir up waste basket right next to the coffee urns and other Hilton breakfast delicacies.  A woman was rightfully appalled and took it upon herself to empty it to the trash bin which was just about ten feet away.  Then he was at it again.  I was disgusted by his lack of manner and utter oblivious to decorum.  After all we were staying in a Hilton.

The second day wasn't as exciting as the first.  Good or better weather did not help my pictures.  The highlight was I met Nick a real photographer and videographer.  I meant to meet Nick when I was at the UCI Cyclocross at Rockland Community College.  The first day highlight was I bumped into Coach David and his family; DJ, one of the Star Track riders was in the race and Matt's girlfriend was racing as well.

I almost left before the elite race began as I was tired, cold and worried about driving back to New York.  I had four slices of white bread I got from breakfast for lunch.  Plus a hotdog I got from SRAM.  I honestly don't know what SRAM does.  For all I know, they make hotdogs.  After the elite race started came the third highlight of the 2-day event.  I bumped into track sheriff Karl from Kissena.  We had a good chat.  Karl was all smile, happily shooting a real camera with real black and white film.  I was instantly diminished, my toy cameras and all.  It took me some time to recover to begin shooting again.

Without a press pass wasn't a big issue except when it was.  I did get asked to leave the course once though.  With the press vest one can I assume get inside the course when the winner rides across the finish line.  Without the vest I got the excuse of not getting the position I needed to get the shot.

It was a once in a lifetime experience for me.  I figure if it's held somewhere else I wouldn't bother or have the resources to go.

Experience

Experience is something sometimes you can't really replace, at least for me.

I just got my hands on a Nikon 16mm AF-D f/2.8 fisheye.  The thing is it has a 180 degrees of coverage, and hence the fisheye designation.

Now I like to shoot with my flash bracket and flash mounted.  The thing is the 180 coverage can get the bracket'S grip ever slightly into the picture if I am not careful enough.

My older version of the Custom Bracket Junior, I dare say, doesn't design with fisheye in mind, or with much flexibility when mounting.  I can't slide to the right or left to accommodate for wider coverage lens like a 16mm fisheye.  Sometimes it just takes a few millimeters to make a difference.  I only have the option to shift the bracket further back closer to my body but then my hand or fingers would have a difficult time getting in between the camera's grip and the bracket grip, as the bracket doesn't provide the option to shift it a bit to the right.  Normally a 16mm lens doesn't present a problem as I have a 16-35mm f/4 and it never causes any problem.  The angle of view wouldn't get in the way; it's only when the fisheye's 180 degrees of coverage that the bracket grip gets into the way.

Now I am contemplating of actually left hand holding the flash when shooting.  It certainly isn't a good solution for me.  I am old school, I like to cradle my lens with my left hand while depressing the shutter using my right hand index finger.

Moonlight (2016)

There is probably a dozen reasons to see a movie.  But this is a first for me--I would like to hear your take on it.

Barry Jenkins' Moonlight tells the age-old story of growing up and finding one's place in this world.  If you are some kid living in a Manhattan high-rise that bears your family name, your struggle could be setting up a lemonade stand in that posh apartment building.  But's that's another story for another time.  If you are Chiron aka Little or Black, the protagonist of Moonlight, it could be a myriad of things like being black growing up sexually unsure in a single mother household in a drug, poverty, and violence infested environment.

Chiron's life is a series of disappointments.  His mom is a crack addict who ends up in rehab.  His only father figure Juan whose tenderness and generosity are as genuine as he is a crack supplier, his mom's crack supplier no less.  His first romantic sexual encounter is his only friend Kevin who also betrays him for the acceptance of a group of bullies.  All these people love Chiron.  But love simply is not enough.  Chiron ends up trapping in the street, with seeming success, just like his childhood father figure.

Trevante Rhodes who plays the adult Chiron delivers the most awkward, in the best sense of the word, and the sexually palpable scene when Chiron confesses to Kevin that he is the only man that ever touches him.  The film ends with a shot pulling in from behind Little, the little Chiron, in the beach then Little looking into the camera.  Chiron is no longer the frail kid that he was, he is a bona fide trapper that can easily bench press ten times his body weight and kills a grown man with his bare hand but deep down he is still that same awkward child who yearns to connect, to love and to be loved.  Aren't we all?

Arrival (2016)

Arrival (2016).  Or how to read ink squirt from giant alien octopus.  This borefest is about time and how time doesn't have a beginning or an end, that is, provided that you know how to communicate in squirt ink.  Louise, played by Amy Adams, is a linguist enlisted by the US army to communicate with the aliens.  Together with some guy called Ian, played by Jeremy Renner, the two keep going in and out of the giant spacecraft parked or floated somewhere above Montana.  Often times a boring movie is just a boring movie.  Arrival fails to deliver any intellectual rigor in the sci-fi genre nor jolts us with any action if only to wake us up every now and then.  The cinematography is a constant drab and looks horribly underexposed.  Amy Adams' performance is not understated, just underwhelming.  With the help of a $2 freshly brewed small coffee I manage to stay awake the entire time if only in a fugue state which is not too different from what Louise experiences in the movie.

Nikon AF-S 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II

I was thinking about getting one on eBay.  The older version of course.  So naturally I tried to play with one when I got the chance at the Exp Plus Photo 2016.

I shoot regularly with my 70-200 but this 300mm is on another level.  I am glad I tried it.  I don't think I can shoot an event with this lens.  Not the entire event anyway.  The 70-200 is versatile enough but this 300mm is quite specialized I imagine.  It won't be too feasible to carry around this 300mm on location for 3 hours or longer, unless you have an assistant.  For any extended shooting, I think a monopod is a must just so your arms and back can thank you later.

I certainly appreciate the 70-200, more so than ever.

Custom Brackets

When you want to buy something photographic and yet don't have $2,799.95 for the latest Nikkor AF-S 70-200 f/2.8E FL, you can buy something like a lens hood, a sync cable, a filter or some flash bracket.

I am a fan of Custom Brackets.

My first one is the CB Mini-RC.  The camera screw is the "D" type kind while the flash screw is not.  So you do need a coin to tighten your flash up.  I like this bracket.  It looks cool even if it doesn't do anything at all.  I am a fan of accessorizing your camera.  The biggest fault is of course there is no anti-twist built-in.  I understand you can buy an anti-twist plate AT separately for $15 only.  I don't know how effective it is.  So while I am shooting with this flash bracket, I have to adjust the camera screw to re-orient the bracket and the flash.  It keeps you on your toe and busy making you work harder, look more professional, more on edge.

The latest Mini-RC comes with some improvements.  The flash screw is now D type as well, so you can leave home without any quarters or coins, just bring your hundreds.  The most important improvement is anti-twist.  This is the number one improvement that I need, the rest is just icing on the cake.  Now it comes with what Custom Brackets call "camera anti-twist post," two of them.  They can be positioned and tightened by a 1/8" Allen wrench provided.  So you may want to carry a 1/8" Allen wrench when you are out and about with the bracket.  During my field test, for about 3 hours, shooting in the jungle in extreme heat and cold, both horizontal and vertical, the bracket never twists and I don't have to tighten the screws with the Allen wrench.  I think this is a big improvement.  The new one is also about 1cm wider than the old one, which I think is a good thing.

Custom Brackets CB Junior
This is a more elaborate bracket than the Mini-RC.  It flips and extends.  This is an old version which doesn't even allow you to add any anti-twisting plate, nor does it come with any D type screw at all.  If you don't have a coin or a quarter, you are screwed.  Either your bracket or your camera may fall off your hand.  I guarantee the bracket will twist like crazy even if you only shoot horizontal.  Another drawback of this bracket is it's difficult to pack and carry.  This thing is sticking out every where.  It's just hard to put it inside a bag.  The Mini-RC totally wins in pack and carry as it's basically flat, small and weighs nothing.

Event Photographer Experience

My experience as a "photographer" or "event photographer."  My fourth time doing the same event different venue though.

Nikon D810, though it has 36MP but when I convert the NEFs I usually downsize them to 4000 pixels on the long side make them 12MP just like the D700 files!  I need the mega pixels just in case--the truth is that "just in case" never happened.

Nikkor 20-35 f/2.8, this lens was iffy when it is cold or very cold.  It failed me on two occasions.  The aperture blades got stuck and pictures overexposed.  Now that I know, I can always just shoot at f/2.8 circumstances allow.  The Nikkor 16-35 f/4 is reliable but since f/4 is not as bright it's really not so great when you are taking pictures in a dark venue like most dinner parties I am in.

Sunpak 120J with sync cable to the camera PC socket and battery pack.  I have it set at the "red" automatic to take the guess work out of it.  My setting is 1/60 and f/8 which should give me ample depth of field and fast enough shutter speed to avoid blurry pictures (given the relatively short flash duration, wide angle coverage, and not so close-up shots).  The battery pack is great when you want to have fast recycle time and long lasting battery life.  It's a bit of a hassle to shoulder carry the pack that I have to put up with.

Custom Bracket Junior (old version).  Like most other good brackets, it's is very good except one thing; it twists on the body.  This one doesn't come with a D-ring so I have to use a quarter to tighten screw to the tripod mount.  And that night I just didn't have a quarter with me.  When I asked the wait staff they didn't have one either.  They probably didn't trust me with a quarter.  So one lent me a Swiss army kind of knife with a very small blade, I was afraid I would break the blade so I handled it with extreme care.  Thank you man!  The bracket not only just twisted but came very loose in the middle of the shoot.  You certainly don't want to drop your flash or even worse your camera.  The sync cable and the power cable can be unwieldy and sometimes you pick up the camera and forget about the battery pack which may just end up dropping on the floor.

AF-S.  Normally AF-S is set for focus priority by default.  Though I use AF-C most of the time when I am shooting cycling or any other sports.  I switched to AF-S so I can recompose and lock focus.  In some instances, the camera had trouble locking focus because the subject was too dark or lacked contrast.  So I changed the AF-S to release priority so the shutter would fire even focus is not locked.  (This would give me trouble later on.)  I don't want my subject to wait or I look like an idiot when the shutter doesn't fire--the focus even not locked should be good enough or actually spot on even it's not locked, I hope.

Half way through the shoot, video time.  Initially I planned to shoot with my iPhone but then I don't need too many equipment hanging around my shoulder or my neck.  So I used my D810 for video as well.  And that's trouble.  In the middle of the video shoot, I decided that I wanted to change the lens AF to M so I can manually focus.  What a brilliant idea.  After video, I switched the camera settings from B back to A or whatever I thought shooting stills should be.  And I thought I had everything under control.  And of course I didn't.  In the middle of eating, drinking and people asked me to take pictures, I totally forgot about switching the lens back to AF.  So for the rest of the evening I was shooting with no focusing, not AF not manual just no focusing.  The last manual focus distance was left at some 20 feet away.  But "lucky" me most, actually all of the shots were wide angle, 7 to 10 feet away (at the same time, if not, I guess I would have noticed it already), and I was shooting at f/8.  The f/8 saved me plus before the video I had most of my shots already.  So the out of focus shots weren't that plenty and weren't obvious enough.  Still it's a mistake that I shouldn't have made.

If I used the Nikkor 16-35 f/4, it wouldn't happen as there is no need to switch to manual focus, you can simply grab the focusing ring to focus manually (* this is not entirely true, I want to manual focus in video not letting the lens to find focus so for the Nikkor 16-35 I still might have switched the lens to fully manual when shooting video).

If I left AF-S in focus priority, the default, it wouldn't happen as I wouldn't be able to fire the shutter if the focus can't be locked.  Alas, I changed it to AF-S release priority so shutter fire even when focus is not locked.

Lesson learned.  Always double and triple check your settings.

Dragon girl (drachenmadchen) Full Martial Arts School Documentary

PC, virus, anti-virus

I proclaim I enjoy living dangerously devoid of any anti virus program.  The truth is even I don't make mistakes clicking and installing crap, somebody else will.   And sometimes I do have the honor to take care of this nasty business.  Nobody would admit he makes any mistakes and in the end it's all a mystery.  How it happened nobody knows.

When it comes to PC, there is Windows defense, firewall and a whole boat load of third party software that are supposed to protect you from yourself and all the nasties from others.  In general I have a deep mistrust of those software, it's like you have the potential of actually installing some crap claiming to protect you from other crap.  I really don't know what or who to trust.  I am just happy whatever security measures that come with Windows and have them turned on.

But in the end, some how, someone is going to install, to click Ok despite repeated warnings because he just needs to play that game.

Then the whole wireless network comes crashing down.

Auto Glass Claim Experience

I use Gekko as my auto insurance.  I am just too lazy to find out what's out there from others.  I don't need all the hassles just so I can save perhaps a few dollars or a few thousand dollars.  I am too lazy to do that.

Even Gekko lists a 1-800 number for glass claim but when I called it just directs me to download the mobile app.  From there you just do your claim on your mobile.  I don't think you can even do it on their website.  If you are inept with apps, mobile phone or in general techno averse, good luck with that.  I don't think you can even file a glass claim over the phone.  It seems to me Gekko even does away the call center at least for glass claims.  I remember I used to call them.

The world just keeps moving on.

Cinema Mount Mark II audio cable extension

I asked support about the audio cable extension.

Specifically, I asked does it serve the purpose of the RODE SC7 or SC4 cable.  Their answer is an unequivocal yes.  I can use the supplied cable for that.
So I bought the RODE VideoMicro without buying the TRS to TRRS cable.
And you know what it does NOT work.  Apparently the male of the cable is TRRS but the female is not a TRS to TRRS receptacle.  Or that's just a faulty cable or they don't know what they are talking about.  A disappointment for sure.  I was hoping to use the iPhone and the Rode VideoMicro to shoot something tomorrow now I just can't even the eBay seller promptly shipped the order so I can receive it on time.  Alas, I'd have to shoot the Rode with my D810 for still and video now.

PS:  Now I suspect the audio extension cable is really just an extension for TRRS to TRRS only.  Why?  Because the mount is kind of blocked it needs a rather slim jack without the bulk so as to plug the jack in, if the TRRS is any bigger it won't be able to properly plugged in.

UPDATE:
9/15/2016
I ordered the RODE SC7 TRS to TRRS patch cable.  And it works with the iPhone with or without the extension cable supplied with the Cinema Mount Mark II audio extension cable.  Like I expected you really need to use the extension cable as the opening is kind of small and even if you don't run the SC7 through the hold you can't mount the iPhone flat on the mount as like I said it's more like an enclosure and there is just no front room to accommodate the budge of the SC7 plug.  So again, the provided audio extension cable is just like what its name says it is an extension cable of TRRS to TRRS.  If you were to plug in a TRS it simply won't work even you can plug in everything.

After using the setup for a few weeks.  My initial assessment still holds true.  It's quite tiring to mount the iPhone.  It's difficult to access the mic/headphone jack, lightning jack, the volume control because it's more of an enclosure.  It's troublesome when one recorded a clip and wants to listen the audio using a headphone, you simply have to remove the iPhone from the mount to unplug and plug back the jack.  The tripod mount hole is on the wrong side, it should really be underneath the lens.

All in all, even without using the Beastgrip Pro, I think it's a better design, I would like the option of tightening the grip like the cinema mount mark ii and a lower price.  I guess I can keep dreaming.

Cinema Mount Mark II, a first look

The thing with iPhone photography and videography is it is different things to different people.  Filmmaker, Sean Baker did it because of budget constraint and yet you can do it for a myriad of reasons, like you got nothing better to do with your life.

I have to say the CMM2 is pretty well built.  My point of reference is Nikon, Canon and Hasselblad kind of cameras and also the mini ball head sold on eBay shipped directly from China.  The CMM2 is definitely not as well built as the aforementioned cameras but it's head and shoulder above the almost disposable mini ball head.

That being said is the CMM2 well designed?  Well it depends.  I like certain aspects of it and I think some are just inherent to what it is, a cage, a grip, an add-on.

Part of the appeals to shoot with an iPhone is it's supposed to be convenient.  Not so much when you add a cage even the CMM2 is not gigantic.

Is it easy to mount the phone into that thing?  Not really.  I definitely need to fiddle with the vertical mount as the thing is screw-on tight with springs for tension, not just spring grab mount the phone.  Plus the clamps or jaws are on the right side not so centered.  I am a bit bothered by it.  The fact that it's screw tight gives you more confident to how unmovable and secure the phone is when mounted.  But at the same time the moves aren't exactly buttery smooth when you need to adjust the mount vertically and horizontally.  The horizontal movement is mostly for aligning the phone camera to the hole of the mounting plate.

There is a cutout on the right side of the cage to let you pass the mic cable, but it's not like fully open access.  I have the iPhone SE and it's not too easy to attach the lightning cable should you want to sit the phone flushed to the right of the cage while attaching the phone to portable power,  I mean you don't really want to anyway.  The phone is just easier to operate if it doesn't sit flushed to the right of the cage.  Because I can't and I shouldn't flush-right mount the phone to the cage, then it's quite iffy and fiddly to mount the phone correctly so it's easy to access and the lens is dead on center to the opening of the lens opening of the mounting plate.

The cold shoe is not exactly easy to mount, A quarter would be a bit too big or even a nickel to turn the screw down.  Maybe a dime would be ideal (yes, just confirmed).

The cage comes with a wide angle/macro lens attachment.  It mounts on a 37mm mounting plate which can be adjusted horizontally and vertically freely to line up with the phone's lens.  And hence the curse of too much freedom.  If you are anal about a perfect alignment you may be a bit concerned as you can only eye ball the alignment.  For the most part it works and works well enough.  The mounting plate has some play to it but then again it is not bad enough to worry about.  I mean even a Nikon mount and a mounted Nikkor can have some play to it, at least some.  If the attachment is mounted off center the image suffers that I am pretty sure as I witnessed some myself: it's off center to be bad when you watch the video but not off center to render total blackout or visible vignette to notice right away.

Even I keep referring it as a cage but it's actually quite an enclosure.  Access to the phone is sufficient but not like an cage you almost have open access to the phone mounted inside.  You can't remove the lens side of the enclosure at all meaning you can't use the grip with your own lens attachments.

The filter holder works and the blue and gray graduated filters are nice additions to the setup.  If you shoot open sky landscape it helps to bring the sky closer to the exposure of the earth or the foreground.

The mic extension is not a TRS to TRRS cord.  It's really just an extension ... I think.  It looks and feels like a quality cord.

Maybe, just maybe, the Beastgrip Pro is actually a bit better if you absolutely don't consider the price.

Cinema Mount Mark II and Beastgrip Pro

I don't know why or the etymology of "Mark II" in general.  Since when "Mark II" means version 2 or something?  The first time I saw this usage was from Canon's first most popular full frame  EOS 5D, its subsequent versions are all called Mark something.  And I take it it means version.  Nikon has its own somewhat confusing naming scheme, for its flagship models like Nikon D3 or Nikon D4, their minor upgrade or refinement naming is by appending the letter "s" at the end.  So the model looks like plural but it is not.  Any major upgrade actually merits a jump in the number, like the latest Nikon D5 is the successor of the Nikon D4.

What the heck am I talking about?

I have never used the Cinema Mount or the Beastgrip Pro.  But I am somewhat fascinated by them, enough to open this post that is and enough to place an order on the former.  It is almost an impulse buy, or not, considering I have been eyeing them for a long long time.  The actual buy is I think always impulsive.

I am quite sure Beastgrip Pro is a "better" product in the sense that it got a cooler website, better PR ... but there is always a but, the pricing is just a bit off for my taste and wallet.  I actually saw the Cinema Mount in the wild some time ago and its owner seemed quite happy with it.  Currently the Beastgrip Pro is asking for close to $170 for the cage and a wide angle lens while the Cinema Mount Mark II is fetching for less than $90 with a wide angle lens, a filter holder and 2 graduated ND filters which I am a sucker of I think, and some other goodies like an mic extension cord (I think it's more than just an extension, it probably allows regular mic jack to be plugged to the headphone jack of an iPhone but I can't be sure) and lens mount unscrew thingy ... YouTube reviews on the Cinema Mount Mark II are almost non-existent except for 3 or actually 2 because one is just a duplicate of another.  You know one thing always leads to another.  The holy grail of lens adapter for iPhone is the Moondog lab anamorphic lens adapter which sells for $175.  Then you need to have some software to actually edit the footage like Final Cut Pro X which costs like $300 ...

The friendly web page with user friendly spelling just seals the deal for me.


UPDATE:
8/21/2017
A couple of weeks, I read from Beastgrip's website, they successfully barred Cinema Mount from selling in the US.  I can confirm that I can find them on Amazon but it says not available.  So Beastgrip is pulling in its weight enforcing its patent.

Nikon D700 and D810

Again if you look for scientific analysis this is not the place.  The below is a matter of opinion from an amateur shooter.

AF-C is important to me, I want fast accurate focus tracking.  On paper the D810 seems or actually states that it is using the same AF as the D4, which I assume is superb.  I don't own a D4 or D4s, but being a flagship or the last flagship camera, I can just assume it's superb, right?

My experience with the D810 is that, the AF is accurate but AF tracking is not so hot.  In comparison, the D700 seems track better at least when I am using the D9 or dynamic 9 points at shutter priority.  I tried the Group Focus in D810 and it isn't that hot either.  The D700 files just look sharper, cleaner and more in focus in most of the time than the D810.  It's not that I don't have any good files from the D810 but there is something about the D700 that I like.  The files are smaller, the processing time is shorter, images look sharper from NEF to JPEG ...

Again further shooting is needed to re judge the camera.

I got the D700 in early 2015 and the D810 in early 2016.  The same AF-S 70-200 VR is mounted.

iPhone videography . . .

I found it quite strange and unusual that I could not find anywhere a comparison between the Cinema Mount and the Beastgrip Pro mount for mobile phones.  I just couldn't find any comparison between the two.

The moondog labs seem to be the only company that manufactures an anamorphic lens or adapter for the iPhone.  Yet I couldn't find a review or in depth review of the quality of the lens.  Most would say it's a good lens but how about corner sharpness, close focusing, color fringing and the like?  There seems to be quite a number of versions now, mainly for different models of iPhones, for different cases, or grips.  Or the 37mm thread version which should fit most of the 37mm mounting plate out there.  However it defeats its somewhat universal mounting purpose when one actually has to buy a 37mm mounting plate for the BeastGrip Pro mount.  That's a bit strange to me.  Again I could not find any review on that.  Or why it couldn't use the generic lens mounting plate that comes with the BeastGrip Pro other than my obvious guess, it doesn't fit or fit as well as the specially made mounting plate for the Moondog Labs anamorphic lens adapter.

On top of that, I also wonder how does a 37mm thread anamorphic lens align?  For the clip on or lock on version I can understand.  It's so machined that the horizontal is aligned properly.  But if you were to screw on an adapter chances are you do have to fine tune the horizontal alignment separate from the screw mount.

I just wish Moondog Labs would do a better job explaining all these.  They do a pretty decent job explaining the de-squeezing part though.

I personally own an Optex 1.33 anamorphic adapter.  It's impossible to focus in most cases and the edges are all fuzzy.  For the most part if you are into arty stuff or don't care about sharpness, it could be perfectly fine.



 

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Sign of being a failure

You taking the same intro course over and over again.  As you simply couldn't finish what you started.  It's like a bad dream or an infinite loop you can't wake up from or get out.  You need a hard reset but you are hesitant to do it.

If you don't make the choice, somebody will make it for you.  It probably doesn't make any difference.  Or it probably does.  But in the end everybody dies so it doesn't really matter.

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There is some advantage of being such a failure.

You don't get to wake up in the middle of the night thinking that you are such a fraud.  That never happened to me.

AF and MF

Minolta may not be the first manufacturer that does auto focus but that's the company I remember them of in the late 80s.

As an amateur I shot color negative and had them developed in 3R, or 3x2" prints.  For the longest time, that's how I judged my pictures.

You asked your subjects to remain still before you pressed the shutter release button.  Rarely, if at all, did I shoot any moving subjects because you and your subjects should remain stationary when taking pictures, that's just a given.  Auto focus was not even germane to what or how I shot.  A focusing screen with split, micro prism, and the ground glass is all I need.  The choice is just whether is a horizontal or a 45 degree split.  Actually it wasn't much of a choice.  My first Ricoh came with a 45 degree split while Nikon came with a horizontal split focusing screen.

My first auto focus camera was the Nikon F5, a camera imported from the future, as proclaimed by their marketing folks.  F5 was supposed to have the latest and greatest AF, at least that's what I was led to believe.  But through out almost its entire life I never put it to the test; I was using my old manual focus lenses and years later when I shot with my first AF lens, the 24-85 f/2.8~4, it was never ever for any action photographs anyway.

In short, I have never shot any action using a manual focus lens.

I am sure it can be done.  Maybe just not by me?

I guess what I am trying to write is for the sake of "money saving" does it make sense to buy a MF lens to shoot action?

I have been using my 80-200 f/2.8 and beginning last year the 70-200 f/2.8 VR for the majority of my action shots.  I almost use AF-C and 9 points exclusively.

My longest lens is the MF 300mm f/4.5 which I used a handful of times and maybe once on the velodrome.  I like the color rendition.  I did have one shot that I quite like, not the kind of fast action shot.  But definitely not stationary, it's in focus and has the emotion pull of the moment.  The 300mm on a DX sensor seems longish but on a FX sensor well not that long.  It's subjective but if I am going to get a tele photo lens, it's going to be at least 400mm.

Ethics in Photojournalism

http://web.mit.edu/drb/Public/PhotoThesis/

Last year, I was at Red Hook.  There was an accident.  A rider crashed.  I took a few pictures of it.  A bystander said "Come on man!" to express his disapproval, I guess.

There were designated volunteers and EMS on scene for incidents like that.