DMD: The Decisive Moment Digital

Hundreds, if not thousands, of articles can be found on the Web about the “perfect” digital camera, articles like “ ’DMD’: The Digital Camera I’d Like to own”, by Mike Johnston at http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/DMD.shtml. The perfect digital camera is a matter of personal opinion. My DMD would be somewhat different than Mike’s, of course. But earlier this week on September 19, 2010, information began to trickle onto the Web about a camera that appears to be the DMD of dreams for thousands of photo enthusiasts: The Fujifilm FinePix X100. For more information, see http://www.fujifilm.com/news/n100920.html and http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10091910fujifilmx100.asp. Or do a search on this camera to turn up a week’s worth of reading. Photos of the FujiFilm FinePix X100 are shown below. The photos are from the FujiFilm site.

I have to admit that the X100 is damn close to my DMD. There are only minor things I would change about it. I’d like a wider lens, a 28mm equivalent and/or interchangeable lens capability. I would also be happy to see Fuji drop the video capability in order to lower the price of the camera. I don’t think that video is something that should be crammed into a machine made for still photography. Particularly when it raises the price of said still photo machine. People who are serious about shooting video buy video cams, so there’s no need to burden the rest of us with that capability and the attendant price.

I often check Ken Rockwell’s site at http://www.kenrockwell.com for information about photo equipment, both new and old. Oddly, there’s nothing of value in his comments on the X100. To quote: “Do I care? Not really. If everything tries to imitate the greatness of the LEICA M3, then why not just shoot the real thing? You can buy a real LEICA M3 for the same price as a D90, and you have no idea how nice is the real thing until you've shot with it. The M3 is much nicer than today’s LEICA M9.” And that’s all you’ll get from his site, which is the “odd” part. I believe that Ken is comparing apples to plums. The Leica M3 is a 35mm Rangefinder, a film camera. The Fuji X100 is a Digital camera. But I understand that Ken is being a snob about this, and that is fine with me, given the deep pile of other useful information on his site. After all, I have friends who are wine snobs, motorcycle snobs, computer brand snobs, and rock and roll snobs, and I don’t have to agree with their every pronouncement to appreciate what they bring to the table in general.

Gridiron

I don’t have much interest in watching American football. I played in High School, but it makes me a bit crazed when I to try to watch it on television or in a stadium. I always get a near-overwhelming urge to get in the game myself. In a number of ways, that would not be a good thing, so I avoid being a spectator. But making photos of a game is an interesting way to spend a couple hours.

The photos in this post are from a High School game in California. My son-in-law is the coach of one of the teams (blue uniforms) and the 1,400+ stills I shot of this game will be used for a season’s end slide show.

My “old” digital camera is limited to 5 frames per second. I captured .jpeg files only, which allowed me to shoot multiple frames without filling up the camera’s buffer before the play was over.

Moto

These photos are a couple of the frames I captured of my grandson racing his KTM motorcycle.

Both photos are of the same jump in the track. He likes to see photos of himself airborne. Because of the speed of the subject, the autofocus of my camera tends to get “confused” and hunts for the subject until the motorcyclist is gone, and I miss the shot.

I have found that it is much easier to get photos of this type using manual focus. I typically prefocus on a particular place on the track, than wait for him to come into the frame.

Grasshopper

After returning from my usual hike this morning (9/17/2010), I got the coffee machine running, then opened my email program. As I began to select the usual pile of messages for deletion, my granddaughter ran into my office saying, “You have to get your camera and bring it outside. There’s a grasshopper eating one of the flowers.” I followed her to the flowerbed and took a few photos of the bug she pointed out, using the Nikon 18-105mm VR lens that I usually have mounted when I’m hiking. It is definitely not a Macro lens, a specialized lens for close-up work, but I like using it for landscapes at the wide end, which is equivalent to 28mm on a 35mm film camera (or full frame digital), and the widest lens I have for the DSLR.

Ken Rockwell calls this a “boring” lens. I’m not sure why the Nikon 18-105mm VR lens bores him, though it is possible that it doesn’t cover a long enough range, but it works fine for me as my default walking around lens, and is also well suited for photographing my grandson’s motocross racing. What I don’t like about the Nikon DSLR is the occasional times when the Nikon autofocus system, purportedly the “best”, makes choices that I wouldn’t, and the photos I captured of the grasshopper illustrated that.

The photos above were made after I reviewed the first batch of photos, then returned to the flowerbed with the Nikon 28mm f/2.8 prime lens. The 28mm isn’t a Macro lens, either. But I like the results better.

Return of the Sky

The title of this post is false, since the sky hasn’t been missing, so it can’t really return. But today appeared to be the end of the months-long foggy/hazy skies we endure every summer in the Riverside, California area. Since I was lazy this morning, I didn’t wake up early enough to really catch the sunrise at the best time. I was busy dreaming about motorcycle rides, looking for a specific part in a repair shop,  and talking to a girl I knew in high school (she was a girl then, anyway) and didn’t get out of bed early enough to catch the best light. The photo above is not a great one, but it shows a pale hint of the color and cloud definition I’ll see through the next three seasons. As far as I’m concerned, it is cause enough for a minor celebration…