Life Through the Lens

Richard Franiec Grip for Canon S95

I’ve been loading up on accessories lately, but I ran across this cool grip for the Canon S95 while searching for a grip for my Panasonic GF1.  Richard Franiec makes custom grips for a wide range of compact cameras http://www.kleptography.com/rf/, but mainly for bodies that prioritize form over function.  These grips are machined out of aircraft-grade aluminum (I’m assuming 6061) and anodized.  The S95 grip is beautifully made and fits perfectly with the high bond adhesive.  It’s a little pricey for a small piece of aluminum, but the craftsmanship is worth it.  All told it was $36.40 shipped (at the time of writing).  I did some quick low key shots to show how it looked on the camera.  I wish the anodizing was a little darker to match the paint of the S95, but it still looks good.

For those that are interested, I just used a Lumiquest Softbox III feather away from the front at about 45 degrees above the camera.  Somewhere around 1/4 power, F11 ISO100.  Black foam core was used as the backdrop.

5500K Daylight Balanced Fluorescent Bulb

Went to a camera show last weekend in Buena Park to see if I could find some hidden gem hot deals on old strobes, but unfortunately, most of the stuff was priced way to high…except for this giant JTL 85W (425W Equivalent) 5500K fluorescent bulb I found for $15.  I’ve been meaning to order one of these for a while now, and not having to pay for shipping definitely sweetens the deal.  After I got it home, I decided it would be a good idea to light it, since I’ve been out of practice for a while.  I then used the bulb to take some pics of the strawberries I bought that day…with my cameraphone!

Here’s the beast in my hand.  Definitely not your average CFL.

 

Here is the bulb lit with a snooted strobe on the front and a gridded green gelled strobe on the back wall.

 

Both of these shots were straight out of my Samsung Infuse 4G.  Its got an awesome camera to begin with, but with good light, it really shines.

Urban Farming

There’s this little farm (Manaserro Farms) right by my apartment complex and adjacent to the freeway.  The little booth is usually closed when I drive by, but it was open today.  I stopped in to see what fresh produce they had.  Picked up some fresh strawberries, grape tomatoes, and a couple haas avocadoes.  When I got home, the strawberries looked so perfect I had to take some photos.  I busted out the macro lens and some lighting gear…then I ate the models...

 

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New Photography Website

Not much to post lately, been out of town snow testing for a couple weeks in dreary…yet almost snow free Minnesota.  But did revamp my photography website.  I finally updated it with new images, and a new design.  I think it looks pretty good.  Take a look and post a comment if you like it.  If you don’t like it, post a comment anyway

vu [email protected] | photography

Rokinon 8mm Fish Eye

Having the itch for a new lens...and carrying on the New year new lens tradition, I decided I needed fish eye.  Having had my eye on the Canon 8-15mm fish eye zoom for a while, I realized that $1400 for a niche lens wasn't the greatest investment.  As I searched for alternatives, I came across this Rokinon 8mm fish eye.  Its sold under many different names, but essentially made by the Korean Samyang corporation.  All the reviews showed impressive performance for the sub $300 price. The drawbacks are manual focus and manual aperture.  Luckily, fish eyes have so much DOF that you hardly need to focus for anything from 3 ft to infinity.  I quickly purchased it on Amazon prime, then promptly got my first lens stolen from my door step because the horrible On Trac delivery service was to lazy to deliver it to the leasing office of my apartment.  Once I got the replacement, I took it out for a test.  The lens is designed for APS-C cameras, so it severly vignetted on my 5D2 but wasn't so bad on the 1.3x crop 1DIII.  I just cropped in a bit in post processing.  The Canon fisheye at 8mm is not full frame either, so the performance is similar.  Here are some test shots.

First Bike Ride on Huntington Beach

Now that I’ve moved to sunny SoCal, I decided it was high time I went for a bike ride on the beach.  Since I was to the point of being mostly unpacked, I headed down to Huntington to rent a beach cruiser for the afternoon.  I rode up and down the beach until I was too saddle sore to take it anymore.  The temps were dropping and the wind was picking up, so I grabbed a hot dog from the snack shack, then headed home after snapping a few pics of the sunset.  Here’s a few choice pics below, the rest can be seen here.

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was pretty hectic.  I was in the middle of a move from Texas to California, there was a lot of work we had to do to the house including refinishing the kitchen cabinets.  It was fairly drama filled too, but everything worked out and everyone is happy again.  Besides all that, we did manage to eat copious amounts of food and I got to hang out with my old high school / Ford buddies.  I even got to see Mark and Jean’s new bundle of joy. Rest of the photos can be seen here.

 

Kitchen Fun…

 

Catching up with friends…