dsphotographic.com Blog
Follow along as I document my travel adventures. Read photo and tech news. View the archives.
November 13th, 2008
RED, makers of the digital video camera RED ONE, have announced their new camera system: the RED DSMC (digital stills and motion camera).
As the title of the system suggests, we’re not just looking at another video camera here, the specs on the higher end sensors promise to rival those of current DSLRs. As with the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D Mark II, digital stills and digital video are converging, but this particular thrust comes from the video side.
The infinitely-configurable system from RED is so different, it’s almost confusing. The RED Scarlet and RED Epic sensors (with funny names like Mysterium Monstro) can be combined and interchanged with different lens mounts (including Canon and Nikon mounts), batteries, recording modules, lenses (of course) and so on. The idea is that the camera can be configured and tailored to your needs in a myriad of ways. Further, as technology advances and new components become available, they will integrate into this system and you won’t have to upgrade the entire camera.
All of this, of course, comes at a price. A lot of it is pretty costly stuff, but perhaps the less expensive options will allow budding filmmakers to buy into the system and upgrade into the more high-end options as their needs may advance. The lighter weight versions, however, do seem fairly affordable for the ability to get good quality HD video.
On the photography side of things, I’m not sure the specs / cost will win over too many DSLR shooters. The higher-megapixel options are a lot more pricey than their DSLR counterparts. What we have here is the reverse of a camera like the 5D Mark II. RED’s system will allow filmmakers to branch out into still photography where the Mark II will give photographers the option to try their hand at making some moving pictures.
Though it will likely be a long while (if ever!) before I get to play with one of these (especially since it doesn’t an official release date yet) it’s still fun to watch the technology blossom and to imagine where things may go next.
October 22nd, 2008
Last night, after discovering that the problems on my site went further than I had thought, I had to completely take down the improperly-functioning galleries. It appears that my site had been hacked and was suffering a little bit because of it.
I have managed, however, to get things mostly working again. The galleries are back and all the photos are available once again. After doing a quick test, the only thing that I can see that needs work is the search functionality. What’s strange is that the search functionality off the blog pages works great - it’s only when you search from inside the galleries that things don’t work correctly. Weird.
So, there is some maintenance yet to do, but we’re moving forward and things are looking up for the health of this site.
October 13th, 2008
Well, things are looking up, but we’re still not quite there with the fixes to the site. Most of the site’s functionality is there, but there are a few behind the scenes fixes I’m making that will make for smoother sailing for me and, in the end, anyone reading this blog.
If all goes well, you shouldn’t notice much difference except perhaps slight increases in awesomeness.
October 12th, 2008
Yes, as I suspected, there have been a few hiccups with the changes. I was hoping I could sneak things through, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Looks like I have to re-learn a few things about Wordpress…
October 12th, 2008
Don’t be surprised if a few things turn up broken here in the next little while. This site is need of a bit of maintenance, but I’m hoping I can get it up to speed sooner than later.
If only technology didn’t change so quickly!
October 6th, 2008
Boston.com’s The Big Picture has done it again with this gallery of images from famed aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. His images always impress and the body of work he has assembled over his career always makes me jealous.
Any helicopter pilots want to be my friend?
October 2nd, 2008
In praise of assistants, today brings a small group of links for and about photographic assistants.
- This exceedingly detailed article by digital assistant Patrick Lavoie explains the workflow he uses when he works with fashion photographers. I’ve used a very similar workflow on shoots and Patrick’s piece will give you more info than you will likely be able to digest in one sitting.
- A post from Vincent Laforet discusses a photo of Michael Phelps from the Beijing Olympics in Sports Illustrated and the fact that it is credited to both Heinz Kluetmeier and his assistant Jeff Kavanaugh. As Laforet states, “it’s incredibly rare for photographers to give their assistants any credit for the images they take while on assignment with them,” but in this case, the photographer acknowledged the work of his assistant by sharing the credit for a great photo.
- And lastly, PDN has two interviews with photographers relating how they made the jump from assistant to photographer here (PIper Carter) and here (Sherry Loeser). The short answer: once your work and confidence are good enough, just do it and commit to it.
September 29th, 2008
Thanks to online friend and illustrator extraordinaire dro, I learned that one of my photos was used as the inspiration for a piece for an indie comic called Grunts in which WWII soldiers battle the undead.
I took the photo at the Howarth 1940s weekend, one of the re-creationist festivals that seem to be popular here in the UK. It has now found it’s way into a new form thanks to Urban Barbarian in this post.
Here is the original:
And here is the new, slightly-more-angry version:
September 24th, 2008
If you’re a nerd like me, new Photoshop releases always make for a fun trip around the web to check out the previews that detail new features and gadgets in the software.
September 23rd, 2008
Boston.com’s always-inspiring The Big Picture today has a batch of images from India.
The Big Picture is consistently full of great photos and is a great site to visit on a regular basis, but this gallery, in particular, caught my eye. It makes me eager to head back to Asia. Fingers crossed that I might get to do so sooner than later…
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