Fair warning.

Moving on.

I bought a Canon 135mm f/2.  There were a few reasons befind it, but that’s a whole separate blog post.  I might do something on that later.

But in the meantime, I’m planning on selling my big white 70-200mm because for my style, I really don’t need it.  But before I actually sold it, I wanted to do some tests, to see if I would be covered in the focal-length-department in the event I need the extra reach.

I already calculated that my 135 on a crop sensor (1.6x) would look like a 216mm.  And I found a depth of field calculator online that told me an f/2 on a 1.6 crop will have an f/3.2 range.  However, I wanted to see for myself what that really looks like.

Here is my 70-200 (@200) on the full frame:

And here is my 135 (effectively a 216) on the crop sensor:

Both images are straight out of the camera.  Tripodded @ 1/50 exposure.  ISO on 5D was 1600 and T2i was 400.

I can kind of tell the difference, but I’m really not sure.  The 2.8 does seem a little bit more shallow, but it’s hard to tell.  Remember, this doesn’t affect my exposure, so I’m still able to pull in twice as much light with the f/2, even if it is on the crop sensor.  This is strictly the depth of field gauge I’m looking at.

But here’s where it got interesting. When I looked at them 1:1, I was quite surprised by the difference in sharpness!

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS

Canon 135mm f/2

I have always heard that primes are sharper than zooms, but I didn’t expect this much of a difference.  I’ve been considering for a while ditching zooms and going for primes. The asterisk to this is I’ll probably keep my 24-105 zoom around because it’s such a workhorse.  And now I feel confident to move in that direction.  As I said, I’ll probably have another post on all that, and what I’ve learned, coming in the future.

Turns out it’s pretty sharp. I was pleasantly impressed.

Also, being an old lens, it exhibits some “features” that new lenses don’t. I played around with a little of that, too.  Here’s what I got:

P.S. I’ll do a proper ‘product’ shoot and put a picture of this lens up soon (along with the DIY).

Anyway.

Recently I’ve been hearing almost daily updates about the calamities progress we’re making in Copenhagen.  And that’s okay; after all, I keep reading those articles, so I’m not wishing they’d go away.  But I can’t help to disagree the basis of much of their reasoning.

If you’ve never heard of ICR (the Institute for Creation Research), you should really check them out.

A privately funded research facility focused on proving biblical creationism from a scientific and professional point of view, ICR has been in existence for almost 40 years! But unfortunately many Christians are still not familiar with them.  They publish regularly supporting evidence on critical topics including the six, literal days of creation; the genesis flood and a young Earth; and the extinction of the dinosaurs, to name a few.

Among the plethora of tools ICR offers are two FREE publications: Days of Praise and Acts & Facts.  You can read both of these online, or, if you prefer to feel the paper in your hand, they’ll mail them to you. Free. Did I say that?

Days of Praise is a short, daily devotion.  Wait. If you’re anything like me, when you first hear the word “devotional”, you started skimming this paragraph.  And to your credit, from all the ones I’ve read, I don’t blame you for feeling that way.  But Henry Morris III, the CEO and son of founder Henry Morris II, does an over-the-top job of concisely diving deep and sharing his insights in this two-minute-a-day read (a rare feat in it’s own right).  I strongly recommend it for both it’s brevity and clearness of thought. Two things not often found together in devotionals.

Acts & Facts is a monthly periodical with articles covering the gamut ‘of ICR’.  Always providing captivating insight in the fields of paleontology, geology, evolution, as well as a biblical view on current events. ICR works diligently to compare the “truth” to the Truth.

In this writing, I don’t want to leave the impression that their mission is to cause strive and confrontation.  In fact, it’s just the oposite.  Their mission is to help Christians see, from a logical and scientific perspective, the biblical proofs that exist all around us in our modern, twenty-first century life–that science is not at odds with the Bible, but in agreement!

As you continue to hear about climate change and become curious about how it fits into the Bible, IRC is a wonderful resource to find Christian in the top of their field, who don’t pull punches when it comes to comparing the facts they find with what God has to say about our world.

Yeah,

BAM.

This was our waitress.  I cleverly forgot to ask her name after I took her picture.

Cymbals Eat Guitars: Why There Are Mountains [album]

As a “musician,” and I use the term loosely, I’m always partial to performance videos. Plus, I like behind the scenes stuff showing the recording studio and all that. For me, the gem was seeing lead singer, Joseph D’Agostino playing a Jaguar. For all the coolness of their soapbox pickups and various controls messily strung out across the body, one of their biggest critiques is that they don’t offer a lot of punch when stacked against the rest of the band. But that’s a guitar, and this is a band. And clearly it’s all working for them. So, enough of that. About the music: it’s some good stuff.

Generationals: Con Law [album]

Con Law is one of those albums that belongs in your car to be played over and over. And it’s that easy to listen through. Not every song needs the radio, but Generationals seem to have no shortage of pop-sounds. I like that. More than any of that, what I find especially enticing about this band is that they’re local New Orleanians! The second video is a rough-cut, but it was filmed here in what looks like an old Uptown house. The first video, well done, also shows sites from around the city.

Telekinesis! [self titled album]

The first track I heard Chris Martin and though, ah crap, and they had such a cool album cover!

I’m not a Coldplay hater, I own a few of their abums (their first is still my fav), but one Coldplay is enough for all of us, I think (hope). But I am happy to report, they immediately redeem themselves with the next ten tracks stepping it up each time finishing with the wonderfully simple I Saw Lighting.

Two of my favorite sites I always make time for are Unabashedly Prep and The Sartorialist.

Both are about fashion as seen every day on the street.  And The Sartorialist is just that; rarely any text, and almost always street-portraits of people that inspire Scott Schuman, the blog’s author.

Unabashedly Prep has a similar feel to The Sartorialist in way of it’s street photography, but is somewhat more narrowed in scope, and he provides a little more commentary.  The author describes himself as having “a love affair with Northeastern culture.”  Kind of reminds me of that little town from Jaws.  And Ralph Lauren.

He also mentioned Ra Ra Riot and Vampire Weekend as some of his favorite bands.  Shhyeah.  That I can live with.

And this brings me to my crisis–literarily speaking, of course: I’ve never been especially enamored with fashion; yet amidst hundreds of other blogs and my often busy days (and I’m no stranger to the “make all as read” button) these two never go unread.

After much introspection–up to about eight minutes now, but still counting–I’ve come to realize it’s not about the fashion.  It’s the way both sites capture, from perhaps an editorial angle, the passion each’s subject has for looking great.  And I don’t mean the long-legs-and-high-cheekbones kind of great.  But the pride of developing something, even as simple as mixing and matching clothes, that can outlet your own uniqueness.

Is this naive to say?  Am I being immature in attempting imparting some esoteric point of view on these guys’ ‘street photography’?

Nah.

I like all the first stuff better.

I mean, can you really name any other french bands? Yeah, me neither.

Ultimately, I think there are a few good tracks on here to download from iTunes, but I wouldn’t recommend getting the whole album. Unless someone gives it to you for free. Then I recommend you take it.

Discovery is a collaboration between Vampire Weekend and Wes Miles from Ra Ra Riot–who, by the way, puts on an excellent show! I had the chance to see them the last time they were in NOLA. They played at the Parish (which is for bands who can’t quite fill up the House of Blues, but I love it because it’s so small). During sets we got a chance to talk to Wes. Very cool guy. Canadian. Go figure. Anyway, LP is as good as you’d expect from two great bands.

I wanted to put their Orange Shirt video here because it was a real video, but it was a Transformers II commercial and that made me sad.

The Dead Weather is one of Jack White‘s projects, which is a bit different still from the White Stripes and Raconteurs, but still holds on to his signature lo-fi-inspired framework. The Kills singer, Alison Mosshart, does the bulk of the singing and keeps a raw energy present that might otherwise cause this album to drop. Good stuff, but not for the faint of heart. Er, that is, those who need some serious studio polish in return for their $13.99.

And if you like The Edge and Jimmy Page (eyhh… comme, ci comme ca), watch this. But it’s totally worth it because Jack White’s in it and he’s a beast. for real.

Harlem Shakes. Technicolor Health. From the opening track, Nothing but Change Part II, I knew I would like Harlem Shakes. With poppy melodies, quick guitars, and a driving beat, they keep it up like Vampire (and a bit of MGMT for good measure). As a word of warning, they sometimes have a thirty second buffer at the beginning of some of their songs where you might start to doubt. Beat that, and they’re gold.

I usually reserve my Tuesday music reviews for new, but not top-40, stuff. Not that I don’t like Top 40 (I mean, if it’s good, it’s good, right?). But invariably, everyone has already talked about that. So, I tend to stick to more indie centered, minor releases. But this song doesn’t really fit in either categories. It’s Sinnerman by Nina Simone. Mmm, don’t you just love Nina Simone? Yeah, me too. You’ve probably heard Felix Da Housecat’s Mix in about 70 movies over the last decade. It’s good, too. But Nina’s is a little more… Nina.

This is what I’m really excited about! Vampire Weekend’s new album Contra is coming out soon. I have their first one and absolutely love it! If it was a record I would have worn it out. But it’s not, it’s a CD, so it’s still in really good condition.

Two things.

First:

Second:
You can download Horchata, also from Contra, here for free at 320kbps!

The Last one’s Cat Power. Just another favorite I wanted to include.

And that’s what I’m getting paid for.

Well, technically it has something to do with cranes assembling and valves not being ready, but I try not to concern myself with such work oriented things.

In any event, it’s been great to finally catch up on a lot of editing.

I’ve been testing out my new PowerShotSX200 IS by Canon.  I bought it because I needed something that could fit in my pocket but also shoot in manual exposure.  And, as a bonus, it has a really big zoom!