Category Archives: Photography

3M Precise Mousing Surface

Computing

Well blow me down.

As one originally trained in the discipline of mechanical engineering you would expect me to display many of the characteristics of that genre and you might well be right. These characteristics include:

  • Attention to detail
  • Refusal to let well enough alone
  • A binary approach to problem solving – right or wrong, no grey
  • A general conviction that I am right and it’s up to you to prove otherwise
  • A fundamental belief in the empirical over the theoretical
  • Horrible working in ‘teams’ or whatever the management-speak BS of the day is for shucking responsibility for your actions
  • When something sucks, I will make it a point of telling you to your face

Now the desire not to retire as a ward of the state saw many of these tendencies moderated over the past years as I had to act the sycophantic fool to all and sundry in the process of relieving them of their capital and making it mine. And while I had some modest success in doing that I can’t say it was much fun. Now I’m a retired old fart I can happily default to the above traits and feel better for it.

Anyone who has done any serious work with machines, meaning building or repairing them, knows better than to skimp on tools, hard, soft or liquid. When it comes to the vast range of chemicals and related materials involved in cars, motorcycles and machines of all guises, the wise man pays a little more and buys 3M products. Whether adhesives, abrasives, solvents, tapes, coverings, you name it, the products from Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing remain the standard to judge by. Just recall the last time you chintzed and bought aftermarket Post-It sticky notes, only to find they stuck to nothing. Or refused to let go. That’s 3M for you. The standard.

Long time readers of this journal know that one of my areas of ceaseless pursuit is that of a good computer mouse for the Hackpro desktop. I much prefer a mouse over a tablet for Photoshop outlining tasks, for example, so a good mouse is a key tool. I have written of several here and am now happier than ever (maybe that should be ‘least unhappy’?) with the Logitech MX900 recommended by a fellow photographer (thank you, Roy!), allied with SteerMouse software. Having tracked down two of these, used, I am happy as can be. Or at least I was until a while back when the cursor of the one at the HackPro started jumping about like a crazy thing. I tried all sorts of settings on SteerMouse for sensitivity and speed, but no. Nothing worked. The jumpiness seemed random and not related to CPU activity or the presence of other devices which I cycled to see if there was any cause and effect to be found.

Then it occurred to me that I had not followed my own rule and had bought a chintzy mouse pad. Well, $6.88 later and Amazon delivered the 3M Precise Mousing Surface and it’s night and day. Very thin, with Post-It style repositionable adhesive backing, hard with no ‘give’, it has a lightly textured surface and simply takes away any erratic cursor behavior.

Further the (very) fine print on the packaging makes the odd claim that the surface improves battery life for a wireless laser mouse up to 75%. My engineer’s reaction was to discount this as something written at 1 Infinite Loop, the gold standard for BS.

Here it is, greatly enlarged:

That’s pretty detailed, naming names.

3M rarely lies, in my many years experience with many of its products. Follow their instructions and the product delivers what is promised. But as I share St. Thomas’s most laudable characteristic, his engineer’s side, meaning one of extreme skepticism, I cannot let that go unchallenged. As the Logitech MX900 reliably starts blinking its battery light after 5 days resting on the old mouse pad, it will be simple to prove. So revisit here in a few days and all will be revealed.

Meanwhile, even if the battery bit is untrue, get yourself one of these and, like me, stop complaining. At least for now.

Update after much use: The battery life claim is pure BS. But it’s still a great mousepad.

Lightroom with Shutterfly

Lightroom

Calendars on the fly.

There are few better ways of sharing your pictures than with a calendar. You can be sure the recipient will display each of your twelve snaps for a month, which is a lot more attention than they command on your website or blog!

Further, forget the tired system that has the year beginning in January – your calendar can start any month you want.

Don McKee has an excellent and free Lightroom export plugin for Lightroom available here – I have tested it with the current LR v. 3.4.1 with Mac OS 10.6.8 and can confirm it works fine. (Update October 2012 – works fine with LR 4.2 and OS Mountain Lion 10.8.2, but you have to re-download and install it into LR after upgrading from LR3 to LR4). Don says it works with Windows and he has tested it back as far as Lightroom 2.1.

The quickest way to assemble your calendar is to go into Library view in Lightroom v2 or v3 (hit G to go to Library Grid view), click a picture you want to add and hit B, which places it in a Quick Collection. Then, when you have your 13 pictures selected (12 + 1 for the cover), go to Catalog->Quick Collection in LR and:

  • Select all the pictures – Command-A
  • Hit Command-Shift-E to bring up the Export dialog.
  • Select Shutterfly at the top of the Export pane and fill in your account details.

I like to export JPGs sized 1600 x 1600 so as not to run into quality issues. 800 x 800 restricts prints to 5″ x 7″ whereas 1600 x 1600 takes you to 20″ x 30″.

The LR3 Shutterfly Export dialog. Note the Post-Processing action at the bottom.

When the export is complete you will be automatically transferred to your Shutterfly page if you followed the above settings.

The Shutterfly page with the pictures exported from LR3.

Thereafter you can arrange these as you see fit. If the quality of an image is deemed poor, you will be warned, and will probably want to export a higher quality version. Another reason to export larger size images than you think you need.

The Calendar function in Shutterfly is superb and there are many formats to choose from. I like the simple Photo Gallery, one photo per page.

Assembly and ordering took me all of 15 minutes for a truly professional looking result. This one runs from August to July. If you choose, Shutterfly will mail these to your recipient of choice. I had to pays sales tax on one sent to Massachusetts, but none on one mailed to California.

The completed calendar – two for $57, shipped.

Order to shipping was under 24 hours for the three calendars ordered. Impressive.

Dogpatch and Pier 70

Architecture, Dining

An amazing area.

Whole acres of classic warehouses and administrative buildings have been left to rot. The windows are smashed, barbed wire fences erected to prevent access. Signs warn of danger and forbid trespassing.

This is the area in east San Francisco on the bay known as Dogpatch and Pier 70.

Home to some of the oldest buildings in the city, many having survived the 1906 earthquake and fire, Dogpatch is not what you would call pretty. Gritty and exhausted is more like it. But that in no way lessens the picture opportunities. I spoke with one of the guards and he told me that most of the warehouses date from the turn of the previous century, that the roads used to be made of beautiful cobbles, now asphalted over, and that a light rail line led right into the industrial center of Pier 70.

It’s sad to see all the wonderful potential of these buildings wasted. A less corrupt city would develop these into mixed use housing though the issuance of tax free bonds and enjoy the bounty of property and sales taxes which would ensue. But don’t hold your breath. This is California, after all.

When I first processed these as pretty much straight-out-of-the-camera renditions, I tried them on a friend who advised “This series would suit a more grunge type effect” so I went back, added some contrast, vignetting, vibrance and grain in LR3 and have to agree that the results are far more dramatic and effective.

All snapped on the Panny G1 with the kit lens, ISO 320.

If you find yourself in the area, check out the Hard Knox Cafe on 3rd Avenue – and order their excellent shrimp gumbo with the Hard Knox draft ale.

Snapped on an iPhone 3G.

The interior of this unpretentious place has walls lined with rusted corrugated iron, which perfectly fits the feel of the Dogpatch. They even have half-decent, free, broadband.

Two years with the Panasonic G1

Micro Four-Thirds, Photographs

Twenty-four blissful months.

As a street snapper I am convinced that someone on Panny’s design team for the G1 shares my avocation. It’s been two years now since I bought mine and the file counter now says 13,566, so I have been averaging over 500 snaps monthly with this little wonder and have never been happier.

Lock-ups? None. Breakdowns? None. Bad exposures? One or two which were my fault. Backache from carrying the camera? None. Obtrusiveness? None.

To see what I wrote after one year of ownership click here. I haven’t checked but can say with reasonable assurance that 95% of those snaps have been made with the splendid 14-45mm kit lens, the rest shared by the Oly 9-18 and Panny 45-200mm optics.

What would I change? Not much. With less than 1% of my snaps being out of focus (I use auto everything except ISO where I mostly use ISO 320) and maybe some of those in poor lighting being grainier than I would like, faster focus and a better sensor is about all I would ask, both claimed enhancements in the G3 body which I have on order. The latter seems to be forever out of stock but it’s not like I am dying without it. I skipped the G2 as I have no use for the movie mode or touch screen and the sensor was unchanged. Indeed, the only time I use the LCD screen in the G1 is to check battery charge status.

These two happy years have proved to this street snapper that the eye and brain are muscles like any other. Use them often and they become sharper, faster, more acute. The fitness for purpose of Panny’s G1 has done wonders for my vision and reactions, taking me back to those early years with the Leica M3 when I was still a young pup making his way in tired old monochrome.

But results talk and BS walks, so here’s a little bit of fun.

Sitting happily in a coffee shop on 24th Street in San Francisco’s Mission District I set myself the task of snapping the next twenty or so interesting passers by while munching my cream cheese bagel and drinking the fine cup of joe served there.

I liked ten of the twenty – all were well exposed and so on, but these have the most interesting faces. A diversity of cultures, styles and dress which makes this vibrant area so fascinating for the street snapper. My window seat afforded me a wide angle of view, making anticipation easier. It’s amazing how fleeting these moments are.

Enjoy, and here’s to the Panasonic G1, the best street snapper yet. Time stamps are below each snap.

12:04

12:11

12:15

12:19

12:23

12:26

12:29

12:32

12:36

12:45

All with the kit lens at 25mm, 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 320.

Desperation Purchases

Photography

When you like to pay retail.

For all I know, the retail photography hardware business of Keeble and Shuchat (“Shuck-It”) on California Avenue in Palo Alto has been around for ever. I know I have been an occasional visitor for over two decades now, but it’s not because I like to pay full retail and it’s most certainly not because I like paying an additional 10% to be squandered by California’s politicians, in the guise of sales tax.

No. The only time I visit K&S is to make what I call a Desperation Purchase.

You know the sort of thing. It’s Friday evening, you have to dash off some big prints and, bother, but the printer just ran out of yellow ink. Amazon will not deliver until next Wednesday. Or that 18″x24″ paper of which you laid in a good supply from Atlex just seems to have mysteriously run out. And you absolutely must have those prints made by Sunday night.

That means a trip to K&S is called for. Gritting your teeth and grasping your credit card, you set off, assured of two things. One is that you will be totally hosed down on the cost. The other is that there’s a fair chance K&S might actually have what you need. After all, generations of wags have referred to the store – actually stores, as there are two opposite one another – as Kostyou and Suckit or some variation thereon. But when it’s Saturday or Sunday, they are the only game in town. Sure, there’s Adolf Gasser in SF, dead on its feet and seemingly going out of business for a decade now, and Kaufmanns on 25th Street in San Mateo for the develop and print set, but when you want pro choice, Kostyou & Suckit it is.

Two other parts to the ritual of visiting K&S involve visiting their large gallery above the ‘retail’ store (the one across the street is the ‘pro’ store) and checking out their Leica collection.

The visit to the gallery has but one goal, which is to fulfill the forlorn hope that the display of prints in there will have none of the following features:

  • Monochrome
  • Yosemite
  • Big mats signed ‘3/500’ in pencil

Well, it’s been two decades now and I have yet to succeed. Quite why anyone bothers photographing Yosemite any more beats me, and why they do it in monochrome will remain one of the great mysteries of life. Buy an Adams poster, for God’s sake. Kitsch is cheaper that way and he was a better snapper than you. As for the mats – that’s all do do with being an ‘artist’. You couldn’t possibly understand.

The other reason, checking out the Leica collection, never disappoints. K&S has but two things of real value – its buildings on prime real estate which they really should sell to a developer. And its Leica collection in the Processing shop above the retail store which is probably worth even more.

So while my latest trip this last Sunday complied with the routine – tired Yosemite pictures and a goggle at the Leicas – my real goal was to get some air. No, not the hot kind the sales clerks were busy spouting to prospects. People who shop here are either making a Desperation Purchase or are from the wilds of the Amazon and have yet to hear of the other Amazon. I didn’t need any hot air. I needed the compressed variety. Yes, another Mac hardware failure was forcing me to pony up at full retail. You see, one of the great features of the ventilation design of our MacMini – used as a TV server and DVD player – is its ability to suck up every mote of dust in the environment and deposit most of its catch on the laser beam sender in the DVD player. This means DVDs will not play and it happens every 4-6 months.

You have too options.

Open up the Mini, extricate the DVD mechanism and clean it. This is the Looney Option. Your chances of opening the Mini without major damage to it or yourself are slim. And the possibility you might actually reassemble the thing in working order slimmer still. Plus the visits to the nut house after doing this will cost you dearly.

The second is the Genius Option, so named because an Apple Store Genius clued me into it. You get a can of compressed air (no, not Contact Cleaner, guaranteed to destroy your laser sender, which is why Radio Shack would not be a good place to shop), stick the red wand in the spray orifice on the can, ram the wand into the DVD slot and blast around in all directions. Ten seconds later and your Mini is fine again …. for the next six months.

And that is what found me at K&S on a sunny Sunday afternoon, buying a can of compressed air. They had no fewer than four brands to choose from (premium air, regular air, discount air and the one I bought) on the basis that There’s One Born Every Minute and, air being air, I did the mental math and bought the one with the lowest unit cost. Even so, I felt I overpaid.

Enough compressed air for ten MacMini fixes.

And speaking of dusting off, the first thing you have to do when you make your way up the stairs to Processing is to dust off the lone sales clerk you will find there. It’s the same guy you saw 11 years ago when he joined from Adolf Gassers, which had started going out of business back then and is still working at it. You will find him asleep at his 11 year old iMac (the one with the mushroom base and screen-on-a-wand), dreaming of the old days when film was grainy and darkrooms were red. We get to chatting and he regales me with how some jerk at Stanford is teaching a summer photography class and has told all his students they must learn traditional ways and expose 50 rolls of TriX (fifty!) during the week. Must be on sales commission. Unfortunately, the class is massively oversubscribed so K&S has to go to Kodak for more after they run out. Of course Kodak, being a few weeks away from bankruptcy, doesn’t have anyone to answer the phone. We reminisce about the good old days, how these young people all want instant gratification rather than selective depth of field and generally bond while he loses his train of thought a couple of times.

Anyway, as I’m making my way out to get seriously depressed by the execrable black and whites (“All fiber paper, no RC here” I am told) in their gallery, the man shouts to me “Hey! I sold an enlarger yesterday!”. They have seven on display – six ‘new’ ones and a very used and very corroded pre-war Leitz Focomat IIa for which they are asking the silly sum of $700. “No kidding!” “Yup, had it here on display for 10 years. Sold it to some kid at that Stanford class for $160.” The others? They have been on display 10 years too. Look hard and you will see wear marks from all those years of dusting.

Leitz Focomat IIa – 60mm and 95mm lenses for 35mm and 6×6 film.

Well, never let it be said that a visit to K&S is not entertaining, perhaps the most amazing thing being that it’s still there. And it’s a great place for air – hot or compressed.