Streets of Chinatown NYC (Panasonic LX7 et al.)

Panasonic LX7 with the Pentax K-5 + FA43 thrown in for good measure. I also brought the Pentax Q but the LX7 got the bulk of the workout. The Panny's fast zoom makes it well suited to street work, from a fast and wide 24mm F1.4 to a still fast telephoto 90mm F2.3 that lets me reach across the narrow streets of Chinatown for candid shots:

There are days when you just aren't feeling it.

In the Big Apple for the annual IMS Motorcycle Show. The train burrows under the Hudson River and we come up for air at NY Penn Station, a hive of activity. I mean, this is like the crossroads of the world almost and a great location of street photos. But I'm just not feeling it. Happens sometimes.

I only took three photos all day. Actually, that's a lie. I'm not counting the half dozen Instagram photos that I took on the way in. For some reason I don't think of them as photos. They're more disposable snapshots I guess. Maybe it was the winter weather that discouraged me. More likely was the fact that I wasn't in the city to take photos, so my mindset wasn't there. After all, if I don't have the time to get into 'the zone' then maybe I shouldn't bother.

But on the other hand - it's New freakin' York freakin' City. Some people save up for months and years to visit Gotham. It's such an awesome place. I shouldn't take it for granted, because who knows where life heads; I could find myself many miles away from this city that never sleeps.

At the end of the day, I think that I was lazy and distracted. I shouldn't let that happen again. I should always be on duty just in case life happens right in front of my eyes.

I'll be at Javits on Saturday.

I'll be at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC this Saturday. I'll be at the RoadRUNNER Magazine booth speaking with subscribers. This is a yearly tradition for many motorcyclists in the New York area. Even if the weather outside is frightful, we gather, bump into friends, and ogle the hardware. A story about going to the show was one of my first published pieces.

Hope to see you there!

Takin' the Pentax K-01 to the Streets of NYC

Man I love New York, just the pure unadulterated energy of the place. It just hums with life, with hope, with heartache and with dreams.

Pentax Q takes Manhattan

The Q is almost always with me this days, ready to snap at a moment's notice. When wandering NYC, those moments often come fast and furiously, snap snap snap.

Pensativa

NYC with the Pentax K-01

Olga

Well that's it, more or less, from the American Photo Model Shoot in NYC - www.americanphotomag.com/modelshoot/photo_contest/65/abou....

I've got other shots that I think are good, and I'll be posting them at some point, but likely more randomly instead of the big bunch that I just did. I'll close with this shot of Olga, in between poses. There's something ambiguous, provocative photo that I like. Can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's because it is between poses, a moment not meant to be captured.

Coming up next - Pentax K-01 and Q try their hands at street photography....

Read about the day - whatblogisthis.blogspot.com/2012/11/photographing-models-...

untitled, for now

From the American Photo Model Shoot in NYC - www.americanphotomag.com/modelshoot/photo_contest/65/abou...

Read about the day - whatblogisthis.blogspot.com/2012/11/photographing-models-...

untitled, for now

From the American Photo Model Shoot in NYC - www.americanphotomag.com/modelshoot/photo_contest/65/abou...

Read about the day - whatblogisthis.blogspot.com/2012/11/photographing-models-...

Olga

From the American Photo Model Shoot in NYC - www.americanphotomag.com/modelshoot/photo_contest/65/abou...

Read about the day - whatblogisthis.blogspot.com/2012/11/photographing-models-...

alexandra elizabeth parker

From the American Photo Model Shoot in NYC - www.americanphotomag.com/modelshoot/photo_contest/65/abou...

Read about the day - whatblogisthis.blogspot.com/2012/11/photographing-models-...

Olga

From the American Photographer Model Shoot in NYC, 2012. Read about the day - whatblogisthis.blogspot.com/2012/11/photographing-models-...

Photographing models with the Pentax K-01

Followers of this blog (both of you) might surmise that I went to the American Photo Model Shoot in NYC, courtesy of friend and fellow photographer Stephen Harris. Fellow photog Don Hoffler joined as well, and after a light breakfast, we got to shooting in a cool, spacious former warehouse space in SOHO. Hardwood floors, brick walls, tall ceilings, very 19th century industrial and very cool. American Photo, Sigma, and Unique Photo were all there, along with pro photographers Kevin Ames and Lindsay Adler who spent the day generally being really cordial and helpful, walking the floor, manning the Sigma SD1 station, and giving informative and inspiring speeches. I always enjoy hearing other photogs talk about their process and how they arrive at photos. There's always something to learn.

One of the advantages of sitting in the "cheap" seats at Arthur AsheStadium.

Cheap is a relative term here - $65. But if like us you are sitting on the southwestern rim of the stadium, you can climb the last dozen stairs to the top and see something like this when the sun sets.

Nikon V1 with the 30-100 zoom

World's #1 Ranked Women's Tennis Player Victoria Azarenka @30FPS with the Nikon 1 V1

[Click on animation to view larger (720p)]

Here's another example of what the Nikon 1 V1 is capable of, this time featuring the current #1 women's player Victoria Azarenka. As with Roddick, I could not shoot at 60FPS because Azarenka's serve takes more time than the V1 has buffer (half a second @ 60FPS). Likewise, even at 30FPS I can't capture the full serve, just from post-toss to serve.

If you click on the animation you can see it at 720p. That's not even close to the full resolution - 10MP. And it's an animated GIF, so it's only 256 colors. And it's still big - nearly 3Mb. But you get the idea.

Now take a big step back - approximately 10 years or so - if someone told you that you'd be able to shoot 30FPS at 10MP with a camera about the size of a small superzoom would you have believed them?

I'll be taking the V1 on my next motorcycle trip - Maine. Still trying to think of creative ways to utilize this 30FPS...

Andy Roddick at 30FPS (Nikon 1 v1)

[Click on the animation to see the larger version. It's totally worth it.]

Andy Roddick announced his retirement a couple of days ago. This will be his last US Open. The crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium applauded him several times. He will be missed. You can't blame him - his whole life has been playing tennis up to now. Time to move on I guess. It doesn't hurt to have Brooklyn Decker as your retirement mate.

This short little animated GIF is one of the things that led me to choose the Nikon 1 V1 over a host of other very capable compact system cameras. With the mechanical shutter, the V1 can shoot a respectable 5 frames per second. Switch to the electronic shutter and that jumps to 10 frames per second. Or 30 frames per second. Or an eye-watering 60 frames per second. That's not at some reduced resolution, but rather full 10 megapixel RAW files. I don't know if there's any other mass-produced camera that can do that. And cost less than my motorcycle.

It's not unicorns and rainbows though. As you step up to higher frame rates (10FPS and higher) you lose more and more control. The camera goes into Auto Exposure mode and you can't tweak shutter speed or ISO, and the AF and exposure are set with the first shot in the sequence. In this sequence for example, the settings are 1/125s, f/5.6, ISO640, and I had no part in choosing. I can see this being a limiting factor in the future. But even more challenging, the V1 can only take 30 shots before the buffer fills. So at 10 FPS you can shoot 3 seconds. At 30 FPS you can shoot for 1 second. And at 60 FPS all you have is half a second before the camera must take a breath and process the photos.

This shot was at 30 FPS, so you are seeing 1 second of Andy Roddick's serve. I do wish that the buffer were bigger - say 60 or 90 frames - so that I could capture the entire sequence of the serve. As it is, you just see the last half of the ball toss and by the end he's still hasn't landed. I tried 10 FPS but capturing the impact of ball on racket is a hit or miss affair. Failing that, maybe a step or two between 10 FPS and 30 FPS (i.e., 15 FPS and 24 FPS) would help lengthen the capture time.

Once the buffer is full, it takes a while to clear. But the camera is still kind of operational. You can squeeze a couple of shots off, but in practice it's kind of kludgy because remember you are still in high FPS electronic shutter mode, so even a casual press of the shutter causes the buffer to fill again. So practically speaking, it's hard to photograph the action until the buffer is more or less empty.

This was my first time trying this out and there's a lot to learn. I tried to get some of the returns and volleys recorded as well, but I still need to work on my timing. Remember, at 30 FPS you've got only a second of action to capture, so choosing which second of a volley to shoot is a split second decision. I have numerous sequences where I was too late (after the ball hit) and numerous where I was too early (before the ball hit). Again, having a bigger buffer would help. But seriously, this is still pretty freaking cool.

Sun Setting over the Manhattan Skyline, as seen from Flushing, Queens.

Sun Setting over the Manhattan Skyline, as seen from Flushing, Queens., a photo by john m flores on Flickr.

Taken from the "cheap" ($65!) seats at Arthur Ashe Stadium during the US Open 2012 with the Nikon 1 V1 with 1 Nikkor VR 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6 lens @ 47.5mm, 1/160s, f/5.6, ISO100.

Eric and Logan at the 2012 US Open

Nikon 1 V1 with 10mm f/2.8 @ 1/15s, F2.8, ISO800.

As much as I like the Pentax Q, it would be a struggle to get a shot like this, partly because the AF is not up to the task (I guess I could zone focus) and partly because I don't have this focal length (27mm EQ).

Tiger, take 2 (Nikon v. Panasonic)

Here are two tigers for you investigation. Actually, it's one tiger, photographed twice, to compare two camera systems. My photo above was taken with the Nikon 1 V1 with the 30-110mm zoom @ 110mm (297mm eq), 1/125s, F6.3, ISO640. And here's my wife's photo with the Panasonic GH2 with 100-300mm zoo @ 100mm (200mm eq), 1/640, F5.6, ISO1600.

Ringtail Lemur Stares at His Own Tail

Seriously, if you had a tail like that, wouldn't you stare at it too?

While I spent _most_ of the day shooting the Nikon 1 V1 with the 30-110 zoom, I did play with the Panasonic GH2 paired with the 100-300 zoom. Looking at the pictures now, it's obvious that the Panasonic is doing much better than the Nikon at the zoo. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed in the Nikon as most of the shots weren't particularly sharp. I think that I've isolated the issue - the long end of the 30-110 zoom isn't that great. It's better at the shorter end but at the end of the day it's still a kittish type zoom. The Panasonic Lumix G Vario 100-300/F4.0-5.6 in comparison is a step above and it's working with a larger sensor. And it's twice as expensive. So I shouldn't be surprised.

I am going to give the Nikon 30-110 another chance though. It was after all my first time shooting with it, and I've always said that you need to take 1,000 shots with a lens to become familiar with it. So the test will continue.