Nikon V1 at the Central Jersey Jazz Festival

Took the Nikon V1 to the Central Jersey Jazz Festival. Last year it was the Somerville Jazz Festival, but they've teamed up with New Brunswick now and have beefed up their lineup and marketing. This year's crowd was much bigger, but it was still a really fun, low key event, with everyone sitting in camp chairs on the closed-down street and on the lawn of the country courthouse.

The Nikon V1 was totally in its element–good light, good subjects. I laughed inside at the few that I saw hauling full frame gear–boy their backs must ache LOL. I did shoot some video, which I'm going through now. Here are some stills for now. V1 with the 30-110 zoom.


Donald Harrison


Marcus Strickland


Christian McBride

Nikon 1 V1 @ Somerville Jazz Festival

I'm loving the fast AF of the V1 and the pretty darn good image quality in a small package aspect of it. I'm just not feeling the user experience though. Feels good in hand, but I feel like I'm operating a computer not a camera.

Somerset County Courthouse

Something's missing from this photo. Can you guess?

US

Somerville Jazz Festival 2012

I gotta tell you, I love my little town. As a kid, I used to come and watch theTour of Somerville, the oldest bicycle race in the country. It was fun, but the town seemed to lack something...a spark. That spark was the vibrancy of downtown commerce. A mall had opened up about a mile from downtown - you can see it from one end of town - and it decimated downtown activity as everyone went to the new place. Shop after shop closed down - antique shops and restaurants and supermarkets - and Somerville could have just laid down and died.

Sixteen going on 26

So I live in this small town that's just a slice of America, with a Main Street chockfull of restaurants and small shops. And an honest to goodness record store. On a recent Saturday night, a crowd of teens overflowed onto the sidewalk as a band was thrashing away inside the shop window.

June 2012 Postscript. The record store is gone now. And the space is still empty. There are a number of empty retail spaces downtown - a sign of the times - but the neighborhood is still vibrant.

Tarantino Shoe Repair

Division Street, Somerville NJ

Man Haircut 15. Woman Haircut 20

Division Street, Somerville NJ

Music

Main Street, Somerville NJ

Most importantly, how is the Pentax K-01 with "Foodtography"?

Most folks that take pictures of their food for Facebook use their phones, but real foodies and artists bring a real camera. It's a tough gig with low light levels and rapidly cooling morsels, so a dedicated foodtographer has to be quick and the gear has to be up to the taks.

Under these challenging conditions the Pentax K-01 performs admirably, with good low light performance and in-body image stabilization. The K-01's Auto White Balance performs well also in a variety of lights, and AF is snappy. The shutter is quiet too, so as not to draw attention in the poshest of places. If you get the yellow K-01, however, the quiet shutter isn't going to counteract the sheer yellowiness of it.

I do with that the DA21mm F3.2 was a stop faster though. This shot is 1/15, F3.2, ISO3200. Previously, I would have brought the Panasonic GF2 with the 14mm F2.5 for this shot. The GF2 tops out at ISO800 before noise floods in, so that's 2 stops slower. There's also no image stabilization, so that's another stop or 2. The 14/2.5 is roughly a stop faster, so that's 2+2-1 = 3 stops difference. In other words, the GF2 might not be able to get this shot. The GX1 might shoot ISO1600 clean, so that's one stop back. The 20mm/F1.7 might get another stop back, but we're still talking about 1/8s. So maybe the Panasonics would struggle more.

The Olympus PENs have IS, so that helps, but their typically a step behind the Panasonics in ISO, so they give it back. See, serious foodtography is not child's play!

P.S. - I can't really claim that no animals were harmed in the taking of this photo, can I?

USED

Crazy that these are the first shots of this place. It's walking distance from home and I've always wanted to take pics. I'll probably take hundreds of shots of this place over the next year until I get something I really like.

That's one thing about a new camera - it can often spur a burst of photos. Of cats of course. But also out and about. Like this place and particularly this old school sign. One of these days I just may get a shot worthy of this place.

Somerset County Courthouse

I'm lucky to have such a pretty building within a mile from my house. Even on overcast days it sits like a jewel.

I'm also lucky to have the Pentax DA70 F2.4. It's the kind of lens you build a system around. With this piece of glass I know that every bad shot is my own damned fault, and I work to be worthy of it. If I were really a geek I'd show you 100% crops of the four corners and go on about the lens is sharp all the way to the corners and purple fringing is well controlled throughout the frame. But I'm not that kind of geek. The DA70 looks at me and says, "Test shots, they bore me. Give me something more interesting, something from life, and a I will draw it for you as best I can."

K-01 Note: In daylight with low contrast subjects (white building agains cloudy sky) it's hard to get precise framing. An OVF would certainly be better here. But you think I would have learned to not tilt the camera and give photos enough breathing rooming that I can rotate them in Lightroom without losing precious details. Tilted horizons are a problem with me no matter what camera.

Spring comes to Somerville

A week of unseasonably warm weather coaxed some flowers to bloom early, but the sun has retreated and the mid-spring chill has returned. While wandering around town on this grey day, I thought that I'd capture some color alongside one of the town landmarks, the old county courthouse.

My head feels like this sometimes.

Waiting to cross

The low winter sun takes the edge off the chill. In the background is my Moby Dick, a sign and building that I will hunt down until I get a photo that I am happy with. This gentleman on the bicycle has no clue that he stands between and my enemy.

Winter Shadows

The low winter sun screams through a chill sky and through the branches of a naked tree to warm the brick facade.