Back in 2005 when I still lived in China I had the opportunity to meet the Swedish crown Princess Victoria. She came to the Nordic Gallery that I often used as my work place back then. Linn talked to her more than me, I thought her body guards was more fun.
Anyways I was asked to take a group shot – and it really isn’t much to see. I used the SD9 and it was a quick and dirty setup – I wasn’t prepared (no one was) and I more or less asked them to stand as a group and find a spot where they could see my lens with both eyes. :) But it’s a cool memory that comes to life now when preparing for the third trip. Jaij!
Jeff Sickels, the creater of Sigma X3F quicklook plugin has once more shown his skill and released a welcome update. He made this comment a while back:
There’s a new version of the X3F_qlgenerator out that now uses x3f_extract. It handles the DP1 X3F files significantly better than earlier versions (a plus), and keeps the same orientation enhancements from v1.2. Thanks to Carl’s RAW DP2 Pack, I was also able to verify that Quicklook handles the DP2 files rather well (now I just have to get my hands on a DP2). Enjoy.
Back in China I didn’t use WordPress at first but another blog tool named LiveJournal. Now, I couldn’t back then import my old entries into wordpress so I skipped it. Today I was googling my own name (do that sometimes to make sure that noone writes any bad stuff). I found my old LiveJournal, alive!
I logged in and found an Export option and then went inside wordpress and found a nice import dialog. haha. Now everything is here! :D I found some good old photos taken with my SD9/10 that I almost forgot about.. Some really nice ones. :) (like the one to the left)
Yesterday I went to a place not very far from home (about an hour drive) to find pictures with a nice oceanic touch. When you look at these images, remember this: They’re all taken with the SD9, all hand held and all given very little time in lightroom. And no time in photoshop. I can clearly see that there is way to many dirt spots from my 12-24 but I just don’t care right now. Enjoy them as they are! :D
Camera: Sigma SD9 Lenses:Sigma 30mm EX, 12-24 EX and 70-200 EX.
His name is unknown to me. I went to him to see how he, as the last known man making baskets using one local very old method. I thought that maybe I could catch a little something onto my black and white CF card uing my SD9 (I think) and for lens I used my 30mm. There are a few other people cought as well. (Like Mom, dad and Linn.. beware)
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I’m not sure how to describe the extreme detail-richness that the foveon sensor gives, but here are two day to day examples. The eye picture is not only very detailed but also exposure compensated in the RAW converted + 2 step. Thanks to wide dynamic range the photograph is still use full and everything is there! \
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Camera: Sigma SD10, Lens: 24-60EX | Observe! The cropped version is NOT 100% in this web view. There is more!\
In fall of 2003 a group of women meet here in Kunming. The group consisted of chinese and Scandinavian women and a leader from England. They where artists, dancers, writers etc and they worked together with sugar and salt. Two weeks in China and two weeks in Sweden.
Finally the book about all this is done and ready to ship. I where the only outsider in this project I filmed and took photographs of everything they did. Camera used was a Sigma SD9. Main lenses: Sigma 50mm EX and Sigma 15-30EX. The final book now contains about 220 selected photographs from China and Sweden. Accompanied with a text in English and Chinese about the project.
I made the book using Indesign CS, used swedish ecologic paper, Munken, 220g. Cover 300g. Size 26x21cm. Printed here in Kunming/China.\
distances\
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It\’d5s strange how the feel for a distance changes here compared to Sweden. This might be easier for a swed to understand But I’ll give it a try and give you an example. \
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Right now I’m sitting on a bus going home from a town down south of Kunming. Wen Shang is its name. The trip I\’d5m doing is going to take about 6h and I feel that I\’d5m soon in Kunming. This feeling is quite strange. In Sweden going from Malmo ( a town south in Sweden) and Goteborg (a town more north) would take about 4h on a bus, a trip that I, back then would call a long trip. I wouldn’t say; I\’d5m soon in Goteborg, not even when it was half way.\
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I wonder if size in this case matters?! If the size of China somehow changes my mind about distances and that maybe I would go back to normal thinking when returning to Sweden. \
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I remember when I went to Shangri la and after 12 hours in a sleeping bus came home and asking some friends if they been there, and when their answer where no my direct reply where; Why? It\’d5s so close!\
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But I\’d5m happy that my thinking is as it is as long as I am where I am. Reflections?\
\ Camera: Sigma SD9 | Lens: Sigma 12-24EX\ Dpreview entry\
From today. Picture to the right shows the setup. It’s actually two lights but being at the same spot I think it’s ok to call it one light. \
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Pictures taken with my trusty Sigma SD9 and Nikon 50mm 1.4. All pictures taken at F2 in low resolution. Picture directly from Sigma Photopro to Photoshops’ “Contact sheet II” automation. The whole image can be seen at Dpreview Sigma forum\
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On my camera, A sigma SD10/SD9 with a crop factor of x1.7 this lens would become a 50mm f1.4 lens. (30mm has to be multiplied with 1.7. The result is 51mm). Shooting people as I am most of the time this is almost a dream coming true. a 50mm lens is a perfect combination of reach and stability. \
\ Article about Focal Length Multiplier on Dpreview\
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To have longer focal length would mean that you have to be steadier. I might have big feet but I quite often find myself to be a little to shaky for rainy days. And for studio use it’s just perfect! My room is small meaning I don’t have to find my self squeezed to the wall to get the shot I want. (of course I can use one of my wide zoom, but I like primes.. (prime = fix focal lens = not a zoom) And there is something very pleasing almost magical over a prime image.\
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One thing that a lot of people overlook is bokeh. If you look at images from a very cheap lens and then look at images from a very expensive lens chances are that you by looking at the bokeh can see witch one is witch. The out of focus blur, the part of the image that is not in focus, what does it look like? Is it still sharp and blurry? is it smooth as silk, is it strange artifacts showing up around light etc? \
\ Luminous-landscape article about bokeh\
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So what about bokeh on this new lens? Well, to my eyes, it’s VERY nice. The problem for a lens maker is that getting perfect sharpness/perfect lens isn’t the same as getting pleasing bokeh. The hard part is to find an artistic balance between sharpness and blur. Initial images shows that they done a great not to say fantastic in this regard.\
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I’ll be back when I know more about this wet dream of mine. Now I need some breakfast. I have to run thru water and rain to get to my little restaurant that serves my morning rice noodles.
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