Welcome 2017!

As 2017 starts, it's time to set goals for the upcoming year.

2017 Goals

Write at a minimum twice a week - I want to write regularly. What regularly entails is a bit vague at the moment but I'm convince at a minimum that means writing more than twice a week. I would love to ultimately start the planning stages of writing a novel and participate in NaNoWriMo in November 2017.

Read at least a book a month - Reading is knowledge. This is again a minimum goal but one that I hope I easily achieve. I hope to read/listen to a minimum of 12 books this year. I hope to improve my speed of reading in a effort to consume more knowledge and broaden my perspective as much as possible.

Take pictures once a week - Photography has become a main hobby of mine over the year. My pictures have really improved over but I feel like I'm only scratching the surface. I want to recommit to the goal of taking my camera out once a week as I have done most of 2016. With Baby Jack here in a couple days and Lillian enjoying her 3rd year on the planet, I want to capture them as much as possible. My motive here is both selfish because I want to remember these years for the rest of my life but also for my children so they can see what they will not be able to remember.

Not do things out of guilt - I have allowed myself for most of my life to do things out of guilt or a feeling of obligation when maybe it has not been justified. Not only does this lead to resentment later on but it also cheapens the motives of my actions at the time. While a part of me on the inside feels the opposite action is to go down a very selfish path of living one's life, I know there is an in-between here that I can find.

What are your goals for 2017?

Take More Photos

One of the common mantras passed down to people wanting to improve their photography is to just start taking more pictures. While going out and snapping a bunch of photos is not going to instantly improve your photos, there's no way around putting in the work. Like most things in life, practice makes perfect (if there's even such thing as perfection in photography). However, the quality of that practice matters just as much as the frequency of it.  With today's smartphones, specifically the iPhone, not being able to take a stellar photo really cannot be attributed to the quality of the camera or tools available. Take it from Ken Rockwell, that your camera doesn't matter:

Why is it that with over 60 years of improvements in cameras, lens sharpness and film grain, resolution and dynamic range that no one has been able to equal what Ansel Adams did back in the 1940s?

There's also tons of storage available either on your iPhone or micro SD card, so that can't be an excuse either. So whether you're shooting with your iPhone, film or digital SLR, a rangefinder or not, focus on the basic techniques around composition, exposure or depth of field. When I first took an interest in photography, I literally googled depth of field and read the wikipedia article. The next day, I started shooting in aperture priority mode on my Nikon D5100 DSLR and was amazed with how much creativity could be had in freezing a moment in time.

Since that day, I've made a conscious effort to deliberately practice the art of photography every day. The difference between shooting a bunch of pictures and deliberately practicing techniques around photography is what makes a person a better photographer. Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of Psychology at Florida State University, explains it best:

People believe that because expert performance is qualitatively different from a normal performance the expert performer must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from those of normal adults. [...] We agree that expert performance is qualitatively different from normal performance and even that expert performers have characteristics and abilities that are qualitatively different from or at least outside the range of those of normal adults. However, we deny that these differences are immutable, that is, due to innate talent. Only a few exceptions, most notably height, are genetically prescribed. Instead, we argue that the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain.

It's a well known fact that many of the geniuses of our world, went about their work in mass quantity to create a very few memorable things. Picasso painted thousand of pictures; Einstein ran through a thousand ideas; Steven King wrote at least 2,000 words a day; and you can go on and on with examples.

It's no different with photography. So here's my photography project for you and myself:

• Shoot a minimum of 15 pictures a day, 5 days a week. At 75 pictures a week, that's just over 2 rolls of 36 exposure film.
• When it's night and the light is hiding, read up on various techniques so that you can practice them the next week/month.
• Focus on one basic technique at a time. Whether a composition technique (Rule of Thirds), exposure technique (Sunny 16) or capturing bokeh flirting with depth of field, just pick one.
• Think more about the shot. Think before you pull the camera up, while you're freezing the moment, and immediately after you've fired the shutter.

And just remember one of my favorite Ansel Adams quotes below.   

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”

— Ansel Adams

My Beautiful Mistake

In my endeavor to become a better photographer, I've consumed a large amount of material on the basic rules or tips of photography. I've read articles on general photography composition techniques, tips for shooting in black and white; and Lessons from the Masters of Street Photography and many many more. There's a ton of material out there and many of guidelines to follow. All these articles have been phenomenal resources for me to think on and improve my craft. Erik Kim's blog in particular has been inspirational and his post "What I Learned Shooting 100 Rolls of Black and White Tri-X Film Pushed to 1600," is easily one of the main reasons I started shooting black and white film. However, with all the rules and guidance, I began to notice how distracted I was with my eye to the lens, focused more on remembering everything I had read and not on capturing those precious milliseconds. Telling myself that I just needed to commit to the rules and they'd become habit, I kept shooting away, mind scrabbling to remember 1 of those 101 rules to take the perfect shot. Then I shot the picture above.

At just about 4,000 pictures imported into my Lightroom library since I started my journey in earnest at the beginning of this year, I am by no means an authority on the subject of photography. The shot above breaks the number one rule on portrait photography: keep the eyes in focus. When taking the shot, I did not intentionally mean to have her eyes out of focus. It was a mistake. In fact, while taking the shot the only thing on my mind at that moment was capturing the emotion I felt through the lens. I could care less about all of the rules and quickly snapped the shot for fear I'd miss the moment.

After developing the roll, I thought I had a couple really nice shots and the one above was not one of them. I looked at this picture as a thumbnail and was intrigued but I blew it up, all I could see was an out of focus picture. Damn! I thought, so close but a throw away shot. I one starred it and moved on.

For the next month, every time I opened Lightroom I was continually drawn back to it. What was it about this out of focus, grainy, black and white picture that kept grabbing my eye? Sure, it's my daughter, but she's one of, if not, my favorite subject so it couldn't be just that. Why did I think there was more there beyond the blurriness of the picture? Why did I start to feel like the blur belonged?

Then it hit me. I love this picture because although it broke a 'rule' of photography, it perfectly captured the emotion of my daughter deep in thought about something. The vertical lines of the bookshelf and molding of the window provide a subtle frame for her. Her face and right eye are almost dead center with the shadows providing a vignetting effect to the shot. The blur is perfect here because it acts as the subtle fog of thought. That blurriness that comes with visualizing something in your mind's eye compared to seeing it with your physical eyes. While the missed focus was a mistake, it was a beautiful mistake because it added to the emotion of the shot and what my daughter was doing in the frozen milliseconds. 

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist. ”

— Pablo Picasso

Less Can Be More: My Leap Into Film Photography

Like the best hobbies, photography is something that the more you learn, the more you discover there is to learn. Over the past year, I've rented a whole variety of digital cameras and even written a couple reviews on them (FujiFilm X-Pro2 & Sony A7r II reviews). During this time, I've developed a night time ritual, armed with my 9.7 inch iPad Pro, of scouring the internet for articles on how I can improve my photography.

While on this search, I found a couple articles that really spoke to me as arguments for shooting film, specifically black and white film. Erik Kim's 2015 article on what he learned shooting 100 rolls of black and white Kodak Tri-X 400 pushed to 1600 and a 2014 education article from Fstoppers by David Geffin on Why It’s Still Important to Shoot In Black And White are two excellent articles if you still need convincing.

The gear addiction was back, I knew I wanted to buy the FujiFilm X-Pro2 for my digital camera but now all of a sudden, I was more excited about learning about film cameras. So I called my father-in-law, who I knew had an old Minolta SRT-201 with a few lens. He was happy to let me borrow it and was cool with me taking it to the local camera store the next day to get cleaned up. Of course, the night before that next day, I read up on the best vintage film cameras to own and stubbled upon Ken Rockwell's post on the Leica M3.

The LEICA M3 is the best camera that LEICA has ever made, and by many accounts, the best camera of all time.

Great, just great. I head to the camera store and after 30 mins of telling myself not to do it, I finally casually ask, "You guys wouldn't have an M3 laying around here in good condition for sale would you?" A little bit poorer, I walk out with a double stroke M3 and 50mm Summicron f2.0 lens both in phenomenal condition.

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Work & Play. Castell de Sant Mori, Girona, Catalonia - Leica M3 Kodak Tri-X 400

And this is when the fun started...I never knew how good or subsequently bad I had it with a digital camera in your hands. With a fully mechanical Leica M3 rangefinder, you literally have 1 dial on your body to change your shutter speed and one on your lens to change your aperture. The speed of the film is the speed of the film. Light meter, what the hell is that. Oh so that's why those professional photographers put those thingys with a big white globe near peoples' faces. I had never even contemplated exposure until I shot with film. The only time I pulled the ISO off auto was to shoot night time astrophotography shots. Aperture, oh that's just the thing I change depending on how much bokeh I want in the shot. I was a complete idiot, noob, normal when it came to shooting truly manual. Oh and then there's the difficulty of focusing with an imposed upon shallow depth of view due to slow film, low indoor lighting, and manually focusing through a viewfinder patch built in 1960. All of a sudden the hamster upstairs is moving.

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Beach Town. The Sant Martí Empúries L'Escala, Catalonia - Lecia M3 Kodak Tri-X 400, Orange Filter

So the obvious questions are: Why do this to yourself? How can any film camera be the best camera of all time?! What benefits can there be to film over a digital with all the film filters there are today?

If I learned anything from my leap into film photography it's the realization of how powerful, versatile and option heavy digital cameras are today. It's like driving a Lamborghini Veyron in first gear 15 mph down your neighborhood street to pick up some milk from the grocery store less than a mile away and coming home.  Like most advances in technology, the advances in cameras were added to make things easier for the operator or user. With the advances in ease of use, came the reliance on the technology and further removal from the understanding of what the underlying technology is doing. Why do I need to know about exposure if the camera's algorithm will do it for me? Owner's manual; people still read those?

Don't get me wrong, technology in photography has made film extremely more accessible, just see any person with a camera phone these days. It's also added a ton more flexibility: you can take more shots, adjust how the system of light metering, not worry about speed of film, add in software film simulations, give you an EVF that can show you the black and white photo before you click the shutter, and on, and on.

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Mother Daughter. Raleigh, NC - Nikon FM2 - Kodak Tri-X 400

The next statement has been said in any article advocating shooting film and it's the truth:

Film makes you slow down.

You have less of everything with film photography and the well known secret is that it can be more. You have to think about the lightning of your shot to get your exposure right. Am I going to be shooting in low light or bright sun light? What size of grain, if any, do I want in my pictures? All of this determines the right film you load and now commit to for 24 to 36 exposures. You definitely think about composition more before you take the shot as each one you take cannot be so easily deleted off your camera. You have to wait to see your images. Sometimes awhile if you send off your pictures to a lab. Now you aren't checking every picture to see whether it was framed perfectly and instead are in the moment of taking the shot. Another benefit of the wait is that you separate yourself from the emotion of the shot when reviewing it so that you can have a more objective critique and be able to "kill more of your babies."

The main benefit to all the slowness is that you think more about your photography. You think before you go somewhere you'll be shooting, you think while you're there before raising your camera to your eye, you notice the light more, and you try to imagine in your mind's eye a picture before you snap one of your 24/36 rectangles on your negatives.

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Streets of Girona. Girona, Catalonia - Leica M3 Afga APX 400

I'm not giving away my new FujiFilm X-Pro2 anytime soon. In fact, I think I shoot better with it now that I'm shooting film as well. If you're not ready to make the leap into film quite yet but want to try getting a similar experience with your digital camera then I highly recommend doing this photography project from Rob Rhyne.

What to Watch Next on NetFlix? Here's a list of 33 Documentaries.

BuzzFeed put together a list of 33 Mind-blowing Documentaries after asking its members what were the best ones they found on Netflix. Check the list out here.

I'm especially interested in seeing #1 The Propoganda Game and #9 Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret. Check them out!

Sony A7R II Review

In my pursuit of finding my next camera, I turned to the Sony A7R II ($3,198 on Amazon). I have to admit that the main reason I went to the Sony A7R II next was to compare its full frame sensor to the Fujifilm X-Pro2's crop-sensor I had just rented. I loved the Fujifilm X-Pro2 as you can read about in my review here. But I figured that maybe the reason I loved it so much was because I hadn't experienced any other mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. So, I began my search on the internets for any promo codes for rental sites, and ultimately found myself on LensRentals.com. LensRentals packed the body and lenses in a nice bag that I could easily carry the whole camera system around in. Although it was not pelican cases, I liked that there were separate individual cases specifically for the lenses.

Initial Thoughts

I could not get over how compact the body of the A7R II was when I pulled it out of the bag. Unfortunately, that excitement was short lived. As soon as I attached the 35mm f1.4 Zeiss lens ($1,498 on Amazon) to it, the camera became extremely top heavy and I knew immediately it was going to be difficult to take pictures one-handed with this camera. The actual grip on the body is actually laid out nice for your right hand. With the exception of the video button (admittedly, I did not take any video with this camera), the buttons are laid out fairly nicely.

The first thing I noticed when first messing around and taking the first shot was how incredibly fast this camera autofocuses. The first thing I noticed when I got the images on a larger screen was the sharpness and resolution of them. Also, the familiarity of the modes and digital interface approach to changing settings was very similar to my Nikon system, just laid out much better.

Ready Steady - Sony A7R II, 35mm, 1/15s, f/2.8, ISO 3200

So What Sony A7 Camera is for Me?

One of the hardest things for me initially when looking to rent a Sony interchangeable lens camera was answering the question above. Which body was right for my needs? Sony has 3 classes out currently: the A7 II; A7R II; and the A7S II. I had read astrophotography blogs that raved about the low light sensitivity of the previous A7S and couldn't wait to get a hold of the A7S II. I read a million reviews on all 3 of them, each explaining why such class was best for this specific shooting scenario. But wait a second here, these cameras range from the low end of the A7 II at $1,600 to the high end of $3,199 for the A7R II. How are they not great cameras for every shooting situation?

This is when you realize, you've gone way too far down a rabbit hole and you've found yourself surrounded by only the gear-head fanatics of photography. I boiled down each camera to the following:  

• A7S II - has a 12.2 MP sensor, the smallest of the three, but that is modified to have larger individual pixels and coupled with the BIONZ X image processor gives the camera an expansive dynamic range with minimal noise and notable sensitivity from ISO 100-102,400, which is further expandable to ISO 50-409,600. Also, the camera has enhanced video capabilities not found on the A7R II or the A7 II that allows it to shoot professional level video without overheating. Great for low light & video so astrophotographers and videographers.
• A7R II - has the largest sensor at 42.4 MP, ISO range of 100-25,600 and expandable to 50-102,400 with an incredible hybrid autofocus system with 399 phase detect and 25 contrast detect points. The camera has 4k video capabilities but is prone to overheating after 30 mins of continuous shooting. Meant for the professional landscape, sport, portrait, wedding photographer that needs to print still shots.
• A7 II - has a bigger 24.3 MP sensor and more limited ISO range from 100-6,400 and expandable to 25,600. Still has a great hybrid autofocus system with 117 phase detect and 25 contrast detect points. The camera has the same video capabilities as the A7R II. Basically, the lower end alpha series model that is still great for general photography.

I was really tempted to rent the A7S II as I really was hoping to capture a great milky way shot with the summer approaching and the core of the galaxy rising earlier. However, the bottom line came down to being more interested in the camera focused on still images and not video. The A7R II was the one for me.

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Bath time is the best time - Sony A7R II, 35mm, 1/320s, f/2.0, ISO 3200

What I loved about it

I have to say the main things I loved about this camera boil down to image quality and the speed of the autofocusing. But let's go down the line...

Image Quality

While any person getting into photography should learn not to judge a camera by the number of megapixels the sensor has, there's something to be said about the A7R II's 42.4 MP full frame sensor. Mind you, I'm shooting through some great glass in the Sony Zeiss FE Distagon 35mm f/1.4 but the sharpness of the images that come out of this camera is just amazing. Shooting at an image size of 7952 pixels x 5304 pixels is massive and can definitely fill up your hard drive quickly at 41 MB compressed RAW and 81.6 MB uncompressed RAW. The sharpness and creamy smooth bokeh you can achieve with the combo of the A7R II and lens is jaw-dropping.

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Two beautiful Mothers - Sony A7R II, 35mm, 1/1250s, f/1.4, ISO 100

Autofocus

Honestly, it took me a good week of shooting with this camera to get used to the speed of the autofocus. It was so much faster than any other camera I had used in the past that I actually was taking shots a split second before the moment I wanted to capture because I'd been program to anticipate the moment. However, once I adjusted myself to it, I began capturing shots of my daughter and her friends playing that would of passed me by with a slower autofocus camera. While I really missed the Focus stick on the Fujifilm X-Pro2, the Sony does have a way to map the center button of the dial on the back of the camera so that you click it then move your single point of focus around. It's definitely not as intuitive as the Focus stick but still affords you somewhat of the ability to move focus points around fairly quickly.

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CHEESE! - Sony A7R II, 35mm, 1/2500s, f/2.8, ISO 100

Low Light Performance & LCD

I was really excited to take the camera out at night and test the low light performance of the sensor. I knew I opted for the A7R II instead of the A7S II but figured this thing had to still kick butt when pointed at the night's sky. I took it outside of town about an hour away to my little brother's house, setup the tripod and pointed it at where the milky way should be rising. What I saw in the LCD screen was amazing. I literally could see the faint milky way through the LCD screen on the back of the camera before I even took a shot. This ability alone is phenomenal for astrophotography and nightscapes because you can actually frame your faint object before you take the shot. After I took my first shot, I was even more amazed with how much of the milky way showed up in just a 15 second exposure. Finally, I knew that it was really possible to take one of those milky way shots you see online without even using a tracking mount. Needless to say, I was super impressed with the low light performance of the A7R II and cannot really imagine how much better these shots could look through the A7S II.

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Why should I feel lonely? - Sony A7R II, 28mm, 15s, f/2.0, ISO 3200

The Small Details

• The software on both the camera and on the iOS app is surprisingly good. It was very easy for me to sync my iPhone up to the camera's wifi and download all the images I took that day in one click of a checkbox. You can also download software from the Sony PlayMemories Camera Apps store to do things such as time lapse, angle shift, or even stitched together a motion shot. It's not the most intuitive app store I've been too but it's cool that they offer such capability. 
• The tilt screen LCD. Thank you Sony for saving my back and neck with making the LCD come out and tilt.
• The battery life. LensRentals sent two batteries standard with the A7R II rental, which I took to mean that I'd need the two batteries. Turns out, I never ran out of batteries while shooting with this camera.

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Great Stevo - Sony A7R II, 35mm, 1/200s, f/2.0, ISO 3200

What I did not love about it

With high end cameras like the Sony A7R II, you really have to be picky to find faults but there are definitely some here. Arguably, some of these things are personal preferences and are generally made in comparison to the Fujifilm X-Pro2 as this was the camera I had rented right before it. Either way, here's me registering my complaints.

• The biggest complaint I have with this camera is the bulkiness of the camera when you add a great lens like the Sony Zeiss FE Distagon 35mm f/1.4 I was shooting with most of the time. Literally, I was worried the whole time shooting that the camera was going to topple forward over my hands and on to the ground if I didn't keep a death grip around it and the lens. The whole system is extremely top heavy with such a lens attached to it.
• The digital interface of everything other than the aperture ring. After shooting with the more retro feel of the Fujifilm X-Pro2 with knobs and manual dials everywhere, I missed them when shooting with the A7R II. I found myself stepping back away from the viewfinder to make sure the settings I want were right. Part of this is because I find it strains my eye to navigate a menu through a viewfinder.
• As much as I praised the speed of the autofocus (and it's incredibly fast), this camera desperately lacks similar technology of the Focus Stick found on the X-Pro2. You should be able to move the point of focus around with ease without removing my eye from the viewfinder.
• Limited lens selection for the FE mount that covers the entire sensor. I'm sure this will be alleviated as time goes on but currently the variety of lenses available is fairly limited.  
• The price of this bad boy. At $3,199 for the body and another $1,498 for the lens for a total of $4,697, this camera definitely comes with the Sony price tag. That being said, for a professional photographers camera with the craftsmanship that made it, I can understand why it costs what it does. Just saying for even the more adventuresome amateur photographer, it is too costly.

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Fisherman on a dock - Sony A7R II, 35mm, 1/250s, f/11, ISO 320

Final thoughts

Bottom line: the Sony A7R II is on the cutting edge of mirrorless sensor technology and paired with a sharp lens, like the Sony Zeiss FE Distagon 35mm f/1.4, it'll capture some of your best images to date. However, it comes with the caveat that you'll never really forget that the camera is there. Whether it's the ergonomics with the weight of the lens or the need to use a digital interface for any change not pre-set/assigned to a button, you'll find it sometimes can get in the way of the moment. Though with its incredibly fast autofocus system, you'll also discover the ability to take shots you just missed with other cameras. At the end of the day, I would still recommend this camera for its pure hardware specifications so long as cost is not a concern.

What I'd Love to See at WWDC or Later.

This is definitely more of a wish list than a prediction. As much as I love discussing rumors like the next person, I can honestly just wait until the Keynote to find out the deets. And honestly, none of us know the demands of getting things through Apple's pipeline, whether it be supply chain issues, demand (even if we think since we want it everyone really wants it), or strategic positioning for the future. So without further adieu, here's my list of what I'd love to see at WWDC 2016 or even later, let's say a year into the future.

• 4k or 5k external display with similar technology that the iPad Pro display has.
• An upgrade to the rMBP with a much more powerful GPU card and the option of the same keyboard that the MacBook has now.
• A new iPhone even if it just has a better camera on it. I think I use my iPhone the most out of any Apple product and even when I was in the middle of nowhere Canada without cell reception, I still used it as my goto camera for quick snaps.
• An Apple Watch with better battery life and much more extensive healthcare features such as sleep tracking, blood pressure monitoring, improving the health monitoring for catestrophic events such as a heart attack or stroke, etc.
• A new interface to Apple Music, specifically making finding & sharing playlists easier (it's currently like a 3 or 4 step process to get to a playlist and more times then not the playlist is not there when I come back to the app the next day). Would also love to see the predictive suggestions of music algorithm improve.
• Redesign of the Activity App with extended features and similar social aspects as other fitness tracking apps.
• More ResearchKit and CareKit. I really think even if I don't utilize these as much as others that health and education will greatly benefit from such kits and thus society in general will benefit.
• A TV service similar to Netflix with English Premier League & Champions League coverage so that I can cut the cord finally :-).
• A revolutionary product announcement such as Apple working on an electric car. I know this is most likely folly since they typically do not announce products, they present them but still. I'm not even sure it is considered a rumor or secret with Elon Musk stating they are working on it in his 2016 Code Conference interview.

Review: Requiem for the American Dream

I winded down my Wednesday night, like I do most nights, browsing Netflix and HBO GO looking for something interesting to watch. I stumbled upon Requiem for the American Dream, a film by Peter Hutchison, Kelly Nyks and Jared P. Scott featuring Noam Chomsky, a renowned professor of linguistics at MIT. His name might sound familiar to you from his work in linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science or from one of the hundreds of books he's written on America's involvement in war, mass media, or politics in general.

The movie is more of a lecture, but think - one of those phenomenally memorable lectures from university and not the stereotypical boring old guy droning on lectures. The main topic that Chomsky discusses is the impact the concentration of wealth and power has had on American politics. With his eloquent delivery, Chomsky takes you through a history lesson from the very beginnings of democracy and the fundamental issue confronting the "masters of the society" when setting up a democracy, specifically how to keep the poor from taking all the property from the wealthy. From Aristotle to Adam Smith to James Madison, he discusses how the same issue has continually surfaced and ultimately dealt with.  He then takes you through American history since the turn of the century and focuses on 10 maxims that have been pushed by those seeking to concentrate wealth and power.

While the lecture is clearly a perspective from the left, it does seem to hit common ground on both sides of the political spectrum today. From Trump supporters that want him to "Make America Great Again" to Bernie supporters that feel the American Dream is no longer accessible to the poor, there's plenty of intellectual meat there for both groups. One of the real memorable points for me that Chomsky made was around the common anti-American slur thrown out in our society to anyone who challenges or questions seemingly indoctrinated American ideals and how such behavior is more reminiscent of a totalitarian society then a free democratic society. He compares this situation to if someone in Italy was called anti-Italian for expressing their distaste for Berlusconi's policies that the result would be everyone in Rome laughing. Food for thought for sure.

Overall, I found it to be a really thought inspiring perspective on American society. I think Chomsky really sees this as a call for that society to be aware of such concentration of wealth and power and ultimately for the individuals of that society (those being people not corporations) to seek to self-govern once again. It's definitely worth a little over an hour of your weekday night. 

If you want to catch it, you can see it on Netflix here, iTunes here and Vimeo here. 

FujiFilm X-Pro2 Review

I'm lucky to have gotten the photography bug right before the Fujifilm X-Pro2 ($1,600 on Amazon) was released. The camera industry has just undergone a drastic change in the past couple years and is at the point where you can rent a body and lens for a month at 1/5th the price it costs to buy them. I explained my reasons for renting before buying in a previous article. My first rental was Fujifilm's x100t but it was really with the first mirrorless interchangeable lens rental away from my intro Nikon system that I fell in love. I rented the X-Pro2 from LensProtogo, which was awesome because the body and lens came in Pelican cases that were great for carrying around the gear.

Initial Thoughts

When I first held the X-Pro2, I was amazed with how good it felt in your hands. I couldn't believe how compact it was for an interchangeable lens body yet despite its size how substantial it felt. If the camera wasn't so ergonomically sound, you'd be of a mind to say that it was heavy in your hands. But with the way the grip is laid out, it fit perfectly in my hands. Add to the fact that Fujifilm's lens are generally more compact than the industry average and you get a perfectly balanced camera. There's no hand straining because you feel like you're combating the force of gravity on the lens and are two seconds and one relaxation of your grip away from dropping it on the floor.

The other major thing that stood out to me was the classical mechanical, dare you say, retro feel of the camera. Almost every setting on this camera is a fingertip away from changing it, whether it's the focus point, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, viewfinder to LCD, etc. This was a major departure from my Nikon system that is controlled almost exclusively through a LCD menu.

The Specs

The X-Pro2 incorporated Fujifilm's latest 24.3MP X-Trans CMOS III APS-C sensor, an evolution on the former 16 MP X-Trans CMOS sensor incorporated in the X-Pro1 and the 16 MP X-Trans CMOS II sensor incorporated in the X-T1, making it Fuji's highest pixel count camera out to date. The biggest upgrade though has to be around the autofocus points, with the X-Pro2 having a combined 273 directly selectable points compared to the 77 of the X-T1 and 49 of the X-Pro1. It also comes with a very nice focus point joystick that I will discuss in more detail further down (here's a hint, it's amazing).

The X-Pro2 has two SD card slots, weighs in a little over 1 lb at 495g, and has a battery life rated at 350 shots using the optical viewfinder and 250 with the EVF. It has a slightly faster maximum shutter speed of 1/8000s versus the X-Pro1/X-T1 max shutter speed of 1/4000s. The native ISO is bumped to a range of 200-12800 (100-51200 in expanded mode) versus just 200-6400 of the X-Pro1/X-T1.

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Papi and the Gnome - Fujifilm X-Pro2, 35mm, 1/1100s, f1.6, ISO 200

What I loved about it

The reason I loved this camera was just how easy it was to shoot with it. It feels like an extension of your body after just the first few hours of shooting.

The Viewfinder (Specifically the EVF)

I love the placement of the viewfinder on the side, as it reminds me of old disposal cameras I used as a kid on trips. With the x100T, I used the optical viewfinder because I felt like the EVF was laggy when you panned the camera. On the X-Pro2, the EVF is a revelation. It updates so fast and literally shows you the picture you are taking before it's shot. Whether you want to make sure you're getting that creamy bokeh, or peak focus while manually focusing at night, or want to see how the shot looks while using Acros Film Simulation, it can all be done live while looking through the EVF. The EVF is truly one of the best things about this camera.

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Afternoon Elegance - Fujifilm X-Pro2, 35mm, 1/420s, f1.6, ISO 200

Acros Film Simulation

As you can tell with the black and white photos in this thread, I was a huge fan of the Acros film simulation that comes built into the camera. Paired with the EVF, you can literally watch your world through a beautiful black and white lens. Being able to actually see the camera handle the live B&W image on the EVF means I took better B&W shots. Being able to see the light in the picture above come through the screen door and illuminate only a part of my wife's face and body lead to an amazing shadow effect on the left side of the image. The best part is that I saw all of this through the EVF before taking the shot. So cool. There's a bunch of Acros film settings built in that I tinkered with and you're able to apply them while your taking the shot or even after as a filter. To read up a bit more on Acros check out this review.

Mr. Willis - Fujifilm X-Pro2, 35mm, 1/125s, f2.5, ISO 1000

Focus Stick

The other real game changer for me on the X-Pro2 is the focus stick. I literally now reach for it instinctively while shooting with other cameras since, it's that infectious once you've shot with it. The ability to easily move the focus point around on the frame to capture the exact spot you want to focus in on is amazing. It's right at your thumb's reach so you never have to take your eye off the viewfinder. I used it in the image above to focus right on my dog Willis' eyes so they were perfectly in focus while even his nose and ears are slightly out of focus. The focus stick allows you versatility to stay in the moment and catch different shots without having to pull the camera away from your eye. In the end, it helps you capture more moments the way you want and reduces the amount of times you experience that feeling of having a great moment get away from you because you were fiddling with your camera settings.

Orion & the Zodiacal Light - Fujifilm X-Pro2, 18mm, 13s, f2.0, ISO 1600

Low Light Performance & Manual Focusing

One of my major interests in photography is astrophotography and nightscape shots. I was slightly nervous the first time I took the X-Pro2 out to Staunton River State Park because I knew how troublesome it can be to manually focus a lens to infinity on my Nikon system. The X-Pro2 completely blew me away with how easy it made getting pin-point stars in focus, even while focusing at an incredibly dark site. When in manual focus, it magnifies a portion of the frame and then has 3 rectangle strips across that align to the same shade of color when in focus. You also have a very precise electronic manual focus ring and gauge on the EVF. All of these things make what can be a very difficult thing to do in the middle of the night much easier.

I honestly was really impressed as well with the sensor sensitivity in low light situations. The picture above captures the constellation Orion and the rarely seen, Zodiacal light. If you don't have an astronomy geek of uncle like I do then then you might not know about the Zodiacal light (I didn't until he told me we might be able to capture it) - read more about the Zodiacal light here. I took a couple pictures of the winter milky way that came out great as well. This is by far the best performing low light crop sensor I've shot with. It won't compete with the full frame Sony sensors of the A7 series but it's really not that far behind.

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Countryside Shack - Fujifilm X-Pro2, 35mm, 1/280s, f4.0, ISO 200

What I did not love about it

You have to be really picky here to pick things wrong with this camera but of course you can always find things that can be improved. Some of these are just complaints that I have because of the challenging environment you find yourself in while doing astrophotography. So here goes. 

• The most obvious complaint is the battery life. If you are just picking it up, shooting here and there around the house the battery life is just fine. On a night when I'm shooting constantly through the EVF, manually focusing and taking long exposures the battery lasted a good 2 1/2 hours. Not bad but you need a battery grip or an extra battery for sure. I can imagine you might run into similar troubles if you took the camera out for a full day of street photography.
• Speed of the Auto Focus: It was a major improvement from the x100T but compared to shooting with the Sony Ar7 II, Fuji definitely can still improve it. I'm honestly being nit picky here as I only noticed it a few times not focusing fast enough to catch my moving toddler and generally in lower light situations.
• The ISO dial: this is probably the most common complaint about this camera. To adjust ISO on the camera, you have to lift the shutter speed dial up and turn it at the same time. It can be finicky and difficult at times but honestly, I keep my ISO set on A (automatic) and just adjust the min and max auto ISO in the menu settings. You can actually set at least 3 of these auto ISO settings and assign a button on the back of the camera to jump between them easily. The only real time I adjust ISO regularly is when I'm shooting the night sky and then it's really only a range of 4 to 5 ISO settings.
• A tilt LCD screen so that I can use it when shooting nightscapes and astrophotography. Crouching down to put my left eye to the viewfinder on a tripod is heavy work on the knees and back on a long night of shooting. Even worse, having one of your eye's night vision completely gone while the other is completely adjusted is an experience in its own. I know the X-T1 has a tilt LCD screen so I'm sure Fujifilm intentionally does this to differentiate the two, as the X-T1 and future X-T2 is geared toward videographers that use the LCD more.
• The App used to sync with the wifi and download pictures. It's not so much that the app is poorly designed (though it is) but that you can't just bulk download the pictures you took from the day and have to download them one by one.

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Pure Joy - Fujifilm X-Pro2, 35mm, 1/8000s, f1.4, ISO 12800

Final thoughts

Bottom line: I took more shots with this camera then any camera I've rented, owned, or used previously. The X-Pro2 is a joy to have in your hands and a tool that you look forward to using again and again. For its price, $1,600 USD for the body, you cannot even begin to compete with the quality of images it shoots. Can you find a camera with better specs, absolutely you can. The thing that makes this camera so great is how you experience shooting through it. The ergonomics are a tremendous advantage of this camera along with the ease of use to adjust just about every setting on the fly. Like I said previously, the EVF is a revelation and the focus stick revolutionary. These combine to make a camera that will change the way you experience photography. The camera practically disappears and allows you to immerse yourself in capturing the perfect moment in time. I'd highly recommend this camera and will most likely buy it in my near future.

Civilization 6: How Much Has Changed Since Civ 5?

Mike Mahardy of Gamespot interviewing Ed Beach lead designer of Civ 6:

By and large, Civ VI is a much more active game than any of its predecessors. That is, you won’t spend most of your turns just waiting for projects to complete—you’ll actively build your city districts, complete civic side quests, and plan a military strategy for cutting off key industrial points in your enemy’s territory. You’ll encounter choice after choice, dilemma after tense dilemma, in your effort to explore, expand, and improve your own empire.

I can't wait for the latest release in the Civilization series to come out. I have many memories of my Dad up at 3 AM still hacking away on the original Civ I trying to take over the world. I really enjoyed Civ 5 once they put out the Gods & Kings expansion as I think it really balanced out some of the Civs and made for a more enriching game. If you've played from the original series though, you know the strategy is always finding out what pattern gives you the best results from build order, to city production, to the tech tree, etc. I really think some of these changes they are talking about incorporating into Civ 6 will make an already addicting game better. I'm especially excited to hear about the implementation of city districts.

It's not just a question of when to build a campus in your city, but more importantly: where. The scientists in this district receive bonuses from nearby mountains, all the better to study constellations and weather patterns from. So although that tile nestled in the mountain range may look like a prime spot to dig a mine and increase building production, its long term scientific potential far outweighs anything else. Civilization VI necessitates foresight in your geographical considerations. 

"What seems like a good choice at the moment, what seems like might be the best place for your next building, might not be the best place in the long run," Beach says. "Once you start to learn the game, you know how different districts will affect things down the road. It's about weighing your options as you learn more in the process."

This will definitely lead to ton of variety in each game and only increase replayability. I can only hope they don't need 6 months to a year for an expansion to come out to get things right as they've needed for Civ 4 and Civ 5. Fingers crossed, this seems like it could be an awesome release. October 21st cannot come soon enough.

New Crowdfunding Rules Go into Force Today: Guess it's Time for Reality Shark Tank

Stacy Cowley writes for the NYTimes

If you’ve always dreamed of being Mr. Wonderful from “Shark Tank,” now is your chance.

Starting Monday, new rules will permit anyone, not just the moneyed, to risk $2,000 a year or more investing in small companies in exchange for a stake in the business. Companies can raise up to $1 million a year this way.

This change, years in the making, represents an enormous shift, one that essentially permits anyone to become a venture capitalist — with all the attendant risks of losing one’s shirt on a company that fails. Until now, only accredited investors, meaning those with an annual income of at least $200,000 or a net worth of at least $1 million, have been permitted to take equity stakes in most private companies. The wealthy “sharks” of the ABC reality television series got to risk their money, while the rest of us watched the action from the couch.

It is also an opportunity for start-ups and other small businesses, which can raise money with fairly few regulatory burdens. For instance, small companies seeking less than $500,000 and most first-time issuers will not need to provide audited financial statements, just unaudited ones.

So today is the day. The change could really help remove the regulatory hurdles of some small businesses that have been trying to get fresh funding from friends and family that aren't in the top 5% income earners. My fear though is in perpetuating the notion that venture capitalism is some easy/risk free investment reserved for the elite. There's a reason venture firms have money in multiple hundred investments of which the majority fail to ever return a penny of the money invested. My worry is the average Joe or Jane will pick a couple companies they think are wins and put money there before investing in a safer bets like their 401k, diversified mutual funds or index funds.

$2,000 USD doesn't seem like a ton of money at first but over a 30 year career it can be a ton of money. Just see this calculator on bankrate.com here - $2,000 USD invested in the S&P index fund in 1980 would be worth $52,976.08 in 2010. Chew on that next time you go to give your friend money for their latest and greatest idea.

Top 25 Cities Ranked for Readiness to Capitalize on Digital Economy

US Chamber of Commerce report ranking top 25 Cities readiness to capitalize on digital economy.

Innovation That Matters

We are at the dawn of an extraordinary technological revolution and it is transforming every part of the U.S. economy. Innovation That Matters examines and ranks 25 cities’ readiness to capitalize on the inevitable shift to a digital economy.

Pretty cool to see my home city Raleigh/Durham rank #4. The startup scene has definitely improved in downtown Raleigh over the past 3 years with places like HQ Raleigh and the downtown Durham scene has been going strong for awhile now. Check out if your city made the list.

Forbes - Apple Most Valuable Brand but Google #2 and Facebook #5?

To no one's surprise - Apple was named by Forbes as the most valuable brand in their powerful brand list.

The bigger surprise is that Google as a brand is #2 and Facebook #5. It states that the Google brand is worth 82.5 Billion and Facebook 52.6 Billion. Do people really go, oh it's made by Google or done by Facebook, I can trust it, it's quality? I find this list to be a bit off, with Sony languishing in #76 coming in 24 spots below....wait for it...eBay at #52. Strange list. 

Apple Partners with SAP and Inevitably Weighs in on the Enterprise Market

At the end of last week, Apple announced a new partnership with SAP to revolutionize work on iPhone and iPad. After their somewhat unexpected partnership with IBM and the success of the MobileFirst apps this partnership almost seems par for the course. In fact, according to reports, IBM welcomed the partnership as they are close to both companies.

Heather Clancy of Fortune Magazine writes:

IBM isn’t explicitly mentioned as part of the pact disclosed Thursday, but its presence looms large and the company’s global services chief Bridget van Kralingen is almost gleeful about the potential for getting in on the action.

After all, IBM is tight with both companies. SAP is one of its closest allies for cloud services, and the two renewed their vows in early April. The two years since IBM and Apple teamed up to co-create a series of business mobile apps have also been fruitful: as of December, there were more than 100 of them in the ever-expanding catalog across a broad range of industries. Not coincidentally, van Kralingen was intimately involved negotiating the prenuptial details of both deals, if you will, in her role as senior vice president of IBM Global Services.

“You’ve got this confluence of skills—interactive experience and design, combined with strong analytics, all within the context of a specific industry,” she told Fortune.

Now that Apple has teamed up with SAP too, IBM’s consulting teams can work on an even broader range of mobile apps that link more closely to SAP’s widely used array of back-office systems, van Kralingen said.

Apple moving into the enterprise market has been inevitable ever since the rise of Mac sales that came with the introduction of the iPhone. As soon as users enjoyed using Macs, iPhones and iPads at their homes it was only time they would prefer to use them at work. With a pretty clear vision coming out of Apple now that the iPad is the device of the future that will essentially replace the laptop, it makes perfect sense they want to sell them to enterprises. Apple provides the hardware, SAP and IBM the cloud platforms, consultants and business apps.

From the beginning, Apple has seem to be focused on hardware, apart from maybe the Education & Health areas. Apple has referred out most enterprise app consulting. Is partnering with IBM really any different in their minds then referring similar business out to consulting shops? With the IBM partnership they have just lubed the rails for enterprises that have been legacy customers of Big Blue to start buying iOS devices. With SAP's cloud platform receiving the Apple stamp of approval and ensuring the SDK and apps are being built in Swift, Apple is helping SAP in the competitive cloud market and welcoming legacy SAP customers to buy iOS devices. Now add in the fact IBM has a partnership with SAP to consult on their platform and we call that a win/win/win for all three companies involved. 

It was inevitable that Apple would enter the enterprise market in some manner. Previously, it was probably much more a passive effect but paired with two of the largest legacy companies in business software, Apple is now definitely weighing in. 

Rent the Camera Before You Buy the Camera

So I was now full on obsessed with photography. I was trying to figure out how to capture every target and make it into a beautiful shot. After coming to the realization that my living room with no one in it can only look so many ways (none of which I’ve made beautiful, yet), I decided to start reading about photography. Anyone that has gone down this path quickly sees a pattern of two types of articles on photography: Shooting Technique & GEAR Reviews. So let’s get a confession out of the way: I’m a bit of a gearhead. Like any nerd, I love checking out the latest and greatest that technology has on offer.

You quickly realize there’s tons of these articles all telling you with no hesitation why camera X is the best system out there. On top of there being no clear winner, you realize the amount of options there are and variance is incredible: Crop sensor versus Full Frame, Mirrorless, Medium Format, Micro 4/3, and the brands (Nikon - Canon - Fuji - Sony - Pentax - Olympus - Panasonic, etc.). Then there’s this German company, Leica, that everyone raves over but costs you your first born child to own. Then the question in the back of your mind shouts at you - uhh hello, so which camera system should I sink a couple grand into again?

This is where I began the conversation with my brother, Rob Rhyne, expecting him like any older brother to give me a definitive answer. His answer was: You should rent for a while. Like any good younger brother who happens to be an attorney, I argued the point with him. Why spend money renting when I could use that money to buy the camera and own it forever? And I continued explaining why it made perfect sense for me to buy the FujiFilm x100T ($1,299.99 on Amazon). I was looking for a compact camera that I would more likely carry with me and take more pictures with that had aperture, shutter speed and ISO control. This would replace my iPhone as my carry camera, I told him. I’ve read millions of articles and people all agree this is one of the best compact carry cameras on the market. He even agreed it was one of the best on the market. He told me he had just purchased this exact camera a couple months back. Yet, he continued to insist to me that I should rent instead of buy.

OK! I’ll rent this once though I know I’m going to want to buy it, I told myself. I asked him where he rents from and he suggested http://LensRentals.com. I rented the FujiFilm x100T for a month and while I did love shooting with it, I quickly realized it was not going to replace my iPhone. The iPhone is a beautiful camera because of its quality in relation to its convenience. While the x100T definitely takes better pictures than my iPhone, it does not fit in my pocket. I came away from the rental experience, ecstatic that I had not spent 3x the cost of the rental to buy the x100T. I would of had instant buyer’s remorse if I had bought the x100T. Not because it’s a bad camera, quite the opposite in fact, but because it would not of fit the expectations I had of it prior to using it.

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Wildman Davis celebrating his 2nd rotation around the Sun.
FujiFilm x100T, 23mm fixed lens, 1/40s, f2.2, ISO 2000

So why should you spend money renting a camera before buying a camera? You should rent before buying because there’s no way to have your expectations of a camera equal the actual experience of using it until you use it. Reading a review, looking at pictures, seeing other people’s shots just don’t do it justice. If it’s not a compact camera with a fixed lens then even more the reason to rent. A choice of a camera system is not just the body, but ultimately the lenses as you build that system. It can be a significant long term investment. You can get a feel of a car in one test drive but the equivalent on a camera body is probably 2 weeks, at least, shooting with it. You have to get used to the settings, the feel of the camera in your hands, and use it in varying shooting conditions to get a true feel for it.

I’m on my third rental currently - checking out the Sony A7r II ($3,198.99 on Amazon). After renting the FujiFilm x100T and realizing it would not replace my iPhone, I decided to look at DSLR systems again. I loved the feel of the x100T so I decided to rent the FujiFilm X-Pro2 ($1699.99 on Amazon), which had recently been released. I absolutely loved the X-Pro2 but am curious to see if I feel the same way after renting the A7r II. Next on the list is the Leica Q to see if I can really get all I want in a compact. If I feel the same about the X-Pro2 afterwards then I’ll likely try and rent the X-T2 if its been released by then. If not, I’ll buy the X-Pro2 with complete confidence that it is the system for me.

There’s a few other camera rental sites you can check out. See the links here and look for a review of them all in a later post.

• http://LensRentals.com
• http://lensprotogo.com
• http://borrowlenses.com
• http://lumoid.com

Apple Music 2.0

John Gruber on Apple Music and Coherent Product Design and Marketing

 Coherence in product design leads to coherence in product marketing. And vice versa: incoherence in product design leads to incoherence in product marketing.

John's pretty spot on here. I switched to Apple Music from Spotify because of the size of the library selection and ease of setting it up for my wife and father in law with family sharing. I was hopeful that the algorithm of suggesting music through me loving songs would be on par with most Apple products. But instead have the feeling like Apple Music has been all a bit like throwing paint on the wall and calling it art. Apple Music has been trying to do and be everything all at once with suggested music, connect/follow artists, radio, editor playlists, curator playlists, and on and on. In theory, it's like the best of Pandora and a Spotify on steroids, if only it was delivered in Apple's trademark simple intuitive way. Similar to my feelings on the upcoming rumored Apple Watch 2, I'm super hopeful to see what Apple does with their latest iteration on Apple Music. It seems like all the content is there, it's just not accessible enough yet.

How Photography Seduced Me.

I bought my first "serious" camera, the Nikon D5100, for my wife as a christmas present a little over 4 years ago. After a couple months of use the honeymoon period ended and it found its way to a closet snuggled up in the Nikon camera bag I bought with it. I honestly had personally released the shutter 50 times at a maximum. I had my iPhone and really had been content with it for my photography needs. With the birth of my daughter a little over a year and half ago this all changed and the Nikon found its way into my hands. I loved shooting my daughter with the Nikon. I liked looking into a viewfinder to frame the shot and enjoyed trying to get creative with the depth of field. Looking back, I really had no idea the blackhole I was approaching. Photography was seducing me and I was falling head over heels.

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Wifey on honeymoon waiting on sunrise at Haleakalā National Park, Maui, Hawaii
Nikon D5100 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Auto Focus-S Nikkor Zoom Lens

For as long as I can remember, I have been intrigued by the night sky. Soon after discovering my new passion, I began searching for other targets and naturally gravitated to nightscape and astrophotography. I really enjoyed and continue to read Ian Norman's site on shooting the night sky called Lonely Spec. Once I realized it was possible to capture the Milky Way without some sort of tracking mount I was hooked. However, having just upgraded my knowledge from "knowing absolutely nothing" about photography to "beginning to realize just how much you don't know" about photography, I had come to the quick conclusion that I needed a fast prime lens. I read Ian's article on the Best Nikon Lens for Shooting the Milky Way and boom purchased a Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 ED AS UMC ($599 on Amazon). I love this lens and have shot some of my best Milky Way shots with this lens.

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Andromeda & Milky Way at Stone Mountain State Park, Roaring Gap, North Carolina
Nikon D5100, Rokinon 24mm, 20s, f2.5, ISO 1600

There was only one problem: it's a manual focus lens. For astrophotography and nightscape shots this is perfect as you are on a tripod and trying to find infinity focus. For fast moving capture the moment shots with a toddler, this was horrible. I'm sure there are photographers that can do this, but at my current skill level, yeah no, impossible. So this lead me to pursuing another lens purchase and the realization, I was traveling down a path with each purchase. Every time I spent money I was investing in a brand system and making it more difficult to turn back. So I came to the decision with a recommendation from my brother Rob Rhyne to purchase the inexpensive but incredibly sharp and fast Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G ($197 on Amazon). This lens is perfect for working with a prime lens, learning to "zoom with your feet," and experimenting with depth of field. Also, at right under $200 it was not a significant investment into the Nikon DX system. It was the perfect way to dip my toe into the water and work on my craft.

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Lillian Ready for a Ride in the Radio Flyer.
Nikon D5100, 35mm, 1/1000s, f/2.0, ISO 400

What I've learned from all of this is that photography is an amazing art form. There's tons to learn around multiple facets of the topic, whether framing, light, post processing, gear, and on and on. It's also a highly rewarding art form. Whether it's capturing memories or telling a story by stopping a fraction of a second in time, a photograph can convey the meaning and beauty of life. It's has me in its grips and I pray I don't let go for a long time. On to the next shot.