by Ron on February 5, 2010
About a year ago I wrote a post on sensor cleaning for digital cameras. What I didn’t say at the time – I was really hoping I would be cleaning my sensor for the very last time because I was going to begin testing a prototype product that would protect the sensor from dust.
Well after one year I’m beginning to think I may never need to clean my sensor again! I love this product! Unfortunately, it hasn’t been available to the public until recently so I had to wait until now to write about it.
So the product is called Dust Shield and is made by Dust-Aid, the company that makes the great cleaning products I wrote about in my Sensor cleaning post. Effectively the product is a clear optic filter that is placed over the opening to the camera’s chamber sealing off the chamber and sensor. This product has a number of advantages – some not so obvious:
- The main advantage is clear – by sealing off the chamber I am able to prevent dust from ever reaching the sensor. I should add, before installing, I went to great lengths to completely clean the chamber including the sensor and mirror – otherwise every time the mirror flipped up and down I was afraid it would just reposition existing dust, possibly onto the sensor.
- When working in a dusty environment the camera is still going to pick up dust, but now it lands on the Dust Shield instead of the sensor. The selling point behind the Dust Shield - it is far easier to replace the shield then clean the sensor.
- But here is an advantage I didn’t anticipate. What I found is dust was far less likely to show when on the Dust Shield. I believe this is because the dust is now landing a fair distance away from the sensor, it just doesn’t create ugly black spots like it does when it lands on the sensor. I’m always surprised at how little spots or scratches on filters aren’t viable on the final image – I believe the same principle is at play.
- When it does get dusty, the Dust Shield is far easier to clean then the sensor – usually a couple of puffs from a hand held blower and I’m good to go.
Of course I know what everyone is thinking – what does it do to image quality? I gotta admit, I was skeptical. Having spent some $8,000 on one of the finest cameras available, and a bunch more on top quality lenses – I did not like the idea of now adding a piece of film to the image path. My photos are our sole source of income, I just can’t sacrifice quality no matter how convenient! I had to be sure image quality didn’t suffer – here is my review.
I felt the best way to really test this product is with my absolute sharpest combination of equipment. So I mounted what I think is my sharpest lens, my Canon 100 macro, on my best camera, a 21 mp Canon 1DsIII. I used the two second timer with mirror lockup with a f-stop of /8, – probably about as good of a combination as I could get. I then mounted the whole thing on a monstrous Gitzo 1548 tripod, placed a bean bag on the camera and photographed a dollar bill taped to the wall. If I couldn’t detect softness with my best setup, then I’m not going to see it with say a lessor camera or with a softer lens like the 100-400.
Full frame version of the dollar.
For reference, here is the full-frame version of dollar. The red represents the area in which I cropped a 400×600 area of the image with the results displayed below the jump. [click to continue…]
by Ron on February 2, 2010
Arches Photography guide application for iPhone and iTouch.
Well I must admit I am a reference material junkie! I have shelves and shelves of books – guide books to National Parks, birds and animals, plants and wildflowers, animal tracks, geology… The list goes on and on. Not only do I have a bunch of book here, but I also keep many more in our trailer, and we usually send a box back and forth depending where we are traveling. Unfortunately, they take up a ton of space and weight.
I also have to admit that I’m hooked on apps for my iTouch / iPhone – I have an iTouch. Maps, weather, depth of field calculators, even Northern Light predictions all on this tiny device, it is amazing!
So, when I heard that a couple of friends, Dan Baumbach and Bret Edge had created an Arches National Park Photography Guide iPhone application, well I thought that was ingenious! What a great idea – I could easily travel with all this information right in my shirt pocket! A perfect marriage of information and technology.
Dan recently provided me a copy to review, and I gotta admit I love the product! This application actually has a lot of advantages over a hard copy book because it is able to link to current information in real time such as weather forecasts, along with providing links to websites for local restaurants, hotels and campground – what a great resource!
The app is also packed with all kinds of useful information on Arches National Park, information useful to photographers such sunrise and sunset times along with an interactive map and information on backpacking, wildlife and wildflowers. But the real meat to the application is the information on the different photo locations within Arches. This information includes photos, maps, descriptions on how to get to the location, even the GPS coordinates.
It just so happens that I have spent a fair amount of time in Arches over the last two years, and have been to all the locations described in the app, and found the information accurate and concise.
The application cost $4.95 – much cheaper then most printed guides, and more valuable. They have many more iFotoGuides planned for the future.
by Ron on January 19, 2010
Wildflowers, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
This winter I’m going to offer two weekend photo workshops in the beautiful Anza-Borrego Desert in Southern California. You can read about all the details here: Anza-Borrego Photo Tour / Workshop.
The timing of the announcement is perfect because over the last two days Borrego Springs has received almost an inch of rain, with more forecasted for the rest of this week. An inch of rain my not sound like much, but that is a huge amount for this area. This, coupled with some earlier storms all but assures us that there will be some wildflowers. Even without wildflowers this is a wonderful area, but wildflowers can completely transform the desert.
Right after uploading the page, and before I had a chance to announce this workshop, someone spotted it on our website and has already signed up. I only have permits for two weekends, and only for 5 people at a time, so these could fill quickly – and when they do, that will be it. So check out the page and let me know if you have any questions!
In addition to this workshop, we also offer a number of Alaska photo tours.
by Ron on September 26, 2009
Cameraman Buddy Squires, producer Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns in Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
I thought I would do a quick reminder that the Ken Burns series on our National Parks will begin airing Sunday evening on PBS.
As you may know, I helped out a bit when Florentine Films was filming in Kenai Fjords back in 2003 – they have been working on this film for sometime. Ken, Dayton and Buddy were some of the most interesting people I have ever met, and could tell fascinating stories about the people they have met and places they had seen thanks to their past projects. What doesn’t come across in the television interviews I have seen is Ken’s wonderful sense of humor – the group of us sure had a lot of fun, I don’t think I have ever laughed so much while out in the field!
I had the chance to see much of the Alaska portion of the coverage of this series and it was really well done. I can’t imagine the research that must go into a project like this. The series talked at length about people like Adolph Murie, Bradford and Barbara Washburn, Charles Sheldon and Joe Quigley – all people that are well known to Alaskans, but may be unfamiliar to most Americans. I look forward to learning about similar people from other parts of the United States who may be unfamiliar to me.
I don’t think I’ll have a chance to watch it right now – we don’t get much in the way of TV right now, and we are kinda busy, but I do look forward to watching it once we are back in Alaska. Here is the PBS site with much more information including times for The National Parks, Americas Best Idea.
Ken Burns pretending to be deeply engrossed by a beach stone as he hams it up for my camera. He was hilarious. At the time I was sorry my flash didn't fire, but in hindsight, I like the silhouette.
Camping in the Chuach National Forest, Alaska.
How do I handle the power needs for my digital camera and file storage on long trips away from electricity? This was an ask Ron question brought up by two fellow blog’en photographer friends of mine Richard Wong and Gary Crabbe. Both guys operate great blogs – blogs I read everyday, so if you have extra time, do check them out. [click to continue…]
Culross Island, Prince William Sound, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.
This is Troy Henkels in the pack raft on a beautful island in Prince William Sound. I’m a bit tired of a brown and white world, and I’m now looking forward to the rich greens of summer!
Speaking of getting ready for summer – I have to admit, I’m a bit addicted to Steepandcheap.com
. Steep and Cheap is a bit like an online, outdoor gear version of QVC. They only sell one item at a time, and the item is usally only up for 20 minutes or so, or until is sells out. You never know what might appear, but it is usually at a killer price – so we find ourselves constantly checking back to see what we are missing out on – it is adicting!
PS: Here is a site that feature numerous outdoor gear deals of the day.
Palm Trees at sunset, Newport Beach, California.
Let me start by saying, you shouldn’t get your legal advice from friends and fellow photographers. Having said that, let me offer some advice. 
The place I turn to when I have questions is the Photographer’s Legal Guide
by Carolyn Wright. The book covers most of the legal issues one might encounter when dealing with photo business and photography issues such as copyrights, model releases, insurance and paperwork. I think most photographers will find it very valuable.
I have known Carolyn for a number of years now and consider her a friend – she is a wonderful person, and as a fellow photographer, she understands the industry and issues photographers face. We have hired her on occasions when we needed large contracts reviewed, and also successfully used her for a copyright infringement suit – who better to hire then the person who wrote the book! [click to continue…]
A sunset at the Salton Sea California from this past winter.
I have received numerous emails and comments over the past year asking me to post bigger photos. Really, I haven’t been ignoring those requests, it just wasn’t possible because my old theme was so narrow. It was probably fine in the days of 800 x 600 monitor resolutions, but today, I just ended up with a narrow blog and a bunch of gray space on either side!
So I had enough of my old theme, and there was no way I was going to try to modify it – heck, just adding the photo to the banner took me a day! So this past weekend I went on a search for a new theme. I won’t bore you with the details, but there are thousands and thousands of themes out there – and of course none of them are just right. That is when I found Thesis; About Thesis — Find out more about Thesis and the DIYthemes philosophy
With Thesis, I had total control. To change to three columns instead of my previous two - I just selected the 3 column option in the drop down menu. I wanted an extra wide column for my large photos – all I did was type in the desired width in a little box and bingo, it changes! Not only does it change, but everything lines up perfectly – something that was a constant battle before. Would I prefer the side bars on each side, with the content down the middle? You guessed it, just another click. Rotating photos at the top of the sidebar - painless! Supposedly they have great support, fortunately I didn’t need it, but I did drop by the online forum which has almost six thousand users. [click to continue…]
by Ron on January 14, 2009
Jim Goldstein had a good idea where he suggested photographers post their 10 best photos from 2008 on their blog. I keep putting the post off as we are busy with our travels - but it did sound fun, so last night I made the time even if I am too late for Jim’s blog. I have no idea which photos are my best or worst, so I just picked out my 10 favorites.
Since so many people receive the blog via email, I decided to limit this to small thumbnail sized images as to not over-load anyone’s email account. I do have a link to a much larger size version next to each image. Well, here it goes.
Just seeing this wild lynx in Denali National Park was the highlight of the year, having a photo from the experience made it an easy pick.
The two Grizzly bears in the fall Denali landscape don’t show as well in this small thumbnail, but are easy to see in the larger version.
Horned Puffin, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. These colorful birds were a blast to photograph. This one made the list because I really liked the flowers above the bird. I have some with mouths full of fish that were close honorable mentions.
Seeing the shorebird migration along the Copper River Delta, Alaska was another peak experience for the year.
A sow grizzly teaching a cub how to dig for clams, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. We felt honored to watch such a tender moment between such powerful animals.
Desert Bighorn, Moab, Uath. I really liked the setting for this Desert Bighorn image.
Wildflowers in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California. Given I spent almost two months chasing beautiful wildflowers, you know at least one will make this list!
Mountain biking the Slickrock Trail, Moab, Utah. A fun place to photograph and ride!
Breeching Orca, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska. I had to have one from my own “back yard”!
Sea Otter, Chugach National Forest, Alaska. He was too cute to leave off this list.
I really wanted to include a photo of the nesting great horned owls, or some of the rain forest grizzly bear images I worked so hard on near Seward this summer, or a few more desert landscapes, or even a desert tortoise, but I gotta stick to 10 – I hate to play favorites.
It is interesting to see 8 of the 10 are wildlife images as I did make a conscious effort to spend more time pursuing wildlife this year – photographing wildlife has always been something I really enjoyed, but in recent years, I had gotten away from that a bit. Wildlife can be really tough because it can involve a lot of time, and can provide little in return. It would have been interesting to see what the mix of images would have been from earlier years, or for next year!
by Ron on October 29, 2008
Of all the poker players I photographed last week, it is interesting that the two I posted photos of were Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu. Of course I picked them because they are two of the most famous and popular players – but get this – last night, Janine sat down and played Texas hold’em with the legendary Doyle Brunson! I’m serious – this isn’t April Fools!
And if that wasn’t enough, I did some side gambling on a prop bet with Daniel Negreanu! Now granted, I’m a gambling wimp, so it was only for a dollar, but still! [click to continue…]
by Ron on September 3, 2008
This was from last Saturday in the Chugach National Forest, about 12 miles from Seward, Alaska. I used two graduated neutral density filters – one on the mountain, the other for the reflection.
Sensor dust can really show in images like this where you have a uniform color as you do with the sky, and when you are stopped down, because the increased depth of field helps to show your dust spots. [click to continue…]
by Janine on May 30, 2008
Folks, this is why I don’t take pictures and you should use a tripod! Even with Ron taking care of all the camera settings I still managed to take a soft picture. Anyway, the real reason for this post is because I found this very funny. I stepped out of the house for literally no more than 2 or 3 minutes and I walked back into the living room to find what you see in the picture. Ron had completely torn the living room apart and set up shop. He had just received his latest “toy” and was like a kid at Christmas. I could not believe he had managed to totally rearrange the room and set up that fast. It made me laugh.
by Ron on February 27, 2008
I stumbled upon this guy on my way to photograph sunset, look at the size of that camera! It captures a 20 x 24 inch image.
I was in a hurry, and I didn’t want to pester the guy as he set up, but I had to ask a few questions. [click to continue…]
by Ron on February 14, 2008
I had always heard that best way to bring attention to a blog is to write something controversial. Little did I know, my decisions to replace my digital darkroom with a PC instead of a Mac might be controversial, but 24 comments and a bunch of links later, it was by far my most active posting. There actually was a lot of valuable feedback in that post from many people and I really appreciate it.
So now that I have used my new Falcon Northwest digital darkroom for a few weeks, I thought I better provide an update to that threaed. And since I’m sitting on a plane – what a perfect time to write! [click to continue…]
by Ron on December 29, 2007
Well, it is year end, and we are in that position of either spend it, or give it to Uncle Sam – so we are spending baby!
With today’s large image files, my old Pentium computer just isn’t cutting it anymore, so we made the logical decision to get Janine a new computer – yeah that’s right, Janine. Since she does all the important parts of the office work, it is fitting I get her computer hand me downs, and she gets the screaming machine. Actually, Janine does a lot of the image adjustment work.
Anyway, I have been anguishing over this decision for the last couple of weeks as I researched and read countless forums, reviews etc., so I thought I would share my thought process as it may be beneficial to other photographers in a similar situation – I know I found similar write-ups valuable. Janine thinks I’m an over-researcher , and she is right. Warning, this may get long! [click to continue…]
by Ron on December 22, 2007
If you read the My Excuse post, you will know we have been working hard to remodel our home – new paint, carpet, blinds, etc. The hardest, but most rewarding part was the two weeks we spent on the kitchen. In stock cabinets, vinyl floor and Formica counters won’t get it showcased in Sunset Magazine, but it is sure a huge improvement for us! [click to continue…]
by Ron on December 6, 2007
by Ron on December 3, 2007
If you are looking for some last minute gift ideas, you might consider our 2008 Alaska Calendar. We don’t actually have any left, but I learned last week that ANHA still has a few left. Here is a link to the calendar at their on the on-line store; ANHA. They sell for $10.
by Ron on November 18, 2007
I try to keep this blog pretty much photography related, but every now and then I have to throw in an non photography tidbit – like today, my niece Sydney Buck is gracing the front page of the Anchorage Daily News showing off her missing front teeth while skiing at Alyeska Ski Resort. Pretty cool stuff!
My sister says Alyeska received another 15 inches of snow last night – we are off to a good start this winter! The skate skiing in Seward right now is awesome. That sure makes it easier to be leaving that nice 80 degree desert weather.
by Ron on October 5, 2007
The average high for today in Reno is 75 degrees. Today it is snowing! Well, wet snow mixed with rain.
So why no photo today? [click to continue…]
by Ron on September 20, 2007
by Ron on September 18, 2007
The only photography I have done over the last month has been assignment work – I’m looking forward to getting back into the field and immersing myself in photography. We have been working hard in the office so that we will be caught up before hitting the road Friday. [click to continue…]
I have had a lot of fun working with a young aspiring photographer, Janessa Anderson. Janessa is a High School senior here in Seward and is doing an internship with us. [click to continue…]
If you haven’t seen the Planet Earth Series on Discovery, you are missing the best nature photography I have ever seen. The series is really outstanding. They have high-speed slow motion footage of a huge Great White Shark leaping out of the water while capturing prey. They also filmed all kinds of very rare animals, including some incredibly colorful birds never before photographed, and even some of the only footage ever recorded of a Snow Leopard in the wild. It is all stunning.
Today (Friday) we fly back to Alaska. The blog might be slow the next few days as we travel and get re-situated.
