BenBailey.net

At Wednesday’s RefreshBCS, Michelle Greer gave an inspiring presentation on how social media can expand past its tech-centric nature and help bring attention to other issues. I think James Nachtwey’s newest project, one that he announced last year during his TED Prize acceptance speech, is an excellent example of harnessing the power of social media to raise awareness of critical issues.

The project’s site announced that Nachtwey’s images will be presented tomorrow, October 3rd, and asks bloggers and other social media types to help spread the word about the story that Nachtwey is about to unveil. The site provides links and embed codes of the project and Nachtwey’s TED Prize wish video for bloggers to include on their own pages.

“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”

This is the type of thing that excites me about the times we live in today. We can bring attention to issues, ideas, and actions in a way never before possible. You don’t have to own a printing press, radio station, or have a satellite orbiting the earth to share something you’re passionate about.

That is a powerful thing, and I hope we can use it responsibly.

My 20D has served me well for the past four years, but I have a feeling the upcoming 50D will take its place in my camera bag.

Why? The primary reason is the 50D’s more chimp-friendly 3-inch, high-resolution LCD screen. It may seem strange that the LCD is at the top of my list, but the 1.8-inch screen on my 20D is almost impossible to read outdoors or anywhere with abundant light.

The 20D screen limitations are especially frustrating when I’m out taking macros and I want to quickly check exposure and focus before moving onto the next subject (or before the current subject flies away). Instead of being able to quickly review a shot, I need to shade the screen, find a good viewing angle then zoom in to check focus. And since the LCD image can’t be trusted, I have to rely solely on the histogram to check exposure.

The 20D’s screen was good for its time, but my point-and-shoot SD800IS, with its big, bright LCD, has made me realize what I’ve been missing. The 50D boasts a 920,000 dot LCD (4x the resolution of the 40D LCD) with a 160-degree viewing angle and multiple coatings to cut down on annoying glare. A screen like that should more than solve my current LCD problems.

Of course the LCD is not the only reason I feel the 50D would be a worthwhile upgrade. I’m more than happy to get faster frames-per-second, a self-cleaning Digic IV sensor, improved ISO control and quality, plus all of the other features that have been added to the line over the years. And with almost twice the megapixels of the 20D, I can finally print images viewable from space.

I’m not in a hurry to upgrade though. The 20D is still quite functional so I’ll wait and make sure that the 50D is as impressive in reality as it is on paper. I’m not going to sell the 20D either. The amount I could get for it wouldn’t outweigh its usefulness as a second body. And even after it dies I’m sure I’ll keep it around for sentimental reasons. I mean, you can’t just throw away your first DSLR, right?

I’ve spent a lot of time at the local gardens the past week shooting macros, but I’ve had a lot of trouble finding any spiders or other non-winged creatures to photograph. I don’t know if it’s the weather or the time of day I go out (before 10am, after 6pm), but I’ve only come across one or two eight-legged subjects. And aside from a yellow garden spider, the ones I have seen were extremely small and difficult to track, even with a macro lens.

The weather was just as miserable back in March, but crab and jumping spiders were all over the place. Maybe they are just smarter than I am and decided to sit in the shade all day instead of crawling around in the heat and humidity.

National Geographic photo editor David Griffin’s inspiring talk at TED about how photography connects us to our world.

Hi-res versions available on the TED website.

If you missed the video of James Nachtwey’s 2007 TED Prize acceptance, check it out here. Simply amazing.

As someone who just discovered Pandora, I find all of this deeply disappointing. Pandora is a fantastic service, especially for people like me who live in smaller markets with little or no radio station variety. I don’t understand why webcasters like Pandora have to pay more than their satellite or terrestrial radio brethren. No one is arguing that they shouldn’t be paying anything, but to put them in a higher royalty bracket just because the Internet is their broadcast medium is absurd.

Hopefully a compromise can be reached so that Internet radio doesn’t have to fall silent.

When I first saw photos taken with the Sigma 4.5mm fisheye over at Whateverland, one of my favorite photoblogs, I was instantly intrigued. I enjoy using wide-angle lenses and this one looked like a lot of fun. So a few weeks ago I rented the Sigma 4.5mm and headed out to Discovery Green in Houston and the local TAMU campus to see what it could do.

The Sigma 4.5mm f2.8 EX DC Circular Fisheye HSM lens offers a full 180 degree field of view (and an insanely long name) on digital cameras with APS-C (crop-factor) sensors. Having never used a fisheye lens before, I didn’t really know what to expect. It is a little disorienting to look though the viewfinder and see most of it black, with just a circle providing a view of what lays before you.

With everything in front of you in the frame, exposure and composition are tricky. The 180 degree view can confuse the camera’s meter if the frame has dramatic shift in light to dark. I had to constantly underexpose by almost a full stop to avoid blowing out the highlights when shooting outside. And with a lens this wide, you really have to get close to your subject to make it stand out. The lens does have a very close focusing distance (5.3 inches), allowing you to exaggerate the fisheye effect for items closest to the lens.

Exposure isn’t all that the lens’s ultra-wide POV affects. Sometimes focusing is a little difficult as well. When taking a photo with nothing prominent in the foreground, my camera had a tough time locking focus. This isn’t anything wrong with the lens’s focusing capability, just that the lens is so wide the camera has a tough time finding enough detail and contrast to lock focus. I’ve had the issue when using other ultra-wide lenses, like Canon’s 10-22mm. On my 20D, selecting the center focus point tends to increase my chances in these situations.

When there was enough contrast for the camera to auto focus, the HSM focus system performed admirably. This was the first time I’ve used a Sigma lens with HSM and it is a dramatic improvement over the non-HSM equipped Sigma lenses I’ve used in the past. My Sigma 70-300 APO sounds like it could wake the neighbors when it focuses (or tries to at least). Focusing with the 4.5mm fisheye is a much quieter affair. With HSM, I only had to worry about the 20D’s embarrassingly loud mirror slap drawing attention to my camera.

As you would expect, build quality is better than Sigma’s less expensive line of lenses. The 4.5mm is heavier than I expected it to be, and it feels solid with everything fitting together well. The focusing ring doesn’t wobble like some lenses (Canon EFS line, I’m talking to you). The matte finish is attractive and adds a little comfort to holding the lens.

On the negative side, fringing is common around the frame when in bright conditions and flare is something to be careful of. Illuminating the inside of the lens is all too easy. Most lenses take care of these issues with a lens hood, but since anything in front of the lens shows up in the frame, a hood isn’t a possibility.

I’m not someone who shoots focus charts or views my photos at 400%, but the images appear sharp with good color. I’ve linked to full-sized images converted to jpeg with no post processing so you can judge for yourself. Overall, I was impressed with the level of detail this lens could capture given how wide it is and how little of the frame it uses.

The Sigma 4.5mm fisheye is a lot of fun, but I can’t see myself wanting to have one all the time. I consider a lens this wide a novelty, even more so than a typical fisheye. Its interestingness comes from its unique perspective and isn’t something I would want to use on a regular basis. But if you’re looking to get the ‘peephole effect’ from a lens it is definitely worth checking out.

View the full-sized images taken with the Sigma 4.5mm lens over at Flickr, or download all of them at once in a zip file here (6.62MB).

Here are a few first impressions after a couple of weeks with the Xbox 360:

• It was expensive, but I considered it my patriotic duty to spend my stimulus check.
• The media sharing setup was easy. Watching videocasts in my living room is a lot more comfortable.
• This thing is noisy; even the gigantic power brick hums occasionally. And the Elite system is supposed to be the quiet one.
• I like the fact I can download game demos and explore games I might have missed otherwise. It’s a good thing I went with the 120GB drive.
• It makes me want a bigger/better TV. The graphics look good on my standard TV, but sometime menu items / HUDs are tough to read.
• I’m looking forward to NCAA Football 2009 becoming available in my Gamefly queue. I hoping for sometime before the end of the coming football season.
• The controller isn’t taking as long to get used to as I thought it would. Aiming in shooters is still a little crazy though.
• I used to be pretty good at driving games; now I’m horrible at them.
• The upcoming Netflix integration was a big selling point for me. Hopefully it won’t disappoint.
• I love the fact I can use one of the most advanced pieces of home electronics available to play Street Fighter II and Pac-Man.
• Gears of War is awesome!

Bruno Bowden folds one of Robert Lang’s origami figures while blindfolded. Higher quality version at the TED site

Impressive. I have enough trouble folding my t-shirts.