Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

What do you want to tolerate?

I am tangentially aware of the big hoopla regarding Flock cameras. Surveillance cameras that capture vehicle data to track down crime-doers are either being used nefariously, or outputting false positives leading to false arrests. As with any technology or specific tool, there’s opportunities for downsides and negative consequences. Is it the guns, or the shooters firing at innocent people?

(It’s the guns.)

As with anything, there are no solutions, only trade offs. These days, what are the first thing people ask for when something bad happens to them? Where are the cameras, and did they capture the bad thing? Should you get into a car accident, no doubt your insurance will seek and subpoena camera footage, perhaps from the very Flock cameras that have been so controversial.

If the negative consequences of implementing such surveillance powers is too intolerable for Americans, then the general public will also have to accept that there’s going to less video assistance when the bad stuff happens. Entire neighborhoods might be less safe because cars can act a fool with impunity. Can we tolerate the negative consequences of non implementation?

From a culture that brings their smartphones - and the cameras - with them into the bathroom, caring about privacy whilst out on public streets seem a bit dubious. Even if Flock cameras weren’t a thing, we are absolutely surrounded by capture devices. Soon as you leave the house, you might notice that every house on the residential block has outward-facing records. You get into your car, and dashcams are as popular as ever. Thanks to videos of blatant insurance fraud like this.

We are getting caught in 4K in public all the time.

Now obviously the argument here is that we would rather a scattershot of disparate camera operators, than one monolithic system accessible by the notoriously trustworthy government. And on that I have to concede the point. Perhaps this sort of crowd-sourced surveillance is a solid compromise that already exists.

Do you even know how?

The best piece of furniture one can have in the home is a chaise longue. There’s nothing better after a long day of work than to plop down on the long sofa and chill. Even in this tiny studio apartment of mine, I made sure to accommodate one. In fact, it’s the only piece of chair furniture in the room. A chaise longue is fantastic for Saturday afternoon naps.

At work we have for checkout some relatively old DSLR cameras (like a Canon 5D Mark III). During graduation time the cameras get checked out quite often, which is rather confounding. The modern smartphone camera is so good - why bother with something so clunky and cumbersome?

Under capable hands, old DSLR cameras can still take superior pictures to the top smartphones. But I seriously doubt the casual users checking out the DSLRs from us have any understanding of the exposure triangle. Leaving the camera in full auto while taking pictures at a live graduation is a recipe for blurred bodies and missed smiles. (Pro tip: when capturing people, a fast shutter speed of at least 1/250 of a second is recommended.)

The latest iPhone would have captured dozens of frames’ worth of information before the shutter is even pressed. The output is going to be sharp no matter what, automatically. For the layperson, the smartphone is the superior tool.

We can talk about perhaps smartphone photographic capabilities have gotten too good. The pictures are too crunchy, too sharp, too perfect. Highlights are never blown, and shadows always recovered. I think the inherent limitations of actual cameras provide a vastly more satisfying outcome. The photographs out of my FujiFilm X-T5 can convey emotion, something largely absent from my iPhone captures.

Judging by how absurdly expensive old point-and-shoot cameras have gotten on the used market, and the fact apps are available on smartphones that take away all their computational trickery - I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Does it still overheat?

Yesterday, I saw GoPro announcing the 12th version of their venerable action camera. The first thing that pops to my mind: “Do they still overheat and malfunction easily?” I’ve a friend who uses a GoPro for his video blogs, and that thing is effectively useless when he takes it to the heat of Southeast Asia. It’s hilarious and sad to see when he says in his videos that his GoPro died, necessitating a switch to the bigger Sony camera to finish filming.

As an owner of a GoPro HERO 7 myself (five years old, if you’re counting), I can sympathize with my friend’s predicament. Even on just warm days (read: not hot at all) the unit cannot last more than half an hour of continuous shooting. GoPros have been overheat-prone since they’ve combined the waterproofing-function into the same housing. In the early days, the GoPro unit and the waterproof housing was separate. Simple laws of physics: water not getting in also means air not getting in. No airflow means the processor runs hotter. Ergo, overheating.

The GoPro HERO 12 promises double the recording runtime of the 11, which sounds good on paper. I will need to see reviews that really put it under stress testing in hot environments. Otherwise, I am completely fine to continuing using my HERO 7.

Not that I would call myself a videographer - far from it. I’m first and only a photographer. Making videos is a whole other art in it of itself. The storage and processing horsepower needed for videography is exponentially more than just pictures. One minute of 4K60 video off an iPhone - not even that high a bit-rate compared to dedicated cameras - is about 400 megabytes. If you’re still counting, that space requirement adds up very quickly. Not to mention the hours of work just to make a video in the minutes. At this point, that’s not something I want to invest in.

Big spending season

It’s September already, and that means big spending days are coming ahead. The $250 annual fee to host this very website on Squarespace is coming due. So is the $1,100 six-months insurance premium on my BMW M2 Competition (I’m just glad it didn’t increase). On top of that, the $600 California license fee is due on the BMW. A surprise to nobody: it’s expensive to own a high-dollar sports car. At least maintenance is still free this year (also this month), the final one of three.

Traditionally, September is new iPhone month as well. As a person who’ve bought a new iPhone ever year since the iPhone 7, I’m staring at yet another thousand dollar outlay (spread over 24 months, whatever, all the same) on top of the aforementioned. But perhaps not? I’m kind of considering not making the upgrade this year.

The reason I’ve been buying new iPhones annually is because of the camera improvements on every new model. I’m sure the forthcoming iPhone 15 will be no different. However, this year I bought a Fujifilm X-T5 camera, and I’ve simply fallen in love with using that wonderful device. I’ve fallen back in love with photography, too. Now that I’ve unencumbered myself of any arduous editing, my desire to go out and shoot photos have increased dramatically.

What does this have to do with the iPhone? Well, I’ve come to dislike the photos taken with my iPhone 14 Pro. The iPhone’s over-sharpened, high-dynamic range look compares poorly to the warm and sultry tones of the Fujifilm. It’s a throwback to the early days of smartphone cameras: for the serious stuff, you want to take the photos with your “real” camera. Nowadays, I want to take photos with the X-T5 as much as possible.

It’s not the iPhone’s fault: computing power can only do some much against the laws of physics (much larger sensor in the X-T5, obviously). Apple will have to wow me plenty come next Tuesday to entice me enough to upgrade this year.

I need it

Did I already buy another lens for my newly purchased Fujifilm XT-5 camera? Yup! Looks like gear acquisition syndrome is in full bloom. I mean, what’s the point of an interchangeable lens camera if I only have one lens? Granted, if I were to have only one lens, the Fujinon XF 23mm F2 would be it. A compact walk-around lens at my favorite, most-used focal length: 35mm full-frame equivalent. Obviously then the 23mm F2 was the first lens I bought along with the XT-5.

Soon to join that lens is its close cousin, the Fujinon XF 50mm F2. At a 76mm full-frame equivalent, it’s ideal for portraiture, and when I want to punch in a bit during photowalks. Shooting down urban streets, the 50mm can compress the background and block out the peripherals stuff that a wider lens would otherwise get in the frame. During the photowalk in Chinatown last Sunday, I was limited in what I can do when photographing straight down Grant Avenue, carrying only the 23mm. I actually took out my iPhone to use its 77mm full-frame equivalent telephoto lens instead.

Won’t have to do that anymore! With the 50mm F2 in tow for the future I’ll just have to quickly swap between the two lenses should I desire a different perspective. You know what is really baller, though? The professionals that carry multiple camera bodies, with different focal lengths of lens attached to each. Therefore, instead of swapping lens, they just swap between the bodies during a shoot. In a money-no-object world (or a I actually make a living from this hobby world), I would have a second XT-5 attached to the incoming 50mm lens.

Another reason for buying the XF 50mm F2 right now is I want to take photographs of my friend’s newborn twins. Not only is 50mm a more flattering focal length, but I can also get the shot I want without being super close to the babies. Trust me, I’m not spending money simply to have more shiny objects on my bookshelf! (Though that’s very nice too, admittedly.) Everything I buy these days must serve some utility.

JPEG shooter

This past Sunday I got a chance to take my new Fujifilm X-T5 camera out for some first time test shooting. A photowalk around San Francisco Chinatown in the afternoon was called for. After reading the manual front to back and adjusting the custom buttons to my liking, it was time to see what the X-T5 camera can do. (Pairing it with a Fujinon XF 23mm F2 lens.)

Perhaps it’s the substantial money I dropped on essentially switching to a new system (Sony to Fujifilm) talking, but I was pretty immediately smitten with the X-T5. A touchscreen on a camera is so useful (My old Sony A7R2 did not have one). On the Fujifilm I can touch to lock focus on a subject/object and it will do so until I tap again to cancel. It honestly feels kind of cheating to me. I remember the old days of having only eight focusing points on a DSLR, and needing to perform the focus and recompose technique.

Now I can simply touch almost anywhere on the frame and it will lock focus automatically. Magical.

Fujifilm’s famous film simulation modes is as advertised. After seeing how each of them look, I chose Nostalgic Negative as my go to. Nostalgic Neg has the bump in saturation I typical do for my own RAW edits, plus a warm tonality that I prefer over something cool. Set white balance to automatic, and I simply let the X-T5 do its own interpretation of the scene vis a vis the colors.

Kind of funny how I’m essentially treating a “DSLR” camera as a point-and-shoot. It’s like going back to the days of instant film cameras: I don’t control how a film roll will look coming out of development. Being able to get interesting and usable JPEG files straight out of the camera makes me want to go shoot more. Because upon returning home, all I do is transfer the JPEG files off the X-T5 and onto my Mac’s Photos app. That's it! I’ve not touched any of the RAW files from the Chinatown photowalk - there’s really no need.

At some point I might even shoot only in JPEG…

Signature required

I recently (finally) pressed purchase on the Fujifilm XT-5 camera. Bought it on Amazon, of course, to get that sweet 5% cash back. (Mind you that is only if you are an Amazon Prime member, along with using the Chase Amazon Prime card.) For such a hefty purchase in terms of value, it’s good to see that a signature is required to accept delivery. No need to fear the delivery person dropping it off nonchalantly in the front yard, exposing thousands of dollars worth of camera gear to potential thieves. That would not be ideal.

Similarly, I helped a friend buy a new camera of his own (A Sony A7 Mark IV) on Amazon. (He did not have Amazon Prime.) Receiving that package also called for an adult signature. No big deal; there’s people home most of the time. However, the Amazon-branded delivery person did not adhere to the requirements! He merely dropped off the camera at the front door as if it were a package of toothpaste. No knock, no door bell ring, no signature attained. That’s not very nice.

I would have been rightly pissed if not for that fact my housemate was home and intercepted the package right when it was dropped off. I’ve higher expectations for an Amazon-branded delivery person to actually follow the instructions. Conversely, the Fujifilm XT-5 was delivered by UPS, and they made sure to get a signature before delivery. I know this, because nobody was home to receive it at the time, so I had to re-route the package to a local pickup spot. By the way, that costs $7.99 now at ups.com. That’s extorting pure profit just because they can, if you ask me.

This reminds me of the time I bought my (many thousands of dollar) Yamaha piano. That was also unceremoniously dropped off with nary a signature required. Granted, if you have the strength to steal a 70 pound box of unwieldy length, carry it through a front garden and over a fence, then I think you have the right to keep it. Thankfully that did not happen, and someone was immediately home at that time as well.