ser·en·dip·i·ty [ser-uhn-dip-i-tee]
n. pl. ser·en·dip·i·ties
the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way: a fortunate stroke of serendipity | a series of small serendipities.

I had just written to Britt Stokes to comment upon the Lensbaby article that he had written and his response was to inform me that he had just dropped my name to the Marketing Manager of the Lensbaby company to suggest that I might enjoy reviewing one of their specialty lenses. He knew me too well; of course I would enjoy it.

One thing led to another and a few days later a well-packed box arrived with review copies of their Fisheye and Control Freak lenses for me to examine. Lensbaby lens can be had in Nikon or Canon mounts as well as Sony, Pentax and 4/3’s mount mounts, and Britt had already informed the company that I am a Nikon user and so it was a Nikon mount Control Freak that I unpacked.

Britt has already covered other versions of the Lensbaby lens so let’s take a look in the following picture of the Control Freak where I’ve attached it to a D300 Nikon. The most distinctive visual characteristic that first grabs your eye when you look at the Control Freak is the three-point threaded arrangement that allows you to tilt the lens plane angular to the normal lens plane that is usually parallel to the film plane (or in this case the image chip plane) of the camera. Tightening any one or two of these rods allows a precisely controlled tilt‚ which in turn shifts some items in or out of focus even when they should have been controlled by the depth of field of the lens. This is about to make controlling what is in focus very specialized.

This is primarily a close-up or Macro lens and as such will usually be on a tripod or some other type of camera support. This is not a hand-held lens. The lens when fully extended is focused about eighteen inches from the front of the lens itself. Using your fingers to reach forward to the Control Freak lens ring as you look through the camera allows you to pull the lens length backwards or push it forward either of which moves the focus point. It’s tricky the first time you try to decide where the lens is focused and I resorted to using a copy stand with a precise vertical movement to let me “play” with focusing the lens to get the feel of it. Once you’re close to the point you want, pushing a button on the lens ring allows it to snap to a locked position which relieves your fingers of trying to hold the thin depth of field‚Äîthin, I say, because at this stage the lens is an f2 close up lens and you are looking through it with the absolute minimum focal depth available. Once the lens is roughly focused, the lens ring can be rotated to find the “sweet spot” of focus as the lens moves fractionally in depth of field as the element rotates.

If you’ve reached the age of trifocal glasses as I have, I found the use of a focusing rail or the vertical adjustment of a copy stand of great value in getting both the focus area I wanted and the subject position that I wanted. But below is a view of the Control Freak attached, and I about to play with it.

Here’s a side view of the Control Freak where you can more easily see the bellows arrangement that allows the lens element to move both in and out relative to the camera body and to tilt at angles relative to the film plane. The bellows is extremely flexible and the threaded adjustment screws allow precise positioning of the lens element relative to the camera.

You are not limited to f2 because seven aperture disks (f2.8; f4; f5.6, f8; f11, f16, and f22) are supplied with the Control Freak. Each of these thin metal disks is appropriately marked with the aperture number it represents. The disks on arrival are stacked inside the body of a small magentic tool. The tool has a removable tip to allow the magnet full power, and since each disk is metal it is a simple matter of picking up the disk with the magnet and inserting it onto the front element of the Control Freak where three other small magnets hold it in place even if you are pointing the lens straight down. To remove the disk it is a simple matter of using the tool point to “tease” the aperture disk lost on one side, and pick it off with your fingers. The magnets in the Control Freak keep the disk from escaping as you remove it.

As you would expect, putting on the smaller apertures (f8, f11, f16, and f22) limits greatly the amount of light reaching the camera viewfinder as you are essentially using a “stop down” system just as though you had used the stop-down button or lever on your camera body. Focussing first at f2 and then placing on an aperture disk seemed to work best, and as I was playing with what I wanted in and out of focus I set up the camera to shoot tethered so as to immediately see the resuts of shifting the focus plane. Using magnification of the LED screen on the camera was suitable as well but always required me to shift those trifocals a bit and I found tethering to be less bother.

So, what did I photograph with the Control Freak? The short answer is “quite a few fun things, and several serious ones.” It happened that a small commerical job was available where I was photographing for insurance purposes several collections of guns, knives, and silver. For example, in order to extablish each knife’s authenticity it was necessary to photograph the “strike” where the logo or manufacturing mark is imprinted on the hand-made knife (first picture). Other photographs with deep depth of field and crisp focus would show the condition of both the front and alternate sides, as well as full-views of the knife and sheath, but the “strike” was intended to be emphasized in one picture. To do this I used the tilt on the Control Freak to throw the blade and handle out of focus (second picture)

Below you see the out of focus (OOF) of the knife blade, sheath and knife handle. Above you see the close-up in focus view of the maker’s mark.

Before the arrival of the Control Freak I had anticipated using an editing program and producing a blurred vignette to throw the edges of the subject matter out of focus for each picture of the “strike,” but using the Control Freak it was easy to get it in one shot without post-production work being necessary.

Exposure was simple; the instruction booklet suggested that I use manual exposure and suggested that Aperture exposure might also work. In the case of my Nikon D300 I found no difference between using manual exposure and Aperture exposure, and I ended up using Aperture exposure on all my shots.

Check out the complete line of Lensbaby lenses including the Control Freak at Lensbaby.com. The Control Freak has a MSRP of $350.00 and is available from all major photographic retailers such as B&H, Adorama, etc.

For you overachievers, LIBOX also lets you enjoy your entire collection of HD video, photos and music while multi-tasking on your iPhone or while browsing on any mobile device. On any version of the iPhone, including those running iOS4, you can instantly enjoy and share your entire media collection, no matter where it is stored locally, without worrying about storage limitations.

Now only 2 easy steps and you’re ready to go…

1. Sign-up for a free account online and download the app to any desktops you want to sync with your mobile device. (Downloading the desktop app creates your own private cloud and keeps LIBOX free since it doesn’t rely on expensive cloud storage.)
2. Add your media to your LIBOX account from your mobile and desktop apps. (Your media will sync or stream based on usage, storage availability and your Internet connection.)

The only negative I see to this is that all users have to have an account. For instance if I want to share with my friends they have to register for an account to view my media. Not sure all my contacts would be on board with that, but it’s fun for those who are and again, it’s FREE!

click on each image for a closer look»

For more information, here are details from the launch press release on August 25th:

iPhone App Lets Users Enjoy & Share Entire HD Media Collection on the Go with Multi-Tasking: Music, Video & Photos

LIBOX Platform Expands Free Service with Unlimited Mobile Playback and Sharing of HD Media

LIBOX, announced the availability of the first in a series of mobile additions to the LIBOX platform, expanding users’ ability to enjoy and share their entire media collection for free. Now LIBOX users can enjoy their entire collection of HD video, photos and music while multi-tasking on their iPhone or while browsing on any mobile device. On any version of the iPhone, including those running iOS4, users can instantly enjoy and share their entire media collection, no matter where it is stored locally, without worrying about storage limitations. As part of its core values, LIBOX strives to provide the finest HD media experience without ever charging users to enjoy their own media collection or ever limiting how much media users can share with friends and family.

The LIBOX beta service, for desktop and Web browsers, was made publicly available in June after nearly two years of development. The patent-pending technology intelligently syncs and streams media to create a seamless user experience for all types of media, across all types of devices. LIBOX can offer its service for free thanks to its innovative peer-to-peer and grid computing platform – an infinitely scalable alternative to expensive cloud storage solutions. (The API will be available for developers later this year.)

In addition to being able to play or view your entire media collection on the go while multi-tasking, the LIBOX iPhone app lets you capture and share HD media with as many friends and family as you like through the LIBOX platform. LIBOX apps for iPad and Android are next on the list with announcements coming soon. In the meantime, access your LIBOX account from the desktop app, any Web browser and get the full experience for LIBOX on the most popular mobile browsers, like Safari and Android.

You can add as much HD video, photo and music as you want via the iPhone app and it is instantly available to enjoy on any other device through the LIBOX platform. First download the LIBOX desktop app to all the computers you want to sync, then add media via the desktop app or via the iPhone app. View and play your entire media collection from your LIBOX account through the iPhone app or on any device with an Android or Safari mobile browser.

The LIBOX iPhone app takes full advantage of the new iPhone 4 and the multi-tasking features of the iOS4 operating system:

• Multi-tasking:
  • Fast switch between LIBOX and other apps, picking up where you left off
  • Listen to audio in the background
  • Get calls while enjoying your media
  • Complete tasks like uploading in the background while you use your phone for other activities
• Never-ending Playlist. Enjoy your entire music, photo and video collection wherever you are, regardless of the storage available on your iPhone.
• Intelligent Syncing and Streaming. Add any existing media from your iPhone to LIBOX and it automatically syncs or streams across all devices you use to access your LIBOX account based on your usage, without overloading the storage of any one device.
• Simple Sharing. Share your media with friends and family – the easy way. No email attachments, no uploading/downloading or wires required, and no limits on how much you share. Just hit the share button and LIBOX will transfer your media directly to the recipient in its original HD format without any loss in quality.
• All Media. LIBOX lets you enjoy all popular media formats for music, photos and video with “on the fly” conversion. With LIBOX you never have to think about whether you have the right type of media player.
• High Definition. Take full advantage of the 5 megapixel camera on the iPhone 4 by capturing HD video or photos with the LIBOX app. Your high def media will instantly be synced with all your devices running LIBOX, in full size and resolution and won’t be degraded when you share it with family and friends. Plus, view all of your HD media on the iPhone 4 on the great “retina display” screen with 326 dpi resolution.

Visit LIBOX.com for more detail and check out the LIBOX Support Forum.

Your media. Your way.

Wicked, Chicago, Lion King, Mamma Mia! Whether you live in the city or just visiting, we’re all suckers for a little Broadway action! I’ve been amazed at seeing the mile long lines just waiting to get discounted tickets to one of these shows. Now, you can get reviews, showtimes, dates, ticket prices and even discounts in seconds with this handy app.  Check out the following press release for details and a link to your copy of iBroadway.

Zumobi Launches The iBroadway App for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Zumobi, in a partnership with Art Meets Commerce (AMC), a leading producer of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, to launch the iBroadway App for the iPhone and iPod touch. With the hit Broadway musical, FELA! as a launch sponsor, the iBroadway App expands the famed theater district’s reach and provides exposure for Broadway’s premium sponsors across the mobile platform. The iBroadway app promotes the music and drama of Broadway while engaging with fans everywhere at anytime.

iBroadway, users now have information about new and favorite Broadway shows at their fingertips.

“For decades, Broadway has marketed itself through traditional channels – print, radio, television and the like. Now, new media technologies and platforms have become increasingly important in theatrical advertising campaig

ns. iBroadway will allow producers and sponsors to reach an even broader audience in a rapidly advancing mobile space,” said Chip Meyrelles, AMC’s Executive Director. “It’s a huge step up for theater; it also supports AMC’s mission to extend Broadway’s reach to the new media marketplace.”

“Partnering with Art Meets Commerce provides us with a unique opportunity to further expand our entertainment channel and bring the best live theater content to Zumobi,” said Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi.

App features include:

• Details on performance venues, schedules and ticketing information, along with discounts for some of the hottest shows on Broadway;

• Exclusive video content, synopses, reviews and cast information;

• In-app purchases of cast recordings and soundtracks from the iTunes store;

• News, reviews and commentary from a host of the top writers in the theatre industry today;

• A simple way for users to share details about their favorite shows via Facebook, Twitter or email.

FELA! is the first production to advertise in the iBroadway app.  The show is up for 11 Tony awards this Sunday including best musical, and through a simultaneous release with Knitting Factory Records, a Fela Kuti bonus track will be offered free to users who purchase the musical’s original cast recording using the app.

The iBroadway app is available for free on Apple’s App Store and as a part of The Zumobi Network, the leading publishing partner for top media companies. Get your app here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id349362702

I got an interesting e-mail today… a promotion e-mail from an architectural photographer named Dan Poyourow (www.danpoyourow.com).

Dan is based in Maryland, and his work is well worth looking at. At the bottom of his e-mail, he included this tidbit…

“Photography thought for the week:

Contrary to what some creatives may tell you; shooting digital and reading a book on Adobe Photoshop does not make someone a professional photographer. There is still no substitute for experience, proper lighting techniques, good composition and all the other skills pro photographers use/used when shooting film. Digital is simply a new way to record the image; not an end in itself.”

This simple statement really struck a cord with me. This year, I have lost freelance jobs to photographers with much less experience than I have. I lost the jobs based on my price, which I feel is quite reasonable. I’ve been shooting professionally for about 25 years now, and when a client tells me that they found someone to do the job cheaper, I simply smile and tell them that I hope they are happy with the results. I even wish them luck. I also tell them to keep me in mind if it doesn’t work out for them. This has worked out pretty well for me in the past, I seem to get the clients back somehow.

All experienced photographers are basically visual problem solvers. It takes varying years of practice and numerous failures along the way to get really good at imaging. I think it was terrific to learn the mindset of working with transparency film. I’m all for young photographers making their mark on the world, and I’ve mentored several who are working in the industry across the country. I wonder what the result will be of a generation of photographers shooting without the background of film and the many associated problems of working with it will be?

For working pros to lower their price in tough times is very tempting. So far, I’m resisting the urge. I think it hurts me in the long run to cut my price. OK, it hurts me in the short term not to cut my price, but at this point I can live with it. The digital era has made photography much more competitive. I think the best photographers will solve this era’s problems and keep on shooting.

Thanks, Dan, for the thought-provoking start to my rambling!

Have a little thing for the “Man in Red”? Wait no longer, die hard Marvel fans, with a little help from Zumobi, there’s an APP for that!

Although there are members of my household, dying to get their hands on this bad boy, I have not yet had the pleasure of testing it out. However, I was able to get a little sneak peak into the highly anticipated game and we are definitely looking forward to it’s release. Here’s what Zumobi has to say about it…

Marvel Launches Iron Man Central, the New iPhone and iPod Touch Application on The Zumobi Network

Zumobi, a leading mobile media company, and Marvel Entertainment recently announced the launch of Iron Man Central, the official Iron Man application for the iPhone and iPod touch. In anticipation of the biggest movie release of the year, IRON MAN 2, the Iron Man Central app provides fans new and old with an immersive experience into the world of the Super Hero everyone’s talking about.

“The first IRON MAN film was extremely successful due to the incredibly loyal and passionate fan base. In anticipation of IRON MAN 2, we wanted to bring additional content to Iron Man fans and moviegoers, and could think of no better way than to bring it to a mobile app,” said Ira Rubenstein, Executive Vice President of Marvel’s Global Digital Media Group. “We believe this app gives users an even more complete Iron Man experience by delivering news, videos and exclusive wallpapers, as well as special character profiles. And if you want to find show times for IRON MAN 2, this app will do that for you, as well.”

Using Iron Man Central, fans have access to all things Iron Man from his origin, to current news, exclusive wallpapers, video content, direct links to Iron Man content on iTunes and more. With a stunning user interface modeled after the hologram interface inside Iron Man’s suit, fans discovering Iron Man Central will be blown away by ease of use and navigation. The app also allows fans to purchase movie tickets through the app itself, so no fan misses a single showing of IRON MAN 2. The app also arrives with two free wallpapers and additional wallpapers are $.99.

Iron Man Central seamlessly integrates with users’ e-mail, Twitter and Facebook accounts, allowing them to share exciting new Iron Man content with friends and family.

“Marvel is a forward-looking organization that is well positioned to take advantage of the amazing new possibilities available in the mobile channel,” said Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi. “By combining Marvel’s bold and unique visuals with the iconic character of Iron Man and Zumobi’s content-rich app format, we have the opportunity to offer moviegoers and fans an extension of the film experience. We’re thrilled to expand the Zumobi Network’s entertainment channel with this highly valuable property.”

Iron Man Central is available for free on Apple’s App Store and as a part of The Zumobi Network, the leading publishing partner for top media companies. It can be downloaded HERE.

First, this conversion by Isaac Szabo uses an excellent filter (the infrared filter replaces the high-pass filter over the sensor inside the camera). The infrared images are wonderful, far better than any I got with my previously converted SLR. There is more color in evident in some of the images. With Isaac’s provided Photoshop action, the red and blue channels are swapped making very interesting images that retain the infrared look, but with more conventional looking skies in many cases. The action also has provided an excellent black and white conversion as well, you just have to activate the layer.

Skin tones are rendered very nicely. I shot a lot of candid portraits that look great. I shot most of my images at ISO 200 and got hand-holdable exposures, where I almost always had to shoot at ISO 500 to ISO 800 on my old conversion. The D200 has great characteristics to start with, and its current price point on the used market makes it a perfect infrared conversion choice… 10 megapixels makes a great 13×19 or larger print!

I recommend Isaac’s conversion… look at my images, and the images on his website. Then, decide which camera you want to convert, and start making infrared images!

Want to see these images bigger?  Click here. Its worth the bandwidth…

I was also impressed with HP’s customer service. When my printer needed new print heads less than a week out of the box, HP overnighted me a new printer, requesting I send the old one back in the arriving box. They also offered 1 year product replacement insurance.

So, why would I get rid of such a great machine?

1. The ink has a shelf-life. No kidding. Like milk, hp vivera inks have an expiration date. If you try to use these inks past that specified date, you will get an ugly message that says that continuing to use said inks will void your warranty. I happened to buy inks last fall to have on hand, not realizing that they expired in January 2010. Until I installed them. Oh yeah, and by the way, the only way to know when the expiration date is? You have to open the sealed packaging. At least milk prints the date on the outside of the packaging.

2. Did I mention the ink is really expensive?

3. The Vivera inks are water and scratch resistant, fade resistant to over 100 years. The catch? Only when printed on HP products.

The Ultrachrome K3 Ink for my Epson 2400 also claims the same caveats- color permanence and stability on premium Epson products. The big surprise is that Epson Ultrachrome K3 inks are stable, water resistant, and produce true colors on just about any good quality paper and canvas stock I have tested.

Which leads me to my final and most important reason:

4. The Elegance Velvet Fine Art Paper and Lyve Canvas from BreathingColor.com. Order a trial quatity of any of their products and they will include a sample of their papers and canvas. The richness and depth of the colors are breathtaking.

So, I bid my HP 9180 a civil adieu. I can’t say I will miss it much because I haven’t used it much after having thrown out over $200 worth of inks in January  of this year.

Well, playing for the heart team, Evernote, has given you just one more reason the iPad can be handy for just about everyone. Here is what the iPad and Evernote, together, can to do keep your life organized on the go…

FEATURES

• View and access all your notes, even those created on desktop, web and phone
• Create text, camera roll, and voice notes. You can even type while recording audio
• Browse through your notes by tags, notebooks, and location
• Quickly find your notes by location using Evernote’s map view

SPECS

• Designed for the Apple iPad
• iPhone OS 3.1.3 or later

DOWNLOAD

ON A SIDE NOTE:

For those tweeters out there, you can now use your favorite social media soundboard to send notes to Evernote. Here’s more info from Evernote on how to get started…

Now you can send your tweets directly into Evernote. Why is this cool? Because Twitter is chock-full of great stuff. Your ideas, thoughts, and experiences mixed together with all of the content from the people you follow.

Thanks to the Evernote-Twitter integration, you can easily capture the tweets you like: your own or those showing up in your stream. Plus, as an added bonus, you can now send yourself a quick note right from Twitter –no need to do any of that pesky app switching. Here’s how…

Say ‘Hello’ to @myEN

Evernote now lets you send public Twitter messages, and private Direct Messages, right into your Evernote account for searchable, permanent safekeeping. It’s called myEN, and here’s how it works.

Setting up myEN

First, you’ll need an Evernote account. It’s free. Get yours now »

1. Follow myEN on Twitter (you will need a Twitter account)
2. myEN will follow you back, and send you a DM with a link
3. Click the link, sign into Evernote, and connect your Evernote and Twitter accounts

If you have a protected Twitter account, then do the following: follow myEN, accept myEN’s follow request, then send myEN a DM. After that, go to step 3 above.

How to use myEN

For Public tweets: Add @myEN to the body of any public tweet

For Direct Messages: Send a DM to myEN to create a new note in Evernote

Tip: Retweet something you like and add @myEN to save it into Evernote.

It usually takes under a minute for a message to show up in your Evernote account, depending on how Twitter is feeling.

SMS notes

Thanks to Twitter’s built-in SMS support, you will now be able to send notes into Evernote from any mobile phone, anywhere in the world. In the US, text message “d myEN [your note]” to 40404 (you will need a Twitter account to do this). Go here to see your country’s Twitter SMS number.

Tweets with Twitpics

A popular way to embed photos into Twitter messages is with Twitpic. If a tweet that you send to Evernote contains a Twitpic URL, a thumbnail of the photo will show up in Evernote along with a link to the original image. Nice.

API developers take note: This integration now adds Twitter to the, ever-growing, list of ways to interact with Evernote, and by extension your apps. Think about it. There are tons of great possibilities.

How fast is it?

The speed with which your notes get into Evernote depends on how you send them and how bogged down Twitter happens to be at the time. Direct messages (DM) to myEN will almost always get into your Evernote account in a minute or two, while public @myEN replies can sometimes take 30 minutes. Either way, don’t worry, the tweets will be there by the time you need to remember them again.”

I yawned and went on with my life.

Nearly a month ago I walked in to our local Apple store with my family. We weren’t looking for anything in particular, just letting my kids fawn over the Mac hardware as we thought about buying a MacBook for my son before he heads off to college. I asked one of the Apple store employees if they had an iPad I could take a look at. He handed me an 8 x 6 inch card with a picture of one on it. The device was far thinner and lighter than I expected.

He then asked if I would like to reserve one.

Me: “No thanks”

Apple Employee: “There’s no commitment. It just means that we’ll have one here for you in case they sell out. That way you can come in on launch day and be assured you will have one.”

Me: “Uh, nah, thanks”

Wife: “Well, maybe you should sign up in case you really want it.”

My wife is usually the uber-frugal one when it comes to technology purchases. I’m the good cop, she’s the bad cop. She is the voice of reason when the “I WANT IT” klaxon sounds off. When she flashes the green light—which she clearly was doing—I jump before she reconsiders.

Seconds later I had a 16GB iPad reserved for April 3, 2010. Besides, there was no obligation, right?

Launch Day

The morning of April 3, 2010 passed without incident. I didn’t find myself in a line outside the Apple store, nor did I feel this overwhelming need to run out and buy an iPad. The impulse of signing up to reserve one didn’t translate into the action required to go out and get one. I read my news feeds, saw people writing about it and was mildly interested.

I was driving by my local Apple store—really, just happened to be in the area—when I decided to pull in and actually see an iPad in person. I walked past the abandoned rope line and cart full of water and cookies the Apple staff had put out to cater to line standers.

Inside the place was mobbed. There were people queued up to see the demo iPads several layers deep. I looked over people’s shoulders and watched them play with the iPad for a short while before I became impatient, went to the back of the store and asked that they sell me my reserved iPad. Within 10 minutes I was walking outside with my new iPad and an Apple case for it.

It all happened a lot faster than I expected. I blame my wife for not talking me out of getting one.

Using the iPad

There are hundreds—likely thousands—of reviews on the iPad already. I’ve found the vast majority of them very accurate and reasonably consistent on features and functionality. The bigger issue to me is, what role does the iPad really fill? Is it something you would find useful?

I’m on my computing devices all day. I have a large, dual monitor Mac Pro for software development. When I’m on the road I carry along a 15″ MacBook Pro. I also carry a 3GS iPhone. Between these three devices I had pretty much every need covered.

All of three days into owning an iPad I’ve found a niche for it that works great for me: information consumption. Here is how I’m using the iPad:

In the morning I flip open the case on the iPad, set it up at a slightly elevated angle and fire up e-mail while I eat breakfast. I rarely respond first thing in the morning; I just delete the useless e-mail and file away the informational stuff, which the e-mail client on the iPad is perfect for. When I’m in the office is when I actually respond unless it’s very trivial. I then fire up my iPad based Twitter client, currently Twitterrific. Since I follow lots of news oriented feeds I’m able to quickly scroll through items and catch up on the news. If I find a link to a story that I want to read I tap it and Twitterrific displays it in a windowed browser.

This is where the screen on the iPad comes in handy; it doesn’t feel at all cramped. Though I always marveled at my iPhone’s screen resolution, it suddenly feels highly constrained next to the iPad:

Could I use my MacBook Pro for this? Sure, I could. It just feels so bulky. Could I use my iPhone for this? Yep, sure can, though I trade in supreme portability for a tiny little screen.

The iPad has a super long battery life from what I can tell so far. I charged it to capacity on the initial sync and have been using it pretty heavily for the last 3 days, yet as of this moment it’s sitting at 25% capacity. It means that I’ve been treating it more like a book, leaving it out to be grabbed as I need it, not constantly tethered to a power supply like my MacBook Pro is.

As a result, I kept the iPad handy throughout the day, grabbing it when I wanted to quickly scan sports updates or read through news feeds. This is the ultimate lazy Sunday, information appliance I’ve ever seen.

I even fired up the iBooks application and—after playing around with some of the ancient free books available—bought a new title (The Pacific by Hugh Ambrose). Using the iPad as an e-book reader is very nice; the text is far more readable than on a Kindle, though I have only tried using it in shaded areas. I don’t see sitting on a sunny beach and reading on the iPad unless you have a large umbrella handy. Way too much glare.

Summing It Up

Whether an iPad is right for someone is obviously a very personal decision; will you use it enough to make it worth the investment from a cash and time perspective? On the want versus need scale an iPad falls far more into the want category. It is far easier to justify a laptop or smartphone than an iPad since they are accepted tools of modern information workers. Will the iPad become a tool of the modern information professional? Perhaps, though it’s not likely to happen with this initial version.

My experience three days in is that I am really enjoying my iPad and see that it has added a quality to some parts of my daily routine that were missing. I’m looking forward in the coming months to exploring the various applications available for the iPad as well; the few that I have played with have been very useable and take full advantage of the iPad user experience.

I’m really glad my wife talked me into getting one.

Thinking of getting an iPad? Not sure if it will work for what you want to do? Got one and using it in a unique way? Please add a comment below!

Visit DavidAlison.com

An initially unintended consequence of the digital photography revolution was that many digital sensors were very sensitive to infrared, to the point manufacturers put a filter over the sensor to block infrared light. With that filter removed and an infrared-passing filter put in its place, a new world was opened to digital photographers.

One of the main problems with doing infrared film photography was that there was no way to meter the level of infrared in a given scene. Exposure was a series of trials and errors (mostly errors for me). Many photographers bracketed exposures heavily, over and under exposing frames around what they thought was the proper exposure. There were a lot of other problems with infrared film that just made it difficult to work with. Handling was only in total darkness, the film was very heat sensitive, and it was very easy to fog the film.

I first became aware of digital infrared around the year 2000, at a workshop on Photoshop. The lecturer displayed a few images in their presentation that had been shot with a Minolta DiMage 7 camera. I was intrigued. I immediately bought a DiMage 7 and a deep infrared filter, and started on the road to digital infrared. One thing that immediately struck me was that I could see the infrared image – no more guessing if I got the exposure right. No more shooting six stop brackets to insure a good exposure. No more wondering how the scene will look – if the model’s clothing will render the way the eye sees it or not. Wow!

Fast forward 10 years. I’ve been shooting a converted Nikon D100 for over 5 years now. I had a showing in 2008 of my infrared work at Angelina College. The infrared world has been very good… but now, I wanted more. More megapixels, and with the now greater selection of infrared filters available for camera conversions, greater variance on infrared vs. visible light captured, and more color.

Yep, color. The only way previous to digital to do color, or “false color” infrared, was to shoot one of Kodak’s emulsions like Kodak EIR Ektachrome Infrared. Green plants turn shades of red, and Caucasian skin tones turn shades of yellow. Images with this film were stunning… but you still had the problems of difficulty in handling and exposure. With the current crop of sensors and filters, some rendering of color is found in the images captured.

I recently had a second camera converted to infrared by Isaac Szabo, a Fayetteville, Arkansas photographer (http://www.isaacszabophotography.com/). Isaac shoots a wide variety of photographic subjects, and does all of them well. His infrared work is great. I found him while doing an eBay search for “infrared conversion” – I was pleasantly surprised to see his price for a conversion. So after thinking about it for a few moments, I clicked “buy it now” and shipped Isaac my Nikon D200 body.

Not only did the camera get converted, but Isaac set the focus for the lens I supplied with the body. Infrared light focuses at a slightly different distance from the lens than visible light, so this can make some real difference.

My D200 came back converted in about 10 days. I opened the package and immediately shot an image through the window of my office. I was pleasantly surprised to find that at ISO 100, I was able to get a hand-holdable shutter speed. Surprised because my converted D100 would have had to be on ISO 400 or ISO 800 to get the same image. I took the camera to lunch that day (it didn’t eat much…) and shot a palm tree in front of a restaurant… and was again pleasantly surprised. There were shades of color in the obviously infrared image. Back at the studio, I opened the image in Photoshop, and ran Isaac’s action (I forgot to mention that Isaac provides this action and instructions to customers who purchase a conversion) to switch the red and blue channels. The result was stunning… blue sky in an infrared image.

If this sounds like it is for you, check out eBay… do a search for “infrared conversion” and look for the infrared photo of the lone tree  – the auction will be titled “Infrared IR Conversion Service for Digital Cameras” and is currently priced at $200.  (or click on the image of the ebay listing)

And, look for a follow-up article in a few weeks – I plan on shooting my newly converted D200 heavily on an upcoming trip to Mexico.