Fuji Finepix HS10 Megazoom - Mega Great, Almost...

I scoured the web for days, reading every snipit of information and rumor I could find about this new Megazoom digital camera from Fuji, The Finepix HS10, waiting for the the much anticipated package to arrive at my doorstep.  My senses tingled at the thought of powering up this 30x zoom,(24-720mm 35mm equivelent), 10.3 mega pixel monster and zeroing in on some unsuspecting wildlife, and capturing its image in all its closeup splendor. Having the capability to take clandesine images of my buddies making drunken fools of themselves in a dimly lit bar by way of Fuji's CMOS backlit image sensor's super high sensitivity, (ISO 100-6400).  I couldn't wait to visit the local beach to capture the "money shot" of a surfer cathching air above a perfectly formed wave, using the HS10's 10fps burst rate. These things will have to wait for another time. But I did get to put this baby for a pretty thourough test drive. But first...

ThesThis is just a small sampling of the capabilities Fuji promises in this top-of-the-line, prosumer bridge camera just unleashed in the US.

  Some of the other feature include:

• 1080p HD movie capture, with stereo sound from twin built in mics
• Voice data recording
• Triple image stabilization
• High Speed movie capture of up to 1000fps for incredible ultra slow motion playback
• Strobe effect capture which stacks cosecutive images into one photo
• 3' articulating rear LCD screen
• An electronic viewfinder(EVF) that automatically swithces on when you put your eye up to it.
• In camera 180% panorama image capture
• Full auto and maual shooting modes
• Jpeg and Raw file formats
• Manual zoom with manual focus capability
• and more I'm sure I've forgotten to mention.

  Now that I've had a couple of days to get to know this camera, I can say that for the most part, it lives up to the hype. For the most part. As expected, the build qiality of this, Fuji's flagship oferring is quite good. It looks and feels for all intents and purposes like a prosumer DSLR, both in its size, shape and layout. It feels comfortable in the hand and all the controls are well  placed . The rear LCD screen is bright , but with only 230,00 dpi it's not the crispest I've seen. Lens zooming is performed just like on most DSLR lenses, via a rubberized ring on the lens barrel.  The lens extends about 3' at its full telephoto end, and is threaded to accept 58mm filters. The lens barrel does not spin when zooming or focusing which is nice if you plan to use a circular polorizing filter. The focus ring, used when switched to manual focus is easy to use, if not somewhat thin and butted right up against the camera body.

 Auto exposure and Auto focus settings are accessed through buttons aligned virtically on the left side of the rear LCD screen and  controled via a multi-function dial on the top right  of the body, next to the shooting mode dial and is easily controlled with the thumb of the right hand. All information is visible either on the rear LCD screen or in the EVF.

 I like the fact that the camera offers full manual control over both exposure and focus. You have complete access to shutter speed and aperture control, as well as spot, center or area metering. I did have a problem with one feature that I ended up just turning off, and that was the "focus check" feature. In manual focus mode, with focus check "on", the camera superimposes a magnified square in the center of the viewer, supposedly to assist in telling if the image is in focus. For me it just made the image in the viewfinder confusing and a somewaht better option is a horizontal bar in the viewer, that when matched up with a virtical line lets you know the  object in the crosshairs is in focus. I had good success using this method when in MF mode.

Auto focus is quick and an auto illumination assits light helps in low light situation. The auto focus did have a problem when trying to focus on an object that is either in front of or behind other objects, where there is not much contrast between them. I tried without success to use AF to focus on birds in trees where there was foliage behind or in front of them. This is also somtimes a problem for my Pro DSLR's too, but it seemed to be more of a problem with the HS10. I had to switch to manual focus often and it caused me to miss a shot on more than one occasion.

 Shutter lag time is minimal, less than a second, but shot to shot time can be as much as 3 or more seconds. This can be overcome by using the high speed burst mode for critical situation. You can fire off  7 frames a t10fps. The camera takes a few seconds to process these then you can shoot another burst.

  Low light shooting results were mixed in my opinion. I took some images of flowers in a botanical garden in RAW and processed them through Fuji's Silkypix propietary raw converter and I was not that impressed.  They looked overly processed , but I must admit, the software was rather unintuitive and I may have been responsible for the overprocessing. I tried it with no processing, just a straight conversion and it looked even noisier than the unconverted RAW file. Shooting in JPEG using high ISO settings seemed to give better results.  I shot four images at ISO 3200, 1600, 800 and 400 and they were all easily cleaned up with Nik Software's Define 2.0 and Topaz Denoise 3.

  HD 1080p, Movies are crisp and have good color and the stereo sound is reasonably good.I found that the image stabilization causes the image to jump when panning, so I turned it off and was able to shoot smoothe clean video. It would have been nice if Fuji incuded an input for an  external mic, but then again that's just more to carry and that's part of the benefit of the 30x zoom lens; not having to carry a bag full of  kit.

 With good, but not great image quality, decent low light capabilities, and a full feature set, I guess that maybe my expectations were that with Fuji's excelent lens design and cutting edge tech, this just might be the camera that would bridge the gap between consumer grade DSLR's and top level compact digital cameras like the Canon G11 and the Nikon Coolpix P6000. It's close, but it's not quite there yet. Is it worth the nearly $500.00 price tag. I think so. If for nothing else, but the convinience of having a full bag of tricks in a small easy to handle package.

For sample images Click on the article headline.

Red Bull Air Races in San Diego. Is this the end of a Beautiful Relationship?

For the Past three years, San Diego has been host to one leg of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship Series. This has been a great opportunity for the city to show the world all that makes us, "America's Finest City". This year, the series has been pared down from ten to just six races. For this reason, competition to be a host venue is much fiercer than it's been in the past. In an article by Brian Flores for FOX 5 San Diego, on May 10th, 2009, he notes that, race officials usually contract with a location for two to three years. According to Red Bull Air Race marketing director, Adriaan Thierry, race officials will be meeting with both the City of San Diego and the Port of San Diego to discuss a possible return in 2010. Other cities vying for the Race include San Fransisco.
I feel that if San Diego hopes to continue to be considered as the sole U.S. venue to host this event, the Navy and the local aviation community need to show their support by offering to put on a much more spectacular pre-show than was displayed at this years event. In past years the Navy had a number of jet flyovers as well as the Navy's precision sky diving team and rescue teams. Also included was a display of Vintage Aircraft flying overhead. This year there was a helicopter flying the American Flag, a single F-18 jet-fighter, two rescue team helicopters, and a single vintage airplane. These entities need to step up and show that they support San Diego in its effort to continue to host this world class event, at least for one more year.

Community Garden has people Returning to Their Roots.

Nestled in the extreme Southwestern corner of San Diego, between Horse ranches and dusty roads is a place that has, for the past five years or so, been helping people return to their roots. The Tijuana River Valley Regional Park Community Garden offers the area's "city folks", a plot of land to cultivate their, inner farmer. Let's face it, not many generations past, most of our ancestors grew their food either on large commercial farms or in small family gardens.
Sponsored by the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County, County Parks and Recreation, and the County of San Diego Farm and Home Adviser, the 136 garden plots are leased to area residents on a yearly basis and the the County maintains fences around each plot as well as furnishing water.
Usually by this time of year, these gardens would be flush with gourds of every size and color imaginable, new tomatoes growing heavy on the vine, cucumbers, artichoke, corn and other not so familiar fruits and vegetables. Flooding from heavy rains last December caused major property damage and loss of animals in the Valley and contaminated the plants and soil of the Garden. One of the original tenants of the garden, Howard Rambau, said that aside from planting late due to the flood, he had to remove a layer of contaminated sediment that covered everything. He pointed to piles of dirt outside his plot, indicating how much sludge had to be removed to get back to clean dirt. But things are starting to grow again and the prospect of a decent harvest in a few months has Howard talking about what he will be planting next. He's been checking local nurseries, looking for a particular variety of squash. According to Mel Partido, a retired Navy Chief Petty officer, who has been working the land here in the garden for a number of years, Howard grows some of the best dark green Cucumbers around. Mel grows beans and other vegetables in his garden, which he uses in preparing Filipino dishes. They both talk about how the gardeners here share their bounty with the community, not letting anything go to waste. But as I walk around I see many plots overgrown with weeds or just bare dirt. It seems the prospect of removing the contaminated sludge and starting over is just too much for some. Concerns about more flooding in the future may have others taking a wait and see position, hoping that by the next planting season the soil will be ready to accept the seed of what they hope will be the next homegrown harvest.

Healing Arts Hanging

The healing arts, Chiropractic, Massage therapy, Hypnosis, and Photography? The PhotoArts Group is exhibiting members photographs at the Chiropractic Rehabilitation Wellness Center in Vista, CA. The idea is that each photographer express the idea of healing, wellness and tranquility, using art to assist in the healing process. Examples of subject matter are wide ranging and include many different aspects of nature, such as waterfalls, desert sunsets, spirituality of ancient temple ruins, idyllic farm scenes, and much more.
Photography, as a hobby, is often considered to have therapeutic value as it simulates both mind and senses. For the viewer the value is just as important. Soothing images can assist in relaxing the viewer, which helps add to the healing process. For more information Click here.

Sharing a Moment of Hope

Today was a day of new beginnings. A shared moment of hope and a moment of reflection. As we witness history being made, with the inauguration of our 44th President, who also happens to be he first African American to attain that office, so to are countless images of that history being transmitted around the globe via the World Wide Web. Youngsters in ram shackled school houses in Kenya, A nomad family in a Yurt in Mongolia, all viewing history in he making on notebook computers with satellite internet connections. Our world is shrinking and millions of people with digital cameras are helping to make it smaller yet. The ability to upload an image taken on the National Mall in Washington D.C., to a computer in the U.S. and have it available for viewing by someone on he other side of he planet almost instantly is changing the concept of community.
Just imagine if a child growing up on a farm in Nebraska uploads images of his or her experience attending the inauguration to an image sharing website, and a child in Gaza sees it and for the first time see Americans in celebration and not as they are portrayed on Al Jazeera TV. Multiply that experience by hundreds of thousands or even millions, with the sharing going in both directions and you will have a generation of people growing up with a connection to one another. Just maybe that connection will make it harder for them to perpetrate acts of war on each other. The adage,"A picture is worth a thousand words", sould be updated to, "A picture can change a thousand minds".

Marketing your Photography Business in the New Economy

Marketing has always been the bane of the artist. For many, it is the part of the business of photography we like the least. Let's face it, most photographers are not the greatest business people. But in today's economy being business savvy is essential if you hope to survive. There are many factors that affect the success of a small business and in the case of the photography business one of the most significant factors is the ability to know your market. One of the difficulties in this quest is that during tough economic time, your market's priorities may change, and marketing strategies that were successful a year or six months ago, may no longer bring the results they once did.
Knowing your market will make adjusting those strategies work to keep you in line with your customers needs.One place you may find as a great source of information, as well as being a great marketing tool, is by getting involved in community activities such as youth sports, local religious groups, and other local charitable organizations. By getting involved with the community you serve, you will get to know the people and they you. By offering to do some pro bono work for these group, you will essentially be advertising your product to them. Surely, if they like what they see, when they have he need for a photographer, yours will be the first name they think of.
During tough times, when both families and businesses are feeling the need to cut back on non essential expenses, it is important that we not panic and think the only way to survive is to lower our prices as a strategy to entice customers, it is actually more important to educate the customer on the value of our product. We have to find ways to differentiate our product and service from what they can get from Sears or Walmart.
This is where "branding" becomes an important part of our business. The term branding refers to making use of a style that sets you apart and conveys a sense of professionalism. Designing a logo for your business is a good place to start your branding. There are professional designers who can help with this as well as software design programs for those "do it yourselfers". Your Logo will represent you to your current and prospective clients, so you will want to spend some quality time with this project. Your Logo should be used on all correspondences, web sites, business cards and wherever you would use your business name. The more the public sees your logo associated with the quality work you produce, the better the chance they will think of your business when it comes time for them to choose a photographer.
So take some time to think about how you can better educate yourself about the changing needs of your customers and how you can educate them as to the benefits of your product vs. the Big Box Stores offerings. Take pride in your work, offer the best product you can and believe in yourself. Keep on top of market trends and you will have the tools needed to be competitive in today's troubled economy.

An Unhappy New Year for the Tijuana River Valley

An unhappy update to the previous entry. The December, 2008 storms that rolled across San Diego County, caused a levee on the Tijuana River, just inside the U.S. border with Mexico, to give way, causing extensive flooding of the Tijuana River Valley and ruining hundreds of acres of wildlife habitat, farm land and recreational areas. Although this area has flooded in the past, changes made to the area by man made development has altered the natural flow of water across the flood plain causing more damage than would have otherwise occurred. It took years for the area to fully recover from the last major flooding in the late 1980's. Although not a s severe as those floods, who knows how long it will take this time.