If you aren't Happy
Which Dwarf Are You?

Got my new Canon 5D Mark II camera, and took some pictures at a party in a dark restaurant. ISO 6400, F/4.0, at a mix of 1/10s, 1/20s, & 1/30s, handheld, 105mm except the wide shot, 24mm. Lenses with Image Stabilization are a good thing. The real reason people hold birthday parties: Never leave out the party organier:

The moon is pretty big and pretty bright tonight, and I'm supposed to practice focusing my new telescope. ISO 100, 1/100s, and the telescope naturally provides f/8. On the canon XTi, the 500mm lens acts like an 800mm. The camera shoots 3888x2592. This image is 1778x1778. Ignoring the wasted sky outside the central square, cropping doubled the apparent size of the moon. Clearly, I'm not finished practicing, that focus needs to be sharper. Still, an interesting addition to the collection, especially considering the price. Of course you have to count that against the time you spend doing multiple takes, trying to get the focus right. Let's rate that at just $20/hr ... it adds up.

I came across a store selling telescopes as camera lenses. It's reflector telescope designed to be used with cameras. Doesn't have an eyepiece, doesn't attach to a tripod. Does attach to a camera, does have a focus adjustment, marked with distances. Looks like this: A Canon 300mm lens is $4000 US, that's f/4, IS Image Stabilization, USM focus motor. A Canon 500mm lens is $5700, an 800mm lens is $11,000. That's more than my motorcycle! My lens cost me $135, including shipping and border fees. At that price, you sacrifice a few incidentals, such as IS Image Stabilization. You don't get a focus motor, you have to focus manually. You don't even get an aperture, to reduce the light you have neutral density filters which cut the light be 2 and 4 f-stops. No, the filters don't go on the front, you have to take the lens off the camera and fit them on the rear. As for the focus, you have to get it dead right. At a distance of 12 feet, you get a depth-of-field of

The US organization Military Families Speak Out opposes George's war. MFSO raises awareness of their existence and the possibility of opposition using toy soldiers tagged with their URL . Since Canada hosts a number of AWOL and other military resistors, I thought MFSO needed some Canadian content. The Charge on the Skating Rink, Toronto City Hall MFSO take on the Blue Jays The Tower Tour

October 4 Was Nuit Blanche, an overnight art event organized by the City of Toronto. I was assigned to document some of the sites. A couple of the sites lent themselves to particularly interesting photographs ... But my favourite wasn't an art event at all, but a guy who put glowtubes all over his bicycle.