Mark Knopfler, Philadelphia, PA, 07/26/08

The Roemer Three-Concert Summer Series wrapped this past Saturday with Mark Knopfler at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia.  The concert was great as one would expect.  What struck me was the spareness of Mark’s playing style. For most of the night you could barely see him pick and any strumming was minimal.

I grew up with Dire Straits, their rise pretty much in line with my high school years.  I also own a few of Mark’s solo albums.  It never occurred to me how much of Mark’s playing is on top of everything else.  It reminded me of B.B. King.  There’s a scene in Rattle and Hum where B.B. tells Bono that he’s horrible with chords, he can only play the melody.  Mark can do whatever he wants but it’s almost all melody in a concert situation like this.

Highlights included Romeo and Juliet, Speedway at Nazareth and True Love Will Never Fade off of Mark’s most recent album, Kill to Get Crimson.  Two surprises in the band was one musician who played a number of songs with the ukulele and one who was playing acoustic electric sitar in a guitar style.

Okay kids, you listening?  Sit down, listen carefully, yes, that’s correct – you might want to take notes.  You know how you have your website and ever since you got that iPhone last year you’ve known that it’s not compatible.  Right? How, if you surf to your site on the phone, your very own site, the home page appears but none of the drop-down menu items function, none of the roll-over links work.  Sure someone can get to your contact page but they’ll probably never try because they’re so frustrated with the rest of your site not working. Maybe your buttons are too small?  It could happen, trust me, it could.  Heck, some of you may even have a Flash site and then you’re just plum out of luck.

And then that new iPhone comes out and now two-to-three-to-four-to-five times as many people have the phone and you’re picturing an art director or an art buyer or someone in need of a photographer searching on their phone while they commute or they’re in a bind and the phone’s at hand so why not use it?…

Well, on Friday after lots of on and off searching I found the answer, that bit of Javascript which like manna from heaven will solve the problem.  It’s simple, it’s only two lines of code plus one character.  Who knew?  Right?  I sure didn’t.

Now, I’m going to give you some help, get you started, but… and this is a big BUT, there are some disclaimers.  I’ve put them in fine print to make them legal:

I’m not a coding whiz.  I don’t know Javascript.  I take what I find and make it work.  I know nothing so anything you do is at your own risk.  I can’t tell you if your site will crash, if gas will go up to $5/gallon, if your hair will fall out, if objects truly are closer than they appear. IOW, you’re on your own.

The little bit of code is this:

That’s it?!  It’s a bit of Javascript, it needs to go into the header on your home page.  All it’s doing is saying, “Whoa, you’re looking at this web site with an iPhone so I’m going to send you over here instead, to an ever so special site that I made just for you.”  The “here” is the address in the code, “http://www.yoursite.com/newfolder”, and you need to customize this.  Don’t forget!  It’s mucho important. It can be a link within your site’s folders instead of a full URL as above.

Beyond this I’m going to leave you to your own devices (not intended but I’ll take the pun).  The Javascript code came from here.  You’ll need to create a site for the iphone in its own folder and for that html works just fine.  Look here for more information on html for the iphone, screen sizing, defaults and linking code for email and calling.  Calling?  Yes, imagine that… someone can view your site on the iPhone, tap your phone number on the contact page and call you, automatically.  They don’t even have to enter the number.  Cool beans.

My regular home page:

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It’s almost August and time for an annual rite of passage for photographers.  Communication Arts magazine publishes its Photography Annual.  Mine arrived this afternoon.  No… I’m not in it.  I was in it, way back when in 1996 with two images, but it’s been a bit of dry spell since then.  I know, most photographers use their blogs to brag and preen and, well, I admit it, I’m not in it.

Not getting into the annual always makes me think of the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld.  Step out of line, say the wrong thing, take too long, ask too many questions or look the wrong way and you’re out of luck.  No soup for you!  Try as I might it’s been no CA for me since ’96.

Now that I have a blog I can publish my own images.  Here’s Jon’s Photography Annual for 2008, a few images that I submitted to CA that didn’t make the cut:

Category: Unpublished
Photographer: Jon Roemer
Client: New Jersey Monthly
Subject/Use: Ed Whitten; a leading researcher in superstring theory.

Category: Institutional
Photographer: Jon Roemer
Client: Princeton University
Subject/Use: Book commemorating dedication of Whitman College.

Category: Unpublished
Photographer: Jon Roemer
Client: Self
Subject/Use: Personal Work, Maine Landscape.

So, there you go.  Here’s looking to next year.  It’ll be the CA Photography Annual’s 50th Anniversary. Sounds like a nice issue to be in…

I managed to get an iPhone 3G yesterday, upgrading from the original iPhone. What’s the best way to get one without waiting online for hours?  Just call your local Apple Store and see if they’ve gotten in fresh stock that day.  Apple has a web page that will tell you which stores have stock for the next day (you have to access the page after 9pm) but it only gives a snapshot of the inventory that night.  So, calling the store during the day is the most direct way to go.  When I called the Apple Store in Bridgewater, NJ they had just received their delivery, all of the models, and they had no one waiting in line.  I got there an hour or so later and a short line had formed (about seven people) but my wait was only 25 minutes.

How is the phone?

The phone is great.  No, it’s not a huge difference from the first model but there are some new features plus subtle differences that are worth it in my book.

3G

3G is nice and significantly faster.  DSL Reports has a test page setup for the iPhone.  Over 3G I get 758 kbps and over the Edge network I get 100 kbps. The difference is obvious when surfing using the iPhone’s web browser.  The 3G network is now fast enough to hear streaming music.  I’m a big fan of the Internet station Radio Paradise.  They have updated their web site so that you can access the music stream when you visit the site from your iPhone.  Very cool.

GPS

GPS is in the new iPhone and for the moment it is a bit of a novelty.  You can see yourself moving along a Google Map.  I look forward to some full fledged GPS navigation programs coming out and to using the GPS function within other third-party apps (like MyWeather Mobile and GoSkyWatch).

Shape

The new iPhone has a curved back and more tapered edges.  Again, not a huge change but it’s well designed and feels comfortable.

Screen

The screen on the iPhone 3G is noticeably better.  It’s slightly warmer and slightly sharper.  Photos are reproduced more accurately and the color gamut is improved.  The old screen showed some posterization and the new screen has none visible.  I’ve read that it’s actually the same screen as the original iPhone. If that’s the case then Apple created a much better display profile for the new phone.

In the Car

This is the first issue I’ve found with iPhone 3G and apparently it’s very common. I have a third-party interface from USA SPEC that allows me to play the phone through my car’s stereo system.  It makes the car think the phone or an iPod is a CD Changer.  It’s always worked well, the music sounds great and it charges the phone or iPod at the same time.

With the iPhone 3G the music still plays but the phone no longer charges.  The culprit is the iPhone/iPod connector used by many of these manufacturers.  The connector has 30 pins inside, each pin has a job to do.  Some pins are reserved for power over firewire, some for power over USB.  The iPhone 3G can only get power over USB where the first generation iPhone could get power over either. So, if the connector is only providing power via the firewire pins then the new phone will not charge.  The good news is that USA SPEC has told me they are working on a new cable (should be about 6 weeks) and one of the editors at MacWorld posted on a forum that he expects to see adapters as well which will shift the power from the firewire pins to the USB pins.  There is no word on when those adapters will come or from whom.

With Apple’s release of iPhone software v2.0 you can add third-party applications to the iPhone (1st Gen. and 3G).  Apps can be purchased via the App Store on your phone or through the App Store on iTunes. Prices range from free to about $70 with most being under $20.  While there are many frivolous apps available there are a few that look to be useful for photographers. Here’s one.

MyWeather

Getting updated weather forecasts while planning an assignment or on location is always helpful.  While forecasts beyond 4-5-6 days are rarely accurate, hourly forecasts for next twelve hours and a bit beyond are usually very good.  Current radar, too, as localized as possible, can be integral to an assignment.

The iPhone has always had a weather app on it but it’s rudimentary, giving a six-day icon based forecast.  Linking from it takes you to a Yahoo! search page full of ads and other noise.  The Weather Channel has a Mobile Version, a phone optimized web page, that is a bit better.  It has forecasts with more information (current, hourly, 36 hour and 10 day) and it has a radar map but the map cannot zoom in enough to be useful.  I’m in central New Jersey and the zoomed in view contains almost all of the state. The maps you see via the phone also do not match the sample Weather.com gives in its iPhone Widget description.

Enter MyWeather Mobile.

MyWeather gives a forecast based on your current location and you can add additional locations.  There is a six day forecast and a twelve hour trend forecast.

The trend options include Temperature & Sky, Precipitation and Wind Speed & Direction.  And then there’s Radar:

The radar screen is initially very small, about one-third of the phone’s screen, but if you turn your phone…

You get a full screen view.  I’ve currently got no storms near me so here’s a storm enveloping Chicago. MyWeather can zoom in or out using the normal iPhone controls (tapping, pinching, etc.)  I’m working with a first generation iPhone and the program works well enough even when I’m limited to the Edge network.

In a future update I’d like to see the “Trend” forecast expanded from twelve hours to twenty-four or thirty-six hours – with that change this app would be perfect.

MyWeather is $14.99 and well worth it just for the radar.  It’s got a very clean interface, intuitive buttons and no ads anywhere in sight.

–

7/22/08 – MyWeather has been updated to v1.0.2 adding radar animation, increased map zooming, easier searching and the overall forecast has been increased from six to seven days.

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Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, Philadelphia, PA, 07/12/08

My apologies for the poor photo, I debated posting it, but the concert was so truly amazing it overrides any photo.  Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on what Plant termed the “Raising Sand Revue” backed up by extraordinary musicians.

The concert took their Raising Sand material and kicked it up 5-6-7…10 (?) notches for the live show adding some of Led Zeppelin’s and Plant’s solo material along the way.  Krauss with her ethereal voice, it seems to come out of her small frame with no effort at all, and Plant’s “God of Rock” earthiness. The concert was loud, loud, loud and it was perfect.  Early on they sang Led Zeppelin’s classic “Black Dog” backed up by banjo, acoustic bass and guitar.  Led Zeppelin with lead banjo?  It worked.  Plant egged the crowd on to fill in the “ah’s” in between his and Alison’s harmonies.  Everyone jumped in and stayed there the whole night long.

Princeton Battlefield, July 5th, 2008

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It’s no secret that the Canon 1Ds Mark III with its 21mp sensor challenges wide angle lenses.  It’s no secret too that Canon does not have the best reputation when it comes to wide angle lenses.  I don’t know how deserved that rep is.  I shot with Nikon for close to 15 years ending the run with the D1 and then the D1x.  I ran into some of the same issues with Nikon wides that I see now with some of the Canon wides.

When I switched to Canon it was to the 1Ds and then the 1Ds Mark II.  With both cameras, I used the Canon 16-35 f2.8 L lens and it worked very well.  On architecture assignments I would use all three of Canon’s tilt/shift lenses and if I had to go wider than 24mm the 16-35 was used.  Stopped down, it worked fine even on the widest end of the zoom range.  Then the 1Ds Mark III came along… With it I found my 16-35 was very soft and mushy, almost smeared looking, in the corners; an effect that never completely dissipated as I stopped down or zoomed in. What to do?

Options within Canon include the 16-35 Mark II lens (a new version of the lens mentioned above) and the Canon 14mm Mark II lens.  Outside of Canon people rave about the vintage Contax 21mm lens, the Nikon 14-24 zoom lens and Zeiss has just announced a new 18mm lens (Nikon Mount).  The non-Canon lenses would all require adapters to be mated to the Canon body.

I did my research and quickly came to the conclusion that the vintage Contax 21mm and the Nikon 14-24 were not options I wanted to pursue.  The Contax 21mm is no longer made and it runs close to $3000 used. Samples I’ve seen from it are promising but it suffers from mustache shaped distortion along the top of the frame.  While this might be acceptable in landscape photography it would be an issue in architecture photography.  It’s also prone to significant flare. Given that the only way to test it would be buy it used and then have to re-sell it if I didn’t like it – it was too risky.

The new Nikon 14-24 I viewed as too risky as well.  It’s a Nikon “G” lens so it has no aperture ring. There is one web site that reviews and compares many of these lenses, 16-9.net, and they make a Nikon G to Canon adapter.  Many buyers have waited months to get the adapters from 16-9 and I’ve seen no independent review as to the build quality of the adapter.  It may be fine and the adapters may be shipping now but again, in my view, too risky for professional use.  Looking at the Nikon 14-24, which has garnered praise across the board, it’s a very different beast from the Canon 16-35 Mark II and the Canon 14 Mark II lenses.  It’s large and has a bulbous front element typical of fish-eye lenses from days gone by. Lastly, I didn’t see a big difference between the Nikon 14-24 and the Canon 14 Mark II in 16-9.net’s tests when both lenses are stopped down.

The Canon 14mm f2.8 Mark II Lens

In use this Canon lens has proven to be a stellar performer.  It’s extremely sharp, has very little distortion and little chromatic aberration.  I find that I rarely need to correct for chromatic aberration.  The lens is also small, compact and solid. It’s a very nice lens to shoot with.  In testing the focus accuracy, I found that it needed no microadjustment in the Canon 1Ds Mark III body. In a way, its only problem is that it’s a 14mm lens. Useful when you need very very wide but the gap between 14mm and 24mm is huge.  At first I thought I might use the 14mm and crop in to equal 18mm-21mm but I just don’t shoot that way.

The Canon 16-35 f2.8 Mark II Lens

This lens is interesting.  It is better than the Mark I version but I’ve found that it does have its limits on the 1Ds Mark III.  You need to test and then stay within those limits.  I determined the lens did need a microadjustment in the Canon 1Ds Mark III body of +7.  This was the case on both my camera bodies. The adjustment helped noticeably with the overall sharpness of the lens.  I also found that the lens was still wanting from 16mm~19mm especially when shooting architecture. It improves as you zoom in and from 20mm on it performs quite nicely.

So, when shooting architecture and needing to use a lens wider than 24mm the 16-35 Mark II is now my 20mm lens and if I need to go even wider I use the 14mm Mark II lens.

My hope is that Canon will come out with a new prime lens in the 18mm-21mm range of the same quality as the 14mm Mark II lens.  It’s a gap in their line up they need to fill.  It would also be great to see an updated version of the 24mm Tilt/shift lens.  The current lens is an older design, it does just fine even on the 1Ds Mark III, but it’s never been the sharpest lens in the world.  It’s got room for improvement.

Mentioned above, Zeiss has announced a new 18mm lens in the Nikon mount. It’s not a Nikon G type lens.  If this lens proves to be worthy then it could easily be mounted on a Canon body and it could fill the gap between 14mm and 24mm, especially if Canon offers no new prime in that range.

I’ve already posted a few photos from the 14mm Mark II lens on the blog.  My web site now has bigger versions of two of those images:

http://www.jonroemer.com/arch_recent/arch_rec07.html

http://www.jonroemer.com/arch_recent/arch_rec13.html

An image shot with the 16-35 Mark II lens at 20mm on the 1Ds Mark III:

An image shot with the 16-35 Mark II lens at 21mm on the 1Ds Mark III:

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