Memorial Day Parade:

Princeton, NJ, May 29, 2010

World’s preppiest dog:

Fireworks for Princeton University’s Reunions:

Kayaking, May 30th, enjoying the late afternoon sun:

Carnegie Lake, Princeton, NJ, May 30, 2010

Delaware & Raritan Canal, May 31st, Isabel goes solo:

Stills and video, Apple iPhone and Canon G10.

As I continue to shoot with both of these lenses neither disappoints. Neither has needed an AF microadjustment and both lock focus quickly and accurately.

I first mentioned the Canon 24mm f/2.8L II and the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II in the KGB post last week. A few days after the KGB assignment I was shooting for a private secondary school, creating marketing images for their print and online use. Acting in fly-on-the-wall mode both lenses saw a lot of use.

The 24mm f/2.8L II

Canon 24mm f/1.4L II; f/4 @ 1/60, ISO 800, full-frame (click to enlarge)

100% Crop, focus point in the camera was on her eyelid, toward her nose.

70-200mm f/2.8L IS II

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II; f/4 @ 1/1000, ISO 400, slight crop (click for full-frame)

100% Crop, focus point in the camera was to the left, just outside of the frame.

The 70-200 is the biggest surprise. The prior generation lens was very good but the new lens follow-focuses really well (AI Servo mode on a Canon.) It’s the first time since shooting with a Nikon F5 (on film and with a telephoto zoom, mid to late-90′s) that I feel I have an equivalent setup in terms of its ability to follow a moving subject.

A week ago Friday I was at the KGB Bar on East 4th in NYC to photograph writers reading from their works. The light in the bar was as low as low can get. Not wanting to disturb the activity with a flash, I had the bartender turn all the fixtures up full. This provided the bare minimum of light needed to work (ISO 3200, the limit on my Canon 1Ds Mark III’s.)

85mm f/1.2L II, f/1.2 @ 1/60

85mm f/1.2L II, f/1.2 @ 1/60

85mm f/1.2L II, f/1.2 @ 1/60

As fun as it is to be a fly on the wall with the 85mm f/1.2 II lens, it was a blast to continue to push the new 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II and the new 24mm f/1.4 II lenses to their limits.

70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, 135mm and f/2.8 @ 1/10

70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, 100mm and f/2.8 @ 1/8

70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, 150mm and f/2.8 @ 1/40

70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, 70mm and f/2.8 @ 1/10

Probably not a big surprise but there was more light on the street at 9pm than in the bar. These images are at ISO 1600.

24mm f/1.4L II, f/1.8 @ 1/40

70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, 70mm and f/2.8 @ 1/15

Both lenses are great improvements over their predecessors. The 24mm f/1.4 II is just shy of the new 24mm TSE II lens in terms of quality. It has little to no chromatic aberration, less distortion, and is noticeably sharper overall. Wide open it has none of the fuzzy hazy dreamy look common to Canon’s older f/1.4 lenses.

The 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II builds on the previous generation (a very good lens in its own right) and kicks it up a few notches. It’s sharper, focuses faster, and as seen above, it extends the IS range. Getting sharp images at 1/8 second with the new lens is very easy. The old model lens was about 2/3 stop more limited, with it 1/15 second handheld was my limit.

The new 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II is also a more consistent focuser than the old version. My copy of the old version would often have trouble with vertical images. It was not uncommon to get a vertical sequence which would miss focus when a horizontal sequence of the same subject was fine. I have yet to have this occur with the new lens in three weeks of shooting.

I assume the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II and the 24mm f/1.4 II both have Canon’s new lens coatings, similar to the 24mm TSE II and 17mm TSE. I don’t know how they work but work they do. Combined with the lower distortion, images from the new lenses feel crisper and more three dimensional.

All of the images above were processed in Aperture 3 with no noise reduction and only a touch of sharpening added to the sized-down jpegs.

The second web site update of the day is the addition of a new people gallery, highlighting portraits and projects completed over the past few months.

NYU Gallatin School, homepage banner portrait.

Artist, Mike Glier. Williams College Life of the Mind series.

NYU Gallatin School, one-on-one art critique.

The new Portraits – Recent gallery.

Actor Corey Haim passed away a couple of days ago. Best known in his child-actor days for the movie The Lost Boys and for being interlinked with fellow actor Corey Feldman. They earned the nickname, the two Coreys, and it followed them into adulthood.

I photographed the two Coreys in 1987, a few months after The Lost Boys premiered. I was working with a publicist doing PR photos for a nightclub, the Tunnel. It was the first client I had acquired on my own and my first assignment for them.

The two Coreys were 15 and 16, out partying and checking in on a fashion show at the Tunnel.

Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and models. The Tunnel, New York City, 1987.

Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and models. Andre Van Pier Fashion Show, 1987.

I don’t know what they went on to do that night. I called it quits at about 1am but was asked to run the film to the NY Post immediately. I eagerly obliged my new client, happy at the prospect of a published picture but not knowing that the Post was at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge and that the photo editor wasn’t due in until 7am.

*Miles Davis at the Tunnel: Re-Birth of the Cool.

or… The Icicle Thief.

The Icicle

The Knight

The Battle

The Unicorn

The Narwhal

The Level

The End

The Red Coat blog post.

Team Fordham wins the Partriot League, 11/17/07.

The ’09 to ’10 jump has been a time of teams. If you have teenage girls in the house then late this fall it was Team Edward or Team Jacob. Apparently, Team Jacob ruled the roost but considering that I couldn’t even make it through the first movie, it was well off of my radar.

Lately, in the press it’s been a battle between Team Jay and Team Conan, pushing Team Tiger vs. Team Common Sense out of the news. None of this, of course, matters in the scheme of things. Looking at world events in the past week there is one team everyone should be on – Team Haiti.

Fortunately, there are many ways to help and be a part of Team Haiti. These are but a few:

American Red Cross or text “HAITI” on your cel phone to donate $10. You can also donate to the ARC in Apple’s iTunes store.

Yele Haiti – Musician Wyclef Jean’s Foundation, or text “YELE” to donate $5 via your cel phone.

American Jewish World Service – AJWS provides support to native NGO’s. They have long-standing partnerships with grassroots organizations in Haiti.

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund – formed at the request of President Obama and led by past-Presidents Clinton and Bush.

Community Coalition for Haiti – a faith based NGO, based in Virginia, which has been working in Haiti providing medical care and building schools for many years. My friend, Cameron Davidson, is on their board. For more information Cameron has posted a few recent entries on his blog.

I thought the red coat was a bad choice. It looked great but it looked to be too light weight. I was sure it wouldn’t be warm enough. I was sure we would end up having to buy another new winter coat along with it and this second coat, bought out of parental pragmatism, would never get worn.

But I was one lone male voice in a house full of females. A voice after the fact since the red coat had already been purchased. And what did I know?

I think one of my New Year’s resolutions should be to be less practical.