Kodak

Kodak has filed for bankruptcy protection. From what I've read all over the internet, employees and management consultants gives similar explanation, that they brought it upon themselves. I don't deny that they have great products, but that alone won't make them successful forever. They need to take care about other things like marketing, customer relationship, etc.
Its sad to see their decline, but I really think technology will eventually fills in the gap that film left. I think the only thing that digital have to catch up is the highlight roll off. Many people talking about film color rendering, but with a good color profiling, that should be no problem. That being said, the best time to live is now, its time to move on.
Or watch a movie.. Midnight in Paris, starring Owen Wilson. :)

Exciting Year!

2012 might not be a good year for some people. Financial meltdown, job loss, and there's the 21st December.
But not so for the photographic world, even at the start of the year, we're seeing D4 from Nikon, X-Pro1 from Fuji, and Lightroom 4 beta from Adobe.
Lightroom 4 now include a book module, and reworked sliders. A little bit confusing at first. You have to decrease the black slider if you want darker tone.

X-Pro1 is a particularly exciting camera, given the promise of higher DR from Fuji EXR sensor technology. It could be that digital will be able to produce film look at last.

Well.. come to think of it, some people will get poorer this year. Man.. I'd better not make any budget related resolution this year.. LoL

After reading this article at TOP, it just occurred to me that a lot of Ansel Adam's devotee took his advice blindingly. I mean, Ansel was a landscape photographer. And quite a lot of people are using the same method for street photography. Shadow details? Zoning? Oh please!

Lightroom Preset

Ok.. I have some image comparison for the x-equal film presets. The shadow area is deeper and give more contrast for overall image. Some people want to see all the details, but somehow I'm more attracted to the darker, more contrasty scene.

Normal

Kodakchrome 200

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Velvia or Kodachrome.. can't remember

Well.. in other news, Blurb will launch an iPad application to view their photobooks.

Technology updates

Few things I have discovered while I'm away from blogging.
I just logged into the dashboard, and Blogger.com has announced that they have released iOS Blogger app!!
This means I can write my travel diary from my iPad. Yay!
And the other exciting stuff I have found is film Lightroom preset from X-Equals. I bought both bundle for a special $5. The list price is $9.99. Before I found these presets, my pictures were just dull. Its the best $$ you can spend on LR preset.
Pictures will be coming soon... hopefully. *cross fingers*

Pride and Prejudice.. and Film

I just replay Pride and Prejudice last night. I think it's one of the best movie about romantic Victorian era. It reveals about culture and norm of that period. And to say that Kiera Knightley has done a good job is a bit underwhelming. I think she is perfect for the role. Her face fits perfectly, its not strikingly pretty. But once you get past the surface, it will radiate elegance and beauty. And that is what the story is all about.. partly. What is fascinating about the Brits in Victorian era is their manner. Despite their feeling to whom they talk to, they will still show their respect and speak accordingly. I will certainly download the e-book version of the novel.



I've just bought a film camera..why did I buy it? Well.. first, a friend buy me into it :(
But then I like mechanical stuff, just like my self-winding automatic watch. Granted the FE-2 is not fully mechanical. And shooting film is not cheap, contrary to the general  opinion. I went on weekend to various processing lab and manage to obtain processing fee information. Lets just say, shoot enough rolls, you can buy yourself a decent digital SLR. But it's not about that. Shooting film is about selection, because every frame costs you. You don't waste any frame for insignificant shot.