Last night I was out at Fraziers, a local bar, with Marianna, my friend Eric, and his wife Jess. I brought my camera, because I’ve resolved to bring it with me more or less everywhere I reasonably can — that way I can catch things on camera that I normally wouldn’t. Well, I certainly caught something with the camera…

As I was leaving the bathroom, I had to walk past the pool tables. As I’m walking past with my camera hanging over my shoulder, and I hear a “smack!” and turn around to realize some dumbass intentionally hit my camera with the butt end of his pool stick! He slovenly ran over and after listening to his slurred drunken speech I deduced that he was apologizing and said he thought I was his brother, as if that somehow made it okay. A quick inspection of the exterior showed that nothing was damaged–just a scare–so instead of escalating the confrontation, I walked away. When I got back to our table, the bar tender came over to ask if everything was okay and told me he was going to kick the drunk guy out because he did something stupid to someone else too. So I look through the viewfinder to make extra sure, and everything was blurry!! Take a look at the video I took while trying to figure out if I was merely really drunk or if it really was blurry and messed up.

5D Mark II Scare from Seinberg on Vimeo.

So suddenly I’m struck with panic: I leave for a 2 week vacation to Israel on Monday, and my camera is broken with no chance to get a new one in time! Nobody has the Mark II in stock! I ran back over to the guy and started aggressively telling him he broke the camera, that it’s all screwed up, he has to pay for any damage or I’m calling the cops, showed him how everything was blurry, how it couldn’t auto-focus or take pictures, etc. Marianna had come over and was yelling at the guy too (for her, anyway - for other people it’d probably be considered speaking loudly). She was as upset at the whole incident as I was. At this point, the drunk guy started to deny ever doing anything. The bartender said he had security cameras to prove things one way or another, and went “in the back” to check them out. Meanwhile, I took off the lens and noticed that the focusing screen had been knocked out of place, so I clicked it back into place, looked through the viewfinder, pressed the shutter, and all was fine: it auto-focused immediately and snapped off a crisp shot of the pool table under the bar lighting. What a sigh of freakin’ relief! And it came just in time, because when the bartender returned, he said that the security cameras can’t see back to the pool tables: it was too dark.

Pool Table
(1st shot after re-aligning the focusing screen)

Surprisingly enough, it turned out that although the drunk guy was totally out of hand and in the wrong, I was partly to blame for it coming ajar too: when I cleaned dust from the focusing screen a few days ago, I must not have clicked it securely enough into place, so the sudden jarring of the camera knocked it out. Today I went to Service Photo here in Baltimore for a new focusing screen. The (helpful!) guys there said it’s common to not click it securely into place, because there are two clicks you need to wait before knowing it’s secure.

The focusing screen got scratched because I tried taking pictures before I knew it was out of place, and there’s a really small scratch on the bottom of the viewfinder that’s visible, so it’s not a completely happy ending. But the important part — the sensor — is fine. As one of the people at Service Photo said: minor scratches on the viewfinder or wherever will happen — it’s just part of the field — but if the sensor was scratched, then I’d be screwed. I replaced the focusing screen with a version with a neat grid pattern, and all is well.

The End.

More Images

These were taken on our walk home, after the whole incident. Marianna wasn’t completely convinced that everything was okay…

Marianna’s Worried Face

Eric and Jess

Taken at one of my favorite restaurants in Hampden called Grill Art. I’ve been trying to carry around my camera with me everywhere lately, including to work and out Christmas shopping a few nights ago. The Mark II and a 50mm f/1.2 isn’t exactly pocketable, but with the shoulder strap it’s easily manageable. This one was shot hand held behind Marianna’s back during dinner. I saw the guy standing there and thought it’d be a good shot.

I have to say, the Mark II has been incredible. The thing about a change in gear is that, even though it generally doesn’t objectively make major positive changes for one’s photography, it can change the way you work by changing (even slightly) the way you approach subjects. Fresh gear can mean a fresh perspective. Sad to say, but I’m getting bored with Urban Decay now, and for a while I was a bit worried I’d not find something to fill the gap. And what’s funny is that there hasn’t been a single subject fill the gap yet, but I still feel like I’m capturing decent images from time to time. I can feel a re-orientation slowly happening.

As an aside, please tell me if you get the title. I didn’t think it was obscure, but people keep telling me they don’t get it.

First, the requisite bitching about school: 2 projects due and 1 final next week, and two finals the following week. This weekend is a very busy one, but having just upgraded camera bodies to the Canon 5D Mark II, I had to get out to take some test shots. I’d spoken to Mike earlier in the day as he was leaving a photo shoot, and it pushed me over the edge: I would go out and shoot in the neighborhood (Hampden, here in rat-infested Baltimore).

Umbrella

Snowy Day

Today I went to the gym in the mid-afternoon, wearing only running shorts and a t-shirt. M had told me it was “relatively warm” when she went outside. I suppose I missed the operative term, “relatively” - maybe she meant relative to the Urals in Russia where she grew up, but when I left it was cold. No sense in going back inside after starting the short drive to the gym, though - just brave through it. Not coincidentally, it started snowing in the late afternoon, so there was plenty of camera fodder even if it was only shooting cliches into a streetlamp to catch the snow flakes falling. Turned out — as usual — that there was more out and about than just streetlamps.

The person in the above photo was very (very) cautiously walking across the street. There were cars, but it was apparent that she was worried about slipping in the near-icy street. The shot was actually an accident - I had a few earlier frames without her in it, during which cars drove through, and took one last shot when I realized she’d walked into the frame. She turned out to have made the photo more interesting than without, though. Love it when luck gives a somewhat interesting shot. I fired off a few more after deciding I liked it, but by that time she had almost crossed the whole way.

5D Mark II and Noise

I also wanted to comment on the 5D Mark II’s noise levels at high sensitivities (i.e. high ISO). This isn’t a scientific test, but below is a 100% crop from the umbrella area of the image. I didn’t apply any noise reduction, and it’s at ISO 1600. Remember, this was taken in the middle of the night under harsh tungsten lighting, then converted to B&W with curves and sharpness adjustments. Still, the amount of noise (grain) is remarkably low - the 40D, while also good in its own right, can’t even come close to equaling it (readers take note: I’m consciously avoiding the N Word to avoid flame wars). Furthermore, the small amount of noise that is present looks a bit like film grain and — at least in this image — I think actually adds a nice feel to the image: gritty, harsh east coast city with a fearful woman crossing the unforgiving streets. Take a look for yourself.

100% Crop of Umbrella (Click for 100%)

ISO Obsession

Funny: the first thing I did when I received the 5D Mark II on Thursday was to test out the high ISO functionality. I admit to getting completely caught up in the ISO obsession, and also admit it’s gotten a bit silly. There’s an implicit mantra online saying something along the lines of, “I won’t be satisfied until my camera can see in the dark without a spec of noise detectable!” So why post the 100% crop, why talk about ISO at all? Well, it’s interesting - to track the progress of technology, to see what’s possible, because I’m a tech geek myself. Oh, who am I kidding: to take part in the rat race. To try convincing myself that this actually will open up new photographic opportunities that would otherwise escape my desperate grasp. To… okay, I’ll stop.

More Sample 5D Mark II Images

Take a look at the Flickr set for a larger collection, but here are a few more for any interested readers.

34th Street in Hampden

The Dogwood

Quiet

Shadow (shot handheld @ ISO 3200)

I have a few extra minutes - finally - so I thought I’d keep my blog from getting sucked into a black hole of no updates. So, where to start?

Excuses

Working 25 hours a week while having a full course load essentially rules out having a social life (let alone a blogging- or photography life!) with the exception of Marianna and hanging out with friends once every few weeks. I certainly don’t regret it and am glad I’m doing it, but Christ it’s a lot of work! And, uh, that’s why this thing isn’t ever updated. (Of course I say it apologetically like every other Blogger in the world does when they don’t update in a while, knowing full-well nobody really cares and it’s ultimately just self-indulgent to even make excuses, but I guess it’s a good segue).

New York

Subway Portrait #7

A couple weeks ago I was able to get up to New York to visit Mike at his place on the northern-most tip of Manhattan in Innwood. I finally got the opportunity to shoot some photos, the first serious shooting in literally months.

The plan was to visit an abandoned power plant in Yonkers, which we did, but my favorite photographs were from late at night in the subway on our way from Greenwich Village to Innwood. I decided to play a (tipsy) Walker Evans and secretly take people’s portraits while sitting in the subway car. What I did was setup the exposure to Aperture Priority, at around f/2.0 with a 30mm Sigma prime lens, and ISO 1600 (click on the photos for detailed information). No, I didn’t tell anybody I was taking their picture.

I placed the camera on my leg, resting one hand on top with a finger resting on the shutter. Then turned off the autofocus and manually focused on someone using Live View - this gave me pretty sharp focus on anyone sitting in the seat across the aisle from me and meant I didn’t have to worry about autofocus getting the focus wrong. Then, I rested my other hand over the hand on the shutter to hide the finger on the shutter button. The subway is loud enough that nobody can hear the picture being taken.

#7 was speaking German (or one of those Germanic-sounding Scandinavian languages), and if you click on his photo you can see a choker around his neck. I loved a few things about the scene and started shooting as a result of him in particular:

Rubber Necking

• The guy in particular — his hair, the choker, that he spoke German, the burgeoning middle aged-ness, etc.
• The sign above his head
• He’s looking up into a light
• The general light pattern goes from lightness at the top to darkness at the bottom

There were several really drunk girls on their way back from Halloween partying also on the train. They were loud and flirting with a bunch of other passengers on the train, and this guy (right) kept rubber necking around people to try to sneak a peak at them. He had an innocent looking smile that I thought was really touching - the rubber necking was just honest, innocent curiosity (see #4 below). There are some more out-takes of him below (in fact I think I like them more than the rubber necking one).

Towards the end of the ride, there was this creepy bearded guy taking pictures from me from across the aisle. I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to take my picture in public like that, without asking for my permission. Where did he get off? Check out the picture I snapped of him - it’s the first one under More Images.

More Images

Mike #2

Subway Portrait #4

Subway Portrait #8

Here’s another one from an abandoned Children’s Center. The folder actually says US Government Messenger Folder. The glasses were actually left in this room, although I’ll confess to moving them so they fit a little nicer into the frame of the picture.

This is an HDR merged in Photomatix, but it’s kept pretty mild because, well, there’s really no reason to make it intense. Other minor editing done in Lightroom 2.