On Assignment

First, sorry for the lack of updates. Work has been consistently taking up all my time and my free time tends not to include blogging.. ;-(

Recently, i’ve had problem with one of my macbooks, (late 2008 unibody model) and diagnosed it with a bad optical disc drive… can’t tell you how many of these suckers i’ve killed in all my years.

So, since it was still under warranty, and i’m a professional, i had the replacement drive sent to me and thus replaced it. Since its the first time i’ve opened up this particular laptop, i thought i’d post a few shots.

The MPB with back case cover removed to show logic board

Nothing too exceptional with these unibody MBPs, compared to the older models of yore, although i do admit it’s a lot easier to service from the number of screws (only 8!) you have to remove. The unibody design is definitely light-years ahead of any other computer maker, and it shows inside, kinda like looking at the well-tuned, well thought-out engine compartment of a fine German sports coupe…

One particularly interesting “technology” included in these new Apple laptops are what they call “submersion sensors”. Basically, they’re little round stickers placed inside the machine that turn red-herring pink if they come in contact with too much moisture. It allows AppleCare to say your laptop suffered water damage and thus your warranty is void. Bummer. Luckily, looks like my laptop’s sensors are still bright virgin white… even though the machine has definitely lived through some thunderstorms this summer in Comerica Park.

Share This

For many NHL hockey games, sports photographers will install remote-triggered cameras in the rafters of an arena to capture the over-the-ice angles that are so sweet when made perfectly. This is a view from my hip as I took up my own camera to mount before Game 2 of this year’s Stanley Cup Finals game in Detroit. See if you can count the total number of remote camera positions!

[watch in youtube]

Share This

Yes it is Christmas Eve and I’m flying with Santa again on my way home to the padres in the 503. 

Since I have to wait for my now 40 mins delayed flight out of the ever inefficient ORD, I thought I’d throw up some festive Red Wings hockey shots from last night.

Santa girls

Datsyuk celebrates his goal in the second

My fav Red Wing trying to score

Also of interest from last night’s game was my education upon how SI got their Red Wings playoff shots from a seemingly impossible angle:

SI did this shot from a really cool angle

It seems those crafty, and influential, photogs from SI got the Joe Louis Arena management to cut a hole in the Zamboni door to the ice rink, slap a piece of glass over the hole, and that’s how the above photo was taken, with a remotely mounted camera:

Cut hole, install glass, perfect mount location!

So simple, yet so utterly exclusive because only SI could get something like that done… i’m hoping maybe i can get access to that some day to try a few shots.

Share This

So, I finally got a remote trigger cable for my Canon G10 this week and thought i’d try it at basketball… mounted somewhere!

Not much to it other than hooking up the trigger cable (PocketWizard CM-E3-P Pre-Trigger Motor Cord), plugging the cable into a PocketWizard receiver, and taping the thing up on the post! Yep, just a couple pieces of gaffer’s tape held that thing up nicely. No clamps or nothing…

I set the G10 on fully manual, turned off the flash, continuous drive, and the autofocus on normally. I set the review time to 0, and turned off the LCD live-view display to save battery power. Camera set to ISO 1600, f/2.8 fully wide, and 1/500 speed.

Results?

• Response may be too slow to catch peak action… though that could probably be trained with practice.
• Image quality at ISO 1600 is pretty bad. I couldn’t send any of them to AP… (click on one of these below to see larger version). This makes sense since point-and-shoots like these, even at 14mpx are still built around tiny CMOS sensors that really couldn’t be pushed very far… i’ll try it with a much lower ISO next time… although that may make it impossible for me to shoot indoor sports with this setup.
• Field of view however is excellent and i think the autofocus was okay.

Scott Gavin was curious enough to get a closer look

Not so great quality-wise

Share This

So I recently cleaned out the empty room in my basement and built a bare-bones (and dirty cheap) home studio. The walls were already white, the floor is a nice dull painted concrete surface, and there are lots of power plugs on every side of the wall. Only downside is the relatively low ceiling, 7 ft, so I know I’m going to be limited to small projects…

To try it out, my buddy Andrés Cacciamani (who’s a natural talent) graciously agreed to model and help me stretch the new studio’s muscles…no pun intended =p.

Look out for a full gallery feature of Andy’s talents soon on my other little site: MISTERDING.COM

(more…)

Share This