I’m supposed to be on break, but this is a great kit to get you started on the Fujifilm system.
The X-M1 with kit lens. The lens isn’t the best, but the camera has a great sensor in it. By all accounts it is a solid entry level camera. Get it here for $600 on Amazon. There are also deals on all XF lenses so you could go body only and get the fantastic 35, 23, or compact 27 (the 27 is only $199).
Frank Gehry:
Is starting hard?
You know it is.
I don’t know what you do when you start, but I clean my desk, I make a lot of stupid appointments that I make sound important.
Avoidance, delay, denial.
I’m always scared… that I’m not going to know what to do. It’s a terrifying moment.
And then when I start I’m always amazed, “Oh, so that wasn’t so bad”!
From Sydney Pollack’s wonderful 2006 documentary, “Sketches of Frank Gehry”.
Another story, this one from Chris Ashworth, founder of Figure 53, not to be confused with FiftyThree, creators of Paper. Or, well, one of them.
Eight years ago, in 2006, I founded a company called Figure 53. We make tools for artists. We spend our days building products for OS X, iOS and the web.
[…]
So it was with some concern when two years ago, in 2012, I noticed a new company named FiftyThree. A company with a strikingly similar name to ours, making software for artists.
Phone calls were made, opinions expressed, trademark filings filed, filings rejected and amended, and in the end it appears as though they’re coming to some sort of reasonable conciliation. It’s interesting to me, though, that one company can so perfectly embody both the David and Goliath archetypes, in separate situations so remarkably similar in nature.
I really thought we were moving towards a paperless society. And yet, here we are, with more Papers than ever.
Remember the story from yesterday, the one about the creators of Paper — FiftyThree — complaining about Facebook using the same name for their app, Paper? Well, today iOS developer MiSoft updated the description on their app, Paper, accusing FiftyThree, creators of Paper, of the same tomfoolery FiftyThree is accusing Facebook, creators of Paper, with. At the time of reporting, the trees were unavailable for comment.
More as the story unfolds.
A year ago John Carey started a site called Yesterday Was Only. I am bummed because I didn’t follow it right away (I didn’t know about it), but I love following it now. Carey shot over a thousands photos over the course of the year for the site, and they are all good. He’s now making them into a small book:
I am not limiting the amount of books sold but this will be the one and only run of the book. If you do not order now there will not be another opportunity to buy it in the future, once these first copies are gone, thats it. I will sign and number each copy based on the amount of them that are ordered when ordering closes.
I ordered one, and it’d be smart of you to get one too. These types of books, photography focused, are the only physical books that I buy anymore.
Wow, what a great camera. It seems to me that they had to really grasp to find complaints, giving it just one point shy of a perfect score. The sensor is the same (except the ISO range) as the X-E2 that I have. The X-T1 looks amazing, here's the conclusion from Mark Goldstein:
The new Fujifilm X-T1 is the best X-series camera to date, and one of the best interchangeable lens cameras, mirrorless or otherwise, that we've ever had the pleasure of reviewing.
It's going to take a lot of self-control to resist picking this up.
Bill Rigby:
Most agree that Nadella’s background in creating Microsoft’s Internet-based, or “cloud,” computing services makes him a safe pair of hands to take the company forward, but there remains a question over his ability to make Microsoft a hit with consumers or with impatient shareholders.
Safe choices are always how you incite change… Oh, wait.
Looks interesting, but I haven’t used it as it doesn’t support Fever. The best right now is Mr. Reader on the iPad, and looking at the Unread I’m not sure it would fit my usage pattern anyway.
Seems like a very strongly designed app, which is nice to see for a change. ((I don’t like the name though, it gives me anxiety just thinking about it.))
Georg Petschnigg of FiftyThree (maker of Paper):
There’s a simple fix here. We think Facebook can apply the same degree of thought they put into the app into building a brand name of their own. An app about stories shouldn’t start with someone else’s story. Facebook should stop using our brand name.
Facebook response: crickets.
JC Crafford on the X-T1:
PS: Can I make a prediction? This will be many photographers camera of choice to photograph weddings with in the future.
I’ve been posting a lot about cameras and Fujifilm in particular, but that’s because there is a an interesting turning point happening in photography. Not unlike the changes in computing that iOS brought about, mirrorless is here to stay, but more than that it seems to be really changing the idea of “pro-gear”.
Ask any photographer if they would prefer the kit that is traditional, or the one that’s just as good and half the weight.
Gus Waschefort:
The image quality of the X T-1, particularly at high-ISO is nothing short of remarkable. So too is the quality of the Fujifilm X series lenses (particularly the prime lenses). As such, I am of the view that the X-T 1 is the answer – there is not current need for a full-frame camera in the line-up.
I’m not going to buy it, I’m not going to buy it, I don’t need it, I don’t need it…
Holy crap why didn't anyone tell me about this before?
Tim Bray:
Anyhow, at the moment I’m paralyzed, which is not a bad thing, because the little X-E1 and its two lenses are happily uncrowded in my pretty-small camera bag. What a great time to be a photographer.
Indeed, what a great time.
Ken Rockwell:
Most of the time two real-world shots made on two cameras are so different that comparisons make no sense. In this case, it jumped out at me as to how similar they were overall, and I wanted to share them. Of course if you set each camera differently than I did you'll get different results. This shows how these two cameras actually brought back game from a real field session in which each camera was configured as I actually shoot it, not just set to irrelevant defaults.
Really glad I drifted into the Fuji system.
Garrett Murray:
What no one mentions is how huge the impact of having kids will be on running your home every day. I’m not talking about sleep or personal hygiene. I’m talking about all of those daily tasks everyone has and how they suddenly become exponential. And you can never get ahead because everything starts again the very next day.
That reminds me, laundry is piling up and we are out of food…again.
Jessica E. Lessin:
If it wasn’t clear that Larry Page is playing—and winning—a game of chess against the rest of the technology industry, it has become clear in the past two weeks.
The Google CEO took aim at Apple and upgraded its entire hardware strategy by ditching struggling Motorola and buying Nest Labs, the thermostat company loaded with Apple alumni. And he made quick and shrewd acquisition of artificial intelligence company DeepMind, which Facebook had been interested in acquiring, landing a bunch of brains to help Google’s search and personalization services and beyond.
I can’t read the rest because it is behind a $400 paywall, but I can only assume the next line reads: April Fools.
Say he is playing chess all you want, but winning? He just sold a $12 billion dollar acquisition for less than $3 billion — how’s that winning. Are you telling me that this was his plan all along? If that’s what you are saying then you are a moron for thinking that is playing good chess.
And you declare him winning for buying Nest and DeepMind? How about we go ahead and wait to see what, if anything, Google does with those companies.
Jason Edward Harrington:
We quickly found out the trainer was not kidding: Officers discovered that the machines were good at detecting just about everything besides cleverly hidden explosives and guns. The only thing more absurd than how poorly the full-body scanners performed was the incredible amount of time the machines wasted for everyone.
Dr. Drang with the best criticism yet of Dark Sky’s redesign, has this to open with about [Jared Sinclair’s criticisms](http://blog.jaredsinclair.com/post/74780770925/dark-sky-some-constructive-criticism-for-todays) of the app:
> I can only assume he thinks “casual users” are idiots.
I agree with Dr. Drang on pretty much every point of his.
From the nothing-new department, Ahmed Datoo:
> You might start your day at a stand-up desk, then switch to a couch in a lounge area to brainstorm with co-workers. Need to focus for a few hours? Try a designated quiet room. Want a little more stimulation to get your creativity flowing? Spend some time in a recreation room or cafe setting. To get that big project over the finish line, gather the team in a bullpen-style area, where they can feed off each other’s energy and determination.
So cool and modern.
Except that is basically how the office setup has been for a long time (minus the stand-up desks), just [take a look at Don Draper’s office set](http://midcenturymodernist.com/2010/culture/film-tv/mad-men-furniture-don-drapers-office/).
In Mad Men, Draper can be seen: sitting at his desk, standing at his desk, sleeping on his couch, meeting in cushy chairs, or on the couch, in a conference room, in the employee bullpen, and quietly thinking with his door closed.
Which is basically what Datoo described as the new “modern” office. Sometimes I read things like this and think we (the collective we) need to get over ourselves.
Christopher Jue:
> The X100S is the go to camera you want to take when you travel. Leave the DSLR’s at home. Enjoy your actual vacation by not having to dig around in your camera bag deciding which body and lens to use. As some would say, “keep it simple, stupid!”