LENS REVIEW: Tokina AT-X PRO SD 12-24mm F4 IF Lens

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Jim

For some time now, I’ve been recommending this lens to friends looking for a high quality, super wide-angle lens. It’s not quite as wide as the 10mm super wide-angle lenses, but it makes up for it in superior image quality. If I didn’t have a Canon EF-S 10-22mm lens for my digital camera with an APS-C sensor size, I would be using the Tokina 12-24mm lens.

DPReview recently posted an on online review of this lens. The result isn’t surprising:
“The 12-24mm returns extremely good results in our studio tests, with impressive image quality across the range. Perhaps as a result of its more modest wideangle ambitions, it comprehensively outperforms both the Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di-II and the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM. Indeed overall it’s arguably a better performer on APS-C than Olympus’s ZD 9-18mm F4-5.6 is on Four Thirds – no mean feat.”Â Source.

Not only is this a great lens, it is on sale this week at Adorama.

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Tokina 12mm – 24mm f/4 PRO DX Autofocus Zoom Lens for Canon EOS Digital SLR Cameras.

Sale Price $399
$100 price drop
Free Shipping
http://www.adorama.com/TN1224EOS.html?emailprice=t&KBID=57428

IRENA SENDLER: MOTHER OF THE HOLOCAUST CHILDREN

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Jim

Irena Sendler, a Catholic social worker, saved 2500 Jewish children from the Nazi death camps during WWII. Like Schindler, she kept a list. She hoped to reunite the children with their parents after the war. Unfortunately, most of the parents had been killed at Treblinka. She was captured by the Gestapo and tortured but she never gave up the names of her helpers or the children. Sentenced to death, a guard was bribed and she escaped. With a new name, she went back to her work. She died in 2008 at the age of 98.

Her story is a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation tonight. Hopefully, it will be posted here for later online viewing. The movie is adapted from the book The Mother of the Holocaust Childrenâ€ by Anna Mieszkowska.

You can learn more about Irena Sendler here and here and here.
Continue reading →

CONTENT AWARE SCALING WITH PHOTOSHOP CS4

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Jim

Every new version of Photoshop has one or more new goodies to make it tempting enough to upgrade. With Photoshop CS4, one of those new goodies is “Content Aware Scaling”.Â It is much easier to look at than try to describe. You can see it in action here.

CONFICKER WORM

Posted on March 31, 2009 by Jim

It’s bad. It attacks Windows computers. (Mac’s are safe from this particular worm.)

Go here to download and run Microsoft’s most recent Malicious Software Removal Tool:

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/worms/conficker.mspx

PHOTO LESSONS FROM THE SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT ISSUE

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Jim

SI 2009 Swimsuit Cover

I kid you not. You can learn photography lessons in a lot of different places. A great lesson in lighting is to watch the movie Citizen Kane. Turn off the sound and study the use of light and shadow.

It may seem like big jump from Citizen Kane to the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (and it is), but they both teach valuable lessons.

You will need to go out and buy the Swimsuit Issue. Then go to this online article [this link no longer works] at the New York Institute of Photography (NYIP) web site. Read the online article and check out references to the pages in the SI swimsuit issue. You will learn lessons in technique, lighting, focus, and detail. Seriously.

The NYIP web site [this link no longer works] is worth checking out on a regular basis for the free, ongoing photo lessons they provide.

Update, February 7, 2024: NYIP no longer owns the NYIP.com domain name so the links no longer work. This NYIP article is no longer online. The 2009 swimsuit issue is not readily available and I don’t know which photos are referred to in this photo lesson, so I looked for images of SI models that match the topics.