Posts from the ‘Random’ Category
2012 Jack Frost 150
The Jack Frost 150 enduro race at Mercer Raceway in Mercer, PA, is a lot of fun as long as the weather is good. In 2010, it was literally 0 degrees that day. Ouch. But this year it was a thoroughly tolerable 40-some and sunny most of the day.
They’d had a lot of snow recently which melted and made the track really muddy. They used tractors to try and flatten and dry it out, but they could only do so much. Mud went flying every time the cars hit a wet spot. Some spectators were luckier than others.
The race started out with 53 cars. My newphew, Brian Rydbom, got off to a strong start. Most of the cars are pretty beaten up to begin with, so by lap 70 there were only 19 cars left in the race. Flat tires and sheet metal littered the track, clouds of smoke and the occasional fire emitted as the cars limped off the track.
Nineteen cars remained by lap 90, and only 10 crossed the finish line. My nephew placed 3rd. Another great day at the races!
Race results: http://www.onedirt.com/news/mercer-raceway-parks-jack-frost-150-race-results/
More photos at: https://picasaweb.google.com/111257729140064759841/EnduroRaceMercerRaceway201201
Ring Flash Adapter
Holy crap, that’s cool! http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/ring-flash-adapter/
Ring flashes give you even, shadowless light and cool reflections like these: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=30040896
Canon T3i vs XSi Image Quality Smackdown
I’m still not ready to part with 3,300 clams for the 5D Mark II kit, but I am ready to upgrade from the XSi. I’ve had some real fun with it, but I’m tired of all the noise and the need to sharpen every shot. I recently bought a T3i for work – the HD video and swivel screen make it a great all-around camera and we shouldn’t need to upgrade for years. Taking some test shots with the T3i, I thought it would be a good idea to do some side-by-side comparison shots with both models. Using a tripod, I used identical settings and the same nifty fifty lens. The compositions incorporated areas of light and dark and different colors.
The T3i creates images with better resolution and much less chroma noise. I increased the fill light on several of the images to enhance the detail and exaggerate the noise. See for yourself in the images above: the T3i photos are the top half and the XSi photos the bottom half of each image. The T3i looks like a good choice for my price range.
Here is also a specs comparison of the two models.
P.S. Why do I feel like someone should be cutting me a check for this post?
Pittsburgh’s North Shore
It ain’t your daddy’s North Side.
Even I am old enough (am I really that old?) to remember the tenement blocks, the prostitutes, the falling-down buildings. But Duran Duran stopped in the Rosa Villa once, so it couldn’t have been that bad. Jimmy was a good bartender – never made you wait. This was back when co-workers socialized and even stayed out late without calling spouses. Nobody seems to miss the old days, though.
