Archive for July, 2008

Source: Shooher.

Several times, I talked about the limitation to photo image quality by light diffraction but I failed to go into the details. To the general request of one reader who asked, I will try to give some explanations to better understand why the digital photographer must absolutely take that into account to make better pictures and to choose its camera.

The first thing to know is that light diffraction is a very general phenomenon and quite natural. It’s been a long time already that scientists and engineers noticed that -on the one hand- light rays are slightly deflected while running through a very small orifice and -on the other hand- two light rays can interact with each other on the condition that they are have very paths nearly perfectly parallel. This is even one of the most significant and founding elements of quantum physics. When you combine both those phenomenons, you will notice that light going through a very small opening like camera lens diaphragm will produce not exactly the expected neat circle but a more irregular and circular shape that you can see in the illustrative figure that goes along this paragraph: Usually named an Airy disk or Airy disc.

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Aube-Nature.com is a web site I tend to track nearly continuously because Cédric Girard tends to write interesting posts about nature photography. But I also caught a few posts with nice images of cats This goes farther than the usual “nice companion” photos.

I recommend heartily to check regularly Aube-Nature.com.

hanks to FreeGeekery, here are 101 Awesome Downloadable Fonts for Designers. I am sure that you will appreciate teh variety, the diversity and the quality of this archive.

You loved the Canon EOS 30D, then the EOS 40D. But since you’re hooked to buying always the best technology that money can buy, you are already looking for the next digital SLR camera from Canon. And you’re right. If something can be learned from history, the regular schedule of launches for the mid-range line of SLR cameras from cameras will bring us the Canon EOS 50D around the beginning of 2009.

Can you recognize the pattern?

But it does not tell us the features list of the future camera, unfortunately.

Some people have been speaking about seeing Canon moving into a much faster cycle of replacement for its D-SLR cameras. However, it seems that this is the case for entry level only. You can expect that competition is so hot there that the Canon EOS 1000D will need to receive a replacement in Spring 2009 already. But the Canon EOS 50D is aimed at a higher price point and more stable population of photographers. But it won’t be true forever (what about the Canon EOS 60D and then the EOS 70D?)

In this PC shooter game, still unavailable, you’ll see quite some destruction.

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100 hours, that is the promise from Ubisoft Montréal (where most games only last 10 to 20 hours). This game will have a fully open map in Africa (50 square kilometers, only limited by deadly deserts) where you will meet mercenaries, and weather elements (including fire).

Analysis (in French) at JeuxVideoPC.com.

The expectations for the next PMA fair: Nikon will announce 3 new prime lenses (most certainly high-quality), 2 new zoom lenses (24-120mm VR II, 70-200mm VR II), the Nikon D3x (high-end pro Full Frame camera) and the Nikon D90 (entry-level replacement for the Nikon D80).

If you read “I love Paris in the springtime”, read again.

Somewhere in Malaysia, there is this astonishing bridge.

I guess that most people would be a little unsure walking onto it, not really knowing how it holds in place.

All details at Deputy Dog.

Sometimes, you hust have to understand the cryptic codes used around the world of airline travel. The companies are using them, probably not just for the sake of being incomprehensible, but the result is the same. I recently found the right place to look for this information, a web site to search for all airline-related codes:

I used it to find the meaning of the two-letter IATA code of the company name in a flight numbers (CZ3572 is a flight of China Southern Airlines and MU2511 is another flight from China Eastern Airlines) because an assistant had booked me electronic tickets forgetting to tell me which counter I should go to register on the following day.

Even better than going to Africa, you can have your own lion pet, cute lion cub at home.

Furry and reacting to its environment, this is really a cool robot toy.

http://www.gizoo.co.uk/Products/ToysGames/RadioControl/WowweeAliveLion.htm

£49.95 (about $100 USD or 75€) in pre-order.