X100 on the way

If the shipping calculator on the Crutchfield site is right, my x100 should arrive tomorrow. In the meantime, I've been doing some reading, trying to learn as much as I can before it gets here.

Here are a couple of sites I've found dedicated to discussion about the X100 (I'm providing these links for me to remember these sites for later). There are also discussions on DPReview, the RangefinderForum, and Flikr.

It's fall break, but unfortunately I've got this book chapter to finish writing this week or else I'd love to hit the streets to learn the ropes with the X100.

X100 vs. V1 vs. ???

My photography gear includes a Nikon D90 and FM3a and a collection of nice Nikon lenses. I love carrying the FM3a (with a 40mm or 50mm lens) around for casual shooting as a "have everywhere" camera but the convenience of digital is attractive. On the other hand, the D90 fits my needs perfectly and has an ideal set of features for me, but it's too big to carry around everywhere (although I don't mind carrying it, with a bag of lenses, when photography is a primary activity). Options for an "everywhere" camera? I admit I haven't actually had my hands on any of these cameras (since the Fuji is always out of stock and the V1 hasn't been released yet) and I'm just thinking through options (i.e., this isn't a review; it's me thinking out loud about if/what I want).

Fuji X100

Upsides: Good, simple controls; a fast lens; groovy retro styling; the relatively large sensor.

Downsides: I've read that the focus system is a bit slow; not sure how I feel about a fixed-lens (I like that it's a prime lens, but will it be limiting to not be able to swap out for other lenses?).

Nikon V1

Upsides: Compact, with (in the future) a system of small lenses; some interesting new technologies; using my other Nikon lenses with an adaptor...the 35mm 1.8 and 50mm 1.4 are interesting possibilities.

Downsides: Relatively small sensor...I'm not as worried about the image quality, but the limited ability to have a really shallow depth of field is a bit of a concern; lack of buttons/knobs for key controls, instead having to dig around menus.

A micro 4/3rds system camera

I admittedly don't know a a lot about these systems; is there a small m4/3 camera with a viewfinder and good manual controls? Do I want to invest in another lens system (admittedly, the V1 would lead down this path as well)?

*   *   * 

Probably the best solution would be a Leica M9 with a handful of lenses. But I'd have to sell a kidney and all of my guitars to go this route!

Update (10/7/11): I decided on the X100; the two downsides (slow[?] focus and fixed lens) are fine given that if I want to shoot sports or carry a kit of lenses I'll take my D90. The appeal of the X100 is that it complements my Nikon system; I shouldn't expect it to have all the same features in a smaller package.

The X100 is hard to find, at least at it's list price...Given it's scarcity (non-reputible) on-line retailers seem to be jacking up the price and it's backordered at all the places I like to shop (both on-line and locally). But Crutchfield seems to have just received a shipment, and one is on its way to me!

An excellent fall for concerts

Tickets acquired for the following shows:

• The Jayhawks - October 22nd @ the Keswick Theatre in Glenside
• Lucinda Williams - October 29th @ the Keswick
• Ryan Adams - December 2nd @ the Academy of Music in Philadelphia

I passed on (a) Richard Thompson (Oct. 15 @ the Keswick) since we'll be up there already the following two Saturdays and (b) Gillian Welch & David Rawlings (Oct. 20 @ Union Transfer). I really would have liked to go the the GW/DR show, but it's on a Thursday night and Jen has class then. I've never been to Union Transfer but from what I can tell it's general admission and I'm too old to stand to watch shows :-)

Checking back in...

With the start of the new school year I've admittedly been very neglectful of posting here. I do have grand plans to build photo libraries here for all the shots that are currently hosted on Apple's soon to be discontinued platform (12/23/11 update: this is done; see here), but that seems like a project for fall break. In other news:

• Haverford just ran a story about our website and recently published book; it was nice to get some recognition for that work.
• I recently booked a trip to Oregon for 10 days at the holidays; looking forward to seeing everyone there. It was nice hanging out with my brother this week, who was in town for a conference.
• Nikon just announced it's new "1" series cameras. Still processing that; maybe I'll post some thoughts about that later.
• The summer jam season is winding down. Thanks to my friend John for hosting us every Thursday and introducing some new songs. I've particularly liked his version of "Hot Buttered Rum."

My response to "Why Should Professors Not Be Accountable?"

I'm not usually the sort of person to comment on stuff I read on the interwebs, but this letter to the editor on The Chronicle of Higher Education stirred me enough to respond...

Three days of picking

Thursday - My regular weekly summer jam in Bryn Mawr (~4 hours).

Friday - A friend hosted a nice dinner + jam; met some great new players, and got to play a sweet 1981 D-28 that had amazing bass response (~5 hours).

Saturday - The 82nd Old Fiddler's Picnic @ Hibernia Park (~6 hours).

Please pardon the typos (especially on letters from the left side of the keyboard); my fingertips are numb and my back is sore.

Top 5 favorite guitar players

The video of Norman Blake I posted the other day has me thinking about my favorite guitarists. I'll just pick five for now, in no particular order:

1) Norman 

2) Mark Knopfler (best headband award)

3) Richard Thompson (best beret award)

4) Jimi Hendrix (best tracksuit award; headband runner-up)

5) David Rawlings

Photo of the week - August 2, 2011

Street shot from Manayunk. Nikon 85mm @ f/1.8, 1/1600, on a Nikon D90. Converted with Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Top 5 things I miss

Disclaimer: This is a list of businesses I miss, not people etc.

1) Acoustic Roots: A great guitar shop that used to be in Bryn Mawr; my favorite place to stop after work and play some boutique and vintage instruments. It's a shame that it went out of business a couple of years ago. I don't understand how the Main Line can't support a high end guitar shop.

2) Dos Coyotes: Back when I lived in Davis during the summers when I was in college, I went there all the time. Unfornutately I don't get back to California very often these days, although I did get a chance to stop there in December. Still as good as I remember.

3) Togo's: The #27 sandwich (cucumbers/avocado); at least there's a Togo's near where my parents live, so I can go there when I'm visiting them.

4) The record/CD shops in Iowa City and San Luis Obispo: College was a music buying bonanza and those stores were the best. I hope they've survived the iTunes revolution.

5) Murder Burger (a.ka., Redrum Burger): So good they're to die for.

Note: Bruegger's Bagels would have made this list, but amazingly they put one in right next to campus a few years ago and now we live about 30 seconds from there. Maybe there is a god.

Norman Blake - Nashville Blues

The Big Red Book(s)

I recently received volumes 1-4 of the Big Red Book of American Lutherie. It's a five volume set published by the Guild of American Luthiers and includes (most of) the back issues of American Lutherie from the mid-80s to late-90s.

I'm totally out of my league here; most of this is way over my head. There's a lot to digest and it's totally facinating. This resource is a really impressive compilation that includes discussions of tonewoods, tools, instrument plans, building techniques, and the history and craft of lutherie. It's an incredible resource for luthiers from the novice to master-craftperson, and I really admire the work of the folks who have made this information accessible.

Magnificent TdF 2011 images

photo credits: Koen van Weel / Veeral Patel / Joel SagetThe Boston Globe just ran a two-part series with some of the best photos from this years Tour de France. These are absolutely fantastic images and truly inspiring (as a photographer, cyclist, and traveler). I'm totally breathless.

Click here for photo set #1.

See photo set #2 here.

I've been watching the Tour for about ten years, but it still always amazes me (a) how tough the riders are, (b) how close the fans get to the riders, (3) how high the mountains are, and (4) how beautiful France is. We were in Paris for a week a couple of years ago, but I'd really love to travel all around the beautiful country.

The prologue for the 2012 Tour starts in Liège, Belgium, on June 30th. Can't wait 'til then!

 *   *   *

As an aside, maybe NBC will get their act together in the next year and work out all the bugs in their streaming service. While it was really convenient to be able to watch from your computer, it was exceedingly frustrating to have the video cut out or freeze at all the critical moments of the race.

Photo of the week - July 26, 2011

Longwood Gardens. Nikon 105mm VR micro @ f/5.6, 1/320, on a Nikon D90. Converted with Nik Silver Efex Pro. Yes, I know this is pretty similar to the one I posted from a few weeks ago.

David Rawlings is a machine

If I were to do a top ten (or five....or one) favorite guitar players, David Rawlings would be on that list. Maybe one of these of these days I do that list, but for now just let me say that I could listen to DR and Gillian Welch all day, every day. I've seen them play twice; once, in the rain, when they opened for Norah Jones at the Mann Center, and then again when they played with Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, and Buddy Miller as the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue at the Keswick.

There are just a handful of guitar players you hear and can identify immediately, and DR is one of them. It's both his playing style (the lightning-quick single-note runs) and the warm-yet-cutting sound of his 1935 Epiphone Olympic that makes it so notable. I know I recently was bashing Acoustic Guitar magazine, but here's an article/lesson from their website with some video clips of him playing the Olympic.

By the way, let me plug the Fretboard Journal, my favorite publication, and the feature they did on DR last summer.

Here's a recent interview and performance by GW and DR on Fresh Air (NPR).

Tour de Thor

I'm writing this while watching* stage 18 of the 2011 Tour de France (Pinerolo ~ Galibier - Serre Chevalier). Today's stage has the makings of an exciting day in the mountains, but so far the highlight of this year's Tour has been the performance of my favorite rider in the peloton, the Norwegian Thor Hushovd. Thor is the reigning World Champion, having won that title in Australia towards the end of the 2010 season, is a two-time green jersey winner at the Tour de France (for points/sprints; not overall in the race), and to date has won ten stages at the Tour. He's been the undisputed star of the TdF so far this year, winning two stages, including one in the mountains (which is really impressive given that he's better known as a sprinter), and wearing the yellow jersey (for leader of the race) for a week. No, Thor is not going to win the Tour (this year or ever), but he's been the star of the race so far this year.

*BTW, it's fantastic that you can stream the Tour on your (office) computer (at least when you can get it work). While you'd think this would decrease my productivity, it actually has increased it. Rather than stay at home watching the Tour every morning for three weeks in July, I can go into the office and work while I watch! Maybe I can write my Tour subscription off as a work-related expense?

Photo of the week - July 19, 2011

The 2011 Philadelphia International Championship. Nikon 135mm DC @ f/2, 1/2500, on a Nikon D90. See more images from the race here.

Summer update

Sadly, the summer is ticking away at a tragically fast pace. There's only one more week of the summer research season (students are funded to work in labs for 10 weeks), and then a month until the last minute crunch before classes start. My summer students have done really great work and I'm excited about their project and for the skills they've developed over the last nine weeks.

I'm teaching stats/methods in the fall and need to start working on that syllabus soon. Plus I volunteered for a "transdivisional seminar" during orientation week and have a stack of articles to review (i.e., peer review for journals). Oh, and those manuscripts I'm supposed to be writing. Sigh...Summer goes by way too fast.

Last week we went to the U2 show at "the Linc" (Lincoln Financial Field); it was a good, not spectactular, show. But it was a nice summer activity and a good time with friends (other than the 90 minute traffic jam trying to get out of the parking lot). We saw U2 in Indianapolis 11 or 12 years ago, and I thought the band was tighter and more energetic then, but of course Bono and company are that much older now (and coming off of back surgery) so I suppose they should get some slack. The stage/screen was impressive and the band played most of the songs you'd want to hear, so all in all it was a good time.

Yesterday I went to the semi-annual Philadelphia guitar show (a.k.a., the Great American Guitar Show). It was smaller than when I last went a couple of years ago, and it's probably 70% electric stuff, so there wasn't too much for me to see. Plus it's pretty loud and hard to hear any acoustic guitars you might want to try out. But I did play a 1948 Martin D-18 that seemed pretty fantastic and a 1957 D-18 that was in really great condition that was also nice, but a couple other mid-50's D-18's didn't impress me as much. I'm starting to think a late-40's models is where it's at for me (since I can't affort a pre-war model!), if I ever get into the vintage game.

I also played a few late-40's to late-50's Gibson J-45's and SJ's, as well as a modern J-35 reissue, and didn't find anything that I was particularly impressed with. I've been wanting to play more Gibsons, but so far nothing has particularly resonated with me. Maybe I'm just more of a Martin guy.

Photo(s) of the week - July 12, 2011

Longwood Gardens. Nikon 105mm VR micro @ all at f/10, 1/500 or 1/640, on a Nikon D90.

Maybe I'm not a hoarder

A few months ago I wrote about my borderline hoarding tendencies. Well, I'm happy to report that the collection of Acoustic Guitar magazines has found a new home with a nice fellow from craigslist. I was happy to have them go to a fellow bluegrass picker who will appreciate the collection as a whole, and I've got $75 dollars in my pocket to show for it. I don't think I'll miss them, especially since I haven't looked at them in months/years.

So, what can I get rid of next?

As a side note, in my experience about 2/3rds of the people on craigslist are flakes or idiots. I hope I'm in the other 1/3rd, and was glad that the taker of the magazines was a really nice guy.

Looking forward to the Jayhawks' "Mockingbird Time"

Paste magazine recently posted a nice video about the upcoming album from one of my favorite bands, the Jayhawks. For some reason I can't figure out how to embed it, but here's the link. I can't wait for Mockingbird Time to drop this fall...

We've also got tickets to see them at the Keswick Theatre in October. We saw the Jayhawks the last time they were at the Keswick in 2004 and also when they opened for Lucinda Williams at the Tower Theatre in 2003. In addition, we caught the Gary Louris and Mark Olson reunion tour(s) at the Ram's Head in Annapolis in 2005 and at the Sellersville Theater in 2008. I should check my stack of old ticket stubs...It could be that we've seen Gary Louris and company more than Lucinda or Richard Thompson (our other frequent shows).

In the meantime, here's a short clip about the album: