Trying out the new AirPods Pro 2 and the fit with the smallest sized earbuds is far superior to the previous version. I still need to assess if they’re going to work longer term but I can’t manage to shake them loose, they don’t fall out when I’m eating something, and they don’t dislodge after walking outside for 20 minutes or so. My longer weekend photowalk will probably help clarify if I’ll keep them or return them.
Asides
2022.11.11
A whole generation of journalists and semi-public individuals (myself included) are watching one of the ways we communicated with one another, and developed as professionals, is negligently being burned down. And so a lot of electrons are being tortured into describing our collective experiences.
My question, though, is this: what is the next system or platform that younger generations will use? Will it be YouTube or TikTok or is there another, still very small or yet to be created, platform that will do the same? Will we see a recursion back to things like Tumblr or blogs and RSS more generally? Will newsletters or email become a thing?
I’m genuinely curious while, simultaneously, a bit sad that a service that I’ve very successfully used to propel my career is almost certainly in steep decline.
2022.9.18
A couple thoughts after shooting with the iPhone 14 Pro for a day, as an amateur photographer coming from an iPhone 12 Pro and who also uses a Ricoh GR and Fuji X100F.
- The 48 megapixel 24mm (equiv.) lens is nearly useless for street photography, when capturing images at 48 megapixels. It takes 1+ seconds to capture an image at this resolution. That’s not great for trying to catch a subject or scene at just the right moment. (To me, this says very, very bad things about what Apple Silicon can actually do.) Set the captured resolution to 12 megapixels in ProRAW if you’re shooting fast-moving or fast-changing subjects/scenes.
- The 78mm (equiv.) telephoto is pretty great. It really opens a new way of seeing the world for me. I also think it’s great for starting street photographers who aren’t comfortable being as close as 28mm or 35mm might require.
- The new form factor means the MagSafe-compatible battery I use doesn’t fit. Which was a pretty big surprise and leads into item 4…
- Capturing 48 megapixel images, at full resolution, while using your phone in bright daylight (and thus raising the screen to full brightness), absolutely destroys battery life. Which means you’re likely to need a battery pack to charge your phone during extended photoshoots. Make sure you choose one that’s the right size!
- I like the ability to use the photographic styles. But it really sucks that you can’t see what effect they’d have on monochrome/black and white images. I shoot 95-99% in monochrome; this is likely less of an issue for other folks.
- The camera app desperately needs an update and reorganization. It is kludgy and a pain in the ass to use if you need to change settings quickly on the street. Do. Not. Like. It’s embarrassing Apple continues to ship such a poor application.
I haven’t taken the phone out to shoot extensively at night, though some staged shots at home at night showcase how much better night mode is compared to that in the iPhone 12 Pro.
Anyway, early thoughts. More complete ones will follow in the coming week or so.
2022.8.10
I’ve been making some small changes to Excited Pixels. I’ve updated my list of good podcasts I listen to (it now includes several of my preferred photography podcasts) and I’ve also created a portfolio page that currently showcases some of my recent preferred monochrome street photography. For my daily photography check out my Glass profile.
2022.4.9
I’ve been doing my own IT for a long while, as well as small tasks for others. But I haven’t had to do an email migration—while ensuring pretty well no downtime—in a long while.
Fortunately the shift from Google Mail (due to the deprecation of grandfathered accounts that offered free custom domain integration) to Apple’s iCloud+ was remarkably smooth and easy. Apple’s instructions were helpful as were those of the host I was dealing with. Downtime was a couple seconds, at most, though there was definitely a brief moment of holding my breath in fear that the transition hadn’t quite taken.
2022.1.6
After letting it languish for far too long (a year or two, I think!) I’ve updated my Podcasts page to include the podcasts that I either listen to regularly, or that have come to a conclusion but that I enjoyed.
2021.10.15
Disappointed that Apple seems to have changed the delivery date for my new Apple Watch last minute with minimal notice. Definitely not how to create delight and joy with their customers.
2021.8.12
If iOS 15 automatically removes the green lens flares that appear when shooting with the device at night that’d go a long way to improving the quality of night photos taken with the device (and fix one of the annoyances I raised in my reviews of the iPhone 11 Pro and 12 Pro). Here’s hoping that the software-side corrections make their way into the final release.
I do wonder, however, whether there are any photographers who have leaned into this lens flare and thus will have their photography negatively affected by Apple’s decision?
2021.7.26
I’ve created a series of recipes for my Fuji X100F and it’s been immensely satisfying to capture images and they look exactly the way I want, with no editing required aside from minor crops. Definitely check out Fuji X Weekly if you want to get started yourself!
2021.6.7
Not going to lie: the most useful feature for me, personally, that has been announced at WWDC this year (thus far…) is that the Photos app will now display full EXIF data. I really want Apple to enable advanced search in Photos so I can then sort based on EXIF information, to filter by camera/device and by lens.
Excited Pixels 