More Planned Obsolescence: Evil Lion
By Ctein [Before we get started...want to help me do some research? I'm studying printer variability and I'm looking for owners of Epson 3880 printers who are willing to make a couple of 8.5 x 11" prints for me to...
North American Solar Eclipse Coming May 20, 2012
Map courtesy of NASA. You can download a much clearer PDF of this same map from the NASA website linked in this article. By Ctein I don't know how this one slipped past me, but it did. Maybe I've been...
Myths About Megapixels (…And, Does the D800 Have Too Many?)
By Ctein The recent announcement of the 36-megapixel Nikon D800 has brought forth a certain number of predictable reactions, a few lauding it as the Second Coming and many more dismissing the utility of more megapixels. Most such opinions are...
PX PLZ*
Notice anything missing? Read on for the answer. By Ctein I'm of the persuasion that feels that most decent art is capable of speaking for itself. With occasional exceptions—and there are always exceptions—I think that work that cannot be understood...
OT: The Art of Tea (for Two)…Pu Erhs
By Ctein When I first wrote about the art of tea, I mentioned pu erhs, and several people asked me what they were. It's no wonder. Pu erh teas have only been freely available in the U.S. for a score...
Lenses are to Cameras as Applications are to Computers
By Ctein I got a bit of amusement from Mike's #1 choice for "Most Desirable Camera on the Planet" a few weeks ago because only two days previously I had been thinking about that very same camera and...well.... I was...
How to ‘Scan’ Film with a CameraWell (Part 2)
Editor's Introduction: This week's column from Ctein, a continuation of last week's, outlines the technique needed for a procedure we don't necessarily recommend. Ctein's purpose in these columns is a) to help people who are trying this as well as...
Where Are They?
By Ctein Okay, so my "keeping the 'X' (as in, the unknown) in 'Xmas'" column normally appears the week of the solstice. There's a good reason it's a week late this year. I forgot. When I did remember, I had...
Burning Our Bridges
By Ctein Are we losing the ability to scan film? I like my digital prints from film much better than my darkroom prints (dye transfer notwithstanding). To those of you who still like darkroom printing of film, I think that's...
OT: The Art of Tea
This is my tea shelf. You can only see about half of what I have; the jars are ranked three rows deep. The cardboard and paper packages contain my pu-erh bings; the rest are various looseleaf teas in airtight jars....
Introduction to Digital Printing Part III
By Ctein [Before we get started, a brief aside: My Minolta DiMAGE Multi Pro AF-5000 scanner has died and is in need of electronics servicing. Precision Camera no longer works on this model. If you know of someone in the...
How to Review (or Buy) a Lens (or Camera)
By Ctein 'Tis the "Season of Spending"—at least that's what the radio commercials tell me. They wouldn't lie to me, would they? I thought I might devote this column to some consumerist advice. What goes through my head when I...
