Monday Meanders 4-19

Had to go to the office yesterday. I needed to re-configure some hardware and, as is the nature of IT from time to time, the work could only be done 'off hours' - and lately, 'off hours' means Sunday.

I have seen many advances in IT type stuff over the years. I have been 'doing' computers ever since 1979, when I bought my first one. By 1982, 'computers' was how I made my living. When I think about what we have now, and compare it to what we had then, it just astounds me to realize the changes that have occurred in computers and software systems in the last 31 years.

I had something of a minor epiphany yesterday. While driving home from the office, I was thinking about the post I did last Wednesday and and I realized something I have long thought about digital cameras is wrong - well, not wrong so much as incomplete. I had published photos which pointed up the difference between Point and Shoot cameras and DSLRs. And I was thinking that this coming Wednesday I would follow up with a couple of photographs that illustrated the difference that Maximum Aperture makes in a lens - and then it hit me. I've been wrong about lenses and digital cameras. I have always said that Digital Cameras meant you didn't have to have the 'fast glass' anymore. If you need to shoot in low light situations, or you need to be able to freeze the action, and you DON'T have the 'fast glass', all you have to do is turn up the ISO in the digital camera and you can get the shot. And as far as that goes - it's true. But then you have to consider the quality of the shot.

I can remember a shot I saw once, of a second baseman turning a double play during a night game in New York. The camera caught him in mid air, just after he released the ball to first base - legs, arms and glove all going in different directions. Frozen in space and time - and all you saw was HIM. Nothing in the background was in focus - nothing was there to distract the viewer from the subject of the shot - the man in mid air. The reason was the lens - a fast telephoto. A slower lens could have gotten the shot, but it would not have looked the same. It would not have looked as good. On Wednesday, I'm going to post some photos that will illustrate why lens speed is important.

It's Monday, y'all. Have a good week.

Ndinombethe.