At the end of the year, businesswise, you’ve gotta take inventory for tax purposes. I’ve always taken this as a hint to look at the gear in the locker and challenge myself by asking if it should remain there. Looking back ten years and comparing the locker in 2010 with what’s in the locker right now, only three of the lenses pictured above remain. This revelation, is it a good or bad thing?
You might ask yourself if so little still remains in your kit if you might have purchased the wrong equipment to start with. On the other hand, you might think that technology has really advanced being the reason for the big change. Then, on the other hand, it could be that your photography has evolved to the point that much that old gear had to be replaced by new.
Personally, I look at all the gear in the locker as tools. While I love camera gear, really addicted to it in fact, the reality is I can only afford those tools that make a return on their investment. So I take inventory and as you can see in ten years, a whole lot of tools have come and gone. I like to keep my locker KISS so here it is, the end of the year, and I’m in the locker looking. I’m asking what projects are coming up in the next eighteen months, what can stay, what needs to go, and what needs to be added. It helps me take stock of where I am as a business and photographer. It’s pretty simple, taking inventory, 2020.
My efforts at being a reformed print-aholic have gone out the window with the new Epson SC-900! The roll paper adapter is a totally new animal from any previous model making printing even easier. No more spool to insert. No more hassle loading paper through the back slot. You literally drop the paper roll into the back (don’t drop it!), unroll the paper slightly into the slot, press a button and you’re ready to print! I know, I’ve already gone through a roll in less than a week. The prints coming out are simply, gorgeous to the point I’ve reprinted two for my own walls! But it doesn’t stop there.
Using Epson Print Layout 1.5.2, adding a new paper profile is soooooo simple! I clicked on Media Type, add Metal Luster and EPL went out to the web, grabbed the profile, and loaded it onto the Mac. It couldn’t have been simpler or easier. But the goodness doesn’t stop there!
As I mentioned before, EPL has a special treat for us Metallic users. The Carbon Black or Black Enhance Overlay produces stunning results! The visible difference in the DMAX makes the reds in this print jump off the paper. If you’re looking at upgrading or getting a new printer, I can’t recommend the SC-900 enough to you!
Maggie has been experiencing snow for the first time and she like most dogs just loves it! Now unlike all the other members of my family, Maggie is not camera shy. In fact, when the Z 6II comes out, she’s running right at me which has been so much fun. Now those little eight-inch legs if I want to shoot at her level require that I get down at her level (argh) or shoot bent over with the monitor flipped out. In either case, getting my eye to the viewfinder for focus is a challenge. Step in the marvelous Z 6II!
partial screen capture of the 45 image series
We were out in the snow with Maggie, the light was pretty nice. I flipped out the monitor, bent over, and as soon as Maggie saw me, she bolted over to me. With the Z 6II set to Auto-Area AF Pet eye detection, all I had to do to get the 45 sharp image series was keep my finger on the AF-ON and shutter release button. That’s good because keeping bouncing Maggie in the frame was challenge enough. I have no doubt that without the Z 6II vastly improved AF performance and flip out monitor I would not have all these photos, all sharp and able to share. I’m pretty much blown away with this performance!
It’s a beautiful thing, running ProGrade CFexpress in my D6, Z 6II, and now D5! The firmware does other goods things too but it’s the upgrade to CFexpress that’s truly exciting. I’ve run both XQD and CFexpress in the D5 since the upgrade, no issues but CFexpress is now what lives in the D5!
I know, zow, but I’m of the old Batman series age and that’s what came to my mind the first time I hit the AF-ON button. The Z 6II has two Expeed6 processors with one dedicated to the AF system and man, does it sing. Zow (I couldn’t help myself)!
The speed, both in AF operation and in frames per second (14fps) is why I picked up the Z 6II (still keeping my Z 6). Yeah, it has dual card slots (the 2nd being SD and there are new settings for that) but that has never been important to me. Having the same sensor as the Z 6, I already had the image quality my clients require, I just wanted the new extra speed. Luckily, I had an instant subject to challenge the system.
Maggie captured by Z 6II / Z24-70f2.8 @2.8
The marvelous Ms Maggie has been a “test” subject for the Z 6II faster system. This includes the Pet Eye Detection which is part of Auto-Area AF and a setting in the Custom Settings. As a number of our friends will tell you, I’ve been photographing this little dynamo a lot with the Z 6II making it real simple to compare. My test was real simple. I got my energy up and chased Maggie around first with the Z 6 / Z24-70f2.8, caught my breath, and then I switch to the Z 6II / Z24-70f2.8. Man, did the keeper rate go shooting up with the Z 6II!
I have posted my Setting for the Z 6II. I believe this well be the same for the Z 7II but don’t know for a fact as I’ve not seen the Z 7II yet. I really love the Z 6II for still and video as it’s the perfect compliment to the D6. Matching FPS / AF performance of the D6 with only a slightly smaller buffer, the Z 6II will be a main stay of my photography. Zow! (had to get one more in :-)
Staying in touch is such an important part of our lives! When we moved to The Ranch, we brought with us you, the massive worldwide family we are so grateful we have. But reaching out was a real issue as there is no internet here at The Ranch. For the last nine months, we have limped along on every service imaginable trying to communicate and stay in touch especially during these times. I often rented a studio with viable connection forty minutes away for virtual conferences and tutoring. That all changed for us when we were accepted into the Starlink beta program and installed it last week!
Prior to Starlink, crawling along with another satellite company (cable doesn’t exist here), on a real good day, the best we got going downhill was 25Mbps down / 3Mbps down / 600ping. Starlink doesn’t even come close to those numbers. The best we’ve had so far is 178Mbps down / 31Mbps up / 21ping! Starlink is rocking our world and I can’t rave about it enough!!!
Is it hard to set up? Not even!!! They have it basically plug n’ play. The dish comes with 500′ of cable, tons! I ordered the roof mount which comes complete for installation except for power tools. The Starling App tells you where to mount your dish, you plug it in, and just like Star Wars, the dish starts moving around, and then boom, it locks on the Satellites. It couldn’t have been simpler! In rain, snow, sun, or wind, it’s worked perfectly permitting us to put into motion plans we’ve sat on for nearly a year. It’s really nice to have the sky the limit again, talking to the heavens!
