Ed_Ingold

I added a DJI Avata 2 FPV drone to my collection. It's not as stable as a conventional drone for photography, and the gimbal is limited a single axis (pitch), but you can fly low, fast, and through obstacles while taking photos or videos. The propellers are shielded by built-in guards against minor obstacles, but can be broken. While brushing a few leaves will bring down a conventional drone, the Avata 2 is mostly unscathed, and remains airborne. It requires the use of goggles for navigation, and the same goggles can be used with the Mini 4 Pro, Air 3 and Air 3S drones. Beyond being fun to sit in a virtual cockpit, you build confidence in flying and navigation for better photography too.

We remember things with more fondness than at the time. Will Rogers once said, "Things ain't like they used to be ... and they never were."

A camera as heavy as the A7C would require something on the order of a DJI Inspire. I have seen videos of a GoPro Black strapped to an Air 2S with gaffer tape, also to an Avata2 FPV drone. In either case you are bereft of a way to point the camera in another direction while flying. DJI continually improves both the flying and photographic quality of their drones. I am very impressed with results from a Mini 4 Pro, which has a 48 MP 1/1.3" sensor. Its stability is impressive, in winds up to 16 mph. The new Air 3S has a 1", 50MP sensor with a 24mm equivalent lens, and a second 1/1.3" camera with a 75mm equivalent lens. Both have a flying time of up to 45 minutes per charge. My older Air 2S is no slouch, with a 1", 20MP sensor. This was taken last week with my Min 4 Pro...

There's no noticeable distortion, but some. The camera was pointed slightly downward, otherwise the horizon would be in the center. Managing perspective is one of the advantages of drone photography, but pales compared to the ability to manage the background and overcome ground level interference.

The Easy35 comes with a strip film adapter, which can be used with strips with 2 or more frames. This adapter snaps out of the Easy35 and can be replaced with a 35mm slide holder, which is an extra cost option.

My love of landscape and architectural photography continues, but with a camera drone rather than a Sony A7Riv. The Sony still takes stunning photos, but with roads overgrow with trees and shrubs, it's hard to capture what one only sees occasionally through the ubiquitous cover. I'm of an age which makes hiking more than 100 yards with gear a challenge. A drone constitutes my exaggerated tripod, whether 15' or 150', placing new perspective on landscapes and buildings. I still fly my DJI Air 2S. Its 1", 20 MP sensor does a great job. I recently acquired a DJI Air 4 Pro, with a slightly smaller (1/1.3) sensor, but with 48 MP. Both take 14 bit, DNG raw files, with an excellent dynamic range. The Air 4 Pro is under the 250 gram limit, and can be used in most places, including Europe, without special licensing. It is also much quieter, roughly 62 dB at 5'. Above 30', it is virtually inaudible. The 4 Pro has all-way obstacle sensing and avoidance. In addition to the standard controller (DC 2 with screen, N2 with cell phone bracket), it is also compatible with the new Goggles 3 and new one-hand Motion 3 controller. I addition to the exhilarating sense of being in the cockpit, goggles make it easy to see wires and leafless branches, the nemesis of free flight. Either the two stick DC and Motion controller can be used with goggles. It may seem strange, but I'm learning to enjoy flying the drone and shooting video with it. Setting up a shot, and moving smoothly with control is challenging. My professional life is increasingly centered on multi-camera video, strictly land based. However. I treat video as studio composition with "benefit" of the time dimension. I have no financial interest in drone flying in general, nor DJI in particular. DJI drones have features I find useful. I hope to share the reasons for my choices.

Dedicated film scanners are 10 years out of date. The good ones are insanely expensive, and the film holders are scarce. You should consider using a digital camera to "copy" the negatives. You need a camera, 1:1 macro lens, and a film holder. Nikon makes a pretty good holder for slides and film strips, the ES-2. I have that one, but have recently switched to a Valoi Easy35 for speed and convenience. I described the Valoi system in a recent post.

So far, I've scanned about 600 color negatives with this system. The superbly sharp Sony 90mm macro with a 60MP camera is grain-sharp throughout. NegativeLabPro is the best negative conversion program I've found. Once you have aligned and cropped the images, you can do the entire set as a batch. Each frame is analyzed and converted separately (and non-destructively).

Cardboard mounts are a tight fit in the original Easy35. Plastic mounts load easily. In either case, you start them at a slight angle (tilted toward the camera). You can't grab them and pull them out. Instead you have to push them out with the next slide. You can remove the last slide by pushing it out a little from the input side with your finger or another slide. I have a Nikon ES-1 (slides) and ES-2 (slides or film strip with holder). The Easy35 is easy to use, and does not require a holder for film strips. The entire assembly is much more rigid, and doesn't have a sliding tube for focusing. The built-in light is great for convenience and consistency. (I use a 4x6 LED light panel with the Nikon holders.) The Easy35 is plastic, but 3D printed, accurate, and very rigid. The extension tubes are aluminum with 62mm filter threads. I bought a Pelican V200 Vault case with dividers to hold the entire kit securely (except for the copy stand). A piece of gripper cloth keeps the 360 film holder from sliding around.

I recently popped for a camera scanning system by startup company Valoi (Finland). There are two systems. One is the Valoi Easy35, which attaches to a macro lens with metal tubes. The light (LED) is built-in, and has adjustable color and level controls. At present, only mounted 35mm slides and film strips can be used. Although manual, the system is very ergonomic and quick to use. The film gate has a unique "S" configuration, which keeps the film very flat in the image area. Valoi indicates a 120 version of the head is being developed. The other system is called the Valoi 360 system, which is basically a copy stand with a sophisticated base, which can be used with all film formats, from half-frame to 4x5. There is a simple film transport mechanism for use with film strips. The base has a flat LED light source, also with color and level adjustments. It would be ideal for full-roll strip scanning, but works well even for strips of 4 or 6 (the longer, the better). 120 film, in strips of 3, is tricky, because the thin film base is difficult to push into position. I have both systems, which I use with a Sony A7Riv and Sony 90/2.8 Macro lens. Throughput is 4-6 rolls per hour, without breaking a sweat. I use LightRoom and "NegtivePro" plugin for conversion. I attached a photo of my son using the Easy35 system, mounted on a Novoflex copy stand. The monitor is used to center the film and focus the camera accurately, an Atomos Shinobi 7 HDMI/SDI.

PC's can still be used for editing? I switched to Apple 10 years ago, and never looked back. Editing is a business (now mostly video), not a hobby. That rules out Linux too.

It's easy to check the status of ink cartridges on the printer's web page. You get a "low" alert long before the cartridge fails. However, the printer shuts down before that cartridge starts sucking air, which would present a monumental problem restarting the printer, possibly requiring replacement of the print head. I keep a complete set of cartridges on hand, and order individual replacements each time one is replaced.

The corona during totality was surprisingly bright. I used 1/2000, f/4.0 @ ISO 100. The landscape resembled late dusk. This was in Sullivan, Indiana. The only "star" I could see clearly was Jupiter.

HEIF is a video format. Sony uses YUV as the color codec, rather than RGB. The latter is a gamer format. sRGB is a color standard for stills. REC709 is the usual color standards for HD video.

You can drag and drop folders into the sidebar in Finder. That includes "Desktop" and sub-folder. Favorite folders are easily found when saving files from applications. I keep my photos on a server, rather than internal or cloud memory. It's simply "Photos" in the Finder sidebar.