"Specmanship"

Years ago when my family owned a stereo store, we used to go to the Consumer Electronics Shows (CES) where all the new electronic products for the year was introduced.  It was one of the highlights of being a stereo dealer.  To get consumers to buy, manufacturers used to exaggerate their specifications.  For instance, they would combine the wattage of a stereo amplifier's left and right channels and call it a more powerful amp.  A 100 watt per channel amp might be touted as a 200 watt amp simply by adding the two channel's power specification together.

"Specmanship" is a term we gave to those products that pushed the limit of specifications.  An amplifier can be 100 watts per channel or it can be said to be perhap 250 watts per channel.  How?  Well, if you push that amplifier so that the distortion is moved up as well, you can get a lot more power.  Granted, it is "distorted" power, but it's power none-the-less.  "Specmanship."  Not good.

Today, I'm noticing some companies are doing this again.  A five channel receiver that has 100 watts for each of its channels (used in a 5.1 surround sound system) might be said to have 500 watts of power.  Come on!  That's specmanship once again!

I recently saw some powered speakers used for PA systems (public address systems) that had 500 watts of power going into the woofer and 500 watts going to the tweeter. Now there's no way a tweeter would need 500 watts.  You'd burn out the tweeter well before you would hit 500 watts going into it.  Yet, the powered speaker was advertised as a 1000 watt powered speaker!  While you might have the ability to have two amps running together, I'll bet that tweeter amp is never going to reach the bi-amp'ed 500 watts.  "Specmanship."  Not good.

So years ago when the electronics industry had cracked down on manufacturers misleading the public with specmanship, it seems once again, this practice is out there to make products appear more powerful than they actually are when in use.  I'm disappointed.  :(

Beach-front Property

I've always wondered about beach-front property.  Here's one along a beach in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

I've wondered if it is a hassle having people hanging around your property all the time since they too share the beach.  Of course it's convenient for you to head out to the beach by just going into your "backyard" and having it there.  But would you get used to all the strangers hanging around your property?

The weather in Fort Myers Beach, Florida today is 80 degrees.  That sure beats the cold of the north!

Photos taken with a cell phone camera.  Be sure to click on each image for a closer look.

A New TV

Four years ago, I purchased a Vizio 47" LCD 1080p TV at Costco... and then to the exact day four years later, I returned it for a full refund, back onto my American Express card.

The Vizio TV had "popped" when I changed channels on the remote, effectively killing the machine.  While it would still power up, it didn't have any other features working.  You couldn't even turn off the TV after turning it on.  So I decided to invoke Costco's old "Free exchange for life" warranty that had been in effect for our set.

Just a couple months after we bought our TV four years ago, Costco stopped their "free for life" electronics warranty.  But we got "grandfather claused" because we purchased the TV before it became in effect.  The requirements were that you must return everything that came with the TV, including the box.

Since we knew that one day, we might need to do this, we decided we would keep the huge TV box in our garage.  It was a good thing we did that because four years to the day, we had to return the TV.

To their word, Costco returned my purchase price (just over $2000 with tax) directly back onto my credit card!  So with the returned money, I purchased a 46" 1080p, 120 Hz LCD Samsung TV in its place for about $900 plus tax.  It even has internet capabilities via WiFi.  While the new edge-lit LED screens are the latest development in flat-screen TV's, we found that this particular Samsung model actually looked better than many of the LED TV's, so we decided to stick with the older LCD technology.  The new LED models have a potential for leaking some of its backlighting causing some "cloudiness" issues on some models and we found one Sony model that did just that.  So we were fine with getting the older LCD model Samsung instead.  Plus we found that the Samsung actually looked much sharper and cleaner than the Sony screen.

So now I have a new TV with better capabilities for about half the cost of the old TV and essentially, I had the free use of a 47" TV for four years.  Not bad!

Today's Costco policy offers 2 years of warranty, still not a bad deal, but the old lifetime warranty can't be beat. I suppose I can't blame Costco for changing their policy, but I'm glad I had the old policy in place for that old Vizio set!  Thanks Costco!

Question 67 & 68

This is another one of the videos from our Chicago Tribute Band performance back on October 1, 2010.  It was from the rehearsal just minutes before the actual performance.  We had never played this song together before this recording.  The vocal was sung one octave lower than the original from Chicago because I can't sing that high!  I think it loses a lot of the dynamics of the song, but oh well...

Enjoy!

One Of My First Wedding Clients - Nearly 20 Years Ago

2011 marks my 21st year photographing weddings!

I decided to take a look back at some of the old images I shot on Medium Format film and found these 5x5 proofs of some studio shots I did of one of my first clients in the San Diego area.  I don't remember their names or when their wedding took place as it has been so long ago.  I would guess that this was probably 2 or 3 years after I started photographing weddings because of the studio lights.  Also, I remember this session as I didn't have that many wedding clients who brought their own props with them!  Since the groom was a firefighter, he brought in an old-styled fire extinguisher and also a small fire alarm box!

I remember that the bride was the first bride who actually got into her dress while I was in the room.  I am not normally in the room with the bride as she dresses (usually just after), but I was specifically requested to be there to document her getting into her dress.   You don't forget that kind of request!  I'm not shy about that and neither was the bride apparently.  Over the years, I've seen a lot of things at weddings, so nothing really surprises me any more.  Well, ok, just last year, I helped photograph a wedding with another photographer and that was the first time I had someone pull out a Sig semi-auto 9mm handgun and fire off several rounds of bullets into the air.  That surprised me a little since I was about 6 feet from the shooter.

Anyway, as for this San Diego wedding, I used to take studio portraits of my clients the day after their wedding.  I had a studio set up in my garage back then (it was a 3 car garage that had fully finished walls) and I'd make the bride and groom come to my place to take their shots on Sunday mornings.  We had to do it then because the groom usually had to return his tux on Monday.  Plus, if they went on a honeymoon, they'd either leave later on Sunday or perhaps on Monday.  So Sunday morning, bright and early, we'd get these shots done.  Believe me, all of us were usually tired when we were taking these photos because they had been partying until at least midnight and I'd been working all day as well at the wedding.  Still, we got some pretty nice shots considering the circumstances.

Today, I don't offer the studio photo option the day after any more because I don't have a location to do that any more.  My office is only set up for meetings.

These photos are scanned images of the original 5x5 proof prints.  Be sure to click on each image for a closer look.  Remember, these are scans, so there are dust spots and the resolution is only as good as the actual 5x5 print.  Still, it's not too bad.

Kirkland AA Batteries

You can buy "name brand" batteries, or you can buy private label batteries.  I prefer to save a few dollars and buy private label for certain items and AA batteries are one of them.

I don't buy "Heavy Duty" AA batteries as they aren't nearly as good as alkaline batteries.  Some devices won't allow the use of heavy duty batteries unless you want to void your warranties.  But alkaline batteries are a safe bet if you buy ones that do the job right... correct voltage, long lasting while being used, and long lasting shelf life.

The Kirkland brand is Costco's brand.  I picked up their 48 battery pack for $10.99.  That's about $0.23 per battery.  Compared to brands like Duracell, that's about half the price.  Not bad!

I checked the batteries on a digital multimeter and they read 1.625 Volts each.  That's pretty good.  AA batteries are rated at 1.5 Volts.  Getting a little more out of the battery to start is a good thing.

In the past, I have purchased batteries from Rayovac, which is a name brand.  Still, in general, I found that Rayovac tends to be less expensive than Duracell and Energizer as well and they have always held up well too.  But these Kirklands are even less expensive and seems to do a good job too.  So why not?

Some online reports have also confirmed that the Kirkland AA batteries do a fine job.  Click here for one of the reports.

The photo of the batteries were borrowed from the internet.

Testifying In Criminal Court - A Repeat from 2008

Back on Dec 6, 2008, I wrote about how to properly testify in court.  The subject came up again recently and so I thought it might be good to repeat it here.  I'm recycling information on my blog! Never thought I would, but this one is good to know in case you ever get called to testify in court. Pay attention!
________________________


As an expert witness, it's often asked of me... "What's it like to testify in court?"

Well I can tell you, it's pretty easy (if you are not the defendant) and not like what you see on TV! You need to be very specific when you answer in court. On TV, I see so often how witnesses add information that they really shouldn't.

For instance, if the question is, "Mr. Lowe... Did you take a photograph of the victim on December 5, 1993 at 123 Main Street in San Diego California?" The answer should either be, "Yes" or "No" or "I don't recall." That's it.

But on TV, this is what I usually hear, "Yes, and it was done with the best camera I have too." Way too much information given!

Or how about this one, "Mr. Lowe, did you dust the gun for fingerprints?"The answer should be either, "Yes, I did" or "No, I did not" or "I don't recall." But on TV, this is what you'll hear, "Yes, I did and I used a special silver colored powder that works better on black surfaces of guns." Again, way too much information.

The tendency is to offer more information, but that's not the proper way to answer in court. As an expert witness, answering the question with only a Yes or No is better. Should the attorney want more information, he'll ask for it.

For example, "Mr. Lowe, did you dust the gun for fingerprints?"Answer... "Yes, I did." Attorney... "And Mr. Lowe, what type of powder did you use?" Answer... "I used a special silver colored powder designed to work better on black surfaces like guns."

Here's another type of answer that is not correct... Question... "Mr. Lowe, what time of the day did you take the photograph of the victim lying in the street?" Wrong answer, "You know, it was dark that day so it was hard to take a good photograph." This answer would most likely be objected to as being "non-responsive" because it never answers the original question! The attorney objecting would most likely motion for the answer to be "stricken from the record." The proper answer should be, "I took that photograph at 4:00 PM" or, "I do not recall."
Is it easy to testify in court? I think so. But you need to listen closely and only answer what is asked. No more, no less. If the attorney is doing his/her job properly, an additional question will be asked if needed to help clarify. Oh, and don't forget to address the judge as "Your Honor."That's always fun! :)

The Last Blog Post for 2010

What makes a good post for the end of a year?  A recap of the year?  A look towards the upcoming year?  What should the blog focus on in 2011?  Who is reading this blog anyway?

From statistics given to me by my StatCounter account, it seems people from all over the world check out my blog.  It has been that way since its inception.  I don't think people read every post I write, although some people do.  Most often, people do a Google search and my blog pops up as something to check out on a given topic.  Or, people will look for photos of a certain subject and my blog will offer some photos that match that search.

So really, I can write just about anything and there will probably be someone who will eventually see the post.

I found that if I post about "popular" things like cameras, guitars, celebrities... I'll get a bunch of hits to my blog.  The most hit post was probably my post about Charice Pempengco, the amazing Filipino singer.  I don't recall the exact number, but I think I got over 600 hits in one day.  I wonder if just writing her name here will get some hits too!

You may wonder why I often end each post that have photos on it with the instructions, "Be sure to click on each image to take a closer look."  Well, I found that many people only look at a single blog post, not the entire blog.  So that one phrase is the first (and possibly the only time) they will ever read it.  My weekly blog readers see it all the time, but they don't.  And, a reminder for them to click on the image is necessary because I don't downsize my images too much.  I usually leave them at 4x6 size at 300 ppi., so you can see some good details if you click on the images to view them closer.  Many photos on the internet have been downsized so much that you can't see any details if you enlarge them.  Not mine.

So what is interesting to write about?  What will my readers want to read?  That's a question I have to ponder twice each week.  Usually on Mondays and Thursdays, my blog is updated with content.  While not all posts are interesting to everyone, I find that my readers still come back to check up on me.  I may not know who the people are, but I can tell from my StatCounter that the same IP addresses have come back often.  Hundreds of times actually.  To those people, I'd like to say, "Thank you" for your continued interest in seeing what I'm up to weekly.

I go through phases it seems when I post.  Sometimes I'll do a whole string of posts on fishing, or perhaps guitars, or photography related posts.  I keep wondering if I'm going to run out of ideas to keep the blog fresh.  Writer's block... you know.  Just kind of like this post.  I'm not really sure what to write about, so I'm just rambling here.  And, if you've read all this so far, I guess you don't really mind reading all of this babble either.  Otherwise you would have already moved on to something else, right?

I also find that having a photo along with a blog post makes a huge difference.  I don't know about you, but I like seeing pictures with things I read.  For instance, this post doesn't have a photo.  So have you been thinking, "Why am I reading this?  It doesn't have any pictures to look at!"

While this post hasn't had any real value to speak of, it's been keeping me busy at 4:30 AM.  Yes, I often have weird sleeping patterns.  Sometimes I go to bed late and get up late.  Other times, I go to bed early and get up early.  Other times I go to bed at "normal" hours and still end up waking up at 3 AM!  There are no "normal" hours for me.  I don't sleep throughout the night either.  I often wake up many times during the night.  It's been like this for years.  So when I don't have the ability to sleep, you'll often find me on the computer.  Just like right now.

OK... seems I've typed enough.  This post looks "long enough" to be legitimate, even though it's been nothing but worthless information that most people will think was a real waste of their time reading.  You are probably wondering why you've even stuck with it this long right?

Have a great 2011... better posts to come next year!  :)

R Taylor - Style One with Maple/Sitka Spruce

 

 

 

I never posted about this guitar until now.  It's been my main steel-string guitar for over a year.  While it is basically a more advanced Taylor GS guitar, the R Taylor Style One is the "hand-built" version made by just a few select Taylor employees.

Back in 2006, Taylor decided to make some hand-built instruments and so they formed the R Taylor company.  The company makes a little over 300 instruments per year.  Consider that Taylor's yearly production is well past 70,000 instruments per year, this is a very small division!  But only the best woods and construction techniques are used and yes, you CAN hear the difference!

I've owned several Maple guitars from Taylor over the years, two of which were GS models.  The Style one has been described by some guitar forums as a Taylor GS Guitar on steroids, but I like thinking of it as a more refined Taylor guitar.  Deeper bass, clearer trebles... an overall more satisfying sounding guitar.

This particular R Taylor happens to be the third R Taylor ever made, with serial number 003 from 2006.  It not only looks great, but sounds that way as well.  Be sure to click on each image for a closer look.

Ovation Classic 2073LX with Tremolo

I took a photo of the Ovation Classic 2073LX (my new nylon-string guitar) and Photoshopped in a tremolo onto it.  Rock 'N Rollers would call this a "Whammy Bar."  This would never really work on a classical guitar as it would probably cave in the top if you tried to work it.  Plus the constant stretching of the nylon strings would make it go way out of tune!

Looks pretty cool though, don't you think?

The before and after photos are included.  Be sure to click on each image for a closer look.

Studio Work

Recently, I was asked why I didn't do more studio portrait work.  After all, there's a lot of money that can be made doing that!  But my response was that it takes more space, time and effort than I can often give right now.  Even a simple two umbrella, backlight, and hairlight setup requires a lot of work to set up correctly.

I initially set up for a 17 person session with a black backdrop and a gelled backlight, but  found out the night before that several of the people planned to wear dark colors.  So I switched to a white seemless paper backdrop instead.  While it doesn't look very wide here, the backdrops are 10 ft wide.  They still weren't wide enough for that many people and so it needed to be "extended" via Photoshop.  Individual photos of the people were also taken and I used a smaller 5 ft wide black velveteen backdrop with a gelled backlight for those images.

All of my living room furniture needs to be moved away for photo sessions.  Basically, the entire house is turned upside down to do a session.  Washrooms are turned into dressing rooms, the family room becomes a staging area... it's too much to ask to do it more than perhaps a couple of times per year.  Still, my family has put up with it when needed.  (The second photo shows what the room looks like with furniture still in the way, but with the softboxes used for main and fill lights.)

Umbrellas were used for the group images, but later I switched to softboxes for the individual photos  I have a little more control of the lighting with softboxes, but umbrellas spread the light wider which is good for high-key photos (white backgrounds.)  Ideally, I would have lighted the backdrop with two umbrellas and then used two more ro light the people.  But there just wasn't enough room to do that.  Years ago when we lived in the San Diego area, I had used my three car garage as a studio.  It had plenty of room to shoot out of.  All I had to do was pull the cars out.  The garage was fully finished, so it had walls, not like some garages where you can still see the 2x4 wood supports.

One day I'd like to have some real shooting space where I can leave all my gear set up.  Then perhaps I can do more portrait work or commercial photography work.  One day...

Be sure to click on each image to take a closer look.

Hawaii Five-O

Hawaii Five-O was one of my favorite shows while growing up in the late '60's through the 70's.. It seemed every high school and college band played the theme song from the hit TV show.  Every half-time football game had the bands playing the song.  (They also played the song Vehicle quite a bit too, but that's another story.)

In the original TV series, the character "Kono" was a big Samoan guy played by an actor named Zulu.  But in the new TV show, Kono is now played by a Korean actress named Grace Park!  How did that gender change happen?  And not only that, but the new Kono is now detective Chin Ho Kelly's cousin!  

Look closely at the video below and watch for the credits.  

Here it is:

Ovation Classic 2073LX

(All Images Borrowed From The Internet)

Years ago, I had an Ovation Legend nylon-string guitar, but sold it to get a Godin Grand Concert Multiac nylon.  That got sold to get my new Ovation C2078LX... which has already been sold to get the new Ovation Classic 2073LX.  I've come full circle!

The new Ovation has a 1-3/4" nut width which will make it much easier to play.  The new contour body shape is better than my old Legend which had a super shallow bowl.  It should sound deeper and fuller.  The OP Pro Studio preamp should also make it sound nice when plugged in and played amplified.

While the guitar looks virtually identical to my old Ovation Legend, it should be much different in its playability. It's slightly smaller nut width should help a bunch and I am excited about the new bridge design as well.

The guitar is expected to arrive on Friday.

The Russ Lowe Method Of Success In School

When I went through college (the first time) to get my bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, I was an ok student.  I got B's and high B's mostly and a few A's sprinkled in here and there.  My Grade Point Average was 3.3 out of 4.0.  Not bad, but nothing spectacular either.

Years later, I decided to go back to school to get two Associates Degree's in Evidence Technology and in Pre Law / Court Management.  I was older than many of my fellow classmates since it was technically the second time around for me at college.

I made the decision that if I was going to put myself through the torture of studying again for another degree, I had to be the top student in the program.  After all, I was older than the other students, I was already married, and I didn't really want to be in school any longer than I had to.

To get these two degrees, I decided I wanted to finish the program as quick as I could.  Three semesters total was my goal.  To do that, I had to take 18 to 21 credit hours of classes for the three semesters, plus take one summer session (Biology and Sociology.)  That's a lot of classes, but I petitioned the Dean and was granted permission to do it.  A lot of my general education classes transferred over, so I was able to skip those classes again.   On top of that tough class schedule, I worked at the San Diego Police Department after my morning and afternoon classes and then returned back to the school to take a night class.  I literally went from 8 AM to about 9:30 PM.  Sometimes too, I'd go out on homicide calls at night.  I barely slept for three semesters!

The way I did it was I kept telling myself these things: "I LOVE this class!  I really like this teacher!"  And, I always sat in the front of the classroom.  That's it.  Even if I hated the class, I told myself that I loved it.  It worked.  I graduated at the top of my class with a 3.92 out of 4.0 GPA (I got one B+ which threw off my 4.0 goal.)  I graduated with honors from the Administration of Justice department.  I was granted a special law enforcement memorial award for being the top student of the program and given a plaque, but a trophy with my name engraved on it (along with others who won the award each year) sits at the school.

Today, whenever I get asked by people who are thinking of going back to school, I tell them this story.  I tell them that the secret to success in getting good grades is to tell yourself you love the class and teacher and to sit in the front every day.  One person I know has been doing just that and he swears it works.  I hope others will take the hint as well and do it because it really does work.  Psyching yourself up for class every day, paying attention in class, doing your homework diligently and basically concentrating 100% of your daily effort on your goal, will guarantee success in school.  That's the Russ Lowe Method of Success in School.

DVD-R Discs

I've tried many different brands of DVD-R media, but the one that seems to work the best on a variety of DVD players for me is made by Verbatim.

It has gotten to the point that I only seek out Verbatim discs now when I shop for DVD-R media.  Other brands sometimes do not play in my DVD players.  Also the "minus R" discs work best too, not the "plus R" discs.

While it has been nice to print images on plain white discs for my wedding clients, going forward, I think it is actually safer that I simply put their wedding images on these DVD-R discs without an ink-jet image printed on the surface of the discs.  My computer seems to be able to play just about any brand of disc, I wonder if I just used the Verbatim discs even for computer files like JPG photo images, maybe the data would be even more "universal" for more computer disc drives.

Whatever...the Verbatim discs have always been rather reliable, so that's what's going to be used going forward.  While it is not as "fancy" when no picture is printed onto the back surface of the discs anymore, on the long run, it's probably better without it anyway.

Glee And Other Series DVD's

 
I just finished watching the first season of GLEE on DVD.  I love the show!

While others may not like Glee because they think it's annoying or that it promotes things like teen pregnancy, homosexuality or other issues, I think it shows the various kinds of social groups at a typical high school.

I know when I attended high school (many years ago) we had similar issues.  There were guys who were obviously gay, although back then, "coming out of the closet" wasn't something that was done at that early of an age.  But you could tell... everyone could.  Interestingly, many of them were either in the theater club or glee club as well.  Years later, these same people have openly "come out of the closet" and we as a group of high school friends have accepted them the way they are.  They are our old friends, after all.

As for teen pregnancy, I know of a couple of people at my old school who went through that.  So really, I don't think the show promotes either issue, it just shows what happens in real life.  It's more about accepting people for what or who they are and not to be hateful about it.

Other characters include a physically disabled kid in a wheelchair, an overweight African American girl, a "Goth" dressing asian girl, stuck-up cheerleaders, jocks, and more.  Yes, it's about a typical student body at a school in Ohio.

This is not the first TV show I've watched on DVD instead of on TV.  I've watched the entire eight seasons of Monk on DVD.  I've also watched all of the episodes of Deadliest Catch on DVD.    I've watched at least three seasons of 30 Rock this way too.  I've also "re-watched" all of the old Brady Bunch shows on DVD.... so I'm no stranger to DVD TV show releases.

I actually prefer to watch shows this way... no TV commercials!  Plus the shows really move by faster as it doesn't take a full hour to see the episode.

As for Glee, I'm a HUGE fan of Lea Michele who plays Rachel Berry on the show.  Her singing is amazing!  Put right next to Broadway stars Kristen Chenowith and Idina Menzel (both of whom I absolutely love as well) who starred in many shows including Wicked, Lea's voice competes very favorably.  She can belt out a tune with the best of them.

To date, I've yet to see the show on TV though.  Since I'm now "late" in catching up to season two, I'll just wait for the second season's shows to be available on DVD.  And yes, I watch these shows from discs I get for free at my local library!

New Musical Tools - Electro-Voice, TC Helicon and Ovation

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I had the opportunity to play my guitar and sing for a group of women at a women's shelter in Chicago while others from my church served lunch.  I played mainly Christian praise songs as well as a few Christmas songs.

This was the first time I had a chance to try out the Electro-Voice N/D 767a microphone with my Mackie SRM350 speakers.  It worked great!  The microphone gave me a lot more depth to my voice as I sung mostly within 1 to 2 inches from the windscreen.  Since the microphone has a lot more volume than a standard Shure SM58, I was able to turn down the overall volume level on the PA and I was still louder than with an SM58 microphone!

The Electro-Voice mic really sounded nice with my rather "thin" sounding voice.  The proximity effect from singing close to the windscreen never sounded "boomy" but rather just gave me a fullness that I was often missing when just using a Shure SM58 microphone.

Just before lunch was served, my cousin Sue gave a testimony and borrowed my PA system.  I switched the microphone to a Shure SM 58 as I knew that she would never hold the microphone anywhere close to her mouth.  I was right.  She held it around chest level and so I had to turn up the volume on the PA to compensate for the distance of the microphone to the source.  Since the Electro-Voice N/D 767a really only sounds good when close mic'ed, I figured the SM58 would be the better choice for her to use.  I was right.

Besides the microphone being used for the first time, I also had the chance to use the TC Helicon Harmony G XT harmonizer as well.  I used it sparingly to give some of the songs a little extra vocal punch with two extra harmony parts singing along with my main voice.  It worked great too!

My new Ovation Custom Elite C2078 LX acoustic guitar was also used on this gig.  I did not utilize my full array of pedals with the guitar but decided to only use the built-in reverb from the TC Helicon unit.  While I missed the fullness I get from my other pedals and processors for my guitar, it still sounded very good!  Definitely, the Ovation's built-in preamp and pickup does a terrific job all by itself.

Now that I think about it, the one Mackie SRM350 speaker that I used was also "new" as well as it was purchased on eBay to compliment my other speaker.  So actually, every piece of equipment I used on this gig was new!  It was great to try out all the new gear together.  I'm looking forward to the next time I can play live again... which will be this Sunday at church!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

TC Helicon Harmony G XT

Harmonizers aren't new.  They've been around for a while.  But this one is unique because it's my first one!  :)

What does it do?  Well, several things.  It's main function is to create 2 and 3 part harmonies out of one singing voice.  All you have to do is sing and the unit will figure out a third above and a fifth above your singing voice and "clone" your voice singing in those new notes!  (Or, it can sing an octave above or below, or even a third or a sixth below.)  Instant harmonies of three voices!  How does it know if you want a major harmony chord or a minor?  Well, it follows your guitar which is also plugged into the unit and figures it out based on the chords your guitar is playing.  Pretty nifty, eh?

Besides harmonies, the TC Helicon Harmony G XT also has effects like Reverb, Echo, Doubling, flanging, compression and pitch correction.  Yes, it will even make a slightly off-pitch singer sound like he/she is singing on the correct pitch.  The effects are also shared with the guitar if you decide to use the unit to control your guitar sound too.

So, no more singing by myself... I now have two singing partners whenever I need them.  I just have to step on the switch and there they are!

My first public performance with it will be the day after Thanksgiving at a women's shelter in Chicago.  Our church will be serving lunch that day and I'll be the entertainment.  It will be interesting to see people's reaction to this when they see one person at the mic, but hear three people singing.

Rectilinear Correction of Fisheye Images in Photoshop CS5

The upper two images above were taken with a Nikon D3 camera and a Nikon 16mm f2.8 Fisheye lens. The venue is the Marriott in Burr Ridge, IL.  The top image is the original image and the middle image is one that was corrected in Adobe Photoshop CS5 Camera RAW.  The bottom image is a standard 24mm image taken with the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens.  All images were taken in the RAW format.

While the corrected image "fixes" the curved distortion so typical of fisheye lenses, it does stretch the image on the far left and right sides.  If you zoom in, you'll see the distortion.  Still, it is possible to crop the far left and right sides to eliminate the distorted sections, but it makes the image less wide by doing that.  The 24mm image doesn't have the curved distortion, as expected, but it has a much less wide angle of view..

Remember too that the Nikon D3 is a full frame camera.  So the equivalent focal lengths using APS-C sensor digital cameras would be 10.5mm (compared to the 16mm full frame fisheye) and 17mm (for the 24mm full frame lens.)

I suppose you need to make decisions as to what's most important.  Be sure to click on each image for a closer look.