Eine "schöne" chronologische Auflistung der Bankzusammenbrüche der turbulenten letzten Monate findet sich aktuell im Online-Standard: derstandard.at/?url=/?id=1220459186427

Wenn man sich so durchliest was da passiert und welche Milliardenbeträge hier so "locker" verteilt werden um dem fallenden Brocken Stockwerk für Stockwerk Geschwindigkeit zu nehmen wird mir ganz schlecht. Ich glaube nicht, dass das etwas hilft. Der Stein der da ins Rollen geraten ist, lässt sich nicht aufhalten und im nächsten oder übernächsten Jahr wird die Krise wahrscheinlich hart auf den Arbeitsmarkt durchschlagen. Das bedeutet eine Menge arbeitsloser und bankrott gehender Firmen die in einem geschwächten und von mißtrauen geplagten Bankensystem nicht aufgefangen werden können. Wie singt R.E.M. so schön: This is the end of the world as we know it! Nur gut fühle ich mich dabei nicht.

Das ist miteingrund warum ich die aktuelle österreichische Nationalratswahl und auch die amerikanische Präsidentenwahl als einen absoluten Meilenstein sehe an dem sich der Weg zweigt. Dort gibt's mit McCain die Fortführung in den sicheren Untergang oder mit Obama die Chance of Besserung, ohne Garantie. Bei uns geht's mit einer zerstrittenen großen Koalition oder einer Chaos-Koalition rechter Ideologien in den Abgrund. Wie stand da in einem meiner alten Geschichtsbücher der Mittelschule zu den 20-30iger Jahren: "Während die Parteien sich streiten, geht Österreich unter". Genau das erleben wir jetzt wieder in einer Regierung und mit einem Parlament das in den letzten 2 Wochen größere Hüpfer vollbringt als in den letzten 2 Jahren. Die Grünen sind wirklich mein einziger Hoffnungsträger und das ist bei weitem kein stabiles Pflaster, denn streiterisch geben auch sie sich, aber immer noch konstruktiv und mit guten Ideen.

Vielleicht bin ich zu pessimistisch, vielleicht gibt es noch Hoffnung das alles abgefedert werden kann, aber zu oft habe ich mir in letzter Zeit in Erinnerung gerufen wie scheinbar stabile Institutionen auf den Schultern einiger weniger getragen werden und wie ein scheinbar unzerstörbares Land mit einer unbremsbaren Willenskraft zuerst ein kleines Hochhaus und dann eine Millionenstadt verliert und im größten Kreditsumpf des 21. Jahrhunderts stehend langsam untergeht.

I've come quite a way with digital photography now. I started by taking pictures of everything, pressing the button just for the sound of the shutter and collected hundreds and thousands of pictures with just one lens. Then I bought more lenses and a flash and made more complex setups. As of recently however I again prefer the simple and snappy things. Before I shot in M most of the time, sometimes A, moving around the focus point with a set ISO and eyeing at the exposure meter. Now I mostly use P and S (to avoid motion blur) as well as Auto ISO. Auto Focus is set to select the focus point automatically ("dynamic" in Nikon speak) and since instant preview was one of the first features I disabled, I found out the pleasure of enabling it again. Somehow it has become more fun again, less focused on making technical good shots, but letting the creativity flow in a bit by trying new things, e.g. I am improving on my hipshot skills. :-) Somehow I'm making really crappy pictures ^^

I think I've been influenced greatly by some of the photos I've seen recently, especially the ones from Jeff Ascough (his blog seems to be down) who in turn mentions Bresson as one of his sources of inspiration. I'm very much after this documentary style, trying to make a picture where the photographer isn't visible at all, where the story that is captured is taking all attention (it sounds more fancy than it is, but you get the point...)

Unfortunately I haven't uploaded some of the newer stuff yet. I still have to finish the bulgaria series and then I told myself to be free again to upload whatever I want.

Jeff Ascough, maybe you have heard of him already, is a really inspiring photographer. He seems to do mostly weddings, but is among the best in the world as he has been recently elected as Canon Ambassador. What he displays on his website is not the typical stuff, it's different, it's arty and shows a touch of old masters like Cartier-Bresson.

Check out the latest photos in his blog: jeffascough.typepad.com (take a look at the amazing first two photos on page 3: jeffascough.typepad.com/wpj_resource/page/3) as well as his website: www.jeffascough.com

I think there's a lot one can learn from his ability to tell stories within a single picture.

3x Kino in zwei Wochen... Mein Jahrespensum ist damit eigentlich schon wieder erreicht.

Batman: The Dark Knight: 8/10
Alles in allem ein gut gemachter Batman Film bei dem wieder viel Technik und Action vorkommt und der Joker seine psychotischen Vorstellungen den Leuten in horrorähnlichen Szenen wie The Saw aufzwingt.

Robert Zimmermann wundert sich über die Liebe: 9/10
Witzig gemachte deutsche Liebes-? Ja, was eigentlich? Eine Komödie, ein Drama, Horror? Für einen Liebesfilm im klassischen Sinn reicht es auch nicht. Alles in allem schwimmt er also ein wenig zwischen den Sphären und hebt sich somit wohltuend ab vom Rest. Keine Angst, Klischees kommen auch nicht zu kurz. Für einen guten und unkonventionelleren Film gebe ich gern mal eine 9 her.

Leg dich nicht mit Zohan an: 7/10
Ein 90-minütiger Running-Gag über Israel, Palästina und die dortigen Konflikte mal von einer überzeichneten und lächerlichen Seite gesehen, ähnlich wie Hot Shots damals den Irakkrieg auf die Schippe genommen hat. Das ist ein Culture-Melting-Pot Film wo anstatt heißem Öl, Gelee zum Kochen verwendet wird. Leider steht man als Österreicher etwas abseits und verläßt das Kino, sich wundernd ob es tatsächlich ein Getränk namens Fizzy Bubbeleh gibt. Ganz so schlecht soll's allerdings nicht enden, hie und da hatten auch wir unseren Spaß.

My full list of rated movies is available here: www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=3842605

Here are some of the features:

• Gives you quick response, with 0.15-second start-up, 65 ms shutter release time lag and 4.5 fps continuous shooting.
• 3-in., approx. 920-k dot high-resolution LCD monitor with wide viewing angle that lets you change composition of the frame during shooting from various angles and easily confirm your image during playback.
• Built-in flash with 18mm lens coverage, Guide Number of approx. 18/59 (ISO 200, m/ft., 20°C/68°F) and Nikon’s original i-TTL flash control; works as a commander; controlling up to two groups of remote Speedlights.
• Highly efficient energy-saving design allows approx. 850 images on a single charge of the Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL3e. (CIPA standard, with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, with 50% of pictures taken with flash)
• Extensive playback functions offer ample options for viewing and selecting the right shot, including 72-frame playback, calendar playback and histogram display for magnified portion of the image. ? Versatile Pictmotion menu creates slideshows combining five choices of both background music and image effects.
• Compatible with HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) output.
• Supports the Nikon Creative Lighting System when using the SB-900, SB-800, SB-600 Speedlight, or Wireless Close-up Speedlight System R1C1; ensures accurate exposures via i-TTL flash control.
• Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D80 (Optional, in common with the D80) gives you the choice of using one or two Rechargeable Li-ion Batteries EN-EL3e or six R6/AA-size batteries to extend battery life.
• New optional Remote Cord MC-DC2 enables shutter release and long time exposures (bulb) remotely.
• With the new optional GPS Unit GP-1, location information such as latitude, longitude, altitude and time is automatically recorded to each image’s EXIF data.
• Included Nikon ViewNX image browsing and editing software lets you organize, label and select images as well as perform RAW image editing adjustments and conversions.
• Optional Capture NX 2 photo-editing software features patented U-Point® technology and powerful tools for quick and easy photo editing including enhanced RAW (NEF) Editing.

Head over to dpreview.com for their hands-on preview.

There's also a new lens the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR. It seems most of the speculations have been correct. I think this is a very good step forward in the line of the D80 introducing several new features such as live view, movie mode, better LCD and faster continuous shooting together with a shutter tested for up to 100.000 actuations in a single package. The new lens is also interesting if it's optically sound.

Rumors are flying high in the dpreview.com forums. One of the guys (Thom Hogan) there with connections into Nikon is claiming to know more about the specs of the upcoming Nikon D90 which are: 12MP, 4.5 fps, 3" LCD (but apparently not with 900k pixels), live view and equipped with GPS and last but not least a movie mode (there's also a microphone built in)! If he's holding us for fools, he is pretty good at it, because a movie mode would be absolutely welcomed on a DSLR. If the quality is significantly better than what the compacts offer this would give lots of possibilities regarding wideangle capture, which the camcorders usually don't do (they start at 35-40mm equivalent focal length).

The next rumor is about a new kit lens, an AF-S 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR which will probably replace the AF-S 18-135mm. Nothing is known about new prime lenses featuring AF-S and/or VR or if other lenses will be updated.

Let's see if this holds true and what the price will be. In the end it could all just be a hoax. But it's very likely that there will be "something" introduced before or at Photokina 2008 in Cologne, Germany next month.

Update: A picture has surfaced showing the new D90. While it looks very realistic there is still no official announcement from Nikon. Note the microphone above the D90 logo.

Nach dem Kabeljau im Atlantik jetzt womöglich die nächste Katastrophe im Pazifik? Der folgende Beitrag wurde vor kurzem in einer österreischen Tageszeitung veröffentlicht:

Der wilde Lachs kämpft um sein Überleben

In Kanadas Westen steht die kommerzielle Lachs-Fischerei vor dem Aus, der wilde Pazifik-Lachs, ist zur Mangelware geworden

Für den Lachs setzt Micky Jay alles auf eine Karte. Der kanadische Fischer packt im Hafen von Gibsons Lebensmittel auf sein Boot, denn am folgenden Tag will er sich auf den Weg in die nördlichen Gewässer der Provinz British Columbia machen. Er hofft, dass die Regierung in Ottawa für einige Tage den Fischern erlauben wird, dort oben Lachse zu fangen. "Vielleicht kriegen wir fünf Tage, aber wir wissen es noch nicht", sagt er.

Die kanadische Regierung hat die kommerzielle Fischerei drastisch eingeschränkt, weil die wilden Lachsbestände an Kanadas Westküste in den vergangenen Jahren dramatisch zurückgegangen sind. Experten bezweifeln, dass sie sich je wieder auf die früheren Bestände erholen werden.

In guten Jahren, bevor der Niedergang des Pazifik-Lachses begann, hat Jay im Schnitt jährlich bis zu 20.000 Exemplare gefangen. Vor wenigen Jahren, als die Fischerei während der ganzen Fangsaison nur 48 Stunden gestattet war, kam er mit elf Rotlachsen nach Hause.

Mangelware

Der wilde Pazifik-Lachs, den es einst im Überfluss gab, ist zu einer Mangelware geworden. Mit radikalen Maßnahmen will das Fischereiministerium die biologische und wirtschaftliche Katastrophe im Westen verhindern, die vor einigen Jahren mit dem Kabeljau im Osten Kanadas passierte. An der Ostküste wurden die früher unermesslich scheinenden Kabeljau-Bestände praktisch komplett zerstört. Von den frühen Achtzigerjahren bis zum Jahr 2001 ging die nördliche Kabeljau-Population wegen Überfischung um 99,9 Prozent zurück. Rund 40.000 Menschen verloren ihre Arbeit.

Noch 1979 stammten 15 Prozent der weltweiten Lachs-Ernte aus British Columbia, 1999 war es nur noch ein Prozent. Im vergangenen Jahr wurden lediglich 19.953 Tonnen Lachs im Wert von 30.533 kanadischen Dollar (rund 20.000 Euro) gefangen. Vor zwanzig Jahren waren es noch 113.000 Tonnen gewesen, also fast sechsmal mehr.

Schlamassel

Die Behörden bitten mittlerweile sogar die Indianer, das Lachsfischen einzuschränken, sagt der Abgeordnete Robin Austin von der linken NDP: "Das bedeutet, dass wir wirklich im Schlamassel stecken." Die Indianer brauchen den Lachs nicht nur als Nahrungsmittel. Er spielt in ihrer Kultur eine zentrale Rolle.

Die Situation hat sich so verschlimmert, dass die USA den Kanadiern 30 Millionen Dollar zahlt, damit Kanada die Lachsbestände besser schützen kann. Die Regierung in Ottawa soll mit dem Geld noch mehr Lizenzen von Fischern zurückkaufen, ein Prozess, der bereits im Gang ist. Das US-Fischereiministerium hat die kommerzielle und Hobbyfischerei etwa für den Königslachs bereits völlig stillgelegt.

Es gibt eine Reihe von Gründen für den Niedergang des Pazifik-Lachses. Das Abholzen von Wäl-dern, der Bergbau und die Ausdehnung von Siedlungen haben die Flüsse, wo die Lachse laichen, und deren Umgebung verschmutzt und zerstört. Zudem haben sich die durchschnittlichen Wassertemperaturen wegen der globalen Erwärmung um rund ein bis zwei Grad erhöht. Lachse ertragen warmes Wasser schlecht, es stresst sie, und warmes Wasser enthält weniger Nahrung.

Bedrohung durch Aufzuchtanlagen

Eine Bedrohung bilden auch die rund 125 Aufzuchtanlagen von Atlantik-Lachsen vor der Küste von British Columbia. Aus ihnen gelangen Abfälle, Chemikalien und tödliche Parasiten ins Wasser, in dem wilde Pazifik-Lachse leben.

Mit der kommerziellen Lachsfischerei im Pazifik, wie Kanada sie früher gekannt habe, sei es vorbei, sagt Robin Austin: "Wir müssen alle zusammenarbeiten, um den einheimischen Lachs zu retten." Bernadette Calonego aus Vancouver, DER STANDARD, Print-Ausgabe, 21.7.2008)

Quelle: http://derstandard.at/?id=1216325210943

Ich habe daraufhin die Meeresexpertin bei Greenpeace CEE, Antje Helms, dazu befragt, da ich bisher der Meinung war, dass der Pazifik-Lachs nicht so überfischt ist wie der Atlantik-Lachs. Hier ist ihre Antwort:

Alle Pazifik-Lachs-Arten (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, Oncorhynchus keta, Oncorhynchus kisutch, Oncorhynchus nerka, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), die bei uns [Österreich, Anm.] auf dem Markt sind kommen aus Alaska bzw. aus der FAO-Fangzone 67. In Alaska sind die Bestände laut Einschätzung offizieller Wissenschaftler noch nicht überfischt - und daher o.k. Für Kanada (FAO-Fanggebiet 77) mga das sicherlich anders aussehen, wie der Standard beschreibt - allerdings sehen wir diesen Fisch aus ebendiesen Gründen auch nicht auf dem österreichischen Markt. Es sei denn, unsere derzeitigen Recherchen ergeben neuere Infos...

Man muss also auf das FAO-Fanggebiet acht geben wo der Lachs tatsächlich herkommt. Ich glaube allerdings, dass es schwierig sein dürfte dies bei den gängigen Supermarktprodukten herauszufinden. Ich kann nur raten beim jeweiligen Supermarkt vor dem Kauf nachzufragen (auch wenn sie vielleicht keine Ahnung haben, aber vielleicht informieren sie sich dann besser). Mehr Information bei marktcheck.at

Adobe I mention and of course you think Photoshop! Cool! Great! Perfect! You think PDF and you think, okay it's worrysome that they keep such a tight grip around it, but still PDF great! Wow! Then, well then you probably also think about Illustrator and how the same company can create the best image editing software in the world and the worst vector drawing program in the world.

Macromedia Freehand was such a perfect to use program... WAS!! Intuitiv and easy to learn. Adobe Illustrator is such a pain to use, nothing is intuitive, you've got 3 different selectors and constantly something is marked in blue when you mouse over it. So, Adobe bought Macromedia and scrapped Freehand in favor of Illustrator. Oh no!!! I know this is not news anymore, but it's more than sad that I'll never forget this!

For example: To add arrowheads to a line in Freehand you select the line and then choose from the line endings in the object modifier box. EASY! In Illustrator you select the line and then search on the internet how to add an arrowhead because you can't actually find that option. You learn that you need to apply a filter/effect on it which adds the arrowhead!?!? I haven't yet found out how to change or remove it once it's added, but I guess that it's impossible. Who would need to do that anyway? I understand that Illustrator's way is more powerful, but it's horrible to use!

Next example: To cut a path, you select the cut tool in Freehand and a point at which you'd like to cut it, done. In Illustrator, you select the cut tool and then randomly click around until somehow, whithout knowing how, you cut the line.

Another example: To join a path, in Freehand you select the points and choose join. You even get to see the points which are selected. In Illustrator you don't see what's selected exactly and join doesn't even work.

Try to set the line and fill colour of differently styled objects... "mixed styles selected" or something like that is displayed instead of "stroke" and "fill" so that I could actually change it.

Why does Adobe scrap a completely perfect piece of software for such a big ARGH?!?!

Firefox 3 was released just today and a great improvement for all photo enthusiasts. Previously only Apple's Safari browser respected the embedded colour profile within images and display every photo as intended. Firefox 2 as well as Internet Explorer 7 would always use the sRGB profile when displaying an image, thus photos that were saved with e.g. AdobeRGB looked flat and lifeless compared to what they looked like in Safari.

But not anymore! Firefox 3 has a neat option to respect the colour profile in images, unfortunately it's not turned on by default. There's an extension which enables this, but it's also possible to enable it by entering the mighty realm of the Firefox configuration. Type "about:config" in the addressbar and hit enter. In the filter textbox type "gfx" and look for "gfx.color_management.enabled" double click it to make it "true", restart Firefox and you're done.

It has not been enabled by default, because there's a slight performance penalty with this option turned on. Also it is said that plugins don't yet know about colour profiles which could lead to some visual artifacts... whatever... :-)

More on that topic here.

[DE]

Deutsche Übersetzung wie das im Firefox 3 zum Einstellen ist (danke Hannes Trapp):

Es gilt die selbe Warnung wie im englischen, angeblich wird der Browser dadurch etwas langsamer und es kann ein paar Probleme mit Add-ons geben. Ich hab davon allerdings noch nichts bemerkt.

1. "about:config" in die Adresszeile eintippen und Enter drücken.
2. den Eintrag "gfx.color_management.enabled" in der Liste finden
3. den genannten Eintrag doppelklicken, so dass dort wo vorher "false" stand dann "true" steht
4. Firefox beenden und neu starten
5. fertig

When I got the Zenit E from my father a while ago, I immediately began to search for some new lenses. The 50mm on it wasn't wide enough and lenses are quite cheap. So I bought a 28mm Robotar on ebay. While searching for it I also noticed a lot of people sold M42 lens adapters for Canon and there were even some for Nikon. I got curious.

After a while I picked up a cheap Revuenon 135mm f/2.8 lens for the Zenit (price was around 25€ including shipping) and I wanted to give it a try on the Nikon as well. I've always wanted a moderate but fast tele for my Nikon as well, but they're quite expensive and this seemed to be a cheap alternative. So when I received my adapter I immediately tried the Revuenon and it worked perfectly. There's no light meter and no Autofocus, but the AF dot indicator is working. I don't mind the light meter very much, I'm used to shoot in Manual anyway and that's exactly the mode you've got to use this lens in. It doesn't work in P/A/S or the vari programs.

First dissapointment was when I tried to screw the 28mm wideangle onto the adapter. I thought I was lucky and finally had a cheap and fast normal lens for the Nikon (the 50mm's field of view is too narrow most often). But the lens was too big and scratched the infinity correction lens on the adapter. I've now got a bad ring engraved in it. In the end, this is a "just for fun" solution anyway, so I didn't cared much and so far the pictures don't show any signs of this, but still as a word of warning: Be cautious when you get the version with the infinity correction lens and try a wideangle lens.

Here are some pictures that I shot with it.

Sheila II

Dona Kahlo

The last one I took with the Zenit on Ilford Delta 400

JKU

Another one of those very nice Vista features is called User Access Control or UAC for short. For one it's responsible for the screen blackening and confirmation dialogs on a very basic task level already, on the other hand it's a big annoyance altogether. Improving computer security by annoying users is the wrong way.

Anyway, where UAC becomes really really annoying is when it denies my permission. For example today, I move folder Z in X\Y\Z into folder X, getting rid of folder Y. So I mark folder Z, cut it and try to paste it into X (copy&paste on folders and documents is a nice feature btw). So, vista asks for permission, because obviously even in my own documents folder it's not allowed to move things around without clicking a button first. I tell it that it's okay and the process goes on and just minutes later tells me that I don't have permission to do that. Sorry!? In my own user's documents folder I don't have permission to move things around!? Frustrated I turn to this place and put the story here which reminds me that I was in a similar situation already where I've found the solution: The problem really is that whenever Vista tells you this, it can't actually do it for a very different reason. In most cases there's a file open that's within Z which is how Vista complains about the impossibility to move it and while doing so blaming it on the user. I think in Linux it's possible for years to move open files around without even breaking the applications that have opened them. Microsoft was never able to do this and even in XP this had caused so much frustration when there was still an open file handle which prevented one from deleting a certain folder until the explorer was restarted.

I'm not going to chicken out this time and submit this story, even when i'm stupid enough to move a folder where there's a file still open (something which should really already work in 2008, come on!).

ARGH!!!

Pete Seeger and Lee Hays anticipated what would become the most feared tool in everyday office life in their famous song

"If I had a hammer"

And I am lucky that I have not. Windows Vista is Microsoft's most modern operating system and many have already fled to alternatives knowing well that modernity and intuitivity do not go well together. Whatever happens technology itself will be responsible for its demise. We should start thinking about a technology-after-life, about creating awkward cults with irrational belief systems... hmmm.... okay mark that done.

Whatever, this time it appears that my shiny matte black Dell Vostro 1400 laptop that runs Windows Vista stops making screenshots for no apparent reason. Part of my current work involves documenting the progress of an algorithm through several screenshots of the algorithm's graphical output which is where hitting "Print" to make a screenshot is not a nice feature anymore, but becomes really essential. But as simple as an operation like that, as obvious that in the end one must fail achieving this in Vista.

A small mathematical analysis: It is clear that the error probability for any real system is bigger than 0 for any given delta time greater than 0. Thus we can model the frustrating events as poisson processes with an interval that is indirect proportional to the error probability. An error probability of 1 for a time slot of epsilon that approaches 0 will however result in a division by zero exception, from which we can deduce the problem of Windows Vista: If we assume it has an error probability of 1, but want to keep living in our dreamworld where it is indirect proportional to the error probability of x we can calculate the time limit of successful and productive use of Windows Vista by creating the difference of assumption and believe, taking into account an unknown power that truly reflects the probability of error. In other and more mathematical words according to limit((1 - (1/x))^x, x -> infinity). The knowing reader probably already died of a heart attack (with probability P(X) = "very likely" [using Fuzzy logic]) grasping the consequences of this revelation! YES, the actual time limit is normal distributed according to the well known Euler number e! Who'd have thought such an "intelligent design"!?!

Update: It appears that only the screenshot of both desktops (dual monitor setup) doesn't work anymore, but somehow one can still create shortcuts of a single desktop using the magic hotkey Windows-Alt-Print!

Another Update: It works, it doesn't work, it works, it's playing games with me

ARGH!

Der große Eduard ist ein Aufschneider und einäugig noch dazu. In seinem Notizbuch steht: "Kleinigkeiten hindern mich daran großes zu tun. Ein Telefonanruf wegen einer Bagatelle hat mich soeben davon abgehalten ein E-Mail zu versenden."

So it happened once again: The mighty and seemingly random (yet knowing exactly when to hit you hardest) explorer crash (boooom!). Previous suspicion has circled around the dreaded and heinous desktop search that causes system instability to rise to levels never seen before. Microsoft may be aware, may be not, not doing anything or inable to cure the problem, but they must be getting a lot of error reports. I can only wish that mailboxes after mailboxes fill with those millions of explorer crashes and frustrating moments that must happen all over the world on every Vista computer out there.

The cause of this evil incarnation was yet again a seemingly innocent one: A file upload in Firefox! How simple and how puny, you're right to assume and the story unfolds exactly as if I was telling the story of Bambi: The file open dialog appears, I click to open the folder and navigate (how lovely traditional by double clicking millions of folders and how tedious decade after decade!) to the folder containing the file when all of a sudden and with the loud boom of another string of nerves that had been torn apart an error message flies before my face, crashes into the explorer and takes Firefox down with it to wherever unholy place it came from. Words cannot describe the feeling of hatred, frustration and anger that emerged within a millisecond of each other. Mixed with two tired eyes and a body that desperately longs for sleep the Vista has caused yet another notch in the cataclysm which, naive as I am, still like to call life.

At least we may hope for Windows 7 - the magic number and probably the cure for every single one of our problems is only a few years away. So far everything has only been getting better and honestly how much worse could it get?

ARGH!

I heard about them first several years ago at a university course where one student presented them in class. He showed some very interesting videos that I was just recently reminded of in a discussion regarding "life, the universe and everything" as Douglas Adams put it so nicely :-)

The inner functionality of these vehicles is quite simple. There is a light sensor that is linked to a motor. One example of a connection between these two could be: If more light is detected the motor will go faster, if less light is detected the motor will go slower.

If placed in an environment with light these vehicles exhibit very complex behaviour which we would interpret as love, fear, curiosity and various other emotional expressions. Braitenberg wanted to say how difficult it is to know about the internal structure and "thinking" of something when we can only observe how it acts and reacts.

There's a less fancy video, but showing the simplicity of the vehicle and it's reaction here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUVcI5Pw2o4

A more fancy video is that of a spider

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVEhEi6_zvk

I'm inexperienced with analogue photography. Currently I'm shooting with the "new" Zenit-E and the "older" Pentacon Six and I'm trying to find out some differences between the various films. With colour films my favourite so far is Fujifilm Velvia 50/100 (slide). I tried Fujifilm Sensia (slide) and Kodak Portra (negative) but I didn't like them a lot and none had richer colours and finer grain than Velvia. I've got a roll of Fujifilm Superia Reala that is currently being processed at the lab.

When it comes to black & white I'm still undecided and I can't tell the difference from FP4+ to Delta 100 or HP5+ to Delta 400. It's said that Delta has less contrast but finer grain, but I don't really know. Also I'm not developing for myself, so maybe it doesn't matter anyway. I also tried a roll of Ilford PanF+, but as I'm having next to no experience at all I can't tell if it's any good. I noticed that I could push the pictures quite a bit though, but okay ISO 50 film is expected to have fine grain.

I'm looking forward to devloping film for myself some day, but for now I'm just taking pictures, scan them and upload the better ones here.

Delta 100:

PanF+:

Delta 400:

HP5+:

Somehow they're all just B&W to me.. but considering colours, from what I've shot I dislike most of the photos but those shot with Velvia, which seems to be amazing in almost every case. And they also come out of the scanner almost exactly like they should. I had to tweak around Kodak Portra 160 VC last time to make it look any good.

Velvia 50:

Sensia 200:

Kodak Portra 160 VC:

Fujifilm Superia Reala 100:

so true!!

I thought I'd be happy to finally get my developed film rolls today after driving home from work and then I was 2 minutes too late. What a dissapointment! The shop was closed and I have to wait until tomorrow.

I'm waiting for 4 exposed rolls, one is a very old 35mm where I don't know what it contains (surprise!) another one is Velvia 50 120 roll film shot with the Pentacon Six. The last two I shot with the Zenit (one colour and one b&w). I've also got an undeveloped Delta 400 that I need to get processed. Somehow I think I should really look into developing it for myself.

Update: I finally fetched them on Friday. It took me half a day to scan them all, but I'm very pleased with the results. These were taken with the Zenit-E.

(I actually published this on Saturday, but I forgot that it was saved as draft, doh)