College Bound Still…Again.

We went up to Gainesville today to drop off my application for admission to their Technology Management program for a Bachelor of Applied Science. After getting there, I found out that I was extremely confused about the whole technical-college-to-regular-college transition process. The degree that I thought I wanted may limit my options in case I want to continue on to grad school later on. The degree that will make that option more viable will require more time up-front in undergrad since my Associates degrees won't transfer in with that option.

So now the dilemma is that I'm not sure whether to go for the B.S., B.A., or B.B.A. and have an easier time getting into a Master's degree program, or to go for the B.A.S. and spend less time in undergrad school but gamble on not wanting the M.B.A.

What do you think?

Zoom-factor? Think again.

I learned something interesting the other day, that I guess I already knew. As a photography equipment salesman, it makes life a bit tougher, but as a photographer it makes perfect sense.

When shopping for a digital camera back in 2003, the salesmen I talked to were touting the APS-C sensor on my Canon EOS 10D, saying that it has a "1.6x magnification factor" and that it will make my 100mm lens into a 160mm lens. I said "Wow, that sounds great!" I was interested in shooting sports at that time, and with that, the longer the lens the better.

With this "zoom factor," the new portrait lens would be a 50mm rather than the 80mm needed for film portraits (because 50 x 1.6 = 80). Since the APS-C cameras hit the market, the lens manufacturers have had no problem selling their cheap 50 mm lenses.

I went to some training last week hosted by a Nikon training rep. He made a very good point regarding this issue. The APS-C is not a "zoomed" sensor. It is a CROPPED sensor. Let's say you have two cameras: one full-frame sensor and one with APS-C sensor. The sensor in itself does not magnify the image. It simply crops the image to a smaller size (about 37.5% smaller). When you take that image that is cropped and print it on the same size print, it appears that the lens was zoomed in. This is why people are under the impression that a lens will act like a longer lens on the cropped sensor cameras.

The fact is that a 50 mm lens is a 50 mm lens, no matter what camera or sensor in front of which you attach it. A 50mm lens is not a portrait lens. It does not "act like" an 80 mm lens. The compression and distortion will be identical when using that lens on a full frame sensor as on an APS sensor.

Now I am rubbed the wrong way every time I hear the term "35mm" equivalent. All the "digital lens" manufacturers have started printing the lens' "35mm equivalent" on the packaging. The truth is that the lens is what it is. There is no equivalent. No zoom. Just cropping.

Let me hear your thoughts.

I Pledge

I don’t know if you’ve seen all the hype about “pledging” support for the new president. I’ve seen the online stories about various celebrities pledging their support to President Obama, and now there is a commercial on USA network with various people, mostly minorities, pledging to basically “get along.”

W-W-What??? Does this sound absurd to anyone else?

So you are saying, “Now that we have a president who I agree with, I’ll pledge my support to ‘our president,’ and anyone who does not pledge their support is just so obviously bigoted and un-American.”

I pledged my support to the Constitution when I enlisted in the military. Along with that pledge came a promise to support the president. That meant whomever the president happened to be. Not just who I happened to agree with.

Where was all this support eight years ago? Oh yeah, a Republican took office eight years ago. What these lemmings are really saying is that “we will support the Democrats, no matter what happens.” Really. That is what they are saying. Think about that. Barack Obama took office just a few days ago. He’s done absolutely nothing to prove that he deserves (or does not deserve) your support or criticism. Pledging to support him no matter what tells us that even if he goes back on his word, you will support that. Even if he pushes executive orders against your specific group, you will support that. Even if he directly impacts your wallet in a negative way, you will support that.

If you are not a government employee, do not pledge support to a person who holds an elected office. Please. As an American, I believe that you should pledge support to the Constitution and any actions to support it. People will let you down. The Constitution will not, as long as you choose leaders who believe in its power. Pledging support to a person will just make you feel like a hypocrite when that person goes back on their word and changes their mind.

Support policies, laws, and ideas. Do not pledge support to a person. You will be disappointed every time.

Should I shave it?

I have been working on a respectable goatee and I like it a lot so far. The problem is this: I have a job interview at a marketing firm on Wednesday morning and I don't know if I should just trim it so it looks like it has a purpose or if I should shave it off and admit that it has no purpose.

The attire required for the interview is business professional, so I am thinking that shaving it off would make the most sense.

Tell me what you think...

Now I really want to know...

What, precisely, was it that made you vote for Barack Obama. Precisely. Not anything like, "I think he'll just be better," or "He's not a Republican." or anything stupid like that.

I want to know what past experience or accomplisments of his actually inspired you to vote for him. Or perhaps promises he has made? Are you the type of person who votes for someone based on their promises to help you, and then complain that the government is not helping you?

Please feel free to comment and let me know what it is that made you decide to vote for Obama.

Oh, and no offense, but if you did not vote for Obama, your comment will not be published. I know why you didn't vote for him.

:-)

I just don't understand...

What is wrong with some of you people? Apparently, the majority of you out there. Barack Obama is at this point the "projected" president-elect of our once-great country.

Listen, this guy has vowed to raise taxes on the majority of Americans and has vowed to give YOUR money to people who you know do not deserve it.

You may say, "Well, he's going to end 'the war.'" No, he's not. Wars do not end overnight. Especially the elusive ones like the several that we are fighting now.

You may say, "He's going to tax the bejesus out of the 'rich' and he's going to lower my taxes." To that I say, "you are a gullible moron who has no grip on reality or economics." He has promised to raise taxes on "big corporations." That part is true. He will. And what will those corporations do? They will raise the prices of the products and services that they sell...to you.

I'm a small business owner. I have a set profit margin that I must maintain in order to pay my business' bills and my family's bills. If my costs go up, I have two options: raise my prices, or don't pay my bills. Which do you think I'll choose?

My new position as a retail sales associate has introduced me to a new array of the spectrum of personalities. You always learn something new just after thinking, “I’ve seen it all.”

Ms. B, as we’ll call her for now, came into the store the other day. In her hand she held five prints, all being 4” by 6”. She came up to the counter, where I could not help but to notice that she (or someone close to her) had most likely paid handsomely for her bust size. Nice to look at, but I was soon disappointed by an extreme vacuum of intelligence.

As our Ms. B laid the photographs on the counter, she pointed to the first three (two of which were from the same frame of negative). “First of all, I need these fixed. I got them done here, and they turned out like this.”

The photographs had turned out exactly as Ms. B had shot them – underexposed. As it turned out, she had used a one-time-use disposable camera. Looking at the photographs, I saw that they were of a group of children. Like a Sunday school class or something of the sort. She had done at least one of the following while shooting the photos with her $5 camera:

• Stood too far away for the flash to be effective, or
• Not ensured that the flash fired at all, or
• Turned the flash off and did not have adequate ambient lighting.

“I come here a lot. They know me here,” she said to me. She then looked back into the photo lab and beckoned for my co-worker in the lab to come out to the front counter. Seeing the look on my co-worker’s face at the beckoning, I couldn’t help but thinking, I’ll bet they do know you.

My lab tech co-worker said, “Do you have the negatives for these pictures?” to which the beloved customer replied, “I have so many boxes of negatives at home…I am not going to search through them all just for these negatives. I just want you to fix these pictures.”

Of course, without the negatives, the best we can do is to make an exact copy of the photographs. After I told her so, she claimed, “Well, it has to be better than they are now.”

I said, “Probably not. You see, this print is actually a copy of the negative. If we scan it and try to fix it, we’ll actually be making a copy of that copy. When you make a copy of a copy, it cannot possibly be better than said copy. But we’ll sure give it a try for you.”

“Then why even bother if it won’t work? Why even waste your time on them?” She was almost yelling at me now. Ah, the joys of being the guy with the nametag on. I resisted the temptation to tell her that no, her crappy attempt at photography was in fact not worth my time.

“I said we’d give it a try and see what we can do.”

She walked out of the store shaking her head. And we’re still talking about her.