Ethereality News & Weblog

Weblog:
We’ve been in California for a few weeks now, and today when I asked Elena what were the unexpected things that stood out the most to her about being here, she listed:

1) The beautiful clouds and the vast open sky she’s seen every single day since we arrived in California. She would squeal with delight whenever we’re just out driving around, because everywhere we looked above, the sky was like a beautiful painting. She filled the memory cards of our cameras with tons of cloud photos, and still couldn’t get enough of it:

See more sky photos here.

2) How very little skyscrappers there are and how far apart everything is. The vast amount of space available prevented the need to build things really tall in the States, and she’s not used to seeing so many one-story houses.

3) She had believed everything in the States would be more expensive than China, but it surprised her that some things are actually cheaper, while of much higher quality.

4) The amount of Chinese people and Chinese businesses in California. She’s heard about it, but to actually see Chinese stores, banks, auto shops, restaurants..etc everywhere and seeing/hearing Chinese people everywhere still surprised her.

5) The ridiculosly large servings in typical American restaurants. It freaked her out so much that she made me take photos:

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Tonight we had dinner at my buddy Nadim and his girlfriend Vicky’s place tonight in Oakland. Oakland is a scary place for me because everytime I go there I feel oppressed–as if there’s a possible gang shooting or other violent crimes just around the corner. Vicky cooked Fajitas and it managed to change Elena’s negative opinion about Mexican food. Elena’s had Chevy’s and Taco Bell while in California, and they gave her a bad impression of Mexican food (although I explained those are not really authentic Mexican food). Vicky’s Fajita’s weren’t overly greasy or slathered with melted cheese, much to Elena’s delight. I talked a lot more than usual–maybe because I haven’t had anyone to really speak English to for the years I’ve been in China, and the topics were about sampling libraries, photography..etc, so I just couldn’t shut up. It’s been five years since I’ve seen Nadim, so it was awesome to see him again. He’s a pretty good musician, and is about to get his master’s degree in photography. You can see his website here.

Nadim looking seriously German.

Nadim and Vicky like two peas in a pot.

Unfortunately, Elena had to play deaf and mute again. I hope it pushes her to want to learn English faster–because she’ll be looking at many more situations where she’ll be forced to be deaf and mute once we move back to the States.

Weblog:
While wandering around San Francisco, we put the Fuji F10 through its paces by shooting with it exclusively . It felt strange leaving my Canon 1D MKII in the trunk of the car, as I felt a little naked without it. However, it’s a refreshing change to shoot such a tiny camera–so convenient and so light! I noticed immediately that the dynamic range is much narrower compared to the 1D MKII (what did I expect from a $329 camera?), which is a totally unfair comparison as the 1D MKII body alone costs $4,500, and you can put as expensive of a lens as you want on it. As advertised, it does startup very fast–by the time you have it up to eye level, it’s ready to shoot. The AF and the wait between shots didn’t impress me at all, but it’s a slight improvement over the Olympus C3030Z. The one frustrating thing about the Fuji F10 is the variable aperature. At the widest end, it’s f/2.8, but at the longest end, it’s f/5, which is annoyingly slow even at ISO1600. If you want to shoot low light wihout flash, you better use the wide end exclusively.

Here are a few shots taken with the Fuji F10:

As you can see, under normal circumstances the Fuji F10 is a respectable performer, but once you put it in more demanding situations, the limitations of a point & shoot camera becomes painfully obvious. See the full set of photos here for more details.

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During the last week, we had hit most of the places you take a first timer to see in San Francisco–Fisherman’s Warf, Union Square, Chinatown, Japantown, Lombard Street, Golden Gate Bridge, the Presidio, Market Street, Mission District, Sunset District, Richmond District, Palace of Fine Art, San Francisco Shopping Center…etc. Of course, detailed exploration would have to wait until we move back to the Bay Area.

Weblog:
Had dinner with Jason Sereno, an ex-co-worker from the Z-Axis days, and his soon bride-to-be, Shan Shan. Just the day before, Jason got laid off from Electronic Arts with a ton of other employees, but with his resume he should be able to get another job easily. Too bad I won’t be in the States when they get married, or else I’d be their wedding photographer. For the first time, Elena was able to talk to someone in Chinese when hanging out with my friends (Shan Shan is from Taiwan and speaks Chinese).

Jason and Shan Shan, looking ready to get hitched.

This shot was taken by the Fuji F10, and the low light performance isn’t quite as good as advertised. I know it’s unfair to compare it to the two shots on the top taken by the Canon 1D MKII–which costs over 13 times more, but I really had hoped it would come close based on all the rave reviews about it’s high ISO capability.