seems hot.
98° by lunch time.
Last week wasn't too bad. Sure, it was up over 100° in the afternoons but the nights cooled down. Mostly into the high 70s. It made the pool water bearable. But I'm looking ahead to this coming week and I can see the forecast trending back toward the high discomfort range. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not in any danger here unless I decide to do something stupid like going out for a ten mile run in the middle of the afternoon. Or undertaking a new job in the roofing industry.
The house is well insulated. The new windows are absolutely amazing. In fact, we just got our electric bill for the last month (which was the hottest on record here...) and the bill was lower than last year's in spite of our new plan to make the house comfortably colder at night. The main refrigerator is working as it should and the smaller, back-up refrigerator stands ready to jump in should a refrigeration emergency arise. If I stay inside life goes on as happily as usual. It's just that, by nature, I really love to be outside...
The trees are struggling a bit but I try to rotate through a deep watering cycle for them, individually, in the wee dark hours of the pre-sunrise morning. So far they are hanging in there. I'm lavishing more attention on the Japanese maple by the front door, but only because the edges of the leaves exposed to sun all day start to turn brown when the afternoon temperature crests the 107° mark. I have actually considered constructing an 8x8 foot scrim to put over the tree to try and ameliorate its obvious discomfort but early attempts have shown me that it will take more sandbags than I own to anchor a scrim that big ten or twelve feet up in the air --- when the breezes pick up.
The real issue for me, as a photographer? The endless heat is a bit paralyzing. Not just for me but for everyone. People have escaped by never going outside. Sometimes I'll head over to Barton Springs Pool, or someplace like that, to try and kickstart a photo project only to be tormented by the heat, hampered by my sweating hands on the cameras and ready to retreat to the air conditioned spaces. Oh, and the fact that most people have opted to stay home too...
So, I spend way too much time in the office playing with cameras, lenses and lights. Speaking of cameras...
I have high hopes for the Fuji GFX50Sii combined with the scary fast (max. aperture) 90mm lens, but I've had little luck finding talents to sit for me, and about as much luck finding my own motivation to move forward and recruit people.
I do have some observations to make about the 50Sii. I wish I hadn't waited so long before buying one because even the modest increase in the sensor size makes a difference to me when it comes to the way depth and focus ramp is represented in photos. Even though the frame is only 70% bigger than a full frame sensor the ability of a lens to drop backgrounds out of focus is more obvious. I'm convinced that the bigger format has a much different look than smaller formats. Not necessarily better for many subjects but more interesting to me for portrait subjects.
I can report that the Fuji, combined with the 35-70mm f4.5-5.6 lens, is a lighter package, overall, than a Leica SL2 with the Leica 24-90mm zoom attached. I can also report that the battery life of the Fuji, with its bigger sensor and more aggressive in body image stabilization, is at least as good as the battery life in any of my Leica cameras. That's encouraging.
From my point of view the camera delivers best in two types of photography; maybe three types. It's a sure bet, with the right lens, for making great portraits. I've shot three different portraits so far for clients and if I use the raw files and add the Fuji Color Neg. Std. profile in post production I get long tonal ranges, well behaved highlights and great color. So, check one box --- for portrait work.
I don't have all the lenses I would need to use the camera for a range of studio product shots but with the right lens options, combined with the high res mode, the camera should be a monster at making product shots easy. If that was my primary business I'd buy one of the bellows accessories on offer for the GFX line that allows for tilts and swings with the right lenses, and use that all the time.
And then, of course, there is landscape photography. In fact, the camera inspires me to give landscapes a try. BUT... all the state park landscapes that are within a pleasant drive have turned from green to brown as the sun relentlessly bakes them. I'm not in good enough shape to climb Mt. Everest or K-2 in order to make landscape images so I guess I'll wait until the Fall hurricane season hits the gulf and then pray for rain to arrive here. In anticipation of landscapes to come I have considered buying the Fuji GFX 100-200mm zoom. It should be very nice for some images with nice compression. Even some portrait images. Still pondering because, well, it's really big.
I did buy one more light recently. It's another LED fixture. This one is from Nanlite and it's the model, P-200. It's daylight balanced and the feature that differentiates it from other, similar lights I have is that it can accept a fresnel lens accessory which turns the light into a tight spotlight without the hard edges supplied by snoots. I haven't bought the fresnel lens yet but I did put the P-200 into a big soft box and made some quick tests. It's a nice, clean light with a lot of power. It's oversized because it's engineered to dissipate the additional heat created by having a glass lens in front of the emitter.
Don't get me wrong, it's not a heat demon like a tungsten fresnel fixture would be. It's just that in the potential configuration that one usually buys this light for (using with fresnel...) there is a need to wick away more heat. But it looks incredibly industrial. Love the look. And the look of the light... Couldn't resist a bargain price at B&H.
We have largely abandoned the idea of having coffee outdoors after 10 a.m.
Looking forward to the arrival of Fall. I hope it comes before Winter this year. If winter comes at all...
Heading back to the pool. Ready for a second workout today. Actually, any excuse to float around in cool water.... Now, where's that sunscreen?
18 comments:
Love this phrase of yours, "... Even though the frame is only 70% bigger than a full frame sensor ..."
I am in the Phoenix area and real tired of the heat, too.
How about a quick trip to Taos, NM to beat the heat? Looks like they're gonna be in the mid-80's for a good stretch of time. It's only 12 hours away if you get in the car now. ;-) Don't take any strenous hikes as soon as you arrive as at 7,000 feet elevation you may need to acclimate for a day or two.
I feel lucky- temp is now 101 deg F but the humidity is 16%. Make that dry heat though still too damn hot!
Does all the heat created by the studio equipment, chargers etc amount to a challenge for the aircon in the studio? I expect you’ve already calculated how much heat is put out by it.
Richard, The studio gear. Most energy consumption is that from a standard iMac Pro computer, followed by a couple fast hard drives. Battery charging is a tiny, tiny fraction. The lights I use are all either LED (low heat generation and low power consumption = see my 2010 book on LEDs at Amazon....) or battery powered Godox AD200 Pros. Again, the battery charges for the ADPros can be done at night but it's still a tiny fraction. We are currently at 105° with a humidity of 35% and the air conditioner for the studio seems to have no problem holding a comfortable 76° without running all the time. When we built the studio we were focused on making sure the whole place was well insulated and all the windows are double-pane. I should probably put some energy saving film on them but...
The house is also very well insulated and the window replacement last year made a huge difference in helping to keep the house cool. I aim for 78° during the day and 72° for sleeping at night. Ceiling fans in every room except for the kitchen and bathrooms. No problems to report.
karmagroovy, the idea of driving across hotter than hell west Texas for hours on end (I swore last time I drove there, a year ago, that I'd never make that drive again!!!) repulses, horrifies, terrifies and again repulses me. It's nowhere close to 12 hours to Taos. Getting out of traffic jammed Austin takes at least an hour. It's more like two working days of driving along with a boring, life-sucking stop overnight in Lubbock. And as nice as Taos can be I'd hardly want to be there with lots of other Texans and Californians also trying to escape whatever horrors they imagine at home.
I bitch but I'm five minutes from a cool enough pool, ten minutes from a chilly, big pool and 50 steps to my neighbor's pool. Sure, we spend a lot of the day inside complaining about the heat but once the sun goes down we have a huge range of fun stuff right here at sea level. Now, if you had suggested Helsinki....I'd be more interested. But....having to fly commercial in the middle of the Summer might just be too much.
Just above....remembering my last trip to Santa Fe....
The Nanlite P-200's one review on the B&H website complains of fan noise. This is of course much more important if you're using a light for video than for stills. That said, given that you've shot your fair share of video, what is your own impression of how suitable the Nanlite would be for this purpose?
"...and if I use the raw files and add the Fuji Color Neg. Std. profile in post production..."
Does this mean you are using "Fujifilm X Raw Studio"?
Gordon, I read that too. I think the fan noise issue is overblown. Especially for interviews where a light is in a modifier and far enough away from the subject. If your environment is too bright (aurally) and there's no attempt to make the room amenable to audio (blankets, baffles, etc.) you might hear it but on a real video set? Not likely.
Anonymous, No. Lightroom has profiles for Fuji film looks.
How is the autofocus on the Fuji? Good enough I assume?
D. Wayne, If you are a sports photographer you'll find it completely unusable. If you shoot portraits you'll find the face/eye detection is workable. Well, better than workable. About 95% hit rate in my studio sessions. If you are a found object art photographer it's perfectly great. If you are a hit-n-run street photographer you're always probably better off with manual focusing/zone focusing.
I guess that makes it no clearer than when we began but I'm in the studio using it with a 90mm f1.25 manual focus lens and having a blast with it. I think "less than perfect" brings back some of the engagement with the camera and lens that make photography fun (for me).
Wonderful post, great writing. Best wishes from Iceland, comfortable 60 degress Fahrenheit today!
G.G. So jealous. Loved my time in Iceland back in 2018. Would love to be there right now....
The lead in of this blog post was about how it's too hot to be outside; let alone run. The Boy came over for dinner last night. I asked him about his day. He told me he went out for a nice run. I asked him if he got up early and ran. Nope. He ran at 3 pm. I protested. B. reminded me that I used to do crazy stuff like that when I was the Boy's age. Institutional memory impinges on paternal advice...
He was no worse for the heat... youth. The magic elixir.
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