There's no denying the past twelve months have been exciting. Days after the launch of the S-Works McLaren Venge at the spectacular F1 HQ in Woking, Matt Goss stormed to victory aboard the Venge at Milan San Remo. A few weeks later I was back in Europe shooting a gritty, dusty Paris Roubaix. The Tour of California gave me my first chance to shoot a major stage race from a moto (alternately thrilling and terrifying me), then it was back to Europe for the press launch of the Tarmac SL4 in Switzerland with Roman Kreuziger. I struggled with the altitude at the US Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado but bounced back in the mountains of Utah as the Specialized Ride to Vegas knocked off a dramatic new route to interbike. I shot Levi and Alberto in California and then the new Specialized Lululemon camp and Bicycling Magazine features as the year came to a close. Not bad for what was my first year of shooting full time.
I remain critical of my own work but having just put the latest VeloDramatic photo annual to bed (Jens on the cover above), I think I got a little better. Certainly I've had to up my studio game and come to terms with lighting and more complex shooting scenarios. To that end I've been extremely happy with the Canon 1D MK IV and my Canon glass. The Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and TT5s proved they could supply reliable wireless fill in a variety of working conditions, and I'm likely to add another four 430EX IIs to my speedlite arsenal to double my hi-speed sync output. I could have used them all shooting surfers at dusk ala Dave Black in Oceanside during a break from the recent team camp.
Last week I plunked down a healthy deposit for a Canon 1DX that's due out, fingers crossed, late March. I expect I'll get my body in the first or second shipment that makes it to Keeble & Shuchat. There have been no reviews yet but the specs really hit the sweet spot for me. Barring a negative AF assessment from the esteemed Rob Galbraith I'm fully committed. If it does miss the mark I've already decided I'll be switching to Nikon.
A+ for Apple
Technology didn't always help matters in 2011 but one company proved again and again that they deserve my business. I took the iPad2 plunge mid year and it immediately became an invaluable tool for navigation (Google Maps and Tour Trackers); showing clients dailies and wireless tethering; finance (mobile banking and TripCubby); not to mention the all-important video diversions needed to survive long trans-Atlantic flights in Economy.
My 15" MacBook Pro is nearly four year old and despite stuffing it with 6GB of RAM and 1.2 TB of internal storage (crazy how we take these numbers for granted now) it's having a tough time keeping up with the demands of my workflow. Now well beyond its warranty the video system abruptly died mid October. I took it to my friendly neighborhood Apple store and remarkably they confirmed they had a known video issue with the original mainboard. They wrote up the $500 repair then credited me for the whole amount promising a five-day turnaround. The next day, less than 24 hours later, the store called to say the repair was done and the MBP ready for pickup. Superb!
Now you could chalk this video resurrection up to luck, but twice during the year I had power bricks fail. The Apple mag connector is very cool, but like all cables eventually wires pull loose. Both times, with no prompting from me, Apple representatives replaced the adapters free of charge. In an age where service and customer loyalty are largely forgotten, Apple does all the little things to earn my trust. I don't think I'm alone and that's why Apple is doing so well.
Because of that experience my next laptop will be a Mac. In the last two weeks of the year I got very close to pulling the trigger on a new machine but held off because there's still no viable way to ingest images faster than the Expresscard slot on my MBP, and that slot is now only available on the 17" model (adding a tough-to-justify pound to my on-the-limit carry-on essentials). A Thunderbolt card reader may be the answer but so far no one has stepped up to make one. So I'm waiting for the Spring and the prospect of faster Ivy Bridge processors, rumors of a Retina display and USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt salvation.
B (Best Book) for MyPublisher
Fourteen months ago I wrote Going All in with MyPublisher. The New York based service still produces the best quality photo books I've seen but disappointingly they haven't meaningfully addressed the professional market yet. Last week I completed the third MP photo book since I wrote that piece; and it's worth noting again the pluses and minus of the current product.
Version 7.1 of the MP software is rock solid. My 86-page book contained 157 photographs. The application never flinched during the layout with plenty of shifting and swapping that occasionally froze earlier versions. With the MyStyles feature enabled it's possible to customize any of the MP layout patterns. Unfortunately the implementation of this very useful feature is hamstrung by two things. First, even though MP can toggle on a visual grid, there's no snap-to or true alignment capability, so getting really accurate sizing between boxes is difficult and tedious. Second, the MyStyles layouts cannot be managed, and if minute changes are made later on a subsequent page, additional versions appear in the MyStyles panel. Speaking critically this is symptomatic of MP's aversion to the mere suggestion of complexity, even when false simplicity (auto saving) is actually less intuitive and confusing.
Two page spreads are well supported, and very nicely realized if the rather expensive lay flat page option is chosen. Another small issue surfaces if a large file is shifted vertically with the hand tool. Because of the tight tolerances of MP's background auto-fitting routine this often leads to a yellow-warning border showing up on the left or right edge. Selecting auto-fit eliminates the problem but in the process shifts the image back to its original vertical positioning. MP should support a horizontal nudge left or right to solve this all too common layout problem.
MP has an image refresh feature but it certainly doesn't behave as it should. In my original article I indicated that any editing outside of MP that saves over a project image, should update the book image via the refresh command. It currently doesn't do this and frankly I can't figure out what it IS doing.
The last major difference worth talking about is the MP Bookshelf. I'm purposely choosing not to use the "MyBookshelf" label that MP gives this web site listing of previous orders because fundamentally it's NOT my bookshelf unless I can manage it. As the screenshot below shows, MP's order-centric model results in a confusing proliferation of the same book icons. I cannot delete any of them. MP even seems confused by it's own order-centric model when it renders its Order History and Order Details tabs. The default Order History tab presents a list view that naturally would lend itself to multiple reorders of the same book, except that even when a book has been reordered the list never has more than a single entry. Until the MP database recognizes "the book" as its record key, just take us to the Order Detail tab and save us a superfluous click.
One of the reasons why MP seems reluctant to allow us to delete books from the bookshelf, is that shared books truly have a life of their own. Once shared a book has no connection back to its creator. There is no aggregation of orders or visibility for the creator. Once shared a book can be reshared. This I believe is the crux of the problem, and why we can't manage the bookshelf. If we actually deleted one of our books, and that should imply deleting all book data, then dissociated shared books (and reorder opportunities) would go away. Philosophically, I believe book creators should have the ultimate control over our books. We should decide when OUR book cannot be reprinted regardless of when or how it was shared. MP really needs to change the way this works.
The bookshelf also is buggy. Books Icons can be "named" but right now the string length appears to have a completely useless 11-character limit and actually isn't saved. Clearly this needs more polish in addition to a serious rethink of the underlying database model.
Outside of large prints, books are the most impactful marketing tool for my business. MyPublisher continues to delight me with their end product but 2011 was a missed opportunity to develop a MyPublisher Pro offering. Blurb's ProLine gives a clear indication that the competition are taking the professional market seriously. If you're listening MP, it's time we had that conversation.
Adobe Gets a C
I was dismayed when Adobe's CS4 Master Collection wouldn't run on Windows 7. Then I was annoyed at the sheer ineptitude of Adobe's technical support system (horrible phone system, dropped calls, hours wasted with useless CSRs). Adobe's plan to require previous-version status for future upgrade eligibility was the bitter final insult in a year that was only rescued by the continuing brilliance of Lightroom.
Related rant. Having spent a decade in the Silicon Valley mines, I've seen the transparent self-interest that has outsourced tech jobs overseas, and the stupidity of mid-level executives who've gone along with a scheme that has undermined service, reduced quality and hurt usability, all in the name of a false economy that only serves to line the pockets of the guys who right their own checks. It's time we started repatriating jobs and paying better wages at the expense of C-Level compensation. I may be self employed with a strong entrepreneurial streak but OWS is on the right track. Better software and service may seem vastly removed from the criminality of wall street and too-big-to-fail banks but it's symptomatic of the same corporate miscalculation that's got us into this mess. Companies like Adobe had better smarten up or they'll be in for a rude awakening from a new class of nimble competitors like Pixelmator.
D - there's nothing Quick about QuickBooks
It's truly hard to imagine a company that can master the U.S. tax code and produce a wonderful product like TurboTax can screw things up so badly with a mature product like QuickBooks. With absolutely no compelling functionality to justify an upgrade to the latest version I was forced to do so to get compatibility with Windows 7. My 2009 version ran perfectly on Windows Vista 64-bit but wouldn't start on 64-bit Windows 7. The new product, thanks to some poor coding, obfuscated a relatively simple problem with online banking that prevented me doing any accounting for weeks following the upgrade. Again, I had to pass through multiple layers of useless support before I finally got to knowledgeable people who could diagnose the problem. Thanks to my UK pal Jon Moss, I'll be using FreeAgent as my accounting software in 2012. It's early but I'm already feeling good about saying goodbye to Quickbooks, even if I'm perversely looking forward to using TurboTax to dispatch this year's tax chores.
There's no escaping the fact that photography depends heavily on all this technology. Here's hoping that 2012's grade point average is better than this year's. Meanwhile I'm looking forward to getting off the computer and getting back to shooting.
(L to R) Lisa, Loren, Amber and Emilia head South along the coast
Carlsbad sits on the shore of the Pacific 30 miles North of San Diego and a stones throw from the sprawling marine base at Camp Pendleton. The requisite coastal confluence of hotels, condos, surf shops, galleries, and restaurants isn't much to look at but then the real inspiration is West out over the Pacific to where the sun bids a crimson farewell each evening.
I've been here for a week photographing the new Specialized Lululemon womens team which survived the puzzling demise of the greater HTC mission. I've been getting to know a wonderful group of riders from the experienced Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, who hopes to add an Olympic Gold in this her final year of competition, to the wide-eyed enthusiasm of novice pro Loren Rowney.
Ina taking in the sunset at Oceanside Pier
A few of the girls are fighting colds as they enter the second half of a spirited two-week camp. Those who are healthy completed back to back 160 and 200 km days, building that all-important training base and forging the bonds of friendship and trust that will see them through a long 2012 campaign.
The team's Amiras match the new kit
There's a lot to like in the mix of talent and personality on this team. Evelyn Stevens, the reigning U.S. TT champ and dynamo meshes well with the irrepressible Ally Stacher (who may have the longest legs on the planet). Former world TT champ Amber Neben projects a calm professionalism alongside the fun-loving, ready-to-cause-havoc-and-live-to-blog-about-it Chloe Hosking. My fellow Canadian and Olympic heroine Clara Hughes is an inspired addition by team director Kristy Scrymgeour. Clara's instinct for winning and making things happen can't help but improve the team. Expect the unexpected and Clara to drop the hammer more than once this season especially if the racing lacks panache.
The kit has an almost Moiré effect under certain lighting conditions
The German contingent of IYT and Charlotte Becker is bolstered with the addition of compatriots Trixi Worrack and Lisa Brennauer. Charlotte (Lotta), a former German National Road champ will be policing the peloton before returning to her job as a German police officer when her cycling is complete (and riding her beloved horses again). It doesn't take much coaxing to bring out a mischievous smile in Trixi (who can eat like a wood chipper after a long ride) or an explosive laugh from doe-eyed Lisa Brennaeur. Just ask them to take part in a foot race on the beach and have Chloe leave the blocks early (and purposely I might add).
British sprinter Katie Colclough has one of the best game faces I've ever seen. A porcelain beauty stare that hides the slightest hint of suffering or pain. She blasted down the road side-by-side with Ina all the while looking like she was sitting for a portrait. I've got a feeling we will see some good road results coming from this track star.
Yesterday I watched Ellen Van Dijk spend 15 minutes adjusting her bars a total of 1mm. Ellen likes precision... after completing today's 200 km she blasted three circuits around the hotel parking lot to ensure she logged an exact 6 hrs 30 minutes on the bike. She clicked her Garmin and smiled, mission accomplished. Emilia Fahlin may look like a swan, but the National Champions stripes tell a harder story of power and speed. Make no doubt, under the helmet, behind the shades and the glinting diamond studs she's thinking about laying a beating on you
Quite the light show at sunset
And then there's Ina. As they say "She's worth the price of admission". Dubbed the "worst boy in the neighborhood" as a kid, Ina's the irresistible force on the team, always ready with a great story, a cutting remark and the best comeback lines. When she laughs she throws her head back and lets loose a volley of sound which invariably sets everyone else on the team off. While they're joining in, Ina's already got the next line cued up... and so it goes. At dinner Clara sits across the table enjoying it all and says repeatedly "Oh, Ina!"
While the team is stellar I've been generally unimpressed with the roads down here. Too much traffic. With the exception of Sleeping Indian Road we've found little pavement I'd ever choose to ride (assuming this back ever lets me do some real riding again, yes it's still bad). Tomorrow, weather permitting, we're hoping to shoot a stretch of quiet road that Aaron Vogel and Dave Christensen scouted today. Fingers crossed it will likely be my last day with the girls before heading home to San Jose. I hope our paths cross again this season; it's been a lot of fun.
There has been no shortage of speculation in recent months about the future of Canon's DSLR lineup. Conventional thinking predicted there would be a fourth generation of the 1Ds line, answering the needs of professionals who needed a high-resolution, full-frame body that pushed the quality envelope of the 35mm format. Meanwhile the amazing success of the full-frame 5D II, both as a still camera and game-changing video platform, complicated the issue.
Well, two days ago Canon ended the rumors and suspense with the announcement of the 1DX. While it remains to be seen whether the new features will live up to the estimated $6800 price tag, I'm definitely interested.
What's Currently in My Bag
My normal working kit consists of a 1D IV and a 5D II... occasionally I'll have a third 1D IIN along for insurance or to act as a remote. The 1D MK IV handles all the action with it's advanced Auto Focus, 10 fps and 1.3 crop factor. It incorporates both a Compact Flash and SDHC card slot; the latter coming in very handy for wireless tethering via an Eye-Fi X2 to iPad running ShutterSnitch. In contrast the 5D II handles static shots (it's AF is terrible and its AF point coverage inadequate) but as a full-frame camera it doesn't compromise the focal length of my wide angle lenses.
What appears to be a good division of labor actually is quite frustrating to work with. Don't get me wrong the 5D II is an amazing camera and a great bang-for-the-buck but operationally jumping between the two is awkward. Little things like a mode dial that's prone to move, a battery grip that likes to unscrew itself, software differences and the aforementioned AF limitations seem to show themselves at precisely the wrong time (read any time the camera is stretched beyond it's static sweet spot).
It's not clear yet whether the 1DX's lineage will make it a better working partner for the 1D IV but I suspect it will. If it's not a seamless partnership I'll have to accept the expensive reality of a pair of 1DX bodies. If I sold my 5D, 5D II, 1D IV and 1D IIN plus an assortment of lenses I don't use much I might just get within shouting distance (and out of Juli's shouting distance) of that purchase.
X Marks the 1DX Spot
The switch to a new 18 MP full-frame sensor is a great call. Minus the 1.3 crop I can live with the reduced reach with my telephotos in exchange for the benefits of true focal length at the wide end. 12 fps (and the possibility of 14 fps shooting jpgs) will be a boon provided the new 61-point AF matrix lives up to its billing. The 1D IV certainly improved on the poor AF performance of it's predecessor but it still is quirky and unpredictable at times in bright sunlight and when subjects are moving straight at the camera.
I like the move to dual Compact Flash slots. The mixed storage option always struck me as odd. Yes, I'll miss the Eye-Fi functionality (unless Eye-Fi announces a change of heart and develops a CF option) but the 1DX's built in ethernet should fill the gap via Canon's compatible wifi transmitter or a third-party mini router.
The addition of a second multi-controller gives vertical shooting ergonomic parity, and Canon has enlarged and moved the AF-ON button leftwards from its strange angled-surface position on the 1D IV (more on that in a bit). I'm not sure how the touchpad will operate within the quick control dial but let's assume it's a positive development that will speed command and control. The front of the camera plays host to two pairs of programmable buttons that will surely provide new utility. Their position suggests photographers who can play the accordion will have a head start putting them to use.
Most importantly with a new sensor and processors 1DX image quality promises to be better. If Canon has in fact closed the 2-stop advantage Nikon now enjoys at ISOs above 1600 I'll be ecstatic. In truth I've been seriously considering switching sides because of that strategic advantage alone. Armed with two Digic 5+ processors and a Digic 4 dedicated exclusively to AF and exposure the 1DX is going to be capable of some incredible in-camera processing throughput.
The creative possibilities of the new in-camera multi-exposure feature appear limitless. I can imagine photographers carrying small libraries of images shot with the 1DX to be used as the starting point for future in-camera composites. Landscapes with better skies, scenes with new protagonists and perhaps, the possibility of journalistic abuse (meta data traceability not withstanding). The moment of capture becomes a performance.
So What's Missing
I noted before that Canon has resized and moved the AF-ON button. They recognize that we sport shooters use our thumbs to activate AF and our forefingers to fire the shutter. On the Mark IV I continue to use the (*) button. Why? Because it's immediately adjacent to the button that activates focus point selection. My thumb darts back and forth between these two buttons constantly.
If it turns out that it's possible to shift the focus point selection functionality to the (*) button on the 1DX then the new AF-ON button will work for me (the two functions will still be triggered by two adjacent buttons), if not I'd continue with my current ergonomic pattern. Sorry if all of this is confusing without a diagram.
I mention this because I think Canon continues to miss the point here. Instead of independent buttons to initiate the two functions, we should have a single large button that behaves like a multi-controller to select the focus point with a light pressure and when stabbed with a heavy pressure triggers AF. One button, two intrinsically-linked functions and my thumb never has to move. Short of eye-tracking to establish my focus point there's no better way to marry/decouple these critical functions.
The last thing I'd hoped to see was effective Liveview AF (and I'm not talking about video AF). Canon has yet to realize that there are times when we'd like to use the LCD for active composition and focus, and we'd like it to behave just like the viewfinder. Somewhere down the line we may have an articulated LCD or even an off-camera remote viewfinder. I'm not looking to be completely separated from the camera (as in a true remote) but be able to put the camera through fences, under and over barriers etc. and still have full AF control. Next time perhaps.
Beyond the camera, Canon still needs to catch up with Nikon by improving the EOS flash system. I continue to dream about a "white" 50mm, 85mm or 100mm in the arsenal. In the meantime I'm looking forward to the arrival of 1DX field tests from Rob Galbraith and others. AF is critical. If Rob declares the 1DX superior to the 1D IV I believe I'm going to have to bite.
The phone rang just before 9 am and it was my brother Craig calling from Toronto. "Turn on the television; a plane has just hit the World Trade Center." He and I stayed on the phone as the unimaginable became real. I didn't lift my eyes from the television for the next seventeen hours.
In the days that followed the images of rescue workers toiling away atop the pile of pulverized concrete, twisted steel and the shattered remains of 3,000 people had us all desperate to help... to contribute something to a protracted recovery effort that was going to take months. I didn't want it to be an easy thing, I wanted to do something that would keep me occupied as long as the digging continued.
I emailed three of my friends and told them I wanted us to buy the FDNY a firetruck and that our personal donations should sting a little. I got three responses... IN, IN, IN. My pal Tom wasn't sure my $150,000 firetruck cost estimate was accurate but he didn't hesitate.
And then because everyone I knew and worked with was feeling that same emptiness the big, simple idea of a firetruck began to resonate. By the end of the first morning I'd appealed, cajoled, extorted and bribed my way to a $30,000 start from my colleagues at Ariba. That was enough to get our CEO Keith Krach behind the project. Grinning that big Keith grin of his, he simply told me, "go for it, we're going buy the FDNY a firetruck."
A group of coworkers and friends (including the Brendans, Nancy, Johanna, Dan, and Debbie) stepped up to organize a variety of fund raising activities and challenges that eventually raised our tally to $90,000. Keith's own charitable foundation made up the difference for the Seagrave pumper spec'd by the FDNY. Grand total for a firetruck, $353,000. We might still be fund raising if it hadn't been for Keith.
But this is all preamble for the real point of this story. All of us have numerous chances to pick up a torch and make a difference during our lives. For my part I'd passed on many of these challenges, this just happened to be my time to lend a hand. It remains the single most rewarding experience of my life because we were given a gift by the firefighters and families of FDNY Squad 18 who received the truck.
Manhattan's Squad 18 lost seven men that day. Lieutenant William McGinn and Firefighters Andrew Fredericks, Eric Allen, David Halderman, Timothy Haskell, Manuel Mojica and Lawrence Virgilio.
These seven men became special to us, and when the truck was delivered, we traveled to NYC for the dedication. Even now it's difficult to describe what it was like to be there with the surviving firefighters and widows. Standing outside the firehouse on a cold February morning, as the departmental pipe band played Amazing Grace, we were all in tears but our spirits were lifted by the handshakes and smiles of the guys and the stories they told of their friends who'd been lost.
And briefly we touched the raw nerve of ground zero, standing on the roof of Station 10 on the very edge of the abyss we watched firefighters below searching for any remains of their 343 fallen brothers. Everything looked as gray as the surface of the moon. A little bit of that gray stays with you.
Coming home I felt an even stronger sense of indebtedness to the Squad for their great kindness and sacrifice. It took almost an entire year for me to design and execute a 28" x 50" memorial in slate and machined aluminum that remembers Billy, Andy, Eric, David, Tim, Manny and Larry. Though I'm far from NYC today my thoughts are with them, I hope one day to stop in to see the Squad again. The names and faces will surely have changed but the bond that was formed can never be broken. Thank you FDNY.
We'll catch up with the Ride to Vegas tomorrow.
Utah is actually green (my first visit) and they've built some amazing bike paths that even our hard-core group doesn't mind riding on the way from Richfield to Panguitch. Meandering alongside the river through a steep canyon, the Candy Mountain express bike trail was one of several highlights of the day. After our arrival in Panguitch, Chris, Dan and John decided that the 80 miles wasn't enough so they rode the twenty five miles up to Bryce canyon. Chris of course rode all the way back for a nice 50-mile add to his day's mileage. He joined Rebecca and Greg Martin who'd been shuttled up to the top for some sightseeing before the descent through Red Rock canyon and a brief rain shower.
The day ended with me going way off road in search of a beautiful sunset. Tomorrow (today as I write this) is going to be a big day and the weather may not cooperate. We had some thunder and rain around 4 am.
The group was in good spirits today. Traffic was light through the first half of the stage leaving plenty of time for Nic and Kim to sprint for a time bonus (Kim got him). To keep the average speed up friends like Rebecca Rusch were happy to provide a little push when needed.
When it was all over, Specialized's Chris D'Alusio spent 45 minutes fixing a Di2 wiring problem on his bike... then jumped at the suggestion to shake it out by riding up into the hills. Let's just say that "road" is a state of mind... 2,000 feet of climbing on steep, rutted, rock strewn dirt took us both by surprise. Chris because he was climbing it on a road bike and me because the rental minivan I'm driving doesn't have ATV handling. Two flats and a slashed rear tire finally put an end to the adventure, but it was amazing to watch how much punishment a road bike can take. Back at the hotel I had to rinse away a ton of red dust with the consistency of talcum powder to make the vehicle safe for photography again. Twenty minutes after the descent the front brakes produced billows of steam when hit by the hose. Google mountain road to Fish Lake for a look at the crazy ski hill out of Richfield.
The 2011 Edition of Specialized's Ride to Vegas (and interbike) explores a new route from Salt Lake City. Day one saw the riders tackle a 110-mile stage over the scenic Mt. Nebo loop before a sketchy gravelled descent into Nephi Utah. The climb is beautiful and probably never gets steeper than 8 or 9% but it goes on for a grueling 20 miles. The group certainly earned their Western Spirit dinner today.
Thanks go out to Brian at the post and Franco for giving me good-natured encouragement to get some long overdue content on the site. If the schedule holds for the next five days and I have a reliable web connection I'll keep the dailies coming.
July began under a little gray cloud. Wilfred and I planned to be in France with our Reve Grand Tour project, but with only a half-dozen riders confirmed for the 2011 team in April, we were nine short of the 15 we needed to green light the trip. We're optimistic that we'll get our numbers next time around since everyone will have a full year to train. Look for some good news here and on the Reve site soon; 2012 is on.
Like the rest of you I was glued to this year's tour. The major story lines and subplots just kept coming, and nothing, with the possible exception of Gilbert winning Stage one seemed predictable. I should have put some money on that one after Roman Kreuziger made him a lock while we were in Switzerland photographing Specialized's Tarmac SL4 in the middle of June (above). Seems the whole peloton believed he was unbeatable right out the gate.
As the body count rose during the first week's carnage it was difficult to see how this could turn out to be one of the best Tours in memory. Narrow roads, crosswinds and inattention clearly played a role but I thought the main reason there were so many crashes was the lack of a real patron in the peloton. With Contador's status in doubt, we were left with the soft-spoken Schlecks and Cadel as the potential GC captains. Of course they all turned out to have plenty of grit later on but none of them exerted the magnetic force (of attraction and repulsion) that Armstrong did to keep the pack in line.
In the absence of a single dominant force it seemed anything could happen, and by the time that French TV car took out Flecha and Hoogerland, it had. That got me scared. I was reasonably comfortable on the moto during the Tour of California but I was super nervous watching the peloton and vehicles negotiate the TDF stages on TV. It's likely I'll never find out if I've got the guts to shoot a mountain stage at race pace in the TDF... maybe that's a good thing. I'm actually amazed these collisions don't happen more often.
Hushovd was the first big surprise, power climbing with Gilbert and Cadel and riding with all of his veteran wile to keep the yellow jersey for a week, then topping that with two tactically-brilliant stage wins. After demonstrating he could climb away from a breakaway in Stage 13 I don't know how he managed to get away with it again in Stage 16.
It was good to see Cav and Greipel bury the hatchet, clasping hands after Marks victory in Stage 11 (repeated after the final sprint in Paris). Like boxers who trash talk each other before a fight, when they've traded blows in the ring, respect invariably replaces bravado.
While all of that was inspiring, it was just an appetizer for Voeckler's second act. His gritty performance in the Pyrenees hanging with the best climbers in the sport, closing the gaps and fighting for wheels was the best thing I've seen at the Tour in years. Andy had yet to prove he would actually take a chance to win the race, and frankly all that looking over his shoulder for his brother was irritating the hell out of me. Tommy more than filled the void, and even when he made the wrong decision to try for that solo bridge in the Alps you couldn't help but root for him. Surely he proved something to himself, but it remains to be seen if he can rise to that level next year, just ask Bradley Wiggins about that. I think anyone who loves cycling hopes he does, he'd be a great champion and I don't blame the French for getting a little tired of everyone else winning their race.
Ultimately he couldn't manage those last mountain stages where Andy cast aside his conservatism and Cadel proved his tenacity and class. The whole Europcar team, particularly Rolland was solid in support, I think they took him as far as they could and validated their invitation to race.
Last but not least, how amazing was Jens this year. Forty and still beating the living daylights out of everyone riding that merciless tempo on the front. I hope he never retires.
Who do you call when you've got a 250 lb large format printer that's too big to manhandle up a flight of stairs and shoehorn into a home office... Rapha Large Format Moving and Storage (aka my pal Brendan and his friend Navjeet). A day earlier I'd been standing in the garage staring at the imposing size of the Epson 9890 watching my plans for a painless installation go out the window before it hit me... the window, it needed to go IN the window.
A few measurements confirmed the printer cross section would fit, with the added advantage it would arrive within inches of it's final destination in one ballsy move. As luck would have it the good folks at United Rentals immediately across the road from our community had just the right forklift for the job and one of the service reps just happened to be a neighbor. Jennifer, her husband and son Sean dropped by that evening for a sanity check and gave me the thumbs up. Time to call in Brendan my heavy equipment specialist and perennial conspirator in these kind of plans.
Not wanting to let the opportunity for a little fun while the $4000 printer was suspended 12 feet above the ground I painted up a construction helmet in Rapha colors for the occasion. Came out looking rather sharp as modeled by the big guy I think.
I engineered a cardboard sled between the printer and palette so two of us could simply pull it through the window once Brendan had the forklift in position. It all worked like a charm... twenty minutes later we had it safely pinned to its stand, mission accomplished.
Many thanks to Jennifer (her husband) and the United team for their help. The rental made all the difference. I highly recommend them, if you need to go vertical. Brendan and Navjeet, thanks boys and Juli, well none of this would ever happen without your indulgence and support. Let the printing begin.
Well I can't think of a better venue for my first "show" than the Rapha Cycle Club in San Francisco. Thanks to Slate Olson and Club Manager Lee Jakobs the installation, featuring images from the Tour de France, Paris Roubaix, and the Tour of California, will be up from July 2-31st. I hope you stop by and see the show. Individual custom prints (17 x 22) of all show images are available for purchase for $150, order at the club. Larger prints will be available, when the scissor lift gets the new large format printer through the office window behind me ;-)
VeloDramatic Image from this Spring's Paris Roubaix week is running in a Specialized ad in Road, VeloNews and other publications this month. Click for a larger view.
You won't find any marketing photos or gamma plots in this review, just the subjective results of a real-world image comparison. No browser image would adequately communicate the subtle visual differences I found; words alone will have to do.
I was a little sleepy Friday morning as I pointed the car North towards Palo Alto and my camera dealer, Keeble & Shuchat. I'd finished a series of test prints on my Epson 4800 sometime around 2 am for a 9 am appointment to see how they stacked up against the same files printed with Epson's most advanced ten-color printer, the 7900. Large-format printers are like divas... they can be high maintenance and temperamental but there's no arguing with the jolt you get from their output. The Epson 4800 was announced mid 2005 - I think I purchased mine early in 2006.
Overall it's been a good match for the volume and size of the prints I've wanted to produce but new opportunities to display and sell larger prints have me considering an upgrade. To justify a new purchase I wanted to see improved output, better media handling and general usability. Other reviews have concluded the new printers pay dividends in these areas but I wanted to use my own images and draw my own conclusions. Most of you still reading are familiar with the basics. The eight-color 4800 prints cut-sheets or roll paper up to 17" wide; the ten-color 7900 up to 24" wide (and the larger 9900 model up to 44" wide). This morning with the able assistance of Keeble's Bill Graham we put the 7900 through it's paces. By the way Bill is a car buff and has some really nice automobile photography in his own portfolio.
I selected three sample images for the test; two B&Ws and one color. The first image of the S-Works McLaren Venge was photographed in the sci-fi labyrinth beneath McLaren's Woking HQ. The matte-black bike in an all-white hallway was lit with a combination of facility lighting and a dual-speedlite strobe firing through a 39" Elinchrom Deep Rotalux. The resulting falloff, subtle tonalities and thin highlights seemed perfect to gauge B&W performance. The second black and white of Garmin Cervelo's Gabriel Rasch minutes after the finish of Paris Roubaix was a gritty portrait set against a diffuse dreamy background. The third and final color image of Thijs van Mil from last summer's Tour for Kika, featured vibrant green and orange in its background... tailor made I thought to assess the impact of the additional green and orange channels that bolster yellow printing in the 7900's HDR inkset.
Printing Baseline
I chose Epson's Exhibition Fiber (EEF), a beautiful low-gloss coated sheet that's been my go-to paper for some time as the medium. Each Lightroom-processed image was opened in Photoshop, sharpened with PixelGenius's PhotoKit Sharpener 2.0 (using resolution-appropriate-inkjet output sharpening), flattened and saved as a tiff. The black and whites were printed from Photoshop CS4 with the following settings: Advanced Black and White mode (printer manages color); 2880 x 1440 dpi; high-speed off; fine-detail on; color toning neutral; toning normal. For the first print I worked up to these settings with a couple of smaller tests, then output the final on a 17 x 22 sheet of EEF. For comparison I also printed an alternative with Photoshop managing color via a PixelGenius icc profile for Exhibition Fiber. Turning off color management in the Windows7 Epson dialog proved to be a chore; gone was the obvious, front-and-center "no color management". It took a Google search and several forum threads to eventually find it behind an ICM selection (shades of mirror lockup). The only discernible difference in the resulting print was a cooler black. Since I preferred the neutral carbon look of the Advance Black and White print, I stuck with ABW mode for the second image of Gabriel.
The final color image was Photoshop managed with the EEF PixelGenius icc profile. Resolution and other settings for high speed and detail were the same as the black and whites. I used the very useful "job settings" option to print these specs on the top of each print for easy identification later. Try as we might, Bill and I could not find this job settings option in the Epson dialog on the mac when printing to the 7900, nor does it seem to be documented in Epson's manual under mac printing. If anyone knows the what or why of this, please let me know.
The morning's reprints on the 7900 went smoothly after a couple of early misfires. I can confirm that you'll get a decidedly strange result if you print on the back of Exhibition Fiber ;-) Chalk that one up to sleep deprivation. The second attempt revealed a clogged Light Cyan printhead, which was quickly resolved with a cleaning cycle. Clogged print heads have been Epson's Achilles heel over the years. The 7900 was engineered to reduce clogs, but this just shows it still can happen. I did appreciate the fact the cleaning cycle on the 7900 was much quieter than the cacophony cleaning sets off on the 4800.
With the fog and clog behind us the three files were printed without further incident. For the color file Bill used Epson's own Exhibition Fiber profile rather than the PixelGenius profile I'd used on the 4800. I wouldn't expect this substitution to skew the color-print comparison. Both are very good profiles from authoritative sources, but it's a variable worth noting.
Results and Impressions
As expected the 7900 is much faster (2x), quieter and solid on it's stand. There's only the tiniest indication of rocking as the carriage moves back and forth in the printer. Weighing in at 187 lbs it sports a lot more metal than the plastic-looking Canon ipf6300 sitting nearby. It looks built to last, except for the gangly, print basket out front. Now to the heart of the matter.
Six years is a long time for any digital product to remain relevant far less competitive with its successors so I expected the two generations between the 4800 and 7900 to show up on paper, but I was truly surprised when the side-by-side comparison was almost a dead heat in the Advanced Black and White prints. The 7900 ABW was a little cooler, the 4800 ABW had more contrast. On close inspection you could see small improvements in the deep shadow and highlight detail of the 7900 prints. In print one of the S-Works McLaren Venge the 7900 held the thinnest highlights on the floor between the wheels, on the 4800 there didn't appear to be any ink there but the surface texture and low gloss of the Exhibition Fiber made it invisible at normal viewing distance. I actually preferred the contrast level of the 4800 prints and would probably push the 7900 tonality to "darker" outside of this test. If I had to quantify the ABW tonal improvement in the 7900 I'd peg it in the neighborhood of 5%.
The performance gap was definitely wider in the color file. Again with the same output settings, overall contrast was reduced, shadows and midtones in the rider's face more open in the 7900 print. Skin tones looked better on the 7900... and as expected the 7900 rendered the orange bloom above Thijs' left shoulder smoothly, the 4800 rendering of the same area showed minor banding. Score one for the HDR inkset. In terms of usability I really appreciated the single-sheet, straight paper path handling of the 7900. Inserting single sheets of EEF in the 4800 results in an annoying number of misfeeds. The new system on the 7900 couldn't be simpler... drop the sheet into the slot with complete freedom to move the sheet laterally to the right-edge alignment mark. Push a button on the control panel and the printer takes the sheet in.
Summing this all up I think it's apparent Epson inkjet technology matured a couple of generations back. The current state-of-the-art 7900 has made another small improvement in B&W printing, and with the expanded HDR inkset, a larger improvement in color output. With smaller and smaller opportunities for print improvement, the engineers have concentrated on production speed, reliability and usability. To make things even more interesting Epson released the 7890/9890 series which combined all of those 7900/9900 production advantages with the K3 + Vivid Magenta 8-color inkset that preceded HDR inks. Two inks forward one step back. If I only wanted to print black and white images I'd definitely go with the 7890/9890 series.
Final thoughts. From a purely fine-art perspective the 7900 or 7890's 24" width is sufficient for anything I shoot or composite today. Thinking in more graphic terms, which potentially includes the ability to RIP vector-based artwork with the available Designer Edition of these printers, the 9900 or 9890's 44" width becomes more attractive. I'd definitely like to have that capability for Rêve Grand Tour signage in 2012 (an update about Rêve to follow soon). Epson has substantial rebates on all these models through the end of June which means I've got to make the call one way or another soon. I'll let you know what I decide.
Additional Notes
I'll be in Switzerland at the end of the week for an assignment, can't wait. If you happened to catch today's F1 race from Montreal you saw an incredible last lap victory by McLaren's Jenson Button. Congrats to the team and a very happy VeloDramatic regular, Steve Cooper on the win. Both the Grand Prix and LeMans races today were fantastic.
