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Thanks.
Sunrise on 70
A quick snapshot on my ride to work this morning.
This gallery contains 12 photos.
Over Christmas, Donna and I ventured down to the Ocean City boardwalk to take a few pictures. There were a few people about, but for the most part, the place was pretty much buttoned up. A number of these are … Continue reading
Much in the news of photography today, much of which is not good. First up, our favorite camera store, Penn Camera, has filed for bankruptcy. They’ll be closing stores almost immediately. That leaves only a very few, scattered independent shops in our area, most of which suffer from small product lines.
Image via Wikipedia
Second, Kodak is also filing for bankruptcy. In my opinion, this has been a long time coming, and taking our Kodachrome away was the nail in the coffin. Not that I ever liked Kodachrome. I always thought Fujichrome was a much better film.
Sony Alpha NEX-7 with 18-55mm lens
Meanwhile, Trey Ratcliff has posted an interesting article on his blog announcing the death of the DSLR. Instead, Trey imagines a future of 3rd generation digital cameras, most without mirrors, and many without even any kind of viewfinder except for the big screen on the back. Indeed, new mirrorless cameras like Sony‘s new NEX-7 offer all of the image quality of today’s APS-C DSLRs in an amazingly compact package. With adapters available allowing a wide ranges of lenses to fit on the NEX cameras, they’re sure to be a hit. The NEX-7 is poised to be a very capable, professional quality camera once some serious lenses are available.
Full circle?
Years ago, professionals relied heavily on superb-quality 35mm rangefinder cameras with interchangeable lenses from Lieca, Nikon, Canon, and others. They loved them for their small size and weight and excellent image quality. A glance at the pages of any new photography magazine shows some of those same players are back at it today, introducing high-end “digital rangefinders” aimed squarely at professional or semi-pro markets.
Image via Wikipedia
I turned on the TV in my office this morning, and the first thing I saw was an advertisement placed by CTIA.org advocating expanding telecommunications further into the UHF bands, further reducing the UHF frequencies available to TV broadcasters, film and video producers, event production companies and convention centers, hotels, theaters and performers for wireless microphones, instrument systems and in-ear monitoring. This is becoming a very real threat. Yet the big players in the industry (Shure, Sennheiser, Audio Technica, etc.) are still steadfastly maintaining that UHF is their future.
CTIA’s latest ad touts “wireless freedom” for users of cell phones, etc., and promises reduction in the national debt. They sign off with “It’s simple. More spectrum means more freedom — for everyone.”
What it really means is that wireless microphone and monitoring users are going to have to spend millions of dollars to replace equipment that will be made useless. And, since the equipment can’t be legally resold (yeah, it’s a federal offense to resell the stuff!) or easily recycled, it will end up in landfills across America. CTIA has previously run ads about how “green” their initiatives are. If this kind of outcome is their idea of green, all I can see is red!
Folks, now is the time to contact your representatives in Congress. If we’re not heard, we won’t be heard!
If you’re into “overshopped” HDR, this photographer really does a nice job of it. Not my favorite thing, but some of his work is really, really nice — overboard with taste.
The Photographic Adventures of Theaterwiz
After our most recent gig, it became abundantly apparent that we need monitors of some sort, be they floor wedges or wireless or some combination thereof. Our bass player currently owns a UHF in-ear system that he’s almost never used. I’d like to go wireless, too, as would our other backup vocalist. But, as a seven-piece band with as many as five singers, this could be an expensive proposition. And, I’m concerned about the future of the rest of the UHF band.
When the government-mandated transition from analog to digital television occurred here in the US, a couple of other things happened, at least one of which directly affected musicians using wireless microphones, instruments and in-ear monitoring systems. Specifically a large chunk of the UHF radio band, which was previously used for our wireless gear was declared off-limits. I don’t have to tell you that decent wireless gear is expensive. The best price I’ve found so far on a decent-quality UHF personal monitor is around $350 for the Carvin EM900 system. UHF spectrum is like gold to the wireless communications industry (cell phones, two-way radios, etc.) who benefited most from the UHF frequencies made vacant by the DTV transition, and it’s only a matter of time before they lobby the government and win the rest of “our” airspace.
So, I began looking at what’s going on in other wireless market segments. The answer is that there is a large allocation in the 2.4GHz range for digital spread-spectrum systems. The technology is mature, and you’re already familiar with some of — cordless phones, wireless networking and even baby monitors are operating using this technology now, along with radio controlled model airplanes, cars and boats. Because so many consumer industries are using this technology, that also means that the it’s relatively cheap!
Digital spread spectrum is a great technology for our use as musicians because, once a transmitter and receiver are “paired” (just like a Bluetooth earpiece gets paired to your cell phone), they always “know” each other. When they first get turned on in a new location, they negotiate with other 2.4GHz devices so that many, many systems can operate together without any interference whatsoever. And, a single transmitter can be “paired” to several different receivers, just as easily as pairing that Bluetooth gizmo to your phone.
Jangus Music
Knowing all this, you’d think that there would be a ton of inexpensive 2.4GHz wireless systems for musicians out there. There are already amazing 2.4GHz radio control systems out there for under $100! But, as near as I can tell, there are only two companies using this technology. Line6 has products for wireless guitar/bass and vocals, but no in-ear monitors. The other company I’ve found is Jangus Music. Yeah, I’ve never heard of them either.
Based on a common transmitter/receiver pair, Jangus systems start at around $190. If you’re a guitarist, it comes with everything you need. For in-ear monitors, you’ll need to add a pair of ear-buds. If you’re looking for a head-worn mic, they have a “kit” or sell their very nice headset mic system separately (along with adapters to use their mic system with any wireless or wired PA).
If you’re a keyboardist, each system can support a single stereo keyboard, or two keyboards, if you run mono like I do! Guitarists might like their integrated strap/transmitter setup. There are no pictures of it on their web site, but they do mention it in all of their literature. The Jangus system also looks to be a great solution for videographers or digital film-makers using an HDSLR rig.
