Tag Archives: camera

Camera Companies (Leica, Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Sony)

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

The whole world defines the photographic product by companies. Everybody wants to know, how many megapixels a camera has, how many frames per second, are the cameras waterproof, are the lenses water resistant? how’s the auto-focus, do they have tracking? And the list goes on…. What camera should I buy? The simple answer is the one that fits your hand, your eye and your wallet. Today it’s impossible to buy a bad camera, they’re all good. Understand, that’s not why you would buy the camera.

(See Speaker TBA) – You let go of your # 1 Person at Canon. His name is Rudy Winston!

I’m going to tell you a little story, and its true, no bull-

I started my photography with a camera called a Robin. I then went onto a Nikon and Leica rangefinder. Then got serious about my photography and shot Nikon from 1959 through 1983. In 1983 I chose to take a contract with the IOC (International Olympic Committee). To be able to photograph the 1984 Olympics under the contract I had to give up Nikon for Canon and Kodak film for Fuji film.

When the olympics were over, one year after the final ceremony, I could then switch back to Nikon. Did I switch back? No. The reason I didn’t switch back was not the president, vice president, general manager or the U.S. CEO of Canon. It wasn’t because of shutter speed, aperture and quality. It was because of one person and his name is Rudy Winston.

Rudy Winston, in my opinion, is the greatest technical sales rep and all around maven that God put on this earth. Not only is he a great photographer, but from a technical standpoint there is nothing he does not know. He could take an idiot like me and teach me about a particular feature which would allow me to make much better photographs. When I tell you I know 5% of what Rudy knows about all aspects of cameras, lenses, accessories, etc. I mean it. The man is a genius, and with all of his talent he has one thing that is small, and that’s his ego. With all of his great talent, he has a small ego. If you needed help at midnight he’d be there to help you. If you had a major assignment and you needed to borrow a 2nd 600mm, he’d be there to lend it to you. He could teach you small, little things that would make your photography so much better, and there are other times where he could teach you HUGE things that would actually make the photograph. I genuinely believe what took Canon Cameras from 2nd or 3rd place and made them 1st place was Rudy Winston. Knowing the photographic companies the way I do, I also know that whatever Rudy was earning, it should have been magnified tenfold.

You would think that the higher-ups of Canon would promote Rudy to a senior Vice President. It would really make sense. So what did they do? They cleaned house because they didnt like the numbers and let go approximately 1,200 people throughout the world, and Rudy was one of them. What a travesty! Terrible, stupid, and unnecessary. Will it affect their future sales? Absolutely!

When I decided to move from Canon over to Sony, and before I did this, I called Rudy. I said, Rudy, we’ve been together since late 1983 to 2019, it’s time for me to make a change. He didn’t try to talk me out of it. He understood why I was doing it and that it would be better for my photography to move to Sony.

We maintain our friendship, still today. Do I still love him? Absolutely! At the moment, I can no longer reach him. What I’m about to say, which may or may not be true, he’s so devastated. He changed his phone number, emails, etc. All I want to tell him is how great he is.

If anyone reads this blog and is part of the photographic business, if you want a #1 man, find Rudy Winston and hire him. He’ll take you from wherever you are now to a much better place.

Rudy, I hope to hell you read this, cause I’d love to talk to you.

My go-to person at Sony is an old friend from Dynalite, Jason Etzel. Jason is cut from the same cloth that Rudy Winston is cut from. Yes, he knows 500 times more about Sony than I ever will, and when I have a problem he’s right there to bail me out.

At this point, I should say something. 20 years ago, I thought I knew EVERYTHING about photography. Fast forward to 20 years today, not so much. It’s almost like I’m starting over again and I’m 16 years old. It’s a brave new world.

Jason, I couldn’t finish this blog without mentioning you. I think I’ll start rereading George Orwell’s 1984 for the 6th time.

See below some photos from JoAnne’s and my on-going Autumn/ Winter Art Exhibit at Forest Hall Studios and Gallery on opening night. The name of the Show is Side By Side.

The address is 214 Broad Street, Milford, PA. Hours 11-5 on Saturdays, 11-3 on Sundays or by Appointment.

Tomcat

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Hi to All the Ships at Sea,

Talk to any fighter pilot from any era and they’ll tell you the only two planes that matter are P51 Mustang (propeller plane) and the F14 tomcat jet plane. TIME Magazine sent me on an assignment to photograph the last F14 to come off the assembly in Grumman. Suffice it to say it was very prestigious. Like all my assignments I always try to go a little bit further. So I got permission from the commanding officer to mount two cameras in the back with the weapons control officer.  I used a NikonF with motor drive and 15mm lens, Kodachrome 64. at 1/250 at f/8. In a couple weeks you’ll see another P51 blog and see how many G’s I can go through.

All the best,

Joe D

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Shooting From the Inside Out 2

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Hi to All the Sips at Sea,

While working on an essay called America, I came across some college students at the U of A who were heavy into mountain biking. We did all of the classic cliché photos and then I decided we can do better. So I took one of the small Canon cameras with a 15mm lens and a remote cord and put it at the end of a painters pole and was actually able (for a  millisecond) to get the camera under the tire as the young man did a wheely.

 

All the Best,

Joe D

You can now follow me on Twitter @dimaggio_photo
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Indy 500

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Hi to All the Ships at Sea,

The tulips are coming up, seems like the snow is almost gone and the Indy cars are starting to run. Remember what I said, one camera, one lens, all the time. Here’s a shot from the old days with one of my assistants. Count the cameras. Thank god for assistants. Would hate to be looking at his MRI today. On a recent Formula One, which in many ways is much more difficult than the Indy 500, I used 2 cameras and 2 lenses. Two Canon 5D Mark III, one 80mm-200  f/2.8 zoom and a second 5D Mark III with grip and 400mm f/5.6 and carrying a 1.4 extender. Gitso Monopod and 6 lexar cards, 8 gigs up to 32 gigs  Simple. Keep it simple. The photograph on the bottom was named by Sports Illustrated as the third best photograph of all time of the last 100 years.

All the Best,

Joe D

You can now follow me on Twitter @dimaggio_photo                                                                                                                                                              © Joe DiMaggio
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No Duct Tape or Crazy Glue!

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

 

About a month ago, I put together a focusing ring that would allow me to turn a Singh-Ray Vari-ND and the Blue-N-Gold to change the value of light and color, without touching the filter or the camera. I used some of my favorite tools, duct tape and crazy glue.

In a casual conversation with Carl Saieva from Sartek Industries Inc., – a world class designer and engineer. He said to send him a picture and he’d see what he could do. Well, this is what he did. He machined the parts. They’re super slick, smooth, easy to assemble, and did I mention that they work really well? This is the difference between a consumate professional and a hack. My intentions are good and sometimes the end result actually works, but most of the time it looks like shit. Thank God for great friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Student Becomes the Instructor

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Joe,

Closest Finish © Joe DiMaggio

Well, next year it’ll have been 30 years since I loaded film into your Nikons at the 1982 Indy 500.  It was a complete thrill to finally be able to work the other side of the fence after growing up at the track each May tagging along with my Dad.  Of course things have changed a bit since then.  In addition to the digital revolution, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has undergone a major facelift and is a World-class facility.  I started shooting the 500 for Reuters in 1990 and have been back ever since.  Last year, I had the honor of having my college-aged daughter, Ainslie, join the family “business” and become the 4th generation of Millers to pick up a camera at the 500.  Back at the 1982 you captured the memorable image of the Johncock/Mears finish, and who knew that 24 years later in 2006 I’d repeat the feat by capturing the Hornish/Andretti finish that would appear double-trucked in SI as well as the NY Times.

Peace,

Geoff Miller

_________________________________________

Geoff,

     I am so proud of you not only as a photographer but as one hell of a fine human being. There are very few young people that would give up their bed back in the day so we could get to the Indy 500 at 5 A.M. to beat the traffic. And like many of my assistants, you did so much more than just load film into my Nikons. Without your help, that photograph would not have been done. It’s something that I’ve been aware of my whole life. We tend to think we work in isolation. We tend to think how important we are. But the same way that Rick Mears would say “It’s a team effort”, I say the same thing. We worked as a team. Your work is amazing. You deserve everything that you get and some more. And who knows- maybe in the next couple of years, we’ll have an opportunity to work together again. Keep on shooting and remember the first rule of photographing racecars: Never turn your back on one.

Thanks,

     Joe D.

Photos below ©Geoff Miller

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

“In a world that seems to be moving at light speed, the new technologies should be embraced.  We as visual communicators should always remember the photograph comes first.  The content is more important than the pixels or the manipulation after the fact.

My love affair for this medium has only grown ten-fold.  With the advent of digital it’s like starting all over again.  Our future generations will look back at this time the way we looked back to the Lumiere brothers. What a great time to be involved in photography and filmmaking.”

~Joe DiMaggio

30 Years and Nothing Has Changed

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

As a photographer, one of the first things you learn is eye-hand coordination. Your ability to look at 300 people, 7 people, front-lit, back-lit, and see the photo that you want to make. And before you can even think about it, you’ve made 3 or 4, each one a variation of a theme, not just a motor sequence. Making back lit adjustments on the fly, always thing about where the next photograph is going to come. That’s the good news. The bad news can be all of those things that work against you. And you miss the obvious. It’s happened to me before, and I’m pretty sure it’ll happen to me again. You never want to have blinders on. You want to be open to new lighting, new composition, new stories, and new direction. Invariably, you will grow and your work will improve accordingly. While looking at this very beautiful young lady and preparing to do a very shallow, depth of field simple photograph, I look down and to my right and saw one eye and one sideburn and a little bit of a mustache. I said “Oh my god, could that be Melchior  DiGiacomo?” I took the photograph, looked down, I tapped him on the shoulder, and he said “Joe D., just a minute”. I guess it’s like two chubby italians meeting in the daylight, or is that two ships in the night? I can never get it right. The funny thing about it is I haven’t seen Melchoir in 30 years. And my god, nothing’s changed! It’s good that there is some consistency in this universe.

Queue the Rapids!

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

I was contracted by the Canadian Olympic Association to photograph basketball, boxing, soccer, track and field, and kayaking. I fell in love with kayaking and proceeded to kayak for the next 20 years and moved to ocean kayaking. One of the things that I used kayaking for was eye-hand coordination and remote photography. Will try to dig out some of the film- Yes, Alice, there was film in those days! I’ll see if I can show you a few examples. But, in the interim, every once and a while I like to take the rust off and go photograph kayaking. Here are a few frames. Hope you enjoy them. Shutter speed ranged between a 500 and 1000, ISO 200. 80 to 200 mm lens. Pick a number- f4.5.