Funny, you sound like Donald Trump and that doesn't sound good. Testing,testing, testing. is the only way to get a handle on this pandemic. And he lies about how much we are doing. That's what the scientists say. Your logic is just that logic disconnected from the real world, just like our president. Your suggestions about who can and who shouldn't go back to work will only bring us a new wave of disease. China which loosened the quarenteen is now reporting new cases. WHAT A SURPRISE!!!! What you are spreading is silly if it weren't so deadly. Stop it. Stay home and please stop these half-truths which will only cause more pain.

I don't believe that full employment can begin until we get testing under control. Testing, isolation, and traceback. This virus is very infectious and those steps are needed to protect people out among the public.

So the US has done a lot of testing????? Really? How many tests? 100,000? 1,000,000? If we've done a million tests we have only tested 0.3% of the population. Less than that because some have gotten tested more than once. I think we are really in need of a billion tests or more. If we can test, we can limit exposure. And the testing has to be followed up on.

There is just too much about this disease we don't know yet. Will you have immunity if you recover from it? How fast is it likely to mutate (getting it out of possible immunity control)?

If we send everyone back to work without any mitigation measures in place we risk a resurgence, leading to a larger problem than we have now.

If there's one thing that everyone knows about themselves it is that they are an above average driver.

If you have the budget, and want to stay with Canon, L series lenses will give you the best results.


BUT......

I have a T7i and have used the EFS 10-18, EFS 18-55, EFS 55-250 and thought the same thing. The more proficient I get with post processing, I'm realizing as I go back and practice on older files, that these lenses do very very well. It's really just a combination of refining your shooting technique, knowledge, and (if you post process), more experience and ability with that program.

I have a Canon 6D (with Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM lens) that has been working fine for last 4 years. Then starting about a month ago started getting occasional Error 1 (failure of communications between camera and lens). Googled topic on YouTube and tried the recommended solution of cleaning the contacts on camera and lens - using a drop pf 77% alcohol. This fixed the problem for a few days - then same problem. So cleaned again but the Error 1 still persists. Noticed that it usually happens only when the lens is zoomed to 50 to 70mm.
Never when wide open at 24mm (at least so far). Anyone have any comments or suggestions?

Hi, PGH. First off, thank you for the compliment. In all reality, since I push my exposures as much as each camera will allow, I get a lot of 'red' areas and warnings when I first open a photo in ACR. If I didn't, I'd be surprised.

To quote Scott Kelby, "Another cause of clipping is when you’re editing the photo in Camera Raw. You could have increased the Exposure amount (or Whites or Highlights sliders) enough to create clipping that wasn’t in the photo. Hey, it happens. If you know what you’re doing, it might be okay. More on that later."

The warning areas fall along those lines. I'm not as familiar with the internal workings of ACR but know how to use it effectively. It's similar to not knowing the intimate chemical processes involved in developing film but being able to control tonal qualities of a negative to produce the densities desired.
--Bob

I'm not sure that this is the best place to post this but the only other which I could consider is Post Processing. This requires processing but most are done prior to taking the photograph.

As many of you know, I believe in two photographic techniques The Zone System (TZS) and the use of ETTR and EBTR to do the vast majority of my digital photographs. Similar to, but opposite, the way The Zone System, as used with film, these techniques allow for better control in placing selected exposure values in an appropriate Zone. With film one meters the shadow (dark) area of the scene and then exposes to place that area in the appropriate Zone, as the photographer chooses. In processing the film, the highlight areas of the scene are controlled by the processing.

In digital photography, when using TZS and ETTR/EBTR, things work the opposite. The metering is done on the brightest parts of the scene and exposing in such a manner as to place those highlights in the appropriate Zone. That is, the brightest areas of the scene are exposed in such a manner as to place them just shy of the sensor overexposing. The dark areas of the scene are controlled by processing in an appropriate software package. My preference is Photoshop.

Recently, I purchased a digital back for my Hasselblad 500c/cm. As with any new film, camera, lens or sensor, I tested it. These are structured lab tests, not just a few random photos taken around the neighborhood. This testing would determine how much additional exposure I could apply before the image of a test chart was not capable of being adjusted to its original appearance. After determining the capabilities of the sensor, it was time to take the camera out and do a few photographs with it. The Grand Canyon was a planned trip. So, it was as good a place as any to put the experimental data to use.

Here's where the luck figured in. The manufacturers of the back include, in the kit, a mask that shows the portion of the viewfinder that is going to be captured by the smaller sensor. (see image 1) There were several included in the "kit". One of them was made of transparent gray plastic. Now, the metering viewfinder I use reads the entire focusing screen area. Thus, the transparent gray mask is going to reduce the amount of light the meter actually sees.

As such, the meter will indicate a setting which is more exposure than if the mask weren't there. By luck, the exposure reading is the same as the additional amount of exposure I'd have needed to "calculate" to produce an ideally exposed image for processing. Thus, I can simply meter the scene, set the exposure to what the meter indicates and I have a sufficient amount of additional exposure to push the image the appropriate amount to the right.

So, now to the Grand Canyon photograph.

The first image shows the viewfinder with the mask in place.

The second image shows a screenshot of ACR prior to adjustments.

The third shows the SOOC image.

The fourth image shows the image in PS after my usual adjustments are made in ACR.

The fourth shows the black and white conversion and finished "print".

One of the added benefits of Exposing To The Right and Exposing Beyond The Right is that the inherent noise within each photosite of the sensor is masked by the additional light allowed to reach each photosite.
--Bob

A nurse at our local medical oncology clinic ranted to us yesterday about "how overblown" she thought our state's and the media's response to the epidemic was. Tried to acquaint her with the most recent data from Johns Hopkins and CDC on global and U.S. mortality rates but she'd have none of it. She insisted that the mortality rate from influenza is "ten times" what we've seen from Covid-19. Here are the facts for the U.S. according to CDC:

In 2019 there were an estimated 32.5 million cases of influenza with a mortality rate of 0.09%. (Thats 9/100 of 1 percent)
So far the over 500,000 cases of Covid-19 worldwide have an average mortality rate of 4% and in the U.S. so far it's 1.4%. If one applied the 1.4% mortality rate to the number of influenza cases in the U.S. so far we'd have about 455,000 deaths from influenza whereas the actual number is estimated at 32,000.

Put another way:
In the U.S. the number of cases of Covid 19 is growing at an exponential rate except where "drastic" measures to reduce the infection rate are starting to work. Let's say we end up with only 3 million Covid-19 infections confirmed by testing. We'll have 42,000 deaths (but that 1.4% mortality rate can't hold when hospital capacity to deal with severe respiratory distress is completely overwhelmed so it will be much worse). But, if we had 32.5 million cases at "only" 1.4% mortality rate we'd have 455,000 deaths.

The upside of this is that the majority of this nearly half million cases will be in those locations which take no effective measures to reduce the infection rate and so reap the rewards of inaction. Also, the majority will apparently be among seniors or the immuno compromised and they're just a drain on the economy anyway. For example, the Social Security Trust Fund would suddenly have a windfall. The politicians responsible for the windfall through their inaction might be able to loot the Fund (for the benefit of their constituents of course).

We're well on our way to fitting the Italian experience curve where hospital capacity is overwhelmed so our currently "modest" mortality rate of 1.4% is going to start to approach or exceed the average global mortality rate of 4% (or above) as hospitals start to refuse to care for the oldest or most likely to not make it. Let's say that we manage to hold our mortality rate to 3% (33 times the mortality rate from influenza in the U.S.) and have "only" 1 million Covid-19 cases in the U.S. this year. We'll see 30,000 or nearly the same number of deaths from Covid 19 as the CDC estimates from influenza but when it returns next year we'll be much less prepared because the health providers cohort will be decimated. This is a very conservative estimate of how bad Covid-19 could get in this country so please don't rant to anyone you actually care about that efforts to reduce infection rates are "overblown".

Overblown? Bah! Fill the churches at Easter. It's the Christian thing to do.

Yes, it is harsh but you must remember who watches Tucker Carlson. President Trump has already started saying things like "We can do two things at the same time" and FOX News is echoing that. His meaning was the country can both fight the virus and people can go back to work. The fallacy is that going back to work cuts down on fighting the virus. Cutting down on the virus fight will lead to its spread and a rise in deaths. When the numbers start to rise, the virus could start claiming younger people - perhaps the grandchildren the governor claims he trying to save. Let's get our priorities straight ... the peoples' health should come before the health of the economy. It's not a pleasant choice, I understand this, but historically, the economy has always come back. When people die, they remain dead.

I have recently purchased some point-and-shoot cameras from Craigslist. I am happy with their condition except for one thing. They both have picked up strong odors from their previous homes. One is a perfume smell, the other more a tobacco/masculine smell. Anything bought from a thrift store also tends to pick up a store odor.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to remove these odors? Leaving the cameras out in the sunlight is one possibility, but then they can get too hot for the electronics. Has anyone tried the ozone generators I see on eBay and amazon, for example?

Suggestions welcome.

Hi. I've tried Googling this but not really sure what I'm reading. I've been following DIY Infrared Cameras on Ebay and most seem to say "full spectrum" and show color photos as examples. I am wondering if the cameras also take the infrared black n whites that I am intrigued with. The sellers don't seem to know. ???

Are there TWO different infrared conversions; one full spectrum for color and one for b&w ? Are the b&w "heat generated " photos.

Sorry, I'm confused.... and cheap. Want something inexpensive to see just how much I would use it before I invest more.

Thanks