http://blog.ericdacus.com/

Powder at the end of May

Mon, 28 May 2012 22:06:17 -0600

There isn’t much snow left in the mountains around Utah, but with a storm over the weekend, there was a little more in the Uintas. We had very different conditions here last July.

It was filled in (enough) everywhere but the top of the saddle.

Great way to end the weekend.

Blast from the Past on Flickr.Circa 2004, climbing Dreamweaver...

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:38:41 -0600

Blast from the Past on Flickr.

Circa 2004, climbing Dreamweaver in RMNP with Sam

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:47:25 -0600

"The thin air, the sharp wind and the brilliant white glare seem to strip away a lot of what we..."

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:04:55 -0600

“The thin air, the sharp wind and the brilliant white glare seem to strip away a lot of what we normally surround ourselves with, and you get to see people as they really are.”

- Ben Sunders http://scott2012.org/routine/

Its like surfing!

Sun, 20 May 2012 16:40:11 -0600

Great day of touring up to, and over Baldy. The good turns were worth some loose rock and choss-ineering; the easiest way isn’t always the most “fun.”

Polly looking past the Midi-Plan Traverse on Flickr.Its only...

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:24:36 -0600

Polly looking past the Midi-Plan Traverse on Flickr.

Its only plane tickets and time right?

Polly on Flickr.

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:18:08 -0600

Polly on Flickr.

Bloody Fingers on Flickr.Finally led Bloody Fingers. Photo by...

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:11:22 -0600

Bloody Fingers on Flickr.

Finally led Bloody Fingers.
Photo by Greg

Getting into the Crack of Doom on Flickr.Greg getting into the...

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:09:14 -0600

Getting into the Crack of Doom on Flickr.

Greg getting into the Crack of Doom.

First of several shots from this weekend in the City of Rocks: Photo by Greg

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:49:21 -0600

First of several shots from this weekend in the City of Rocks:

Photo by Greg

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him...

Wed, 09 May 2012 14:03:45 -0600

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Here’s three chords, now form a band. Here’s...

Mon, 07 May 2012 11:19:17 -0600

“Here’s three chords, now form a band. Here’s three principles, now form a brand”
- Abe Burmeister of Outlier.cc

Spring skiing is fun.

Sun, 06 May 2012 22:10:24 -0600

Found good snow as it warmed up both Saturday and Sunday. The lifts aren’t running any more at Alta and there’s still patches of snow that will get you up to Cardiff Pass and beyond.

Almost never wrong to start early, the light’s better anyway.

(battery on the GX1 died, so switched to the iPhone.)

The Panasonic GX1+14mm f/2.5 was fun to try out for the weekend. Its not as much fun to use as the Fuji X-Pro1, the manual dials on the Fuji are much nicer than the menus and buttons on the GX1. I found that if I did not turn off the GX1 I would accidentally change its settings when I would pull it out of its bag while wearing gloves. The GX1 is a faster camera, both in ready-to-shoot time and autofocus. But if I had to pick, I’d take the Fuji even if its slower and has a quirky focus system. The easier solution to all this is just finding a lower profile camera bag for the 5d+small prime(s).

"“What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me …..."

Fri, 04 May 2012 09:23:12 -0600

“

“What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me … is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story.

It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

”

- Ira Glass

http://writerunderground.com/2011/04/28/ira-glass-on-creativity-or-the-gap-between-our-taste-and-our-work/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY&feature=player_embedded

"You can go to Costco and buy a blender, first time you put ice in it, it will blow out. Save up,..."

Thu, 03 May 2012 15:32:46 -0600

“You can go to Costco and buy a blender, first time you put ice in it, it will blow out. Save up, wait until you can afford a really good one that will last the rest of your life.”

- Yvon Chouinard
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/corner-office/patagonia-founder-why-theres-no-sustainability

Viva Patagonia by Cheyne Lempe

Wed, 02 May 2012 22:43:58 -0600

Viva Patagonia by Cheyne Lempe

Onsighting Iran, By Marko Prezelj

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:11:24 -0600

Onsighting Iran, By Marko Prezelj

Fujifilm X-Pro1 Review

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:54:50 -0600

I rented an X-Pro1 for the weekend from LensRentals to see if it could work as a lighter weight replacement for my 5d. The ideal camera for me would be small, light, have a full frame sensor with interchangeable lenses. Basically a Leica M9 with autofocus but not with a $7000 pricetag. The X-Pro1 has most of this on its spec sheet: APS-C sized sensor (~1/2 of a full frame), swappable lenses, electronic viewfinder, and autofocus.

The real things that I really liked about it:

Its very light (full pound lighter than my Canon 5d+24 f/2.8)
Its discrete, both small and quiet (near silent) and ‘retro’ (un-DSLR-like).
It has manual dials or levers for almost everything except focus distance & ISO.
Aperture priority: Set the aperture (on the lens)
Shutter priority: Set the shutter speed (on the dial)
Manual Mode: Set both aperture and shutter speed (so simple).
Image quality is great (especially considering the weight)
Highlight retention, exposure and white balance were all surprisingly good

The simplicity of a shutter speed dial plus aperture ring stands out compared to using my 5d. Immediate visual feedback of what the camera is set to is really nice. The Single, Continuous and Manual focus selector switch is similarly obvious.

It felt like there was less friction in bringing it along, just because. At an RSL game this Saturday: it fit in the pocket of my jacket, its not large and intimidating to point at friends and its not heavy when hanging off its simple neck strap. I wouldn’t have brought the 5d to the game.

Nothing to complain about in the image quality department, would be good enough for me. Really liked the 18mm f/2 lens (27mm equivalent), but I would want a prime in the 20-24mm equivalent range in the long run for climbing.

In this light, I could not get it to focus on the flags. However, the manual clearly states that the AF will struggle in scenes with high contrast.

Curious things (thinks I didn’t like) about the camera:

If the eye-sensor is active you get no EVF or no frame-lines when you put the camera to your face while wearing sunglasses.
The autofocus seems to hunt more with optical finder (the EVF off)
Weird blue tint to snow, perhaps with raw file support this could be fixed.
Software macro mode, lens can focus close in the right mode, but no distance scale or minimum distance marked on the lens to know where the cut-off is.
You have to wait for either the frame lines to come up or the EVF to fire up before it will take a photo, and if you accidentally have the eys-sensor on & are wearing sunglasses, it’ll hang out in limbo land and not fire the shutter.
I don’t get the name… X-Pro1 if the precursor was the X100, just make this one the X1 or X10. For a camera that is otherwise about simplicity the name is kinda dumb (really shallow dislike I know).

The focus-by-wire and no manual override on the lens force you to wait on the autofocus. Its not that slow, but its still slow enough that in the time it takes to turn it on, bring it up to your face, wait for it, then take a photo; the moment may have passed. You could pre-focus on a spot, then use the AF-lock, but that doesn’t help the out-of-the-bag speed.

The camera seems to reward patient, well thought out shots, and its great if that’s how you shoot. ‘Photo missions’ while climbing and skiing aren’t the norm for me. I end up shooting more documentary style (as it happens) and there are rarely re-dos, spending the time to set up a shot or waiting for light.

After a weekend with the X-Pro1, I think the quirks loose out and I’ll just keep dealing with the weight and size of my 5d. Its a really close call though, if the next version has faster autofocus or a faster time to ready-to-shoot then it will be hard to want to keep the 5d.

Not ready for summer yet.

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:25:18 -0600

Not ready for summer yet.

Taken with instagram

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:51:44 -0600

Taken with instagram