sarah sosiak

My Camera Kit

2010-07-23T15:25:05-07:00

For those who’ve asked about what I use photo-wise, a list after the jump.

Current Kit

	Nikon D90 DSLR – My current DSLR. Great under low light. Shoots 720p video. Shots have a Canon-like “creaminess” in contrast to other Nikons’ sharpness. Love it. Shot with this camera:
	Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC Macro Lens – A good all-around lens, it currently lives on my d90 90% of the time. 18-50mm range is handy for wide angle to slightly-zoomed shots. Macro is handy for getting in close to subjects. f/2.8 aperture is handy for low-light conditions. Highly recommended over the kit lens Nikon sells with the d90. Shot with this lens:
	Nikon 50mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor Lens – Before I got the Sigma, this lens lived on my camera 90% of the time. Beautiful shots. Great under low light. Nice and light for walking around. Better quality than the Sigma, but – of course – fixed at 50mm. It also has as a much longer minimum focusing distance than the Sigma, making it difficult to shoot anything close-up. Shot with this lens (on my old Nikon d70s):
	Adobe Lightroom – I use Lightroom 2.0 for most of my photo editing – cropping, correcting and applying filters. It has all sorts of features for photo management (tags, archiving, etc…) that I haven’t used. I’ll probably start once I have a chance to pick up a copy of 3.0. (What I saw of 3.0 in the beta was great, but not worth the $100 upgrade just yet.) Edited with Lightroom:
	Corel PaintShopPro – Corel’s take on Photoshop Elements. I mostly use it for heavy editing, like combining multiple photos into a single image. Edited with PaintShopPro:
	1st Generation iPhone – Soon to be replaced by the v4, which will also be my point-and-shoot for the near future. Photo quality on the 1st Gen is low, but can rescued to a certain extent using apps like CrossProcess. Shot with the iPhone, edited with CrossProcess:

Alumni

Nikon D70s SLR – My first DSLR. Great camera at the time. The d90 runs rings around it now. (Lighter. Better photo quality. Video. Better under low light. Etc…)

Shot with this camera:

Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED IF AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens – The kit lens that came with the d70s. An okay lens, but the Sigma’s photo quality, low-light performance and short focusing distance more than make up for the extra zoom here.

Shot with this lens:

Canon PowerShot S400 – The best point-and-shoot I suspect I’ll ever own. I bought this camera in 2003 and used it up until it died last year. Great photo quality. Great colours. I’ve looked at many (many) options to replace it, but haven’t found a P&S I like as much.

Shot with this camera:

Plastics | Rubber

2010-07-16T18:12:05-07:00

Recently surfaced from the archives.

Canal St. New York NY.

Favourite Places - NYC

2010-04-30T16:55:09-07:00

View Favourite Places: NYC in a larger map

I put together maps of some favourite places in various cities for friends planning trips, then heard that they'd found them useful and passed them on, so thought I'd share them more broadly. Click through to the larger maps for details. All are works in progress, I'll keep adding to them as a recall and discover more spots.

(Yes, most of my life in NYC was lived between Houston & 23rd streets, and revolved around drinking coffee and buying books.)

Update: See also Zoomdoggle’s Fun List NYC.

Favourite Places - San Francisco

2010-04-30T16:52:18-07:00

View Favourite Places: San Francisco in a larger map

Currently lighter on detail than London. Apparently, most of what I do in San Francisco revolves around eating, drinking and buying books. (Yes, that sounds about right.)

Favourite Places - London

2010-04-30T16:47:18-07:00

View Favourite Places: London in a larger map

One outing I'd recommend in London that's not on the map is a walking tour via London Walks. Yes, it sounds rather tourist-cheesy, but I've been on a few and found them really interesting in a geeky sort of way. Think: Live Discovery/History channel documentary, sometimes with a stop at a pub.

Another thing that's good to know about London is that most of the museums are free, so it's easy to spend an hour's downtime in a single exhibit.

Hungry? Pret a Mangers are everywhere, delicious, reasonably priced and offer fairly healthy breakfast/lunch/snack options. Most have free wifi. Bonus: The one opposite the Leicester Square tube is huge, great for people watching and open late.

Rodeo Beach

2010-04-23T21:56:35-07:00

Sarah Sosiak

Photos from Vancouver

2010-04-11T16:16:27-07:00

Photos from my Olympic trip are up on Flickr. Some highlights after the jump.

Nearly the entire city was decked out in red & white, and in a collective good mood. I’d expected to see more countries represented in the crowds, but the only other flags/head-to-toe country-wear I saw came from the Americans and a strong Russian contingent.

We lucked into a connection with a major sponsor, who was able to get us great seats for some events. The catch was that what was available was a bit random. So, the downside was that the only sporting event I saw live was the USA/SUI hockey quarterfinal. The upside was that I had a VIP second row seat (just above the photo pool) for what turned out to be one of the best hockey games I’ve seen. (And I’ve seen a lot of hockey.)

After that, I watched the first period of the CAN/RUS quarterfinal in Robson Square. (We’ve just scored the first or second goal in this shot.)

It was freezing, and pouring rain through the first period, so I spent the second period warming up and drying off, then watched the end of the game out on the street in front of Alberta House. (NB: We won.)

Then we went to that night’s medal ceremony. Here, Clara Hughes is being awarded her bronze medal in speed skating. The Vancouver and Whistler ceremonies were simulcast, so we also got to see a friend’s cousin receive her gold medal in bobsleigh.

Then INXS performed. A good show, if made slightly surreal by their new American-Idol-esque lead singer.

The Olympic flame(s), from behind the anti-terrorist barrier.

O Canada

2010-03-04T11:32:19-08:00

Standing for O Canada at a medal ceremony in Vancouver. Full post on the Olympic trip to come. (Best viewed large.)

No Fixed Address

2010-02-21T19:17:08-08:00

At Ocean Beach.

addLibbing

2010-02-14T19:34:38-08:00

I’ve been having a lot of fun with the addLib iPhone app this weekend. From the developer’s site:

addLib mixes the Grid System, a fractal theory, the golden ratio and the Facial Recognition System, and then creates graphic design. It seems the layout is made at random, but it comes from the rigorous calculated system. These theories have been made through the process that people has been trying to find new expression, and they are also the ways, to capture very ordinary “beauty” in nature, namely algorithm.

$1.99 well spent. More photos on Flickr.

Update: Group pool on Flickr. Add yours.