09-03-12 25,600

This photo is ugly in many ways. It lacks contrast, it's subject is less than perfect and it is more than a little grainy. But consider this: it was shot with my Canon 5D III at its highest "normal"* ISO setting of 25,600. It was so dark where I took this, I couldn't read the writings on the buttons on the camera. I grew up in a photographic world where 400 was considered a "high speed" film. The 5D III's sensor is 64 times more sensitive than that!When I bought my Canon 5D several years ago, I told my wife that I would never need another digital camera. It was a beautiful, high resolution camera. But then I learned that one thing that improves with each upgrade of the DSLR is it's ability to take better and better photos in lower and lower light. So when the 5D II was released, you know what happened. And now I have the 5D III, which is a beautiful high resolution camera. Maybe this one is the last camera I'll ever need?*There is an extended setting that allows for 102,400 ISO, but I'm not brave enough to try that.Canon 5D III 1/13s f/4.0 ISO25600 102mm

6-30-12 Daisy, Daisy, daisy

Not counting the parts of daisies on edges of this photo, there really are three daisies in this photo. "Really?!" you say. Really. This is a layered HDR photo that I made (not took) with my Canon 5D Mark III. It has HDR capacity built in. The things you can do with the new-fangled cameras. . .Incidentally, the title of this post pays homage to the famous scene in Stanley Kubrick's fiLm "2001: A Space Odyssey," where an astronaut "kills" HAL, the on-board computer. (HAL, by the way, is an acronym that is only one letter away from IBM. Coincidence?).When that film came out in 1968, 2001 seemed so far away. And now it's 2012 and we have cameras that are smarter than those who use them. Like me and my 5DIII. . .