Johan W. Elzenga

Remnants of winter

Johan W. Elzenga — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:55:31 +0000

Winter is coming to an end and the last remnants can be quite spectacular. The IJsselmeer froze two weeks ago, and the ice is now breaking up again. The predominantly western winds push the ice onto the eastern shore of the lake. Stacks of ice are up to five meters high in some places. These pictures were taken in an area with stacks of about one meter.

Why zebras are striped

Johan W. Elzenga — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:51:00 +0000

More than 20 years ago, I wrote an article about the theories why zebras are striped and came to the conclusion that the theory that says that the tsetse fly has something to do with it seems to be the most promising. It’s interesting to see that scientists now have confirmed this with some practical field tests. The tests may not prove that tsetse flies were the only cause, but they do confirm that the flies probably played an important part.

Pentax K-01

Johan W. Elzenga — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:48:32 +0000

Pentax continues to surprise, this time with the announcement of the K-01 (pronounced ‘Kay-zero-one’). The K-01 is a compact system camera* with 16 Mpixel sensor, so that is not the big surprise. The surprise is that Pentax did not design a new and smaller lens mount, and did not decrease the lens-to-sensor distance compared to its DSLR cameras. It simply uses the existing KAF mount and distance, which means that the K-01 can use virtually every Pentax K-lens ever made. While that is a great advantage for people already using Pentax gear, it does mean that the K-01 is fairly big compared to competing compact system cameras. It’s not much smaller than a DSLR and its lenses will also not be any smaller, which makes one wonder what should make this camera so compelling compared to a DSLR. One advantage of compact system cameras over DSLR cameras should be that they are smaller, but apparently Pentax doesn’t feel that is really so important. * Some sites continue to use the name ‘mirrorless camera’, but I think it’s silly to use a name defined by what a product does not contain. You could also call these cameras ‘coffee maker less’, because they do not contain a built-in coffee maker either.

Michihiro Yamaki dies at 78

Johan W. Elzenga — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:01:32 +0000

Michihiro Yamaki, founder and CEO of Sigma Corporation, has died at the age of 78. Michihiro Yamaki was a true industry leader, who started the third-party lens industry. I met Mr. Yamaki on several occasions, usually when he was in Germany at Photokina. Our first meeting was in Japan however, when I visited the Sigma factory together with a small group of editors from TIPA. Mr. Yamaki was not only our host for that day, we had a wonderful traditional Japanese dinner with geishas. Sitting next to me, Mr Yamaki explained to me this part of the Japanese culture and how little the rest of the world understands it. I will never forget that evening. May he rest in peace. My deepest condolences go out to his son Kazuto Yamaki and the rest of his family.

Michihiro Yamaki (1933-2012)

New Fine Art print supplier

Johan W. Elzenga — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:56:34 +0000

Some of my photographs have been for sale as fine art prints, on photographic paper, fine art paper or canvas. They are produced by Fine Art America, but that makes it inconvenient for Europeans, who pay rather high shippings costs, especially for framed prints. I’m happy that I now have a second supplier, based in Europe. Please have a look at my artwork at Artflakes.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III sighted?

Johan W. Elzenga — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:17:04 +0000

An interesting series of photos have been published on the web, showing a Japanese man testing the new Canon 200-400mm 1.4x Extender lens and the new Canon 4.0/600mm lens. The photos also show two different cameras. One of the cameras is clearly an EOS 1D series body, probably the new EOS 1D X, but the second camera is an unknown different model. It has a separate battery grip with a joystick, not known on any present Canon camera. This could well be the much rumored EOS 5D Mark III.