Tour Davita - Day 1

few things I learned about Iowa

... the terrain is flat. Well, saying the terrain is flat would not be doing justice to the flatness. I The roads are so flat that at some point you start to feel that the curvature of the earth too does not have any effect on the landscape.

... the Roads are straight. The best crow couldn’t fly any straighter. I am not sure they even hired an architect to build it. They got bob the builder and said. "well Bob, you see the crow flying east. Just follow him and build us a road"

... Corn fields. You don’t need a maze to get lost here. Every intersection looks like the last one you went through. There are corn fields as far as your eyes can see. And. If you build the world’s tallest building. From the top of it you would still see corn fields as far as your eyes can see.

... like the sea people riders in Iowa should also be praying to the wind Gods. Boy, cause when they are angry and hit you with a 15 miles/hour head wind. You, learn so much about aerodynamics that a 4 year degree at MIT won’t teach you.

The result of all the above factors is that. When you start riding you have 15 miles an hour wind blowing in your face, you are in the middle of what seems like endless ocean of Corn fields and there is a point on the horizon you are aiming to get too. So you put your head down and start peddling. Then after an hour when you look up, you see the same corn field you left an hour ago and you are as much farther from that point on horizon as you were an hour ago.

But, after few hours your eyes get acclimatized to the surroundings. And you see that not all corn fields look the same. The wind that was blowing in your face also sends ripples through the fields making is look like a big brown ocean. And every so often you come across a big bright red barn in the midst of brown ocean with the bright blue sky behind it. Iowa is beautiful and stunningly so.

My 2 cents on buying DSLR

I love photography and have been trying to pull the trigger on getting a new DSLR. The fact that haven't, warrants its own blog :). I have been doing some reading on photography in general and DSLRs in particular. So here are my 2 cents, although a long winded 2 cents...

Camera...
D90 is probably the best DSLR there is. (PERIOD). Sure the D7000 (and the upcoming D7100) have more features, more AutoFocus points, more sensitive pixels. But for years the D90 has been the gold standard; not just for sub-pro cameras, but DSLRs in general. As with D70 and so with D5100 and D3100, they are good entry level models but if you get even slightly serious about photography. You soon start the realize its limitations and will curse yourself for not spending that extra on the D90. The D90 has all the features a photography enthusiast will need and then some. It falls ever so short of a pro DSLRs, but for its price the value is unbeatable. And for around 600 its a bargain. 

Lens...
The following experts are from various articles I have read on lenses. I claim no intellectual rights on them :). Before we dive into the technical nitty gritty of lenses let me make one thing very clear. Lens selection is greatly dictated by personal preference and usability. There is no one-size-fits-all here. You have to take into account what kind of subject matter you are interested in macro, landscape, sports etc.
Here is a management 101 :). It's funny cause its coming from a programmer. All lenses follow the typical Cost, Quality and Time (in our case Zoom ) trade-off triangle. A lens with a single focal length (prime) is easy to make, can be made with very good quality glass and at a decent price. Keeping the glass quality constant as you increase the range the complexity of making the lens increases and so does the weight. So to keep both the component and fabrication cost down most lens makers compromise of the glass quality. As a rule of thumb the wider the range the more expensive the lens or off its of lesser quality.

...you gotta have a prime.
You have to have a good quality lens where the fstops go at least to 1.5 (lower the better). Ideally one should have 2 prime lenses a 24mm and an 85mm for landscape and macro respectively. But if you have to pick one get a 24mm or a 35mm. Why you ask? One answer "SPEED" primes are super fast and the low fstops enable you to keep a high shutter speed even in low light. Yes, the inability to zoom in or out is a handicap at first. But you will get used to it and the lack of it also makes you better at composition. Plus, you can always crop the photographs later. Trust me once you start using a prime you will never use a zoom lens indoors and even for most outdoor family picnics. The sharpness, the contrast and the colour is just too good.

...na ghar ka na ghat ka.
I have problems with both the 18-105 and the 55-300 range lenses. The 18-105 has good lower focal length to be used indoors but does not have the higher range to be used outdoors. The zoom is just not enough. And the 55-300 has a good higher focal length but the 55mm is almost useless indoors. To get a group shot of 4 people you have to be at least  25-30 feet away. Now if you live in a house that big then its not a problem. But for most 20x20 living rooms, you pretty much have to take the picture from the front yard or porch. So you end up needing both, you cannot have one or the other. There are the 18-300 and 18-200ish lenses. But the good ones are way too expensive and the cheap ones are of bad quality. I myself am struggling with the choice. I think I am going to buy the 35mm prime and get the 200-400.


Flash...
Flash is another critical accessory greatly ignored by everyone. They are different techniques in using a flash and you can get that information from an good photography magazine or website

..its all about the light dummy.
You don't have to splurge on one, There are plenty good ones in the market, any decent one will fetch you for about 100-150$ 

Another Superbowl and Another loss to the Giants...

... not much to write here. Its going to be tough to get over this..