First samples of pictures taken with Fuji X-Pro 1

As reported today by The Online Photographer, the first full size pictures taken with the Fuji X-Pro camera, the mouth watering camera par excellence, are already available.

Pity about mortgages and plenty-of-other-stuff-to-spend-money-in... as otherwise I would heavily invest in this system, for sure.

Crematorio, a masterpiece tv series

Yesterday I watched the two first episodes of a Spanish tv series which excellent reputation, entitled "Crematorio". And I was truly blown away by its quality, to the point it reminded me of "The Wire" due to the realism and interest of the stories.

The core of the series is focused on the story of Rubén Bertoméu, a rich man who made fortune by using all kind of dirty methods in order to make business. But this, which is a fairly standard topic, is exploited in a talented manner, mixing personal relationships and crime affairs, all in a convincing way and far from moralities. Furthermore, the quality of interpretations is stunning, beginning with that of José Sancho (Rubén Bertoméu) and following with a top-notch team of actors.

All in all I am extremely pleased after starting with it, and I'm sure this is going to become another personal favourite, this time from my own country.

New song from Bebe, "Sabrás"

My impression is confirmed: Bebe has a clear identity, and that is about the best thing you can have in the world of music. She just released a new song from her forthcoming album "Un pokito de rokanrol", entitled "Sabrás", and if the previous one (K.I.E.R.E.M.E.) was all about rhythm, in this one she goes towards quieter sounds.

I'm all anxious to hear the full album.

President of Canon to step down, after overall decrease in sales

Imaging Resource reports about the president of Canon stepping down, after overall sales decrease in 2011 (mainly due to sluggish sales of compact cameras).

Some people point out to smartphones being the replacement of compact cameras, as the main reasons for such decrease. I think that is only part of the problem.

Canon remains one of the two big gorillas in photography, together with Nikon. But if you look at the market of photography cameras in the last 10 years, there are clear conclusions:

- First of all, it is true that there are today many serious contenders in the world of compact cameras, both from traditional photography camera makers, but mainly from smartphones, which have been continuously eroding the low end of compact camera sales. It is widely reported that the best seller, among compact cameras today, is the iPhone. I have made some quick back-to-back comparisons between a good compact (Fuji Finepix F30) and a mid smartphone (Sony Xperia Neo V) and I was shocked to see the results.

But there are a number of additional aspects, which should be taken into account:

- Canon made the strongest debut with their low-end dSLR models at very affordable prices, getting a significant advance over competitors in the mid 2000s.

- Nikon took a while to react, but then they smashed with a series of dSLR models which received both rave reviews and unanymous acclaim of photographers, both amateurs and professionals (D300, D3, D700...).

- Canon had very serious problems with his flagship model (EOS 1-D), with a number of longstanding issues that damaged their reputation among professionals (autofocus, stains, etc). Nikon profited of these flaws to convince many top-notch photographers to switch to their flagships, the D3 and D700.

 - Last but not least, Canon is the only big player in photography who remains, as of today, without any system of mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses. All others, including the pioneers of Olympus, Panasonic, but also later competitors, as Samsung, Sony, Ricoh, Pentax and eventually even Nikon, have joined the mirrorless market, making a bold impact and getting significant sales in some markets, as Japan and the UK.

Canon is said to be developping such a system in the last years, but fact is that there is nothing in the market, in early 2012.

All of these issues add up and have changed the image of Canon, from an almost impregnable leader in the early 2000s, to a strong but troubled player in 2012.

Pentax K-01 to be introduced on February 2nd in London

The site Stuff-review.com has posted a scan of an invitation to the official introduction of the new Pentax K-01, to be held in London on February 2nd, from 11 to 13 h. Besides, they post a few pictures, including two drawings of the camera, and two pictures which are supposed to correspond to small parts of the camera.

D'Angelo is back (for real, this time!)

After years of rumours on the forthcoming return of D'Angelo to the world of music, he is actually back this time. Some days ago, he played his first show after a long hiatus, in Stockholm, and later another one in Paris, and the reports are quite good. For instance, Pitchfork has published this article.

And now, a few videos from D'Angelo in Stockholm:

Devil's Pie / Chicken grease


The Charade


Sugar Daddy

RIP Clare Fischer

For anybody interested in Prince music, and for music lovers in general, the talent of Clare Fischer needs no further introduction.

Unfortunately he died on January 26, 2012. This is a great loss for the world of music, and those of us who have enjoyed countless of his beautiful compositions and arrangements, will never forget him.

RIP Clare Fischer.

Watching Apple win the world

This article pretty much defines how I feel about Apple these days, from the perspective of an oldtime user, often ridiculed years ago for using toys instead of real computers; but my perspective is much longer than this guy, as he switched to Macs in 2002, once OS X had been released; while I pretty much started using computers with Macs (after just a few months using-and-hating a DOS-powered PC), back in 1990, watching Mac OS 6 to 9 and then the birth of Mac OS X, of which I was a beta user.

Camps and Costa declared non guilty by jury

Further on my recent comment of "is there justice in this country?", maybe I should reply to myself a resounding "No":

a few minutes ago, the jury responsible for considering the claims against Camps and Costa, the two leaders of the Partido Popular de Valencia,  has declared them "non guilty".

And this, despite plenty of ashaming evidence showing they were having all kind of inculpatory conversations with people who made very expensive gifts to get their favours.

No, definitely there is no justice here: there are political games, that's all.

Specs of the new Pentax K-01 mirrorless camera

Valentín Sama, who needs no further introduction, has posted in his tweeter account some specs of the new mirroless Pentax camera:

The new CSC from Pentax will use the classic "K" mount compatible with their current lenses of their reflex. It won't have optical viewfinder.

And then:

The new CSC from Pentax will be a bit smaller than a Kr, and it is not sure it will -immediately- win a beauty contest.

All in all it seems we have an interesting camera coming, and besides, one that will ensure a very prolonged lifetime for the K mount lenses, regardless of the continuation of standard reflex cameras produced by Pentax.

Besides, Pentaxforums posted a summary of the rumoured specs:

"921,000 dot" 3-inch, VGA LCD screen from the K-5

K-5 image processing and sensor (16.3 Mp)

1080p HD video at 30fps

1/4000s-30s shutter speed range

Contrast-detect autofocus (81 metering points)

Built-in flash

12.1cm wide x 7.9cm high x 5.9 cm deep (compare to Pentax Q at 9.8cm x 5.8cm x 3.1 cm)

560g loaded with battery (compare to 200 for the Q)

New DA 40mm kit lens

Available in 3 lens kits

3 different colors

Electronic viewfinder

Adam B., leader of Pentaxforums, made also what seems a drawing to illustrate the possible look of the forthcoming K-01:

Record results of Apple, posted yesterday

Yesterday, Apple's results of the last quarter were posted and honestly, they start to look frightening; this chart was published by MacRumors.com:

For owners of Apple stock this has to be more than excellent news. For consumers out there, the need for a company enabled to compete face to face to Apple is becoming bigger and bigger; or else their dominance could be similar to other dangerous monopolies in the past. And no, I'm not joking.

Heaven must be near

For weird reasons, I found today this video of an old favourite of mine: Heaven must be near, from the adorable Ingrid Chávez when she was around Paisley Park; Michael Koppelman has many reasons to feel proud of his work on this album:

New Pentax K-01, mirrorless camera with APS-C sensor and K mount

This scoop was originally posted at digicame-info.com, and the summary posted by Mirrorless Rumors: Pentax is planning to release a new mirrorless camera, with a large sensor (APS-C size, in fact the same used in the Pentax K-5) and based on the K mount.

Not sure what to think of this, since the K mount does not seem to have been optimized for a mirrorless camera; but on the other hand, it would provide compatibility with a huge back catalogue of old and new K-mount lenses, which seems very good news for old Pentax users.

We will see how this unfolds, but anyway, it seems hard to understand that a single brand (Pentax-Ricoh) will keep three mounts running in the current context.

Garzón on trial, Valencia in bankrupcy

These days, a controversial judge, Baltasar Garzón, is on trial for supposedly breaking the rights of people subjected to trials he supervised. He ordered phone interventions to check whether lawyers were collaborating to evade money from Spain. And the same lawyers accused him of breaking the law for such intervention.

In the mean time, the people accusing Garzón of breaking the law are responsible of grabbing money from official actions of the government in Valencia for their own profit, by getting commissions, and in other ways, under the pleased regard of the regional leaders, who were, in turn, receiving expensive gifts to stimulate their lack of vigilance.

Is ther justice in this country?

If Forstall is "CEO-in-the-waiting", it spells doom for Apple

I was surprised today when reading this report posted at AppleInsider, where they mention that a book entitled "Inside Apple" calls Scott Forstall "CEO in the waiting".

Having no idea on the accuracy of this report, I guess it's time to hold horses. But if this report holds true, then I'm plainly convinced that it spells doom for Apple.

Time will tell, but from the times I've seen this guy participating in Apple keynotes, I would say his vision is nowhere near Ive or Cook, let alone Jobs.

It's the end of the world as we know it II

For evidence, just look at the most recent cover picture of the magazine Interviú. This lady used to be the trendiest girl in town in the 80s, before becoming a ridiculous clown starring a reality show on Spanish MTV, in company of her, ahem, husband:

Fraga died

Manuel Fraga died yesterday.

He was one of the most relevant politicians during the early years of Spanish democracy, and among his many positive sides, he was responsible for the integration of the extreme right in the Partido Popular. He is also remembered because, back in 1977, he introduced a conference of the leader of the recently legalized Partido Comunista de España, Santiago Carrillo. Both are shown in the picture above.

Fraga, as any other human being, had both positive and negative sides in his long and bold biography. But I think all Spaniards are in debt with him for his contribution to the change from the dictatorship of Franco to the democracy that happened in 1975 in Spain.

Ricky Gervais mocking about the accent of Hayek & Banderas

In another great demonstration of his lack of taste, here you can watch Ricky Gervais during his introduction of Salma Hayek & Antonio banderas, and stating :

 They're ridiculously gorgeous specimens, they're extremely talented and probably very interesting. I'm not sure, as I couldn't understand a fucking word they said.

Unsurprisingly, the last part was censored from the audio stream.

Surely Gervais can speak nicely countless languages, so that he feels qualified to mock about the accent of other people when speaking English.

What a nice joke. And more coming from such a polyglot guy.

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Golden Globes 2012 Martin Scorsese , Antonio Banderas Salma Hayek , Sofia Vergara ROCKS

By TheCrudeTruthAboutIt

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Big surprise from Olympus around the corner

The scoop was posted by 43 rumors, and they have all credit of showing this page; whether this means a new digital OM camera from Olympus, is open for speculation:

The iPhone was introduced five years ago

Five years ago today, Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone. The impact of this product in technology was hard to guess at the time, even if those of us watching this keynote live were blown away. But it went far beyond all expectations. I've posted this video before, but I think it is worth to have a look again, today, with five years of perspective:

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[HD] Steve Jobs - 2007 iPhone Presentation ( Part 1 of 2 )

By UG3Genki

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[HD] Steve Jobs - 2007 iPhone Presentation ( Part 2 of 2 )

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The second bomb is here: Nikon D4

In yet another leak from Responses Photo, here you have full discusion of the new Nikon flagship, the D4.  This time, the scan was posted at Petapixel. With the camera news disclosed recently, we have plenty of stuff to keep on drooling for a long while:

The bomb is here: Fuji X-Pro 1

After countless speculations, here we have the real deal: the new Fuji X-Pro 1, as discussed in a scan of the French magazine Responses Photo; it was posted at dpreview.com forums:

I remember reading somewhere that the most feared contender in the field of mirrorless cameras was Fuji; and knowing what they have done in the past with the X10, or earlier with the F30, I can fully understand such fears.

The best way to start 2012 in princeland: Parade demos (4DaFunk)

No words required, as it is obviously mindblowing stuff from 4DaFunk:

For the record, no questions regarding where to obtain this set will be accepted. Just remember the old moniker: "from fans, for fans, no money involved". DO NOT BUY this set from any of the vultures who use to profit from free fan releases.

My dream camera is around the corner: Nikon D800

With dream camera I mean the one that seems more attracting to me, yet I will never purchase for many reasons: beyond its probable price, the capabilities of this camera far outcompete me. But still, this bug makes me drool big time.

Nikonrumors.com has all the specs, and also front and back pictures of the camera. The only missing information is the announcement date, and the price of the new beast.

As far as I'm concerned, the Canon 5D Mark II can fly off the shelves and I would not care: If I suddenly became rich, or if I suddenly decided to become a professional photographer, the D800 would be the one.

In the mean time, I will stick to my old trusty Pentax K10D.