Love is Blind served as an excellent opener to the show with some pretty visual effects. The audience was really, really getting into it when she played Fallin’. You could tell Alicia noticed the crowd’s energy and she would return the favor; She put on a great show and was certainly enjoying herself. The background singers seemed to be having a great evening too!

After Fallin’, the show definitely got started and pretty much everyone was up on their feet during her upbeat songs (remember, it was an all-seated concert). Halfway through the show, when she was behind the piano, her dazzling talents truly shone through. However, I don’t agree with most other reviews that she should just stick to being a soul queen behind the piano.

For me, the best of the show was saved for last, my highlights were If I Ain’t Got You, Doesn’t Mean Anything, and No One, after which the background vocalists stayed on stage in the dark (!) singing No One’s oh oh oh oooh with the audience until the encore: ‘Empire State of Mind’. The concert ended a bit abruptly when she thanked the crowd and walked off stage, or, perhaps I’m just used to longer encores.

To summarise, a wonderful performance by Alicia and an energetic crowd made it a night to remember!

Setlist:

1. Caged Bird (Intro)
2. Love Is Blind
3. You Don’t Know My Name
4. Fallin’
5. Another Way to Die
6. Karma
7. Let Me Play for You
8. Pray for Forgiveness
9. Diary
10. Keep a Child Alive
11. If I Ain’t Got You
12. Like You’ll Never See Me Again
13. Wait Til You See My Smile
14. Feeling Good (background vocalist)
15. Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart
16. Superwoman
17. Unthinkable (I’m Ready)
18. Doesn’t Mean Anything
19. No One
20. Empire State of Mind

All of the following photos were taken with a Sony Cyber-shot T77. A real concert camera, but I hate its handling. However, I must admit, the results are pretty impressive.

This is my first. I took this photo during a school trip to Rome in 1995, when I was 15 years old. I don’t remember where exactly in Rome it was taken. At the high school I attended, Anciet Greek and Latin were compulsory subjects. The trip to Rome was intended to let us students finally experience all that we were taught the years before.

The photo was shot with a simple Rollei point-and-shoot camera that my mom had bought before I left for Rome. It was the very first time I took a step back and think about composition. Before I got the developed photos back from the lab, I knew already that this one would be my best shot from the trip to Rome!

Whether you’re happy (Love the size and the retro look!) with the camera or not (You’re kidding, no viewfinder and no flash?), you’ve got to hand it to Olympus’ PR and Marketing departments, they executed on a good web strategy. The E-P1 launch was fun. They’ve been teasing us for quite a while since the mock-up first appeared at Photokina in September 2008; Mysterious tweets by @getolympus, the videos commemorating the Olympus Pen from 1959, the invitations to the Berlin event, and the sudden involvement of Blendtec. It doesn’t happen very often, but the web was full of Olympus buzz!

So, what’s been causing all of the buzz? Here’s a short recap of the most important rumors and events:

19-4-2009: This is the mock-up camera that was shown at Photokina 2008. A prediction of the camera’s specs is made on 43rumors.com, where else?

29-5-2009: Rumors of the camera’s name emerge on a Korean forum: E-P1 (via 43rumors.com).

1-6-2009: Sketches of the camera’s front are published at 43rumors.com.

2-6-2009: Olympus invites prominent journalists and bloggers to a Micro Four Thirds event in Berlin held on the 15th and 16th of June.

4-6-2009: Sketches of the back of the camera appear on 43rumors.com.

5-6-2009: The first real picture of the camera is leaked, photography enthusiasts on the web are getting excited.

11-6-2009: A very tiny image (120×90 pixels) of the camera and the kit lenses appears on a Chinese forum (via 43rumors.com).

15-6-2009: Stock images of the Olympus E-P1 leak all over the web. Some photoshop the images and add a black model to the line-up.

16-6-2009: The camera is officially announced by Olympus and goes on pre-order at camera retailers worldwide.

16-6-2009: Yes, it blends.

It’s been an interesting launch, and so far, most hands-on previews of the camera seem to be in Olympus’ favor. But, what will the pixel-peeping reviewers have to say about the camera? What are your first impressions?

Replacing light seals can be a bit daunting, it’s a fiddly process that includes some trial and error. So, take your time and be patient. However, I noticed that the whole replacement process can also be very rewarding, I couldn’t escape from feeling a good sense of achievement after restoring my Canonet QL17 G-III to its former glory. Heck, if this isn’t connecting with a camera, then I don’t know what is!

Without representing myself as a camera repair expert, here’s how to replace the camera light seals:

• Buy a light seal replacement kit, I got mine from Camera Repair Materials. It has everything you need: self-adhesive and non-adhesive foam (3mm and 5mm thick), self-adhesive felt, 10ml of adhesive glue, 10ml of adhesive remover and a pair of tweezers. Don’t worry, you’ll get plenty of foam with this kit, it’s okay to make mistakes and waste some.
• Read the instruction manual! Read it from start to finish and preferably twice. There’s a good, elaborate manual at Favorite Classics, Matt Denton also has some tips and tricks.
• Put a few drops of adhesive remover onto the light seal and let it soak in.
• Add a few more drops and start scraping! Use the wooden scrapers and cotton buds.
• I know it’s tempting to leave a few bits of the old light seals on, but please continue until everything has been cleaned away!
• I cut approximately 7×13,5 mm of foam for the lower part of the film chamber door and 3,5×13,5mm for the upper part. Please do take your own measurements as well! It’s better to cut out a piece that’s slightly too large than a piece that’s too small.
• Gently place the new seals onto the camera with the pair of tweezers. If you’re using the self-adhesive foam, note that it’s very, very sticky, you may have to lick it before you stick it.
• Well, that’s about it, no more bullet points!

Done! I did notice that the camera back closes very tightly, but I figured it’ll be fine when the newly placed foam compresses after a while.

Bryan, thanks for allowing me to use the light seal repair kit image! For more information on the Canonet QL17 G-III, visit the following sites: the Canon Camera Museum, Cameraquest, Matt’s Classic Cameras, and Photoethnography.

The day after, I ordered some OM to EF mount adapters with focus confirmation from BIG_IS. The focus confirmation works fine, however, I noticed that when I attached the lens to the adapter, the lens was slightly loose on the adapter and could move around a bit while focusing.

I contacted the seller about it and learned this little hack: There are three small grooves on the adapter’s mount, if you use a tiny screwdriver to widen these grooves just a little bit, the OM lens will fit the adapter more tightly. Be careful though, don’t widen them too much or it’ll be very hard to dismount the lens from the adapter again. See the image below, it works!

I had a bit of a scare the other day when I noticed that my photos looked significantly different on the different monitors I use. Of course, no monitor is the same, but this was just too much. I asked myself: Which monitor is accurate and reliable? Were all those hours of post-processing pointless, in vain? How can I solve the problem of inconsistent colors?

It became clear that I needed a color calibration system, which consists of a hardware color calibrator (also called a colorimeter) and a piece of software. From what I understand (and please correct me if I’m wrong), a colorimeter reads the color output from the monitor and compares them against what it knows these colors should be. Consequently, based on this comparison, the software makes the necessary changes to the LUT (Look Up Table) of the graphics card for accurate display of colors.

Brandon, who runs his own excellent photoblog JavaJive, kindly offered his advice and recommended me the X-Rite Eye-One Display 2 (i1Display 2). After some comparisons here and there between the different Huey, Spyder, and X-Rite products, I decided to order myself the Eye-One Display 2. It offers color calibration for CRT, LCD, and laptop monitors through easy wizard-driven functionality.

So, what’s inside the box? Not much really, just the colorimeter with funny octopus-like suction cups, a protective cover/ambient light measurement head, a counterweight for use with LCD monitors, the profiling software, and a quick start guide. Disappointingly, there’s no physical manual inside the bundle, one depends on the annoying Flash tutorials on the software CD-ROM.

Using the system is very, very easy indeed. Just install the software, plug-in the USB colorimeter, attach it to the monitor, and run the software. The software automatically creates a profile and calibrates the monitor for accurate colors. You’re done. It’s wise to repeat the process every few weeks.

Money well spent? The purchase reminds me of the MasterCard commercials you see on TV:

• X-Rite Eye-One Display 2: €140;
• A reasonable monitor: €300+;
• Confidence and ease of mind when post-processing: Priceless.

But, is it really, really worth it? I’m not so sure. First of all, the system is quite expensive. There’s a noticeable difference but I think that one can set-up his or her monitor reasonably well with eyeball measurement tests such as this one. Most viewers of my photos probably don’t have calibrated displays, no matter how carefully I’ve calibrated my own monitor, I won’t be able to tell what they see. And even if their monitors are calibrated, the interpretation of color will remain pretty subjective. There’s absolutely no guarantee you will like that blue, saturated sky in one of my photos the same way as I like it…

But, having read some reviews online, I decided to go with the lesser-known KPS U-13C Magnifying Eyepiece from a Korean company called Seculine, which offers 1.35x magnification. I bought the one with two different eyecups from eBay for some €40 including shipping.

Am I happy with the KPS U-13C? Yes, I am:

• Nice and solid build quality;
• Fits tightly on the camera;
• Noticeable 1.35x magnification;
• Packaged with adapter pads, screws, and screwdriver, there’s no need for any DIY modifications;
• Sharp;
• Reasonably priced.

Any negatives about the KPS U-13C? Well, not really, it’s just a simple eyepiece after all.

As you can see, the eyepiece is compatible with most popular brands (including Fentax!) and camera models through the three different adapter pads that come delivered with it:

Do you use a magnifying eyepiece? What are your experiences? Please share in the comments.

Next up on my wishlist is a focusing screen, any advice?