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MASSIVE GEAR DECISIONS!!! I might break my own rules... RAWtalk 188
01:03:57
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- [00:01]
A
Stephen, guess what? You're on the show today. That's right. You're going to be on the show. It's been a minute, but we're happy to have you back because there's a shit ton to talk about right now. There's so much going on. I got to get ready to go. I got a bowling show coming out. Jesus. There's a lot to do. Let's get. Let's get to the show. Stephen, Jared, it's so nice to have you back.
- [00:23]
B
I'm back.
- [00:24]
A
Wait, is it nice to have Stephen back? I mean, he's been. He's technically been back. He just hasn't been back on the podcast because there's been so freaking much to catch up on and so freaking much to do. But before. Before we get to that, let me just say Stephen is back. I'm prepping for the World Baseball Classic. And we have more to talk about on this week's Raw Talk 1.88.9 FM radio 1 045. Hey, it's Wendy Rollins, and I'm here to tell you to the weather is 47 degrees. Thank you. And there's a show tonight down the street.
- [01:03]
B
Hi, it's Jared Poland. And my heart rate is this right now. It's this time. It's this degree that's perfect. All of that matters.
- [01:11]
A
Isn't that the best thing ever?
- [01:13]
B
I will forever make fun of you for that.
- [01:14]
A
Anyway, you want to talk about your birthing experience and how your vagina is feeling?
- [01:23]
B
Sure, why not? On that note, Molly Elizabeth Eckert came into this world, not Cinderella, by the way. Yeah, me. Initials, M, E, E. Did you realize that? I did not know.
- [01:36]
A
You didn't realize that. You always need to think of the three initials. Like, if it was A, S, S, you wouldn't want that.
- [01:44]
B
Well, yeah, I guess it wasn't top of mind when I was thinking about her name, but, yeah, me.
- [01:51]
A
You're gonna be like, your nickname is me.
- [01:53]
B
But she came into this world at 1:29pm on January 30th. Unfortunately, she couldn't have waited a frickin minute longer and made it at 1:30 on 1:30.
- [02:03]
A
People that have kids say the weirdest things.
- [02:05]
B
Well, I didn't realize it until after. And they're like, oh, man, if she only waited a minute longer, it would have been 1:30 on 1:30. So cool. Like, yeah, that would have been cool. Mom and baby are doing well. Sleepless nights, but always good in the Eckert household. Much different, I will say, this time around with A toddler, the newborns, easy, minus the overnight feedings, the toddlers, the. She went through a huge sleep regression the week we brought Molly home, which was not fun. I'm assuming it was some kind of an emotional reaction to not being number one anymore in the household. So, yeah, it was a rough, rough week or two of that, but everything is great now. But it wasn't great. The week she was supposed to enter this world, there was a huge scheduling mishap at the hospital, which then pushed my entire paternity leave back. It was a pain in the ass. So we were originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 27th. We say our goodbyes to Hannah and Chip and my in laws who were set to watch them for the next three or four days. Super emotional goodbye, you know, can't hold back tears, just really tough saying bye. We start heading to the hospital. Butterflies, goosebumps, general anxiety start to settle in. At this point, we get to the hospital, wait about 45 minutes to get checked in, do all the paperwork, all that crap, make our way up to triage. Nicole gets into the hospital gown, IVs get put in, she gets all her lab tests done, we meet with multiple nurses. Three hours or so goes by, and we're about 20 minutes away from heading into the OR for our scheduled C section. It's just the waiting game at this point, pretty much. Then the doctor comes in with bad news. And at first we're like, oh, she's kind of a quirky doctor. She also delivered Hannah. So we're thinking like, oh, it's just going to be something funny. It's not really bad news. Maybe we got pushed back or bumped because an emergency C section came in or something which happened last time. And she then goes on to tell us that for an elected C section, you need to be 39 weeks pregnant. Nicole was 38 weeks, four days. So she goes on to say legally she cannot operate at this point unless there's complications or twins or something like that. Apparently there was a huge miscommunication in the scheduling department and they put Nicole down as being 39 weeks that day. And obviously they were incorrect. So they sent us home and it was just quite the emotional roller coaster.
- [04:18]
A
I have a question, Steven.
- [04:19]
B
Yeah.
- [04:20]
A
How the hell do they know the exact date of being pregnant? Is that from conception?
- [04:25]
B
Conception? Yeah.
- [04:26]
A
How the fuck do you know when conception was, Steven?
- [04:29]
B
Well, let's just say we were tracking, you know, when we were trying. So we usually know when it happens or we have a very good estimate of when it happened.
- [04:38]
A
Okay.
- [04:38]
B
Nicole was just, you know, obviously incredibly upset and rightfully so. She was fully mentally prepared to have a, a baby that day. So I couldn't imagine how she was feeling. And they attempted to reschedule it. And our doctor goes on to say that she's basically done after today and out for the next three weeks. So that was fun. We fully planned on having her as our doctor, just like we had her with Hannah. We ended up getting a last minute slot in for a few days later on that Friday. So basically we rinsed and repeat a few days later, all goes well. But the emotion leading up to the hospital was not there. It just wasn't the same. It felt different. Like we almost like felt flushed all of our emotions out that first time around. It just felt like deja vu until we finally got into the OR that second time around. I mean, in hindsight, like, it wasn't a huge deal. Baby's here, all is well. But like I said, it was just a crazy emotional roller coaster for all of us, but mainly my wife. And on top of that, we had everything planned and scheduled out. That was the other hard thing is I had worked like double time to make sure everything was good for work. Our in laws worked around their schedule to be here those specific days, had to rearrange everything because of it. We canceled our food delivery service that week, emptied out the fridge because we didn't think we're gonna be home for the week. You get the point. Like, we just had to do a lot of things, moved around to then do that second time around at the hospital. So it was a whirlwind of emotions that week. Terrible in the beginning and then awesome at the end. When Molly came into the world, all
- [06:09]
A
I said was, it's a story like it is. She already has the date written down on a paper.
- [06:14]
B
And it's like, you have to understand, mentally, my wife was fully prepared to have a child that day leading up. Like she's telling herself that January 27th was the day. It's a lot on them. It's a. It's a lot.
- [06:27]
A
Well, I'm single and I have zero empathy for my.
- [06:30]
B
Zero empathy in general.
- [06:32]
A
I have some empathy. It's there somewhere.
- [06:35]
B
It felt like the biggest deal in the world the day of. And it was for us for sure. Especially again, my wife. But yeah, in hindsight, not, not terrible. Um, everything worked out. Unfortunately, we didn't have the same doctor that we wanted.
- [06:47]
A
There's always another side of a coin, Steven. It's not always rainbows and butterflies Yeah,
- [06:52]
B
I mean, again, it could have been way worse. Obviously the. The actual operation, the C section went great. The cesarean was flawless. She was in and out within 20 minutes. Maybe I did bring the R5 Mark 2 into the delivery room.
- [07:05]
A
Did you use the fan?
- [07:06]
B
No, I didn't have the fan grip on because I was not shooting video. They specifically said I could not film, but I could take pictures. Meanwhile, my head, I'm like, you don't know what I'm doing. I could easily be filming this entire thing.
- [07:16]
A
No shit, dude.
- [07:16]
B
I was going to bring the Insta360 Go 3s like POV into the.
- [07:20]
A
Or put it on the doctor's chest forehead.
- [07:24]
B
I seriously thought about like something like either me wearing it or Nicole, and I'm like, this just feels weird and too much.
- [07:31]
A
No, I put it on the doctor's forehead right there.
- [07:34]
B
But no, again, they specifically said we couldn't film, so.
- [07:37]
A
Yeah, but that's a good idea for a channel. A gynecological channel. On OnlyFans, someone could do that where they use a camera on their forehead. I don't want another microphone incident like all those years ago. So I won't mention the microphone. But that's a deep pool, Stephen. Yeah, it is. That's a deep pool.
- [07:57]
B
The OGs will know it.
- [07:58]
A
I was still right about that too. But yeah, imagine that. The gynecological onlyfans channel. With permission, of course. It's, you know, they sign paperwork.
- [08:07]
B
You know what's funny too is they actually have nurses like saying out loud, okay, one scalpel, one whatever. One this, one piece of this, two of this. Like just so they know what they use during the operation is not like, you know, fell into the stomach or something like that. Like they.
- [08:23]
A
No, that's just so they know what to charge you. One scalpel, $4 billion.
- [08:28]
B
Seriously? Yeah.
- [08:29]
A
Okay, look, can we move on from your baby yet?
- [08:32]
B
Before we fully move on, I do want to just say hospital food is trash. If, you know, you know, for being basically the most expensive hotel room you will ever stay in, you would expect immaculate like catering or room service. But it is quite the opposite. I would say sub diner level food, sub fast food. Like it is bad.
- [08:52]
A
I was thinking about that recently. I was like, you would be like,
- [08:56]
B
I can't eat here.
- [08:57]
A
I will be having someone bring me food every fucking day.
- [09:00]
B
And I thought about it. But you know, day two, I'm like, oh, whatever, I'll just wait another day. Because we were there for about three, three and a half days, which isn't bad for a Cesare.
- [09:07]
A
Jared is on a very special diet. You know, he's a bougie. He likes to eat his quality food. There was nothing like coming home the other day and sitting down at a restaurant. Like, I enjoy doing and having dinner versus them bringing in a Chipotle bowl at the show. Yeah, it was me up. It was good for the first two days. And then I'm like, how much salt is in this shit? Because it is my stomach. I felt like I was pregnant. I'm like, we're not eating that again. Because I, I, I have. Like, I refuse to do. Like, they're like, we're going to eat the Cheesecake Factory tomorrow. I'm like, no, we're not. I'm not.
- [09:42]
B
I'm a Chipotle every, like, two weeks kind of guy. Like, I can't. I used to have a friend that would eat it every night. I'm like, how?
- [09:48]
A
How do you do it? Were they fat?
- [09:50]
B
Not really. He was a big guy. Like, big, stocky kind of guy.
- [09:53]
A
Dude, the salt on that is shit.
- [09:55]
B
Anyway, it depends what you get too, but, yeah.
- [09:57]
A
Congratulations on having a baby.
- [09:59]
B
Oh, and bed. Wise brutal makeshift bed for the dads like you. You would be complaining like crazy.
- [10:07]
A
I don't know why you even need to stay there. Just leave her alone.
- [10:10]
B
Could you imagine?
- [10:11]
A
Give her.
- [10:12]
B
I'm going to rest in my comfortable bed while you stay here with a newborn that you. She can't get up. I had to be up for the feedings.
- [10:18]
A
It sounds like nanny, nanny.
- [10:22]
B
And they got rid of the nursery, so that was tough, too, because we could have been like, oh, just take her for the night while she's flipping out and crying. Nope. But I did use the new VCM lenses, by the way, on the Canon. Once we got into the hospital room, I took a lot of photos. The 35mm f 1.4, the 51.4, the 21.4. All great. But I just, I'm still not a fan of the insane lens correction, especially the vignetting correction, which is the peripheral illumination or whatever that Canon calls it. It almost makes me look like my exposure's a stop off when I bring it into lightroom. It's so bad, you know, I just bring it down. But it's frustrating that it's that off when you apply lens correction.
- [11:00]
A
Yeah, they're relying heavily on it, and it's not going to go anywhere. Gone are the days of optically perfect. We are here now in the days of we will do optical things, and then do corrections.
- [11:10]
B
And then the stretching is insane. When it's trying to correct for the distortion and the barrel distortion, it's like damn.
- [11:15]
A
Yeah.
- [11:15]
B
So I take it all down like 50%.
- [11:17]
A
So let's move into the. So here's how it's going to go. We talked about Steven's baby me. Then we're going to get into some of the Sigma new lenses real quick. But there's some other stuff to catch up on that I'll talk about. But we're gonna talk about the World Baseball Classic and gear and all of those things that are photo related. So why don't we hit up. Give us the quick take on the new lenses that were announced.
- [11:42]
B
Oh, okay.
- [11:43]
A
Yeah.
- [11:43]
B
So Sigma put out a bunch of new lenses for CP plus they put out an APS C DC lens, the Sigma 15 1.4. This basically replaces their older original 16 mil APS C lens, which is weird because I thought the 12 millimeter DC lens that they recently put out was the replacement for the 16. At least that's what we were told. And now they have a 15. I mean you're looking at 19 mil versus 24 mil equivalent. I don't think the 15 is really necessary in my opinion, but whatever.
- [12:13]
A
I still think most of these, I think most of these prime lenses on crop sensor cameras make almost no sense for people.
- [12:20]
B
I would much rather have like the Sigma 17 to 41.8. That zoom, that's pretty sweet. But yeah, these wide angle primes, I don't know, I don't really. If I was shooting APSC still, I probably wouldn't be doing it unless I'm. The 12 kind of makes sense because you need like that's the widest you can go almost on APS C. Yeah,
- [12:39]
A
I don't get it.
- [12:40]
B
But the 1514 is a 22 and a half F22 equivalent for the most part on standard mounts or 24 on the RF mount. But I will say Sigma's kind of got a pretty sweet lineup right now with their APS C RFS lineup. Canon is finally allowing for third party, but only for rfs, not for full frame, which is still ridiculous in my opinion. But they now have, like I said, the 17 to 40 1.8 art. That's a badass lens. That's like a 27 to. It's like a 24 to 70 equivalent. Basically a 2.8. The 18 to 50 2.8. They have the 10 to 18, 2.8, 12, 1.4, 15, 16, 23, 30 and 56 1.4 so basically that's your 35. You're 50 and you're 90 mil and they're about f2.2 when it comes to full frame equivalent. So yeah, not bad for if you're shooting rfs, obviously if you're shooting Sony E mount or Fuji X mount too. But I'm just glad that Canon finally has something for that RF line. Like an R7 for example. That's a pretty, pretty sweet camera. And then we have the Sigma 3514 DG Art 2. I don't know if this lens was really necessary, in my opinion. Didn't they just come out with one a few years ago?
- [13:49]
A
Yeah, a few years ago.
- [13:51]
B
There's lots of competition in this range. That's why I don't know if it's a tough sell for me. Like you can get for half the price. A Rokinon, a samyang, a siru, a 3514, all auto focusing. Same updates you would expect for this one. Smaller, lighter, better optical formula. And then the biggest news for Sigma is the 85 1.2 they announced. Kind of like a development announcement.
- [14:12]
A
Yeah. And the whole world has said that you can't put a 1, 2 on a Sony E mount.
- [14:17]
B
Well, they had said that you can't go past 50mil 1.2 on E Mount apparently, but Sigma just did it. And I know they also have a Minicon Speedmaster. They have a 85 1.2 for Sony E mount, but it's a manual focus lens. This is officially the first autofocus 1.2 85 mil on E mount. Sony doesn't even have one, they just have that 1.4. So that's pretty interesting. But again, it's just a DA for now. It's not officially out. All this for CP Plus?
- [14:46]
A
Yeah, they didn't say anything else, but I believe it said like September maybe it was coming. But as soon as they have one, we hope to get it and then we play around with it.
- [14:54]
B
Yeah, they said September 2026 and when they first sent this to us, I initially thought, okay, it's probably just for the L mount. But no, it says L mount and E mount specifically. And the only thing they really told us was that lighter design, faster. And it says dual HLA motors. That's kind of it. That's all they're really saying. It's going to pair with the 35 and the 51.2 DG lenses.
- [15:16]
A
Well, no one else has a 3512, right? Canon didn't put one out.
- [15:21]
B
Nikon has 3512.
- [15:23]
A
Oh, Nikon does. I did like that lens. I used that one in the.
- [15:26]
B
And Viltrox has the 3512 as well.
- [15:28]
A
You mentioned Nikon and they did just put out the 7200. And we have a preview of it because we got a pre production. We got to do it like a shoot for like 20, 30, 40 minutes, not much with the kid. And then bring it in because basically Nikon has to bring it to us and then take it with them. And so we don't want to same day. Yeah, we're not going to dedicate, in my opinion, you know, either send us the damn lens or we're just going to do what we do. We just wanted to show you what it could do.
- [15:54]
B
It's all we could do with the time we had allotted.
- [15:56]
A
But the interesting thing about it is them talking about it using silky swift motors instead of the STM motors and having that be 17.4 times more precise, I believe is what they said about it. And that right there is funny in terms of focus because for years I've been saying there was something with the focus, you know, it's good, but it just never seemed to be super duper accurate. And they're basically saying that I was right the whole time because now they're claiming it's 17.4 times more accurate or more precise in focus because it's not stepping motors, which means it can go in between, which means it should be better focusing. And I was right all along.
- [16:38]
B
I think the big issue you had was eyelash AF for a lot of the early Nikons, at least the Z6s, Z7, stuff like that. And obviously they're 7200 and their primes wide open, but the 17 and a half times more precise hopefully will get rid of that. They also say 3.5 times faster focusing, 40% better tracking while zooming in. That's an issue we find on a lot of third party lenses. They don't really focus while you're zooming and that's bad for obviously action and sports. But that silky swift system, by the way, now uses VCM voice coil motors just like the Canon latest lenses. It seems like a lot of these lens manufacturers are starting to go towards that VCM AF system.
- [17:17]
A
Well, when we were in Japan, we saw all the AF systems that Canon was working on and heard about what their limitations are. And I think I asked the question, if you could do anything you wanted, what would it be when it came to focusing? And I Think they said the limitation was battery power. So if they had like an external battery or another battery that could plug in, they could power a lens and it could be faster and better and more accurate. But they can only do so much with the onboard power.
- [17:45]
B
I just think Canon needs to redesign their battery altogether.
- [17:49]
A
Yeah, but they may have redesigned the battery in terms of the. The R5 lineup.
- [17:54]
B
Well, we have the LP E6P now, but it's still a smaller battery is what I'm saying.
- [17:59]
A
Yeah, but you know, Sony Z battery hasn't changed in forever. Nikon's battery has a W battery.
- [18:05]
B
That was.
- [18:06]
A
Right. But I'm saying. But it's been. It's been a long time.
- [18:09]
B
I think Sony's battery is still technically the best when it comes to like, SIPA rating and stuff like that, which is ironic because I feel like they have the smallest battery out.
- [18:16]
A
Yeah, but the thing is, Canon, where they do need to redo is on the R1 line. That is a battery that hasn't changed since the 1d. 1dx mark 2. It's like all the same battery since then, so. And maybe even the one dx. I don't recall what it used to have, but that would be a welcome upgrade. But anyway, Nikon's lens, it's lighter, it's smaller, it's faster. They got rid of the screen like I said they should.
- [18:43]
B
We bitched about that for years. And I remember all the Nikon reps being like, what is so cool? Like, why wouldn't you want it? Blah, blah, blah. And now look, they've removed it from every Version two lens.
- [18:53]
A
Yeah, it just. There's just some things you just. That just don't make sense. And that's one of the things that just. It's like, what? I have a whole EVF right in front of my face. So I'm looking at everything right in front of my face.
- [19:05]
B
Well, that's why I never understood about the top LCD screen as well. I personally don't use it. I understand people like having it on a tripod and looking down. It's better, but I don't know. I just. I never, ever use that top screen at this point.
- [19:17]
A
You could just connect to your phone and look at every setting on your phone if you really wanted.
- [19:21]
B
Exactly.
- [19:22]
A
So anything else you want to say about the lenses before we put them to rest?
- [19:26]
B
The only thing I want to add about the 70 to 200 Nikon is I still can't stand that they have the zoom throw on the end of the barrel, like if you're using the ARCA Swiss plate and you have that, it kind of helps, but it's still such an odd balance and odd throw being all the way at the end. You're extending your arm more. It's just a weird feeling when you compare it to the Sony and the Canon.
- [19:48]
A
Been saying it since Jump street, man.
- [19:50]
B
Especially the newer Canon Z version. It's just something I can't get over. I think I would really have a big problem using that lens in the field with that odd placement.
- [19:59]
A
Everybody tries to justify it, but then you're like, you're super shaky when you're shooting. When you're zooming, it's movement. Whereas with the Sony, which has the best throw of all three of the lenses, you just literally move your thumb and it rotates and you just. And you don't move or rock the camera. Whereas with the Nikon, you got to move and rock the camera.
- [20:16]
B
And Nikon finally made it a lot lighter to compare it to that competition and catch up. So that's good.
- [20:21]
A
Yeah. What's funny, when I did, when we were doing the review and I picked up the old one, that is a genuine reaction right there. When I pick it up and I talk about the weight, I was like, oh, damn. Yeah, you totally get it.
- [20:33]
B
Considerably lighter, for sure. One last thing too, is the pricing is $3,200. And I remember when me and you both heard it, we're like, that's insane. And then we look up the other lenses and we're like, oh, they're all insane. $3,200 across the board. I think the Sony's like 3150. But still, there's no more sub $3,000, 70 to 200 Pro 2.8 lens anymore. It's. Unless you're looking at third party, it's pretty crazy how expensive everything has become.
- [20:57]
A
All right, so let's put that to rest. There is still a ton to catch up on. I mean, now that Steven's back, there's certain editing that can get caught up on because we so much. We filmed before I left and Dan has been editing on stuff. Then we of course added a new employee, Austin, and he's still getting situated.
- [21:15]
B
It doesn't help that we threw a new employee into the mix. Like two weeks before I'm out for paternity leave and then have. And then I'm introducing a new baby into the world. Like, all of this happening within basically the same month is just really tough. And then you're traveling a ton. We just Have a lot going on. And we've been filming a lot, too, so we have a lot to catch up on in the.
- [21:35]
A
There's a lot. There's a lot to catch up on, and there's also a lot that I've been. I've been doing. I was out last week, and if you listen to last week's episode at bowling in Dallas, I was supposed to be there five days. It ended up being six because of the snow blizzard. Yeah. So I was able to get home the next day without a problem. And thankfully, when they canceled the flight Saturday, they canceled the Monday flights on Saturday because they knew the storm was coming. And it mentally allowed me to just be like, well, it is what it is. I didn't have to get home anyway, so that's all right.
- [22:07]
B
Dude.
- [22:07]
A
They were.
- [22:07]
B
They were calling like, 2 to 3 inches at first. Then they said 4 to 6, and then we started to creep into the 6 plus, and then all of a sudden it was like 20 inches. Blizzard conditions. The blizzard warning started to expand to Philly. Like, it. It went from zero to a hundred in, like, two days. And in my head, I'm like, there's no way you're flying home Monday morning. That's going to be the middle of the storm.
- [22:25]
A
They pre. Shut down the airport, which was fine. That gave me time to, you know, be like, I was okay with it. Like, I know you can get upset. I mean, it's. You get more upset if you're missing something. But I was just like, I've been a lot better lately with compartmentalizing or whatever the word. Just being able to be okay with what's happening and just being like, I have no control over it. So I'm calm.
- [22:50]
B
It is what it is.
- [22:51]
A
Right. So luckily, the day before. So when we went to dinner after the bowling ended on Sunday, I don't know if I talked about. Did I talk about what happened? Did I tell you what happened at the finals on Sunday?
- [23:02]
B
Remind me.
- [23:02]
A
Just a quick recap of the bowling show from the players. If I didn't mention it last week, I don't recall because I really feel like I went into a black hole and just talked for 44 minutes.
- [23:12]
B
It's like, what is it, old school where Will Ferrell's up there, like, doing the speech thing, and then all of a sudden he's like, oh, I blacked out. What happened?
- [23:17]
A
Yeah, what happened? But if. If you're. If you're into bowling or not into bowling, what happened was pretty damn historic and basically never happens. Two Rookies went up against each other in the first round of the. What they call a step ladder. The way that it works is five place four. The winner of that plays the third place. The winner of that plays second. And the winner of that goes to the finals against the seed that had the most pinfall in all of bowling. You know, the best number. They, they're guaranteed second place, which is 50 grand, you know, because they just have to bowl one match. Well, one of the rookies ran the ladder all the way to the finals, meaning he won every one of his matches. To go face E.J. tackett, who is the bowling the three time repeating player of the year. The best bowler in the world right now. And this kid who's a rookie, he's 23 years old, just out of college, just turned pro. This is his first tournament. Proceeds to take on E.J. tackett and roll a perfect game in the finals.
- [24:13]
B
Talk about a story, man.
- [24:15]
A
EJ still bowled a 238, which is not bad. But this kid bowled a perfect game and there's nothing you could do to beat that. You, you could match it. Yeah, you could match it, but you can't beat it. And once you throw a spare, you aren't going to meet it. It was just, he just, he locked in, he loaded, he made it happen. He won the tournament. He gets 100 grand plus $10,000 bonus for winning, for, for bowling a perfect game on tv. It just doesn't get any, any better, any better than that when it comes to, when it comes to bowling.
- [24:44]
B
That's incredible. Did you guys focus on him most of the show or most of the shooting?
- [24:49]
A
Well, no, but at that point when you're in the finals, you make sure you cover a little bit of everybody. Everybody. And then the, and then it just plays out. I didn't realize he had a perfect game until the ninth frame because one, I didn't have my glasses on because I was focused on using the R1 and shooting the 70 to 200 to get the reactions and everything in 120 speed. So I didn't look up. I had to zoom in my, my lens, my 7200 on the board because I can't see the board. So I zoomed in. I saw nine, you know, nine strikes going into the 10th frame. He needed three more 10, 11 and 12 to win or sorry to bowl a perfect game. And he, and he crushed it.
- [25:24]
B
Wow.
- [25:25]
A
Anyway, so I, Sunday night we go to dinner at a bar. I usually don't go to dinner. Like I looked at the Bar. I was like, I don't know, this is bar food. But it was actually pretty good. But we're sitting there and this waitress walks by and I'm like. I said to my buddy Tommy, I'm like, tommy, she's cute. I'm like, she's really cute.
- [25:48]
B
Did you stare? Because you're really bad with that.
- [25:51]
A
No, no, I'm really good with that. You gotta stare. You gotta stare and hope to make eye contact. Anyway, I go to the bathroom and then I come out of the bathroom and she's standing there, not waiting at the bathroom, but that's where they had their thing, you know, to walk back to the kitchen. I was like. I was like, hi. She's like, what's up, dude? I was like, dude, eh. I'm like, I'm stranded here for a day because it's snowing back home. Do you want to see as I showed her the security footage at my house, one of my five, and this
- [26:19]
B
is just one of them, by the way. You want to see the other four cameras?
- [26:22]
A
I didn't say that. I didn't say that. And I didn't think it either. But we start talking, she's like, oh, what are you doing here? Total photography. She said, I like photography too. I was like, oh, we should like, you know, connect or something. I'll help you figure that out. So I give her my number and then we leave. And she texts me while I'm in the Uber. And she's just like, do you want to come hang out with me at this place? Oh, called the Caves. And I was fucking tired, dude. We just worked a 12 hour plus thing. She's like, but I'm off tomorrow if you want to do something. I was like, yeah, let's do that. So I had something to do on Monday.
- [26:56]
B
So what did you guys do? Well.
- [26:58]
A
Well, it's Dallas. And Dallas sucks. No, I don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't know. There was the zoo and their zoo fucking sucked. Just about every animal. Like, I thought the Philly, like, the Philly zoo seems old because it's the oldest zoo in America. Yeah, yeah, but like they have elephants in Dallas. They weren't out. They have giraffes in Dallas, they weren't out. They have lion, tigers, they weren't out. It was just like walking around, just to walk around.
- [27:26]
B
It was cold, right?
- [27:27]
A
It was 50 something degrees, which is
- [27:29]
B
cold for where you are.
- [27:30]
A
Fuck you, you pussies. You little Dallas bitches. Anyway, we hung out, we went to dinner, took her to get some sush, and that was it. We went our separate ways. I went back to the hotel and I forget what I did.
- [27:48]
B
Cool story.
- [27:49]
A
Maybe. Well, I just want to let you know the moral of the story is I was able to talk to a female variety and I called it. I was like, the moral of the
- [27:58]
B
story is stare them down until you get their number.
- [28:00]
A
That's not what happened, Steven. It was my arms that did it. She said, no, I'm just kidding. It wasn't my arms.
- [28:06]
B
It was that tight purple shirt from Baby Gap.
- [28:08]
A
It wasn't my arms. No, I had my hoodie on because it was a little chunky.
- [28:11]
B
No, it was that the dunk, probably.
- [28:13]
A
She did mention that. Yeah, she did mention that. That's usually what precedes me, is my ass. Actually, it follows me because it's on my back. So real quick, I know I talk a lot about bowling and I mentioned this last week, but if you didn't tune in, I did finally announce where my bowling show has ended up. The bowling show has ended up on HBO and HBO Max for streaming.
- [28:35]
B
It's all happening.
- [28:36]
A
It premieres on March 16, which is a Monday at 9pm I'm not sure how that works. I don't in terms of the country, but I know that I don't know if anybody has the rights to it in other countries. So I'm sure it's just United States only right now. But a VPN would allow you to probably log in to HBO Max and be able to watch the first of five episodes in the docu series. So there's that.
- [29:02]
B
Very cool. I can't believe it's actually happening.
- [29:05]
A
Well, yeah, I mean, I had years. I had to keep it under wraps. And the funny thing is I kept searching for the Born to Bowl on HBO on, you know, the Internet just to see what would show up. And it just, you know, didn't always. Nothing came up until the the other day they promoted it. But what's funny is there's been a Reddit thread under bowling for a while and I just read this one. So on Reddit this always comes up. It said. Jared Pollan said on his podcast last week that he's been working on it for four years, capturing video for the last two. A news release is imminent. Jared is the muscular guy with a fro and camera. Yes, that is true, but he didn't say the big ass that you see at the PBA events and occasionally on YouTube vlogs with Brad and Kyle. We heard rumors about this for over a year. It looks like it's about to come to fruition. It will be called Born to Bowl and being produced by Ben Stiller, narrated by Liev Schreiber. The show will follow Troup simo, Cameron Crowe, E.J. tackett and Belmo. But I love that you see the first comment. The other first comment is my favorite. Nice, Nice. I saw the muscular guy pop up in Brad Kyle's videos this week and was wondering who that was.
- [30:20]
B
Oh, you love it. Yeah, the muscular guy.
- [30:23]
A
The muscular guy. I'm sorry. Froknow's photo is into bowling. What a weird crossover of two hobbies of mine. Jared was one of my go tos as a youngin. Trying to was fucker. People always say that shit. I love when they're like was or when I run into people. Like, I used to watch all your videos and I'm like, and what happen happened?
- [30:44]
B
Actors too. Like, I remember when you were in that movie from 20 years ago that I loved, but I haven't seen anything since or like I haven't liked anything since. Like, it's just a punch to the gut.
- [30:54]
A
Yeah, it's all good. So Ben Stiller's involved, A24 is involved, and Mike Tolan is involved. And Mike Tolan has a super deep, super deep roster of amazing shows that he's produced. And I think he produced Radio, the movie he did. Arlis Michaels, super sports agent on hbo. Like one of the first shows on HBO was him. He just, he's done so much. He's also, also a Philly guy. But we got a pretty good, we have a pretty good crew going. When you got Ben Stiller and a 24 and, and me, well, I didn't realize you had.
- [31:25]
B
Is it Liev Schreiber? Is that how you pronounce his name?
- [31:27]
A
Yeah, Liev Schreiber.
- [31:28]
B
I love him. I love everything. He's.
- [31:30]
A
He's kind of the voice of HBO and HBO Sports. Yeah.
- [31:33]
B
Yeah. Talk about an awesome guy to. To narrate the entire thing.
- [31:37]
A
Yeah, we had some ideas for different narrators. I mean, I. Bill Murray would have been interesting.
- [31:41]
B
That would have been cool.
- [31:42]
A
Yeah, I think some, some of the idea was to try to do it a little different, a little cheeky, but it ended up where it just worked out with Lieb Schreiber and Yeah, I mean, he sounds great. I heard he had some great input for some additions he wanted to add into the script. And I mean it plays like a real damn show.
- [32:00]
B
I still have not seen A full episode to this day. So I'm going to, I think, watch it like everybody else. Which, speaking of that, is there a trailer coming soon or something along those lines? Anything minus just that one little blurb about it coming on March 9th?
- [32:14]
A
Well, that's just the blurb that. That's not even the press release. And yeah, the full release of the trailer is coming soon, I believe.
- [32:25]
B
It's got to.
- [32:25]
A
It's coming soon. So the trailer's coming soon and then the posters come soon. I mean, I saw the poster now, you know, when I see things, right. I see things and I'm like, I hate them, you know, most of the time usually.
- [32:37]
B
Yep.
- [32:38]
A
Well, the poster uses my images. Right.
- [32:40]
B
So of course you love it.
- [32:42]
A
No, no. There were two posters. I liked one more than the other, but they showed me the first one the other day and I was like. I just instantly was like, yeah, perfect. Love it. Fantastic. Second one I was like, not as much as the first, but love this one. It was just really cool. And I can't wait to print it out on my big ass printer.
- [32:59]
B
They're all right. I've seen better.
- [33:02]
A
It literally says hbo. It's like, mine's great. I can't wait to share it and post it and do all that stuff. I mean, if I wasn't traveling when all this stuff came out, I would probably be able to make more content to promote the show. But I get back and I'll talk about where I'm going in a second. I get back and I should have time to. To ramp up the. Ramp up the promotional game because I got a big. A bigger reach than most people in the bowling industry. So hopefully you guys watch it and hopefully your friends watch it and all. Honestly, it's a show that you don't even need to like bowling because it's about people who so happen to bowl.
- [33:38]
B
And I think some of the promotion will kind of revolve around our audience too. Like doing a what's in my bag? Like video about you prepping to shoot the bowling show and what you're bringing. Maybe having the trailer leading up to that in the same video. Like, we're gonna do a lot of that kind of, I think promotional material too, leading up to the show and while the show's obviously airing.
- [33:59]
A
Yeah, I mean, it's five weeks and the goal now is. Is. Is season two. That's what I was out there filming, is hopefully filming for season two. It's development in the hopes that, you know, it's weird, the season started for bowling already. And the first episode doesn't correspond with that. It just falls in slated into the March 16 slot. So hopefully it gets good publicity, good press, and good reactions right away. So that they're like, yes, let's greenlight it, because that would be good. All right, so I was away for six days, and now I'm home, and now I'm about to go away in six days for 10 or 11, because the world Baseball Classic is happening all over the world right now. Or soon. Starting soon. And it so happens that. And I've said this, that I am Team Israel's official photographer. And people have been. People ask, well, how'd that happen? I was like. I asked.
- [34:53]
B
I'm Jewish.
- [34:54]
A
Well, there's that. But you don't have to be Jewish to participate in Team Israel. You don't. It's not the thing. But what happened is many months ago. So last year, I know that, like, Garrett Stubbs is a Philly and he's the catcher for Team Israel. So I sent him a text. I'm like, hey, they just announced all this World Baseball Classic stuff. I want to be Team Israel's photographer. Any suggestions? He's like, email this guy. I email that guy and I say, hey, I'd like to be Team Israel's photographer. Here's all my baseball stuff. I talked to Stubbsy, blah, blah, blah. He's like, this is great. He's like, we won't know till the New year when they approve all this stuff, but all right, let's talk more. And it ended up, yeah, it happened. So not, you know, not. I'm not gonna say not surprising. But I will say that most of the baseball photographers that are team photographers and they're in Philly, we do have one guy that. That is a Jew, but, you know, he also works with the Phillies, so this would probably not allow him to cover that event. But, you know, I asked, so that's what I'm doing. But I will be flying down to Miami, actually Palm beach at some point. So I fly down to Palm beach first, and then we go to Miami after. The reason we go to Palm beach is there's some practice games the Team Israel will practice there. They will also play the Mets in a game in Port St. Lucie. I've been to that. It's called Clover Field, named after Clover, which was the five and dime type store, like a Target back in the day. But I don't know. They must still have clovers down there because it's called Clover Field. So they play The Mets in a practice game and they play the Marlins in a practice game. So I am going and I'm taking Austin, the new employee, with me as of right now. He's scheduled to be there with me the entire time. But that might change. It all depends on what access he fully has and if it makes sense. Because he's going to be documenting me and we have a meeting tomorrow to go over how that's going to work. Just so that we have a plan.
- [36:52]
B
Yeah.
- [36:53]
A
Which is important.
- [36:54]
B
Need to have some sort of plan and not just aimlessly shoot the entire thing.
- [36:58]
A
Yeah.
- [36:58]
B
And come back with terabytes of footage.
- [37:00]
A
We're going to have a plan. But he's also, potentially, because he has all that sports background experience, going to be able to help with some social content on the Team Israel side.
- [37:09]
B
What I really like when you do these types of events is when you do the behind the scenes walkthrough and I hope you guys do something like that. Just talking about where people shoot, where they do the remote cameras, talk to some of, maybe some of the photographers, where you're going to shoot from, what kind of lenses you're going to be using. I don't know. I find that really interesting from a photography perspective and obviously that is our channel.
- [37:30]
A
I did that with the bowling show last week.
- [37:32]
B
Yeah, exactly. Like I found that so interesting and I'm not a bowling fan at all, but the behind the scenes production was really, really interesting to watch. The science behind the. That robot arm. Earl. Earl.
- [37:44]
A
Yeah.
- [37:45]
B
The machine that oils the lanes, like, stuff like that. Like seeing the. The formula mixes that they put in there and seeing the balls cut open and how they're all different. All of that stuff kind of blew my mind. And I found that to be like really fascinating.
- [37:57]
A
There was a lot to show for me to show in that situation. So it made it pretty easy.
- [38:01]
B
I actually think you should make a separate video about that too at some point. Like an actual video to live on the channel to then promote the bowling show.
- [38:08]
A
I was already there. I can't do. How was it? Would you want me to just put up that reel as a. We could, we could. Yeah, it's something different.
- [38:14]
B
Just again, I think like when you promote the bowling show for your audience, I think it makes more sense to promote it with something photography related, video related and obviously bowling too, to promote the show.
- [38:25]
A
But do you know what's interesting and make. Can you make a note that we should use my reel? I'll upload it because I downloaded it to my phone. First that. That being authentic on camera is so much more important today than it's ever been. And I've been authentic since I started making videos all the way back in the day. I love how everybody, you know, like Adam Mosseri from Instagram comes out and talks about, oh, the best thing is to be yourself and just talk to the camera and do all this shit. It was like really not trying to play games to fake it up the whole time. Hey, I didn't put on my watch this morning. I just realized, so I don't know how much percentage battery is left.
- [39:03]
B
Oh, I wish I knew.
- [39:05]
A
But so, yeah, I mean, being authentic. And I loved just walking around talking to the camera. I put on my rode microphone just so that we had better audio.
- [39:15]
B
Well, and it obviously helps. You really know what you're talking about based on. About the sport and about the behind the scenes of the production and how they're shooting it. So I don't know, it wasn't like you were guessing, like you really knew what you were talking about.
- [39:28]
A
Well, that's what I love, is when I see. This is the thing. This is like when you know the thing you're talking about and you know the ins and outs, you know, for a ton of it. You're fully educated and informed. You're able to inform and educate other people, but do it in a way that distills it down to the very basics. Unlike, you know, server people who fucking can't fucking. Who are you talking about?
- [39:51]
B
That's.
- [39:51]
A
I'm talking about our server person that Steven will know what I'm talking about.
- [39:55]
B
Talks like a scientist to us when he's. When he's explaining things. And I'm like, dude, just layman's terms, dumb it down. Like I'm.
- [40:00]
A
Dude, 12. I said it 15 freaking times. 5, 500 times at this point. Mr. Rogers it to me. Yeah, yeah, I want you talk to us as if you're talking to someone who doesn't know shit about this. And yesterday you saw it, there was an email that was just like, this happens, therefore. That happens, therefore this. I'm like, dude, that didn't mean shit to me.
- [40:25]
B
There was miscommunication there though, because I did know what he was talking about and you were talking about something different. And then he got on the same page as you after the fact. But okay, let me get back on jump.
- [40:34]
A
Let me get back on track.
- [40:35]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [40:37]
A
But yeah, I think that's a great idea, Steven. I'm gonna send you that video over because maybe Austin and I could. Could hammer that out tomorrow while we're here at the studio, because it could be like, sit down at my desk, film, like an intro. Nah, I don't even want to sit at my desk. Maybe you just roll a fucking video of Earl throwing a ball because that's gonna capture people's interest. And then it cuts into. Guys, I'm gonna give you a tour behind the scenes, taking you into my phone for when I was at the thing. We're promoting my show, and then we run the trailer, do all that stuff, and just. It's great.
- [41:07]
B
It doesn't have to be anything fancy. I think just the behind the scenes reel was, again, really fascinating to see.
- [41:14]
A
So that's that. All right, so I plan on doing that at the WBC because there's the warmup stuff. And then we move to Miami, because at Lone Depot park is where they're playing. That is where the Marlins play. And it is a retractable roof stadium that I've never seen open. But in March, it is quite possible that it will be open because it's going to be like 70 some degrees in Miami. It's going to be the most gorgeous weather. Dude, it's going to be on Wednesday. It said, like, 74 degrees here.
- [41:42]
B
Here. Really?
- [41:43]
A
Yeah.
- [41:44]
B
We're entering fake spring, so that'll be fun. I just can't wait till we get the clocks. What do we spring forward? Right?
- [41:51]
A
Yeah.
- [41:51]
B
That's in two weeks.
- [41:53]
A
Fall ahead, spring back, fall back, spring forward.
- [41:56]
B
I thought.
- [41:57]
A
No, that's backwards, Stephen. It's spring. It's spring ahead. No, it's spring back. No, it's spring ahead, fall back. That's exactly what I said. Right?
- [42:08]
B
That's what I said.
- [42:09]
A
No, no, no, you got it wrong. The typical implementation of DIZZ is a.
- [42:12]
B
Just fall back and spring forward, fall
- [42:15]
A
back and spring forward. I don't know if Stephen said it right. I don't know.
- [42:18]
B
Okay, this is what you do. You make me, even though I'm right and you're wrong.
- [42:23]
A
Yeah. So anyway, Lone Depot park is where we'll be shooting. So the big discussion here. Oh, and by the way, do you know what I'll be wearing?
- [42:30]
B
Purple shirt.
- [42:31]
A
No. Oh.
- [42:32]
B
Oh, you did show me this. You gotta describe it. I don't even wanna.
- [42:37]
A
My shirts are getting delivered in about 15 minutes here. I ordered custom. I shoot Raw Israel blue, so navy blue shirts. Where? Remember the Canadian shirt with the maple leaf inside the A? We now have a Star of David inside of the A. Of course, my uniform will be those shirts for the World Baseball Classic.
- [43:01]
B
We went back and forth so much on that design. I'm like, why are we doing this? Why are we spending so much time on this? It doesn't matter.
- [43:08]
A
Well, I got it right.
- [43:08]
B
Unless you plan on actually selling it, but I don't think you are.
- [43:12]
A
Well, I made a couple of extra for the 12 Jews. That watch I did. I made a couple of. For friends who are Jewish that would wear it. Austin will not be wearing it. I would not force him to wear something like that. That is a personal choice.
- [43:26]
B
You gonna give me one little Catholic boy over here?
- [43:29]
A
No. So I tried to get a baby one made for Garrett Stubbs. Baby. He just had a baby. But I would have to do a whole nother thing. I end up spending like $1,200 on shirts. Cause I ordered a. Well, I ordered a bunch. And I will put them into a store and allow a couple of people to order them when I get back from there.
- [43:48]
B
Oh, that's what's getting dropped off today, right? In the next 15, 20 minutes?
- [43:51]
A
Yes, it's getting dropped off today. So I have my shirts and I want to be able to wash them and throw them in and do all of that stuff. But.
- [43:57]
B
And then wear them every single day of your life for the next 10 years.
- [44:00]
A
No, this is just. This is. I wear them on fix to get hate comments. And I will wear that. You know, I wear them sporadically, but they're not purple.
- [44:07]
B
I do think it looks pretty cool, though, the star of David being right there, where the A is just like the Canadian one, like you said. Because I think initially you were going to have it somewhere else.
- [44:14]
A
Right?
- [44:14]
B
Or different way of showing A.
- [44:16]
A
Replace the entire A with the Jewish with the star.
- [44:19]
B
It was just weird inside of the A where, like the triangle is that
- [44:22]
A
keeping it simple made the most sense.
- [44:24]
B
Yep, yep, yep.
- [44:25]
A
Yeah.
- [44:25]
B
So you should have just did a giant Star of David on the entire shirt.
- [44:29]
A
That is too Jewish.
- [44:31]
B
You gonna rock your chain too, while you're there?
- [44:33]
A
No, I haven't worn the chain in, in, in, in forever.
- [44:35]
B
No, I mean the big chain.
- [44:37]
A
Oh, the, the.
- [44:37]
B
The big Jesus, like three inch Star of David chain.
- [44:42]
A
Maybe I'll pack it.
- [44:43]
B
There it is.
- [44:44]
A
Yeah, there's the official bar mitzvah one with the super big Jewy star.
- [44:47]
B
Oh, I love it.
- [44:48]
A
No, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna rock that. I was gonna say I haven't worn my mom's in a while. It's actually all gold, so it probably went up in value.
- [44:54]
B
Of course it's that saying it.
- [44:58]
A
But no, it's not fake gold. It was real gold. I took it to the.
- [45:01]
B
That's what I'm saying.
- [45:02]
A
Quick, quick story. I took it to a jeweler locally to, like, her necklace was falling apart because the rings were never closed around it, like the solder. And it broke off my neck because I accidentally, when I went to take a shirt off, pulled it, which is fine. It happens. So I took it there and I told them the storm, like, this is my mom. She passed away. And so they checked. They're like, yes, it's 14 karat gold or whatever it is. And I was just looking to get a chain for it. So I end up. They're like, do you want a gold chain? And I'm like, how much is that? And they tell me, I honestly should have bought it. Thinking about it with how much price went up in the last year, but I bought a $60 regular chain. I don't give a fuck. I'm like, I don't care about a gold chain.
- [45:42]
B
How much would the gold one have been?
- [45:43]
A
I honestly couldn't tell you at this point, but it probably would have been like eight, nine, I don't know. No, it probably would have been like a couple grand, but it would have gone up a lot in value. It would have gone up in value, but I'm not that guy. But what really pissed me off at the end is like, so. So what do you want to do with it? I'm like, did you just ask me that? Did you just ask me if I want to sell my mom's chain? My mom, who I told you fucking died of cancer and left this to me. You know, this is mine. You literally just asked me if I want to fucking sell it to you. Yeah, I was like, fuck you. Like, situational awareness, you dumb fuck. Yeah. And that's it. Let's get back to the wbc.
- [46:21]
B
And that's it.
- [46:22]
A
So there's a lot to think about. Not just because it's me going, but because it's Austin going. But gear. I made it abundantly clear to Team Israel that my goal is to tell the best photo story possible and not have constraints put on me to instantly deliver shitty photos to the Internet. Because it has to get out there. It doesn't. That is not important. It is not important that the image is thrown out there instantly as soon as it's taken. And they understand that and they want me to do the story. I'm taking the 4x5. Very cool. So there's a Lot of gear that I need to question and think about and prepare to pack. The 4x5 is coming with the Aero Ektar. I have two boxes of 100 speed Delta 100 Ilford. So 100 sheets are in each box. So I don't plan on using 200 sheets because I have to develop 200 sheets myself if I get back. But I don't want to not have enough. Right. I want to make sure that just in case I have. I have enough. Like, I shot over. I shot 50 sheets over two games in Boston that one time. And I. But. But I want to shoot with intent. So that's the plan. And I. Maybe I will go through, but I can. I think I can set up about 45 to 40. Actually, it would be 46 because everything's in 2. And holders. I'll preload as many as I can, and then I will take my dark box to the stadiums in case I need to take film out and put that into another box and reload. Like, it's a whole thing that I have to think about. So I have to check. I have to take a checked bag that will have all of these plastic film holders. They'll be checked because they take up space. There's a lot to think about. So I'll be taking the 4 by 5. I'll be taking two R1s. I will be taking the 7 to 14, the 10 to 20, the 28 to 70, probably the 85, 12 for more unique looks. And I'm not gonna take a 70 to 200 because I am absolutely taking the 100 to 302.8, which brings up the question of, do you take a 402.8? And the reason I ask this is that a 402.8 takes a lot of space, is a lot of consideration I need to take into account here is if I send Austin home early and I'm not able to use him as a, you know, a pack mule to take certain things, is that going to be an issue? I could always ship something, but that's, you know.
- [48:54]
B
Do you realistically think you're going to send him home early?
- [48:58]
A
I'm hoping to, actually.
- [48:59]
B
I think you will as well.
- [49:01]
A
I'm hoping to. I mean, that's the. You know, I think when we get to the actual games, potentially he shoots one game. And on the flip side, I am literally flying from Miami to New York to back to Miami to spend only one more day in one more game, unless Team Israel wins, because the premiere of the bowling show is happening. In New York. And I, I was okay with missing it because I made a commitment. But also everybody is going. There's going to be all the HBO people, the A24 people, Ben and Liev and the entire team and the bowlers will be there. And my is like, I want to do both, of course, but it's important that I'm there to be seen and do press and do media and talk to people. It's just, it's important. So I mentioned to Team Israel, I'm like, hey, I made a commitment to you guys, which is the first and foremost. I'm not going to skirt out on that. This is happening during this day. Is it okay if I fly down, you know, fly to New York and then fly back for the last game the next day? And the game that I would miss, unfortunately is against Dominican Republic, which is like the loaded team. But it's okay, right? I gotta get to, I gotta go do this thing. So I'll be doing that. And if we send Austin home early, so be it. But he'll come to this thing to do a vlog. But the debate is the 400. The debate is because it's larger, it takes up bag space, it might make it harder for me to have carry ons If I take the 400. What do you think?
- [50:32]
B
Well, how often are you shooting with a 400 when it comes to baseball?
- [50:37]
A
Well, so that is the good question because with baseball during the race, so if you're shooting baseball cards, you're probably using a 400. But I go into this whole thing as I'm telling a photo story. What is more important, a tight shot of a baseball player that you can't tell where you are and there's no atmosphere or a shot that has atmosphere and documents the scene and gets the fans and gets the crowd potentially in it.
- [51:03]
B
I mean, you're going to hate to hear it, but you could throw a TC on there if you really need the reach.
- [51:08]
A
So that is one of the considerations that is an option to take a 14 and use it on the long end at 300 of the 100 to 300. It is a compromise that I'm willing to make. And cropping is not a compromise I'm willing to make, but the TC is more of a compromise that I'm willing to make an exception for in this point, one particular situation because of the constraints I have for travel. And I don't think it's as necessary to have a 400. And let me tell you why I reached out to the Team photographer for the Marlins who shoots at Lone Depot Park. I said, hey Jason, can you send me uncropped 400 millimeter images that you've taken from the photo wells at that stadium? And a bunch of people have said the same thing. And he sent the photos and I sent you them to look at. They say that 400 is almost too tight. Yeah, it is almost too tight.
- [52:08]
B
It's tight.
- [52:09]
A
And in Philly, 400 is not too tight because we're further away. So if 400 is not too tight, if 400 is like tight on the edges for a horizontal shot, that is telling me that a 1 to 3 just at 300 should be tight enough.
- [52:24]
B
Well, you're going to be at 420 with a 1.4 TC.
- [52:28]
A
I'd have to pull back just a little bit. So I think the answer right there is a 400 is unnecessary to save the space and it's not needed. And if at all I decide that I need something like that. The 1.4 TC is a compromise. I'm still not super happy with using TCs, but in good daylight or in the areas that I would be using it. This is the highest end TC with the highest end lens.
- [52:53]
B
That's the key with using tcs, is that you need to start with a very sharp, fast lens to begin with to have the optical quality there with it. We've shown that you don't want to put a TC on an 800 F11 is what I'm saying, or a 600 F11 or a 200 to 600, the 70 to 300, you know, POS plastic fantastic.
- [53:12]
A
It's just that is where you see the imperfections and issues start to show up.
- [53:16]
B
I don't like TCs either, like you. But if it's going to. If you absolutely need to use it and to save you the space, I think it's. It's worth bringing and throwing in the bag. At least now you also have, you know, 100 to 500 you could bring.
- [53:29]
A
But absolutely not.
- [53:31]
B
I know you and you're going to, you know, 2.8 or bust basically when you're shooting that.
- [53:35]
A
Absolutely fucking not. Yeah, never. That is not. So if you want, you take that.
- [53:40]
B
Sure. I'm just saying you were pleasantly surprised by a lot of the Africa images that your friend shot with 100 to 500. And you really are never going to be able to know if you're at 4 or 5400 millimeters. 7 1. You're not going to really tell much.
- [53:54]
A
When I was in Kenya, this year and I used the Sony when I used the Sony in Kenya. The 100 to 400, which is an older lens, it was a great, great range to have. Unfortunately, it just, it's not the best of the best when it comes because it's older. They need to replace that lens. But you're not going to look at my images and be like, these suck because you used a 1 to 4. A lot of this stuff is personal choice and in my own head. But I will not use a 100 to 500 out there because yes, 2.8 or better and the 1.4 will make it an F4. One person even suggested a 2.4 is perfect there. I hate the 2 4. That lens is not perfect because it is just not great around the edges and I don't like the TC. The 13 is going to be ideal and fantastic. So I think that's going to be the biggest thing for me is 7 to 14. 10 to 27 to 14 is going to be limited, of course, but I will have two cameras. I will have the Blackrapid double strap so that I can put two, you know, two strap ons on two cameras. One on the left, one on the right, which I don't like shooting with two, but in fast paced places. It's good to have a one to three that I could drop on my side and then be able to have a 28 to 70 or a 10 to 20 ready to go. And the 85 1.2 over the 14 is a trade off. I will make this time by taking the heavier lens because the shots you get at 1.2 are far superior to 1.4. And there's not a lot of lens Correction with the 12 correct.
- [55:24]
B
No, there's not a ton with the 1 2. That's why it's such a massive lens, because optically it's pretty solid. That was before Canon went nuts and relied on heavy lens correction in post. It's the smaller lenses that rely heavily and obviously the wider you go. Speaking of wide 7 to 14, why are you bringing that one?
- [55:41]
A
Because there's times where like let's say if you're in the dugout and you want to get behind someone and you want to just show like you want a little bowing in it. The bowing does work in certain situations. Like I threw that lens on to shoot some video at the bowling thing. I also did the 10 to 20. They look, they both look cool, they're both unique. That's my point is circular stuff.
- [56:01]
B
You're already bringing the 10 to 20. Like, do you really need both?
- [56:04]
A
Yeah.
- [56:04]
B
Especially if you're trying to save space.
- [56:06]
A
Well, yeah, but I don't need to worry about that space. Those are smaller lenses that don't take up a 400 millimeter space.
- [56:12]
B
Sure.
- [56:13]
A
These are much smaller and so I'm totally fine with taking those. The concern though that I have is I got to get my 4x5 and Aero Actar on the plane with me. So I have to make sure I have all those accessories. And usually I have those in an airport security bag, but most of that bag is empty, just other than negative cases. So now I'm thinking I usually take that roller with me 4x5. But I will absolutely have my think tank belt pack, which is my go to my fanny pack that I wear all the time. I absolutely love using that because that's
- [56:47]
B
where so much gear.
- [56:49]
A
That's where I put the four by five. Yeah, there's a lot to think about. But I also have to pick and choose how I shoot. So if I'm doing the practice games in Port St Lucie, I'm more likely going to be shooting with the 4x5 because that's practice. There's more time. Like I can work with these players. Yeah, right. Even at the practices that they have, I can talk with players and I can use it. And that is where I use it. I generally use it leading up to games. I don't use it during the game, but I might play around. We'll see how it feels. But I have to keep a focus on doing one or the other. You can't be like, I'm doing four by five and on my hip I have the other camera. You have to make a conscious decision to mentally focus on one, not both. If you try to do both, you end up failing.
- [57:37]
B
Just remember, no tilt shift on group photos. With the 4 by 5. Maybe it always looks weird.
- [57:43]
A
No, I know, I know. For the group photos, but. But for single things, I might still try it. And I will tell you, I do both experiment. Well, I have two aero actar lenses. Well, if they do the group photo, the big group photo, you know, like a team photo where they have all the teams lined up.
- [57:56]
B
You're gonna have one photo day? Pretty much, yeah.
- [57:58]
A
Well, I'm gonna do that with a four by five. I'll have the four by five ready to go. And I will have my 28 to 70. Hopefully is wide enough to do it. Should be good enough to do a group shot. And up the up the aperture a little Bit. I also take the Wide Lux. The Wide Lux is going with me.
- [58:15]
B
Yeah, that'll be cool.
- [58:16]
A
Just for randomly just doing. I like to bang out at least one roll everywhere. Like I did in Paris. I did a couple roles in Kenya. We did some. I did some in Hawaii. It's just good to carry around. And speaking of that, there's two. Two new Wide Luxes have shown up in the United States because they're remaking them. They're fizz. They're doing it right now. They're making them in Germany. They have two of them. And they've also redone the spinny wheel for rewinding film, which has been the hardest thing ever. It's so hard to rewind film. They said they've made that better. So when that officially gets announced or comes out, I'm gonna have them send me one and I'll have both to make a video with. And I just hope people, you know, don't start overdoing it. But it's a business, so they'll sell them and go from there. Very cool. So anyway, there's a lot of. I have two aeroactar lenses. I've got that old beat up one that is just like raw.
- [59:05]
B
Which one are you gonna bring? The one that has character to it or.
- [59:08]
A
Oh yeah, 100%. Yeah, I've already met. That decision was made after I tested the. I have a brand new version of that. Brand new 1942 stock, but brand new with all of the clicks and all of the lens hoods and everything. And I'm like, no, there's just something to that lens that just doesn't jive with me.
- [59:27]
B
I mean, the original.
- [59:27]
A
Too clean.
- [59:28]
B
Yeah, I was going to say it's got that optical uniqueness to it where it's been abused and used over the years. And it's kind of got that glaze and haze on it. And you know, you just get a certain look out of it. And that's why I also think we go way too nuts with optical perfection these days. I think certain lenses, like we talk about the 45 1.2, how cheap that is and how it's basically a POS. But it gives character. It gives. I don't know, it just. It's different than a perfect 45.
- [59:55]
A
As I continue to say to people non stop, a great photo is a great photo is a great photo. Whether you shot it with a tin can or a potato, it doesn't matter. No one ever looks at the greatest images in history and says, I wish they were Using a punishment. Different lens.
- [60:10]
B
Yeah, but my point is when you're shooting with a camera from the 1930s 40s, you want it to look like the 1930s 40s and not like 2026. So having an optically perfect lens kind of negates that whole point.
- [60:22]
A
So I think, I think the difference between the two, the good version and the beat up version is that the aperture is slightly. The numbers don't line up properly on the old version, whereas when I shot at F4 on the new version, it just looked too sanitary. Sanitized.
- [60:37]
B
Yeah.
- [60:37]
A
When I shoot at below F4 on the other, it might actually be like two eight two something. It might be wider in equivalent. Not. Not in equivalent. In actual four by five terms.
- [60:47]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [60:48]
A
So that's what I'm going to. That's the decision I made. So today I'm going to focus on laying out my gear, you know, laying out the gear I need, figuring out what bags I can take because I will be checking. I have to check my clothes because I need to take like maybe just two pairs of pants this time for 10 days and.
- [61:06]
B
Lovely.
- [61:07]
A
It's fucking. Smells fine, dude. Like, fuck off. Like it's totally fine.
- [61:12]
B
It's a joke.
- [61:13]
A
It's not like I have to room with Austin or anything. Yeah, I do.
- [61:17]
B
Oh, you do?
- [61:18]
A
There's only one room for us for those times.
- [61:20]
B
Yeah.
- [61:20]
A
So that. That's where I'm going. I'll be traveling quite a bit. You know, I'll be away for 10 days again, if not more. If they win, I'll probably have to go back or stay down there, but it should be a great experience. I mean, these things are all about networking. The incredible thing is the people you meet along the way. And I say this all the time. I mean, I'm connected to Ben Stiller right now. I'm connected to Ben Stiller. I'm literally zero degree. It's not even a degree. It's right there, it's in my phone. So these things that you put yourself. Oh, the thing I wanted to say is the images that HBO is using for the posters are my images and they had to license them from me, which is an interesting thing because they picked images from 2022. Now these images I took at the beginning of me doing my project where I just wanted to go photograph Kyle Troup out bowling. And I did that photo story of him. Remember, I paid my way. I paid for everything because it was about the photo story. Well, now I go back to today and HBO picked those images from 2022 that they wanted to use for posters.
- [62:35]
B
Wow.
- [62:35]
A
And so I didn't go into the Kyle troupe thing going, well, one day I'm gonna make money off these photos. It was like, no, I need to just shoot. And then something's gonna happen. So the moral of the story is you never know what's gonna happen with your images. So if you never take photos because you're like, I'm not getting paid, it doesn't lead anywhere. You just got to go do. And then something happens because you can't go back and take those photos that you didn't take because you weren't getting paid. You got to go do those personal projects. Okay. That's a lot. Steven's back. We're all talk188, and I'm going to take a road microphone, I guess, with me on the road. Unless I'm able to wear the other microphone and record into my phone and send that to you to sync up. We'll have to talk about that offline.
- [63:23]
B
Yeah, we'll try and figure it out,
- [63:24]
A
you know, because that saves me space. I could put another lens in if I don't have to take that, but I could do. I could check. I'm going to be checking a bag, but welcome back. Hope you guys enjoyed. That's all I got to say. Anything you want to say, Steven?
- [63:38]
B
That is it, man. Safe travels once again. Hopefully we can do a raw talk next week while you're doing that, but, yeah, lots of. Lots of gear. Lots of gear to think about and travel with.
- [63:48]
A
All right, guys, thank you very much for listening. Jared Poland, froknows photograph.com. see ya.
- [63:55]
B
Bye.