I recently picked up a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 ultra-wide-angle lens for my Pentax K-5 II DSLR. On the first day that I took it out, I tried using a 1000x neutral density filter to blur water in a stream. The results were disappointing:
Even though the light was pretty dull, I attributed the bright horizontal streaks to lens flare from the cheap, uncoated filter, and I didn’t think much more about it.
Last Saturday, the Spousal Unit and I spent the afternoon at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. The museum was generally excellent. The dinosaur collection is world-famous, with type specimens for Tyrannosaurus rex and Diplodicus carnegii. The explanatory materials were copious, informative, and well-written, including honest descriptions of false steps and ongoing controversies. I think it’s important to show the public that science is not inerrant, but is self-correcting in the long run, and honest disputes are part of the process.
I was, however, disappointed by one of the temporary exhibits, mostly because it turned out to be not at all what I was expecting. The exhibit description read:
Gigapixel Imaging for Science
Through July 24, 2011
R.P. Simmons Family Gallery, Third FloorEight stunning high-resolution photos—some up to 17 feet in length—provide incredible detail of subjects such as a bait ball in the Galapagos Islands and one of the world's largest colonies of penguins. The photos were selected by a jury as part of the Fine International Conference on Imagery for Science, exploring high-resolution imaging technologies in science.
