You get to tell me.

So Canada has gone even crazier than the USA in cowardly kowtowing to the terrorist morons.

A clear terrorist suspect tries to blow up a plane with his underwear, and in response our Canadian masters decide the same day that we cannot bring hand luggage on airplanes, must not use our iPods, cannot read books, and may not use the washroom. Ludicrous. Rex Murphy calls it exactly right, here.

But worse. This is real, folks. Much as I resent the decrease in my liberties for no other reason than our moronic and kneejerk-oriented masters’ cowardice, I also have very real practical problems with this. Which is why I am asking for your advice.

I am planning another US trip in late February. Meaning I fly to the West Coast and teach pros and emerging pros how to use flash properly. So this means I need to bring my standard camera bag. This contains a Canon 1Ds MkIII, a 7D, a 70-200 f/1.8, a 16-35 f/2.8, a 24-70 f/2.8, a 35mm f/1.4, a 50mm f/1.4, four speedlights, pocketwizards, and more. Total value around $25,000. I guess I could cut it down to $20,000 if I really tried.

So at Christmas, some idiot religious kid tries to blow up his underwear, and we react by making it illegal for me to bring the above into the cabin. So now I need to check this.

Right. Meaning a very good chance it will not arrive, or will not arrive in one piece. And I mean 50-50. Luggage gets scanned and there are no video cameras down below where the unionised workers open it. Who knows. And we have all seen how luggage is thrown around.

So what do I do? Go, and run a 50-50 chance of losing $25,000 (and getting $100 back from the airline)? Or just cancel my US appearances forthwith and change my market from 300 million North Americans to 33m Canadians? Or drive, and increase my prices eightfold to cover the 8 day drive?

Well, I see no solution. I think professional photographers can no longer travel. It seems to me that we have given Al Qaeda yet another significant and easy victory, totally unnecessarily. This is not Al Qaeda’s fault: it is ours. Our “leaders'” fault.

The odd thing is that I have seen virtually no-one agree with the idiocy. And yet it thunders along, destroying our way of life, bit by bit.

Seller beware

Since I now have three cameras, and only need two, I am selling my Canon 1D Mark III (since I have a 1Ds MkIII and a  7D as well).

Great camera, as new, low shutter, works perfectly, original box, not the “fixed, blue dot” version but a newer version, all good. $2,750, which is great value.

But seller beware. I’ve put this up on Kijiji and Craigslist, and particularly Craigslist is already engendering scammers who want “the item” sent to Nebraska, etc, and they will pay for “the item” with Paypal etc.

I’m afraid it’s cash only for me… Paypal does seem to bring out unpleasantness!

Here’s a pic my colleague Danielle made of me with it the other day (click for large):

That picture also shows that the megapixel thing is silly. The 1D MkIII is an 11 Mp camera.

That image is scaled way down to 1200 pixels long; the original is much more detailed still. 11 Mp is enough for huge prints (smallest prints I ever make are 13″x19″).

Believe me, more megapixels are all very well, but you’ll never need them. And they come at a price. 15 MB for a RAW from this camera; 30 MB for a RAW from my 1Ds. Megapixels are to a large extent marketing.

Power Tip

Quick tip for today: you do not need to power down your camera after each use. When timed-out, it uses the same minimal amount of power that it uses when you turn it “off” (which is not in fact really “off” either).  So no need to keep that switch moving: Just leave your camera on all day, and only turn it off at the end of the day, or when you pack it into the bag.