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PBS Special on the President's Photographer (8PM EST)

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steve88

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There's a show on PBS right now about the President's personal photographer (started at 8pm ET). All about the lucky guy who gets to follow the President all over the world and photograph him (not just the regular press corps photographers). It looks like Obama's photographer uses a 5D.

I'm not sure if it will be repeated on the East Coast but for people on the West Coast you can probably catch the entire show starting at 8PM.
 
Yeah, I caught most of the show tonight. From what I saw, not one mention of lens sharpness, micro-adjustments, low ISO banding or any other fun stuff that fills these forums... Just some amazing photos by talented photographers....
--
View my photo galleries here: http://imageevent.com/24peter
 
Well known fact. Canon cameras work great out on real world.
Here at dp they do not function that good.
 
It looks like he was using a 5DII a lot. It is amazing that he can get such great shots from a camera with such horrible low ISO performance and an almost non functional AF system ;-).

It just shows what you can do if you know how to use the equipment. I kept thinking about that one wedding photographer (discussed here a year or so ago) who was selling all her gear because she couldn't figure out how to make the AF work – this guy seems to have figured it out and I can’t imagine a more demanding shooting environment than this.

--
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26158506@N07/
 
David Hull said:
Mike Alexander said:
Wish I caught that. I've been following him on Flickr for a while now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/
Click to expand...
They claim that you can watch the show over on the website.
Click to expand...
If you can't find it online try checking your local TV listings. Perhaps PBS will re-air it today or over the weekend.

It was a really interesting show. His photographer travels with him everywhere (even on the President's vacation with his family) and he flys on Air Force One about 150 times a year.

They said that under Federal law, all of the photos become the property of the National Archives for historical purposes and that none of them can ever be deleted. I think they said he shoots 8,000 - 20,000 shots a week so that's a ton of editing (there's actually a White House photo editor who's specific job is to do just that).

I was really amazed that his camera of choice was the 5DM2 (thought for sure it would be a 1D model). I know the 5D is much lighter and easier to travel with, though. In the show it looked like he was using the 24-105 f/4L quite a bit (Bush's photographer used a Nikon but I couldn't tell the model or lens).

Hope you can find the show online somewhere...good luck!
 
Did you catch that awful gaffe when Pete had setup the pres with someone for a grip n grin shot and his card was full????? At the rate he shoots, I was stunned he didn't have a pocketful of cards at the ready. The prez ribbed him pretty good over that one.

The figure of 1 million shots in 16 mos. figures out to about 2k per day! He really, really earns his pay. (Along with the rest of the photo staff)
Regards, Jim
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Odds N' Ends album here:
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Jim N'AZ said:
Did you catch that awful gaffe when Pete had setup the pres with someone for a grip n grin shot and his card was full????? At the rate he shoots, I was stunned he didn't have a pocketful of cards at the ready. The prez ribbed him pretty good over that one.

The figure of 1 million shots in 16 mos. figures out to about 2k per day! He really, really earns his pay. (Along with the rest of the photo staff)
Regards, Jim
Click to expand...
Yes, that was hilarious. I couldn't believe that happened (and Obama gave him a well-deserved ribbing over it).

Pete kept saying "the disc is full, the disc is full". Technically, it's not a disc...it doesn't spin at all or have any moving parts. It's a flash "card" :)

They said a normal day for him is 13 hours. I think I could do that for 4 years (the term of the President) but I definitely wouldn't want to do it much longer than that.

What a tremendous position to be able to put on your resume, eh? Imagine the jobs that will be available to him when he leaves this gig...wow ;)
 
"Its not a disc it doesn't spin"

He may still be using IBM 1Gb micro drives :-) I still have three left over from my Canon D30 days and they still work, albeit slowly, in my wife's 40D. So don't knock him for you never know he may have run out and that was all that he had left to try and save the day :-)

How things move on.
--
Bryan

Canon 40D, etc etc

iMac i7

Still looking for a digital back for my Box Brownie.
 
Jacek Dolata said:
Thnx for the info!
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Awesome! Let's bump this thread on Nov 26th so people will know to set their DVR's to record! This was really a great show and I think most people will enjoy it.
 
Bryan said:
"Its not a disc it doesn't spin"

He may still be using IBM 1Gb micro drives :-) I still have three left over from my Canon D30 days and they still work, albeit slowly, in my wife's 40D. So don't knock him for you never know he may have run out and that was all that he had left to try and save the day :-)

How things move on.
Click to expand...
Sorry about that. I didn't know there was ever anything other than flash cards to record digital images. I stand corrected and offer my apologies to the President's photographer! :)
 
David Hull said:
It looks like he was using a 5DII a lot. It is amazing that he can get such great shots from a camera with such horrible low ISO performance and an almost non functional AF system ;-).
Click to expand...
Well, one million images shot in first 16 months, I sure hope he can find a few photo that's in focus and without the low ISO banding.
David Hull said:
It just shows what you can do if you know how to use the equipment. I kept thinking about that one wedding photographer (discussed here a year or so ago) who was selling all her gear because she couldn't figure out how to make the AF work – this guy seems to have figured it out and I can’t imagine a more demanding shooting environment than this.
Click to expand...
Yeah, he should just shoot 50K in a day and sure he will have bunch of keepers too.
 
Dan_168 said:
David Hull said:
It looks like he was using a 5DII a lot. It is amazing that he can get such great shots from a camera with such horrible low ISO performance and an almost non functional AF system ;-).
Click to expand...
Well, one million images shot in first 16 months, I sure hope he can find a few photo that's in focus and without the low ISO banding.
Dan_168 said:
It just shows what you can do if you know how to use the equipment. I kept thinking about that one wedding photographer (discussed here a year or so ago) who was selling all her gear because she couldn't figure out how to make the AF work – this guy seems to have figured it out and I can’t imagine a more demanding shooting environment than this.
Click to expand...
Yeah, he should just shoot 50K in a day and sure he will have bunch of keepers too.
Click to expand...
Given that he can probably choose any camera he wants, I am guessing that if his keeper rate wasn't very high he would be using different equipment.

--
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26158506@N07/
 
steve88 wrote:

In the show it looked like he was using the 24-105 f/4L quite a bit (Bush's photographer used a Nikon but I couldn't tell the model or lens).

I saw the show and liked a lot but I don't have a hi-def tv and was wondering if the other lens on his second cam was a 16-35? He did not seem to use the 70-200 at all. I wonder if he shoots raw?
 
If you are interested, the show can be seen at

http://video.pbs.org/video/1672209202/
steve88 said:
There's a show on PBS right now about the President's personal photographer (started at 8pm ET). All about the lucky guy who gets to follow the President all over the world and photograph him (not just the regular press corps photographers). It looks like Obama's photographer uses a 5D.

I'm not sure if it will be repeated on the East Coast but for people on the West Coast you can probably catch the entire show starting at 8PM.
Click to expand...
--
Shii

Five D2, 24to105, Fifty1.4, EightyFive1.8, 70to200, 100Macro
 
steve88 said:
There's a show on PBS right now about the President's personal photographer (started at 8pm ET). All about the lucky guy who gets to follow the President all over the world and photograph him (not just the regular press corps photographers). It looks like Obama's photographer uses a 5D.
Click to expand...
Old new that his photographer uses Canon. And it's a 5D2, not a 5D.
 
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