I just spent my entire afternoon calibrating and cleaning my [10, ugh!] lenses and then my camera sensor. Come to think of it, I actually should calibrate all my lenses on my other bodies too... That'll have to be for another day.
For those of you who haven't calibrated your lenses, but have the ability to via micro adjustments on your camera body(ies), I highly recommend taking the time to do it. I'd also recommend getting yourself the Lens Align (I have the Pro version) to do it more quickly, accurately, and efficiently. The only lenses that required no adjustment were my 70-200 2.8L IS, 50mm 1.4 and 35 1.4L.
Once I got the hang of it, it went relatively quickly - I had my 1Ds III on tripod with WFT-E2a wireless transmitter so I could see the images immediately on my laptop rather than relying on the tiny screen. The Lens Align Pro was on top of a light stand - it has a handy screw mount on the bottom of it. This ensured my camera and the lens aligner stayed level with one another while I moved the camera forward and backward for the various lenses (it was easier to adjust the height on the light stand than finding just the right number and size of books / boxes to set on a table..., plus since I sandbagged the light stand it wouldn't move at all when I moved the sight gate up and down).
My 24-70 2.8L needed the most adjustment - somewhere around +15. Which figures, as I've noticed the focus being off even when I'm wide and stopped down for big family group shots etc.
I also took the time finally to run the DNG Profile Editor (took a picture of the handy Passport) for the 1Ds III as I was really getting frustrated trying to get correct skin tones. Pretty noticeable improvement after running that.
... So what is everyone else doing in these slow times?
i actually hid in the back corner of the library today, revamped my senior portrait marketing and started tackling the bane of my existence - the BLOG. i'm launching my sr. model promo on valentine's day and committed to myself that i'd have the updated blog ready to go by then too. you guys hold me to it, ok?
oh. and i did it at the library because my office is on the back of our house and it's upside down since we just finished installing the hard woods. i've been ridiculously unproductive in the last 2 weeks while it was going in, so i forced myself to get busy today!
Shoveled snow, cleaned out my water softener in the basement transfered a bunch of files from my desktop to my laptop, booked two weddings, took a re=order on senior pics. I'm about to ask the wife THE question. Bruce
I updated my financial statements and clients' package details. Sent out a bunch of confirmations and "hope your wedding planning is going well" emails.
They had some of the ballsiest plays I'd ever seen at the Superbowl. That kick?!?!? Seriously!??!?!? ... and the two pointer after the touchdown, to put the colts in a position that the best they could do was tie the game?
Fantastic! Oh yeah... beers and chips and good times with friends while watching the game and many attempts at ... ahem ... branding