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87 Photos From My Las Vegas Vacation

August 15, 2009 By 8 Comments

As anyone who has been following me on Twitter knows, I’ve been in Vegas for the last 4 days on vacation. I’m heading back home this morning, but figured that I would share a few of my photos from the trip in case anyone cares to gaze upon them. Hopefully at least a few are amusing.

The Bellagio from the Eiffel Tower

The interesting thing about this trip is that I did not take my big Canon 5D. Instead, I took only my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. Its a 10.1 MP Digital Camera with an amazing f2.0-2.8 2.5x wide angle, Optical Image Stabilized Leica lens. The lens is the equivalent of a 24-60mm in a full sensor SLR.

This little camera is pricey, but I remain extremely, extremely impressed. I almost never used the flash, but the camera handled the very low light, high contrast scenes better than I ever dreamed a camera that could fit in a pocket would! I highly recommend it for those with the means. There is also a full Leica branded twin of this camera (the Leica D-Lux 4) which will cost a little more for the Leica badge, but render essentially the exact same imagery. Get either camera. You won’t regret it.

Now, on to the pictures!
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Filed Under: Photography, Travel Tagged With: , , ,

The Fountains of Bellagio in High Definition

February 5, 2009 By 4 Comments

bellagio-fountainsAs a follow up to yesterday’s post with photos from Las Vegas, here is a video that I shot of the fountains outside the Bellagio with the same camera, the Canon 5D Mark II using the Canon 15mm Fisheye lens.

I’ve never seen anyone else shoot the fountains with a fisheye, but it works out well as long as you keep the lens parallel to the horizon as I’ve more or less managed here.

By the way, I recommend you watch this in full screen view. You can do that by clicking on the little arrows in the bottom right corner of the video window.
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Filed Under: Photography, The Man's Videos, Travel Tagged With: , , , , ,

99 Photos From the Las Vegas Strip

February 4, 2009 By 8 Comments

New York, NY Statue of Liberty - Las VegasI’ve been in Las Vegas for the Parallel’s convention over the last few days. Since I’ve been lugging my huge camera around taking pictures quite a few folks asked me to share them so they could take them home as well! So here you all go!

These photos were captured on a Canon 5D Mark II using either a Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens, a Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens, or a Lensbaby loaned to me by Cali Lewis.
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Filed Under: Hotels, Photography, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Gambling and Gluttony in Las Vegas

April 23, 2008 By 7 Comments

john-p-wins-againFolks, I went to Las Vegas last week for business meetings, but during the evening I did take a little break from working on Layered Technologies and Woopra stuff for a few hours to go have dinner at the Bellagio Buffet, and then do a little gambling after dinner.

Had such a great time that I thought I’d share it with you guys.
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Filed Under: Food, Travel, Work Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Vegas Bound? Learn How to Gamble…

January 21, 2007 By 2 Comments

AcesI first went to Las Vegas when I was 27 years old. Until that time I had no interest whatsoever in gambling – courtesy of one of my professors, Dr. Jargowsky, from UTD. He taught a class that dealt with statistical analysis in which I finally came to understand just how futile it is to bet against the odds.

So, when I finally decided to go to Vegas, I also decided to learn to count cards at Blackjack so that at least I’d lose my money slowly. I chose a book called Best Blackjack by Frank Scoblete, I memorized the tables, and then I practiced for weeks using Microsoft Casino (you can download a free trial here). This actually helped a lot as I found that if I played properly I could usually sit at a table all night and come away even or a little up or down (usually down).

Since that time I’ve had a lot more experience in the casinos and as a result I have three bits of advice to offer:
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Filed Under: Games, Travel, Tutorials Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,