Gloss Metal Prints have hit, with Collage Murals the super star.

Collage Metal Murals are cheaper than a single-piece metal print.
Also faster to produce (YES still time for Mom).

And many clients love the distinctive look!

This photo shows a 4x3 ft. Collage Metal in our window.
Choose 2ft wide, 3ft or 4ft wide, and from 2ft to 5ft tall.
You choose:
One photo all the way across, or a quilt of your favorites.

Most clients use pix from their phones to make these gifts.
Memento gives each image the TLC it needs to look fantastic for your loved one.

Just call or message us, we can get your order done in a jiffy.

Collage Metal Mural — Cheaper, Faster to make & Easier to Ship than Single Piece Metal

There’s still some pretty-ing up to do. But all services are running smoothly.

Please stop by to check it out and say hello!

We are still in the Crocker Galleria.
From our old location, you can look across the mall, to the store next to the escalators.
You’ll see our HDTV slideshow running.
Don’t let the paper in the windows stop you — the doors are open!

And stay tuned for the date of our Grand Re-opening.
We will be offering specials & fun freebies to tempt you to visit.

Sheryl Struts her Designer Stuff — Brands our New Digs

Nikon Coolpix A

The most famous tenant in that category, and in fact the only real tenant for years and years: The Canon G series.

Those of you who a) threaded the projector back when they called it Junior High & b) are old enough to remember film projectors: you know the term “rangefinder.” The G was pretty much a rangefinder, writ digital. That is to say, One. Lens. Only. (channeling Red October)

Canon G-15

The G was/is a bit chubbier (as my 6 y.o. would call it) than normal pocket cams. But it offered, and still offers, much better image quality, in exchange for the extra beef, compared to the “deck of cards” sized point-and-shoot.

Now Nikon comes barging in to the category with the Coolpix A.

Quick differences:

• The Canon costs $500, the Nikon costs $1,000.
• Canon has a 5x zoom, Nikon no zoom (what, no zoom!?)
• Pros are happier with a better lens despite the lack of “reach” provided by a zoom.
• The Nikon lens can have a larger max aperture, resulting in nicer bokeh
• If you don’t know about bokeh, be sure to click that link. You’ve seen it, and it does make a photo look “pro.”
• The Nikon sensor is larger, which works well in concert with the bigger aperture lens
• That bigger Nikon sensor is better in low-light, not to mention has more pixels.
• Though if you read this blog, you know more pixels isn’t always better.

Like many cams now, the Nikon A shoots 1080p video. It also tips a hat to modernity with the available wi-fi transmitter, allowing convenient connection to any wi-fi device.

Great Low Light Capability

So unless you really need the zoom reach, you can consider the Nikon A as a compact substitute for your DSLR. Oh, and that assumes you’re up for spending a grand on a little camera!

Well, they should brag.

For years, marketers have pushed more megapixels as better. In the early days of digital photography, this was true. A 1 or 2 megapixel sensor didn’t have enough dots to make a clear picture, even with the best lens. So more megapixels definitely meant better.

But now that we live in the world of 8,12, 20+ megapixels, adding even more megapixels is actually bad.

Yes, you read that right: More Megapixels is Bad.

Especially in mobile phone cameras.

So why are few pixels better in your mobile phone?

Because each pixel is a square tube. Those tubes are packed on a sensor, shaped like rectangle. The sensor sits behind your lens and catches the light from the lens. The skinnier each tube, the more tubes fit on a given sensor.

Why Bigger is Better

So to get more megapixels on a given sensor, manufacturers made tubes (pixels) skinnier. And as we know, customers have been sold the idea that more pixels are always better.

But here’s the problem with a skinny tube: less light reaches the bottom of that tube! Think about how much light hits your eye looking through a paper towel tube, compared to the same scene with no tube in the way.

Punchline: if you have enough pixels to make a good picture, than you want the biggest, widest tubes for your pixels.

Because more light will make it to your picture.

And that’s good, because so many mobile phone shots are taken in dark situations, like parties & dinners.

Fewer, Bigger Pixels

More Pixels means Darker Photo

The HTC One sports 4 megapixels, plenty for Facebook, HDTV, normal photobooks and even photo prints up to 8x10”.

By the way, the new HTC One will have an aperture of f/2.0. That means the tube formed by the lens-to-sensor assembly is relatively wider compared to its length. This makes even more light available to make the best photo.

Wider Aperture Helps Too

Now if you want to make murals out of your photos, 4 megapixels may not cut it. If big prints are your goal,  shoot with a better camera, not your phone.

But even with top pro cameras, bigger pixels offered by Nikon make their cameras better in low-light situations. Canon has more pixels on comparable models, which makes them better for brightly lit scenes.

But the pros shooting Nikon know don’t need more pixels at this point: they need better pixels.

Take the time to watch the clip below.
Shot in 1922, this is one of the earliest color movies in history.
Like me, you may find it gently haunting, shimmering & touching.

Kodak’s blog post on this film snippet is a fascinating short trip through history.

Perched high atop Corona Heights, the Randall Museum has a spectacular panoramic view from north-east to south-east.

But that’s not all that makes the museum special. Compared to the high-priced California Academy of Science, Exploratorium & Bay Area Discover Museum, Randall visitors enjoy a more-human scale, a warmer, more approachable feeling, and a $0 entry fee. For many non-affluent San Francisco families, “free” means “accessible.” For more-affluent families, it’s easy to forget that these higher priced museums are out of reach for many middle class families.

This year’s big news: Randall Museum Friends board and staff, along with SF Rec. & Park staff formed a team to land a big $5.5 mil­lion grant from the State Parks Department. The size of this grant will trans­form the Ran­dall more than any sin­gle change since the Ran­dall vacated the old city jail it used to occupy!

The San Francisco Chronicle’s story yesterday summarizes the history of the Randall, and the effect the grant will have. This quick read also mentions some of the great programming at the museum. The article touches on the political opposition in San Francisco to kid-friendly activities, and to many programs important average families in the city.

Of course you can support the museum directly by visiting the Randall Museum Friends webpage. Just a little support goes a long way here.

And as big fans of the Randall Museum, our family couldn’t be happier about this wonderful new grant!

By the way, check out the amazing Yelp reviews on the Randall Museum: we’re not the only ones who love it!

The word “legend” gets used too often, but not this time.  If you’re not a camera buff, Hasselblad was famous for their so-called medium format cameras. Medium format is the film size/category in between 35mm (which is what most of us think of as film) and large format. Large format cameras often use big glass plates as negatives, as big as 8x10” for the negative, or even bigger.  Ansel Adams shot large format.  Think “sheet over the head, air bulb in hand.”

The larger Medium Format negative, favored by high-fashion & other studio photographers, allowed for a sharper image.  They weren’t as portable, and so the 35mm format was favored by photojournalists & amateur travelers.

So as a great film-camera maker, Hasselblad hasn’t been on my radar for a long time. But nor have I seen such an eye-catching design in a long time. The style of the new Hasselblad Lunar may not appeal to everyone. But it is fresh & creative.

And it’s no accident they named this model the ‘Lunar.’ Yes, the appearance is otherworldly. But since the early days of US Manned Spaceflight, Hasselblad flew with the astronauts.  Neil Armstrong & all his Apollo buddies all took Hasselblads with them to the moon. Check out the gallery of photos below to see the new camera, as well as the original “lunar” Hasselblad.

The grip can be fitted with different materials, including two types of leather, carbon fiber, and even wood!

This new model is not yet available, nor has a price been set. The company claims this will appeal to serious enthusiast.

We’ll see…Hasselblad prices are also legend.

Got all your 49ers Gear for the Super Bowl this weekend?

Now you can shop for the best stuff, all in one convenient, officially licensed shop!

Rob opened the San Francisco 49ers Official Merchandise Shop for the city, right here in the Crocker Galleria. He is on Level 1, across from Abigail’s Flowers.The 49ers Shop is full of great stuff, just like the San Francisco Giants World Series Shop he ran just a few months ago — oh, yes my out-of-town friends, San Fran just won the other major sports championship, sorry I just HAD to mention it.

Like the World Series shop, the best stuff sells-out fast.

What I liked were:

• The ball caps, not too gaudy, they look sharp
• Kids’ Stuff: baby onesies, tennis dresses, caps
• Mardi Gras beads — nice touch since it’s New Orleans
• And of course the fantastic T-shirts!

Check it out. And let’s hope there’s even more merchandise, with a new slogan, in just a few days!

Memento Offer: Come get your Free Pro Photo Taken up here in our Memento Store, wearing your new gear!  We can also shoot it by the big 49ers Balloon Display.

All we ask is that you log in to your FB page here in the store & “like” us. Or just sign up for our blog, which you can also do here in the store.  We’ll email you your awesome photo on the spot.

Hope to see you soon, and Go Niners!!

Fox wanted a “man in the street” interview for the upcoming NFC championship between the San Francisco 49ers & Atlanta Falcons. They called up A-Shine & Co., which runs the shoe shine stand here at the Crocker Galleria. A-Shine is more than just a shoeshine company: theirs is a story of joy & success in the aftermath of personal difficulty.

Dray Ready for Interview

The company was founded by Kevin Tuohy right before the first dotcom boom. They brought style & fun to shoe shining, so became fixtures at posh events around town. Kevin & Co. have grown the company since then. A Shine now has locations around San Francisco, as well as New York City.

Dray is one of the ace A Shine guys here in the Crocker Galleria, and has a Niners tattoo on his arm.

So when Fox called Kevin to see if one of his coworkers might be a big Niners fan, he immediately thought of Dray. Truth is, I ran into Dray in the Euphemism yesterday, where he told me about the scheduled interview today. He was understandably nervous. So I reminded him Fox wanted the real Dray, just like he is. Dray is an experienced musician & performer, but this was something new.

And of course we know how passionate he is about San Francisco sports.

Quick We Need Lights!

A few minutes before the interview, Dray realized he needed a shoe model. He called us, and asked if we were wearing shineable shoes. Yes! Both Justin & I are. So we came down and waited for Fox Sports.

These guys were chasing all over town, to capture the excitement & enthusiasm for the upcoming game. So they were disappointed to see how dark it was in the shoeshine zone. In fact, I got the sense they weren’t going to do the interview at all.

So my Memento Press coworkers ran upstairs, and brought our studio lights down. Just as Fox was apologizing, and starting to leave, Justin flipped the switch. Voila! Dray was bathed in gorgeous studio light!

Kissing Niners Tattoo

Dray gave a great interview. Justin & I got a free shine out of the deal. We may even be visible in the background, if they use the piece. Sheryl & Katheryn hung out and took photos of the whole thing.

Then something really cool happened.

Two years ago, when the San Francisco Giants won the World Series, they held a victory parade near the Crocker. Dray had the gumption to find the staging area for the parade.

The players were just hanging out, enjoying morning beverages, without many fans around. Dray walked up and asked if they would sign his San Francisco Chronicle front page, announcing the event. And they did! So he has signatures from all the big names, on a single piece of paper.

Special Gift — Autographed SF Giants Newspaper

He brought that newspaper to us, and asked us to frame it. We did. But he couldn’t pay for it just then. We set up a payment plan. But as of today, there was still a long way to go.

So we figured this was the perfect moment. We carried his frame downstairs, and walked up with the excuse of collecting our last studio light. Then Dray heard, “By the way, a fat guy in a red suit told me to give you this.”

Well, his reaction was psychic pay-day for all of us at Memento.

Psychic Payday for Memento

He was truly speechless, holding back  intense emotion. Not sure how I kept from cracking — I’m the Sap in Chief among the sentimental saps around here. It was a great moment for everyone.

And with that good Karma, we all agreed Atlanta doesn’t stand a chance!

Special Gift — Special Moment

Sheryl Gets some Love

The big buzz at CES of course was “Ultra HD” aka 4K or 4KTV.

Like HDTV before it, a 4K television takes sharpness to a new level. There are about 4 times as many horizontal lines of resolution in a 4K TV image, than in a normal (maxed out, 1080p) HDTV image. And the 4K TV has about 8 times the resolution of a “Regular Def” TV.

We saw 4K TVs in:

• Normal mode — really sharp
• 3D mode — quality varied by brand
• Double frame rate - OMG, see below

Normal 4K TV:

OK, yes, much sharper than a 1080p image. But honestly not the same wow-factor as the first time I saw a true 1080p image with a good demo video.

Just standing in front of the normal-mode 4K TVs, it seemed that the variation in the video itself mattered more to the experience than the display. These videos varied by content obviously (snazzy sexy images catch attention, subtle images actually better for evaluation), but also by tech specs.

Would I turn down a free one?  No. But would I pony up to replace my 720p Plasma in our house right now? No, I would not.

3D Mode

Here, we saw quite a difference in experience between LG & Samsung.

LG has an amazing entrance to their “booth” (more like a “planet”) where staffers hand you 3D glasses, and walk under a wall of 3D displays. They achieved the desired effect, we were all wowed.

Visiting Planet LG, we got to see lots of variations on the theme of 3D. In all cases, the 3D effect was smooth, clean, convincing, and without noticeable eyestrain for me or my colleague Lee Varis.

Lee looks cool, even in 3D Glasses.

A friend who’s an expert in things Home Theater has always advised us to avoid LG. I had a bad time with an LG Blu-Ray burner, and was surprised that their site had not even the barest instructions or support, much less access to someone who could help.

But with that said, the LG 3D performance appeared clearly superior to both me ‘n Lee.

Now Samsung has come on like a juggernaut in the world of electronics. They are now a serious threat to the once invincible Apple in hand-held devices, and have left once-legendary names like Sony in the dust.

Lee & I both assumed Samsung would be worlds ahead of LG. But… when we put the Samsung glasses on for the first time, we both immediately felt the eye strain. OK, let’s try a different TV. Same experience. OK, let’s try a third Samsung display.  Same thing for both of us. I don’t know what difference, if any, there is in the LG vs. Samsung 3D technology. And having compiled plenty of statistics in my time, it’s possible these observations were aberrations.

But I doubt it.

Regarding 3D realism, here again LG seemed the clear winner. Making this assertion is tougher, since we were not viewing the same video on two competing TVs.

But still…we know the vendors would be putting their best foot forward.

And I’m always suspicious of “slow moving” subjects. It’s a lot easier to make a video with slo-mo subjects look great, than fast-moving subjects. Samsung’s 3D demos used slower moving subjects than LG’s.

Incidentally, that’s why Plasma-type HDTVs have always been such  winners: they refreshes many time faster than even the fastest LCD displays. They just don’t “shine as bright” at the store, so we’re not drawn to them. But very few of us watch TV in brightly lit rooms. Much more likely the TV will be viewed in some form of “modern cave” environment.

Double Frame Rate aka 60p aka 60 Frames Per Second

OK, this was my biggest wow moment of CES, by a lot.

Tucked against a back wall, in Planet LG, my eye caught a little sign over one of the hundreds of 4K TV panels. The sign said “60P”.

Yes, I was a member of the A/V club as a kid. So I suspected this might be a TV playing a video with twice as many frames as a normal 30 frames per second video. My little Kodak waterproof camera has a 720p 60p setting. The difference has always been dramatic, especially for action subjects.

So I asked the young geek demo dude if the 60p sign meant 60 FPS. “Yes!” He seemed excited that someone noticed. Then, in something resembling a hushed tone, he said “This is only experimental, you cannot buy these!” And so I felt like a cool old geek getting to share this moment with a cool young geek.

Listen folks, when I put those glasses on, and watched the 3D 4K 60p video, chills happened. In fact, as I’m writing this, no joke, still gives me chills.

Yes, the video was the classic “slow” video. The subject, an old Asian man walking among sheets of beautiful fabric, gently blowing on a set of clothes lines.

But I was standing there with him, with the gorgeous laundry. My instincts told me I could call him, and he’d turn around. Never in my life have I had more sense of “being there.”

The above video is NOT 3D. But if you view at “original quality” on a fast computer, you should see the smoothness & detail of 4K 60fps. Caveat: download may take a while.

It’s harder and harder to get a wow reaction with any new tech. Years ago, we all just began to expect to be blown away every few years by something amazing & new from the gadget world.

So to feel such an effect seemed special.

Can’t wait for these 4K 3D 60p TVs to go on sale, and for matching video content to watch.