Author: Jason

Western Digital steps up to the plate

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Having recently been through the ringer on some rather questionable customer service policies, I felt compelled to also give a glowing review of a recent experience I had with another company – Western Digital.

Let’s set the stage: About a week ago, my antiquated desktop computer started exhibiting its age with the recognizable whirring of a hard drive about to fail….it still whirs consistently throughout the day. Since I knew it was past the return policy for Best Buy (30 days), I started backing everything up to my secondary slave drive. With all that copied, I started the search for a replacement…then it dawned on me – this should still be under manufacturer warranty!

So, I broke open the box (not broke, but you get the idea), pulled out the affected drive and started making notations of P/N’s S/N’s and all that gobbledygook. Then at Western Digitals website I entered the S/N as requested to find it was purchased less than a year ago and is still covered. Yay! I can get a replacement! Now, here’s the best part – they will send me the replacement in advance. Meaning? I can install the replacement, copy files over and stay up and running without any downtime to speak of. Yes, a credit card is needed to ensure I return the defective drive, but that’s to be expected in todays day and age.

Anyway, kudos to Western Digital for a great RMA policy – others could learn from you! 😉

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Flash player plugins

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Well , I was going to post a cool flash tutorial I put together on leveling horizons, but some temperamental coding issues have put that on hold. Suffice to say, if anyone can explain to me the difference between FLV and SWF players/readers, how to implement them and write posts embedding them, please post here or email me direct, because the documentation on WordPress and horribly written documentation thus far just really bites hard. Even with my fairly solid grasp of HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML, and JS understanding, the world of flash is leaving me just a little bit clueless…

So, for the time being, here’s a link to the video: Horizon Leveling Tutorial

ETA: Many thanks go out to Ryan Thomas from FredMiranda for letting me use his image in the tutorial…

Quiet News Day

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As photogs both amateur and pro await the start of the Photoshop Conference out in Las Vegas, (the “pre-conference” starts tomorrow, the rest of the photo world plugs along. Not much really “news-worthy” or personally revealing today, so here’s just a recap of some of the top stories I happened to catch in my blog feeder.

Olympus announced it’s latest Pro series camera, the successor to the E-1, to be unveiled Oct. 17th. While the announcement may seem kind of a yawner (reviewed at dpreview here: Olympus Review), the fact that it only took them 4 years, 4 months to announce a new body was of comical note to Michael over at TOP.

Scott Kelby does his daily post on the Photoshop World conference, and gives a few props to other photogs and their sites around the net. Always worth at least a glance. You know it’s quiet though when Scott doesn’t have much to post other than a few helpful link referrals pimping sites of his friends (just kidding Scott)….

The Strobist is always a great place to stop in for a detailed read if you’re in the need of knowledge (remember, I like alliteration).

Adobe finished the rollout of its own software in house.

Not much else other than the usual spate of forum posts that struck a chord for me. I’d share them here, but in most cases you need to register to view, so not worth the time since most won’t click thru.

I did notice a significant drop-off in readership, and still not many participating in polls. I’d really like to get at least 20 people to participate, so if you’ve read the blog at all and not voted on the content you like, please do so at your leisure (over here on the right—–>) .

In the meantime, with photos being the dominant choice, I will leave today with a random shot from my own library, a recent effort at a stock shot (sorry if the IQ is a little low-res, but always gotta be taking efforts to reduce piracy)…

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It’s all about family…

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This past weekend I spent the entire time away from the computer, camera in hand.  On a trip to Dayton, OH for a family get-together where my Aunt and Uncle (in-law) were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary!  On returning, I realized I had left the blog on a decidedly negative note.  So, in the interests of sharing some positive experiences, the trip was just a resounding reminder of what it’s really all about.  It’s not about the latest gear, it’s not about corporate greed, and it most certainly is not about “getting what you deserve…”

The ultimate “high” is enjoying quality time with family.  What a great weekend it was.  Re-kindling connections with people I’ve not seen in a long time reminded me that life is about spending your quality time where it most counts – with loved ones.  In doing so, I also had a realization about my thoughts on Apple as a company.  Need I judge them so harshly on the basis of one mis-step?  I certainly do not judge my family and loved ones so harshly, so Apple deserves another chance too.

I have since rescinded the canceled Macbook Pro order, and am working on getting the iPod fixed (I think I got it after a rather interesting combination of restoring/powercycles.  The only Windows equivalent I can think of would be flashing the BIOS.  It seems to be working now, albeit a little more slowly than I would have thought…but that could be the putting USB connection since the iPod is used to firewire!

In any case, technology tantrums aside, I hope all had an enjoyable holiday weekend with their family and loved ones, and another post tomorrow will hopefully have a few photos to share! 🙂

Apple pulls a Dell?!?!?!

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I was shocked! After much hemming and hawing over which way to go for future purchases, I convinced my wife we should get a Mac – the Mac is the only platform I don’t really “know” – we need a laptop, and the budget is there. She always came up with excuses but finally, she agreed, and we ordered a Macbook Pro – C2D, and she got the iPod Nano using her school discount. $2500 into debt, we are actually excited…she has been wanting an iPod for a long time and I’ve been begging for a laptop.

To make a long story short, the iPod shipped first and we received it today. After about an hour of trying to connect it and make it sync myself I had performed countless softwre uninstalls/reinstalls, and 1418 errors, I googled results and reinstalled USB drivers, then tried restoring the device, all to no avail. Being in IT, I do not like giving up, but I am new to this – let’s see that stellar name of Apple deliver.

So I call Customer Service. Another 4 hours of dropped phone calls, (no callbacks) and one agonizingly long final call with a qualified tech, his supervisor and billing, here’s what happened: We performed troubleshooting on multiple USB ports, at least 5 installs and reconnects (on multiple computers), and no resolution or restore works. The Apple tech declares it DOA and says he’s going to ship me a box to return the iPod. Great, I say, so when the replacement and return box should get here when? He says, “No, just a box…after we get it back, and verify it doesn’t work, we’ll send a replacement out. So, 5 hours of troubleshooting, 4 disconnected calls, and now I have to wait another two weeks to get a measly $200 piece of peripheral? Um, no…

I ask for the supervisor who confirms. Apparently Apple RMA’s don’t send you replacements on a verified bad system (even though they already have your money). This is very much unlike the rest of the industry, everyone I have ever dealt with from Dell to IBM, to HP, to Sony, CDW, Newegg, Crucial, and all others in between, replacements are sent with instructions to return the bad one in the packaging with their apologies. Not Apple…they want to delay things a little longer…just to be sure.

Yeah Apple, that’s my scam. I sit on the phone for 5 hours trying to get a $200 DOA iPod to work in hopes you’ll just let me keep it and send a replacement. In 5 hours I could have done my blog posts, checked my web maintenance, hit my photo sites, spent some family time with my wife, played with my dog, watched some evening television and be in bed now. There is a reason I am leaving Dell – crappy customer service.

Apple has long been lauded as having superior equipment, superior service, and superiority complexes. Having thought I’d “seen the light” on why they feel superior, I convinced myself and my wife to buy into it. Now, all that’s left is a series of rude, untrained, half-literate telephone calls, missed family time, and an entire evening lost due to the “It just works” company showing its true colors as just another multi-million dollar business with no interest beyond taking your money.

The iPod is being returned and the MBP has been canceled. At least with Dell I know where I stand…

Top Five Reasons I am getting the Canon 40D

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It wouldn’t be a year in photography without at least one of the Big Boys of photography world (those boys being Canon, Nikon, Olympus and Pentax) announcing some new piece of equipment that sets everyone off, racing to give their money away so they can have the “latest and greatest” that money can buy. As a technology buff, I am particularly susceptible to this tendency, so I always have to take a step back and look at my current setup, as well as the rest of the options available before I can pull the trigger (or trip the shutter, since we’re using “photo speak” right now).

So…I set out to look at the major features in the EOS line since that’s where my lenses are. Within my price range (under $1500) are the XTi, 30D, and 40D. I also included the 20D in my comparison because even though it’s been discontinued, it still is available through online auctions and various community forums for sale, and the spec sheet is readily available online (I used the specs from B&H). Given the number of options, even within the Canon line, I had to set some minimum. So, I told myself that in order to make it worth the expense, I would need to see at least 5 major features/reasons in order to justify the purchase. I defined a “major” feature/reason as something that either represented more than a 15% increase in numerical value, or a feature that was completely lacking in my current setup.

With my benchmarks set, and my expectations in place, I put together the following chart for the consumer/entry pro level EOS bodies that Canon offers:

chart

The benchmarks indicated the following results:
• XTi – 2 features/reasons: Discarded
• 20D – 3 features/reasons: Discarded
• 30D – 5 features/reasons: Candidate
• 40D – 8 features/reasons: Candidate

With two pretty clear favorites, I looked at the differences between the two, and the 40D does seem to have enough of a distinction (3 features) from the 30D to justify the increased expense (Mega Pixels, screen size, and Frames/sec). What also tipped the scales for me in my decision was that since I don’t buy new bodies as regularly as some, as there have been 3 new releases since my last purchase. That being the case, I will probably be better served by getting the newest one so that it can last as long as my XT has (3 years).

For those with other Canon bodies, a similar system could be used to determine whether an upgrade is justified, depending on what you are looking for. For those with Nikon bodies looking to upgrade, the decision-making process should likely be weighed within your own DSLR system, but the principles used above could be applied equally there as well. As for Olympus, Pentax, and Sony – what are you guys smiling at? (Something tells me they will be following the lead of Canon and Nikon but at lower price points down the road…)

Posting or podcasting – which has more value?

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Clearly, I have too much going on as yet another day has gone by and I have not recorded the promised podcast. A multitude of tangential life twists has pulled me in other directions again, and the podcast did not come to fruition for a number of reasons. Some of these reasons are technical, while others are personal, and yet others still are entirely without rationale…so, rather than bore you with the details, I have a question to pose:

How do you enjoy receiving information from photography resources? I have found that multiple outlets are enjoyable, but that is just me. Sometimes I enjoy a video cast, while other times podcasts (just audio) is enjoyable, and finally the printed word can also be fun. So, I will turn this over to the viewers (as I am sure I have hundreds and thousands of readers by now)…how do you enjoy receiving photo news?  Vote in the poll on the sidebar and check back regularly to see what others think…

Size doesn’t always matter…

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As I bide my time for the Canon EOS 40D to come to a B&H store near me (online), I have been slowly find flaws with my current body – the Canon EOS 350D (a.k.a. the XT).  When invited to a high school football game last night, one of my Canon camera buddies lent me a second body so I could have a wide angle and a zoom at the ready for changing situations without having to swap out lenses on a single body.  As it turned out, I pretty much stayed on the zoom the entire night, but that’s not the interesting part.

What was interesting was the performance results.  The body I was lent was the EOS 10D, which has much more of a heft to it.  Since it was incompatible with the EF-S lenses, I had to put the kit 18-55 on my XT, and my 70-200 (f4.0) went on the 10D.  After adding a 550EX flash, the setup was quite heavy.

For the first half I noticed that the buffer in the 10D took about the same time to fill up as the XT, which seemed odd, as I knew that the 10D had a smaller pixel count (6.3 versus 8.1)  and both are rated at about 3.0 fps.  What amazed me though, was the write speed once the buffer was filled.  The 10D took as many as 30 seconds to write all images to the card, where if I was on the XT, I would have been shooting again in 10 seconds.  By the second half I had switched back to the baby XT (size wise)  for its superior Megapixel count and write speeds.  Turns out, the size doesn’t always matter…

Canon’s Competition…

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Although this is primarily a venue for discussing Canon gear, since it is also about photography news, in the interests of full disclosure, it only seems fair to at least acknowledge the competition.  Apparently, Nikon has responded to the Canon release with their own new DSLR cameras.  Whereas Canon has the 1Ds Mark III and the 40D, the Nikon has announced the release of their competitive bodies, the D3 and the D300.  The Online Photographer and DPReview have reviews and information on the new product lines.  For those interested in more info, each venue is hyperlinked for your convenience.

From a personal perspective on the matter – it seems more and more the two largest market share holders are losing something of their signature and recognition by having the confluence of naming conventions.  While I understand that the “D” is for digital, and there is no getting around the English language in that regard, one can easily see how the average consumer could become very confused very quickly.  Sure, one has the “d” before the numbering system, and the other has the “d” after, but when both vendors have a “40” series, the possibilities for confusion between a 40D and a D40 seem just obvious to me.

While I realize it’s an exercise in futility as both product lines were established well before my entry into the field, and will likely continue long after my ashes are scattered – I can’t help but wonder how much easier it would be to identify Canon and Nikon brands with a naming convention along the lines of CD and ND respectively.  Of course some might confuse this with the abbreviations for the Congo Democratic Republic and New Delhi or something like that – the odds are minimal at best.  Okay, that’s enough for my Thursday rant. Now for the Thursday apologies:  Due entirely to laziness factors that were totally within my control, the previously promised podcast that looks at the Canon EOS 40D was not recorded for release yesterday as my initial post had suggested.  Boy, I’m off to a great start here, eh?  Okay, well, that’s the joy of being a one-man operation (again):  no one to blame but yourself.  I accept full responsibility and will forewarn any of the probably three or four people that have discovered the blog thus far that I have several previously scheduled obligations today, tomorrow, and Saturday that will require my presence, so it looks like the promised podcast will not be delivered until Sunday.  So…look for the podcast on your feeds Sunday night, and download to your music player for Monday morning enjoyment… I will likely stop in with random bits of news between now and Sunday, but that’s the latest on the elusive podcast front.Â