Friday Format Frustrations

Recently I purchased the Canon FS-100 camcorder as I’ve become interested in trying my hand at a little videography (nothing too fancy, just some home movies for sharing with family and friends, but I admit, the idea has been in my head that the option to record things for the blog might also be of tangential use as well.

When I got the camcorder, I also picked up a SD flash card (2GB) so I could play around with it and test both the recording quality as well as see how the video gets output.  All in all, it wasn’t too bad.  Canon gave some pretty basic software of course, which only output to mpg, but a purchase of Adobe Premiere Elements was in my sights as well too, so the software wasn’t too much of a deal breaker.  I did find that a mere 2 GB card did not give me nearly enough record time if I wanted to keep any kind of quality.  So, I went out and got a great deal on a 16 GB SDHC card from my favorite gear site, Newegg!

Well, I get the card delivered and recorded some video on it (I can record up to 22 hours worth of video now), but when I take the card out to transfer to the computer via my card reader – no dice!  What gives?  It turns out the SDHC card format is incompatible with 1st gen card readers.  Yup, that’s right, you need to replace your card readers with ones that are capable of reading these newer formats (which apparently are configured slightly differently than their earlier SD counterparts).

Here’s the kicker – because I shoot with Canon SLR’s, the flash media type I am most used to is the CF variety, so SD versus SDHC compatibility concerns weren’t high on my list when purchasing a card reader!  Looks like they should have been.  So, if I want to keep all my media accessible on a single card reader, the piper must be paid.  So, (insert special sardonic tone here), special thanks go out to Lexar and Sandisk and Kingston and all the media developers for advancing the media card technology for these higher capacities…they sure are helping you… er us with your… er our needs! (end sardonic tone here).  Oh well, lesson learned and now thusly shared with the reading/listening audience.

In a little bit of blog business, I’ve added a comment feed to the blog for anyone who would like to follow comments, you can see who’s been active (and even see your own name up in lights if you are into that sort of thing!).  A new poll should be coming up some time this morning too:  What’s your role in holiday photography?

To end things for the week on a high note, here’s another one of the weeks greatest clips from What the Duck (and for what it’s worth, this week as really tough to choose as I laughed heartily at all of them):

Happy shooting this weekend!  I hope all your shots are good ones, and we’ll see you back here again on Monday.

Thursday Thoughts with…Jeff Revell

Recently, I had the honor of sitting down (well, emailing, but you get the idea) with none other than Jeff Revell.  As most of you probably know, Jeff is a pretty well-established photographer and recently has been enjoying some notariety for his blog on Photowalking, appropriately titled Photowalk Pro (definitely one for your feed aggregators).  He gave some great thoughts and insights on the state of digital photography.  Thanks in advance to Jeff for taking the time to participate in the Thursday Thoughts sereies here at CB!

Q:  Everyone always wants to know some of the basics, so let’s get a few things out of the way at once here…1. How long have you been a photographer?

A:  I have been into photography for over 25 years.  I first began taking an interest in high school and have been in love with photography ever since.  I think it had something to do with all that fixer I inhaled.

Q:  Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, or some other brand?

A:  I see you changed the question to include other camera brands.  I started off learning with a Pentax K1000, the king of old school photography classes.  From there I moved to a Minolta, a Canon, and finally Nikon for the past 20 years or so.  I have recently been working with some Canon models, specifically the 50D and I have to admit that the more I use it, the more I love it.

Q:  Heh, yeah, that’s thanks to Andy Smith of Virtual Realia.  To that end, let’s cover all the computer options:  Mac, PC, or Linux?

A:  I had been a PC user since the DOS days and then migrated to Windows from there.  I’m just a big techno-nerd at heart and love building my own systems.  I got a Mac notebook about 3 years ago and now it is my predominate platform – Not a fanboy but I do love my MacBook Pro.

Q:  Sounds a lot like the path I’ve been taking – although I do find myself bouncing back and forth between Mac and PC a lot these days.  Anyway, moving on:  Chocolate, Vanilla, or Strawberry?

A:  Definitely a chocolate person.

Q:  Excellent taste!  Moving into a little more granularity, photographers often enjoy hearing helpful and constructive critiques of their work, as we are aware of how much we can grow from it.  What was the singular most useful critique or comment you’ve ever had on work you’ve shared publicly?

A:  This one is easy.  The best advice I ever received about my work was to only show your best stuff. Everyone shoots lame shots; it’s part of the process of getting the image that you want.  The key is to not show all the ducks and simply show your swans.

Q:  Who said it?

A:  My buddy Scott Kelby

Q:  I think I’ve heard of him before!  🙂  Isn’t he into photography too or something like that?  Just kidding of course…  Anyway, back to the subject of critiquing work:  If someone was asking you for an honest critique of their work, what 3 factors would you look at most (excluding friendships or family relatives, we’re talking professional or fellow photographer-types here)?

A:  Wow, that’s a tough one.  I’m much harder on myself than I ever would be on someone else.  I think the first thing I look for in a shot is the composition.  How did the photographer use the elements in the image to convey their intent?  Second would be their processing.  Is it done with a scalpel or a chainsaw?  Finally, did they use sound technique when taking the image, things like proper aperture, shutter speed, lens selection, things along those lines.
All I can say is that I am so glad that I have never been asked to critique the work of others for fear of crushing their spirit and enthusiasm.

Q:  I guess that means I shouldn’t ask for a critique or anything on that vein then, eh?  How about war stories?  Got any from field shoots or outings that you can or would be willing to share?

A:  This one time, in band camp…  oops, wrong story.  I am recalling a trip I took to Arizona with my buddies Scott and Dave.  We covered some serious ground in just 3 day, traveling from Phoenix to Page, to Monument Valley, to the Grand Canyon, and back to Phoenix.  It was one of the best shooting trips I have ever taken, thanks in large part to having my friends along to share the experience.  One outing in Page took us on a 3-mile hike in the high desert to photograph the Wave.  This was in August mind you and it was HOT!  We climbed steep sandy hills and rocky outcrops along the way but it was so worth it once we finally reached our destination.  One of the shots that came from that hike ended up gracing Scott’s 7-Point System book.  If there is a moral in there somewhere, I think it would be that hard work and a lot of sweating can really pay off.

Q:  Hey, I own that book!  Cool, I didn’t know that was your shot!  Guess I should read the credits more carefully, eh?  Sorry, I tend to ramble…  Moving right along, with Photoshop becoming so powerful as a way to even create amazing digital imagery, it could almost be said that the camera could eventually not even be a needed component to create imagery.   With that pre-text in mind, if you had to choose between the camera or the software as the only way to create, which would it be and why?

A:  Well, since I don’t have near the creative/artistic abilities like Fay Sirkis, Bert Monroy,  or Cory Barker, I would have to go with the camera.  Those folks have some seriously crazy skills and create beautiful images from a blank canvas using illustrative software.  I, on the other hand require a piece of glass and a shutter button to create.

Q:  Well, I don’t know about that – I’ve read some of your HDR tutorials, which indicate you are pretty skilled with Photoshop!  Anyway, do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share about the state of photography or any catch phrases that you keep in mind when shooting?

A:  I believe that we are living in renaissance period for photography.  Not since the invention of the process has so much changed so rapidly.  With the introduction of powerful software tools like Photoshop and the development of the digital camera, the average person has more creative tools at their disposal than ever before.  The only problem is that tools don’t make pictures, people do.  My advice for those that are just starting out is to not get caught up in all of the technical wizardry but rather learn the craft from the ground up.  Because even though there have been a multitude of advancements in the technical realm of photography, they aren’t worth squat unless you learn how to leverage them to your advantage.  Never stop learning.

Great advice and insights from Jeff Revell.  Please take a moment to stop over at his blog, Photowalk Pro, to check out everything he has to offer.  Thanks again Jeff for taking the time to participate in the Thursday Thoughts series here.  Until tomorrow all, Happy Shooting!  Hope all your shots are good ones!

Don’t Cash that Canon Rebate Check!!!

We interrupt your normal blogging routines to bring you this alert from the Canon homefront (and being the Canon fanboy, I figured I’d better report on it here…)

There’s a link off the Canon home page that quietly announces this.  The linked page is here:

Canon Rebate Announcement

You can follow the link to confirm, but here is the text of the announcement:

November 17, 2008.

Dear Valued Customer,

This is an official message from Canon U.S.A., Inc.

The third-party rebate processing company that was responsible for processing rebate claims and issuing mail-in rebate checks for Canon-brand printer and video products (along with many other products from a number of other companies) filed a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy petition on Friday, November 14. The funds provided to them by Canon U.S.A., Inc. (and other companies) apparently are no longer available to satisfy the rebate checks such company issued on behalf of Canon and other companies. Regrettably, as a result, you should not cash the rebate check you recently received for such products, as it may bounce. We apologize for any inconvenience, delay or confusion this may cause. We are doing everything in our power to promptly rectify the situation.

Accordingly, we request that you take the following actions:

  • If you are holding or receive a rebate check for printer or video products which is dated on or before November 14, 2008, please do not cash the check, as it may bounce. Please look for updated postings on the Canon U.S.A. website on or about November 21, 2008 for further instruction on how to exchange your check for a new check that you will be able to cash.
  • If you have not yet mailed in your rebate claim materials, please hold such materials until you receive further instruction. We are making new processing arrangements, with a new mail-in address. Please look for updated postings on the Canon U.S.A. website on or about November 21, 2008 for further instruction on where to mail your rebate claim material and how to exchange your check for a new check that you will be able to cash.

Check our website later this week for further instructions and contact information for any questions you may have. Again, please do not cash any rebate checks for printer or video products which are dated on or before November 14, 2008, as they may bounce.

We are committed to ensuring that you receive your rebate as soon as possible and that you will continue to have full confidence in Canon U.S.A., Inc.

We apologize again for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Canon U.S.A., Inc.

So… for those who read the blog, hold off on any purchases as it looks like the rebate may not clear!

We now return you to your regular blogging…

Some Friday Photos

As promised earlier this week, I finally have some photos to share. In the middle of the drive across country from SC to CO, I stopped a few times and saw some possibilities for panorama shots. Keeping in mind a couple tips, I switched my camera from landscape mode to vertical (a.k.a. portrait) mode, and captured several scenes on my 40D. Here is the first installment of my attempts at panoramas:

So, you’ll notice that the color on these is a little off, and the exposure is a little dark. I realized that I would have issues though, if I tried to expose for such a wide scene and range of colors across the entire panorama, most especially when trying to use the Photomerge function of Photoshop. So I set my White Balance to cloudy, my exposure to one frame, and just snapped across the image.

Here’s where it gets fun…I am running CS2 on my Mac laptop which cannot read my 40D files. My CS3 was set up on my Windows desktop. The Dell only has a 2.3 Ghz Celeron processor with 1.5 GB of RAM (I never got around to adding that last 512 before the move…). Needless to say, without being set up right, I really couldn’t process 8 shots each at 10MP (that’s a grand total of 80 MP in the final pano)! Even now with the portable AC on the Dell, it was screaming along as I ran the Photomerge utility through Bridge. Once I got the photomerge done, I stamped the layers (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) and converted to a smart object.

I then double-clicked the smart object to edit in it’s own window. This image file was now at 480 MB! Needless to say, I did some layer adjustments for exposure, and curves, then saved the file. I was now back in the full pano composite. I saved the full pano as a PSD file, then flattened before making some downsizing. For the curious, the full size pano is over 8000px on the long side. For the purposes of the web, I did have to downsize it a little. Clearly downsizing to allow the blog to show it would be out of the question, so here’s links to a large sized version (1600px long side), and a xl sized (3200px long side).

Large Pano

Extra-Large Pano

So, here’s the question: was it worth it? 🙂

The 40D versus the XT

40d versus XT

We are now in day 5 of the first ever photo contest from Canon Blogger, so keep thinking freedom as you point that lens – it could win you cold hard cash!  Check out the details from the post of July 3rd, here. In new news, I got a good long weekend with family to shoot with the 40D, and after some pretty extensive shooting (over 1500 shots in 48 hours), I’ve had a chance to get at least a good handle on the basics of the 40D.  Granted I do not have the minutia of it down pat like on the XT, but I suspect that will only come with more time behind the lens.

Anyway, I thought now might be as good a time as ever to give you the lowdown on my thoughts of the 40D as they compare to the XT.  It was definitely worth the upgrade!  I put together a short video showing a comparison of some of the benefits of the 40D over the XT, as well as one rather disappointing thing.  I should be back next week with a regular Photoshop tip – just the last few weeks have been rather crazy with prepping the house to be “show ready”.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the 40D versus XT home video I recorded earlier today.  Enjoy and we’l see you tomorrow with the latest edition of “What’s This?”.  Happy shooting and watch those apertures!

Friday Feel-goods

Canon 40D

Found a couple neat resources around the web over the last few days. But, I am not gonna share them today. That’s right, the old bait-and-switch! I say something then switch gears once you’re hooked and talk about something else entirely. But, rest assured weary reader, I am not selling anything…yet! Quite simply – I got my 40D!!! That’s right, pulled the trigger, but the bullet, took the plunge, and every other metaphor you can think of. So, now with not one but 2 SLR’s in hand, I feel a little better knowing I have a backup.

That means my trusty Canon XT is now a backup camera! The funniest thing about it is that when I got my XT about 3 years ago, I paid more for that than I just paid for the Canon 40D (body only)! Back in 2005, the XT was hot off the presses and I was chomping at the bit to get it. The market started with it around $1000, and when I found one at Beach Camera for $850, I thought – “This is a good deal!” So I took the plunge.

Fast forward to 2007, the Canon 40D debuts for $1140 retail for the body. Within a year, rebates start kicking in – the struggling economy starts impacting camera manufacturers, so the rebates are big. The Canon 40D now has a $200 rebate, and it’s not the mail in kind! That’s right, an instant in-store rebate knocks the 40D down to $940 bones. This is a pretty darn good deal considering where the 40D stands in the Canon lineup. (3rd in line as I see it: 1D Mark II, 5D, and then the 40D)

But wait, hold the phones, that deal gets sweeter! If you are a current XT, XTi, or XSi owner, an additional $50 mail in rebate is offered too. So, now after all rebates, you can get the pristine new 40D for under $900…a mere $890! What a steal! But, here’s the thing – that means the aftermarket is starting to feel a pinch. This means the 40D that many bought a mere 6 months ago for $1200 could concievably drop to half that in the aftermarket since the XS is coming out, and a likely successor to the 5D which will push it down further. No one wants to see their gear depreciate to the tune of 50% in a mere 12 months. Heck, the XT new was around $100, and it still can be found for $450-$500 after being in the market place for about 4 years! (Although I suspect not for much longer – it’s not even in the current lineup anymore…)

So, anyway, the aftermarket starts picking up. By keeping up with the market via 1001 Noisy Cameras I can see that Canon is taking the majority of the top ten deals for a good 3 months. Now, with the standard for after market stuff typically running around 10-15% less than retail, 40D owners start pushing their bodies for $900, then $875, and most recently I saw one for $850. Well, last week I posted in the Buy/Sell forums of one particular community that I wanted to buy (WTB) a 40D at the 10% off retail rate…after rebates! That meant $800. Within an hour I had a taker, so – for less than the price of my XT, I upgraded to the 40D a year after its release.

Ironic, because it was about a year after the XT was released that I got it for about just as the retail price dropped 10%. In the aftermath, I learned a valuable lesson about camera gear: bodies depreciate, lenses retain value. If you want to spend money wisely, don’t upgrade your body every year, upgrade your glass. Hopefully this upgrade will have been worthwhile – 3 years in the making, and for $100 less than my previous body – I think it was probably a good investment. The only reason I did it was because I really did feel as though I was starting to bump up against the limitations of the XT body. Frame rate was not where I wanted it, the image counter was becoming more of a hindrance as I take more, the images were harder to see, and it was just starting to show signs of wear and tear. A bit of the plastic casing had peeled off in my sweaty mitts. It was just time to upgrade. To the forum guy (you know who you are) that hooked me up…thanks so much!

In looking at the counter, it seems the actuations are even lower than I thought with the count in the 500’s! I simply just re-set it back to 0 and I am rockin’ and rollin’! So, in case you hadn’t guessed it – this is just a “Feel Good” post today – nothing insightful, informational, or even useful – just a gleeful post of what was formerly an adult and what is now a 5-year old kid at Christmas! Have fun all, go out and shoot some (I know I will be…)

Oh yeah, here’s your WTD for the week:

What the Duck - June 26th 2008

Tuesday Tech Talk: Canon ST-E2

This week, the Tuesday Tip is more of a Tech Talk. I got an email from someone inquiring about the Canon ST-E2 asking about how to use it, and what it is compatible with. Taking a cue from this, I decided to make it a video tip from the MacbookPro,and set things up to give a basic primer on what the ST-E2 looks like, how it mounts to your camera, and how it triggers off-camera flashes electronically. Hopefully this will help demonstrate the purpose of the ST-E2 in a better light (bad pun, sorry)! Because it was recorded from the Mac this go around, there will not be a Flash-based version of the Tip this week.Sorry in advance for any that might prefer the Flash version.

One note on the video content: I said in the video that the ST-E2 supports the entire Speedlight flash family.While that is true, I did get the nomenclature wrong.As it turns out, the 400 series Speedlights are the 420 EX and the 430 EX, with the 500 series ones numbering at 550 EX and 580 EX.The ST-E2 will work with them all, albeit with some limitations on the earlier versions.For detailed specs, there is good information at Canon and the product sheet maintained by BH Photo.Those direct links are provided here for anyone who is interested.

So, that is the tip for this Tuesday: an ST-E2 Tech Talk.If anyone would like to see more gear in action, or has a question about how to use gear, feel free to email me or post in the comments section.Happy shooting, watch those apertures, and we will see you tomorrow!

Canon Product Sheet for the ST-E2

B and H Photo Product Sheet for the ST-E2

PlayPlay

The week in review

globe

I know web links are typically done on Wednesdays, but a little schedule change was in order given the recent news from this corner of the internet.  So, for this Friday, here’s some stuff I read around the web recently:

Brian Reyman of Professional Snapshots has released a beta version of a neat Flash program for schematics of lighting setups.  It’s a very helpful in documenting studio work and other such photo utilities.  Best of all, it’s Flash-based so it will work on Mac and PC!  Many thanks to Brian for all the time and energy he’s put into this program.

Being very much a fan of DIY photography, I have to give shout outs to the guys over at This Week in Photography for their post on making your own reflectors from cardboard, styrofoam, or plywood and either paiting white or covering with aluminum foil.  Very clever, and a great tip!  Thanks to Scott Bourne for this…oh yeah, check out their weekly podcast too.  Lots of info and always fun to listen to!

Scott Kelby needs no introduction, as he’s pretty well recognized throughout the industry.  He also most certainly needs no help from me for publicity, but his post this week about the “School of Hard Knocks” really hit home as I forgot a CF card for my camera just the other day.  So, sometimes I really am just like Scott Kelby!

David Hobby also gave a little nod to this over on Strobist, and while it’s a little late to be saying it here, there was a Shoot! the Day scheduled for today – photogs the world over will be sharing their shots taken from today over at Photoshelter in the coming week or so.  I signed up, but because I forgot my CF card, was not able to participate.  Still, stop over there to see a day in the life of photographers the world over!

Michael Johnston of The Online Photographer anounced his newist list of Top Ten Cameras, and Canon gear made it in twice (three times if you count them in with the “any entry-level DSLR” listing.)  The top Canon recommendations are the 5D and the SD870 IS.

Finally, in Canon-specific news, we’ all have likely heard about the upcoming release of the Canon XS.  Scheduled for release in July, it’s gotten a few reviews trickling out from various resources.  The best review I’ve read is over at the Photokina site.

Last, but not least, don’t forget to take a break, and laugh a little over at What the Duck!  My favorite one from this week:

What the Duck

Usual becomes unusual

Lighting Objects

The tutorial for this Tuesday, you may notice is not your typical Photoshop tip, trick, or tutorial. I took things outside of the desktop and into the real world to show you examples of thinking outside the box when it comes to lighting. By now we are all familiar with Strobist, and the methods he uses to encourage people to think about lighting and how to do things in an economically friendly way.

Today, I wanted to take a moment to share with you a few lighting ideas I’ve had and some of the effects they’ve produced. None of these home-made products cost me more than 15 cents! Anyway, I’ll let the tutorial stand alone, but did want to include the show notes:

Tune in to Strobist for anything and everything lighting you ever wanted to read – David Hobby is the lighting guru of the blog world!

David was interviewed recently on Studio Lighting, so now I’ve listened to their podcast, and it’s definitely one to return to. These guys just sound like they’re a lot of fun.

And the shots… you saw the montage up top, but here’s the individual shots from my diffused snoot:

Horizontal View

Vertical View

Angled View

So, there’s just a few examples of how to generate creative lighting by looking at usual objects in unusual ways. Tune in to the podcast to see what other stuff I’ve come up with. Because it was recorded outside of the computer though, I only have the Quicktime version. I am still looking into a decent Flash converter so I can put that together with the “intro” and “out-tro” clips, so if anyone has suggestions for that, I am all ears there too. Anyway, to close out, I’d like to pose another question: What have you come up with in the way of uses? Any everyday objects become part of your photo gear? Share ’em in the comments section!

In the News – Doo Wah!

Bop bop doo bop doo bop do wow!  Okay, sorry, that’s a bad skit for the great jazz tune from the ’50’s, but nevertheless, whenever I hear the phrase “in the news” I feel compelled to sing that line.  Now, for your real news from CB today:  I’ve got two stories for you, some news from Adobe on the next iteration of Photoshop and some Canon news on the Canon Hacking Development Kit (aka CHDK) that is now maing waves.  Read on for all the details!

Adobe Photoshop News

Well, the big news I read today during lunch was that the folks at Adobe will be incorporating some sort of GPU support for its next iteration of Photoshop.  Tapping into the GPU (graphics processing unit) means that larger images can be rendered on your display faster.   Another added benefit will be an increase in processing speeds for filters and other intensive activities. Nothing too earth-shattering, except they did report that at the Nvidia show, they watched the presenter zoom and rotate the canvas on a 2 GB image as though it were a 5 MB image.

 

Canon CHDK News

In more Canon-specific news, I have now read at least 10 articles from a number of resources talking about the Canon Hacking Development Kit (CHDK), which is a free firmware hack that can be applied to P&S grade cameras to allow them to do a number of things that SLR’s do, and even a few that your average SLR can’t do!

 

  1. The CHDK allows Point-n-Shooters to shoot in raw mode.  The caveat is that since it’s not a standard raw format, you can’t open this in Photoshop or Lightroom directly.  Instead, there is a third party software kit out there (also for free) called dng4ps2 that can convert the image to the more common DNG, which is Adobe’s Digital Negative format.  The DNG file can then be opened in Photoshop or Lightroom.
  2. The CHDK kit enhances the P&S feature set by adding a battery status indicator so you can see how much of a charge you have left on your battery.  I know this feature is already there in SLR cameras, so I guess the P&S’er didn’t have this feature regularly – news to me.
  3. The CHDK kit also adds what they’re calling a zebra mode which will show you whether a picture is under- or over-exposed.  Basically, it sounds like it’s adding a histogram feature.  Again, this feature is standard on most SLR’s, but not on most P&S cameras.  I just think that even a lot of SLR shooters don’t use the histogram (although I would personally encourage more use of it), so adding the feature on P&S cameras may be a little overkill.
  4. Finally, the CHDK kit allows P&S’ers to extend their range of shutter speeds.  The most reliable info I saw for the CHDK claimed the range went from a standard of 1/3200-15 seconds all the way up to a range of 1/33,333 to 65 seconds!  You read that right, that’s one-thirty-three-thousandsth of a second (and change).  Kind of makes the 1/8000ths shutter speed on the 40D look pathetic, eh?  Granted, this was specific to the S5 IS, but the standard change is to 1/64000ths of a second, which is still earth-shatteringly fast! 

Now, the caveats:

 

  1. Write time slows down considerably when shooting in raw (to about 2-4 seconds – yikes!).
  2. The raw file format is not recognized by mainstream applications like Photoshop and Lightroom.  In other words, file accessibility is likely not reliable.
  3. The software that you have to use to access the raw image data is freeware.  While some software from the open-sourced community is excellent (case in point GIMP, OpenOffice, and many others) and perfectly safe, the fact that this software comes from Russia and is (to my knowledge) untested, sets off red flags all over the place for me.  Of course I work in IT, so it’s in my nature to be suspicious of third party software from third world countries…
  4. As with any firmware hack, this is likely going to void any manufacturer warranty or vendor support for the camera if you install the software.

So, having shown the pros and cons, I’ll leave it to the community – install at your own discretion.  For those that do decide to install, feel free to share your thoughts here in the comments, or with me via email – I’d like to hear feedback on the reliability of the kit.  The CHDK can be downloaded direct from the link here:  http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/S5IS, and the raw converter from here:  http://dng4ps2.chat.ru/index_en.html  Until next time, happy shooting and watch those apertures (or should I say shutters?)!