Category: Hardware Reviews

The long-awaited Drobo review

Jason9 Comments

I’d been waiting for the time to put together all the videos, audio, and pictures for this review for a while and I’ve finally caught up on other projects so am getting this out for the listening and reading audiences to enjoy!  For those that subscribe and read via RSS, sorry because this is a video-heavy post and you’re just going to have to visit the blog to get the content today! Trust me though, it’s worth it as I take a look at how the Drobo performs in a real world environment with hot swapping drives, and the perils and pitfalls that surround storage area networks…

Enjoy!

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Hardware Review: Rapid R Strap

Jason6 Comments

I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to talk about my Rapid R Strap.  This is a very cool camera strap developed by the folks over at Black Rapid.  I had been wanting one for a while, and made it known to everyone prior to the holidays over a year ago (think pre-Christmas 2008).  Thankfully, my wife saw the writing on the wall, and I ended up with one on Christmas Day!

Black Rapid R Strap (RS-5)

So, let me tell you what makes this camera strap unique.  First off, it’s unique design has a built in “stop” so that you just let your camera slide down to that point and it just hangs there, conveniently out of the way, but immediately accessible when you want to bring it up for capturing a shot.  This strap is the perfect accessory for going on photo walks whether in an urban environment, wildlife, or other setting.  The fact that your camera is hanging out of the way makes it much easier to do things like climb rock walls, interact with others (getting signed model releases, passing out business cards, etc.), or anything else that you may need both your hands for.

Another nice feature set on this is that the front of the strap has a Velcro section where you can throw a cell phone in (probably not an iPhone though), and a zipper section where you can store things like spare memory cards, business cards, and other accessory items (I was able to fit a spare battery in there…)

There was an awkward adjustment for just a little bit, getting used to a camera not only dangling from this strap, but also dangling upsidedown!  It was a very short adjustment though, and I quickly adapted to the nature of how it works.  What was super cool for my setup is that I was able to utilize my quick release place as the “hook” for the clip, so if I wanted to quickly go from shooting on the go, to setting it in a tripod, it was simply a matter of releasing the clip, mounting in the tripod and lining up the shot.

These straps come in a variety of sizes, with one even offering dual straps for a two-camera setup (I know a few guys that do this, with one body holding a long lens and the other holding a wide angle…ready for anything!).  The size I ended up getting was the RS-5 (medium), and it fit my 6’1″ just about perfectly.  Choose the option that works best for your frame and gear setup, but this is definitely a purchase worth getting, especially if you go on a lot of photo walks.

Got any of your own gear predilections or preferences?  Want me to review something you’ve not seen here yet?  Do you own a Rapid R Strap?  Like it, love it or hate it?  Sound off with your own thoughts in the comments.  In the meantime, keep on shooting as we have another contest underway for a free 16×20 canvas print of any picture you have in your gallery from the talented Rich Charpentier!  Check out his printing services and you’ll be glad you did!  The contest page on Flickr is here, and is also linked in the content menus at the top of every page (the theme this month is Height).  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Hardware Review: Expodisc

Jason3 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve done a hardware review, and I realized that when the folks at Expo Imaging had sent me the Rayflash to review, I had also received an Expodisc.  I know I recorded the video for it, but for some reason it never got published, as the two were meant to be posted back to back.

In any case, here is the long-awaited review of the Epodisc from the folks at Expo Imaging:

Expo Disc

First – what is the Expodisc?  It’s simply a disc that defracts light as it passes through your lens in order to determine the proper white balance setting for your images.  Why is this a good thing?  It’s a good thing because light doesn’t always fall into the specific categories designed by your vendor.  It’s not always daylight, tungsten, florescent, etc.  These vendor pre-sets can get you close, but if you want spot on white balance settings in camera, this is definitely the way to go!  Here’s the short video I had put together a while back on how it works:

Do I like the Expo Disc?  Absolutely – and if I were in an environment where lighting conditions change often, or it was tricky to determine (say those lights in gyms with the green phosphorous), these utilities are a godsend.  Landscape environments can also be tricky when you are dealing with things like snow, shade and sunny areas at the same time, and portraiture can be tricky too – say you have a bride’s wedding dress, the whites of the eyes, and the teeth for sample areas – which do you set?  Use the ExpoDisc and it will be spot on every time!

Thanks again to the folks at Expo Imaging for lending me the review units of the Ray Flash and the Expo Disc. It was a pleasure, and for those interested in learning more about their products, please visit their website here.

Happy shooting everyone – be sure you get your shots in, because there’s limited time left in the Circles contest for a lucky participant. Here’s the Flickr thread – keep on posting and keep on shooting!  We’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

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Hardware Review: Western Digital Passport Drive

Jason3 Comments

For those of you on Twitter (and following me), you know that over the weekend, my iPhoto library on the Mac was either corrupted, or somehow compromised in its integrity, because when I went to add in a few snapshots to it for sharing with the Twitter-verse, it crashed on me.  Believe it or not, I was not worried, because I had a back-up copy of all my snapshots on my Western Digital Hard Drive.  I blogged about this puppy before, in showing you how to add a second drive to your laptop in 10 easy steps.

Western Digital Passport Drive
Western Digital Passport Drive

Well, not only is the second hard drive a great way to increase the capacity of your laptop, but it also saved my bacon this weekend, because when the library was corrupted (I use the method of not importing a copy to my library and save the library on the main OS drive), it was simply a matter of creating a new library when opening iPhoto, changing the option in Preferences to not copy images in, and then sitting back and waiting the hour or so for the import to complete.

What I like about this Passport Drive though is the fact that I have dedicated storage for my photos, music, and documents independent of the OS drive.  I also can easily remove it from the laptop if needed.  Lastly, I also like it because I can expand this fairly easily.  To do that, I would just get another drive, plug it into another USB port, and simply drag-and-drop to copy to the new location.  The old primary can now be easily disconnected, become a back-up, and the new one becomes the primary.  Another great feature of these is that you can easily copy data to and from it, and with surprising ease.  I cannot verify this, but suspect that these Passport drives are solid state drives because they don’t get very hot, and it’s just been so awesome for letting my photos and music libraries expand without me thinking much about them.

The downside?  They are a little pricier than their larger drive equivalents.  With the ever-decreasing cost of storage these days though, it’s well worth the additional 20 cents per gigabyte in my opinion!  (My 320 GB was like $80 – it goes for $71 now at B&H.)  You can get these pretty much anywhere from your local Wal-Mart, to Best Buy, Newegg, B&H, and other retailers/e-tailers.

Oh, and there’s a moral to this story too:  always, always, always…back up your data! For more reviews and other information on this drive, feel free to find your favorite review resource online.  I like the ones over at TestFreaks myself (although this is a rating of the 500Gb unit), but as with any review resource, your mileage may vary.

In other blog notes of interest:

  • The Flickr contest is in its final two weeks starting today – it’s a prize package of three pretty sweet items, so be sure to get your entry(ies) in soon.  At stake is a $25 gift card to B&H, the 11th Season of Photoshop User TV, and a book from Photographer/Author, and Friend-of-the-Blog, Matthew Bamberg.  The Flickr thread is linked up at the top of the blog, but here’s a quick link for easy reference.
  • Speaking of the links at the top of the blog – you may notice that more content is being added.  The Navigation Bar is being reorganized to include more “About” pages, Archives, My Gear, and much more.  Feel free to peruse those at your leisure.  More content is coming soon too, so don’t just be checking things out in your RSS feeds – lots of content is available directly from the blog!
  • Congrats to Mary Angelini as well for her witty comment from the Scott Kelby book giveaway  –  stop by her site for a good set of photo galleries to peruse too (and to congratulate her).

That’s it for today…happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.

Hardware Review: XRite Colorimeter

Jason5 Comments

Eventually you knew it was coming – the subject of color management.  Now before you mosey along, or your eyes glaze over, rest assured, this is not going to be the typical discussion of color management.  I am not going to talk about LAB color vs CMYK, vs RGB, or anything like that.  And even though the term “colorimeter” may sound like something Marvin the Martian was going to use to destroy Earth in the classic Bugs Bunny cartoon (that was the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator), there is nothing overly scientific in today’s post.

Well, that’s not entirely true – it is scientific, but I certainly will not portray to understand any of that.  Instead, I am going to show you how easy it is to calibrate your monitor using this device.  Now I am looking specifically at the one from X-Rite (I own the Gretag Macbeth version from before X-Rite bought them), but color management has become as easy as a couple of mouse-clicks these days.  So, you don’t have to know anything about color gamuts, RGB, CMYK, LAB, or anything like that to know you are getting color accurate images.  Check it out…

After installing the software from the CD, simply connect the device and start the software.  The device is the colorimeter (also known as a calibrator in some circles), and it is shaped like a computer mouse or a hockey puck.  It has a cable that connects it to your computer via USB, and is good for either CRT, LCD, or laptop displays.  Additional software components also enable you to calibrate things like projectors, scanners, and much more.  Here though, I’ll be showing you how it works with a computer monitor.

Once the puck is connected and placed on the monitor, simply go through the wizard to calibrate everything from Contrast, to Brightness, and your RGB colors.  It’s pretty straightforward…just open the display settings for your particular monitor type, and increase or decrease the values until the indicator is as close to center as you can get it.  You’ll notice that I am calibrating a Dell computer monitor, and it is a Windows-based computer, but the process is just as simple on a Mac.  (I just got my Windows notification though, so figured it’d be easier to kill 2 birds with one stone there.)

Here’s a couple of screen shots to give you an idea of the process.  The first step when launching the software is to specify your white point and monitor type (if you are calibrating a laptop, pick the LCD).  Next up, decide whether you want to go the easy route or the advanced route.  I would recommend the advanced route, as even that is very easily accomplished, and these are the screen captures I am using here:

CRT or LCD
CRT or LCD

Next up is the screen capture of the contrast display.  In the upper left, the software shows the current contrast setting compared to the desired setting.  On the left is the colorimeter.  The Brightness (or Luminance) window is pretty much the same layout, so I am not going to repeat the screen capture here.

Calibrating the Contrast
Calibrating the Contrast

Here’s a screen capture of the first stage in setting the color values for my Dell 19″ LCD.  The software readout is on the upper right, the colorimeter is on the left, and dead center is the display menu for the Dell monitor.

Calibrating the Color
Calibrating the Color

Once your contrast, brightness, and color settings are defined for the monitor you are using, the software will run through and configure the graphics card, monitor, and display output settings.

Calibrating the Color 2
Calibrating the Color 2

Once all the settings are complete, a profile is creating in your system folder.  For Windows, that is in the system32 folder.  You can give it a specific name, and set the schedule on which you will be reminded for a new profile to be built anywhere between 1-4 weeks…more on this in a minute.

Setting the Monitor Profile
Setting the Monitor Profile

As you can see, it is as straightforward and simple as can be – even on the advanced settings where I defined the color (RGB) settings.  So, why doesn’t everyone do this?  Good question!  This device cost me roughly $200, which is likely not cheap by average standards for equipment (especially that which cannot be attached to your camera!), but if you really want to get quality results, the price is minimal.  I have mine set to update every 2 weeks (my LCD display has a tendency to shift colors easily, and LCD’s in general are known for color shift especially as they get warm and cool down when turned on and off.)  The benefits are huge though as your prints will be more accurate whether you print at a lab or print at home.  In the case of the former, no color correction is needed (and if you use MPIX Pro, there is no color correction done), and in the case of the latter, you will use less ink and paper in test runs before getting the results you want.

Keep in mind that this is just the procedure using the X-Rite, and I am sure others could just as easily recommend the Spyder Pro series, or some other colorimeter.  With that in mind, if you have an inkling one way or another, feel free to share your own experiences in the comments.  Which colorimeter do you use?  Do you like it?  Not so much?  What do you like/dislike about the process?

Whether you like the X-Rite method though, or some other model – calibrating your monitor is an important part of working with a color managed work flow if you want to produce accurate and quality prints.  After all, it is still about the print.  Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments!  Until tomorrow, happy shooting and we’ll see you then!

Canon 550EX Review/Eulogy

Jason3 Comments

Hardware Review/Eulogy – The Canon 550 EX

550ex_586x225
Ah, how I loved thee, the Canon 550 EX, with your 3 flash modes, ETTL, Manual and Multi mode.  You were especially wonderful because of how well the ETTL worked in conjunction with the Canon bodies.  Your typical standard hotshoe fit every Canon SLR from the first days of DSLR’s (I think)), and you worked beautifully both as a slave and as a master via the toggle just below the button panel.

Another especially nice feature you had was the variable power settings when in manual, where I was able to adjust you from full power down to 1/128th power.  YOu also were very kind in allowing me to adjust your zoom range from 24mm to 105mm for the range of output too.   Compatability with the ST-E2 and the infra-red line of sight was another added benefit, although the infra-red technology has dated you beyond use in the current spectrum of choices.

When it comes to working in master-slave modes, you were pretty rockin’ though.  The ability to adjust ratios from 1:1 all the way to +/- 1:8 was pretty sweet, as was the ability to  assign you to one of three different groups, A, B, or C.  Although I’ve never used you in the multi-mode, the options there seem quite nice as well.

The Flash exposure bracketing, and High Speed sync with later EOS models has been a nice feature for me too, which is why I’ve hung on to you as long as I have – provided I’ve got the batteries and power to support it!

However, it was your time to go as you did not have a full-360 degree rotation on the head (without a hack), and your vertical tilt only had 3 adjustments at 60, 75, and 90 degrees. You also went through your 4 AA batteries like a hot knife through butter without the accessory battery pack (pricey in its own right).

Additionally, at a smidge over 14 ounces without batteries, and your large size (3.1 x 5.4 x 4.4) you’ve taken up a lot of space in the gear bag.  YOur remote limitations also had their downside since I could only fire you with the ST-E2 or Canon proprietary cable.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Canon gear, but sometimes others had flashes that I would like to have been able to use or borrow and could have if only you had a PC-sync plug.  Sure, workarounds and jerry-rigged devices are out there (which I have ended up using), but the endless testing, mis-fires, and other tangential effects of a home-made brew had some less than desirable outputs.

Ahhh…550EX, I loved thee well – you shall work well as a secondary with your newer cousin, the 580 EX II when she arrives in another month or so!  But when she arrives, I shall bid thee farewell, relegating you to the dust mites of my camera bag.  Good thing your owner kept your vitals intact here

Until that day, I’ll shoot again tomorrow!  (Happy shooting everyone!)

Grab the Feed

Hardware Review: The Canon EF-S 18-55mm

Jason8 Comments

After a couple diversion-driven weeks of postings, hardware reviews are back in full swing, and this week the 18-55mm lens from Canon undergoes analysis. Since the lens has already seen a great deal of feedback and reviews in the community, a discussion of the technical features of the lens is somewhat meaningless.  Instead, here are a couple great resources that talk about the quality of the lens in great detail:

Photo.Net Review

Photo Notes

So, why talk about the lens if it’s already been covered so well? For two reasons…first because the lens really offers a great range of focus and image quality for its size and cost (it’s light and cheap), and because it really has become more of an historical note as it’s been replaced.  It’s new cousin is the 18-55mm IS lens with improved optics and the Image Stabilization feature that has become popular among photographers and aficionados.  So, since this is a lens that will probably not be around much longer, other than auction sites like eBay, not only is this a review post, consider it also a eulogy.

This really is a great lens given it’s relatively low cost.  It allows you to go fairly wide, yet also zoom in nice and tight for close-ups.  Granted it’s not going to zoom very far as it’s not intended to be more than a standard range lens.  On a crop sensor camera (it won’t fit on a full-frame due to design) the range adjusts from the design range of 18-55 to a broader 29-88.  This actually means this lens is good for anything from architecture to portraiture and landscape subjects.  Sure, there are other lenses that will produce better results, primarily because their optics are more refined and the “sweet spot” is wider, but if you want to go light and mobile, the 18-55mm is definitely one to consider if you can still find it.  Lucky me, I kept mine from the XT days when I first entered into Digital Photography!

Here are some sample shots from this lens that I took recently for this review/eulogy:

Wide Open
Wide Open

Zomed to 55mm
Zomed to 55mm

An Abstract Perspective (at 18mm)
An Abstract Perspective (at 18mm)

The same abstract from 55mm
The same abstract from 55mm

A few sunflowers
A few sunflowers

And if you like the sunflower shot, then take a look at the small gallery I put together here (all with the 18-55)!  Sure, I had some lighting help and it was a controlled indoor environment, but it just goes to show that just because it’s dated, doesn’t mean it’s bad.  Coming up next week, another product review/eulogy from the Canon arsenal that is no longer made:  The Canon 550EX  (the light used in the gallery above). In the meantime, don’t forget that this is the last week fr contributing shots to the OnOne Software Plugin Suite 4.5 Giveaway.  The Flickr thread is here and links to all the contest details.   Good luck, and until tomorrow, happy shooting everyone!

Full Review: Apple iPod Touch 2G

Jason8 Comments


Mac Madness (Mac Systems)

Having had the Touch now for about a week, I’ve had a fair amount of time to look at all the features, bells, whistles, and nuances of it to give a more thorough review.  As this review begins, you surely must be asking, “How does this relate to photography?”  An excellent question, so let me begin with the benefits relating to photography:

photo_icon

Photo Albums – this is a great way to take a portable portfolio with you where ever you go.  Say you are in a grocery store, restaurant, or somewhere and a discussion starts about any good photographers.   “Funny you should ask – I am a photographer…would you like to see a little bit of my portfolio?”  Then whip out that Touch and pick an album to show them – the ooohs and ahhs could make the difference between landing the gig and having them respond with “We’ll let you know…”  Having the extra advantage of being able to show at least a pocket-sized portfolio could make the difference between getting a gig or not.  Interesting food for though…

networking

Networking – the Touch has built in wi-fi, so you can stay up to date as long as you are connected to a wifi network.  Here in Denver there is a free wifi network downtown so as long as you are within range, you can check email, update status on Facebook, and network the latest developments on Twitter or Friendfeed.

Applications – bar none, the best feature in my opinion.  From here I was able to download an FTP client, a photo editor (very light in function, i.e. cropping brighten, darken, saturate, desaturate, etc.) and voice recorder.  Other utilities include sunrise/sunset calculators, light meters, word/excel editing apps, etc.  As the saying goes, if there’s something you want to do, there’s an app for that.  With these utilities I can do things like record audio snippets for the blog, upload said content to the blog or other website, do quick photo edits, or even review documents on the fly.  The built in email service is also very handy.

podcast

Music/Podcasts – Just like other ipods, you can listen to music, podcasts, and because of the nice glossy screen, watch videos, including TV shows and movies (pretty much anything the Apple Store offers).  As a blogger and podcaster, for me it is particularly useful because I can listen to what others are doing, and either ensure that I am keeping up, or ensure that I am producing original content that is enjoyable to my viewers and listeners.  If you are a fan of podcasts and other such learning resources to increase your experience and knowledge base, this can also be useful as there are many good podcast resources out there for aspiring and learning photographers.  What I am not a fan of in this regard though, is the fact that with the ability to install “applications”, the Touch still requires connection to a computer in order to manage your content.  You have to delete apps, music, podcasts, pics and such from the iTunes application on your computer and not from your ipod.  What’s up with that?  You’d think Apple would build their own applications into something this robust…but more on the cons in a moment…

Having started with the negatives a little bit, let me go into some of the drawbacks.

Software I – the iPhone user is very fortunate because when the software update from 2.0 to 3.0 came out, the upgrade was free.  Touch users saw no such benefit.  I bought this a week ago, and had to pay for the privilege of getting the OS update to 3.0.  Because of the benefits of it though, as well as the low cost (it was only $10), I went ahead and bit the bullet, but seeing as I had just spent over $200 for something brand new, in principle it seems that it should have shipped with OS 3.0 already on it.

Software II – A couple of the built in applications seem quirky, like the iTunes music.  There is a neat feature called Shuffle where you shake the Touch and it creates a random playlist for you from your library of music.  The problem is that it will keep generating new playlists randomly any time there is a little bit of shake unless you turn it off manually (say for your morning jog).  There must be a better way to toggle this on and off – but I am not a software designer, so not sure how to even go about doing this.

Photo Albums – One of the advantages of the Apple setup over Windows (I had always thought this anyway) is that you don’t have the same pyramid of files and folder structures where things can get lost.   Not really.  If you want to create multiple albums within your Touch (or any other iPod for that matter), the best method is to create a sync folder on your computer, then sub-folders within there and then connect the iPod and let it sync to that folder.

Deleting stuff – As mentioned above, I don’t like that you have to sync the iPod to the computer, then un-check the apps in iTunes on the computer to remove from the iPod.  Lastly, you have to then remove the applications from iTunes before they will be gone completely.  Give me an option to remove from the iPod directly.  The same goes for podcasts, music, photos, and the like – give me a way to delete (triple tap or something) from the iPod without having to resync.  Reason:  If I am on the go and a new podcast for Photoshop User TV comes out, I’ve got to have a fair amount of disc space available to download that from the wi-fi.  If I don’t have an iTunes instance on an available laptop or PC to connect up and delete manually, I am S.O.L.

Music – It’s similar to, but tangential enough from the delete/sync issue above that I thought the music portion warranted its own discussion.  This is not so much that I want to be able to delete music files, but I would like the ability to create playlists depending on what’s going on.  On the photo walk over the weekend, I actually did have about 20 minutes where there was no one in my immediate vicinity to talk to, so I was shooting around and decided to listen to some music to help with inspiration.  If the music isn’t right for the mood though, it can be distracting, so let me do that w/out having to re-sync back to iTunes to create another playlist – that’s just silly.

Camera – This is the only hardware element I have a complaint with – why did you not include a camera with the iTouch?  It seems rather odd that given the preponderance of built in cameras in things like phones, PDA’s, and Blackberries, Apple would say “no, just for the iPhone folks”.  Come on now…the TOuch seems like the more appropriate device for the camera than the iPhone.  After all, the phone has a utilitarian function, why would you bundle a camera into that and not the more accessory nature of the Touch?  Just seems like backward logic to me.

Accessories – The headphones for the iPhone have a built in microphone, and I can understand why they have always been included by default, but with the Touch 2G, and the new OS 3.0, the ability to record audio seems to becoming more and more standard as a way to make notes, deliver content to others.  Wit that, I think Apple should have included the headphones with built in mic wit the Touch.  It was a $30 investment, which I reluctantly paid, and am now glad I have, but really think Apple just wanted their extra little bit of my wallet in that scenario.  *sigh*

Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the gaming and entertainment aspect of the device as many people do find the diversions an enjoyable activity.  For me though, I have other venues for distraction and don’t find as much benefit in them, but if you are of that particular ilk, then by all means, check out the App Store part of iTunes for whatever strikes your fancy.

Overall though, the nits I have with the Touch are minor.  It’s a great device that can give me content to listen to, the ability to create my own content, and stay connected with family, friends, and colleagues.  The ability to listen to music while surfing the internet, catch up on Twitter, check email, and even record some audio content for the blog makes the Touch a valuable addition to my belt.

Well, that’s about it for today, as I can’t think of any additional feedback to give on the Touch – I’d give it one and a half thumbs up.  Until tomorrow, keep the energy going from the Worldwide Photowalk and keep on shooting!  We’ll see you back here again tomorrow!