technical – Page 2 – CanonBlogger

Geek Factor Alert

December 9, 2009 Jason4 Comments

Today’s post comes courtesy of a comment posted to Twitter from a friend (who shall remain nameless) asking about whether a particular camera was compatible with their computer.

Being the eternal geek, I jumped right in (figured the water was warm), and suggested that it shouldn’t matter because they are using a card reader…right? As it turns out, they were not, instead tethering the camera to the computer to transfer files. While this method is needed for instant viewing (see the tethering via Lightroom post using Canon here and Nikon here), it’s not recommended for transferring of your photos and video off a card that is in your camera. I tried to find a post on this to point the person to and realized that, son-of-a-gun, I had never really discussed this in detail. So… here we go! 🙂

There are a number of reasons why it is a good idea to use a card reader and not connect your camera to your computer for transferring images and video:

Data loss/corruption – The chances for losing data is so much higher because you are relying on the computer detecting the camera, and the proprietary interface between that and the computer (with drivers and software and all that jazz).
Battery drain – Unless you have an AC adapter, using your camera to transfer pictures to your computer can be a serious drain on batteries…even with rechargeable batteries. And, if you are transferring images to your computer and your camera batteries happen to die, guess what can happen…(see #1 above)!
Software installation – When connecting your camera to your computer, often times you will need to install software in order for the computer to recognize the camera. Easy enough sure, but do you really want to bog down your computer with unnecessary software? What if that software is written to preload whenever the computer turns on? Now computer performance is decreased, you have less space for other things. Sure, hard drives are increasing in size and decreasing in cost all the time, but consider whether you will ever use the software for anything other than image transfer. If yes, then absolutely, use it. But if not – why bother? From an IT perspective, if there is a way to do something without installing software, that is always preferred to adding another layer because adding that layer adds a breaking point (or point of failure), and it’s just another item that needs maintenance and updates. After all, let’s face it. Software is not as cleanly written as it used to be…
Transfer speeds – Seriously. Many don’t realize it, but data transfers happen a lot faster when you don’t have a camera sitting between you and the computer. What may taken upwards of 3-5 minutes with a camera acting as the medium can often take less than 2 minutes with a straight connection to the media card.

So, there you have it, 4 reasons to use a card reader! Need any more? Got any of your own? Think I’m wrong? Please feel free to contribute your own experiences and share your own thoughts in the comments. Until tomorrow, happy shooting all!

Ten for 25!

November 20, 2009 Jason8 Comments

In keeping with the impending Giftmas (yes, I am spelling that right, and thanks to Yankeefoxtrot on Twitter for the name), and hopefully in time for your holiday shopping, I have assembled a cornucopia of items to share with you either as the photographer, or as the one with a photographer in the family. The best thing about this list though – all the items are $25 or less. After all, the economy is tight – we all know it and everyone is cutting back, but there’s no reason to feel denied simply because photography is known as an expensive hobby! This way, there’s also no need to feel like you are asking for someone’s first born, or that the guy/gal is just in a hobby that is too expensive to give something photo-related. Actually, that’s just one of the best things about this list. The other is that these are all items that I either own, or want for my own gear bag. So, take note, link this post, and enjoy!

Battery Caddy – this is probably my most appreciated item. Ranging in price from $5 to $14, I absolutely love mine and have been meaning to get more. (Thanks go out to Scott over at Weekly Photo Tips who sent me mine as a prize for a photo contest last year – I literally love this item!)
Eneloop Batteries – Since you have a battery caddy now, you may as well stock it with batteries. Yeah yeah, I know, batteries for flashes are so mundane, but get yourself a set of Eneloops and you may re-think this. These guys are not only super powerful but they retain their charge much longer than traditional rechargeables. Plus, they really do seem to have the staying power of traditional alkalines. A set of 4 of these can be had from any store, whether it’s B&H, Radioshack, or Newegg. The link above takes you to Sanyo’s page (the folks who make them), and it includes a whole laundry list, which includes Costco!
Stickey Filters – Okay, I am cheating here for two reasons. First, because I discovered these from another list (Scott Kelby’s Gonzo Gear Guide), and second, because the price is actually $49.95. But here’s how I justify it – you get two sets of these stickey filters, so it’s really like they are $25 each. Lame? Kinda, but these are so cool, you’re gonna want a set anyway. These guys are basically gels that have a sticky side that slaps to the front of your flash and act as a filter. Boom. Done. Stickey Filters look to be so cool! No more cutting and using Velcro on your flash, no more buying sheets of gels and finding a place to store them. Stickey Filters seem to be the answer to what the gellin’ photog needs in their gear bag. Plus, they offer a lifetime replacement! That’s impressive…
Camera Bubble Level – These little doohickeys are awesome. My bubble level on my tripod cracked about two years ago and the liquid drained out, rendering it useless. I’ve been meaning to replace it until someone (I forget who) pointed these guys out to me. It slides in your hot shoe mount too, so you know the camera is level. Amazon is the linked place, but these can be found many places for $10 or less!
Remote cable release – Okay, okay, I also stole this from Scott Kelby’s list, but truth be told, I also love mine (got it at the local camera store for like $39, but that was only because I didn’t want to wait the week for Amazon to ship me one. YOu can get them for any brand, but I have to go with Canon given the blog name. It’s linked above, and can be had for $24.95 at the time of this post.
Joby Gorillapod – I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve found myself out and about with my P&S only to wish I had my tripod with me for some stability just for a few seconds. I’d heard about the Gorilla pod but never really thought about it for my P&S because I didn’t have a small portable until fairly recently. When my brother showed up for the holidays with the Gorilla Pod and his P&S, not only was he more portable, but also more stable. (Don’t you hate it when your brother beats you at your own hobby!) I had to get one, and you should too! For the P&S original, it’s $21.95!
Earbud Microphone set – When I first got my iPod Touch, it was disappointing to learn that the included headphones did not include a microphone. The tech in me should have known, but I rushed back out to get the Apple-compatible headset. When I didn’t have it with me one day, I tried the set for my Blackberry and sure enough, it worked just fine. (Why wouldn’t it, it’s the same technology in headsets – all with the same adapter.) Now that my “Apple-certified” headset has developed a short, the replacement set will be the one from Plantronics for $5 from Amazon. Shoulda gone there first! For those out there without iPhones, Touches, or Blackberries – most phones these days come with a headset plug, and the mini-RCA should work in all of them. If not, you’re only out $5. Small price to pay for the ease with which these operate (and I think they sound better too!)
Microfiber Cloths – I know, it sounds crazy, but these do get dirty themselves and you must throw them out. No biggie though when a10-pack costs a mere $17.99 you can’t go wrong! You can get different sized cloths from camera vendors like B&H, and I think even Wal-Mart Visioncare has a 3-pack for like $10 bucks, but I like the ones from Simply Good Stuff (linked) simply because the price is right, they are designed for lenses, and it’s just a cool name for a website.
Gaffers Tape – anyone who’s been around photography for any amount of time has heard of gaffers tape. It’s low tack so the sticky stuff won’t adhere to your gear, but man can it save your $%^& in a pinch. For a mere $5 you can get 12 yards of the stuff from B&H, so the question isn’t “Why?”, it’s “Why not?”
Flickr Pro – there’s so much more you can do with a Flickr Pro account over the standard free account. At only $24.95, it meets the criteria, and the photog will fully enjoy the added features, including statistics, unlimited uploads, and so much more. Plus, you can give it to them online, so it saves all that added expense of tape and wrapping paper!

There you have it, 1o things under $25 (well, 9 since I kinda cheated on one). Have any ideas of your own? Products or items you prefer? Something blatant I missed? I’m sure there are lots of other ideas out there, so sound off in the comments and let others know about your “gotta have it gadgets”.! Just in time for the holidays too! Happy shooting all, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Monday!

The 1D Mark Huh?

October 21, 2009 Jason11 Comments

You knew it was gonna happen. A new camera body has hit the market from Canon. It was only a matter of time. The latest? The Canon 1D Mark IV! (That’s four in Roman numerals…) What’s it got going for it? Lots of features and functions. Everything is being discussed ad infinitum from Megapixels to frame rates, to video, to shutter speeds to ISO’s, and everything in between. In the end, I’ve come to one conclusion: the camera market is always changing, always advancing, and new gear is coming out all the time – from all the vendors. Want some proof? The Canon line-up of Digital SLR’s in its entirety is little more than 2 years old – with the oldest being the 1D Mark III which was introduced in early 2007. Take a look at the current active line-up of Canon DSLR’s and their dates of introduction (from Wikipedia):

EOS 1Ds mark III – Mid 2007
EOS 1D Mark IV – Two days ago
EOS 1D Mark III – Early 2007
EOS 5D Mark II – Mid 2008
EOS 7D – 2009
EOS 50D – Mid 2008
EOS Rebel T1i – 2009
EOS Rebel XSi – 2008
EOS Rebel XS – 2008

That’s a lot of cameras! And that’s only their active lineup! Others that have been “deprecated” (taken out of production) include the 40D, 30D, 20D, 10D, Rebel XT and probably more. It’s funny actually that the two SLR’s I have owned are the XT and the 40D – neither of which is in production anymore. And both of these cameras were absolute cutting edge on their release roughly 2 years ago and 5 years ago respectively. The XT marked a new era of consumer grade SLR’s and the 40D marked a significant advancement to the 20D which was the most popular camera for serious enthusiast shooters for many years. (Apparently, the 30D was only an incremental upgrade…)

A lot of people have been asking me: “Are you going to upgrade?” What does the new MP count mean? What about the video? Do we need to be concerned about this? Is it priced fairly? What about this? What about that?” Lots of techno-babble is going around, and to be honest, I can’t keep up anymore. For me it’s about one thing and one thing only: Does it take good pictures? In both the active and the deprecated line-up, the answer is a solid yes!

For what it’s worth, for me, I will continue to use my current camera until one of two things happens:

It breaks
My needs exceed its ability

Having said that, I am always interested in hearing what others think about the latest developments in the camera and photography industry. It’s always fun to talk gear talk, and prognosticate, and “oooh” and “ahhh” over the latest gagedtry. If I had a million bucks, then sure, I might look at all the stuff and buy every time a new one comes out, but until then…the above criteria fit the bill for me just fine. What about everyone else though? Does this make sense? Am I being curmudgeonly? Am I burying my head in the sand? Is there something I am missing? What are your thoughts on the “latest and greatest” in the camera world? I’d love to hear, so sound off in the comments and via email – who knows, you may get your name featured on a podcast! LOL

In the meantime, as always, Happy Shooting! 🙂 (We’ll see you back here on Friday with hopefully the latest podcast and some weekend nuggets (like a winner for the Flickr Monthly Giveaway!)

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

July 27, 2009 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:

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!

The Business of Selling Your Photos

June 9, 2009 Jason5 Comments

As economic belts are cinched, and we start spending our dollars more carefully than ever before, I am getting email a lot from photographers asking “What should I be charging for this event?”, or “A client wants a digital negative, what’s a fair rate?”, and even, “How much is my work worth?”

Truth be told, the economics of photography sales are just as much a mystery to me, and I don’t have all the answers. But I know a few things about where to start, and how to research. First and foremost, is to know your market. Are you working in NYC, or in Duluth MN? Have you looked at other photographers’ websites? What are they charging? Are they start-ups or established companies? What kinds of services do they offer? What kinds of services do you offer? Do you provide print fulfillment or is that out-sourced? What is your overhead? Cost of equipment? Cost of training? The whole 9 yards – it’s a lot to filter. Well, here’s some software that can give you a leg up in that regard – FotoQuotePro.

This software is very well designed and offers you rates for a wide variety of publications, ranging from magazines, to journals, brochures, quarterly reports, and a plethora of other variations. Quarter page prints, half page, full page, distribution of media, and many other factors are tallied in to help Fotoquote determine your rate. Granted this may not help the startup in portrait work, but if you are looking to market your work toward commercial and stock sites – this is definitely the software for you. And now, in a special offer here at the blog – I’ve been able to garner a 33% discount for some lucky listener. That’s right…33%!! It regularly goes for a price of $150, and the good folks over at Cradoc Foto Software have generously donated a discount code. Rather than buy and install it myself, I would like to pass this savings on to some lucky reader of the blog.

So, here’s how the winner of the discount code will be chosen – post a comment here at the blog. Say what you like about the software, why you could use it, or simply introduce yourself to the rest of the readership. This particular post will take comments through the end of June, so you have about two and a half weeks to get something out there and get a chance to win the discount code. In the meantime, head on over to Cradoc Foto Software and download a trial to see what the program is all about. In the meantime, here’s a few screen shots from the demo version to show you what they have to offer…

Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow! (Oh yeah, and don’t forget, you can also share your thoughts and suggestions for future hardware and software reviews that take place right here on the blog! Let me know what you think as it’s the contributions of readers that make this such a fulfilling blog – who knows, there might be a giveaway in that too!)

Grab the Feed

Impact Lightstand – Hardware Review

June 1, 2009 Jason2 Comments

This week’s hardware review is the Sigma Lightstand. Specifically, the Impact 8 foot Air Cushion Lightstand. While you may think that this is something that wouldn’t garner much discussion – I actually have found this to be a very handy tool. “Tool?”, you ask. Yes, a tool. Sure, it’s primary function is to hold lights, but look at the variety even there – I’ve used it for small flashes (like my 550 EX II), studio strobes from Smith Victor, and water bags.

Lest you do a double take, that’s right, I used it along with a makeshift boom (arm that extends out to the side) to hold a water bag for a photo project. The point is, light stands, like tripods, can function in a wide variety of capacities. While I tend to shy away from making generalizations because I know my own gear experiences are unique, for me the biggest difference between a light stand and a tripod is weight and stability – light stands seem much lighter and aren’t as stable. I am sure there are some high end light stands that provide excellent stability and can weigh a decent amount, but this one that I use is pretty light:

I’ve linked the photo to the item at B&H (Item #IMLS8AQ ) for those that want all the detailed specs, but here’s my two cents.

Pros:

Weight – these things are super light, and very easy to move around. I could literally pick one of these up with one finger.
Extension – this basic model extends up to eight feet tall and compresses down into a shade under 3 feet.
Cost – very inexpensive, running a mere $35 from B&H Photo – small price to pay for an assistant
Size – this collapses down so small, I can fit my tripod, my monopod, umbrella, and this all in an over-the-shoulder bag! Compactness is a plus, especially when travelling!
Functionality – aside from the obvious funtion of holding lights of various sizes, with a small clamp, you could hold pretty much anything from lights to grey cards to reflectors, to booms with water bags. Heck, you can even jury-rig something from your garage or storage shed to make this guy hold pretty much anything for you. So much for the photo assistant, eh?

Cons

Weight – yep, while a pro, it’s also a con – because they are so light, the can get easily bumped out of position or knocked over. While using it with the boom/water bag for a weekend project, I bumped it ever so slightly with my foot and everything got knocked out of position. Not by much, but when your DOF is a mere quarter of an inch and you are zoomed in tight on a water drop, one little bump requires re-setting everything from scratch again!
Workmanship – I was rather disappointed when I was going to pull out one of the extensions one day when the whole top pulled off the bottom legs. It seems the nuts that are used to anchor legs and extensions into position weren’t tightened down all the way and as a result, a firm yank can pull it off the assembly. Then, when I went to tighten it back down – the plastic collar that the screw/net combo fits through cracked on me. *Sigh* Ah well – it still works, and I just have to make a mental note not to pull on the extension too roughly as the top will pop off. But, what do you expect for $35?

Bottom line – I’d recommend this for people needed an extra set of hands from time to time. If you are into off camera lighting (and after Wednesday, you should be!), then a light stand is a must – and this is a great entry level one that will fit your needs indefinitely, because even if you upgrade, an extra set of hands is just a few seconds away.

That’s it for today – make sure you stop in tomorrow for the next installment of software reviews! Happy shooting and see you then!

Steady as She Goes…

May 26, 2009 Jason3 Comments

This first day after a long Memorial weekend, things are a little slow out of the starting gate, but as luck would have it, slow and steady is the theme for today, because my gear review that I postponed from yesterday is none other than the trusty tripod!

The tripod is probably one of the most basic and easy-to-understand pieces of equipment in a photographer’s gear bag – yet likely one of the least used. I can’t tell you the number of times (myself included) I have heard someone utter “Argh! I left my tripod back in my car!” We’ve all done it, so the question becomes one of how to ensure you take the tripod with you. The answer lies in making the right investment the first time.

FOr me, the first investment (because we all invariably try this route first), was a cheap an economical one from Wal-Mart for roughly $20. I was quickly disavowed of its ability to support even a Canon XT with a 70-200 lens on it. I went so far as to weigh down the plastic center column with my gear bag to little avail. It was just not built for my gear. Perhaps such a tripod would be good for the P&S crowd, because I would rather not disparage any gear intended to provide an increase in stability.

Anyone who goes to any length to increase their camera stability recognizes the benefit of a tripod. So many pictures out there can benefit from increased stability – yet they continue to pepper the internet in perpetuity. So, if you really are strapped for cash – something is better than nothing. But, if you would like to invest a little in “some legs” (parlance for a tripod among photog-types apparently), then take a look at Bogen/Manfrotto.

Bogen/Manfrotto gear is recognized as one of the industry leaders in tripods, monopods, and camera equipment. Another serious name in the game is Gitzo, and I’ve heard good things about them too – but for my money, I went with Bogen a few years back in my pursuit of stability. My choice? The Bogen 3021BPro:

tripod

This set is really sturdy – made of aluminum and an extended eight of nearly 70″ (69.29 technically), this was a great investment for me. I stand at 6’1″ (73″) so the height appeal was a major contributing factor. Cost-wise, it also came in within my range at roughly $150-$200 new. With quick-clamp leg extensions, and the ability to set up at varying ranges of 25°, 43°, 73° and 90° it was a great investment for me.

With the stability and low price though, came a downside – weight. The legs themselves weigh in at a little over 5 lbs, but I did not plan on being very mobile with the set. So, it was a great starter set for me. The reason why I said “set” though is because any good tripod also needs a good head. You’ll notice from the inserted image that the legs have a lonely screwmount at the top. This does not give you much mobility for the camera when attached, so you really need to also invest in a head.

The head attaches to the tripod, and then in turn attaches to your camera and allows you a little more flexibility in moving the camera position around to get the right angle on your shot. There are many types of heads including trigger mounts, ball heads, and pan-and-tilt heads. Rather than get into an extensive discussion of the various heads as well, here it’s sufficient to say I chose the ballhead route. Specifically, I went with the Bogen 488RC2.

ballhead

This is super nice because it allows you to pivot your camera around very easy and go from landscape to portrait mode in a snap. Also nice is the fact that the head comes with a quick-release plate, basically allowing you to go mobile from your stationary tripod in a snap. I’ll go into the various heads and how they work in some future post. For here though, I got the ehad at about $120, so for less than $300 total, I had a pretty decent workhorse for a tripod/head set. Here again, the only downside I can think of is weight. The head also weighs in at 1.5 lbs so I am getting near 7 lbs of tripod weight total. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you’ve tried lugging a tripod/head combo around on a photowalk, it can get pretty heavy pretty quick if you don’t have some strapped method for carrying it while walking or traveling. For the most part though, it’s lasted me well and worked gloriously – when I remember to take it out of my car!

Eventually I will probably either upgrade this set of legs to the more lightweight, yet also sturdy, carbon fiber material that is becoming more cost effective. At the time when I got this set, carbon fiber was very new on the scene, and thus very expensive. As we see the presence of carbon fiber increase in the market place, the price has also come down some. Not a lot, but enough for me to start considering it. In all likelihood, I could see myself hanging on to this set for studio or location work while also adding to the gear bag with the more lightweight carbon fiber legs for on-the-go types of photography.

All in all though – if you don’t have a set of legs, this would be an excellent starter set. For under $300 your pictures will undoubtedly see marked improvement – that’s assuming of course you don’t forget the gear in your car! Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Cactus, Trigger, Zebra, Oh My!

April 14, 2009 Jason6 Comments

Remember the old game of password where you said a related word to one on your card to get your partner to guess it? Well, here goes: What do the words cactus, trigger, and zebra all have in common? If you answered “flash photography” you’d be right! As you may have realized, that does mean that the podcast will not come out today – I simply didn’t have time to get all my thoughts and notes together. So instead, here’s a review of sorts that I did just earlier this evening.

A while back I decided to ditch the Canon ST-E2 wireless trigger for a number of reasons – those being:

It relied on line-of-sight
It didn’t have a very good range
It wouldn’t work with non-Canon gear

I, like many others, have been salivating over the new developments in radio trigger technology. And, at my last job, I had access to multiple lights, strobes, and such for experimentation. So, in order to do said experimentation, I decided to invest in some Cactus Triggers that I purchased off an online web vendor (I forget the vendor off the top of my head – search the archives and I am sure it’s there…). Much to my chagrin though, it would not work with my Canon 550EX flash. So, when I left my previous job, it was back to the ST-E2. In order to spur some motivation to invest in some more serious lighting gear on my own, I decided to sell the ST-E2 to fund the purchase of some Cyber Syncs.

Long story short, I ended up with no off-camera method to trigger my one flash unit. So, I was back on-camera. Needless to say, ambient light photography was a large focus for that time period. Well, after the economy stabilized a little for the household with my state job, I decided to invest in the Cyber Syncs – but as a measure of insurance, wanted to make sure the devices would work in my 550EX (the 550EX does not have a sync port). So, a quick email to them revealed that a neat little device from the folks over at Flash Zebra would make the Cyber Syncs compatible. A mere $14 later and the device arrived late last week (while I was in SC). So, next month the Cyber Syncs will be making their way to my doorstep.

In the meantime, I have these Cactus triggers, and I thought with the inclusion of a sync port, perhaps I could jerry-rig something together. With the sync port going out to what looks to be an RC-mini, and the receiver also going out to an RC-mini, I needed a way to join two RC-mini’s together. A quick dig through my various buckets of cables and connectors revealed a dual mini that is normally used to connect to headphones to a single audio. Worth a shot, since it’s only about $50 total invested. I connected everything together to get this:

lightcables

On your left is the trigger that came from Cactus, to the RC male. A reducer on that took it to an RC-mini male. In the center is the well-hidden PC-sync device that came from Flash Zebra. (For a better picture, see below…) A female sync port on that was able to connect to the male sync port that was included with my Cactus gear. That also went to an RC-mini male. These are both connected on the right to the y-connector that you would typically see two headsets connect to the same audio source. The technology is the same, so it’s worth a shot right? (No pun intended…)

I fired off a test shot from the 40D and it worked! So, how well would it work? What kind of reliability would there be? I took the flash into the next room and fired the trigger from a further distance away…about 20 feet. Flash! Then I took the trigger around the corner and fired it. Flash! How cool is that? Another set of tests was needed. One where radio waves wouldn’t bounce all over the place – outside! If you recall, I interviewed Scott Eccleston from Weekly Photo Tips a while back, and a recent post of his armed me with a good testing method of the Cactus triggers. Armed with the inspiration of this video, I enlisted the aid of my wife and took to the great outdoors.

I began with a fresh set of batteries in both the trigger and receiver, as well as the flash. Starting from ten steps away from the flash, I tripped the shutter – flash! Twenty paces – flash! Thirty paces – flash! Fourty paces – nada. Hmmm…tried again – nada. So, I moved back to 35 paces – still nada. A couple steps closer and it flashed again. About four more tests at this distance and I had 100% flash rate. Starting back to my wife, I counted the paces, 1-2-3… all the way to 33 paces. At an average gait of 3 feet per pace, that’s an outside range of 99 feet! Considerably better than the ST-E2 and at a third of the price!

For posterity’ sake, and since I am in a very casual way reviewing the PC-sync adaptor from Flash Zebra, here’s a better shot of just that device.

zebra

Also for posterity sake, here’s a view of the trigger that attached to the hot shoe of the 550EX:

trigger2

Is 12 enough?

March 6, 2009 Jason7 Comments

An interesting news story came my way today over on CNet where Akira Watanabe, manager of Olympus Imaging’s SLR planning department said that most needs of most people can be met with a 12MP camera. The full story is here, but does bring what has been an ongoing discussion into a more defined state. As we’ve seen megapixel counts increase from counts lower than 3 MP less than a decade ago to counts that now are at 12 MP or higher, discussions have arisen throughout the industry on “How much is enough?”

From my perspective, I would agree that 12 is probably close. Yes, processing capabilities are increasing and hard drive storage space costs continue to decrease at almost ridiculous rates (you can get a 1TB hard drive for around $100 these days!), but these are mitigated by need. When you look at the true and honest need for most folks (myself included), we do not regularly print much larger than 8×10, or 12×16. I would venture to guess that even artist gallery prints and portfolios do not exceed 16×20″ dimensions that often.

Yes, more megapixels means you can crop smaller and retain print quality, but at what price? More grain or noise? Yep. Reduced dynamic range? Yep. More processing demands? Yep. More storage needed? Yep. While all of these can be addressed by buying software to handle noise, bracketing exposures to increase dynamic range, and buying more storage to meet the increased demand, there does come a point of diminishing returns on the investment, and Olympus seems to have set that mark at 12 MP.

But, will the market agree? I think so. It’s no secret that the economy is not doing so well. People are likely going to be more frugal in their purchases, and getting that full-sized wall print may not be as high a priority as, perhaps, bread on the table is anymore. Do we need to re-assess our priorities? Some say yes, that it’s not all about the megapixels. Some say we should be asking for things like low light responsiveness, better auto-focusing, faster auto-focusing, better in camera noise handling. I don’t think any of us would complain either if we saw a decrease in the costs of fast glass.

But who knows – maybe the masses will continue to push for more megapixels. Now that Olympus has drawn a proverbial line in the sane, will other vendors see the logic and start to taper things off? Or will the megapixels wars continue indefinitely? Sure, we can’t predict the future, but guessing and talking about it can be a good source of discussion too because it can get us thinking about what is important in our pictures. So, what do you think? Where will things go from here? Sound off in the comments, and watch for the podcast coming up on Monday where you’ll get an extended version of my thoughts on where things may go from here.

In the meantime, have a great weekend, and go out and getcha some (pictures)! We’ll see you back here on Monday!

The Meat is in the Maintenance

January 23, 2009 Jason7 Comments

With another week come to a close, I got a late start in recording and putting together the podcast for today, so it’s going up a tad late. However, as the old saying goes, good things come to those who wait. This week, I look at some of the photo news, relevant to Canon users, photographers, and just some good old news tidbits. In the “meat and potatoes”of the week, I look at what should be included in an extensive maintenance schedule for any photographer, including cleaning, software, firmware, batteries, data, backups – literally the whole schmear! It’s quite the meaty helping on maintenance, so be sure to bookmark, download, listen, and whatever it is others do when enjoying podcasts as this is sure to be useful info for lots of people!

I also remind everyone of how you can win a Think Tank Photo Streetwalker! This is a $150 value bag, and there are still a few opportunities left to participate in the random drawing. Make sure you tune into the third segment to find out how (sorry, but only domestic US residents are eligible…) this can be yours for a simple song! (Hint: Make a post to the blog and you will probably be entered to win!)

Finally, I take a few listener questions from Josh and LaRae (thanks for the comments and email), as well as your weekly photo tip. I made same changes to the recording process that I think have cleaned it up quite a bit, so I’d really like to hear some feedback on what people think of the difference in audio quality this go around! Please don’t be shy, and make sure you let iTunes know they’ve dropped the feed!

Have a good weekend everyone. Happy shootin, and we’ll see you back here Monday morning!

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