Second Generation Drobo With Firewire 800

Those of you are regular readers of my blog know that I bought a Drobo in December of 2007. Now, seven months later, I'm glad to report that it has performed flawlessly. I reported two significant concerns in previous blogs: 1. That Drobo only uses SATA, not ATA drives; that Drobo uses 1/2 to 1/3 of your total storage capacity for making a backup of your backup. You can read my previous Drobo posts here.

I solved the first problem by migrating to SATA drives, and accepted the second shortcoming as a necessary evil of having a backup system that is designed to stay viable even if one or more of your drives fail. It costs more, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing specific hard drives can fail and you won't loose any data was worth it.

There was, however, another issue that has bugged me from day one: the first generation Drobo shipped with a USB 2.0 connection which made for slow transfers of data. The Drobo folks have now fixed that shortcoming with their second generation Drobo. Here's some background information from Rob Galbraith's website:

"Data Robotics has announced the immediate availability of a new version of its Drobo storage device featuring twin FireWire 800 ports, promised faster USB 2.0, an upgraded internal processor, quieter, cooler operation and revised firmware.

"A version of Drobo with four empty SATA I/II hard drive bays, two FireWire 800 ports and one USB 2.0 port is US$499 when purchased direct from the company (the previous generation USB 2.0-only Drobo is still available, for US$349 in the same driveless configuration). The FireWire 800/USB 2.0 version with two 1TB drives is US$899; with four 1TB drives, US$1299."

Click here for more information, including Drobo's press release.

Phil Clevenger - Lightroom Interface Designer

Frederick Johnson Writes:

"Phil Clevenger is the man behind the Lightroom user interface. Phil and I sat down to chat about what brought him to Adobe -- and what he learned from his time at MetaCreations designing rule-bending interfaces for software like Bryce and Kai’s PhotoSoap. He also gives some hints at some possible directions of the Lightroom UI, and his philosophy around the evolution of user interfaces in general."


Phil Clevenger - Lightroom Interface Designer from Frederick Johnson on Vimeo.

Kerri & Ivan's Wedding

Here are a few photos from Kerri & Ivan's wedding. You can find all of the photos from their wedding posted in my SmugMug gallery. Their wedding took place at Tlaquepaque in Sedona, Arizona.

Ed Greenberg On Photography Copyright, Contract, And Creative Rights Issues

Scott Kelby Writes:

"If you’ve been reading this blog for the past month or so, you’ve read my posts about photographers being harassed when shooting in public, and a lot of readers have chimed in with comments about what we can and can’t shoot, what our rights as photographers are and aren’t, our interpretations of copyright law, and so on. There’s just one problem; we’re not attorneys.

"So, I contacted New York-based Intellectual Property Attorney Ed Greenberg, who’s a published author on the topic, and who has been dealing with photography copyright, contract, and creative rights issues for over 30 years, to finally get the straight no-nonsense scoop on all this..."

"The two clips, Part I and Part II... I think you’ll find it as eye-opening, surprising, revealing, and as incredibly valuable as I did. This interview can change the way you work and protect your images in a very profound way..."

Photoshop User TV interview with Ed Greenberg- Part 1:


Photoshop User TV interview with Ed Greenberg- Part 2:


Read/visit Scott Kelby's original blog on this topic.

Man Flying Lawn Chair Lifted By Helium Balloons

Kent Couch leaves his gas station in Bend, Ore., on Saturday, July 5, 2008, riding a lawn chair rigged with more than 150 giant party balloons in an attempt to fly to Idaho. He is equipped with a BB gun and a blowgun for popping balloons if he gets too high and three 15-gallon barrels of cherry Kool-Aid for ballast to release if he gets too low.

Original Associated Press article.
More Photos.

Nikon SB-900 Speedlight

Nikon Europe announces the Nikon SB-900. Their new flagship Speedlight offers exceptional high-speed, high-power operation combined with an extended zoom range. The SB-900 incorporates a moving diffuser and light source that can zoom from 17mm to 200mm in just 1.2 seconds while maintaining an even light distribution. The versatile new flash provides a choice of three illumination patterns (centre-weighted/standard/even) that can be selected to suit a particular subject.

Click here for more information.

How To Shoot Fireworks

Excerpt From Scott Kelby's Blog:

- Use tripod
- Use cable release
- Use a zoom lens (ideally a 200mm or more)
- Use Manual mode:

1. Set the Shutter Speed to 4 seconds

2. Set the Aperture to f/11. Fire a test shot and look at the LCD monitor on the back of your camera to see if you like the results. If it overexposes, lower the shutter speed to 3 seconds, then take another shot and check the results again.

TIP: If your camera has “Bulb” mode (where the shutter stays open as long as you hold down the shutter release button down), this works great–hold the shutter button down when the rocket bursts, then release when the light trails start to fade.

Read complete article here.

DPReview: Nikon D700

Excerpt:

"The D700 joins the D3 as a fully-fledged 'professional' model; it has the same tank-like build quality (though we're sure the pop-up flash will cause a few raised eyebrows), and gets you the full pro service from Nikon. And the pricing (around $2999) reflects this; anyone hoping for an 'affordable' semi-pro full frame Nikon SLR will have to wait until the cost of producing such large sensors falls considerably."

Read complete preview.

Ken Rockwell: Nikon D700

From Ken Rockwell's website:

"The Nikon D700 is Nikon's top new amateur camera. It's mostly a D300 with the larger FX sensor of the D3. Thus it has image quality mostly identical to the D3, but D300-class handling, which is a notch or two below the D3 for sports and action.

"The Nikon D700 adds a cleaning system and a separate new rear INFO button. Beyond that, I'm not seeing anything life-changing that isn't already in the D3 and D300.

"The function button can be assigned to do more more things, probably including the Picture Control option, but if you do, you lose what you could have programmed the FUNC button instead. I already have to swap my FUNC button among FX/DX digital zoom, non-CPU lens swapping or virtual horizon.

"Don't get too excited; the D3 is no sharper than the D300. The only reason to love the FX sensor over the DX sensor of the D300 is for much cleaner images at high ISOs and for ultra-ultra-wide shots. For ultra-ultra wide shots, you'll also need to buy a 14-24mm, 14mm f/2.8 AF-D or 15mm f/3.5 lens, each over $1,000.

"For sports and action, the D3 is still king. I don't see that the D700 is any faster than the D300.

"Then again, the D700 has a built-in flash and remote wireless flash controller. Honestly, with the D3 and therefore the D700, you just don't need flash anymore except for fill.

Lens Compatibility

"Thank goodness, the D700 works with all conventional AF, AF-D and AF-S lenses.

"It also meters with AI and AI-s manual focus lenses as does the D3, and if you enter the focal length and f/stop, gives matrix metering and correct EXIF data. Whoo hoo, this mean you can use the full catalog of manual lenses."

Read Rockwell's complete review. Includes images, illustrations and camera specifications.

Nikon D3 & D300 Firmware Updates

From http://www.dpreview.com/

"In addition to the announcement of the D700, Nikon has revised the firmware of the D3 and D300. The latest D3 firmware adds new function button customization options though not the ones featured on the D700. In addition to these and a virtual horizon in live view mode, Nikon has also addressed the problem that some users experienced in which the battery indicator would incorrectly register an empty battery. This problem, which has come to be known as 'Dead Battery Syndrome,' has also been addressed in new firmware for the D300.

"D3 firmware makes improvements to AF and Auto White Balance mode, as well as correcting for the battery indicator errors. Many of the other changes are subtle tweaks to menus and behavior, such as the decision to only all auto-rotate of images in playback mode, not in the review image that appears after shooting (as the camera must already be in the correct orientation to have taken the shot).

"The only D700 feature to appear is the addition of a visualization of the virtual horizon function to live view mode. Other than this, the new function button customization options are not as extensive as its new baby brother. The D3 changes add three more options that can be assigned to the Function, Preview or AE-L/AF-L buttons. The only completely original option is the ability to scroll between shooting menu banks (user-defined presets) with a button press and turn of the control dial. The firmware also separates the image area (FX/DX/5:4) option into two, so that you can choose to either scroll between all three image sizes or just between FX and DX."

D3 firmware v2.00 can be downloaded from the following links:
Mac
PC

D300 firmware v1.03 can be downloaded from the following links:
Mac
PC

More details about the D3 changes can be found by clicking here.

Great Photographers: Edward Sheriff Curtis

Edward Sheriff Curtis:
One Man's Obsessive Pursuit Of The Lost Tribes Of America
The Telegraph
June 21, 2008

Excerpt:

"During... 30 years (twice the time he had originally planned for the project), Curtis visited more than 80 tribes, from the Apache to the Zuñi, and earned the personal support of the president, Theodore Roosevelt. He worked 15-hour days for months at a time, spent more than $1.5 million of his benefactor JP Morgan's money, was shot at four times, disowned by his brother, divorced by his wife, and went bankrupt. On returning from one prolonged trip into Eskimo territory he was thrown into jail for failure to make alimony payments.

"Yet Curtis was indefatigable: no amount of adversity could sap his passion for documenting the traditions of a people who didn't always want to be documented. 'I have grown so used to having people yell at me to keep out, and then punctuate their remarks with mud, rock and clubs,' he once said, 'that I pay but little attention to them if I can only succeed in getting my picture before something hits me.'

"He succeeded in taking more than 40,000 pictures, the best of which formed the basis of The North American Indian, a vast ethnographic study, published in 20 volumes between 1907 and 1930. On the appearance of the first volume, the New York Herald declared it 'the most gigantic undertaking in the making of books since the King James edition of the Bible'.

Curtis was convinced that he was capturing the dying days of 'a vanishing race'. Indeed, such was his obsession with recording arcane traditions that, to the indignation of the academic community, he would often encourage his subjects to recreate rituals which they no longer performed, even providing his own props where necessary. In his rather self-important introduction to the first volume of The North American Indian, he stated his concern that 'the passing of every old man or woman means the passing of some tradition, some knowledge of sacred rites possessed by no other'."

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Wikipedia On Edward Sheriff Curtis

The Curtis Collection

National Geographic Photo Tips

Click here to view the National Geographic Photo Tips website.

Gorillapods

Ever wanted/needed a tripod that could be used just about anywhere, for anything? I just ordered one of these puppies. Click here for more information.

Scott Kelby On Nikon D300

Excerpt:

"Q. Scott. If it won’t get you into too much trouble with sponsors, what do you think is the best digital camera under $2,500, body only? I want to take up photography for the first time. So far, from what I’ve seen, the D300 looks best.

"A. My opinion is, of course, going to be biased because I’m a Nikon shooter, and I bought the D300 (no, Nikon didn’t give me one), so I think that pretty much tells you where I’m at. I think the D300 smokes, especially for the money, and (Nikon will hate me for saying this), I think it’s FAR superior to the Nikon D2Xs which was selling for around $5,000, body only, at the time the D300 came out (in fact, I sold my Nikon D2Xs after having my D300 for about two weeks). So, D300 -- that’s what I’d recommend to a friend (and have in many instances, and have gotten nothing but love in return)."

Original Link

PST: Top 25 Photoshop Pictures of May 2008

View PhotoshopTalent.com's top 25 Photoshop pictures of May 2008 by clicking this link.

Greg Haverstock on Matthes Crest

Greg Haverstock on Matthes Crest by Shawn Reeder. Click the photo above to see larger image. For more information: Rangefinder Magazine, June 2998, "Climbing Ever Higher" (pdf)

Review of Ray Flash Ring Flash

Ray Flash: The Ring Flash Adapter Website.
Scott Kelby On Ring Flash harshness, red eye, cost, and other issues.
Where to buy.
Original post on Dave Cross website.

The Mac OS X Leopard Book

HDR Photography Using Lightroom & Photomatix

Matt Kloskowski demos HDR in Lightroom and Photomatix. Writes Matt:

"Lately I’ve really been into shooting HDR images. I bracket just about everything that I can. Why? Not because I like the fantasy-like effect that’s been popular. Honestly, it’s just not my style but I can definitely appreciate it for certain photos. For me though, it’s more about having real world HDR. It saves me time in Photoshop and I’m amazed that I’ve never explored HDR for my landscape and interior photos until now. I’ll explain how, why, and how I’ve incorporated Lightroom into my HDR workflow as well as what I use to process my HDR images in this week’s video..."

Watch tutorial.
Matt's original post can be found here.
Photomatix Website.

Drying of the West Gallery

The American West was won by water management. What happens when there's no water left to manage? Click here to see all the photos in this National Geographic gallery.

Is Your Camera Gear Out Of Control?

From The Boda Bag Blog Website

The Boda Lens Bag

Wedding Photographer, Jim Garner joins Inside Digital Photo TV's host, Scott Sheppard live from the Boda Lens Bag booth at WPPI 2008 to explain some of the bags and the features. Developed by a range of photographers, find out more information at: http://goboda.com

FocalPoint: Delightful New Photoshop Plugin

FocalPoint gives photographers a way to create realistic depth of field control, plane of focus control and selective focus to any image after it is photographed allowing for more control and precision. The focus bug control in FocalPoint has a tangible, hardware feel much like using a lens. It makes it fast for a photographer to define the "sweet spot" either in a round shape or a plane and then control how much and of what kind of blur they would like to add. This has a huge benefit over hardware tools like auxiliary lenses and filters because it allows the photographer to control the focus after the image is taken, giving them more control and requiring fewer shots in camera.

Visit FocalPoint Website (Includes Video Tutorial)

How Do Airport Scanners Affect Flash Cards & Film?

Concerning Flash Cards:

"None of the security equipment -- neither the machines used for checked baggage nor those used for carry-on baggage -- will affect digital camera images or film that has already been processed -- slides, videos, photo compact discs or picture memory cards." -- Transportation Security Adminstration

"Advice from SanDisk about Flash Memory Cards: You can put full or empty flash cards in your checked or carry-on baggage with little risk of damage from airport scanners. The International Imaging Industry Association (IA3) conducted tests last year with security devices used in U.S. airports and found that no damage to the cards resulted with normal travel frequency. As an added precaution, SanDisk recommends that you take the cards out of ALL checked baggage and cameras, and put them in your carry-on before passing them through security devices." -- EcoPhoto Explorers

"Taking Cards Through Airport X-Ray Machines and Metal Detectors: You can put full or empty flash cards in your checked baggage or in your carry-ons with little risk of damage from airport scanners. The International Imaging Industry Association conducted tests last year with security devices used in U.S. airports and found that no damage to the cards resulted with normal travel frequency. As an added precaution, SanDisk recommends that you take the card out of your camera before passing through security devices." -- Business Wire, June 30, 2005

"I have taken my FZ50 through many airport scanners countless times. In New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the United States. I always leave the battery in the camera and a memory card installed. Handy for taking shots at the airport but watch out for restricted areas. Spare cards are kept in the camera bag. I have never had any problem with corupt files." -- Jeff Shep, Flickr

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Concerning Film:

"Never place undeveloped film in your checked baggage, our security equipment used for screening checked baggage will damage your undeveloped film. Place your film in your carry-on baggage or request a hand inspection. Please note that our carry-on security equipment might also damage certain film if the film passes through more than five times.

"If your film cannot be cleared by X-ray inspection, or you desire to have it inspected by hand, you may be required to open the box, canister, or wrapper so our Security Officer can inspect it. We recommend leaving your film in the unopened manufacturer’s packaging. Our security equipment used for screening checked baggage will damage your undeveloped film. Carry undeveloped film with you to the security checkpoint.

"None of the security equipment - neither the machines used for checked baggage nor those used for carry-on baggage - will affect digital camera images or film that has already been processed - slides, videos, photo compact discs or picture memory cards.

You should remove all film from your checked baggage and place it in your carry-on baggage... To expedite the security process of a hand inspection, you should consider carrying your film in clear canisters, or taking the film out of solid colored canisters and putting it into clear plastic bags. Consider having your exposed film processed locally before passing through airport security on your return trip..." -- From the Transportation Security Adminstration