Kia ora tatou:

For Windows users only ( Mac fanbois may now smirk contentedly).

If you shoot RAW and are continually irritated by the fact that you cannot see thumbnails of your images in Windows Explorer, then you should download and install the  FastPictureViewer WIC RAW Codec Pack. This utility enables Windows Explorer to show your images as thumbnails. It applies to most cameras, both current and legacy. It works with XP SP3 ( you have installed SP3, haven’t you?), Vista and Win 7. Recommended.

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In the middle, in the middle, in the middle of a dream

I lost my shirt, I pawned my rings

I’ve done all the dumb things

I melted wax to fix my wings

I’ve done all the dumb things

- Paul Kelly

I am a big fan of Paul Kelly, the Australian balladeer, and somehow, after the process of upgrading my desktop to Windows 7, I feel a particular affinity for this song.

I decided, after watching all the commentary on Windows 7, and talking to my friends who are serious geeks, that it was probably something I could do for myself. I’ve never upgraded a Windows operating system before, although I’ve done it with Macs (it is dead easy),but there is a time and place for everything. So why did I decide to go and do something as stupid as putting Windows 7 over the top of my existing Vista SP2 installation? Perhaps it was an urge to melt wax to fix my wings (an Icarus moment again!?)…

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Sony Vaio VGN-AW37GY

Kia ora tatou:

ASP stirred the pot a week or so back  in suggesting that the Sony Vaio laptop ( hereafter referred to as the BBB-Big Black Box) I took to Africa may have found its way under a Namibian dune, because I hadn’t said anything further. Well it hasn’t, and I probably need to a do a review of that as well. Frankly I  have never reviewed a computer before. I read reviews, but have never written one. It would appear that time has come. but first some ground rules.

1. This will get techy at times, but frankly  I am more interested in how it performs and whether it will support rather than hinder me. So this is an end-user review. People who need to know stuff like hyperthreading ability and on-board cache won’t find any of that stuff here. Go Google….
2. I use a PC but I have spent time with Macs. I like both. Neither operating system is perfect.  I tend to push my computers really hard and I have found that Mac’s can get just as slow as a PC. So I use Windows-based machines, because there is enough under-the-hood control fo me to be able to keep them at peak efficiency for me. I prefer using a PC because they are (bang for your buck) more affordable.I know many pros prefer Mac but I have yet to see the advantage. Mac fanbois, feel free to weigh in below (some evidence would be great!).  and since this is the Paragraph of Contention, may I add here that I have been a fan of Vista since its inception, and especially since SP2. It just works, and it does not clog up like XP, requiring a full reinstall every year or so. I love the interface for one thing.Finding files in a desktop with 8 Hard drives and a total of 6 TB of storage is not easy, but Vista makes that a breeze. Of course there will be some amazingly useful plugin which makes XP friendly and justifies continuing to keep the corpse alive…. Feel free to share in the comments section.

There it is. Let us move on.

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Kia ora tatou:
I have heard a number of you talking about moving to Lightroom but not sure if you want to pay the $$$$.
Well, there are 2 ways to have your cake and eat it too (for a limited time).

1. Download  a trial version of Lightroom 2.5 and test-drive it for 30 days.
2. Download the LR 3 Beta and use it free of charge until April 2010.

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Kia ora tatou:

Just in today.

Canon have announced new models.

1. 350D/400D/450D owners will soon be able to upgrade to the 15.1Mp 500D. Cool features you might like include ( note: taken from Canon Press release, so you might want to circle around the adjectives)
2. * 15.1 Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor
   * Full HD movie recording with HDMI connection for viewing and playback on an HDTV
   * ISO 100-3200 (expandable to 12800)
   * 3.4 frames per second continuous shooting
   * Max. 170 large JPEG images in a single burst
   * 3.0″ ClearView LCD with Live View mode
   * 9-point wide area AF with cross type centre point
   * High speed DIGIC 4 performance and superb image quality
   * EOS Integrated Cleaning System
   * Full compatibility with Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites, including new Speedlite 270EX, TS-E 17mm f/4L and TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II (more…)

Kia ora tatou:

Time for some techy stuff. I will get over it after this post…for a while.

1. If you want to do HDR ( the flavour technique of the moment), then have a look at this article. Probably the most clearly-explained description I have come across in a long time.
2. All hard drives fail, sooner or later. That is a fact. If you would like to know how long it is until the drives in your PC do, thereby giving you time to do something about it, then get Hard Drive Sentinel. At $US 35, it is cheap insurance.
3. If size matters to you, then you might  need a Seitz 6×17 Digital Panoramic Camera. its 160 megapxel sensor will generate a 921 MB TIFF! Its native file size is 44×96 inches. Huge. So is the price. Read more here.
4.  If you want to do mega-panorama on the cheap ( ish), then have a look at this option to generate gigapixel images with a PHD camera ( push here, Dum#@).
5. Generating passwords ( and remembering them) is a discomfort in the gluteus. There are options. Firefox users can use the Sxipper extension. There are dedicated apps, such as Keepass. Or you can write them on a piece of paper…..On a lighter note, here is a list of passwords you should never, ever, use!
6. Want to do ultraviolet photography on the cheap? Look here.
7. Defrag your hard disks regularly? Of course you do. Windows” built-in app is slow and inefficient. Try this piece of freeware. And do it often.
8. And for clearing out all the rubbish on your PC, try ATF Cleaner.

Nga mihi

“You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas; you’ve just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.”

Kia ora tatou:
James, the guy who does my IT, reckons I have an inordinate ability to torture my PC to its limits. He may be right. 750Mb PhotoShop files can do that to a machine!

But I have learned a few things which I want to share.
Firstly Lightroom. He has been telling me I needed to clean up that particular act. I set out to do it yesterday as a result of diminishing space on my C: drive. I decided to move my catalogue and the backups to an external E-Sata drive ( kind of like a USB external, only much quicker). I have 2 sitting out the back (along with the 6 drives ( around 5Tb) in my case). I decided to use Total Commander, since I suspected there was a lot of data to go. Windows is fine for small quantities, but for large folders and numbers of files, it can make mistakes and lose data. You need to use an industrial strength utility like Total Commander ( shareware) to move large folders and files. What is TC? “Total Commander is a file manager for Windows, a program like Windows Explorer to copy, move or delete files. However, Total Commander can do much more than Explorer, e.g. pack and unpack files, access ftp servers, compare files by content, etc!” In other words, it moves data and checks the destination files against the originals. Of course it does way more than this.
Back to the story. (more…)

Kia ora tatou:

This post has very little to do with digital photography, that is until your computer runs slowly or falls over. However it is something all of us who work on a computer should care about. It is rather like your car. Unless it is a diesel, from time to time you need to tune it and make sure it is running smoothly. Servicing a car is a given (unless you won Lotto, then you can change the vehicle when the carpet gets dirty). Here are a list of free applications (read: programs) that you can download and install to keep things moving smoothly, along with hints. Note: these are all apps that work for me.

1.       Defragging. You should defragment your hard drive every few weeks. This puts the data back in the right place (think: the books back in the correct sections in the library). If you use your PC a lot, do it more often. The defrag utility in XP and Vista are both slow and not that reliable. Try Auslogics Disk Defrag. While you are at it, install and run Auslogics Registry Defrag. This does the same thing for your registry, which is where the individual files for your apps live. I also use RegCure from time to time to clean out my registry and remove unwanted files and invalid paths (usually caused by removing software/updating, etc). Sorry, this one costs! Caution: Unless you know what you are doing, DO NOT edit the registry. This can send you off to your tech for a major computer rebuild.

2.       Clean up your disk. Again, Windows’ inbuilt utility is OK, but it slow and relatively ineffective. I recommend CCleaner (the first C: is for Crap). This is “a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner”. Recommended. (more…)