Digital Dilemmas

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DP Review Finalizes Canon Xsi Review
2008-05-25 18:51:00
Follow this link to DP Review and read the final and comprehensive review of the Canon Rebel XSi. For Raw shooters, it seems to be a step up in quality from any of the previous Rebel models. The larger LCD screen and extended highlight range make it a winner in my book.Check it out: DP Review of the Digital Rebel XSi

DIY Soft Box
2008-04-28 22:00:00
Photo Courtesy Nick WheelerDown and dirtyI've seen a few Do-It-Yourself projects before, this one is for the hard-core only!Head on over to DIYPhotography.net to check out this super soft box contraption by Flickr contributor, Nick Wheeler. Lots of great pics to help you build your own.If you have to build one on location and you gotta get it done quick, try this Cardboard box beauty I found on the Photography On The Net forums. This one's a little more my style.It just goes to show that you can make some great light with a little creativity and some effort...and maybe a little duct tape.
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High ISO Changing The Way We Work
2008-04-28 12:00:00
Less is more.For the small group of photo luddites who still cling to film cameras, praying for a revival of old school technology, it's time to give up and join the future...before it's too late! Not only has digital changed the nature of photography and related businesses, but it has also changed the way we work and the type of equipment we use to get the job done.What good photographer wouldn't want a couple of 4800 watt second Speedo packs, or half a dozen 102 heads, or 15 heavy duty light stands that can reach to the sky? The answer to that question has abruptly changed and the affects on the bottom line, budgets, travel, hiring assistants etc... have changed with it. For the old-school photographer, still trying to market himself or herself with the tired film-is-better mantra, budgets will soon push these stragglers into the 21st century.No less than 2 years ago, I was contemplating re-building my equipment / lighting arsenal to its former glory. A few years of a slowing ...
More About: Work , Changing , High

High Dynamic Range...A Few Links
2008-04-27 21:53:00
HDRI have my own down and dirty method. Let's take a look at a few sites with How-To Tutorials on producing HDR image files in the field.www.stuckincustoms.com has a nicely detailed recipe for producing HDR images with Photomatix, Photoshop and Lightroom. He also has a discount coupon for readers purchasing the Photomatix software. Please visit his site to find the coupon if you want to see some great HDR images and get a deal on software.www.cambridgeincolour has another more technical tutorial for the super photo geeks who want the why and how of HDR.Even if your not planning to produce images with the HDR look, the technical exercise of exposure bracketing and shooting from a tripod will guarantee you the best possible files for photos of static scenes. With a little extra work and Photoshop trickery, you can also use the same techniques to shoot people.Give it a try!
More About: Links , High , High Dynamic Range , Range , Dynamic

DP Review's Hands On With Rebel XSI
2008-04-25 19:13:00
Still waiting...Phil Askey has just posted a hands on preview for the 12 megapixel Canon Rebel XSI. It's not the full package we've been waiting for, but contains plenty of info on the new features, controls, buttons and knobs. Still a good read if you're planning on familiarizing yourself with the camera before purchase.Follow this link to DP Review to read the article and check out the sample photos.
More About: Hands , Hands On

Rebel XSI Review Lite At Bob Atkins
2008-04-24 07:22:00
The reviews are coming...I stopped by Bob Atkins site to read his first look review of the Canon EOS Rebel XSI ( 450D ) and kit lens. Nothing unexpected in his appraisal of the camera and typical kudos and complaints about the kit lens. Still waiting for the exhaustive beat down from the guys at DP Review , who are, I hear thru the grapevine, getting ready to post the full monty on the XSI.If your wondering why there is so much excitement about this Pro-Sumer camera, then you probably have your head up you - know - where. The reality is, that today's pro-sumer, off - the - shelf at Best Buy DSLR, has twice the features, file size and image quality of yesterday's pro model cameras and at 1/3rd the price!Don't let equipment snobbery stop you from buying a great camera. With all the money you'll have left over, you can purchase better glass and be ahead of the game in the long haul.
More About: Lite

Radio Poppers Arriving...
2008-04-21 21:58:00
The Radio Poppers are coming!For the lucky folks who pre-ordered Radio Poppers P1's, shipping has begun! Time to see what real world testing will reveal.David at the Strobist website has put them thru their paces with excellent results. Glad to see Kevin King succeed with his new product where so many others have failed.Check out this unboxing Video , ( compliments of VIMEO ) from Zeke at nicephotomag.com
More About: Shipping

Samsung / Pentax Full Frame DSLR
2008-04-21 20:11:00
Photo courtesy Samsung USARumors abound...Samsung is definitely not trying to squash the rumors of a full frame pro DSLR in the works withpartner Pentax Corp. Can't wait to hear more about this!Read more about it on the electronista website.
More About: Full , Frame

Back For More Punishment...
2008-04-20 20:02:00
Time to blog!I have been pretty busy working on a new website, but I'm ready to hit the ground running. It seems that I have finally made it to Google page cache status. New readers are finding older posts and page views are soaring. Guess it's not the time to run out of steam just yet!I'll be getting back to a new schedule and a shrunk down, less busy, re-designed header! Maybe an explosion of random color and 50 -100 ridiculous animated gifs...each with a talking wav file. How about 50 cartoon robots telling you that you have just won an IPOD NANO!Just kidding!PS. Lets not forget to mention Canon cameras, Canon Lenses and Canon Rebel XSI at the bottom of each post ( doubles my page views !). Yes....pathetic, but effective.
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Rebel XSi Available in Canada Now!!!
2008-03-28 19:13:00
Rebel XSi being shipped now!Kerrisdale Camera ( 2170 W 41 Ave at Yew St ) in Van Couver BC has received in store and quickly sold one Canon 450 D (Rebel Xsi) body only to a lucky customer posting on the DP Review website. I called the store and verified that the poster was telling the truth. Speculation that the Aussies are getting sporadic shipments with surprise Rebel Xsi's is coming in on the net.I expect that Best Buy stores in the US will be receiving a handfull in the next week or so.
More About: Canada , Rebel

Radio Poppers Vid on High Speed Sync!
2008-03-26 14:38:00
There is a new Radio Popper promo on Vimeo that givs us a taste of the joys of High Speed Sync .follow the link below:http://www.vimeo.com/817142/Can't wait to buy a set!
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Canon Rebel XSI High ISO With Noise Reduction!
2008-03-25 20:11:00
Canon 1600 ISO sweetness!DP Review just posted a few more test images from the Canon 450D ( Rebel XSi ), these with a properly applied noise reduction in the DPP software.Freakin unbelievable is all I can say! ISO 1600 has never looked so good. And I thank them for taking my and others advice to shoot a few High ISO images somewhere other than in a damn dimly lit cave! I am so tired of seeing High ISO images shot in a dark bar or concert hall. NEWS FLASH!!! ..................... shit lighting looks bad with any camera and lens combination.To check out the new 1600 ISO images photographed outdoors under normal lighting conditions follow this link to the DP Review website. The last 2 images are High ISO with noise reduction.
More About: Canon , Noise , Reduction

Camera Armor For Your Canon DSLR!
2008-03-24 04:25:00
Camera Armor photo courtesy Made ProductsAwesome new product from the "made product store", Camera Armor to protect your DSLR!Check out the molded rubber protector designed for your DSLR camera that still allows you accesss to all the buttons and controls to shoot like a champ!I want one now!
More About: Camera , Canon

Sigma Announces Super Fast 50mm F 1.4!
2008-03-18 02:37:00
Courtesy Sigma JapanSigma Rocks!Sigma announced a fantastic new large aperture prime lens for all the latest digital cameras. The 50 f 1.4 EX DG HSM will be compatible with Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony. This is going to be one sweet optic approximating an 80 mm with most 2/3rds sensor cameras. Basically, the ultimate portrait lens!
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Canon Updates Rebel XSI Sample Pics
2008-03-11 17:34:00
Rebel XSI ISO 100 EF--S 17-55 F2.8 IS USMFinally!Canon Japan has added two more sample pics to the KISS X2 ( Rebel XSi ) website.follow this link to the second and third sample images, both shot at ISO 100 with two of Canon's wide and super wide lenses.You can download the high res version from my server here.Enjoy! ...............But please don't re-post the direct link.Should be just a few days to weeks before camera release in some European markets ?
More About: Updates , Rebel , Sample

Canon Rebel XSi Low Res Sample Pics...
2008-02-02 23:55:00
Sample pic teasers!Visit the Canon Kiss X2 ( Rebel XSi in the US ) digital preview page for a look at some sample pics from the 12.2 megapixel DSLR. The images are low res, but colorful none the less. Can't wait to see more high res images from the Xsi!Kiss X2 website
More About: Sample , Canon Rebel , Anon

Rebel XSi Sample Pics
2008-01-29 00:27:00
Two Rebel XSi images released from Canon :Canon Link above:And my own version:Check out the original Canon Rebel XSi image hereThere are only two images up on the site at this time, the one above and a cheesy sports shot of a bunch of Man - Dorks in spandex. Why they can't shoot more useful images of people than a bunch of spandex dorks riding in formation I don't know? That's why I've usurped all copyrights and given you my version of their original photo! Take that you Canon camera engineers!I like my version better :0Later.....
More About: Sample

Pentax K20 D Press Release On Heels Of Canon!
2008-01-24 08:39:00
Pentax K20 D!That's right ........ all you haters and rumor squashers,Follow this link to the Pentax Website and read all about the newest Pentax DSLR.or check out the hands on review at DP Review.Enjoy
More About: Press Release , Canon , Press , Release , Pentax

Canon Rebel XSi beats Pentax To The Punch At The PMA!
2008-01-24 08:14:00
Pentax has gotten the wind knocked out of their Sails!With just 10 hours to go before the doors open on the PMA Las Vegas convention, Canon has released the specs on the New Rebel XSi 12.17 Mega Pixel, Digic III Price point champion!Can't wait to see if Pentax USA will come thru with the rumored 14 Mega Pixel K 20 D?With 12.2 Mega Pixels and a camera I know and love ( Rebel XTi ), I can't see switching horses midstream. Especially with a projected $800.00 Body only price ( available in April). Damn I'm excited!!!
More About: Pentax , Beats , Punch

Canon Rebel XSi 12.2 Megapixel
2008-01-24 07:54:00
courtesy Canon USA and DP ReviewFreakin Wow!!!Rebel gets an upgrade with 12.2 Megapixel CMOS Sensor!Read about it on the DP Review website.........Canon 450D
More About: Canon Rebel , Anon

Pentax K20 D ......Maybe?
2008-01-23 16:46:00
**image courtesy ENGADGET websitePentax alicious!Here is some good rumor rehash from the folks at ENGADGET about the Pentax K20 D, the 14 Mega Pixel wonder-camera. Lets hope it's for real!Follow this link : Sneak Peak* If you're reading this article, I would love to hear from you! Please take a second to respond by clicking the POST A COMMENT link below. We now feature our reader's comments below each post!

USB 3.0 Specs And Photos
2008-01-16 19:00:00
USB that rocks!The fine folks over at Engadget have posted some pics of the new USB 3.0 connectors along with the specs on wiring , expected data transfer speed and backwards compatibility.Check out this link at ENGADGET* If you're reading this article, I would love to hear from you! Please take a second to respond by clicking the POST A COMMENT link below. We now feature our reader's comments below each post!P.S. As soon as the post Christmas blahs have passed, I'm going to kill the Java Script that runs the comments widget.......just too damn slow!!!
More About: Photos , Specs

CS3 Is Watching Me!
2008-01-01 08:14:00
More privacy invasions from Big Brother!Dr Pimento forwarded me a link to this article from the ars technica website, concerning spyware from the statistics tracking firm OMNITURE which Adobe has been so kind to include in their Creative Suite Software.Check it out.
More About: Watching

SanDisk SSD Solid State Drives
2007-12-21 16:51:00
Don't buy that laptop just yet!Within the next six months, NAND storage Flash Technology ( Soli d State Hard Drives ) will be replacing those old fashioned spinning hard drives that you are used to. Faster data access and no moving parts ( think thumb drive on steroids ) from NAND flash technology will usher in a new level of performance, portability and durability for portable computing.Check out the first wave of this proven technology coming to a laptop near you!* If you're reading this article, I would love to hear from you! Please take a second to respond by clicking the POST A COMMENT link below. We now feature our reader's comments below each post!
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Finding Your Way
2007-12-16 19:02:00
Here is a nice little article with a few words of wisdom from Arno Rafael Minkkinen, a photographer and educator, courtesy of Bernhard Stocker's Austrian weblog."The Helsinki bus station theory"(STAY ON THE BUS is excerpted from the commencement speech as delivered at the New England School of Photography in June 2004)©Arno Rafael Minkkinen, 2006* If you're reading this article, I would love to hear from you! Please take a second to respond by clicking the POST A COMMENT link below. We now feature our reader's comments below each post!

Great Camera Review On Photo Business Forum...
2007-12-11 19:33:00
Canon VS. Nikon!Too tired to post my own thoughts. Up all night doing some retouching zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....Head on over to the Photo business Forum Blog to read a great article on the Nikon D3 and the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, it's a real fair comparison from someone who has both cameras and no horse in the race.Link: Photo business Forum Blog
More About: Business , Camera , Review , Great

NC Stock Images On Zenfolio
2007-11-29 18:13:00
Bloggin Time!During my extended vacation from blogging, I used a little of that time to re-size, watermark and uploaded larger images from the NC Stock Collection to my account on the Zenfolio site. I am still working on a few things ( key wording etc...) to get the images and the description info looking the way I want, but it's looking pretty good as of today. I really need to get descriptions back onto the images to identify the locations. For some reason, my file names were removed and replaced with a simple numeral? They were supposed to contain the file name, picture location and file number. Don't know whether or not I have missed an option during the upload process or if numerals as file names is all you are allowed to display. Let's hope not!Also, worrying about image theft has never been a big concern, but having to put an obnoxious watermark on each of the photos was a painful, but necessary exercise. Without it, images get lost on an art director's hard drive, re - c...
More About: Images , Ages

Happy Thanksgiving!
2007-11-22 19:00:00
Turkey day!Wishing everyone a happy holiday with family, friends and lots of yummy turkey! I will be enjoying the day without any camera geek talk or Microsoft bashing, but will return tomorrow with plenty more irritating banter, bad grammar and abysmal punctuation.NOTICE: I am going to attempt to speed up the page load times with new Javascript code on the 'comments under post' hack that I installed last week. Wish me luck, I just bought a book on Javascript, so I don't really know jack about what I'm doing!* If you're reading this article, I would love to hear from you! Please take a second to respond by clicking the POST A COMMENT link below. We now feature our reader's comments below each post!
More About: Thanksgiving , Happy , Hank

Nikon D300 Sample Pics
2007-11-18 19:20:00
Nikon teaser!Nikon has posted a few more sample pics from the new D300 on their site in Japan. These are much more varied and interesting images than the first crap released to the press a few months ago. Judging from the sample photos, it looks as though they have designed a great camera, producing superb skin tones, rich colors and fine detail. Some of the first images released to the press were professional looking and technically good, but too moody and dark to give the viewer an impression of the look of the files produced under ordinary situations and certainly not a great example of the cameras capabilities. I say, lets have a few more pictures of pretty Japanese girls and less rocky coastline images! What can you really tell about a cameras abilities from a few snaps of the ocean and breaking waves? Why not throw a few bikini models in the ocean to make it a little more interesting? Just my opinion.Also, they might want to run a little unsharp masking on the bottom two Harl...
More About: Nikon , Sample , Niko

New JPEG Format Coming...
2007-11-17 17:42:00
Don't mess with my JPEG!The Joint Photographic Experts Group, namesake of the universal photo compression format known as JPEG, will push to add a new standard of image compression called JPEG XR. The new standard is basically a re - named version of the "Windows Media Photo" format released by Microsoft in May of 2006. Slow to catch on, but supported by Microsoft's new Vista operating system, 'Windows Media Photo' ( WMP ) is now referred to as 'HD Photo' in Microsoft press releases.Read more at Stephen Shankland's UNDEREXPOSED Blog on CNET News.com* If you're reading this article, I would love to hear from you! Please take a second to respond by clicking the POST A COMMENT link below. We now feature our reader's comments below each post!
More About: Format , Jpeg