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Monday, January 28, 2008 -
Adobe Lightroom videocasts
Since getting my iPod Touch for Christmas I've been investigating some of the Lightroom tutorial videocasts. I've had a copy of The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers but still haven't had a lot of time to sit down and read through it.
These are the podcasts I've been watching:
These are the podcasts I've been watching:
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom with George Jadine - tutorials are interspersed with interviews and portfolio reviews, but the tutorials are of a very high standard and are very informative although mostly focussed on the develop module
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips - mostly short videos giving hints and tips
- Lightroom for digital photographers with Michael Rather. This is a regularly updated podcast covering a wide range of subjects
Saturday, January 26, 2008 -
Braun PixelBank - first impressions
I have recently bought a Braun PixelBank as a backup for my photographs whilst I'm on the move. I had a set of criteria which were:
I unpacked the box and found some nice features - they've included screws and a screwdriver so that you can change the hard drive if you so wish - it takes a standard 2.5" one. One disappointment was that the power supply has a European plug so an adapter is necessary. I couldn't find one around the house, so used the provided USB cable to charge the unit up initially. I left it charging overnight, to ensure it got a good solid charge, and when I looked at it this morning the LED had changed from red (charging) to green (charged).
I took a selection of photographs on 2 different SD cards, and 1 xD card and put the cards in one at a time. Next to the power button there is a play button, and pressing this starts the copying process. There is a % count displayed whilst the copying happening, ending at 100%. If you leave the machine to do this, don't be surprised if it turns itself off after doing the copy, it has an auto shut off to protect battery life. Displayed on the right of the unit is the remaining capacity of the unit. It is probably worth doing some mental arithmetic to validate the saving by checking that the capacity is decreasing as you'd expect.
Attaching the PixelBank to the computer via the USB cable results in the screen lighting up, with just the HDD and USB signs being displayed.
Opening the drive in Finder, shows a top level folder named CARDS. Under this is a folder for every card copy that has been done. The folders are prefixed with SD for an SD card (presumably also for MMC and MS), SM for an xD card (presumably also for SM) and according to the manual CF for CF or MD cards. The cards are then numbered sequentially, so the first card is SD0001, the second SD0002 etc. There is no different naming conventions for different physical cards - I copied my first SD card twice (SD0001 and SD0002), and the second one once (SD0003). The data stored is a full copy of the disc, so includes any extra files that get stored by the camera (e.g. NIKON001.DSC for my Nikon D80).
So, there ends the first impressions. I'll add more thoughts as I use it and rely on it more.
- Reads SD cards
- Reads xD cards
- Accepts Nikon Raw format
- Works with a Mac
- At least 40GB
I unpacked the box and found some nice features - they've included screws and a screwdriver so that you can change the hard drive if you so wish - it takes a standard 2.5" one. One disappointment was that the power supply has a European plug so an adapter is necessary. I couldn't find one around the house, so used the provided USB cable to charge the unit up initially. I left it charging overnight, to ensure it got a good solid charge, and when I looked at it this morning the LED had changed from red (charging) to green (charged).
I took a selection of photographs on 2 different SD cards, and 1 xD card and put the cards in one at a time. Next to the power button there is a play button, and pressing this starts the copying process. There is a % count displayed whilst the copying happening, ending at 100%. If you leave the machine to do this, don't be surprised if it turns itself off after doing the copy, it has an auto shut off to protect battery life. Displayed on the right of the unit is the remaining capacity of the unit. It is probably worth doing some mental arithmetic to validate the saving by checking that the capacity is decreasing as you'd expect.
Attaching the PixelBank to the computer via the USB cable results in the screen lighting up, with just the HDD and USB signs being displayed.
Opening the drive in Finder, shows a top level folder named CARDS. Under this is a folder for every card copy that has been done. The folders are prefixed with SD for an SD card (presumably also for MMC and MS), SM for an xD card (presumably also for SM) and according to the manual CF for CF or MD cards. The cards are then numbered sequentially, so the first card is SD0001, the second SD0002 etc. There is no different naming conventions for different physical cards - I copied my first SD card twice (SD0001 and SD0002), and the second one once (SD0003). The data stored is a full copy of the disc, so includes any extra files that get stored by the camera (e.g. NIKON001.DSC for my Nikon D80).
So, there ends the first impressions. I'll add more thoughts as I use it and rely on it more.
// posted by Jane @ 12:29 PM
Comments:
Hi Jane,
I bought exactly the same storagedevice like you. I´m happy with it. You can change the harddrive if you want and the battery is changeable too. I use this for my holidays last summer. It´s doing his job well. Just the transfer rate could be faster :-)
Have fun with it!
I bought exactly the same storagedevice like you. I´m happy with it. You can change the harddrive if you want and the battery is changeable too. I use this for my holidays last summer. It´s doing his job well. Just the transfer rate could be faster :-)
Have fun with it!
# posted by 
: January 30, 2008 8:13 PM
: January 30, 2008 8:13 PM
Hi Jane
By coincidence I have just bought one of these devices, also from Park Cameras - though I collected mine in person. You might want to contact them, because the one I got contains a UK power lead as well as a European one.
What attracted me was the prospect of being able to change the disk drive and the battery. Such a change from the usual "no user serviceable parts" syndrome. In a few years much bigger drives will be cheaply available; indeed I already have a dead laptop with a perfectly good drive in it.
Michael Hooker, Surrey
By coincidence I have just bought one of these devices, also from Park Cameras - though I collected mine in person. You might want to contact them, because the one I got contains a UK power lead as well as a European one.
What attracted me was the prospect of being able to change the disk drive and the battery. Such a change from the usual "no user serviceable parts" syndrome. In a few years much bigger drives will be cheaply available; indeed I already have a dead laptop with a perfectly good drive in it.
Michael Hooker, Surrey
Thursday, January 3, 2008 -
Photoblogs of the year
wink is the photoblog of the year according to Photoblogawards. All of the finalists are impressive and provide great inspiration.
Via Bruce and openculture.
Via Bruce and openculture.
Labels: awards, inspiration
Andreas Gursky
Whilst I was on my pre-Christmas travels around the country, I caught up with some back issues of the British Journal of Photography. Among other useful articles, I was particularly taken with a review of Andreas Gursky's exhibition At Large, illustrated with an amazing photograph of skiers at the annual ski marathon in Engadin.
The exhibition is on at the Kunstmuseum, Basel until the 24th February and looks like it'll be amazing. Here's hoping there will be an opportunity to see this exhibition in the UK at some point.
The exhibition is on at the Kunstmuseum, Basel until the 24th February and looks like it'll be amazing. Here's hoping there will be an opportunity to see this exhibition in the UK at some point.
Labels: exhibition, inspiration, photographer
