Change Log

Firmware Version 1.0.8 incorporates the following fixes.

1. Fixes a phenomenon in which the set aperture moves unexpectedly when shooting movies in manual exposure mode using some Canon lenses (such as macro lenses).
2. Corrects misspellings in the French and Spanish menus for applicable products.

Links to Canon’s Website with Firmware Updates.

Canon EOS-1D Mk IV Firmware 1.0.8 Update

Canon Rebel Ti2/550D Firmware 1.0.8 Update

I’m one of those people, I walk around in my daily life and I see, hear or say something for one reason or another I need to remember. I had this bad habit though of not making or keeping notes, while a few of my friends had the habit of making a note about everything only to lose it because there were just to many. Then I discovered that Evernote had created an app for Android and I’ve heard good things so I gave it a shot.

Evernote is a great app you run on your iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, or Android powered phone. While you’re out and about you can use the app to record a note in text, photo or even voice. Evernote then uses your wireless carriers data connection to upload the note to Evernotes secure website for you to access, read, and edit later. You can organize your notes into categories, use tags (much like you do with meta data) and search your notes. Even better is if you don’t organize it, Evernote will automatically!

Now you might be thinking that because it’s an app on a cellphone it can’t be as feature rich as it’s computer companion but the crazy thing is, that the app has all the abilities the computer does. Now it’s not a scaled back version but one thing the app does lack is the ability to screenshot your phone, a feature which some Smartphone Operating Systems haven’added this ability yet is probably part of the reason (Google, Android… we’re looking at you).

I have to say that after using it for a while now and I’m loving it. I can be out and about and if I run across something I really need to remember I can. One thing that I love is the cost, does free sound good? Evernote is completely free though you are limited to uploading 40MB of data per month, you also can only upload images, audio, text and PDF files. If you find it useful and want to add more features, space and have more of your files tracked by Evernote you can upgrade to a subscription for $45 a year. Included with your subscription is the ablility to upload 500Mb’s per month the ability to upload ANY file including Microsoft Office files as well as better tracking on your PDF files.

For me, I’m happy with the free account and I’ve been keeping more notes than ever. I can be in class and snap a shot of the board to remember homework as well as capture or record anything that inspires me while I’m going through my day. Friends I’ve recommended the app to have completely ditched notes on little scraps of paper and we’ve all kept more of our good idea’s we’ve had throughout the day.

To me this is just a perfect way to create and keep notes (especially as a computer geek) and while this app probably won’t make you a genius at organizing and your office will probably still have stacks of papers that only you know what’s in them, Evernote is an awesome tool that everyone can use.

We weren’t paid, bribed or even asked by Lenovo to give this line of laptops recognition, in fact we asked for the chance to try it hands on and we didn’t even get a response. It’s ok though because this line is just that good and will benefit photographers in ways they didn’t know a laptop could so we’ll still spread the word.

The W series from IBM has been on our radar for a few months now mostly because the line is well suited for photographers as these are workstation laptops rather than home, gaming or business class laptops. Coming equipped with NVIDIA® Quadro FX® MXM-based graphics cards means you’re system isn’t geared toward gaming, it’s geared towards getting things done. The new W510 system announced at CES 2010 sports:

• Quad Core Intel i7 processor
• 15.6″ – 95% NTSC gamut 16:9 Touchscreen Monitor
• Built-in X-Rite® PANTONE® Calibrator
• USB 3.0
• Solid State Hard Drives
• Up to 16GB of RAM
• RAID 0/1
• Blu-Ray Disc Drive

Basically it’s powerful, portable and feature rich. The other W series systems include the W700ds which includes a “palm size” Wacom tablet, built-in… yes built in. As well as an additional 10.6″ LCD display and yes it’s also built-in and folds out right next to the main 17″ display with the built-in calibrator.

The downside to the W700ds is that all those extras will hamper battery life and that currently they only offer it in the now outdated Core2 series processors. If you’re looking at the W700ds laptop we say give IBM some time to update the specs with an i7 processor for the added performance gains.

Are we saying this is the be all end all line of laptops for photographers? Not at all, in fact it would be better for the photography community if some of the other big guys would take note and compete, were looking at you DELL, HP, Toshiba, Samsung, Apple.

Currently IBM is only taking orders for the W510 via phone, we’re guessing they just haven’t had enough time to ramp up production to offer them on their site (or they’re just greedy and want to keep all that computing goodness to themselves).

Visit Lenovo’s website for more information.

Prices haven’t been announced for the full line but the 5D’s WFT-E4 II A and 7D’s WFT-E5A will run you $699 (still waiting to hear what it will run for the 1D Mark IV’s WFT-E2 II A).

You can read the full press release over at Canon’s site here.

The Consumer Electronics Show 2010 will draw technophiles, geeks, nerds and just about anyone that likes anything “Tech” to Las Vegas. Photographers go to Imaging and learn the latest on the industry but the latest tech for the photography industry will likely be seen at CES first. Kodak, Nikon, Canon and many other photography industry heavy hitters use the show to give us a peek into the future of what they are working on and new things to expect from them this year.

Because it’s impossible to be in Nashville and Las Vegas and we don’t want you to feel left out, visit Photography Connect for the latest photography tech news from CES when the show starts in just a few days.

No hands on testing but looking at the system the few things I can see is that the belt is almost a must buy add-on due to the weight from a decent camera and a decent lens (D3 with a 70-200 2.8 for example) would be quite heavy. You probably wouldn’t want to just sit down with your cameras hanging this low as well as a few other situations where having your cameras on your waist can be troublesome. All that aside from the fashion factor that is obviously lacking (mainly the belt) the system looks like it could be a more comfortable way to carry gear.

Get more details at http://www.spiderholster.com/ and check out their introduction video below.

An Introduction to the SpiderPro Camera Carrying System from Shai Eynav on Vimeo.

“We wanted people who love the PhotoTrackr to love the PhotoTrackr Mini even more, and for it to appeal to people who had yet to try out this unique and fun technology,” said Eric Liu, president of GiSTEQ corporation.

An additional, optional accessory for the new version of PhotoTrackr is SportTracks. An application that allows sports enthusiasts to track their progress using the GPS tracker.

The new PhotoTrackr Mini DPL900 has an MSRP of $69 and is avaliable from the PhotoTrackr website at http://www.phototrackr.com.

According to Adobe’s site some of the new features included for you to play with in the Lightroom 3 beta are:

• Brand new performance architecture, building for the future of growing image libraries
• State-of-the-art noise reduction to help you perfect your high ISO shots
• Watermarking tool that helps you customize and protect your images with ease
• Portable sharable slideshows with audio—designed to give you more flexibility and impact on how you choose to share your images, you can now save and export your slideshows as videos and include audio
• Flexible customizable print package creation so your print package layouts are all your own
• Film grain simulation tool for enhancing your images to look as gritty as you want
• New import handling designed to make importing streamlined and easy
• More flexible online publishing options so you can post your images online to certain online photo sharing sites directly from inside Lightroom 3 beta (may require third-party plug-ins)*

Adobe further described their main focus on this release in some detail:

For the development of this latest release, we’ve focused on what we believe are the fundamental priorities of our customers: performance and image quality. Lightroom has been rebuilt from its core to provide a performance architecture that meets the needs of photographers today and into the future. The raw processing engine has also received an overhaul in order to ensure that you’re maximizing the potential in your images in terms of sharpening and noise reduction. And, a number of other new areas have also had new features added and enhanced.

It sounds like they’ve really geared this release toward the higher ISO and resolutions of the cameras being released and slated to be released.

As this is a beta it obviously lacks all the features that will be included in the release and some features that are visible options may not work.. Still, there’s plenty to see and touch, I do suggest if you use Lightroom in your workflow to download and give it a go for yourself. Refrain from using it to do any actual work in as it is first and foremost a beta and therefore still has some kinks.

I’ve only been playing with it for a very short time (a few short hours) but WOW, expect further details on this soon, for now enjoy the “new software smell”.

Total Cost – $1,625.88

Operating System – Windows 7 Professional 64-bit – $139.99

I could go on about why Windows 7 and not XP or Vista, but it’s just this simple. Windows 7 has been in use by many many people for over a year now, the processor I recommend for this computer shows solid results with clear leaps in performance in tasks including Photoshop. I really think Microsoft has released an operating system that people will enjoy using with Windows 7 and with that I’m recommending it before the Retail release.

Processor – Intel i7-860 - $289.99

Once again Intel leads the pack in processor speed over AMD. I’ve selected the i7 – 860 Lynnfield over the i5 class of processors as well as other i7 class processors because the i5 processors do not use hyper threading and the price point was dead on. These processors are great, Intel worked with Microsoft on the development of Windows 7 to really show some advancement and while not earth shattering the gains are definitely beneficial to photographers.

Motherboard – MSI P55-CD53 – $119.99

There wasn’t any great wise reason for selecting this motherboard over another more than the fact it’s a solid board with no more and no less than a photographer would need. It lacks support for multiple video cards, but does support up to 16gb’s of DDR3 RAM as well as 8 SATA ports leaving pleanty of room for additional disc drives and or hard disk drives. Beyond that personal experience with MSI makes it easy for me to recommend this board.

RAM – Corsair XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 – $129.99

I’ve had many different brands of RAM and aside from my very first build when I fried a stick of 256mb ram (at the time it cost nearly $200) I’ve never really had an issue with RAM. So I could say this RAM was picked because of timings, extreme performance or something else and while yes I did consider those I also considered things like the fact Corsair includes a LIFETIME WARRANTY and that only thanks to UPS have I ever had to use that warranty. Their customer service is great so in the end again personal experience coupled with a strong product made me jump on the Corsair XMS3 for photographers.

Video – PNY PCIE Quadro FX580 512MB 128-bit – $184.99

Obviously being one of the biggest things I harp on photographers about, the video card is an important part in the creation of a photography computer. For many reasons one of which being your wallet this card uses far less power then a gaming video card and that can be the difference between burning a 30 watt fluorescent light bulb or a 100 watt tungsten bulb. In the end it’s about saving you not only money but wasted computer features and upfront purchase costs. Yes, this card boasts HDMI ports for video as well as DVI. It includes an adapter to convert one of the HDMI ports to DVI in case your monitor doesn’t support HDMI. Beyond that I selected this card because it also boasts support for OpenGL 3.0 leaving you ready for future versions of Photoshop should it require more than the current OpenGL 2.0 CS4 Extended needs.

Disc Drive – LG Blu-ray Burner BH08LS20 - $199.99

Yes, you didn’t read that wrong Blu-ray burners are now under $200. The discs are also under $5 a slice (a slice is tech talk for per-disc) meaning that as long as you don’t mind it taking a bit of time to burn you can store 25gb of data on a single disc for an affordable price. I selected this LG brand burner because LG not only has great reviews but with new tech in the disc industry has always released quality burners.

With camera’s now shooting at 24mp (and higher if you can afford a Hassey) the file sizes are growing leaving Blu-ray a good jump to make now that it has become affordable.

Main/Operating System Hard Drive - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB – $229.99

While I would rather recommend a nice fast flash hard drive the price per gigabyte on them is still to high for mainstream computing. So instead of recommending a slower 7200 RPM drive I’m instead going with this 10,000 RPM Western Digital Hard Drive. The extra speed is proven to increase the speed of everything from program starts, saves and of course boot time. Beyond that I who doesn’t want to be able to say their computer has a raptor inside their computer… ok that wasn’t a factor why I chose this but still!

Secondary Hard Drives - Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB – $84.99

These drives are great, I’ve heard many great things and await mine to arrive! The Western Digital Caviar Green drives don’t lack performance but boast some power savings to go with them. The power supply that computers are requiring these days power savings is and should be just as much a factor as performance for certain components especially with how long we keep our computers on these days, as if we never turn them off. That makes this drive a good choice.

Power Supply – KINGWIN Lazer LZ-750 750W – $199.99

Ok, this power supply, what to say about it. Well it’s modular meaning that you don’t have to use anymore cables then you need so it reduces heat inside the computer case which is a good thing. Beyond that it’s a little more power than you need so you can add more hard drives, RAM or accessories. It’s also “green’ running at 87% of peak efficiency as well as other power saving functions.

Computer Case – COOLER MASTER Elite RC-332-KKN1-GP Black – $39.99

I selected this case for many reasons none of them to do with price. Cooler Master has made some great cases, beyond that I really was considering how much desk space or even floor space is used depending on where it’s kept. This case leaves plenty of room to grow but also keeps the amount of space used in a limited space.

These releases mark milestones in the computing world. Windows 7 is the first version of Windows to seriously beta test, take input, listen and respond with positive changes to the operating system. Windows 7 is also the first operating system since Windows 98 I personally will be installing at release rather than waiting for the first service pack release. I can’t hide the fact that I’m excited but this release is like an early Christmas, I have played with the beta and enjoyed it the ease of well… everything! I don’t doubt for a second this release is bound to even make the most die hard Mac Addict to take a second look.

These new processors and Windows don’t just mark a milestone for PC users. It marks a time for Apple, to both be proud and at the same time question. Why be proud? Well, from the outside I would say that in part this new version of Windows is not only because Microsoft knew they had to do better, but because they had to do more then some hugably cute commercial that had 5 year old making a slide show, they had to put a shot across Apples proverbial bow. Without Apple lobbing hits at at Microsoft over the last few years and over the dismal Vista release I don’t know that Microsoft or Apple would be where they are today.

With all that hype, marketing and banter Apple has also gained, oh boy have they gained. The question for Apple now is can they live up to their hype in the real world. Until now most everyone knows that Apple computers have claimed to be “Fast, Hassle and Virus Free” but that could be changing. As Apple’s market share has grown so has their viability to attacks from hackers, virus writers and others. Which until now hasn’t been a big concern but Apple has a problem, one that was pointed out at a hacker and security conference this summer. Apples problem is their OS is not as hardened against nor as well tested against attacks in the real world, their OS has more code leaving them more vulnerable than Windows. A few of these vulnerabilities were even pointed out at the conference and Apple given notice of their public discussion prior to a fix being released. In the end only time will tell if  Apple simply survives this storm or thrives within it. Either way, we the consumers and professionals are likely to be the winners.