To allow the camera to sync the flash at any speed, press the button on the back of the flash with the “Lightning bolt H” symbol.
www.jeffgardner.ca has been updated to have a more modern look and now accomodates display on iOS devices. Since Apple is dropping support for their MobileMe photo album service, I have re-designed the photo album from scratch and host it now on my site. I also sorted out all of my images. Lots more to come for the photos over the next little while.
The new site has been produced using CSS3 and HTML5 without using Flash. Lots of hard work went into it, hopefully it has a good foundation for future growth and should last a few years, then again with the speed things are changing, who knows.
Let me know if you have any suggestions…
Here is a link to a 40k word document that describes the current thinking around a draft document to assess and discuss the qualities of an image. Although specific to photographs, it could probably be used for most two dimensional artwork.
Dec 15 2011 – keep getting error message “Error Creating Profile” (as if that would help anyone). Called support, got folks that could barely talk. ”Good bye” was not in their vocabulary.
Asked to send a Measurement file to then which I did. Was told I would get a call by next monday.
We will see.
Tuesday Dec 20: Wonderful news – I received a reply from x-rite – Oh wait – its a spam Christmas card! Something I can more time unsubscribing from – sure made my day.
Want a fast way to paste a path name on a ‘Save As’ or Open dialogue screen?
Problem: Sometimes I am viewing a directory in one Application such as Finder, but then have to manually enter that path again in another application such as word or pages in order to save to the correct directory.
Solutions: Here is a method of transferring that file path using Cut and Paste:
1) In Finder, select the Directory and Command+C (copy)
2) In the Save dialogue box (of Word for example), press Command-V. That will open a Go to Folder dialog box, with that folder path already pasted into it. When you click on the Go button (or press Return), the Save dialog will navigate directly to that folder viewed from Finder.
Using the Mouse:
- If Finder is open, just drag the Folder Name or even a File to the Save dialogue box (say of Word) and the appropriate pathj information will be entered.
or
- If the file is open already, example Preview, just drag the icon from the Preview title bar to the Save as dialogue box of Word, it loads the path and file name. You can also edit the name as well and save a different version.
If for some reason you want the full text path, drag the icon from the title bar, hit Command+space (spotlight) and drag the icon to Spotlight. The full text is entered where you can cut, paste etc.
The Computer industry is adopting new interface standards to connect peripheral devices (hard disks, cameras, memory cards, etc.) in order to cope with increased file sizes from such things as new digital imaging technology, video and audio file sizes. USB 2 connections just won’t cut it any longer, they are too slow. This post discusses the alternatives and applies to both Apple and Windows technology.
For anyone with large files, the connection to Hard Disks and external devices (such as Cameras or Card Readers) are a bottle neck. For Photographers (with camera raw or image files such as PSD), making the correct choice can be quite important given the time it takes to move these files from one device to the other, or process them. Making the wrong connectivity choice can result in long processing times causing some users to stick to smaller JPEGs and the subsequent loss of image quality. (that’s one reason I am writing this post, I’m the guy who has to print the small JPEG image files)
Most external devices today connect to the computer using USB 2 (or for Apple users – Firewire) both of which are too slow for anything beyond JPEGS. Internal hard disks use SATA formats which are much faster.
Here are the current common standards as of 2011 and my findings:
| Interface -> |
USB 2 |
USB 3 |
eSATA (SATA II) |
eSATA-6 (SATA III) |
Firewire 800 |
Thunderbolt ***
|
| Speed ->Giga bits per second (Gbps) |
0.48 |
5 |
3 |
6 |
0.786 |
10 |
| Real Life Throughput (Gbps) |
0.25 |
2.5 ** |
0.52 – 1.2 |
TBD |
0.54 – 0.70 |
5.6 |
| Real Life Throughput (MBps)Western Digital 1TB USB 3 Hard Disk | 79 Read 83 | |||||
| Real Life Throughput (MBs)Western Digital 4 TB Raid 0 |
85 Read 106 Write |
63 Read61 Write | ||||
| Lexar Pro USB 3.0 Dual Slot Card Reader (MBps) Scandisk 16gb UDMA card |
21 MBs Write, 33 Read | 34 Write, 60 Read | ||||
* SATA and eSATA are really the same interface, “e” is for external devices.
** Most existing PCs have not been optimized to handle full USB3 speeds
*** formally code named Light Peak
Most internal hard disks use eSATA-2 although newer desktops and high end laptops may run on eSATA-6. As of Sept. 2011, Apple does not seem to have eSATA-6 working well ON MAC Pro’s although this is expected to change over time.
USB 3 has been adopted by many Windows PC and Peripheral manufactures. USB3 devices are low cost and given their speed verses cost, a good value. USB 3 is a reasonable alternative for most users however Apple has adopted Thunderbolt in partnership with Intel. (see Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt). USB 3 therefore is unlikely to be a Apple native device standard although some third party manufacturers are introducing adapters for MAC Pro and Mac Book (17 inch) units and Windows PCs. Windows users will likely be served well with USB 3 since Thunderbolt will likely not be appearing on Windows equipment soon. Also Thunderbolt chip sets are expected to come down in price in 2012 so don’t expect many Thunderbolt peripherals until then.
So what is an Apple user to do assuming that the current best option is Firewire? Here are my recommendations…
Interim existing MAC Pro:
Add USB 3 once it is available: RocketU Quad USB 3.0 for Mac (available in Sept. 2011). This will provide a 5G interface to future hard disks and camera card readers. Lexar currently manufactures a USB 3 Compact Flash card reader
Use eSATA for external hard disks: Mac Pro workstation eSATA Extender Cable along with installation instructions. An eSATA cable would be required to connect the device to the eSATA port on the Mac Pro.
Future Mac Pro:
Ideally, Apple will introduce a new Mac Pro with both native SATA III and Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt devices are expected to drop in price by mid 2012. By including the eSATA cables above (assuming there is a compatible port on this as of yet unannounced machine) and by adding the USB 3 interface card, all high speed formats would be covered. This would be an ideal machine and previous components from interim configurations defined above could be reused.
Interim existing Mac Book
In order for a Mac Book to be connected to a eSATA external hard disk it would require an Express Card /34 slot. I have ordered an APIOTEK EXTREME Dual eSATA SATA I/II Express Card 34 Adapter for the Apple MacBook Pro. I will post results as I determine them from testing.
Future Mac Book:
Use eSATA until Thunderbolt peripherals are available at reasonable cost then switch over to Thunderbolt. A /34 Compact flash card reader or USB interface could also be used to connect to legacy peripherals as defined above.
While I was at it, I thought I would optimize WIFI speed. A 54 Mb connection is theoretically capable of 6.6 MB/s. I am getting about 3.4 MB/s in my office.
Problem: Can’t see contents of Camera Raw images.
When printing images for some Customers, they provide me with JPEGs rather than Camera Raw image files even though their cameras have camera raw capability. The reason quoted is that Windows does not display the camera raw file thumbnail when using Windows Explorer and thus the camera raw files are too hard to manage. JPEGS are used instead.
Solution: For those on Windows XP or Vista, you can download a Camera Raw viewer, free from Microsoft so that you can see a thumbnail in Windows Explorer.
Download from: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26829
Note: D7000 not supported by Microsoft as of Jan 6, 2012. Should be available soon.
Want a fast method of checking what each blend mode in the Layers panel looks like without having to manually select each one?
Use Shift and the “+” key and the next Blend Mode in the list is applied. Shift “-” to move back though the list. Note: if the Paint tool is active, the same keys apply the blend to the Paint tool so ensure other tools are active while using the above keys.
Works on a Mac as well.
May 2011 Northumberland Photographic Club presentation including Monitor Brightness test shot.