technology – Page 36 – frans goes blog

jagged lines of summer pics

I have been thinking about how to organise the images from the EOS I am going to shoot this summer. The Photoshop Elements 3.0 is doing decent job in keeping an archive, but too often it crashes (there are c. 3700 pics in the archived folders so far, wonder if it is the numbers, or if the programme is just inherently unstable) – but then there is the online reference thing. Currently I am pondering between making the online folders from the Elements, or continue using JAlbum, which prints the techical data nicely, but on the other hand, the scaling-down of hi-rez original produces nastily jagged artifacts into lines, as you can see from this sample of a crow in Midsummer evening.

The rest of this photo trip into summery Häme, as handled by JAlbum, are visible in this folder.

plaything

I am currently rather happy on how EOS 350D is handling out. The controls on Sigma could be better, though. In any case, life is fun! 🙂

playing with photos

Friday, I finally got the digital SLR I had been planning and saving for during whole this spring. I did the purchase order first into a German net store (for obvious price reasons), but after several weeks of delays (they sell stuff they do not have in store, or even do not exactly know when they’ll get some) I went to a local shop (Rajala). The arbitration between Nikon D70s, Canon EOS 350D and 20D was long and hard, but finally I decided to go for 350D. The price of the kit was practically at the same level with D70s, which would have offered better controls, lenses and a more robust design. But when testing, I realised that I have been shooting with a Canon EOS camera from 1987, and the “Canon language” has become so natural that transfer to Nikon felt hard. And Nikon was not getting as good reviews for the picture quality – there was the moiré issue, for example. None of these were perfect cameras of course, but on the other hand all of them were very good. 20D was a bit pricy, and instead I decided to go for 350D, but equipped it with the vertical battery pack (BG-E3) which made a real difference to how the tiny camera handles. The glassware I could afford at this point was not so great (including the plastic-feeling kit lens), but I bought also a Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 II APO which is a cheap “Macro Super” zoom, meaning I can go pretty close to those details, textures, insects and other little marvels I love to look at and photograph. In the post-processing, I am currently getting acquainted with the RAW data format; it seems that Adobe Elements 3.0 which I bought as the editing and archiving software can handle 350D RAW, but only after installing a separate update file. There are many features in this program I already love (take a look at the sample web photo folder it created from the originals with a couple of clicks), but it also appears still a bit unfinished and unstable (getting crashes and Visual Basic errors tonight, probably my photo library is just too large for it or something). I also realised that Elements 3 does not retain exposure, aperture and other tech data when you export RAW files into JPEGs, so it is perhaps best to shoot both files at the same time; RAW for print jobs and archiving, JPEG for web publishing. Need to study this some more. Other stuff: a Wacom touchpad for editing, Manfrotto tripod for support (got a remote control, too). The Manfrotto (055PROB) seems actually versatile enough, with its horizontally adaptable center column and legs that can be tilted absolutely flat against the earth, if need be. But the mini ball head (484RC2) is unfortunately not really compatible with it, so I have to get it switched. The first dozen or so pics, taken at a nearby Tohloppi lake shore at sunset should give some idea how rich in details and how huge a colour and tonal range these things can deliver when shooting in full 8 mega-pixel resolution. (I am going to need lots of hard-disk space soon…) Never having worked with a digital SLR before, I am just so dazed! 🙂

supercomputers/consoles for homes?

The news of the x-generation consoles are inevitably swamping us all. I have been reading Kotaku’s info on Xbox 360 and BBC story on PS3 – the feelings altenating between fascination and weariness. There are clealy many goodies heading to our direction, but the exact need and sales-point of these investments is still slighly escaping me. I am an addict, so I will probably get these all, and have even more problems setting them up in my living room, but what about rest of the world. Have you already set your eyes on some particular future device? Why?

hi-quality mobile photography?

The future of mobile blogging is dependent on the quality of keyboard (do I want to type anything with this?), the quality of visual technology (do I want to photograph anything with this?), as well as on the speed and reliability of networks and overall ease-of-use of the service. There are many things current generations of gadgets and services can do, but none can yet do all necessary things right at the same time. My inspiration? Reading and looking at the direction Nokia is going with their latest N90 model. Story: New Nokia boasts Carl Zeiss lens: Digital Photography Review.

no sleep until vancouver

I feel slightly drunk. The consequence of chronic lack of sleep in this case, rather than merry life, it nevertheless has some uplifting potentials. Last days and nights have been marked by the proximity of DiGRA 2005 full paper deadline, which was finally passed last night. Despite all advance planning, there is always rush and hurry at the final hours. In this case there was also the coincidence with the reviews of ACE 2005 coming within the same hours, people puzzling over where to submit and where to withdraw. Seven people from our lab will fly over the Atlantic for several days, which is a sizable investment of course, but I trust it will be worth it. Not everything will be on everyone’s key interests, but I am looking forward to several sessions, already.

There has been something wrong with Bloglines today. I can see in my Notifier over hundred new posts, but I cannot access them. The service won’t accept my password, and while I tried ‘recover password’ function I get two messages, the first one saying that I had entered incorrect email address, and the second one claiming that the password has been emailed to my email address. Huh??

bye bye ftp

Ok, I finally got around to leave the world of FTP (mostly because of security concerns). Now, lets just hope that the new file transfer standard will work with this Blogger, too…

camera comparison aches

In Saturday I took a quick check-out of the Canon EOS 350D in a local warehouse in order to get a better idea of how it actually feels and behaves. And to check that my old EF lenses work with it. Oh damn. The first I tested was my old Tokina AF tele-zoom, and then it happened: the lens jammed. It just did not get off from the 350D body! There were several of the shop personnel trying their best, but it started to look like they would break it, so I agreed to leave my lens there. Lets see; they promised to contact a Canon service, and I have their phone number.

The incident really got me rethinking about the whole deal; if my old lenses do not work, I might as well got something different than the EOS. So this weekend I have spend way too much time looking at several sites and hunting for more information particularly on Nikon D70, which couple of people I know own and are happy with. For more, read Phil Askey’s review: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond70/

The comparisons are really interesting, and when put to side-to-side, with real money involved, this is not an easy decision:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_eos350d%2Cnikon_d70&show=all
http://www.digitalreview.ca/cams/NikonD70versusRebelXT.shtml

There are many differences, but both are clearly good cameras, so it really comes down to the possible future uses. Whether to emphasise the light weight (Canon), or more extensive range of functions (Nikon)? The decision of which lens(es) to take adds even more elements into the equation. Created an Excel sheet already to keep track of the options, oh dear…

iTunes or Radio Paradise?

I’ve got my iPod (the 20-meg, click wheel model), but I often forget it home these days, and not really even miss it. What’s the problemo? Well, first of all, this is clearly a life-style issue. If your days are filled with meetings and seminars from morning to evening, there is not so much opportunity to don those earplugs (even if there is the temptation, sometimes…) Also, if you are almost all the time surrounded by computers with broadband access, there are so many other and more comfortable ways of listening to music than a portable with headphones. Also, I admit, I do not seem to have the patience to build playlists, so my iPod is in permanent shuffle mode, which is interesting to start with, but I have head all records in my collection several times over the years. Online radio stations, on the other hand, have people to search and programme their shows with classics but also with new finds from music frontiers that I cannot keep up with. On yet other hand, my favourite net radio, Radio Paradise, plays that kind of golden-oldies-tilted eclectic mix, that is probably just reveals how middle-aged I have become. 🙂 -From yet another point of view, skimming through SHOUTcast, I find it rather difficult to find really good net radios. Nevertheless, if I were forced to decide, I would probably choose net radios over iTunes. But most flexibility you’ll undoubtly get with the combination: your own collection as the home base, net radios for variety.

research in wiki

Thinking about the strengths of new media forms is an interesting undertaking. Are there new possibilities opened up by new applications and services? Or are traditional means actually still better? Is new media actually just old wine in new flasks?

After some days of experimenting with my OpenWiki, I think that wikis are Internet like it was planned in some of the early, utopian visions (for the better or worse). Collaborative projects are clearly the forte of this tool, as projects like Wikipedia prove. Thinking about it, my own wiki might best be used to gather together some research resources I have find useful, particularly as our DiGRA.org facilities like Digital Library do not work yet like they should. (There is work undergoing there, too.) A wiki is perfect for this purpose, as anyone can add or correct entries in it freely.