Share Seamlessly Amongst All Your Devices With Drobo

I love advertising. I can't pass a billboard offering worm powders for budgies without experiencing a thrill - and the desire to spend money on worm powder. I don't have a budgie but wouldn't it be great to be prepared for one - just in case...

The same can be said about camera advertisements. I still keep a stack of pictures of 35mm systems from the 1970's under my pillow, and pull them out and stare at them. I cannot focus on the bellows close-up system for too long - I have to peek at it and glance away. The image is too powerful and I have been known to faint and fall to the floor. I'm sure a lot of the clients of our shop feel the same way.

Given this susceptibility, can you imagine how the advertisement for " Share Your Images Seamlessly To All Your Devices " affected me. I looked around wildly - the television, the computer, the mobile phone...the toaster, the vacuum cleaner, the croquet set...the world whirled. Digits everywhere.

I am terrified. What if I cannot escape the march of the images? What if every time I look into the mirror I see something different in the background. I am just now getting used to the old balding guy in there ( and he's getting more HDR as the years go on ). If he starts being backed up with a paddock full of ghost gums or a harbour full of French fishing boats all hell will break loose.

Will the images from my Drobo sneak out of the hard disk and seep over into the neighbour's house? Who knows - I can't watch over them all the time. They might be going out and having a better time that I am. they might come home late and covered with chromatic aberration.

I have long become resigned to having every blessed thing I do monitored by management, the CIA, the NSA, Mossad, The KGB, and Coles-Myer. Which reminds me, I must look out my KGB card as they are doing a 2 for 1 sale this weekend in brainwashing. I've seen the state of my brain and it could certainly do with a rinse. But I do hope that the pictures can be left alone.

PE For Smarties

Over the years we have seen any number of yellow-covered books in the bookstore entitled " Whatever For Dummies". The range of topics seems to have ranged from religion and philosophy to storm door repairs. I bought one that dealt with my new computer system and as I progressed through I realised it was telling the absolute truth...anyone who spent money on it was a dummy.

I tried another tack - I invested in the first of my Photoshop Elements editing programs...in this case it was Photoshop Elements 3. I found it surprisingly easy to use, and as my artistic ability was on a level with a preschooler, I was rewarded with bright pop colours. On everything...

Determined to do better I bought the Photoshop Elements 10 and switched to it. A whole new world of elegant image manipulation opened up...and I discovered the layer system as well. All of a sudden I could clean up all my image files as well as making an imaginary world of my own.

Photoshop Elements has since gone to No.11 and No.12 and they have added more features. More of the power of the classic Photoshop program has been added but the difficult learning curve that you might expect with the standard program is not there. PE is really intuitive.

Now, if you'd like to equip yourself with the best introduction to Photoshop Elements, make a booking to attend the February 9th workshop with Nick Melidonis at Shoot Photography. He'll show you how to get the best from it, while creating and managing your images.

Ring Jonathan Cousins at Shoot on 9228-8232 to book a place. Beginner or enthusiast, you can place your reliance on Adobe and their Photoshop Elements program.And you won't be a dummy...

Stop The Clothesline

We've had a couple of blog posts in the past touting Tether Tools computer trays and cords for studio and field work. They have recently sent us pre-packed essentials kits for this purpose. What starts out as an aesthetic choice ends up being a Occupational Health and Safety matter.

The kit contains a gloriously orange USB cord that goes between your camera and your computer. There is a jerkstopper clip on either end to make sure that neither you nor any part of the connected gear part company unexpectedly in the dark.

To help you find the keys on the laptop keyboard in the dark, there is also a small LED lamp on a metal gooseneck that plugs in to a USB port. It works - I just plugged it into this laptop and I can see the keys as clear as day. Actually, it IS day, but let's not get fussy.

The real life saver is that orange cord. Studios are dark in the back and light in the front and strung with hazards. One day I will be found crushed under a light stand after pulling it over on myself with the black power cord that I could not see. It will be a fitting end - Elinchrom fitting, actually.

But if I have yellow power cords and this orange USB cable strung out in the dark I may be able to avoid the fate. You might wish to join me and live...I'll be back...

Switch It Off - Switch It On

I can never do that business where you switch off the computer and then switch it on again to solve a crash or other issue without thinking that there is some sort of fraud going on.

Either the computer is playing with me, or the software writer has dug a tiger pit in the programming, or I am the fraud. I am grateful when the thing powers up and comes back to the same place I left it, but there is still that nagging suspicion that something is dreadfully wrong.

I see the same thing occasionally with cameras that are brought to the repairs department. The user has discovered some pattern of commands that bamfoozle the camera and cause it to lock up - sometimes these are resolvable by the switchoffswitchon method and sometimes they are not. Our techs can deal with it but sometimes even they are left waiting - as the exact combination of confused commands that push the electronic signals out of their normal channels may be difficult to reproduce.

And occasionally the manufacturers issue their firmware updates and coyly refer to the previous problem being completely resolved. I suppose we should be grateful that they are willing to keep thinking about the electronic programming after the product leaves the factory. In the case of the Fuji people they recently issued an update for a 2011 camera that makes it a delight to use. They didn't have to but they did. Thank you.

Is this sort of computer behaviour a real barrier to success? Only if you are trying to control the flight of a guided missile. Switch off and switch on just as you are about to hit the target would be a bummer, particularly if the target is frantically sending out go-away signals itself. It might also be a difficulty if one was trying to control a drone camera platform over enemy territory or the nurse's sunbathing lawn.

For the time being I will accept the thing - it might happen once every three months with the studio computer when I start to get too clever and pile on too many commands at once. It might just be the computer looking at my images and expressing a critical opinion...

Gapping The Generations - Or Not Poking The Bear

I was scrapping for a topic this morning until I talked to Ernest, our chief technician. He mentioned that he had read a request from me for information - I had put it out on the internet. When I expanded on what I wanted to know and why, he had a word of caution for me.

I tend to take Ernest's words of caution seriously. I remember he once advised me NOT to stick my fingers into a live light socket and this proved to be quite correct. I wish I had listened then - at least I can listen now.

The question I posed was what the new operating system for my Macintosh computers was like - I was looking at the advertisement for the OSX Maverick. It seems to be three steps on from the one that is in the computers now. The underlying reason for this is the advent of some new cameras that attract me - if I am to use RAW files from them I need to upgrade the ACR rating...and in turn this means a later operating system.

At this point the image of a beagle chasing its tail in a circle comes to mind, but read on...

Ernest mentioned that the newer operating systems are now involving themselves with information storage elsewhere in the electronic universe - the "cloud" system. Call me paranoid, but by accepting the benefits of the new software I think I might  be sending my images who knows where and in turn they might not come back to me. They might come back to other people. Hmmmm.

Personal data? I don't mind mine going everywhere, except I don't want people to know exactly what I think in case I don't agree with me. I had a garlic curry that didn't agree with me and that was unpleasant enough...I think I have come to terms with the thought that whatever I write or look at is noted down in Langley, Virginia or somewhere in Russia. I can only hope that when I become feeble-minded with age they can send some of it back to me.

Ernest said it best - if what I have now does what I need now, I would be a fool to chase the electronic rainbow on the basis of a colourful advert from Apple or the pressure of the next camera. If I change my computer to a new one, I can go in clean with a new system and all the current ACR keys will be good - and a considerable number of ones for the future. But if what I got ain't broke...don't fix it.

Take One Tablet And Call Me In The Morning

As long as it is a Wacom Intuous Pro tablet, that is. Good news is that you can call me wirelessly...

Okay, okay, enough of this. the new Wacom Intuous Pro computer tablets are here and the real difference between it and the Intuous 5 is that the new Pro has the wifi connection built in.

I am a great fan of the Wacom tablets - I have an Intuous 3 on my home computer and a Bamboo here on the laptop. They are the preferred method of image manipulation with the Aperture or Photoshop programs - you can get a far finer control for selection than ever you could with a mouse. Indeed, I only use a mouse for some typing programs, and that is getting rarer.

You get the lot with the Pro - stylus pen, electronic inkwell (?) tablet, battery, computer link, and a cord for battery charging. The freedom of position and the absence of clutter for your digital desktop is marvellous. I believe there is also provision to get quite a number of related programs as well - creative software like Adobe Photoshop Elements and Coreldraw.

Thoroughly recommended for anyone who does ANY post production. More good than a new lens.

The Orange Cones On The Information Highway

Our clients who are of an observant nature may notice a small change in operational procedures next week here at Camera Electronic. Over the weekend we plan to make changes to the electronic system. Big ones. Provided the main frame of the computer does not detonate and you see fire engines blocking Stirling Street on Saturday afternoon, we should be starting the experiment on Monday.

Please be patient with us - the new system is good but a little complex - we have been training in the operation of it but remember that sometimes training involves tying someone up and laying them on he railway tracks until the train goes by...

Any change of systems involves discovery - we will have to do a stocktake and expect to discover any number of things - those of you with a retail or business background will know that simple number sequences can go awry and then start a whole chain of searches and readjustments. Rest assured that we won't actually come out to your studio and repossess the equipment you have bought, but we may want to carve new numbers on it with a Dremel tool to make the records match...we promise not to do this on the lens elements.

What I am saying is - please be patient with us in the next little while. If you see the staff red-eyed and desperate and looking like they have been peering down the hatch of hell, you will earn their gratitude by being patient.

Uncle Dick

Losing It - With SanDisk, Promaster, And Hoodman

Did you know who the largest supplier of digital camera connector cords, camera chargers, and mobile phone charges the world is?

Hilton Hotel chain. They source them from the things that travellers forget in their rooms when they
check out.

We get daily calls for camera cords and chargers, and nearly always we advise the frantic tourists to get a universal charger and a memory card reader. The card readers transfer the data much faster than most cords and the camera batteries are not depleted in the process. They are also much cheaper than replacement cords, particularly when you find a manufacturer that picks a totally unique socket for their camera

Herewith please note three readers in stock now. The tiny Promaster for SD only, the mighty Hoodman for SD and CF and the SanDisk for SD, CF, and Memory stick. If your camera uses the Guatemalan FDQ/X-3 card with the reverse frammis, don't lose your cord.

On another topic, look through the viewfinder or screen of your camera and point the lens at the Eiffel Tower. If the tower looks fuzzy and pink, you either need to stop drinking before lunch or clean the lens of your camera. And the viewfinder and the screen - get yourself a set of LensPen maintenance tools and set to work.

The Filterklear and the Lenspen will do the front of the camera and the tiny little Micropro will get the back clean. They have  a cleaning compound and specially shaped applicators as well as fine brushes to lift off particulate matter.

If you have a grungy iPad or tablet look at the LensPen Sidekick cleaner - same idea with a big square replaceable cleaning pad. Your Facebook surfing will never look so good...