While I’m so much engrossed lately with anything to do with bicycles, I haven’t totally forgotten about photography.  In fact, I just updated my iStockphoto portfolio with a few images from my recent trip to Massachusetts.  It’s funny that I haven’t updated my portfolio for more than a year prior to this upload…that’s how lazy I can get.

Popularity: 3% [?]

AlienBees finally started shipping their much-anticipated CyberSync Strobe Radio Triggers.  Fortunately, I happen to be one of the first people who got their grubby hands on this product.  Unfortunately, I’m also one of the first ones to express disappointment on this not-so-well-thought-out-designed product.

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Popularity: 41% [?]

Wow, that’s a mouthful.

If you find yourself cringing at the price of a pair of PocketWizards for your wireless strobe triggering needs…or perhaps cursing at your el cheapo eBay radio triggers (I’m on both camps), you’re in luck…because the genius that is Paul C. Buff has created yet another splendid product aimed “for the rest of us.” A pair of the transmitter/receiver is cheaper than a used PocketWizard transceiver.
Alas! It’s only available for pre-order. Be rest assured that this site will be host one of the first reviews available when AlienBees start shipping this (hopefully) awesome product.

Popularity: 17% [?]

If you just updated your you Capture NX to 1.3.2 on Leopard, chances are you began seeing “Cannot load Blah.NEF” error message when trying to open ANY NEF file. I did, and found the way to get around the problem. Follow these steps:

- Send a hate email to Nikon for letting loose a retarded update for their dog slow software (optional)
- Uninstall Capture NX using your installation CD
- Install Capture NX from your installation CD (assumes 1.1)
- Update to 1.3.1. If you are asked to run the software after update, choose “No.”
- Update to 1.3.2. Again, DO NOT RUN Capture NX yet.
- Reboot
- Voila! Capture NX fixed. Maybe.

Now, some of you may ask: why not skip 1.3.1? Well, the stupid developers of Capture NX (Nik Software?) will only update software from 1.3.0 onwards. If you have a version lower, the updater won’t even warn you that you need at least 1.3.0; it will just complain that “Capture NX is not installed.” WTF? The Nikon support page will tell you you need at least a 1.3.0 to update, but will not give you a direct link to 1.3.0 or 1.3.1. STUPID. STUPID. STUPID.

Popularity: 38% [?]

• Peter Stormare.  If the dictionary needed to use an image to define the word “cool,” Peter’s photo would be it.  I would take a really tight picture of his face while he’s totally wasted/drunk…and he would still look f*cking cool.  Only Peter Stormare can pull that off.
• Patricia Arquette.  Why her?  Well, why not?  She’s one of the finest actresses that walked the Earth.  I imagine taking a picture of her as she’s taking her morning coffee or tea in her home kitchen. 
• Samuel Jackson.    He would have been the coolest person in my book if he hadn’t made “Shaft.”  Gawd, that was a terrible movie.  I will only take a picture of his piercing stare…just his eyes.  That will scare the hell out of everyone who looks at it…
• Giada de Laurentiis.  Most photos you will see of her is with her trademark smile…I would take a photo of her from the neck up, hair up, little make up…and NOT smiling…in fact, I want to take a picture of her genuinely pissed.  I would try to piss her off before I click the shutter.
• Edward Norton.  The greatest actor who ever graced Hollywood.  White background.  Him on a bar stool.  I would try my best to make him laugh.  Then I would take a picture of him while laughing.
• Steve Jobs.  Tight shot of his face in B&W.  Spray of blood on his face.  People would be guessing if it’s blood or something else…
• Woody Allen.  He is the breathing evidence of why God exists.  Imagine if he had Brad Pitt’s look with all that talent and wealth… ALL women would flock to him.  I would take a picture of him playing the clarinet on a NYC subway station with a really wide angle lens in grainy black and white.
• M. Night Shyamalan.  This is easy.  I would take a picture of him on a field, him in a Yoga position next to a HUGE pile of dung.  If we can’t manage to get a pile of dung…a stack of DVDs of his movies since “The Sixth Sense” will do.
• Howard Stern.  Silhoutte of him in side view.  Screaming.  F*ck yes.
• Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.  I have no idea on how I would do it but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be very difficult to screw up this one.

That’s it.  I’m not even sure why I wrote this.  But, hey, If any one of you on the list is reading my blog…

Popularity: 19% [?]

I bought a bottle of Eclipse and a bunch of Sensor Swabs a while ago thinking that I would use it often to clean my D200’s CCD.

Many months after I got the sensor cleaner, I never got to use it…not even once because the Giottos air blower was more than adequate to rid of the dusts that accumulate in the sensor.  I was beginning to think that I should have not bought the sensor cleaner in the first place…

When I bought the used D2X, I never realized how dirty the sensor was until I took studio shots with a white background.  Try as I might with the Giottos blower, I could not remove the sensor dusts.

To make the long boring story short, I ended up using the Eclipse and Sensor Swabs.  I was as scared as a wet kitten when I did the procedure…

Just after a few minutes, I was done.  When I took test shots with the ExpoDisc, there are still a couple of dust specks left, but I figured I could live with it.

Moral lesson of the day: Sensor cleaning is not that hard…and Eclipse + Sensor Swabs works!

Popularity: 20% [?]

Introduction

 A few of the many questions that you may be asking as you read this review is “Why the D2x?  Why now?  Why even bother?”  I’m not going to lie: I was set on buying the D300 when I thought about casually browsing that famous auction site for the prices of the D2X and its slightly improved sibling, the D2Xs.  Lo, and behold!  I found auctions ending with prices lower than a new D300!

Then I realized that I need to reevaluate if I really need the new features of the D300.  As you read through the review, I would be outlining my frustrations with the D200 and as you get to the end, choosing the D2X over the D300 may make sense… 

Or maybe not.  At the least, you’ll be entertained…

Or maybe not.

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Popularity: 33% [?]

To determine the number of shutter clicks (actuations) for you DSLR, there is a free EXIF viewer called Opanda IExif.  Open your latest in-camera JPG file (i.e., do not use Photoshop to convert a RAW file to JPG).  Towards the end of the list of image data you will see “Total Number of Shutter Releases for Camera.”  That’s your camera mileage.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Nikon D300. 51 AF points (15 cross-type…thank you, Nikon), baby! up to ISO 3200 native (!). Hi-resolution (more than 3 times the resolution of D200’s 2.5″ LCD) 3″ LCD (!)

Nikon 14-24/2.8. FULL-FRAME. Probably costs more than a small country’s GNI (read: i cannnot afford it). Good news is that it will probably drive down the price of the 12-24/4 DX

Popularity: 9% [?]

I know I’m gonna get flamed for this, but I’m so damn tired of these corporate-sponsored photographer celebrities who insert bullshit in their assessment of their imaging equipment and think they can just get away with it.

Consider Rob Galbraith, whom a lot of lowly photographers like me look up to for an impartial views on photography equipment…just tried to bullshit on his latest “analysis” on the autofocus problem with the Canon ID MkIII.

I commend him for pointing out the problem and never pulled punches on the facts. No sugarcoating whatsoever. But then you read this part of the article:

—-

Q. Has your opinion about aspects of the EOS-1D Mark III other than autofocus changed since the first look article?

Not really: except for autofocus, the EOS-1D Mark III is a photographer’s dream machine.

—

What the hell, Rob? It’s like saying, “Oh I love the Ferrari, except that that thing goes straight when I want it to go left. It’s still a dream machine!”

Isn’t Canon’s unparalleled autofocus one of the features that make photographers dump their current brand and switch to Canon? I mean, if the autofocus does not work, how can one possibly say that this is still their dream machine? Honestly, if I was a 1DIII user, I’d be REALLY pissed.

Popularity: 9% [?]