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Messages - ErickN

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51
General Photography Discussion / A cheap wireless solution
« on: September 19, 2009, 23:57 »
Shooting tethered can be a real time saver as it allows to check the end result  more precisely and with more accurate colors on a calibrated monitor.

When shooting fixed subjects with the camera on a tripod, a USB cable may be ok. But when shooting handheld with a lot of mobility needed, it's a no-no for me. I don't want any cable to trip over. Yet, a 700$ wifi grip is not something I'd like to spend my money on.

The EyeFi wifi SD cards seem like an elegant solution but are reported to have many issues (according to user reports on their forum), especially when using a SD to CF adapter. And even when they work, they are reported to transfer data quite slowly (about 4 sec. for a jpg and much more for raw files). Kind of a workflow breaker.

Knowing that wireless USB is on its way, and is spec'ed to allow the same bitrates as wired USB2, I searched for a replacement solution, but only a few manufacturers sell WUSB dongles. Cables Unlimited offers a 2-dongles set (~US$40 on Amazon) which basically "replaces" a usb cable by a wireless connection, but while the computer dongle gets its power from the usb port, the "remote" dongle needs to be connected to the included docking station and a power supply outlet, which kind of defeats the wireless purpose.

Fotunately, it seems possible and relatively simple to add a DIY battery-powered solution (see here and here). The end result is a tiny box that can be attached to the camera strap and then plugged into the camera usb port for less than 50$ total. Seems to work with any camera capable of usb tethered shooting, works also with liveview, and allows workable transfer rates (> 100Mb/s for distances < 3m, the greater the distance the slower the transfer rate). Much faster than Canon's own wifi grip, but with a much shorter maximum distance (rated at ~ 10m/30ft max).

A warning for mac/linux users : the dongles currently work on windows only, no drivers for other OS's yet.

A few related links :
Eye-Fi SD card review
Eye-Fi users forum
Canon Wireless File Transmitter review

[EDIT]
I've read that some laptops already feature Wireless-USB capabilities, and that Samsung offers a low consumption W-USB chip with embedded flash memory controller (see this article in english and this one in french).
If only camera manufacturers could embed such technology in their coming new cameras, that would be a nice addition. But wait, if they do, they won't be selling any more 700$ wi-fi grip...

52
123RF / Re: Here we go again @123rf
« on: September 18, 2009, 05:52 »
I only use the "old download report", it is always more updated.

Is it only me, or did 123RF get rid of the "old earnings report" page ?
Since they changed both "downloads" and "earnings" pages a while ago, I kept checking the old earnings pages (http://submit.123rf.com/submit/myearnings.php) that I found much easier to read than the new overloaded one, and also more up to date, but since yesterday or the day before I get a 404 page.

53
Alamy.com / Re: I got first sale on Alamy
« on: September 12, 2009, 06:11 »
I get this in images sold, but not what madelaide show...
Only RM (Licensed) sales show the detail of where and how the image is to be used. RF sales are not tracked.

54
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Can't log on to iStock...anyone else?
« on: July 20, 2009, 12:34 »
I had the very same problem since I updated to IE8. If it's your case too, you may want to read this (from iStock site) :

Hello, Some Internet Explorer 8 users are experiencing some login issues. After entering the member name and password, people are being sent back to the previous page and asked to login again.
The following instructions might fix the problem:
1. Please go to TOOLS-> INTERNET OPTIONS->select the SECURITY TAB. Within this tab, please click on Trusted Sites (green check mark) and click on SITES. Add the following https://secure.istockphoto.com - click ADD. Close.
2. Go to the PRIVACY TAB and select SITES button. Please type in istockphoto.com and click ALLOW, then OK. Click OK for the INTERNET OPTIONS window.
3. Go back to INTERNET OPTIONS general tab and under 'browsing history' click DELETE, then select 'Temporary Internet Files' and 'Cookies'; click on DELETE. Let the browser empty it's cache; then restart IE8, log in to your account.
4. Select "Tools" > "Compatibility View Settings" add http://www.istockphoto.com, click on "Close"
If the problem persists, please, do not hesitate to contact us through our ticket system.
We appreciate your continued support.
Sincerely,
The iStockphoto Team


55
I am always a little nervous clicking on 'tinyurls' and not knowing where they lead too, especially when they lead to a file download  (even when they are from someone I trust) :) 

There's a solution for nervous guys like you (and me) : you can enable the preview option here : http://tinyurl.com/preview.php

Hope it helps

56
General Macrostock / Re: Photo opportunity!
« on: April 01, 2009, 20:22 »
I searched my photo database and found a picture of a Buthanese sailor riding a russian tiger, chasing a polar bear in a penguin costume with a Costa-Rican army knife, on the Great Wall of China.
Do you think I could make some money with it ?
All the Big 6 rejected this picture. Don't know why ?
Erick

57
Off Topic / Micro Publishing
« on: April 01, 2009, 13:35 »
Some of you certainly already know about book print-on-demand (POD) companies like Blurb, Lulu, etc.

Now for those who secretly dream of creating and publishing their own paper magazine with a glossy cover, HP labs launched MagCloud, an online POD service that takes care of the printing, promotion and diffusion of your mag. You still have to create it in whatever layout software that's able to output in PDF format, following MagCloud's recommaendations for page size and bleed margins (see their Publisher Guide).

Basically, publishing a mag is free. The mag will be sold to your customers at the base price of $0.20 per page (production cost) + shipping. Then you can specify your desired markup on sales, which MagCloud will transfer to a Paypal account (min. payout = $10). You may even include advertising in your mag, to help finance it. You can keep your mag private, if it's just for internal use (club, association, company,...). Then you can buy each copy for the base price of $0.20/page. (see the publication TOS)

For now, they only ship to US, Canada and UK, but they should add more countries later.

Who will be the first to publish "Microstock News" or "Microstock Weekly" ?

Erick

58
123RF / Re: I owe 123
« on: March 22, 2009, 10:50 »
Same here. I have a negative earnings balance.
Must be a glitch in their system, it wouldn't be the first one at 123RF  ;)

[EDIT] Back to correct earnings balance now.

60
StockXpert.com / Re: Stockxpert makes things right....
« on: February 20, 2009, 12:43 »
Same here, my images sold as subs have been credited with their ppd price to my StockXpert account today.
Agree that they made things right this time.
Erick

61
Same here. I've got a sub sale on JI unlimited though I've never been opted-in for subs since their introduction. I've checked on JI Unlimited website, and yes, this image is for sale there (without even my name displayed  >:() and I've checked again in my StockXpert profile to ensure that I'm still opted-out.

My regular sales have already dramatically dropped during the last few months on StockXpert, to the point that thay went from one of my best-sellers to one of my worst. Now they sell my images for subs though I'm opted-out...

I've immediately contacted StockXpert support. Waiting for their answer.

Erick

62
Off Topic / Re: Google bug ???
« on: January 31, 2009, 11:51 »
It seems your computer is infected with the infamous "google redirect virus". It captures network data streams and redirects all googles search results to some other URL's, so any browser will show fake results.

Though my computer is protected by an antivirus and a firewall, I had this very problem 2 weeks ago, and it has been a pain in the *** to get rid of it.

After many tries and searches, I found a utility called "combofix" which was able to clean my computer (I'm running Windows XP). But be aware that it's a quite powerful utility which will scan your whole drive(s) and may clean/delete some files or registry entries if it considers them malicious, so if you're not too comfortable with such tools, please use it with care or don't use it at all.

Hope it helps
Erick

63
Cameras / Lenses / Re: Canoneers - Your advice please
« on: December 13, 2008, 10:26 »
Your friend will have some choice, depending on the budget allowed. From the top of my mind :

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS (US$ 240.95)
Cheap build, plastic mount, EF-S only (cannot be used on FF) but lightweight, a useful range (starts at 55) and efficient stabilization (4-stops). Known to have a quite good quality for the price.

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS (US$ 469.95 after rebate)
Good optical quality (some say almost on par with 70-200mm f/4), nice range, not too heavy, not too long, 3-stops IS.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 with or without IS ($950 or $580)
Two of the best Canon lenses. Great build, awesome optical quality, 4-stops IS (for the IS one). Maybe somewhat over-the-top for a 14 yo girl (weight and conspicuous-ness), but if your friend also uses Canon gear, he will be delighted as well !

Then tere are some f/2.8 zooms, but definetly not a good match for such a young girl.

For lower budget, he can have a look at Sigma or Tamron. I hear that the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro ($188 after rebate) has a nice quality/price ratio.

Oh, and I assumed you were talking about telephoto zooms, but there are also a few fixed focal lenses to choose from, for slightly more affordable good optical quality.

Hope that helps
Erick

64
Off Topic / Adobe Cards
« on: November 08, 2008, 08:33 »
Just for your eyes' pleasure : http://www.adobecards.com/
Patiently wait for the flash animation to load, then move the bottom cursor slowly and enjoy !

You can also move the cursor fully to the right and watch the entire animation, but it's fun to interact with it !

65
Canon / Re: Using Canon CR2 files
« on: November 06, 2008, 08:36 »
Adelaide,

As previous fellow members already said, DPP is a quite nice RAW converter, though lacking a few useful features, like a straightening tool (you can just rotate in 90 steps) and an highlight recovery adjustment. But the noise reduction is quite efficient as is the overall color/contrast/sharpness rendering of the images.
And most of all, it is FAST, compared to ACR/Bridge and even more compared to Lightroom.

One annoying point about installing Canon's tools from the original CD, is that it installs ALL of them, even those you don't need. If you downlaod the latest version of DPP on their website, you have to have a previous version already installed.

Well, that is in theory. If you're in Windows, the installer only searches the registry for a few existing keys. So if you want to install the latest version of DPP without installing all Canon's tools from your original CD, you may do the following :

WARNING : though generally not a risky operation, modifying the windows registry in any way has to be done wisely. So if you're not comfortable with such operations, please avoid the following process.

1. Create a new text document on your desktop.

2. Open this text document in notepad, and copy the following into it...

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\DPP]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\EOSViewerUtility]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\PhotoStitch]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\ZoomBrowser]

3. Save and close

4. Rename the new text file 'Canon.reg'

5. Right click on it and select 'merge' (which will create the previous keys in the registry, if they don't already exist)

6. Install the so called updates from Canon's web site. (they're actually the full versions - they just check the registry to confirm you've had the original software on there first).

Hope that helps
Erick


66
Lighting / Re: Radio Trigger from Paul Buff - CyberSync
« on: November 02, 2008, 08:45 »
Wow, looks like a studio photographer's dream !
Now, if some manufacturer could make some speedlights compatible with it, it could double as a nice compact and portable strobist system commander.

67
...I'm forever moaning about it either cutting my neck to wear for easy shooting or making my camera inaccessable to me when it's under my arm...

For the times where you have to deal with only the standard strap, if you're right-handed, you can wear your camera *reversed* on your right shoulder, so that the grip faces towards the front, easily reachable by your right hand. It has another advantage : the lens, instead of pointing out on your side, lays securely against your body, pointing downwards.

[EDIT] I just realised that you being right-handed or not doesn't really matter, since you have to hold the grip with your right hand anyway ;)

68
Canon / Re: Canon 5D Mark II video samples
« on: October 10, 2008, 13:57 »
Yes, I've seen that too, in both videos. One frame in each has weird desaturated colors.
Let's hope it's just due to the pre-production state of the camera.
Erick

Video1 - frame 95


Video2 - frame 125



69
And the DIY version of it : http://www.diyphotography.net/the-diy-r-strap

I tried such a DIY contraption (at home), and yes, it's quite easy and fast to reach to the camera. I stillhave to try it "on the field" with one or two cameras. The only part I found not satisfying is when you need to change lenses. The camera body doesn't stay in a position where you can easily mount/unmount your lens with one hand (the other hand being busy holding another lens).

70
Cameras / Lenses / Re: What was your first camera and the next?
« on: October 08, 2008, 08:14 »
Hey Leaf, your photographic history reminds me mine :

I was given my first camera as a gift from my Grandfather when I was a young teenager in early 80's. A subminiature Minolta 16PS, with its flash clamp to mount cube flashes !









Then my first SLR, a Canon 1000F, in early 90's :



Then my first digital camera, an Epson PhotoPC 850Z :



Then my first DSLR, a Canon 350D :



Finally, my current DSLR, a Canon 40D :



to which I may add a FF (probably 5DII) in the near future.

Erick

71
Sad news.
Rest in Peace Mr. MIZ

72
Adobe Stock / Re: Refund... something strange.
« on: September 30, 2008, 16:28 »
I also had an XL refunded on the 25th (image sold on the 2nd), and the reason was : "Buyer's credit card declined"
I too checked my sales for Sept. 2, and the XL sale doesn't appear. So I guess they deleted it.
Strange month for me : first a $20 EL refunded at DT, then a refund at FT. I never had any refund before.

73
Cameras / Lenses / D3 shutter release in slow motion
« on: September 21, 2008, 20:46 »
An interesting animation showing the Nikon D3's shutter release, step by step. Wait until the complete loading of the pictures, then move your mouse over the picture (left / right) to go backwards / foreward :

http://regex.info/blog/2008-09-04/925

Also interesting to read how it was captured !

74
General - Stock Video / Re: nikon d90 or the canon 5dm2
« on: September 21, 2008, 07:23 »
Well, a quick summary of the video specs :

Nikon D90 :
- Format : AVI (Motion-JPEG)
- Sizes :
   - 1280x720 / 24 fps (16:9)
   - 640x424 / 24 fps (3:2)
   - 320x216 / 24 fps (3:2)
- Audio : 11 KHz / 16bit / mono
- Time limit :
   - 5 mn for 720p
   - 20 mn for others
- Autofocus : no

Canon 5D MkII :
- Format : Quicktime MOV (H.264)
- Sizes :
   - 1920x1080 / 30 fps (16:9)
   - 640x480 / 30 fps (4:3)
- Audio : 44 KHz / 16bit / mono (embeded) or stereo (mic in)
- Time limit :
   - 12 mn for 1080p
   - 24 mn for 480p
- Autofocus : contrast detection

Plus other advantages of 5DII vs D90 (FF, shallow DOF, high ISOs)

As of 24p vs 30p, it's regarded as one of the specs which contributes to a filmic look (along with shallow DOF). Several threads talk about this subject on DPReview message board.

You may have a look at Chase Jarvis' video with the D90, and wait a few more days for Vincent Laforet's movie with the 5D MkII.

75
Dreamstime.com / Re: Customer refund?
« on: September 19, 2008, 17:05 »
I had one EL sale from August refunded today. Reason : "Customer mistake".

Indeed, I had 3 EL sales on August 28th, all of the same subject. So I guess they were purchased by the same customer, who could have pre-selected several images in a lightbox, and then downloaded one of them instead of the one he/she wanted.

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