I smell a Class Action Lawsuit comin...
It's been several weeks since the death of my trusted workhorse 'Image Cruncher', an off the shelf 'Compaq Presario' desktop computer with 1GB of Ram and WinXP Pro. It wasn't a gamer's dream machine with dual channel Corsair memory and an overclocked CPU, but it got the job done, ran Photoshop like a dream and never gave me even one 'blue screen of death' in over two years! It would probably still be running today if I had bothered to blow out the dust gathering inside the case. Lesson learned on that one!
The computer I purchased as a replacement came pre - loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium, which is appropriately named 'Premium' I speculate, because it is a premium pain in the ass, which will cost you a premium amount of money. The way I see it, Bill Gates or some other asshole at Microsoft owes me a month of my time, a few hundred dollars and a fresh copy of Win Xp Pro with service pack (3) ; not to mention the bucks they owe me for June of 2000 and the debacle known as Windows ME, the second worst operating system in the world! I'll let you guess what the current winner is, what I don't understand is why?
Is it really that hard to improve upon something that already works? Can't you just make the window dressing more attractive without re - thinking and irrevocably changing the way even the simplest programs work. Why on earth would you remove functionality from a program and tell the world that it's been improved, or make a simple task 10 times harder than it has to be, just to give the consumer a false sense of security.
Questions I'd like to ask the Rocket Surgeons at Microsoft:
Have you ever watched a teenager use a computer? They will press any number of buttons and agree to any pop - up request from any software company on any website at any time...... just to get to the screen with the Brad Pitt pictures (Substitute Brad with Angelina if it's a boy). They don't even stop to read the warnings and after the 'User Account Control' has popped up 100 + times, most adults aren't reading the warnings either!
Why did you screw up the Windows picture and Fax viewer? How stupid can you be? The program used to display Jpegs at their native resolution in both normal and slide show mode! Now the damn program blows up every picture to full screen during 'Slide Show Mode', even if the picture was never sized for full screen viewing! And another thing that really peeves me! I used to be able to set up my edits ( images ) for preview in one folder, uploaded to the web for my clients. They could download them and open them up in the 'Windows Picture and Fax viewer'. It was simple and flawlessly scrolled through the images at blazing speeds, complete with film strip thumbnails below the chosen image.This gave the viewer a sense of where they were in the editing process. But no! Thats all gone now! Who needs a filmstrip preview to scroll through, not when Bill Gates gives us a huge retarded looking 'Mac wannabe' set of glowing buttons to push.
And what the F*#k is up with the Vista Aero effects interfering with the functionality of Photoshop! Did you think that it wasn't important enough to make sure your GUI worked with the number one graphics / image editor in the world! Maybe you thought that red-eye reduction and the other bullshit in Win Vistas Photo Gallery (the new Win Picture and fax viewer) would be a fair replacement for Adobe Photoshop!
More to come.......
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Friday, November 9, 2007
Still Struggling With Win Vista...
Monday, November 5, 2007
Canon Comes Clean To Our Buddies Down Under
*Photo Courtesy Canon AU
From the Canon Australia customer support web page:
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According to other sources, Canon will begin replacing affected cameras immediately.
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Radio Popper Updates Web Info...
The Radio Popper Website has been updated with more info on the new "Radio based E - TTL flash triggers" with expanded content including details of the three models currently in the works.
Check out the details about the Radio Popper Jr. :
From their site...
"We stripped the standard radio triggering feature off of our P1 model in an effort to further reduce size and cost - but we’re giving this feature back in the form of the RadioPopper Jr. The Jr. will be a standard no-frills studio strobe triggering device. It won’t sport the TTL or infrared bridging features offered by its older brothers, but it will fill the need in our industry for a simple device that plugs to the PC-synch plug on your camera and reliably triggers manual strobes.
And we’re going to offer it at a ridiculously low price.
Designed with the highest quality radio components, cutting no corners, real world range projected to 2000+ ft, legitimate FCC certified radio slaves, and we’re going to do our best to put them in your hands for $25 each. "
Awesome!
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Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Canon 7D Confirmed By Elvis...In Beta Testing With Bigfoot!
You can trust Elvis!
The widespread rumors about a future release date for the not yet confirmed Canon Eos 7D are growing with every passing week. Spurred by falling prices and big manufacturer rebates available in the EU, the Canon faithful are holding their breath with giddy anticipation. Consumers in Europe were the first to receive price breaks on the 12.8 Megapixel Eos 5D in the form of cash rebates, with the option of having the cash direct deposited into their bank accounts or receiving a rebate check mailed after purchase. With Canon's first round of rebates cutting 200 Euros from the price of the 5D, the speculation that a new full frame DSLR was right around the corner has continued to grow. To add fuel to the fire, there are now some retailers in Germany that have knocked another 100 Euros off the rebate price. Yeee Haaaa!
Even with all the price breaks, rebates and incentives, there are no guarantees that Canon will release any new professional level DSLRs anytime before the second quarter of 2008. We can only hold our breath and wait, or go and buy a 5D while the gettins good!
Update:
From the "Digital Pro Talk Blog,"
Anonymous said...
David, it's well known that big foot was caught taking a picture of the Loch Ness monster with a 7D. This was verified by Elvis who is working at a lab in Atlantis.
1:09 PM, October 04, 2007
Thats all the confirmation I need!
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Friday, October 26, 2007
Using Canon SpeedLite Transmitter ST- E2 As Focus Aid?
Just an idea...
Recently, Dr. Pimento did some pseudo scientific field testing with a Canon EOS 40D at his local pro camera shop. Straight out of the box, using several of his own professional Canon prime lenses and zooms, he took a series of ambient light, high ISO images to evaluate the 40D's focus accuracy and consistency under normal room lighting. His goal, to test for the dreaded front focus / back focus problems experienced by some of Canons other high end cameras. Using the unevenly stacked inventory boxes high on the shelf behind the counter, he focused and refocused on the same spot ( the large typeface on a Canon lens box ) making exposures after each new framing and refocus. Dr. Pimento was careful to use the singular focus spot in the viewfinder, zeroing in on the exact letter in the type face on the package front for each exposure.
Back at Dr. P's secret testing facility, the RAW images were processed and evaluated on his "state - of - the - art" imaging system, complete with Matrox video card and high resolution LCD monitor. His down and dirty in store focus experiment did not reveal the positive results he was hoping for, with frame after frame of inconsistently focused images, sometimes behind the subject, other times focused well in front.
Is it possible that Canon DSLR's just aren't capable of focusing on certain fonts? Or is it more likely that Canon autofucus ( purposely misspelled ) technology has an aversion to critical focus on cardboard boxes! Hmmmm..............?
That brings me to the title of this post....."Canon SpeedLite Transmitter ST-e2 As Focus Aid." I have heard rumors that these overpriced units for controlling multiple speedlite flashes are excellent for using strictly as a focus aid, emitting an LED beam at close proximity. Come to think of it, I have hardly ever taken an out of focus pic with a speedlite mounted on my Canon in a dimly lit room. At $209.95 before shipping at B&H Photo, they certainly aren't cheap, but coming back from an assignment with poorly focused images might cost you even more.
I might have to give one of these a try!
Specs:
-Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2
- Compatible with 420EX, 550EX, 580EX, or MR-14EX and MT-24EX Macro flashes
- AF-assist Beam: Compatible with EOS-3's 45-point Area AF and 28mm and longer lens focal lengths
- Power Source : 2CR5 lithium battery x 1, Battery Life: Approx. 1,500 transmissions (At room temperature and with a new set of batteries).
Price: $209.95 at B&H Photo
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Radio Popper Transmitters On Their Way...
More photo goodies!
If you've been looking for an alternative to the expensive Pocket Wizard radio flash triggers that currently rule the photo universe, you might just have a new 'expensive' option coming in the first weeks of January. Radio Poppers from Kevin King, Phoenix Arizona based wedding shooter, promises to be a revolutionary new transmitter / receiver flash trigger for working with E-TTL and Canon / Nikon cameras. His tiny Radio Popper receiver units promise more flexibility with shutter speed sync, increased transmitter working distance and flawless reliability in bright daylight. You can read more about his Radio Poppers on the STROBIST website, where you can follow links to an original article from September of this year.
There still seem to be a lot of skeptics and Pocket Wizard true-believers out there who want to cast doubt on his invention and scheduled January 2008 release date. You can check out the Radio Popper Website and decide for yourself.
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