Only one cat behind!

 Techy Stuff  7 Responses »
Sep 142011
 


Crossing to a new OS

Generally, I’m not one to upgrade just to upgrade; however, on occasion, I’ll make an exception so as not to get too far behind the curve. I noticed that Apple had an upgrade to the operating system. They are going from Snow Leopard to Lion. Well, I’m still on Leopard. :)

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered Snow Leopard, which was released on August 28, 2009, and it finally came in the mail on Monday, taking nearly a full two weeks to get here. So, this weekend, I’ll do a backup of my system, a little cleaning, and then install Snow Leopard. “Everyone” says that I should do a clean install, though the update works just fine.

I remember doing Windoze upgrades of the operating system and found that they never worked and I mean NEVER, for me. I always ended up doing a clean install and then reinstalling all of my programs, only to find out that some of them didn’t work with the new OS.

Early reports of Snow Leopard, when it came out, had some compatibility issues, but those applications have since upgraded, so it should be fine. It has been out there for a while.

I’ve been reading reviews about Lion, but think that I’ll hold off on that one until perhaps the next cat makes an appearance. :) For now, I guess I’ll remain one cat behind.

Anyone upgrade to Snow Leopard or Lion?

 Posted by Paul at 7:36 pm  Tagged with:

Cool iPhone camera apps

 Photography  2 Responses »
May 122011
 

A friend of mine sent me this video. It’s rather cute and mentions some cool iPhone camera applications. Of course, I’m not trading in the D300 or the M9 for them, but they are cool nonetheless.

Enjoy.

 Posted by Paul at 11:03 am  Tagged with:

Traveling with an iPad. Useful?

 Photography  16 Responses »
Apr 212011
 

PDL_20110116_023.jpg

I had a little internal debate with myself before going to Pittsburgh. The plus side to digital is that you get the instant gratification. The downside is that you need a supporting cast for it to be fully useful: chargers, laptop, USB reader or cords.

If you have only one lens, you always have the correct one on. If you have more than one, you usually have the wrong one on.
~Paul Butzi

Carry-ons and Consolidation
As the airlines changed the game the last time fuel prices shot way up and have never relented, we have to pay $25 for the first checked bag, $35 for the second. Many passengers, such as myself, have elected to travel with carry-ons only, if possible to avoid the charges, so we have to make choices of what to take. In the end, so many people take two carry-ons that the overheads fill and the bags have to be checked anyway, but at least they don’t charge you at the gate.

So, the debate was whether to take my laptop or my iPad. I knew that if I took the iPad, it would only be useful for surfing and listening to music, etc. If I took the laptop, I could use Lightroom, make blog posts, and do all of the other things. The disadvantage is that the laptop is one more bag and I’d have to either check the luggage, incurring a $25 fee, or somehow consolidate into two bags. As the airlines only allow you to carry on one piece of luggage and one personal item, such as a laptop, purse, or whatever. I would have one camera bag, a laptop bag, and roller bag, making 3. Sure, I could get bag that carries the laptop as well as the cameras, which I may do, but these are usually designed to carry an SLR, a few lenses, and the laptop, making the backpack rather large and expensive.
PDL_20110116_013.jpg
There is not really a good way, that I have found, to do useful things on the iPad, save for sending/receiving e-mails and browsing. Of course, this was what it was meant to do, I suppose.

Perhaps I’m trying to misuse the tool.

Overall, I’m finding that the iPad is a cool piece of technology, but that as a substitute for a laptop, it falls far short. If there were a way to get my photos to the iPad, manipulate them, then upload them to the blog, I would be quite enamored with the device. Quite. I guess that what I am really thinking about is the MacBook Air, which does all of the things that I want, but is only slightly larger than an iPad. Sometimes I think that I should get rid of the MacBook Pro and the iPad and get a MacBook Air, but then again, I’m not traveling all that much.

Looking forward …

In thinking about my upcoming trips, I plan to take two cameras, M6 and M9. Yep. One film. One digital. Two lenses, one for each, a laptop, and the ‘supporting cast’ mentioned above. From what I understand, Chinese airlines only allow one carry-on. Period. Not one carry-on and a personal item. Just one!

Well, having options isn’t so easy. Way back when, I would have just taken the camera, some film, and just dealt with it when I returned. :) I guess if you have more than one computer, you always have the wrong one with you. Ahhhhhh. Choices. Perhaps I will see the Pro and the iPad and get an Air. Perhaps. Even the Air has its own Achilles Heel. Flash drive space, but if I am good about moving things off to external storage, it could work.

 Posted by Paul at 12:00 am  Tagged with: ,

Geomet’r GPS: Remarkably accurate

 Photography, Techy Stuff  7 Responses »
Apr 152009
 


Field of dreams
Some months ago I purchased a Geomet’r GPS for my camera. Thanks for my good buddy, Earl, who has every possible gadget that I guy could want, I decided to buy one. Actually, it didn’t take much arm bending to do it.

For the most part, it just sits in the bag and waits to be used. It’s not an every day tool. It is useful, however, for marking your location very accurately. Combine that with the ability to click, from within Lightroom, and go directly to Google maps and it’s pretty amazing. Click in the above image to see where I took this picture. It is my little field across the street that I’ve been writing about. If you zoom down to the street level view, by clicking on the little yellow guy, you’ll see it. If you drag and rotate the image, you’ll see my apartment building. It’s the first one next to the parking lot! How’s that for accuracy? The coordinates where the pin was placed is almost exactly where I was standing!

I could have really used this when I went to White Sands National Monument. Do you have an idea of how much one sand dune looks like another! :-)

Not a bad little gadget for $149 USD. They seem to be out of stock everywhere, though. Not much to say today. It’s April 15th and the tax man cometh and taketh away from me! :-(

 Posted by Paul at 8:27 pm  Tagged with: , ,
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