Back from adventures PERMALINK

I’m back home and online, just catching up on emails. No images to show just yet, many gigabytes need transferring from my MacBook Pro to my Mac Pro, and assessment/processing.

I plan on posting a lot of new images as time allows, particularly for the Zeiss ZF 21/2.8 Distagon, which I used extensively until it was bashed on a rock (more on that below). See Zeiss ZF Lenses.

I had a great trip driving from Colorado to California in a new (used) vehicle, visiting the Colorado mountains, Great Basin National Park, Nevada desert areas, White Mountains/bristlecones and Yosemite. (There is still space available in my Yosemite and White Mountains tours). Yosemite was awesome, with all its roaring streams and still-lingering high country snow.

My advice: don’t buy a new car, there are too many good deals out there on low-mileage and in-warranty used vehicles. And learn how to negotiate the price way down (I did).

Everywhere I went, the birds were singing joyously of spring. Truly wonderful.

Zeiss 21/2.8 Distagon: I shot the Zeiss ZF 21/2.8 extensively in the Colorado mountains, until an unstable rock introduced me to its friends.

After the impact, the D3x vertical release was ruined and needs replacement. The ZF 21 was horribly blurred, even though it otherwise looks perfect except for a ding on the lens shade (one wonders how would the bulbous Nikon 14-24 have fared?). Fortunately the D3x still operated with the main release and does not appear to have a bent lens mount. And aside from a few bruises “I’m good”.

I really like the Zeiss ZF 21/2.8 Distagon after using it (oddly) as a "macro" lens in tight wooded conditions for closeups and steep perspectives. Regrettably, the damage means it did not get any exercise in Great Basin or Yosemite national parks.

It’s only after serious field use that one can really judge a lens, and the ZF 21/2.8 Distagon earns my highest recommendation over several days of shooting (on top of my prior experience).

Zeiss is so good about standing behind its products — I’ll have a new ZF 21 by Tuesday.

Away shooting for some days PERMALINK

The past 6 months have an unending effort, but I’m finally getting out into the wild again, enjoying a nice drive from Colorado back to California (avoiding the interstate at least a good part of the way).

I’ll be taking my stalwart Nikon D3x and Canon 5D-IR, along with the Zeiss ZF 21/2.8, ZF 28/2, ZF 50/2, Leica 100/2.8 APO and 180/2.8 APO (converted to Nikon mount), and of course the Coastal Optics 60/4 UV-VIS-IR APO macro.

I’ll be out of town May 23 - May 29 or so. During that time I will not be responding to email, but I expect to be able to respond to new subscriptions (or renewals/additions) remotely, as internet connectivity allows.

For this trip, I plan on revisiting rotational stitching with the stellar glass I’m taking, subject of a future project.

Spyder Cube for white balance and exposure PERMALINK

I discussed the Spyder Cube on May 9. I now have mine. Its diminutive size and durable build mean I’ll be making it a permanent part of my bag.

White balance seems excellent off its medium gray surface so far. The faceted design and inclusion of gray, white, black and a black trap mean you have several choices for balancing color, for example if light comes from several sources or directions.

Seagate Momentus 7200.4 laptop hard drive PERMALINK

Looking for a huge leap forward in performance for your MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacMini?

The new 500GB Seagate Momentus 7200.4 offers at least a 25% faster sustained transfer performance than previous generation hard drives. With 500GB at 7200 rpm, it’s average speed across the entire drive exceeds the fastest speed of previous generation 320GB 7200 rpm drives.

Simply put, this is a no-brainer for your laptop, unless you’re ready for a solid state drive.

Read my full review.

Photo tour — Yosemite and White Mountains PERMALINK

I’m now taking reservations for my Yosemite and White Mountains photo tour. It’s structured into two 2-day segments (4 days total). June 21/22/23/24 (meet the evening of the 20th). By going midweek, we’ll avoid the crowds, but the dates can be shifted into the weekend upon mutual agreement.

We will enjoy the 3rd week of June, a pleasant and spectacular time of year for where we’re going. You can attend either or both 2-day segments as you prefer. The first two days are in the spectacular high country of Yosemite, and the 2nd two days will be in the bristlecone pine studded White Mountains to the east. Optional extension to northern Death Valley/Eureka Dunes by special arrangement.

Each day includes as much personalized photo instruction as you would like while we shoot in the field (mid-day will be the focus for instruction, saving the “sweet light” of dawn and dusk for active shooting).

Group size is limited to a maximum of 4, so you’ll get much more personalized attention than in larger workshops, even though costs will be similar. In short, a great value for your money.

Instruction options include general photographic technique, stitching images for high resolution, digital infrared, and anything else you’d like to cover, such as equipment and lenses. This is a field workshop however, so we will not be returning to a classroom during the day as it would incur too much travel time. Instead we’ll relax in a comfortable spot for periodic breaks. Evenings offer an optional shared meal/discussion.

See itinerary further below. To reserve a spot, contact me via email. The cost is $995 for each two-day trip, or $1695 for all 4 days.

You are responsible for your own transportation and lodging and meals, but I will advise/assist you and have some basics on hand. For the White Mountains trip, plan on driving an SUV (no passenger cars or minivans).

Good physical fitness is a plus, but outings can be adjusted for individual needs. Plan on arriving a day early to let yourself adjust to the altitude of 8000 - 11500 feet.

Here are a few more examples of the territory we’ll visit: granite polish, fall pool, granite crack, Olmstead Point, Mt Dana.

Itinerary, subject to opportunistic changes based on weather or local conditions.

Day 1: We'll explore stunning Tenaya Canyon, with leafing-out aspens, areas of glacial polish, rushing water (falls and rooster-tails shooting off granite pools). Moderate hiking, 3-5 miles as you like, with excursions optional. Fishing/trout also possible (bring your own pole and license, and trout make beautiful subjects, catch and release is encouraged but not required).

Day 2: (several options depending on group's inclination to hike). We'll explore the Cathedral Peak and Tuolumne Meadows area. Later in the day, we'll shoot an expansive but easily accessed granite dome with numerous glacial erratics. Optional pre-dawn ascent of Mt Dana to shoot Mono Lake (hard-core, by group agreement only).

Days 3 & 4: White Mountain bristlecone pines. We'll spend two days at 10,000 - 11,000' exploring some of the oldest and most beautiful trees in the world. Opportunities abound for broad landscapes, possible Bighorn Sheep sightings and close up and intimate portraits of the bristlecones. Great possibilities at dawn and dusk, and minimal hiking for great shooting.

Night-time shooting is also a possibility when the weather cooperates.

Hartblei 40/80/120 lens review well under way PERMALINK

My review of the Hartblei 40/80/120 SuperRotators is a good way towards being done. I like the lenses, and anyone looking for a studio lens will like them a lot; they’re essentially a view camera substitute on a DSLR, compelling for several types of photography, and great creative tools. Not to mention really outstanding bokeh.

Next on the agenda for DAP after finishing the triple Hartblei review will be some Canon goodies, the order determined by availability. Speaking of Canon, don’t forget that rebates are in effect.

Custom photo tours — my secret places PERMALINK

Beginning in June I’ll be offering a limited number of photo tours in the Yosemite and Eastern Sierra areas of California.

A tour can be custom-tailored for your interests: self-directed photography, photo instruction, or a combination of those along with pure enjoyment of some spectacular locations. Upon request conventional areas can be visited, but my preference is to avoid “tripod holes” and instead share my own personal favorite places, away from the noise and bother of the masses.

Group size will be no more than 4 people with similar interests, but a “solo” trip is also possible. We will explore my favorite haunts, with a planned, but also highly-flexible agenda for weather changes and/or personal interests, something infeasible with larger groups.

You will be responsible for your own lodging and transportation, for which I’ll provide assistance and recommendations. Single-day or multi-day explorations—your choice.

Please contact me via email to get started.

Mac OS X 10.5.7: hidden changes PERMALINK

I had put together a short piece on Photoshop filter speed (not yet published), and the scalability across multiple CPU cores. Yesterday, I completed various benchmarks, using Mac OS X 10.5.6, the same day Apple released the 10.5.7 update.

Today, I updated to Mac OS X 10.5.7. All the test numbers changed! And not by small amounts, and not always for the better.

I had previously written When More is Less, showing that disabling half the CPUs could dramatically speed up certain Photoshop operations on a dual-CPU Mac Pro Nehalem. Well, that gap has narrowed considerably; the disabling trick still improves matters, but only by a small amount.

Clearly the Apple elves have been at work, because various Photoshop filter tests on my dual-CPU (16 virtual core) Mac Pro Nehalem now run a smidgen faster with all 16 virtual cores, or a lot slower with some cores disabled, as compared to 10.5.6. As they say on the internet, WTF?!!

I don’t have a single-CPU Mac Pro Nehalem, so I don’t know if those users are, as they say, screwed by 10.5.7. Probably not, disabling installed CPUs is not the same as not having them to start with, but it’s certainly possible.

I rebooted a couple of times, and double-checked my findings—same deal. I’m seeing up to twice as slow execution time with some Photoshop filters when some CPUs are disabled, as compared to Mac OS X 10.5.6.

Does this matter?

Probably not for normal users, who won’t ever disable CPU cores. But it shows that loose screws are rattling around inside Mac OS X, not exactly confidence inspiring. The numbers should not have changed unless Apple changed the way OS X schedules CPUs/threads.

We can hope that Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) will be a lot more intelligent about “scheduling” CPU cores and/or in the efficiency of related matters (synchronization efficiency, memory allocation, pinning threads to a core, etc).

Bottom line: Mac Pro Nehalem dual-CPU systems are probably better off with 10.5.7, but test your own system under 10.5.6 before upgrading to 10.5.7, just to be sure you’re not getting a downgrade. I should have cloned my system onto a backup drive using the Voyager Q first; at this point it’s way too much work to create a 10.5.6 system again.

The Sharpest Image PERMALINK

Written several years, ago my tripod/VR/handheld/etc research revealed a lot of important things to me on making crisp pictures.

Still just as relevant as ever, The Sharpest Image should be on your reading list. Direct link for DAP subscribers.

For sale: Mac OS X Leopard server PERMALINK

I have a copy of Mac OS X Leopard server for sale (10 client file sharing). I bought it, but never put it to use. It’s $499 at Apple, make me a reasonable offer (use email link at page top).

Backup solutions and rebates PERMALINK

I discussed backup solutions in my Sunday entry. OWC has a variety of rebates going, whether you want bare drives, a mirrored dual-drive solution, or a DROBO.

And while we’re in money saving mode, B&H has some great open-box specials, including my favorite Panasonic Lumix point and shoots.

Hartblei 120/4 SuperRotator PERMALINK

Field shooting is the best way to establish whether one likes a lens or not. This shot is from the Hartblei 120/4 wide open at f/4. It offers a very pleasing bokeh (background blur), and excellent detail delineation even in very blue flat light, always a challenge, and an area some lenses disappoint in. Vignetting is very low wide open at f/4. The 120mm focal length is a very nice working distance, helpful in such enviroments.

What makes Adobe Lightroom slow? PERMALINK

My first report on Adobe Lightroom was published a few days ago.

Email me your LIghtroom performance complaints on what else is slow in Lightroom, as I’m planning on looking into the whole preview/cache thing to provide some recommendations.

My favorite office printer ever PERMALINK

I’ve purchased and been annoyed with a series of basic printers over the years. All have disappointed until now. I’m not talking about a photo printer for printing fine art photos, I’m talking about a printer that can print web pages, letters, etc, fast. One that can scan and fax and copy (low volume), has an ethernet jack (and WiFi) so it can sit in a closet, instead of right next to the computer(s).

And did I say it should print fast? When I want to print a google map, I don’t want it 1 minutes from now, I want it right now. And I want to print on plain copy paper that I can buy for $0.01 per sheet.

The printer I’m sold on and I’ve been using for six weeks is the Epson Workforce 600, about $199 at B&H, and even less at Amazon.com. No doubt there are other good alternatives out there, but darn good is close enough for my needs.

My only gripe is that it’s hard to find the high capacity ink cartridges; Epson is usually out of stock on them. But since I’m not printing photos with it, ink lasts a reasonably long time.

PDF published articles PERMALINK

DAP readers can enjoy my published articles in PDF form, including my articles on diffraction, infared and optimizing photoshop. These articles were published in Photo Techniques (highly recommended).

Hartblei 40/80/120 tilt/shift SuperRotators PERMALINK

It’s always a challenge starting a new lens review— lots to learn and explore. Shown below are the 3 Hartblei tilt/shift “SuperRotator” lenses: the 40/4, the 80/2.8 and the 120/4, all using modern Zeiss medium format optics, packaged in Hartblei’s SuperRotator lens barrel.

Ever see a near-circular aperture (diaphragm)? All of the Hartblei lenses use 12-bladed diaphragms, and they stay beautifully symmetric when stopped down (not all lenses do).

Backup your data/photos cost effectively PERMALINK

Looking for an ultra cost-effective way to backup your data? It doesn’t get any cheaper than bare drives. See Mac Performance Guide for a lot more on backup and other related topics.

Here’s your solution:

• Newer Tech Voyager Q with Firewire 800 and eSATA ports — see review. The eSATA port is very nice for MacBook Pro or Mac Pro users with an eSATA card for faster backups, speed you’ll appreciate when your data approaches 1TB. You can use USB2 if you have nothing better to do with your time. The ’Q works on Windows PCs also.

plus

• Hitachi 1TB 7K1000.B. It’s about $74.99 after $10 rebate. This is not the fastest 1TB drive out there, but it’s perfect for backups.

I recommend a minimum of three (3) of the 1TB drives (4-5 is best). Each week you wipe one of the drives (erase it), then make a complete backup onto it. Store the backups away from your computer, preferably at another location.

By using 4-5 copies, you not only have redundancy, you have some protection against your own mistakes; you can go back 1/2/3/4 weeks. If you like more redundancy, get two of the Voyager Q’s and make two backups at once.

Tip: reserve one drive for a Time Machine backup (Mac OS X). While you’re not actively using the Voyager Q for your rotating backups, leave a 1TB drive operating for up-to-the-hour protection via Time Machine. I swear by Time Machine, it’s my best computing “friend” — it has saved my ass a number of times: damaged preferences, deleted files, files I altered badly... instant fix, no hassles. I frequently use its “Backup Now” command after completing important work.

The elegance of this system is its rock-bottom cost, and dead-simple strategy. Don’t go for complicated backup solutions, and store all your data in one place. Complicated = eventual data loss. Use a piece of paper to log your backups, and use sticky notes on the drives indicating which is which.

If your data exceeds 1TB, then you can use 1.5TB or 2TB drives, or split your data, or use a striped RAID pair (requires two drive enclosures). I use multiple striped RAID pairs (two 1TB drives each), because backing up 1.1TB onto a single drive takes too long, even with eSATA.

Don’t buy 500GB or 640GB drives, you’ll just fill them up and the performance will be faster with 1TB drives.

The Voyager Q is also very handy for cloning and reconfiguring your system, maintaining a bootable spare, etc. It accepts 3.5" or 2.5" SATA drives, hard drives or SSD. You can use it as a boot drive via Firewire 800. It’s also cool that any shitty old SATA drive can be slotted into the Voyager Q and used for a backup.

Color bokeh — Canon 85/1.2L II PERMALINK

I was reviewing some older files when I came across this interesting example of color bokeh, with the classic magenta/green effect.

Normally the Canon EF 85/1.2L II produces very pleasing blur, but this color behavior just looks weird. Maybe I’ll just avoid chain-link fences...well to be perfectly honest I did shoot the fence just to check out the bokeh!

Still, I have no hesitation in highly recommending the outstanding and unique 85/1.2L II, and with a $130 instant rebate, maybe it’s time to get one. It definitely is one lens that every Canon shooter ought to own.

Spyder Cube for white balance and exposure PERMALINK

Reader James K pointed me to the new Datacolor Spyder Cube. It is more versatile and durable than a gray card, and I’ve ordered one to try out—it looks great!

The single best thing one can do for image quality overall is to nail the white balance, and this looks like the ticket. At about $59, it’s well worth the money, especially in light of prices on not-so-durable Macbeth color checker cards.

Intel X25-E as a Photoshop scratch volume? PERMALINK

Just posted is my review of the Intel X25-E 64GB solid state drive (SSD).

Photoshop users in particular might want to check out the scratch volume results.

Users of Adobe Lightroom and similar programs that maintain a huge file catalog might be interested in the high reliability and incredible speed of a solid state drive (SSD). While sustained read and write speeds are incredibly fast, random access is even more impressive. Of course, at 64GB, original image files will still need a home on conventional hard drives until SSD drives grow enough in capacity, which might occur in 2009.

My data is 1.1TB, and simply out of the question for SSD storage, but that equation might change next year. However, I’m never going back to a hard drive for my system disk, and that’s what I’ll be using in my MacBook Pro soon as well: high reliability and high speed.

Hartblei 40/80/120 tilt/shift lenses PERMALINK

Just arrived from Germany: evaluation units of the Hartblei 40mm f/4, 80mm f/2.8 and 120mm f/4 Superrotator tilt/shift lenses, utilizing Zeiss medium format optics in Hartblei-engineered barrels. Marvels of engineering indeed, and built as solidly as anything you’ll find.

It will take some time to familiarize myself with these unusual offerings, with coverage to follow in DAP. Preliminary impressions are that all the lenses have unusually pleasing bokeh (out of focus blur), with the 120/4 offering especially nice results, due in part (perhaps) to its 12-bladed aperture.

The Hartblei offerings are available in a variety of mounts, including Canon, Nikon and others.

Optimizing Adobe Lightroom PERMALINK

Just posted in MacPerformanceGuide is my report on Optimizing Adobe Lightroom. I don’t use a PC, but it’s quite possible that the same tips apply to the WIndows version.

Canon lens rebates PERMALINK

Through July 11, Canon is offering lens rebates. These are instant rebates, not the problematic mail-in-the-card-so-we-can-invent-a-problem kind. You do need to buy US lenses (not “imported”), and that should be your choice at any time, rebate or not.

Many lenses are up for rebates, and my trusted photography vendor is B&H Photo. B&H has the instant rebates online, no hassles there, just the lower price when you buy. I’ve used B&H for many years, and they’ve never let me down.

A few of my favorites are the unique 85/1.2L II and the 50/1.2L. I’d love to own the 200/2L IS some day; its predecessor the 200/1.8 was superb (I used it briefly).

For zooms, the 70-200/2.8L IS and 70-200/4L IS are both excellent, with the f/2.8 version being a little more flexible optically, but the f/4 version being much friendlier to one’s neck. The Canon 24-70/2.8L is an excellent lens optically, if a little dated in ergonomics.

There are also savings up to $300 on EOS 50D and Rebel XS kits.

Looking for more? See my Gear page and check out the B&H Rebates page (all rebates from all brands). Thank you for using the links from this page or the Gear page, which helps support this site.

Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture? PERMALINK

Every program has strengths and weaknesses, but I’m really turned off by programs that make simple things hard. Thing should just be made to work like they should, one of the hardest things for engineers to grasp (Nikon software engineers come to mind).

A photographer client of mine needed a workstation set up for his photos. Now mind you, he is a complete novice starting at just about zero as far as computer knowledge, so moving the mouse, launching and quitting programs, etc are on his to-be-learned list. The last thing he needs is the “best” program which makes simple things hard—and hard means more than 2 steps. Ideally, it would be as in the Dilbert cartoon: one button pressed before it leaves the factory.

Basic operations experienced uses take for granted include importing photos, backing up photos, burning a disc of photos (originals or JPEGs), and a slide show. These are actually pretty hard to do without having a grasp of multiple concepts that experienced users take for granted, and I found that even basic things can be missing— like burning a DVD of newly-imported images, let alone multiple DVDs.

I tried Apple’s Aperture. What a disappointment— its insular approach allows external files (outside the library), but I ran into multiple complications along the way in that model for what I needed it to do (even for myself, let alone my beginner friend). I found myself cursing it, and searching in vain for missing features. The interface demands far too much in advance conceptually, and returns too little in usability and problem-solving. Great for nerds, but I’m a nerd and quickly found Aperture quite irritating for a variety of reasons. I’m sure it does some things well, but it certainly fails on the basics.

That said, Blue Room Software’s BurnToDisk for Aperture and/or iPhoto is a handy way to burn backups that may span multiple DVDs, if hampered by stupid restrictions in Aperture (inability to select more than one folder at once, modal operation). The fact that Aperture doesn’t have multi-disc DVD burning capability built-in is a non-starter—DBM*.

After Aperture, iPhoto was a reprieve (I love its “Events” approach), but once I hit the bug of removing 100 photos and getting 100 dialogs all at once telling me the photo was missing, I was turned off. How do you explain that kind of bullshit to a newbie? My friend would just have to pull the plug at that point.

Add in iPhoto limitations on when you can zoom to actual pixels, no direct manipulation as in Photoshop, no built-in multi-DVD burning, crappy music I’m forced to turn off for a slide show, and WTF pretty much sums up Apple’s offerings. BTW, iPhoto recognizes faces, but not other body parts, how useful is that for Eolake Stobblehouse anyway? There were more problems (including random hangs), but you get the picture. Remember, when a program misbehaves, a newbie pulls the plug.

Just today I tried Adobe LightRoom 2. What a relief! I spent all of 5 minutes learning to get basic things done—very impressive. I’m certain that I’ll find issues of course, but it’s a very good sign. Lightroom may still be a bit complex for a newbie, but it at least makes sense in its design.

With Lightroom, DVD burning is built-in for either JPEGs or originals, and it burns as many discs as needed. Too bad it hung half-way through my first DVD—there’s always some glitch isn’t there? Gotta try again I suppose. And it ought to be smart enough to recalculate the number of disks if a CD is inserted by mistake, ejected, and replaced by a DVD (instead of burning a 4GB DVD as 700MB).

Update: the burn completed successfully after all. It turns out that the progress display just stops updating, but the disc get burned correctly. Very confusing, but fortunately Lightroom allows other things to be done while the disks burn?

Bottom line: I’ll be working with LIghtroom more, hopefully it won’t be too buggy since its design and feature set seem well done.

Update: readers are asking how to optimize Lightroom, something I’ll be addressing going forward. You can’t go wrong optimizing Photoshop however, and forget about 2-core machines (anything except the Mac Pro) if you want top performance.

* designed by morons

Need backup space? PERMALINK

Capacious hard drives are dirt-cheap these days, like $90 for a 1TB Hitachi 7K1000.B. These are great for rotating backups (multiple offline and/or off-site copies of your data).

There are lots of good alternatives also: one of my favorites is the enterprise-grade Western Digital RE-3, which I use internal to my Mac Pro, great for optimizing Photoshop speed.

The smart money is on the Mac Pro (see my special report), which can take 4 internal drives. However, bare hard drives in conjunction with something like the Voyager Q make a great backup alternative for any Mac. I do recommend eSATA for speed if you have a Mac that can use it, like the MacBook Pro.