NYC in Prime

In a couple of weeks I'm off to New York for a couple of days. This time I'm packing a DSLR instead of the old Canon IXUS V. And to save my back (and neck), I'm not taking any of the regular zoom lenses with me. It's just gonna be me and a couple of prime lenses. These lenses aren't as flexible as a zoom lens, but they weigh a lot less Three primes approx. equals 1 nice zoom lens (nearly 2 pounds), but you mount only 1 lens at a time on the camera.

Currently I've got a 35mm f/2D and a 50mm f/1.8D prime for my D300. The lack of zoom capabilities will force me to be a little more creative while strolling the streets of NYC.

It would be nice to have a 24mm f/2.8 (or 20mm f/2.8) as well for a little more wide angle. Downside is that those are relatively pricey, or not available. the biggest photo/video store in NYC sell those at low prices, but they're out of stock.....

UPDATE: first images of the Nikon 35mm f/2D looks promising. The lens is a bit larger than the 50mm f/1.8, but image quality looks better (contrast, colors).

Zoo's

Last weekend I visited Ouwehands Dierenpark. A Zoo near the town of Rhenen in the Netherlands.

It had been a while since my last visit to any zoo. It sure is nice to stroll around the zoo with a camera, but in many cases it almost seems cruel to see those animals in those cramped spaces for the rest of their lives.

I think it might have to do something with seeing all those animals in the wild in Africa. Once you've seen that, the rest is kinda sorry, but on the other hand, not everyone has the possibility of going to Africa, and this might be the only way of seeing those animals in real life......

B.t.w. those cute polar bears are known to chase humans. Especially photographers :)

Pudong Shanghai Skyline Panorama

I 'found' a couple of 'weird' photo's in my Lightroom collection. It seemed that they were supposed to become a panorama, but I somehow forgot to create it.....

It has been a while since my holiday to China and Tibet, but it's better late than never :-).

More panorama's on my flickr page

Winter in the Spring

More panorama's on my flickr page

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OSX Update Galore

There are lot's of people who complain about the updates on the Windows platform, but Apple tries to compete I guess. In the last 3 days there was a big security update, Safari 3.1 (both Windows and OSX), Time machine and Airport Updates, and now a Camera RAW update for OSX 10.5.2. Thankfully no problems on my side with the updates. Looking for other updates from Apple? Just go here.

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Awesome Screensaver

I listened to the latest 'This Week in Tech' podcast today. They mentioned a screensaver called FlickrFan. This screensaver can connect to flickr account and images to use in the screensaver. But it also downloads current Associated Press images in high quality and more. This results in awesome pictures from around the world covering the news in HIGH-RES. B.t.w. it's much more than just a screensaver, but I liked the screensaver-part best.

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GPS Logger Put to the Test

We went to the Hoge Veluwe in Gelderland last weekend for some 'serious' photography. This would be the first real trail for my GPS Logger (Qstarz BT1000).

At the 'start' I switched the logger to 'Log', and forgot about it completely during the day. The device did its work during the day. The real challenge came at home. Linking the GPS info to the photo's.....

The software for adding the GPS data to the photo's was 'GPSPhotoLinker' (remember that I use a Mac). Unfortunately, the software kept crashing when I tried to combine GPS data and the images. Possible reason could be the large NEF (Nikon RAW) files, because the crash happened every third image.
So the search for an alternative started, and I quickly found 'PhotoGPSEditor' (also DonationWare). This tool could also manipulate NEF files.

Adding the GPS info was relatively easy with this software (GPSPhotoLinker is more intuitive IMO). After that I imported the photo's in Adobe Lightroom, which showed the GPS data in the Metadata section of Lightroom (you can see the map location when you click on the arrow behind the GPS coordinates.

Just click on the following picture, to see when and where it was taken.

The complete set can be seen here.

GPS Travel Recorder on Apple OSX

A while ago I started a search for a GPS Data Logger which I can use for adding GPS coordinates to my photo's. The current status is that most of those devices are Windows only. The few that might be OSX compatible aren't sold in the Netherlands (yet). So I had to find an alternative. There is a sourceforge project called 'MTK GPS Data Logger Device Control' which facilitates certain GPS (chipset) devices to function on multiple platforms. So my best guess would be to buy one of those 'supported' GPS Data Loggers. Due to availability, I bought the Qstarz BT-1000. It's a GPS mouse with navigation and logging capabilities. First I had to make sure that the device was actually working properly, so I installed the driver and software in a Windows XP Virtual Machine. This was quite easy, and the unit seemed to work properly. Next thing was to install the opensource program to allow communication between the GPS unit and OSX Leopard. To get it to work on OSX you need to follow a installation manual. Something I'm not used to :). Needless to say that it took a bit longer than expected. First of all, you'll need the software from the sourceforge website. Second, you need SuperWaba files (free registration is required) [these files seemed to be present in the download package from sourceforge], and the USB driver. After that you need to follow the instructions in the README.txt provided in the sourceforge package. Note that the script information on the forum has been superseded by the README.txt in the downloadfile (use the provided bt747_macosX.command from the sourceforge download package instead). Eventually, you'll end up with a directory structure whick looks something like this:

Run the bt747_macosX.command file to start the application. One thing I must mention is that somewhere along the lines is the mention of using TextEdit to alter (script)files. Do NOT forget to remove the formatting on the files before saving. You might end up with scriptsfiles containing some markup stuff.... And this means that you might be getting some weird error messages.

Anyway, the interface is still very simple, but you have access to lots of features. The actual manual for the application is available on Google Docs.

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SanDisk RescuePro Software on a 'Mini' CD

I bought some accessories for my photo gear today. Among the items was a new 2GB SanDisk Extreme III CF card. This package came with a 'purse' to store cards, and a CD with recovery software. In most cases you'll only get the Windows version of a product (if there is an OSX version all together)..... But this CD also contains the OSX version of SanDisk's RescuePro. Downside is that the CD is mini CD (or what you might call it), and those won't work very well with the latest Mac's. The latest Mac's have DVD/CD players without a tray, so insert the CD, and you can ship your Mac for repairs...... And since the Windows OS can't read the Mac part of the CD, there's no way of getting the software of the CD.

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Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a photogear wishlist. This list contained a Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 ED lens. This lens is nearly 10 years old (introduced in 1999), so Nikon introduced a new version in November 2007. The Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S is the successor of the legendary 'Beast'. And now, good fortune is knocking on my door (e.g. I won 10 euro's in the new years eve lottery). I'll probably order this new lens this weekend :D . Together with my dad's Nikon D3 it should be a smashing combination.

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