Entries Tagged 'Things I Use' ↓

I’m using OS X Lion full time. It wasn’t particularly painful. Except for the occasional “nap” issue and the lack of a clear replacement for Quicken 2007, I’m all in and can even scroll the “right” way. God help me the next time I sit down in front of an older Mac…

AppFresh was a big help in identifying, prior to the Lion install, any vestigial PPC apps and importantly, updates for apps with Lion issues and where to find the updates. AppZapper helped to make sure all the discarded older apps were gone along with their associated files. A couple of hours was spent removing cruft left over from, in one case, the mid-1990′s. I spent about $200 to update apps that needed saving and had been properly updated. I said a not so sad farewell to PSCS 2, which was only still around for a couple of long in the tooth plugins, and FileMaker 8, again I have 9 but I had a couple of 8 specific additions that I’d held onto.

One real issue was my Canon 9950F Scanner. This is my workhorse 4×5 film scanner. Canon no longer supports this ancient but very capable device (well, capable at 4×5 inches. Less so on anything smaller). All the support software was PPC. I assumed I’d just dual boot into OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard for scanning and eventually give ViewScan another try – I’ve appreciated ViewScan’s commitment to End of Life and other obscure scanners but I’ve never liked ViewScan as an application. And there was / is the budget busting SilverFast. I much prefer SilverFast to either Canon’s included software or ViewScan but it kills FARE (Canon’s Digital Ice clone) and since they tie updates to specific scanner types, I was going to have to pay full price.

Canon’s scanner software is junk but it’s the devil I know. I’ve wrestled with it enough that I can pump out 1200 dpi scans that, with a tweak or three in Aperture, look just fine. I did my usual “anybody have the 9500 working in Lion” web scavenger hunt but came up with nothing – probably because most folks content with 1200 dpi scans have moved on to the Epson V700 (which I may do someday, but not just yet) and also because, well, because the 9500F is old and unsupported by the manufacturer.

But the 9500F has in fact survived the switch to Lion. With little to lose I visited Canon’s current products page and (re) discovered that their best and brightest flat bed scanner is the 4400F. The Canoscan drivers for the 4400F work just fine with the 9500F. Maybe a bit better than the “real” drivers did.

And the download for the 4400F drivers is here or here.

The Camera

Fuji has done a masterful job of revealing, in a death by a thousand cuts sorta way, the specs of the X100. If you don’t know much about the camera go here and for a brochure go here. Anyway, the executive summary is that it is a Retro-styled, fixed lens, APS-C sensor digital camera. It would look fairly comfortable sitting next to the Bolsey camera that my Dad let me use when I was a teenager. Yeh, it’s that retro.

Earlier this week, Fuji announced that the camera had, at long last, gone into production with shipments to the USA due in March.

The Gallery of Pictures

As has become the custom, Fuji posted a sample of pictures made with the camera. As has become the custom, folks formed hard opinions based on the pictures in the gallery.

A collection of JPEG’s reveals very little about a camera, any camera. And if the JPEG’s are straight from the camera you can learn even less. Serious photographers don’t shoot JPEG’s except at family Holiday Gatherings and the Occasional Birthday. Combine that with the nearly infinite variations available in a modern camera’s JPEG output settings and any pronouncement about the quality of a camera is pure BS.

What We Do Know

It Has a Fixed, Prime (non-zoom) Lens

We live in a world of interchangeable lens cameras. Tack sharp primes and zooms are the norm. Other than size, it makes very little difference if the camera behind the lens is a DSLR or one of the newer Mirrorless varieties. They all have lenses that can be swapped out for another. The Fuji X100 does not.

About that Fixed, Prime Lens and, Not Incidentally, a Real ViewFinder

I am in line to buy a FujiFilm X100 for two reasons. First is the fixed, prime lens. I am beyond sick of cleaning senors and dust busting files. It’s a massive waste of time that somewhere along the way became a normal part of the photographic workflow. If Fuji can ship me a camera with a clean sensor having the lens firmly fastened my life will be simpler. At 35mm equivalent, its a great focal length to have fixed on a camera.
I loath point and shoot cameras that rely on holding the camera away from the body while framing a shot. It’s a fundamentally flawed way to take a picture. It’s fine for a snapshot – it’s beyond worthless if precise framing is important. The Fuji X100 has a hybrid viewfinder that allows you to bring the Camera up to your face, hold it properly with both hands and actually frame a photograph with all the precision your right eye provides.

Fine, is there Anything that the Gallery can Tell you about the Camera?

The gallery does tell us this. The lens is sharp and there seems to be very little chromatic aberrations. It also appears that the nine blade diaphram results in an nice out of foucus efffect also know as Bokeh. It tells us nothing else.

Absolutely nothing.

The gallery does not speak to the ergonomics, the focus speed, the focus speed in low light or the quality of an image run through a good RAW session.

(added February 17th)

The Firmware Isn’t Finished

So this fact could also go under what we don’t know about the camera and won’t until the firmware is stable and ready to ship. While the few hands on posts are generally quite positive – fast autofocus, good autofocus even in low contrast situations, very quick ready to shoot time and it’s very quiet (thank you Google Translator) information, the firmware is way short of the 1.x that one would expect in a shipping product. This information comes from Quesabesde.

Which is fine because, until sometime in early March, it isn’t a shipping product.

What about the Sensor?

The APS-C sized sensor is not made my Fuji (and therefore is probably made by Sony.)

Apple released a gargantuan upgrade to OS 10.6 today. In the long list of things fixed, patched and otherwise fiddled with Apple writes:

Addresses performance of some image-processing operations in iPhoto and Aperture.

Aperture is unbelievably faster on a version 1.1 MacPro (the original MacPro) with an aging ATI Radeon 1900. Apple has steadily improved both the stability and speed of Aperture and 3.0 was a big jump.

OS X 10.6.5 running Aperture is a revelation.

Tripods

I use tripods – often. It is, almost certainly, because I spent 25 years exclusively shooting view cameras. Even as DLSR’s have become better at hight ISO shooting, I still value the luxury of composing an image, carefully considering the components of the composition and then shooting when the conditions are right.

Yes. I am aware that using a tripod is, especially for a shot  like the one below, is both anachronistic and unnecessary.

But I do it anyway.

Connecting the Camera to the Tripod Legs…

Tripod legs need tripod heads. There are two basic types.

Pan Heads

For commercial work I use a beefy carbon fibre Gitzo with a Gitzo, low profile pan head. For this type of work, total carry weight is not a particular concern. The Pan head quickly gets the camera level in both directions. The pan head allows accurate adjustments on one axis without affecting the other. Once everything is level left to right, the front to rear adjustment works independently. Getting to level and staying there is easy and fast.

The Gitzo has one other important advantage –  it’s short. Pro DSLRs, which have the winder built in, or other bodies with a winder attached, can get pretty tall. Tall camera plus beefy TS-E type lenses (or a big zooms) plus a tall tripod head results in a tippy setup. Small movements get amplified as the mass of the camera tips as the head gets adjusted.

I only dust off my pan head for architectural assignments – it is easy to get the head level and it is the least “tippy” setup that I own.

Ball Heads

But, as post headline stated, this is a post about ball heads and which is worth owning.

Ball heads are quick to use and quick to adjust – if you are not particularly concerned about a dead level camera. The are popular as landscape heads and deserve to be.

I shot Large Format for nearly 20  years using the classic Arca B1 monoBall head. It’s a brute. It featured a big, encased ball and large adjustment knobs. 4 x 5 view cameras are brutish themselves (well, relative to DSLR’s anyway) so the B1 is a good match. The current Monoball claims it will hold 130 pounds (59 kg). I’ll bet that’s conservative.

When I jumped to digital, the Canon 5D / Arca B1 seemed a mismatch. The B1 likely weighted as much as the 5D and that seemed like unneeded weight. Also the B1, a mechanical thing after all, was pretty warn out after thousands of setups.

Since retiring the Arca B1 I’ve bought and used three different ball heads.

First – The Acratech Ultimate Ball head.

Acratech Ultimate Ball head, at 1 pound (.45  kg) is a beautifully made, simple ball head. While the Arca B1 ball was inaccessable. the Acratech is easy to keep clean and never jammed in 5 years of use. Drag, that is the native friction of the system, is set at the factory. So the head really only has two operating knobs: Loosen / tighten the ball and rotate the ball. As I said, simple.

The design, with it’s diagonal ball mount, is a compromise.

To aim a camera down requires that the diagonal ball mount be oriented with the open face forward. Likewise, to point a camera skyward requires a 180 degree rotation of the head so that the opening is pointed backwards. Not a huge problem, just a a minor irritation. The Acratech Ultimate, at 4.25 inches (11.4 cm), is tall or at least tallish.

Next – The Really Right Stuff BH-40 with LR II Quick Release

Two things missing from the Acratech Ultimate Ball Head is, as I mentioned, are a  ball friction adjustment and a quick release. So I bought a RRS BH-40 with a quick release.



The RRS BH-40 is even slightly lighter at 13 ounces (.37 kg) and is of a more conventional ball trapped inside a sleeve construction. This sort of ball head can, rarely in my experience,  get stuff in between the ball and the case.That said, the ball never froze during my use but did become stiff to operate once or twice until the foreign substance worked its way out of the ball/sleeve space. It does not have the capacity of the Acratech Ultimate (18 pounds (8.2 kg) for the BH-40 and an honest 25 pounds 11.3 kg) or the Acratech  Ultimate but both are adequate for most DSLR use.

It is compact and short – just 3 inches (7.6 cm) tall. Construction is first rate. I’ve graduated up to a 1Ds Mark III and the BH-40  is less tippy than the Ultimate Ball head.

The Quick Release isn’t all that much quicker than screw type systems but does offer better feedback as you load the camera. Wide open, a camera with an Arca style plate drops in. As the lever is brought towards the lock position more and more force is required. Typically, this is not the case with knob type locks. Some don’t open sufficiently to allow the camera to be dropped in (so the camera plate slides in) and the feedback that declares that the camera is properly mounted and locked down is missing.

The immediate downside to a lever operated ball head is accidentally snagging the lever as you move from point A to point B. Catch the lever just right and you will have a very bad day. I rarely left the camera in place when moving any distance with this head.

I used the RRS GH-40 for 3 years and never got used to how fussy the head is. Not shown in the above illustration is how close the drag and rotation knobs are – or how small they are. Also, Acratech’s knobs are rubber coated, the BH-40 is shinny, cold metal. The adjustable, right sized lever on the side, which locks the ball, is great. The small, cramped pan and tension knobs are just too precious and close together. The rotation knob gets used constantly – precious won’t do.

Finally – The Acratech GP / GP-S Ballhead

The Acratech GP (and its close cousin the GP-s) improve on both of the above. This is my current favorite.

The Acratech GP Ballhead

Like the Acratech Ultimate, the ball is mostly exposed and, after a year of use, has always moved smoothly. The GP / GP-s has a large ball drag set knob lacking in the Arcratech Ultimate. The knobs are larger and rubber coated when compared to the BH-40. Just as importantly, the pan knob and the drag knob on the GP / GP-s are at 90 degree angles to each other rather than stacked one upon the other as on the BH-40.

The Acratech GP / GP-s lack a lever type quick release. However the double speed, rubberized locking knob is nearly as fast as a lever type lock. The head opens fully so a camera with an Arca type plate can drop in the heads clamp area. There is positive feedback as the plate is locked into the head. This system is a close second to the lever type.

Both can be field modified to change from a typical ball head to one with a leveling base. This is useful for panoramic photography and works well enough that it the G / GP-s can largely replace a traditional pan head. This modification does require an allen wrench and the inevitable opportunity to drop the screw that holds the quick release platform to the head into the nearest mineshaft – never to be seen again. It also requires that you bring the allen wrench which is just one more  thing (tm.)



The Acratech GP “Flipped” and Modified with Leveling Base

I’ve settled on the Acreatech GP. It’s lightweight, less than one pound, is very well made, and the leveling base makes it particularly versatile. It’s tall, at a bit over 4 inches (10.5 cm) but with the ability to adjust the ball drag, it is plenty stable while adjusting a heavy load. I often use a 1Ds Mark III with a 24mm TS-E Mark II lens and with this head, I can stiffen the ball drag so that there are no sudden movements and the rubber coated ball lock tightens nicely – everything stays where I aim it.

And for a small, light ball head, the controls never feel cramped. I’ve used this tripod while wearing gloves –  something I could never quite do with the RRS BH-40.

There will never be a perfect, do everything, carry everything camera pack. So it came as no surprise that the Guru Gear Kiboko fell short of the universal way to transport my gear. What was surprising is just how close it came to being good enough.

About the Kiboko

The Kiboko carries cameras, lenses and accessories and does so in a package that can be carried into the cabin of most airlines (by size, you can certainly exceed the in cabin weight limits of airlines with a fully loaded pack.) It carries well by hand and, when you arrive, it has an above average back pack style harness system suitable for a day long carry. Unlike a traditional panel loading pack, the Kiboko has to smaller panels attached lengthwise at the center of the pack. As a result, the top opens onto it’s self, one half at a time. The “butterfly” openings run the length of the pack so long lenses easily fit.

Construction is solid with a clear emphasis on building a light weight pack that still adequately protects the contents. Nice touches include large, glove friendly, zipper pulls, integrated rain cover, a side luggage handle and a pile of extra padded dividers.

(An Aside) A Very Short History of Backpacks

While it can sometimes be hard to see past the blizzard of fasteners, straps and zippers, a contemporary backpack’s advantage over packs of yore lies in their suspension. While there are variations on the theme, any pack designed to carry 20-25 pounds (9-11.3 kg) or more distributes the load primarily on the hips and secondarily on the shoulders. The pack is drawn into the body by the tension of the shoulder straps, the tension of the sternum strap (which runs between the front shoulder straps at chest level) and in some sophisticated harness systems, by tension straps connecting the top of the pack to the top of the shoulder straps. Ideally, as the top straps leave the pack and travel over your shoulders they stay, more or less, flat. On the other end, the padded waste belt of a properly sized pack sits on a part of the bony pelvis called the Ilium. To locate the ilium just run your hand down either side beginning above the waist. The substantial bone, just beneath the skin at waist level, is the ilium and you are feeling the part of the ilium called the iliac crest.

Because people come in vastly different sizes and therefore have vastly different torso lengths, backpacks come in two or most often three lengths. Additionally backpacks often have vertically adjustable waist belts to fine tune fit. Because boys are shaped differently than girls, many manufactures make pack lines tuned to fit (mainly in the engineering of the waste belt) the different sexes.

Carrying Cameras and Lenses on Your Back

The suspension on Kiboko pack has the torso length fixed. It is too long a pack for some and, at as I stand 6’2″, too short for me. With the waste belt properly placed, the shoulder straps plunge 4 to 5 inches (10-12.7 cm) off my shoulders and down my back to the pack. This mis-fit results in a pack that is difficult (impossible?) to fit tightly to the back without transferring excess weight to the shoulders. Secondarily, even though it adjusts over a wide range, the sternum strap is higher than I prefer as I wore the pack.

Shorter photographers will have a different but equally problematic fit with the Kiboko. A shorter torso will result in shoulder straps that leave the shoulder and angle up to the pack. This results in almost no weight being transferred to the shoulders and a pack that will be difficult to control if packed with some weight.

With my travel kit loaded, the Kiboko weighed in at 26 pounds (11.8 kg.) Add some extra clothing, a snack or two, a Gitzo carbon fiber tripod and a Acratech Ultimate ball head and the weight of the full loaded, ready to hit-the-trail and get-that-view-at-sunset pack weighs in at about 32 pounds (14.5 kg.) I certainly could leave some stuff behind. But leaving equipment behind in a US National Park or other popular area for photographers makes me queasy – especially if I’ve been shooting for a few days in one location. I’d rather haul the bulk of my gear with me than worry about baddies breaking into my vehicle.

If you’re in the sweet spot, fit wise, for the Kiboko I’d guess that 30 pounds (13.6 kg) would be about the comfort limit for the pack. You can likely stuff more pro level gear in the Kiboko but you’ll be straining the limits of the suspension.

Missed It By That Much

Other than the fit, which is a deal killer and the pack has been sent back, there is little to complain about with the Kiboko. Since the dual butterfly wing opening is fixed to the center of the pack, it squanders some room. The divided vertically down the center layout also limits the width of contents. I found it hard to fit my lenses with hoods mounted in the pack without staggering them. Rather than run a wide velcro strip down the center of each compartment, the pack has a single patch at the center of each side. This requires that any dividers that need to be anchored on three sides be at the center of the pack – an arbitrary limitation.

At $399 US, the Kiboko is fairly priced. A airline sized pack that carries well on the ground is a grand idea. Andy Biggs came close to making my travel life a little easier but he missed it “by this much.”