Seven Months Later...

Seven months have passed since the last post. In addition to our declining economy many new and interesting hardware and software tools have been introduced. These are few items worth taking a look at.

HARDWARE

WD TV

The WD TV box is one of the best things you can buy for $100. Its a small box that will play most digital content, from an external hard drive, on your TV. It can be connected to any USB drive. I have had great success with the $114 WD My Passport Essential 500 GB drives which will hold hundreds of movies. Both items are available on Amazon. When paired with HandBrake and Pinnacle's Video Transfer device producing content for the WD TV device is limitless. Its a very easy way to play your home movies on your TV, via HDMI, without having to produce a DVD. The image quality is far superior to any DVD I have been able to produce. WD's web site also carries all the software updates for the box. Canon G10

Canon has replace the G9 with the G10. This is the best point and shoot camera I have ever owned. My only disappointment is that Canon down-graded the video capture from 1080i to 640x480. Other than that they improved on the G9 which was also an epic camera. I am never without it. Available from Amazon.

Canon 5D Mark II

I have been waiting for the 5D Mark II for a long time. I like to shoot both stills and video when I travel. This new camera allows me to capture both at the highest quality with one device and many lens choices. It sports a new full frame CMOS sensor that will capture both a 21.1 megapixel image and full HD 1080 video. I have used it for several months. I am blown away by both the images and video it can capture.


Check out "Voyage" and "Reverie". Both these films were shot with the 5D Mark II. I created a Google Document to gather some of the reviews and papers out about the camera. This is a blog that someone put up to cover all things related to the 5D Mark II. This is my own test of the camera's capabilities.

PoGo Polaroid Printer

The PoGo is a great little printer to travel with. I use it to share photos with people kind enough to let me make a photo of them. I shoot the photos to be printed with the G10. I then plug the G10 into the printer via USB. The prints cost about 33 cents each. You can buy it on Amazon. The two photos below are scanned prints from the printer. LiveScribe

The Pulse Smart Pen and Dot Paper is a useful pen/paper combination that allows you to take notes and record what is being said at the same time. You can then upload both your notes and audio to LiveScribe Desktop on your Mac or PC. Both the pen and paper can be purchased on Amazon.
GigaPan

The GigaPan is a robotic device which will take highly detailed panoramic photos that can be uploaded to a dedicated web site for viewing. This is their home page. Its a great device designed for point and shoot cameras. I use it with my Canon G9. Thus far I made panorama's of Main Beach in Laguna Beach, Pelican Hill Resort and Morningside Canyon in Laguna Beach. Griffin iPod Power Doc

If you use several iPods this charging station works great!The Monsterpod

The go-anywhere, gravity-defying tripod, will stick to just about any surface and tilt and rotate to any angle, ensuring you’ll get the perfect shot….heads and all. BlackRapid Camera Strap

This is a new take on camera straps. The BlackRapid is designed to be worn as a sling. It allows rapid access to your camera and is extremely comfortable.
Super Travel A/C USB Wall Charger

If you travel with several devices that charge via USB this Super Travel Wall Charger is a great device. iPhone Power

I have tried several external batteries to keep my iPhone running when I am away from power all day. The Mophie Juice Pac and Juice Pac Air is the best I've found. The Richard Solo battery works well also. SOFTWARE

Expression Media 2

I started using this software years ago. It began as freeware called iView Multimedia. It was the best image cataloging software I had ever used. Its far superior to Portfolio in almost every way. Then Microsoft bought the software. They changed the name to Expression Media. For some reason it began to hang on PDF's when I imported any image folders that had PDF's in them. For the last 2 years I was forced to switch back to Portfolio 8 to handle large collections of images (anywhere between 40 and 100,00 images). Portfolio still sucks but at least it didn't crash like Expression did. I still used Expression Media for dealing with small groups of images (under 20,000) and it worked fine.

This week I discovered that Microsoft released Expression Media 2. I thought I would give it a try to see if they had solved the problems I was experiencing. I am happy to report that it is working flawlessly and is extremely fast. The first test I threw at it was dumping a folder into it that held 45,000 images of all types. EM2 cataloged them all in record time. Just for the fun of it I dropped in another folder bringing the total up to just over 90,000 images! Again, no crashes!

Expression Media 2 has many new interesting features including the ability to handle Geo Tagging. If you camera does not Geo Tag. EM2 allows you to drop an image on a map and it will add the information. I think this is the best image cataloging and management software out there.

Silver Efex Pro

I have written in earlier blogs about Viveza, one of Nik Software's great image enhancement products. Their proprietary U Point selection technology gives you amazing control over the areas of your image you want to enhance. Silver Efex Pro is equally great focusing on manipulation of black and white images.

Safari 4

A beta version of Safari 4 was released this week. It has great speed and a beautiful interface. Check out its new features.


iMovie

The new version of iMovie found in iLife is great. Its now the easiest way I have found to create and export still image slide shows into my films. It has a new camera motion function you can runny jumpy clips through and an interesting option to create animated travel maps for use in films and slide shows.

MacCaching Manager

MacCaching Manager is a useful tool for managing caches you want to find. It painlessly uploads them via USB (finally) to supported GPS devices.

PulpMotion V2

PulpMotion is a new slide show creation tool that can handle both still images and video clips.

Google Docs Tips

I use Google Docs for many things. These tips are good.

DoubleTake Update V2.2

I have written before about this easy to use panorama stitchers. DoubleTake is the best I have found for the price. Version 2.2 is out.


PhotoMatix

I have wanted to try creating some HDR images. PhotoMatix is the easiest HDR image creation software I have found. These three images were created using the software.


Road Trip Effect

If you have ever wanted to create animated maps showing your route of travel to include in your movies Road Trip Effect is simple and easy to use.

RANDOM STUFF

Evolution of the Mac Laptop


Red River Paper Panoramic Card Stock

If you like shooting panoramas Red River now offers appropriately proportioned inkjet printer panorama card stock. The unique size and paper quality of these cards provide great creative opportunities.
iPhone Deal with Verizon

God I hope this is true. I am so sick of ATT.


Momenta Workshops

If you are looking for interesting photography workshops check out Momenta. I participated in workshop in Myanmar with two of the founders. I learned more about making photographs in the two weeks I spent with them than in any other venue I have participated in.

Aptera

I have been following the development of the Aptera vehicle for several years. It looks like they are close to bringing this electric vehicle to market.


Shelby Aero EV

The Shelby Aero EV is another electric vehicle worth watching. Slightly faster than the Aptera!


Time Magazine's Apple's Top Ten Moments

Interesting compilation of Apple Moments from Time Magazine

Every Swear Word on Every Episode of the Sopranos

Be warned this is definitely x rated. Crazy!

First Ever Snowmobile Double Backflip

Damn!!

In my next post I am going to list some of the iPhone Apps that are worth having.