mau's blog

The iPad just became a must have for me

I just saw the video review of the iPad Camera Connection Kit adaptor by Terry White and basically the iPad is now #1 in my gadget wish list. Terry confirmed all the things I wished the iPad would do when you connect the Camera Connector.

• Reads RAW files out of the camera
• Previews the RAW images without a problem
• Apps can read the RAW files inside the iPad

One of the great things Terry shows is that you can connect a card reader to the iPad and download from your Compact Flash cards (the card format most professional cameras still use). This is huge since the Camera Connector only has 2 options, SD connector or USB connector.

I’ve always lusted after an Epson P6000 for it’s ability to preview files and work as a photo backup on location or a trip, but it’s ridiculously overpriced so I never considered purchasing one.

Now for the same money I can buy an iPad and trust me, it’s WAY more advanced and useful. I wouldn’t be surprised if Epson started to discount the P6000 any day now.

Check out the video at Terry’s site while I go put a few more dollars in my piggy bank.

Lightroom 3 Beta

Yes, it’s been busy the last couple of weeks around here and although there is a lot of stuff I will post about soon, this news needed to be shared. Adobe has released Lightroom 3 Beta to the general public. This means that you can download a copy right now and start testing it and sending feedback directly to Adobe. Some of the new features that stand out for me from the brief overview I did are the following:

The import window is totally redone. It’s more “workflow-ish” than the previous version (yes I just created that word and I like it).  You get a column on the left for your source of images you would like to import, a center area where the images will preview and a right column that shows the possible destinations for your imported images.

At the top of the import window you get all the possible ways your images can be imported (copied, moved or converted to DNG). The new window also has a minimize mode where you just see the basic options and no previews which works great with another new feature which allows you to save presets of how you import images. More on that on a future post.

The slideshow module now allows you to save your slideshows as video files. A simple menu allows you to select the size of the video that you want and it takes 1 click to save. I’m glad to see an iPhone optimized option as a default since I’ve been planning on creating a video portfolio for my iPhone and this will make it super easy to update it with new content.

The last one that intrigued me just by looking at a couple of demo movies online is the concept of Publishing that has been introduced. I’m not clear on exactly how this works but it seems that you can publish (export?) collections of photos to a folder (or iPhone / device) and keep track of what has been sent to that destination. It sounds to me like a versioning system but will have to dig deeper to see what it does.

Now I’m off to explore some more options and also to send feedback to Adobe. And that specifically is worth mentioning. Adobe’s policy of opening their beta program to the public is something I feel is greatly appreciated by their customers. The feedback is really taken into account to perfect the final version of Lightroom. It’s something I don’t feel Apple does as well and that I believe Apple should learn from Adobe.

Epson Print Academy

I’m currently teaching an advanced Photoshop class and this summer I’ll be teaching a class about using and converting Raw files, for that reason I’m constantly trying to keep up to date on all things Photoshop. Tomorrow here in Vancouver, the Epson Print Academy rolls into town with some cool people appearing on stage and I’m attending Track 2 of the tour.

Jeff Schewe, Greg Gorman and Andrew Rodney are scheduled to be there tomorrow. I’m also looking forward to checking out the brand new Vancouver Convention Centre where the event will take place.

Jeff Schewe is a photographer and Photoshop guru from Chicago. He is a master at Photoshop and from his bio I see that his first digital photo assignment happened in 1984! What could THAT have been? I mean Apple’s Quicktake camera released 10 years later in 1994 was 0.3 megapixels (640×480)!!

Greg Gorman is known for his amazing work shooting hollywood stars and now has an amazing gig as host of his own workshop for photographers that takes place at his Mendocino, California home.

Andrew Rodney is a colour management specialist that has worked with Photoshop since version 2.5 and wrote what is probably the bible for all aspects of colour management on a computer.

I’m hoping that the sponsorship that Epson offers on this tour takes a bit of a back seat to the actual information I can use. To use a geeky phrase, I’m hoping the “signal to noise ratio” is in favor of useful information and that it’s not an Epson commercial every 15 minutes. I’ll report back on that.

At the time of this writing there is still room available to join the workshop which runs from 9:30 am to 5 pm tomorrow. The cost is $99.oo CDN with lunch included. Clicking here will take you to the sign up page.

Apple updates Aperture

Apple finally updated Aperture to version 2 adding “100 new features”. I’m not too sure I need that many features in a new version of any program, but I will be downloading a demo and testing it out on my new Mac.I have tuned my workflow so much to Adobe’s Lightroom that switching programs is really not an option, but I definitely want to check out what Apple is offering and I think that the competition between Adobe an Apple will only mean better tools for photographers. Apple Aperture siteAdobe Lightroom site