Just get rid of iPhoto

It was time to get rid of iPhoto since I have Bridge installed and it has numerous advantages, e.g. easier browsing,

starting Photomatix and other apps easily,

showing the detailed exif data right on the spot not in an extra floating window,

not converting to jpg when I try to copy out,

unable to reach the directory in finder and a hundred more ...

1, I just fired the terminal application and copy out all my original files from iPhoto

cp -r "Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/" Pictures/

Now I can reach them with any app.

2, Next step Bridge CS3->Preferences->General->Behavior check in When a Camera is Connected, Launch Adobe Photo Downloader.

Good bye iPhoto!

iPhone photo contest! iPhone photo contest?

Adorama stared an iPhone photo contest few weeks ago.

Photos should be taken with iPone and EDITED on iPhone.

Interesting approach since at least my iPhone 3G has so bad camera I would use for anything in general.... (probably the 3G S cameras are better and they have also 3MP resolution)

I did give a try, first by researching what type of camera it has. This guy covered it pretty well. Pretty much auto ISO, auto focus and f2.8 (exif info also shows this).

I took a positive approach and hacked my useless iPhone dock on my tripod and try to shoot some "studio" like pictures, using the Night Photo app for delay to avoid the camera shake and some post processing with Photoshop.com and BestCamera app.

You can vote for it here.

To be honest it looks pretty horrible. The reflection of the soda can washed out, I haven't found a tool to remove the extra "steam" of the "freshly" opened soda can (which was faked by a birthday candle). The jpeg editing made the quality even worst.

The only advantage to shoot with iPhone it helps me to learn composition by exploring different angles, getting closer or further away, but I can learn this with a prime lens too...

Yeah I know the gear shouldn't matter, but why the people who saying that who has at least $30K equipment in their hand?

Anyway after taking a look at the iPhone API it got clear why the camera applications suck on iPhone, there is just no control over taking the exposure or getting the raw file, the Apple API gives you back a jpeg, since it's lossy you process it and it gets even worth quality...

10 reason why I'm upgrading from Nikon D40 to D90

Finally after 8000 shots with the D40 I've ordered the D90 on Amazon. (Oddly enough it's cheaper new then used on e-bay or criagslist, since those prices doesn't reflect the official 900->800 price drop).

Ken Rockwell the apostle of the D40 religion swears you don't need better camera than the D40 but when you read his blog it's better to keep in mind his intent (target large audience and save them money buy offering cheaper options so they will donate money for him) and with some of his advice you can loose money long term as you progress on your photography skills.

Anyway here is my list of reasons without order:

• 3" display: less zooming in to make sure the shot was actually sharp
• 11 focus point compare to 3, the 3 focus point started to annoy me a lot, sure I can crop but why not get it right in the camera
• better ISO quality: on the D40 if I want clear images the only option is ISO 200 which means a lots of tripod usage
• autofocus in the camera body: this means I can get autofocus on cheap but good quality lenses e.g. 50 mm 1.8D
• auto bracketing: I like to create some HDR images sometimes and bracketing on D40 is just nuts (and I don't want to carry a laptop just for this)
• remote flash control built in: I can use my SB-600 flash off the camera without dealing with remote wireless gadgets e.g. Cybersync and all the extra cable and converter for it
• faster frame rate: 2.5 fps -> 4.5 fps for the few action I shoot
• live view: live will help me in the "big" composition part, so I don't have to jump around on the scene with constantly holding my eyes on the viewfinder
• all the other goodies what the almost 2 years technology improvement brings (D40 12/06 -> D90 09/08)

What's not in the reason but certainly welcomed is the 6MP->12MP pixel jump, which will be handy during cropping.