charles_brown1

<p>A judge just issued a final order invalidating THREE of Peter Wolf's patents...<br>

->> "Thus, the court finds that all three of the patents in suit are directed to patent-ineligible abstract ideas, and lack an inventive concept that would make them patent-eligible applications of those ideas."<br /><br />"V. CONCLUSION<br />In accordance with the foregoing, the Court GRANTS defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings.<br />IT IS SO ORDERED."<br /><br /><br />2:13-CV-09573</p>

Thankfully, Michael Skelps stood up for what is fair and just.

I read elsewhere on the net many statements made by Peter Wolf, where he stated something to the effect of "Once

my website went live in 1999, everyone copied my ideas."

Seriously? Such appalling hubris! As if everyone even HEARD of Wolf or his website, let alone seen it or "copied" it.

What happened in the late 90's was the coincidence of internet access getting faster (critical for consuming image

data) and getting more universally adopted in US households, combined with digital camera becoming more

affordable, available, and becoming more capable of being used in event photography. The simultaneous

occurrence of both of these essential ingredients is where the photographers I know got the "idea"... not from seeing

Wolf's website. That Wolf takes personal credit for "inventing" the assemblage of concepts contained in the patents

currently being challenged just goes to show how prideful his thinking about his self credited "revolution" of

photography.

A proverb states "Pride goeth before a fall." And I suspect that these feeble patents, once finally and fully

challenged, will fall.

<p>Shooting over 150mm while locked into a shutter speed of 1/150 is outside of the age old guideline of shooting the reciprocal of the focal length. So if shooting at 180mm the shutter speed should be at least 1/180th, and where there is no shutter speed that falls inline with the focal length, then the next highest shutter speed should be used.<br>

Shooting sports, the rule of reciprocals isn't enough because the shooter is following the action, and therefore the camera is moving on purpose, following the player while simultaneously keeping the object of the player's interest in frame (the ball, puck, apparatus, what have you).<br>

If the camera and the subject are both moving, then shutter speeds need to be higher, ESPECIALLY the longer the focal length. The longer the focal length, the more influence the camera's movement has on the perceivable blurriness of the photo. In the example photos shown, one can see evidence which suggests the blurriness is from both subject movement and camera movement.<br>

Even if panning on a stick, the pause in panning, and the counteracting force of squeezing the shutter, can easily be translated to the image at slower shutter speeds. It is no surprise whatsoever that the problem got worse at focal lengths over 150mm, as you reported.</p>

<p>Be careful responding.<br>

Over a decade ago, I remember being on the Rob Galbraith sports forum. A new member popped in and asked the very experienced sports and event shooters on the board what they did, how they did it, and what words to use to describe what they did.<br>

His questions weren't quite as cut to the chase as I have summarized them to be. They were more innocent sounding... as if he was really interested in listening to and learning from the journeyfolk in the trade, and the journeyfolk, happy to find someone to listen to their tales of hard earned experience, poured their "hards" out, explaining in detail what it takes to get the job done.<br>

A few years later, these same sports event photographers who so willingly helped that new poster with all of his questions online, were hit with lawsuits for violating this poster's newly minted PATENT on event photography, the process of selling race photos online organized by bib number, and a number of other obvious processes that were so obvious, no one in the business thought to even try to patent them.<br>

That guy's name is Peter Wolf. He basically asked the sports photo community to describe what they did, and used their keywords to perfect his patent application to encompass as many elements as possible to later shake the sports event photography community down for. He hit all the major players in the US with threatening patent violation letters, demanding license fees for every photo sold online and organized by bib number. <br>

Be careful answering any type of question online, unless you know the person. The likelihood that there is an unseen angle... whether it is to drive traffic to a product or service or software that is being sold (as may be the case here) or whether it is a trap to take the words and ideas from your peer to peer sharing sentiments, only to ensnare you later for unlawfully using your own ideas.</p>

<p>Several issues I struggle with to attain good white balance in a gym such as what is shown in the photos above:<br>

1. Light cycling<br>

2. Wood floors that impose a yellow tone that does not counter act the green to magenta tint shift<br>

3. An "AWB" algorithm that works well outdoors, but is horrendously amber biased indoors<br>

4. No time for fiddling with RAW files. No time for Lightroom. The only "must" is that the images be useable straight of camera from card to customer within minutes of the game being over. That means JPEGS, and often times reduced file sized JPEGS, so there is probably 100x LESS information to "fiddle" with, but it doesn't matter, because there is ZERO time to fiddle while the customer is waiting.<br>

So finding the best "balance" in unfavorable circumstances means, literally, finding a suitable balance that can be tolerated no matter which way the power cycle of the lighting swings. The task of manipulating the white balance setting in camera in and of itself is an art form that I yearn to learn more about how to perfect.</p>

The way I read Franck's post, he WANTED to have a shallow depth of field, and he already knew that stopping down the lens would decrease the hyperfocal distance from the sensor plane and consequently bring more back field into focus, and that is NOT what he wanted, because that wouldn't achieve the specific rider isolation he was after optically.

To me, his question was searching for what autofocus settings that folks have the most success with when using Nikon digital autofocus systems.

I can't answer that, because I don't shoot with Nikon, but I'm about to. And I have the exact same question.

As posted, some just use single point/single area mode.

But I've gotta believe that there is at least some justifiable merit to the inclusion of all the technology behind Nikon'a Dynamic-Area AF, Group Dynamic-AF, Closest Subject Priority, Center Priority, Shutter Release Priority, Focus Priority, and the myriad of combinations of these options and menu settings yield to help sports photographers isolate active players optically, and still keep them framed interestingly.

So, how do you use AF for action shots?

Adolf Gasser passed away the other day.

Rental shops will rent you a Nikkor 50 1.8 for $10 bucks a day, if you only need it while in SF.

Calumet, at 2001 Bryant Street, is a more "professional" oriented chain store than Ritz.

A corollary question then:

What specific filters, if any, are recommended for a lens fitted to a DSLR... especially when filters present the first line of defense for lens protection in use?

Skylight 1B ?

UV Haze (Sharp Cut) or 1x ?

Are there any caveats hidden in the use of the above named filters in digital applications... ie, loss of resolution due to filtering out certain color wavelengths, etc?

Thanks in anticipation... oh, and this isn't intended to hijack the original question... in fact, it is such a related subject that it seemed to belong in this similar discussion, rather than starting a new thread.

Peter,

I wholeheartedly agree with Eric's comment about learning curve on the 1D body! If, as you say, you've been out of the game for 14 years, then you might want a few days with a 1D PRIOR to your assignment day.

I'm in the same boat as you, or at least docking in the same harbor, being used to much older, manual equipment, and being new to digital. And, like you, my baptisim by fire is with a 1D, a 70-200 2.8 L, a 28-70 2.8 L, and a 100-400 4.5-5.6 L. The glass is straight forward for a manual shooter, since the AF can always be overridden with our clutchy paws, without damaging the USM system. I confirmed this with a lens specialist at Canon, since I didnt' want to ruin a lens, or fight with it if I recomposed. (the only trick I needed to learn was to set the IS to Level 2 for panning)

But the 1D body, on the other hand, is an animal of complication. For me, at least. It took me 15-20 minutes just to figure out how to manually control the shutter speed and aperture, an essentiality I just took for granted on my mechanical Nikon. (I've never used a Canon before, so that could explain why I didn't at first pickup the back dial vs the finger dial control). Then, it took me two hours to figure out why it was that the book said that AF will enable with the shutter button partially depressed, yet that wasn't happening on the camera, even with the lens switch and all of the other enabling conditions properly set. Turns out, one of the "hidden" Custom Functions programed in the camera was set to disable the half shutter button focus feature. Again, it took me 2 hours to discover this. The NBA game would be over in two hours.

I can see why disabling autofocus is advantageous, even if it means losing the principal strength of focus tracking to follow a subject in the air for the money shot. It eats a lot of power twisting those lens barrels around everytime you want to do an exposure check (a habit I can't shake from never having owned an auto exposure SLR camera). Unless there is a way to leave the exposure meter on in the viewfinder that I don't know about yet (might take me another two hours), then one has to depress the shutter half way to get that exposure level information. If AF is enabled, battery life can recede quickly.

The other comment made above about having at least 3 batteries is true, true, true. I've run through one battery cycle taking less than 10 shots, all while fiddling around trying to learn the features on this 1D. Fortunately, I do have three batteries. If you don't have AC power on site to run a charger, then you had better have at least three.

Anyway, I can't emphasise enough how long it has taken me to understand the button logic of the 1D... even quirky details like when you RELEASE a Menu or Display button, the function activates. Normal logic had me assume that when I PRESSED a button, it would activate. I can see why Canon does it this way, to prevent accidental activation, but it took a while for me to figure it out.

It was frustrating at first to see a bevy of menu options light up on the rear color LCD screen, yet not be able to make the highlighted portions move from selection to selection, because I didn't understand about the need to keep HOLDING one button down while SIMULTANEOUSLY rotating the shuttle dial to move the green highlight.

I express these details of my fumbling so that you can have a good laugh at my expense, and so that you can see the various small ways that time will be lost just getting up to speed on the 1D, if this type of body is totally unfamiliar to you. On the other hand, when I have rented F5's, I didn't have anywhere near as much trouble, even though they are far more sophisticated than my FT2 frame of reference. Perhaps if you are already a Canon user, things will be easier for you to pick up.

Brian, Thanks for the quick run down on the models... I googled EOS-1D and saw the price for the 1Ds and MK II right away in the search abstracts. Of course there was no explanation as to the availability, introduction date, or purpose of those models, and I haven't kept up with the latest and greatest.

Monday has finally rolled around, so I am able to contact Canon now.

As for insurance, I checked my policy, and unfortunately, there is no coverage for incompetence!

Jesper and Ralph, Thanks for the kind reassurances. I'll admit, I did panic, and I did lose some sleep. In 30 years of taking pictures, I've never lugged a bag with over 25G of body & glass before, and to break something before even turning the first thing on really made me feel like... well, a whole lot of things. None of them good.

The surviving owner is just as unfamiliar with the camera as I am, and I worried that if something doesn't work right with the camera after the repair, she might think it was because of me, even if it truely wasn't. But, naturally, as a good friend, she wouldn't say anything like that directly. But I wouldn't want that lingering inside, you know? That's why I thought, maybe I should just buy her a new one.

Jason, Thanks for the rental suggestion. Unfortunately, I'll need a lot longer than one rental day to get up to speed on this camera prior to the event. This experience is like stepping out of the cockpit of a 30 year old Piper Cub, and into the ejection seat of a state of the art F-117A Stealth Fighter... with only 30 days until desert duty in wartime. I am woefully unprepared as it is, but I am all she has got under the circumstances. I need some self-training time with this black computer/scanner thing called a 1D "camera."

My personal equipment cannot do the asignment. The event calls for digital files, of the highest quality, immediately renderable, in a dusty, dirty, chaotic outdoor envirnoment. The access to the subject is limited, yet close detail of the subject is required, hence the two long white fireplace logs of "L" glass that weigh down the bag so heavily in cost.

The back-up body is a D30, which, in my limited experience, cannot react sufficiently to the critical "moment of decision" upon shutter release. Maybe the picture will take immediately, but more often than not the D30 will instead decide to wait another half second to respond first. I believe this is why the late owner moved up to the 1D as the principal body. There is not nearly enough income derived from these event to justify the purchase of another 1D as a back-up.

But with my potentially bone headed move, there might not need to be that cost justification. It might just be a matter of principal.

Thanks for the answers so far. The first two were within minutes of my post, and, if nothing else, helped calm me down, since it was Sunday night, and calling Canon was not possible at that time.

Yes, the camera still seems to "work." However, I'm admittedly not the best judge at this point in how well it is working. For example, the poster I quoted earlier, Craig B., wrote in 2002 that even if pins 1 and 50 were redundant grounds, in some cases, there might be noise introduced into the image that otherwise might not be there if both grounds were in use.

I'm only a film guy... so I'm not a qualified judge of digital noise. The Canon rep I spoke to this morning described "noise" as being visible when the image is loaded into a computer monitor, and there is errant pixilizaton color that doesn't quite match the color in it's immediate surroundings. In film, isn't that called texture? Since not every dot in a field of color have the same hue, how do I know when it's noise, or when its "memorex"? (metaphor from late '70s TV commercial)

The Canon rep (first name = "Mike") said that all of the CF pins serve a distinct purpose, but he also said that there are only two places in the USA that have any information about pin-outs and their function... the factory service centers. He said he himself did not have that information. Therefore, I wonder how it is that he came to the conclusion that all of pins had distinct functions? He admitted then that he wasn't sure, and suggested that I contact the factory service center.

Now for a bit of Canon round-robin:

I first looked on Canon's website, which suggested that I call the 800-828-4040 Technical support. That's how I reached "Mike," above, who told me to call Factory Service. I called the California Factory Service Center, whose message said they weren't open until 9 PST. So I called the New Jersey Eastern Regional Factory Service Center, but instead got transferred to a Canon operator in Virgina, who said the New Jersey center was open, but the technicians won't talk to customers, and I need to contact Technical Support, at 800-828-4040... which puts me right back to square one, with no new information about the pins.

I still plan on having this camera repaired, but if it truely is functioning the same as before, then it is likely the pin was already bent before I got it. In that case, the question of when to send the camera for repair comes into play. An upcoming photo event looms ahead in April, and I've already proven that I need more face time with this piece before I can pretend to shoot it for the owner, and that can't be done with the camera in the mail and in the shop for two weeks.

Where can I get more information on specific pin out function for the EOS-1D?

Especially for use with the IBM 1GB Microdrives and the Lexar 512 MB compactflash card?

Thanks in advance for any information or reading referals that you can provide.

Which currently sold EOS-1D model (S, Mark II, whatever) most closely

matches the original (circa 2001) EOS-1D?

I maybe faced with the costly proposition of having to replace a

borrowed, and now broken, EOS-1D. I need to know what the most

appropriate currently sold camera is that fairly matches the

cost/feature/value equation of the original model.

The camera was entrusted to me by a friend, a very recent widow, who,

with her late husband, owns an event photography business and wanted

to keep the business going seamlessly by having me shoot an upcoming

scheduled event. (I've worked with them once before, as a back-up

shooter using their older D30).

Well, once the outfit was in my clumsy hands, so much for the idea of

seamless. With an event date looming in April, it seems instead that

I might have to purchase a new body, if the repairs aren't doable or

schedulable in time. The real bummer is, I was not doing this for

pay. I simply wanted to help a friend survive, and now, I'll be

struggling to survive myself once the bill comes.

It's truely amazing how much a few seconds of incompetence can cost.

Even with the EOS-1D operator's manual open to page 27, and right in

front of me, I still managed to find a small amount of resistance

just prior to the complete insertion of a compactflash card. Not

liking what I was feeling, I removed the card. I looked into the

slot, and my heart sunk. Now, the bent CF pin could have already

been there, as the camera had passed through several hands before it

ended up in mine. But wanting to make sure things were perfect, I

took that extra step... unfortunately.

So which model camera is the fairest replacement? The current EOS-

1D "S" model, at $7,500, seems to be more camera than the $5,000

original cost of the "broken" EOS-1D, but it's hard to determine

whether or not the curent $4,400 EOS-1D "II" is as good as, or better

than, or a thrifted out version of the original.

Any thoughts?

I'm a new user here, and don't know how to link to the "repair" part

of this situation posted in another (non-digital) Canon forum. I

still am not sure which is the correct forum, but here is what I said

there:

Broken CF Pin inside EOS-1D... please help!Charles Brown , mar 08,

2004; 01:11 a.m.

A CompactFlash (CF) pin was bent... in a borrowed EOS-1D. It was

folded over flat. Seeing this, I used delicate dental tools to

straighten the pin. It broke. In that moment, I aged five years.

Now I need help in what to do, and what the potential consequences

and costs will be once it is done.

I do not know if the pin was bent before the camera came into my

possesion, but since I undertook to straighten it, and now it is

broke, my position is that it is my responsibility to see that the

camera is correctly repaired, or replaced. Yikes, trying to do

someone a favor looks like it's going to cost me several hundred to

several thousand dollars. I am very depressed right now.

Here are a few specific questions:

1. Can CF pin terminals being successfully repaired? 2. Is the entire

pin bank plug replaced? 3. Does that require soldering to an internal

PC board? 4. What else is involved with such a repair on an EOS-1D?

Really, my main concern is question 5 below:

5. Does the heat from soldering, or the process of opening up the

camera that deeply, or any other process of repairing this part of

the camera, end up causing other problems with fried chips,

intermittant camera or image processing malfunction, etc,... even

when the repair is performed by an authorized Canon repair facility?

(I ask question 5 because so many times a repaired product is never

quite the same again as the original assembly, and wasn't sure if

this is the case with pro digital SLRs)

I did do a search on Google main as well as Photo.net. Amazingly, it

seems that not too many people seem to have trouble with their CF

slots. No hits, but one, where Craig Bridge stated the following:

"Craig Bridge , nov 18, 2002; 06:36 p.m. Hal, some of us (nerds,

schemers, electrical engineer types) actually have access to

specifications that describe what CF pins do what and can make a

pretty accurate diagnosis of what might happen based on what pin is

broken. Daryl, what pin broke? Pin 1 is on the opposite corner from

the narrow key which is offset from the centerline toward pin 50.

Pins 1 to 25 are on one side opposing pins 26 to 50 respectively.

Pins that are duplicated (break one and noise margins go down

affecting reliability): 1,50=GND 13,38=VCC Pins that might not

matter: 24=WriteProtect 33=-VS1 typically GND 40=-VS2 typically left

open"

In the next message, Craig continues:

"Craig Bridge , nov 18, 2002; 06:52 p.m. Depending on the size of the

CF card, the high order address lines won't matter (what size CF card

is it?). If the D60 or the CF card is an 8bit access system, data

bits 8-15 won't matter (pins 27..31,47..49)."

I do not entirely understand Craig's description of pin location, but

from what I can deduce, the pin that broke is either 1, 25, 26, or

50. It is a corner pin on the "wide" alignment slot side of the card.

If the EOS-1D is upright, with the camera back facing you, and the CF

door swung open, the bent (now broken) pin would be on the uppermost

right hand position. It was initially folded away from the other

pins, pointing upward toward the top of the camera.

The CF cards I have are all IBM 1 GB Microdrives, and one Lexar USB

enabled 512 MB. It was the Lexar 512 MB card that met a little

resistance upon insertion, which makes me think that I should

shoulder the blame for both the bending and the breaking of the pin.

Either way, I desperately need advice as to what to do, and what all

may be done to the camera in the hands of a repair facility.

A CompactFlash (CF) pin was bent... in a borrowed EOS-1D. It was

folded over flat. Seeing this, I used delicate dental tools to

straighten the pin. It broke. In that moment, I aged five years.

Now I need help in what to do, and what the potential consequences

and costs will be once it is done.

I do not know if the pin was bent before the camera came into my

possesion, but since I undertook to straighten it, and now it is

broke, my position is that it is my responsibility to see that the

camera is correctly repaired, or replaced. Yikes, trying to do

someone a favor looks like it's going to cost me several hundred to

several thousand dollars. I am very depressed right now.

Here are a few specific questions:

1. Can CF pin terminals being successfully repaired?

2. Is the entire pin bank plug replaced?

3. Does that require soldering to an internal PC board?

4. What else is involved with such a repair on an EOS-1D?

Really, my main concern is question 5 below:

5. Does the heat from soldering, or the process of opening up the

camera that deeply, or any other process of repairing this part of

the camera, end up causing other problems with fried chips,

intermittant camera or image processing malfunction, etc,... even

when the repair is performed by an authorized Canon repair facility?

(I ask question 5 because so many times a repaired product is never

quite the same again as the original assembly, and wasn't sure if

this is the case with pro digital SLRs)

I did do a search on Google main as well as Photo.net. Amazingly, it

seems that not too many people seem to have trouble with their CF

slots. No hits, but one, where Craig Bridge stated the following:

"Craig Bridge , nov 18, 2002; 06:36 p.m.

Hal, some of us (nerds, schemers, electrical engineer types) actually

have access to specifications that describe what CF pins do what and

can make a pretty accurate diagnosis of what might happen based on

what pin is broken.

Daryl, what pin broke? Pin 1 is on the opposite corner from the

narrow key which is offset from the centerline toward pin 50. Pins 1

to 25 are on one side opposing pins 26 to 50 respectively.

Pins that are duplicated (break one and noise margins go down

affecting reliability): 1,50=GND 13,38=VCC Pins that might not

matter: 24=WriteProtect 33=-VS1 typically GND 40=-VS2 typically left

open"

In the next message, Craig continues:

"Craig Bridge , nov 18, 2002; 06:52 p.m.

Depending on the size of the CF card, the high order address lines

won't matter (what size CF card is it?). If the D60 or the CF card is

an 8bit access system, data bits 8-15 won't matter (pins

27..31,47..49)."

I do not entirely understand Craig's description of pin location, but

from what I can deduce, the pin that broke is either 1, 25, 26, or

50. It is a corner pin on the "wide" alignment slot side of the

card. If the EOS-1D is upright, with the camera back facing you, and

the CF door swung open, the bent (now broken) pin would be on the

uppermost right hand position. It was initially folded away from the

other pins, pointing upward toward the top of the camera.

The CF cards I have are all IBM 1 GB Microdrives, and one Lexar USB

enabled 512 MB. It was the Lexar 512 MB card that met a little

resistance upon insertion, which makes me think that I should

shoulder the blame for both the bending and the breaking of the pin.

Either way, I desperately need advice as to what to do, and what all

may be done to the camera in the hands of a repair facility.

Charles Brown