wadleigh

I am reading about the speed improvements with SATA II and my question is whether I can and should by a SATA II

card for my desktop motherboard and connecting my internal HD to this? Would this improve the speed of my HD?

 

I guess I would of course need an internal HD with a SATA II connection, right? Or are there adaptors for this?

 

If not for my current internal drive, perhaps for a secondary internal HD? Can I have this level of connection

for a new internal HD that *can* support SATA II connection?

 

Here is the great website on Wiki that provides the speed comparisons:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbit/s#.27b.27_vs_.27B.27

 

Thanks everyone.

Ok thanks guys. It never claimed to be straight out-of-camera.. I was just wondering what possible touch-ups were used.

 

Speaking of lens correction filters - which do you recommend? I know there is one with PS3 and it seems pretty good but this has sort of been difficult for me to figure out perfectly. For example, I took a shot in London of some of the nice white architecture and had a hard time figuring out whether there was barrel distortion or not and how much to fix, and stretch and pull, etc. I do not have an example photo with me at this time but when I get back to my home on Saturday, I can post an example.

 

Thanks!

Yes, I know about polarizer lenses and stuff, but just wanted to understand more with regards to how perfectly sharp the entire photo is.. and how much depth of field and how there is no distortion, or anything.. you can see the camera info by putting the mouse over the photo and waiting for the popup info.

I found a photo on this daily photo blog and cannot imagine it came right from the camera. Seems there is at

least some polarizing going on to get the sky so blue, and some sharpening as well as possible cropping because

it says it was handheld but the lines are all perfectly cut and lined up. It just seems too perfect to me!

 

Can someone let me know what their thoughts are?

 

Also, there seems to be no distortion from the super-wide lens EFS 10-22 - seems not possible!

 

Here is the link..

http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/06/06/06/

 

thanks!

Ray .==> Which version of Lightroom are you using? The new 2.1 ?

Ray, can you take screenshots of your settings on the right-hand-side before you create the slideshow of that image?

 

Do you have a white-frame border like my photo did?

Yeah, all good information guys. I would love to eliminate my paperwork in my folder drawers as well ! That would take some time to scan it all though.

 

So yes, I tend to always keep my "My Documents" folder and any personal data on an external drive. This is my primary location for all of that stuff. I have questioned it at times, because my internal drive spins at 7200 RPMs (as does my external USB drive) but the performance loss here is that data always has to go through the USB 2.0 channel when I work on my photos through lightroom or photoshop, etc. I have not done tests on the performance improvements if I had everything local on the internal drive. I do, however, keep my Lightroom catalog on my internal drive to keep performance somewhat ok and I backup that catalog to that same external USB drive that I mentioned. Thoughts on this?

 

So I have checked out the open source options that compete with Norton Ghost and not really 100% sure about them. They market themselves as "easy" but they do not appear so easy. Norton Ghost would only be a resource hog if you have it setup to do live file backup right? Otherwise, you run it, you tell it to backup the HD as an entire image, and then you are done. Right?

 

The SyncToy program I heard works perfectly for a lot of people.

Just need some feedback comparing Nero BackItUp with Norton Ghost - are they basically doing the same thing?

Ray => No, it is not removing the background for me. I still get a very light frame around the photo with some gap on the left and right sides. I have set the "Show Guides" feature off and all of the related settings to zero. It did remove the top and bottom sections, but there still exists a left and right sides of the "slide" in the slideshow. It is more prominant when you select a vertical shot!

Will, thanks a lot for that information! The good news is that I learned that lesson a long time ago with some various data loss problems. Now I always put my "My Documents" folder on a separate external drive. All of my custom data that I download and so forth, gets put onto this external drive. I agree, keeping your OS drive from as few changes as possible keeps the thing stable! I think it is also a good idea to have all of your installed applications in another partition of the same drive but I do not have that setup. Still, I would like to use something like Norton Ghost to capture my OS when it is stable. Then if something goes wrong or I install an app that really messes up things, I can just wipe it out and put the saved "good" version of my OS in there. As for my data on my external drive... I will most likely just copy all of this to another external USB drive and do some type of nightly synch so that it always has the most recent stuff each day.

 

That's the plan!

 

I have checked out some of the open source alternatives to Norton Ghost and am not sure if they are really easy to use or not. I feel more confident right now with just buying Ghost and getting it done.

Anyone have experience with Nero BackItUp?

As mentioned above, I have seen some of the Open Source alternatives to Norton Ghost. Anyone use these with success and can defend them?

 

As for the online backup to a website, I never understood these because typically for a wireless home LAN your upload speed is a lot slower than your download speed and I would assume it takes a long time to upload your 200 gigs of images!

Hi all, I am looking for a backup option for my photos and also my entire operating system. For the first, I

know I will just get an extra 500gig HD and backup my photos to it. I currently use a 500 gig external USB HD so

I can just do a synch between this and the "backup" HD that I will buy.

 

Second, I want to be able to create a complete backup image of my entire operating system! That basically means

everything that is on my C drive and whatever is necessary so that if my system crashes, I can just pop this

backup image into my machine and it restores the whole thing. My computer manufacturer provided a DVD with the

original OS installation and I just can NOT use this when my computer crashes because it will mean a LOT of time

to setup and re-install software and all that jazz. So I am wanting to save myself the time and stress and just

do an image backup.

 

So... which software can do all of this? 1 - synch my external HD with another "backup" HD.... and 2 - create

an entire backup image of my Operating System so that it can be easily restored.

 

I know Windows has this "system restore" functionality and that basically restores your registry to a point where

it worked. that is not enough for me. I want everything restored back so I do not have to redo anything!

 

Your help is much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

John

Mel => I do not want to change the background color or gradient, I want the photo exported with ONLY a border around the photo (like I have) and the watermark (like I have). I do NOT want any type of background at all.

 

Ray => Does this remove the background completely? So when I export the photo I only get the frame and the watermark?

 

I really do not think there is a way to disable the background so that you only have the white frame around the photo and the watermark.

No, you all have it wrong. When I said on my attachment that I figured it out, I meant that I figured out how to attach an image to my posting. The attachment example has a black border around it. I exported the image from the Slideshow module but I do NOT want that black background border.... especially with vertical shots because the background is massive.

 

Is there any way to do this in Lightroom? I really do not think there is a way. So I am asking with Photoshop... I have CS3...

 

Thanks.

I am using Lightroom 2.0 and I need to export my photos I just did for a restaurant and I want to keep the nice

white border with my custom watermark (using special font) that I setup in the Slideshow module of Lightroom. I

really love how the photos look with this style and this is how I would like to deliver them to the customer.

 

Can someone tell me how to retain this look on the export? I tried to export as JPG instead of PDF but it still

keeps the black background - I just want the photo with frame and watermark. Is this at all possible? To show

what I mean, I am including a photo with the frame and watermark.. actually, not sure how to include a photo

without using a link to a photo - since it is not on any website. Maybe someone can show me how to do that too? ha!

 

Thanks!<div></div>

Yeah, I'm in Munich, Germany but there's a couple stores that have things to try. However they seem to only carry the Manfrotto and Gitzo tripods and no others.

I do not see that these Feisol tripods go too high without the center column - that is one of my major issues with my current tripod - height and weight and ease of use.

Ok, but looks like it costs $800 for that tripod - quite a lot. I tried out some of the Gitzo tripods and ballheads at a store today and really liked them! They showed me the Series 2 tripod with basalt instead of carbon fiber. Seems half the price and it didn't feel heavy to me. The model I tried also had a center column. I like the way Gitzo built the bolt that tightens the center column - works easily and well. However, do you feel it is a waste to buy a tripod with a center column? I mean prob use it only 30 percent of the time I assume since you try to set the tripod up at the right height from the get-go, right? So you mostly walk around with the extra weight... right?

 

I also liked the ballhead they have with adjustable tension - it felt more solid than any ballhead I used to have. I currently have the Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared head and it is good but can be a pain to change about a bit.

I was just using the Gitzo tripod configurator that they have on their website and it also referenced me to the GT3540XLS mainly because I dialed in my height requirement. From the photo of the tripod it appears the legs are quite thin!! I cannot imagine it being that solid of a tripod - do you guys have experience with it?

 

I tried to also find some videos online that demonstrate using these Gitzo tripods. I think the Gitzo website kind of sucks and does not give enough marketing info to sell me on their products. I want a video of some professional showing me how the tripod is better than the rest, other than because of the carbon fiber material.

 

The price for this tripod is about $680, but I live in Germany so if I can find a way to buy it with Euros then the price could be about 450 euros or so.

Budget - willing to spend up to 400 for a tripod, especially if I love it.

 

I noticed Benro have other tripods that have a higher max height. You are right about adding the camera and tripod head heights as well - I will do that and get back to you on what the total comfortable height is. I want to be able to stand tall and look through the viewfinder and still have some room for the legs to extend a bit higher if need be. With wide angle shots on architecture or other scenics, it is important to be able to get the lens squared up so that it does not create converging lines and does not need to be angled up or down.

The Benro equipment look good, but the one you suggested goes only to a height of 142.0cm without using the center column. I am not a fan of using the center column too much. Even with the column fully extended, that is going to 163.0cm only. I am 190cm tall.. so not sure about this. However, the Benro products are set at good prices.

 

What about the new ballheads that Benro are making? They look similar to the Swiss Arca ballhead.

I am sorry, I forgot to mention my equipment - pretty important. Here I have the Canon 20D with the following lenses: 70-200 f2.8 IS, 17-40 f4, 24-105 f4, 100mm Macro, 50mm f1.4, 1.4x extender.

 

thanks!

Yesterday I was using my Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with the Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head and had a few

problems with it all:

 

1. Tripod does not extend high enough. I usually take one hand on the base of the camera/head with the tripod

connected and with me looking through the viewfinder to find the perfectly framed shot that I want. Then I want

to extend the legs and the head to suit the position I have. I found many times the legs do not extend long

enough for me. I am 6 feet 3 inches tall (190.5 cm) so this is becoming a problem.

 

2. Tripod feels really heavy, especially with the 410 head.

 

3. I like the 410 head for landscapes since it allows for small adjustments and it also allows me to pop the

camera into a vertical or horizontal position fairly quickly. However the head is a bit heavy and clunky to

manipulate at times and I get to a point where I just want to say "screw it" and take the camera off of the

tripod/head and just take the photo myself - you know what I mean?

 

So I have been today looking at alternatives. I watched this show with Art Wolfe called "Travels to the Edge"

and he seems to use a Gitzo 1348 with Swiss Arca Ballhead. I looked these up on the internet and wow, they are

expensive! But I want to understand how I can upgrade my tripod and head equipment so that I can be less

irritated when taking a shot and more happy with the flexibility and height and so on of my equipment. Can

someone help me with this? I noticed that Art Wolfe took a lot of his shots using a tripod, even portraits,

etc.. and it amazes me that he doesn't want to just toss the tripod and go walking and manuever to get all sorts

of different angles and different shots. I know the concept that using a tripod slows you down to thinking more

about each shot and making them better (similar to the argument for prime lenses instead of zoom lenses) however

I find it difficult to transition to this thinking.

 

By the way I have read the article on this site about the Gitzo tripods - http://www.photo.net/learn/nature/g1325 - I

researched some of the referenced tripod models but they do not exist on Gitzo's website when I search for them.

Strange! So if they have been upgraded to new model names/numbers, then what are these new models and what is

recommended?

 

And finally.. do I really need to get a Gitzo - what about other manufacturers of carbon fibre tripods?

 

thanks for your help!

John

Thanks everyone for your input. I've been using computers since I got my first at 11 yrs old (an IBM PC Jr). Ever since then the DOS or Windows OS was always cheaper than the Mac and did the job. Lately I have been dealing with a lot of driver issues clashing and wireless connection dropping, etc... sometimes I get a blue screen, and sometimes the machine just feels like restarting and other times it just will freeze! Lately it's a bit more stable and yesterday I installed the Service Pack 3 that just came out for Windows XP and that seemed to give it a boost of performance overall. That's nice! So for now I need to sit with my computer until I get my MacBook Pro.

 

I live in Munich, Germany right now - moved here about 2 yrs ago for the European experience and loving it. When I go back to America I'll pick up a MacBook Pro. However, I do not think there's an Apple store in Munich for me to walk into and check out. There's a couple camera stores that have them out for me to try though.

 

By the way, I'm not sure about the people that say "XP is one of the most stable operating systems out there!" - honestly, I cannot disagree more on this! Linux is definitely more stable! It's built with a totally different base and has been used as a platform for many servers for many companies. Why? Because it's stable. XP is NOT something you use for servers - it's not meant for that first of all, but that's because it's just not that stable. If you install a few programs like Office, maybe Photoshop and stuff, then yes it's most likely totally enough to have XP and it probably will be great for you. However, I have a larger list of applications I need to run that help me do things and each of these applications produce updates, the drivers for my card reader gets updates, the driver for my audio-recorder USB thing has driver updates, the drivers for the new video card I installed needs new updates, even the Intel chipset drivers get updated, then there's the automatic updates from Microsoft: and this includes Office with all the patches to close security holes, more service packs, more hot fixes, etc... then you have your virus application that gets daily updates, then your spyware checker that gets daily updates and both run at night to check things, then your backup software that gets updated, then you need your defrag application to run at night. Oh and what about recovery points that Microsoft sets up? What about all the crazy services that are running in the background? This list of services grows and grows as you install each application. You are not informed of which services are installed and which are running now and suddenly your system is a bit slower. Why? Well, you need to investigate your services, startup applications in your startup folder, and so on. And where are all the places an application can put something so that it auto-starts? Well, let's start with the registry - there are about 3 or 4 places where applications add themselves so that some part of their application can auto-run. Then there's the Startup folder in the Programs area. Oh and how about in the Windows system folder? Now, when you uninstall a program, many of it's registry settings are left in your registry! Ok, how to clean that up? Well, just install a registry cleaner software. Ok, which one is best? You have to research that and download one and if you like it, then try it. But what if that program removes things that you thought was not necessary but actually is important? No problem, did you save a restore point before you made those changes? No, I turned that feature off because it was slowing my system down and using up resources that affected my work. Ok, what about applications that I uninstalled and for some reason there are still files/folders in the Program Files area? Why would that be? Well, in some cases its because it leaves log files that you need to manually remove and other times it doesn't remove everything because the uninstall program wasn't written well enough. And in some cases it just leaves itself there in case you want to reinstall it. Ok fine, so this is why my HD is slowly losing free space - because of poor applications that cannot clean up their own stuff? Yes! Why doesn't Windows have a better design to track all locations that an application affects and installs files, etc, and then controls the uninstallation process so that everything gets cleaned up? Wouldn't it be of interest to Microsoft to do this since it would keep their OS working smoothly? Yes it makes sense, but unfortunately this is not available and probably won't be available. Sorry - you'll just have to deal with it. So the best thing is to not install too many applications, right? That's correct. But I thought I should be able to explore new applications and enjoy my computer knowing that it handles these things for me. Nope, incorrect - the computer does some things for you but mostly YOU manage your own problems. You will be faced with viruses, spyware, and all sorts of mal-ware that tries to get into your computer and wipe out everything you have. And so on... I could go on forever with this crap.

 

As you can I am just tired of all the same stuff and I know that MAC may not be the angel OS I am looking for, but I have a good feeling it will be a better overall experience. That's why I am considering the move.